Black-Haired Dad Isn’t Something You Reap - Chapter 71

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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 71. It’s customary at one’s maternal grandmother’s home to be treated to her secret weapon. Ours was marinated flounder. (2)
“Starting today, I’ll need to strengthen security around the Princess Palace. That woman won’t give up.”
“Indeed, that’s true.”
Ah, right. My opponent was Lorowi. If it came down to it, Lorowi could kidnap me regardless of the Princess or anyone else. I didn’t know why they’d taken an interest in me, but it seemed wise to keep a low profile for a while.
“The protagonist may have left, but let’s continue enjoying the banquet.”
Since the schedule was already cleared anyway, the Chief Chamberlain graciously granted us free time.
“Pisha! Let’s dance, dance!”
Oh, so the music had shifted to a waltz. It was fundamentally a one-two-three, one-two-three rhythm, but strangely, the brass section was prominent and majestic.
Usually, this kind of music was common in military marches.
“It suits my taste, but I’ve never heard this piece before. Is it a new composition?”
“I composed it.”
Ahhh! I was startled! I was preparing to dance with Shirley when Father suddenly joined in, giving me quite a fright.
More than that—Father, the Emperor, can compose too? Where did he learn that? It seemed so unlike him that I asked if he’d learned it back when he was training at the Imperial Palace long ago. Father looked puzzled and instead asked me a question.
“I just made it. A composition or two—doesn’t everyone usually create them?”
“No, I can’t. This Prisoner father of mine is remarkable in unexpected ways.”
“You like military marches, so I tried composing in that style.”
“Wh-wh-what?! When did I, wh-wh-when?!”
I don’t like military marches! I like pieces like “Air on the G String”!
I vehemently denied ever liking military marches, but Croa, Shirley, and Father all gave me a pitying look before listing the facts.
“Whenever you’re in a good mood, you always play military marches on the record player.”
“And when you’re bored, you sing ‘Erika.'”
“The Princess Palace’s record purchase list only contains continental military march collections.”
Anyway, if I say it wasn’t me, then it wasn’t! With that declaration, I grabbed Shirley’s hand and fled to dance.
After that, I devoured the banquet food ravenously and gossiped with the nobles.
It was mostly insults directed at Lorowi’s family, so once again I was reminded that my maternal family truly was the axis of evil.

✦ ✦ ✦
After getting swept up in the banquet’s atmosphere and having a grand time, I found myself utterly exhausted today. I’d intended to wash up quickly and retire, but the door swung open to the sharp clatter of hooves.
Bleeeeat.
What the—wasn’t that Mutton? Why was he carrying paper in his mouth? I watched to see what the old goat was up to, and the blasted creature simply began chewing and swallowing the paper he’d brought in.
“Oh no….”
What if that was a letter Kisomalos wrote when he came to his senses?
“Mutton, you fool! Stop eating that!”
I leaped up and rushed toward the aged goat, snatching the paper from his mouth. In my haste to retrieve it, I found half the page already gone, covered in saliva.
“Ugh, disgusting, this is awful, it reeks.”
But at least I’d salvaged something. And as I’d feared, the paper bore what looked like writing.
“Lo… you, …what does this say?”
The handwriting was so illegible I couldn’t make heads or tails of it. Pondering alone, I decided to seek help before it got any later and summoned the child geniuses.
“Yaaaawn, shall we all sleep together tonight, Pisha?”
“As usual, I shall sleep on Pisha’s right side.”
No, we can sleep together, but look at this, you two. Can you make out what it says? When I asked them to read the note, Shirley gave up first and dove into bed. That’s why I can’t stand science types.
“Wait, this looks like the kind of handwriting that appears when someone grips a pen awkwardly.”
Ah, as expected of Croa. When it comes to language, there’s no one more dependable.
The little one tested various things on another piece of paper, and once she found a coherent sentence, she recited the interpretation to me.
“I hate Lorowi.”
“Huh?”
“Could it be because of what happened at the banquet hall today?”
Muttering something about needing to strengthen security against such bizarre documents, Croa quietly went to summon the Imperial Guard. At the words that Lorowi hated me, I felt a strange unease.
“Lorowi hates me?”
“When I saw that grandmother today, she definitely seemed to dislike you.”
“No. She’s the previous generation. The current family head is my Aunt.”
The grandmother is usually called the previous Lorowi. That’s because she’s no longer the current family head. The one truly deserving of the title Lorowi was Kazelnu Lorowi, who had been appointed as the current Lorowi Marquis.
“My Aunt hates me?”
“Ah, that can’t be right.”
Shirley said not to worry about such a bizarre document and to just sleep. But given the circumstances, wasn’t this a note Kisomalos left for me?
I washed up, changed into my nightclothes, and spent the entire night wedged between Croa and Shirley, worrying. If my Aunt hated me, wouldn’t that be a disaster?
The divine authority of the lower god I’d naturally assumed would support me had never been directed toward me from the start. I felt an inexplicable hollowness in my chest.

