Black-Haired Dad Isn’t Something You Reap - Chapter 216

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 216. To Protect the Narrator, This Chapter Proceeds in Third Person (3)
“What on earth is that?”
“If we think about it logically, wouldn’t she have been switched out?”
“He took Pisha away and left a substitute in her place?”
If a fake had been left behind, wouldn’t they have at least trained her to mimic properly? Shirley, who had no desire to engage with such dull-witted people, pondered alone before posing a question to the Princess.
“Pisha.”
“Hmm?”
“In that chess game we played the day we first met, how many moves did it take you to win?”
“….”
Princess Vishnabel, who had been smiling radiantly, suddenly froze. Like a broken automaton, her neck creaked and twisted mechanically. Contorting her body grotesquely as she tried to recall something, the Princess ultimately failed to remember and instead grew indignant.
“How am I supposed to remember something from so long ago! Anyway, geniuses always think everyone else is a genius too!”
“That confirms you’re really Pisha, doesn’t it?”
So that was a method of identity verification. Truly, the clever ones were different. Those who marveled at this began asking questions to confirm whether their counterpart was the real Pisha or not.
“Princess Vishnabel, what was that side dish you promised to eat with me while drinking later?”
“Mackerel sashimi and silkworm pupae! I’m waiting for that, so don’t forget!”
“Your Highness, do you remember when I cursed at you?”
“I remember things like that perfectly, you know? I’ll never forget calling you a tough woman—not for the next thirty years!”
“Pisha, what do you like about me?”
“Your face, and how you subtly have such strong presence that you’re always bristling at me, and the fact that you’re the King of Media.”
Everyone finished their own identity verification and let out a sigh of relief. Something felt off, but fundamentally, this appeared to be the Princess Vishnabel they all knew.
“Even the calluses on her hands from gripping a sword are the same. Pisha is definitely real, isn’t she?”
Even Choco, who had been examining Pisha’s hands, finished her verification, and they all fell into another moment of confusion. Had Nanark Grant really just come home early with Pisha using a warp stone? And left the Princess in such a strange state?
“Ahem, I’m afraid I’ve shown you an unbecoming side of myself.”
Perhaps embarrassed by her recent outburst and casual language, Princess Vishnabel cleared her throat and tidied her clothing neatly. Seeing this, the Imperial Palace staff let out groans and frowned.
“Fundamentally, something is definitely off.”
“Too much, don’t be too strangely off! Too much!”
“I can’t quite put my finger on it, but somehow I just don’t feel the same affection.”
“Please don’t say such things. Pisha will be hurt.”
From the way he assumed she would be hurt, it was clear that even he didn’t feel right about the current Pisha. Everyone except Croa saw through his true feelings, and each took a moment to reflect on themselves.
The very fact that they were thinking this way meant they themselves harbored resistance toward Pisha.
“This is serious.”
Kisomalos gains divine power from being loved and cared for by the excellent. That meant if affection waned, divine power could conversely diminish. This was why Vishnabel had faced a great crisis before her regression.
Chiron, who knew this, judged that the Princess’s strange condition was not something to take lightly and formulated countermeasures.
“If it’s divine power manipulation, couldn’t we remove it with divine power as well?”
“Right, I’ll go consult with Media!”
“It could be solved with magic too, so I’ll bring Kazelnu.”
“It might be due to drugs, so I’ll ask Yupi Grandmother as well!”
Croa, Choco, and Shirley rushed about to resolve the situation. Watching Pisha smile blankly, unaware of their concerns, the Chief Chamberlain gripped the Princess’s hand firmly.
“Don’t worry. It will be resolved soon.”
“I’ve never worried about anything, though?”
“You can’t be at peace alone.”
The Chief Chamberlain sighed with relief, grateful that at least this hadn’t changed.
But Pisha’s situation was far from optimistic. Kazelnu had rushed over upon hearing of Pisha’s condition, yet no matter how thoroughly she searched through her magical texts, she found no spell for breaking brainwashing.
“What should I do? I don’t think I’ll be much help. Even if I become a more skilled mage, it’s uncertain whether the right spell will manifest. Kirke says that if the mental tampering wasn’t done through magical means, there’s no way to undo it.”
As Kazelnu’s face filled with apology, Pisha laughed cheerfully as if it were nothing.
“It’s fine, I never had any expectations of you from the start!”
“Ugh!”
She wasn’t being sarcastic—she genuinely meant it and truly hadn’t expected anything, which made Kazelnu feel both self-reproach and a strange unease. She frowned. Choco had mentioned that Pisha seemed oddly different, and it was exactly as she’d said.
“Oh no! Kisomalos looked radiant just yesterday, but now his face is all wrinkled—he looks ten years older!”
