Dad is Back From a Deserted Island - Chapter 26

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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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Father has returned from the Deserted Island
Chapter 26

“Ugh….”
In the morning sunlight, Vivian curled her body up as tightly as she could.
Then, suddenly, Kiki, who had been sleeping beside her, jolted awake with surprising vigor.
[Squeak, squeak squeak. You startled me! What’s wrong, Vivian, waking up like that?]
“I remembered!”
[What are you talking about?]
“Diti! It was Diti!”
[What on earth are you saying!]
Unlike last time when I had completely forgotten Diti’s existence, this time all my memories were vivid and clear.
I didn’t know what made the difference, but what mattered was that I remembered.
“You know, Kiki. I made a friend besides you!”
For Kiki, it felt like being hit with a tray while sleeping, but the small monkey was generous to the one who had awakened him.
It meant he didn’t get angry and quietly listened to Vivian’s story.
[So you’re saying you made a friend you play with in dreams?]
“Yeah! Just like you, with black hair and red eyes! She was so pretty.”
But Kiki’s generosity quickly ran out. The young monkey chittered indignantly.
[I see. But why jump up so suddenly in the morning to tell me this! I thought something had happened!]
“Come on, I couldn’t remember anything last time. But this time I didn’t forget, so I was just so happy!”
[Enough! You’ve completely woken me up. You haven’t forgotten the promise about giving me bananas today, have you?]
At the mention of bananas, Vivian’s eyes began to sparkle again.
“Yes! Bananas!”
As Vivian rushed toward the Garden, she was intercepted by Jang.
“Hey! You said I could grow bananas here! Kiki says he absolutely must eat bananas today!”
“I never said you couldn’t grow bananas, princess.”
Jang picked Vivian up and headed not toward the front gate, but toward the back entrance.
It was a place Vivian hadn’t been able to explore the previous day due to her physical exhaustion.
“If bananas suddenly appeared in the Garden, people would see them and be surprised. So I deliberately found a house that already has this.”
Jang opened the back gate door with an extremely proud expression.
Upon seeing the Back Garden revealed before her, Vivian’s mouth fell open.
“Wow!”
In the middle of the Back Garden, which was arranged in a quaint, pastoral style, stood a Glass Greenhouse.
Needless to say, in the Village where Vivian originally lived, most people didn’t even know of the Glass Greenhouse’s existence.
An entire building made of glass—something they had only seen through windows or mirrors—must have looked incredibly magnificent to the child’s eyes.
Vivian, who had been nestled peacefully in Jang’s arms, wriggled free and dropped to the ground.
The moment her feet touched the earth, she bolted toward the Glass Greenhouse, pressing her face against the transparent glass door without bothering to open it, peering inside with unbridled curiosity.
“Whoa…”
“I’ve instructed everyone to stay out of here as much as possible, so even if a banana suddenly shoots up, it should be fine. I’ve also planted trees outside so the interior can’t be seen from beyond.”
[Hmph. A rather impressive acquisition.]
Even the proud Kiki displayed satisfaction, sending Vivian’s excitement to its zenith.
“Dad! Hurry, hurry, come!”
Vivian continued bouncing on her toes, urging Jang to enter quickly, and the moment he drew near, she yanked the door open and rushed inside.
Just as Jang had described, trees surrounded the interior of the Glass Greenhouse, obscuring the view from outside.
Yet the greenhouse’s lofty ceiling preserved an open, airy atmosphere.
“Oh! That one! That’s the one I grew, right?”
“Yes, our princess grew it. Father carefully transplanted it here.”
The banana sapling Vivian had nurtured at the Previous House was planted in a spot bathed in sunlight.
[At last, I shall taste banana!]
“Huh? Kiki, you’ve never eaten banana before?”
[What a foolish question. I was trapped inside an egg all that time—how could I have eaten anything?]
Anticipation bloomed across Kiki’s face for this very reason.
While on the Deserted Island, I had overheard the animals eating bananas and various fruits—how desperately curious I had been.
Responding to Kiki’s silent plea, Vivian dropped to her knees before the sapling.
Though dirt clung thickly to her clothes and legs, she paid it no mind.
She extended her delicate hands forward, placing them gently upon the soil where the sapling sprouted, and wished with all her heart.
“Banana! Grow big and strong for me!”
The sapling, having once received Vivian’s power, responded immediately.
With each blink of her eyes, the tree surged upward. The growth was so rapid it seemed perilous—Jang tensed behind her, ready to snatch her away at any moment.
As the tree flourished, long leaves unfurled, small fruits emerged and swelled, gradually taking on the familiar form of bananas Jang knew well.
“Heavens above…”
Even Jang, who had witnessed this miracle once before, found himself invoking the divine at such a wondrous sight.
