Black-Haired Dad Isn’t Something You Reap - Chapter 225
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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 225. Let Us Take a Moment to Contemplate Why This Work Exists in the Romance Fantasy Category (5)
“I humbly beg your forgiveness, I implore you!”
Normally, Shirley wouldn’t spare Croa a glance. Since I was already committed to this, I decided to throw myself into it completely—collapsing face-first onto the mat with a dramatic thud. After pounding the floor and wailing in exaggerated anguish, I tried to raise my upper body to display my tears, but found myself strangely devoid of strength.
“Oh no, oh dear, …what?”
“Pisha, why are you doing this?”
“No, this is, uh…”
My vision spun dizzily. They’d said my nausea would be mild this time, but it seemed I lacked even the strength to retch. My blood loss had drained all vigor from my body, and the dizziness was overwhelming—I couldn’t maintain my balance at all.
Thud!
The second collapse, but this time it wasn’t intentional. My head struck the ground directly. Realizing this was no performance, Shirley—who’d been peeking through the curtains—shrieked and rushed down.
“No! This Princess in the Greenhouse never manages to apologize properly!”
“Ugh, blegh…”
Unable to vomit but dizzy enough to retch, I could only produce pathetic gagging sounds. Shirley, exasperated, struck her chest and scooped me into her arms.
“Doctor! Fetch the Estate physician at once, Edison!”
“Yes, ma’am!”
I felt urgency radiating from Shirley’s back as she carried me. It was strange to think such things in this moment, but knowing she was so concerned about me felt wonderful. Hehe.
“Hehe, cough, cough.”
“Shirley! Pisha’s eyes are rolling back!”
“Use a healing spirit stone! I’ll give you directions—go to the safe and retrieve one!”
With those words, I lost consciousness. When I opened my eyes again, something stone-like was being rubbed across my forehead.
✦ ✦ ✦
“Mmm…”
What’s this? My forehead feels oddly cool. The spot where I’d hit my head on the ground—it doesn’t hurt anymore.
Opening my eyes slightly and surveying my surroundings, I found Shirley’s pouty face hovering over me, rubbing a healing spirit stone across my forehead. It wasn’t as if she were rubbing an egg to reduce bruising. I doubted this would help a bump fade any faster. Besides, if the spirit stone had been used, shouldn’t the swelling have already disappeared? Why was she still doing this?
“Shirley? I think my forehead is already healed?”
“Oh, I was hoping it might improve your mind.”
“Ugh!”
I tried to swing my fist to hit her, but lacking strength, I couldn’t even escape the blanket—my arm merely flopped weakly. Seeing this pathetic display, Shirley’s expression darkened considerably.
“The physician examined you and left. He said it’s anemia. For someone who won’t even eat rice without meat side dishes, where did this anemia come from?”
“Well, that is…”
I needed to answer carefully here. Father had given me this opportunity, after all. I couldn’t honestly admit I’d donated blood to appear pitiable before her. I’d need to embellish the truth.
“Without you here, I have no appetite. My taste for food has completely vanished…”
“You expect me to believe that?”
“Believe it or not, as you wish…”
As I pouted and hunched over, Shirley insisted she didn’t believe me, yet her lips twitched upward repeatedly.
“Still, you should have eaten properly. What was Croa doing?”
Choco answered this question instead. Since it was confidential, she’d sent Edison away and whispered Croa’s current situation to Shirley, causing the woman’s brow to furrow.
“The collapse may have resulted from multiple factors converging.”
The recent removal of the brainwashing, the lack of meals, and Media’s situation—perhaps all these troubles combined had caused me to collapse. Shirley, having woven together my narrative so sympathetically, gazed at me with pitying eyes.
This was my moment. I resolved not to miss this opportunity.
“You and Leon left crying like that, and I just can’t get it out of my head. Even when I eat, it doesn’t feel like I’m eating anything, and I just… sniff…!”
“Still, for your body to end up like this… Father should have done something.”
I was almost there. As I put on a pitiful expression and squeezed out tears, Shirley’s eyes also grew moist. I fumbled to find Shirley’s hand and gripped it firmly, making my request clear.