“Hmm, the effects are already showing.”
Croa, having finished communicating with Media, relayed Kisomalos’s condition and concluded that even curses offered no particular solution. After all, curses inherently tend to harm others and worsen situations—they couldn’t possibly restore someone to health.
“No, I’m not using alchemy! You all sealed it away so I couldn’t use it in the first place!”
“Still, couldn’t you at least examine her?”
“I’m an alchemist, not a doctor, you little one!”
Yupi, who had finally thought she could rest peacefully in the Prison before being dragged out, burst into anger. But seeing her granddaughter’s peculiar state, she frowned and said, “Ugh!”
Her smile was different from usual, which bothered her. There was nothing good happening, so why was she grinning so widely? If she put flowers in her hair, she’d look like a completely different person.
“Hmm….”
Yupi couldn’t use alchemy or examine her like a doctor, but as someone who had been in the Imperial Palace yesterday, she could at least make some deductions. With that thought, she called over Kazelnu, who had been sent on reconnaissance to Nanakda.
“When you went to the Basement yesterday, do you remember anything else? Besides her being bound in chains.”
“Well, if she was bound in chains, shouldn’t we have rescued her?”
“I thought maybe the children had invented a new game. Since you said no harm came to her.”
The Chief Chamberlain cursed Yupi Grandmother for her refreshingly novel way of thinking. But Yupi pressed on, interrogating Kazelnu. Pisha’s aunt wracked her inadequate brain, groaning as she tried to remember what had happened yesterday.
“There seemed to be something like coins and candles.”
“A remarkably classical brainwashing method.”
Yupi grabbed Pisha’s jaw and examined her eyes. No abnormalities in eye movement, pupils in good condition. No bloodshot areas, pulse normal, no cold sweat.
“No drugs were used. Divine power might have been, though. But if hypnosis was used, it shouldn’t last long.”
If left alone, she should return to normal on her own? Everyone relaxed at the words of Uprina Lorowi, the experienced alchemist, but they took note of her comment that things would be different if divine power had been used.
“So it’s likely that divine power was used after all?”
“The Heavenly Demon Cult members of Astiages held people’s lives in their hands. Isn’t it a skill all religious practitioners possess?”
“The sect’s influence did expand far too rapidly.”
If brainwashing had been used to expand the sect’s influence, it explained why the Dharma Religion alone had five million followers in Astiages.
“In any case, we can’t show the Princess in this state to the outside world. Let’s postpone the victory celebration, and also her upcoming birthday banquet and coming-of-age ceremony.”
“And the national marriage with Media as well. If she marries in this mentally and physically weakened state, it would be unconscionable to both Pisha and myself….”
It was certainly improper to marry someone in such a weakened state of mind and body. Everyone agreed, but Princess Pisha, despite being in this weakened condition, stepped forward with a noble expression.
“Since the topic of marriage has come up, there’s something I’ve been thinking about for a while!”
Pisha, her eyes sparkling like a princess of a great nation, spoke with the strength of a single rose blooming in a field.
“Abamama, Croa, Shirley, though I am the Princess of Kisomalos, I believe marriage should be with someone one truly loves.”
That’s nonsense she wouldn’t normally say. Nanark Grant had done a thorough job of brainwashing her. Thinking this, Chiron decided not to interrupt Pisha’s words, curious to see what she would say next.
“I have long harbored the ambition to marry a man of great virtue—one with a kind and good heart, unbroken by any adversity, and accompanied by a distinguished ancestral deity of intermediate divine rank, making him a worthy candidate to be the founding Cult Leader.”
Chiron had anticipated this much. The man had scrambled her personality, so he might well have implanted her ideal type as well. Since that man had always liked Pisha, it wasn’t strange that he would create a Pisha whose dream was to marry Cult Leader Nanark Grant.
‘But….’
Would that bastard really have brainwashed the child with such a one-dimensional approach and left it at that? If Yupi Grandmother was right and he’d used physical brainwashing, time would heal it. Even if he’d complicated matters with divine power, I was determined to find a way to restore Pisha to her original self.
Once the brainwashing wore off, her resentment would only deepen toward his attempt to force marriage upon her. The Nanakda that Chiron knew wouldn’t resort to such crude tactics.
“Yes, I cherish Hisperon in my heart, and I shall remain chaste for him my entire life!”
As Pisha burst forth with this declaration and everyone screamed, Chiron alone stood with arms crossed, observing the chaos unfold.
“Hmm, he used his head.”
That bastard Nanakda never failed to exceed expectations when it came to delivering fresh shocks. The man mentally stamped another ‘approval’ mark on his assessment of Nanakda, then observed Shirley and Croa. Their wounded expressions were quite the sight.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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