Regardless, the moment the bananas ripened to a golden yellow, Kiki leaped from Vivian’s shoulder and scampered up the trunk.
Since the tree had grown through the power bestowed by a divine beast, every fruit was plump and substantial. Kiki selected the finest specimens, plucked them with care, tossed a few into Jang’s arms, and popped one directly into her mouth.
[Ahhhh…]
The divine beast’s eyes glistened with tears as she tasted the banana she had yearned for across decades, centuries locked within the egg.
[Truly sweet and tender…]
This was not Kiki’s first taste of something delicious since hatching from the egg.
Jang had already offered her countless delicacies, and since moving to the new mansion, a skilled chef prepared not only every meal but also delightful snacks.
Yet the moment of finally tasting something long and desperately desired held a peculiar magic.
Kiki’s crimson eyes blurred with tears, and soon drops fell like chicken droppings—plip, plop.
The moment her vision clouded with tears, Kiki, perched high in the tree, could preserve her lofty pride.
For a divine beast to shed tears before humans was utterly unthinkable.
Cradling the banana like a precious treasure in her small hands, Kiki savored its taste with deliberate slowness.
From below, Vivian’s voice rang out in wonder at the taste of banana for the very first time.
“Huh? Water just dripped from above!”
“What? The ceiling should be sealed with glass.”
But Vivian couldn’t dwell on the mysterious droplets for long.
It was only natural.
I had just grown a tree with my own hands—how could anything else capture my attention?
I took a bite of banana and marveled, then gazed at the tree before me and marveled again, in an endless cycle.
My lips tingled with excitement.
I wanted to rush outside right then and show everyone I met what I had accomplished, to boast about it endlessly.
“Nngh~!”
But I held myself back.
Because I made a promise with Father!
When I looked up at Father with a giggling smile, he seemed lost in thought.
When our eyes met and he smiled gently back, it didn’t seem like anything serious.
I quickly set my mind at ease and began fidgeting with the banana peel, then suddenly threw a question at Jang.
“Father, Father!”
“Yes? What is it?”
“You know… when you look someone in the eyes, why does your chest feel all tingly and your heart go boom-boom-boom?”
Jang’s mind, which had been preoccupied with thoughts of the future, instantly cleared.
He felt the blood drain from his face as he looked down at his daughter—far too young to be asking such a question.
He began to crouch down slowly to meet Vivian’s eye level, but his legs nearly gave out beneath him.
“W-what kind of question is that, princess? Surely you’re not saying our princess felt that way? …When?”
Vivian’s circle of acquaintances was remarkably narrow.
The only boy her age she knew was Peter—surely not Peter?
Jang barely suppressed a scream at the thought that such human garbage should never cross his daughter’s path.
Vivian, blissfully unaware of her father’s emotional turmoil, twisted her fingers together with an innocent smile.
“Well~ I made a new friend, and every time I see them, I feel that way. And they said they feel it too!”
“Our Vivian has a friend Father doesn’t know about…?”
“Why does your voice sound like that, Father? It’s funny! You sound just like a sheep!”
Vivian laughed at Jang’s trembling voice and revealed the identity of her friend.
“Diti! I have a friend named Diti who appears in my dreams! Really! Really beautiful. Just like Father!”
“Phew…”
A sigh of relief escaped from Jang’s lips.
His legs gave out completely, and he simply collapsed onto the ground.
“Father?”
“No, no, princess. So that’s it…. When you see that beautiful friend from your dreams, your chest feels tingly and your heart goes pitter-patter?”
“Yes!”
Jang’s face broke into a smile as he watched Vivian answer with her radiant expression.
He wondered if Anne had been reading her fairy tales so diligently that she’d dreamed of a prince from one of those stories.
“That’s because you like that friend. That’s exactly how Father felt when he saw Mother.”
And so he made a statement he would deeply regret in the years to come.
Even afterward, I would recall this moment and shed tears of blood in my heart.
“That’s the feeling a princess and prince have when they see each other in fairy tales.”
“And the princess and prince lived happily ever after?”
“Yes. When you meet someone you want to live with happily for a long time, that’s what happens.”
“I see! I should tell Diti about this. Dad, Diti is one year older than me, and….”
Vivian began chattering away, pouring out stories about Diti.
A boy waiting for Vivian in the mysterious Garden.
No matter how I listened, it sounded like nothing more than the tale of an imaginary friend Vivian had created after reading a fairy tale book with such deep impression.
I let my guard down completely.
I shouldn’t have.

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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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