“Let’s go home, Shirley. Let’s take Leon and Edison with us and go to our home. I wasn’t in my right mind back then. Truly, I wasn’t thinking clearly at all.”
“No matter what, how could you say to break the Companion Contract? How could you abandon me and Leon!”
“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry. I’m sorry for everything…”
As I became immersed in the moment, tears and snot streaming down my face, my hands trembling, Shirley burst into tears and buried her face in my embrace.
“Then don’t do sorry things in the first place! I’ve been thinking all sorts of things here!”
“I’m sorry. I was truly losing my mind back then. When we get back, let’s do everything you want to do.”
Let’s make guided torpedoes, guided missiles, and that acoustic-triggered mine we discussed before.
As I mentioned the various projects I’d left pending in Shirley’s Research Facility, the woman who had been crying wiped away her tears and smiled.
“The acoustic-triggered mine was something Pisha wanted to make.”
“Right. I added my own selfish interests.”
We exchanged jokes back and forth, and eventually we both laughed together. Fortunately, Shirley seemed to have let go of her anger toward me. Father’s wisdom really is the best.
“First, let’s have a meal. Since you’re low on blood, I’ll have them prepare plenty of meat dishes.”
“Yeah. Seeing you smile makes me hungry too.”
“You’re just good with words, that’s all.”
Why do you think I got good at this? My eloquence developed from appeasing you and Croa since childhood! I suppressed the urge to snap back and accepted Shirley’s support with a pathetic smile. You can’t ruin a finished meal by sprinkling ashes on it.
“Mother, Mother!”
As we reached the Dining Hall, Leon came scurrying over, apparently having heard of my arrival. Seeing Leon clinging to my legs, asking if Shirley and he were being taken away, Shirley scolded him sternly.
“Now, now. Mother’s body is injured, so you should be considerate.”
“Aw, it’s not like I’m clinging that hard.”
“Don’t be so permissive. Leon’s manners will get worse.”
You sound just like a typical mother. I told Leon it was fine and bent down to pat and embrace him. I didn’t have the strength to lift him up.
“Does it hurt? Leon will be careful.”
And you still deliberately speak in a halting way when it’s disadvantageous for you or when you want to seem cute. You’re quite cunning. That’s exactly like Shirley. She pretended to be foolish when she first came to the Imperial Palace.
I chuckled and sat at the table while holding Leon’s hand.
As I ate the food that was brought out, I briefly explained what had happened, including the matter of having my brainwashing undone. Leon and Shirley both laughed and sighed. In any case, the atmosphere at the table was warm and harmonious. A family must be at peace, after all. Now that I’d resolved the Shirley situation, despite feeling nauseous, my heart felt completely at ease.
“So, actually, I came here to consult about something very important…”
“Weren’t you coming to ask about how to resolve the civil war?”
“You really are my strategist.”
“That’s so irritating, truly.”
Shirley, who had been lamenting how she’d ended up managing a household with such a person, tapped her fingers on the table and shifted the direction of her thoughts.
“Hmm, well, at this point, Pisha would never think something like ‘let’s win over the hearts of Media’s people’ even if it killed her.”
Yes, that’s my Shirley. She knows me so well, as if she’d been inside my heart and come back out. It was my true feelings that I didn’t care whether Media’s people cursed me or not. Rather, now that things had come to this, I almost wanted them to curse me more.
Notoriety is also fame, and building a name accumulates divine power. Especially since Kisomalos gains divine power the more wretchedly she lives, her divine power accumulates rapidly.
What’s important now isn’t my reputation recovery. It’s making sure those bastards never dare to challenge me again. Shirley grasped the point precisely.
“Even if we suppress them with military force, those kinds of people will just appear again if they get the chance.”
I need to utterly crush them in one go. But if I kill them all, I’d feel sorry toward Croa and incur the resentment of Media’s people. This could become a spark that ignites an even greater uprising.
As I laid out my thoughts, Shirley, who had been tapping her fingers on the table, clenched her fist with a decisive thud like a period at the end of a sentence.
“Let’s bring that out.”
“That?”
“The Lorowi special bomb. If we obliterate an entire island from the map, Kisomalos will think twice about opposing us.”
Ah, so we’re suppressing violence with greater violence.
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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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