✦ ✦ ✦
A week passed, and the Imperial Palace, once peaceful, fell into the same chaos as when Prisoner had staged his coup. Emily and the Imperial Guard tried to hide what had happened, but when I threatened to have them all whipped if they didn’t speak plainly, they each offered their piece.
“It’s that… Lorowi’s private forces have established a camp in front of the Imperial Palace.”
“What?”
“They’re merely stationed there, so we can’t charge them with treason.”
“Good grief, this old woman…”
How could she mobilize private forces just to send a child to their maternal family home? Normally, wouldn’t people resolve this through conversation? Why does everyone around me resort to military force first? Why am I surrounded by lunatics?
“What’s the scale?”
“Well, the number of personnel isn’t that large…”
So there aren’t many infantry—meaning there’s a lot of something else. What’s the scale?
“They say there are three hundred tanks.”
“Are they insane?!”
This is treason! This qualifies for immediate imprisonment on charges of insurrection! I wanted to meet with Prisoner right away to voice my concerns, but something about this didn’t sit right with me—not just one thing, but several.
“But it was quiet just yesterday. How could they mobilize that many tanks in a single day?”
“That is… we have no idea either…”
“Did Lorowi set up secret bunkers in the Capital?!”
If it was Lorowi, they were more than capable of such a thing. Having reasoned this far, I clutched the back of my neck as my blood pressure spiked and collapsed.
“Pisha!”
“Pisha, you’ll hurt yourself!”
I fell backward, but Shirley and Croa made for excellent cushions, so I came away unharmed.
“Ugh, ugh!”
The more I thought about it, the more infuriated I became. The fact that Lorowi could mobilize tactical units on such short notice meant they could have crushed the rebels and saved me when I was being executed.
When I died, they could have saved me but chose not to. When Prisoner raised his army three years ago, they could have protected the Imperial Family but didn’t intervene.
I couldn’t afford to be pleased that my Aunt had come to rescue me. She knew about the military stationed in the Capital and the existence of tactical weapons, yet she came alone to observe rather than lead her forces.
“Ugh! Lorowi! Ugh!”
“Pisha! Calm yourself! I understand your grievance, but you must regain your composure now!”
“Why is Pisha acting like this? Do you know the reason, Achilles Young Lady?”
“The fact that they could swarm here in such numbers in a single day means Lorowi had standing forces stationed in the Capital!”
Only Richelieu truly understands my heart.
Shirley explained the military uprising Prisoner had staged three years ago, when blood ran through the Imperial Palace. Croa, who had been listening as if attending a history lesson, turned pale and tried to defend Lorowi.
“B-but perhaps because of that incident, your Aunt created these standing forces anew to protect you?”
“Lorowi doing something good? A stray dog would laugh at that.”
“To hide three hundred tanks would require an enormous facility. I haven’t seen any signs of such construction in recent years, so I suspect they built it gradually—whenever the Capital was founded or whenever districts were expanded.”
I could only think they’d done the work while air raid shelters were being built, but there was another method: deploying personnel with each district expansion. Since the Capital had continued growing for five hundred years, it was a credible theory. Shirley truly sees further ahead than I do.
“Pisha, why are you lying here?”
“Pisha suddenly clutched the back of their neck and collapsed!”
“Gasp! Could it be high blood pressure?!”
Regardless, that wasn’t important right now—Choco suddenly lifted me up, saying we had somewhere urgent to be.
“Where?”
“To Chiron’s Office. The Lorowi Marquis has come to visit.”
“Oh no! Oh no!”
Oh no, my blood pressure! My blood pressure is rising again!
As Choco carried me away, I clutched the back of my neck the entire time, and once we arrived at the Office, I was carefully laid down on a long sofa. There was someone else groaning in the Office besides me—none other than Father, the Emperor.
“Insane, absolutely insane, utterly insane.”
“Oh no, I’m dying. Oh no, Lorowi is going to be the death of me.”

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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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