Dad is Back From a Deserted Island - Chapter 33

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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 33

By nature, Elise was a girl who was reserved with strangers and possessed a sharp temperament.
She wasn’t one to open her heart to someone she’d just met, yet before the innocent, rabbit-like Vivian, she found it impossible to maintain her walls.
Elise nodded, her expression suggesting she might bite Vivian’s cheeks at any moment.
“Of course! Then I’ll call you Vivi. You can call me Lise too, if you’d like.”
“Wow. You tell me not to act so familiar when I call you that.”
“But you call me Jerry.”
Elise shot back at the grumbling boy, then turned to Vivian with a gentle expression as if she’d never said such a thing.
“Come on, Vivi. Sit here. Hmm. Your feet don’t reach the pedals. Well, it’s not time for you to press them yet anyway.”
“Pedals?”
“There are such things. I’ll teach you later. If you learn too much at once, your head will hurt and you’ll lose interest.”
“Okay!”
Elise pinched Vivian’s cheeks affectionately as she answered, then placed her hands on the keys.
Vivian followed suit, placing her hands on the keys as well.

* * *

As the sunset faded and the sky darkened to black, Eduard spoke.
“The children aren’t coming. I suppose it’s time we had dinner….”
“Indeed. Since we need to go to the Dining Room anyway, shall we go fetch them ourselves?”
At Clement’s suggestion, the parents concluded their conversation and rose from their seats.
Jean de Lamber blended naturally into the group and moved along with them.
Positioned at the rear of the group with an unhurried gait, Eduard observed Jean de Lamber’s fair nape with cold eyes.
There was nothing grating or discourteous about Jean de Lamber’s behavior.
Rather, he moved in perfect synchrony, as if they had worked together for a very long time.
During conversations, he would subtly draw Eduard’s attention when thinking time was needed, or naturally lower the curtains just enough when sunlight grew too glaring—
his actions were as skillful as someone who had observed Eduard from beside him for ten years.
‘Is he a spy?’
Such a thought crossed Eduard’s mind.
Eduard was the master of the Empire’s foremost Merchant Guild, yet recently there was a rival guild rising sharply, pursuing him closely.
It was not hostility toward a threat to his position.
Eduard actually welcomed the appearance of a competitor. Without one, things merely stagnated and rotted.
The problem was that this competitor came trailing all manner of sordid rumors.
Such a person could certainly send a spy. It was all the more likely since Eduard himself had planted informants within that guild.
Every aspect of Jean de Lamber was so satisfactory that Eduard couldn’t help but think—unless he was someone thoroughly trained to approach Eduard, this felt like a fateful meeting.
“Here we are. Elise!”
“Oh, you’ve arrived… gulp, all the adults are here. Has something happened?”
“Nothing like that. We stopped by on the way to the Dining Room. How long have you been playing piano?”
“Vivian became interested in the piano, you see.”
“Vivian?”
Jean de Lamber, standing behind, reacted to his daughter’s name.
His gaze naturally turned toward the piano, and sure enough, the familiar pink-haired figure sat before it.
Beside her was Eduard’s grandson Luca, leaning against the piano with a smile.
They looked as affectionate and harmonious as true siblings.
“Thump… thump… this won’t do….”
Behind Jean de Lamber, who muttered strange words to himself, Eduard also caught sight of his grandson’s face.
“Hmm.”
It had been so long since he’d seen such an expression. An exclamation escaped him unbidden.
Eduard had never pressured Luca about inheriting the guild, yet the precocious boy had been feeling that burden for far longer.
Since everyone he met had business dealings with the guild, Luca had already begun consciously monitoring every expression he made and every word he spoke at his young age.
It was admirable yet heartbreaking.
Yet somehow, standing before Vivian, Luca appeared utterly at ease.
Having committed his grandson’s expression to memory, Eduard casually broached a topic during dinner.
“Do you have other engagements in the Capital?”
“Ah, no. I don’t. I was told I could stay a few more days, so I’m planning to show my daughter around before heading back.”
“That’s fortunate. Then how about staying at my residence?”
The hands of everyone who had been pretending not to listen paused momentarily.
Regardless of what anyone said, Eduard was the pillar of this gathering.
As the leader of the Empire’s most prestigious Merchant Guild, he maintained amicable relations with everyone while drawing clear boundaries.
Whether one had crossed into his inner circle could be gauged not by attendance at parties or gatherings, but by whether they had received a personal invitation to his Residence—and there were still those in this very assembly who had yet to receive such an honor.
‘He was certainly a charming young man, but already?’
‘What exactly has captured his interest so?’
Eyes darted swiftly as glances were exchanged among the crowd.
Under the weight of their scrutiny, Jean de Lamber responded with composed grace.
“If you would extend such an invitation, I would be delighted to visit.”
“I fear I’ve done Epinine a disservice, having stolen away her guest.”
“Ha. Not at all. You need only visit my Residence again.”
Clement, who was as much Eduard’s right hand as anyone could be, accepted this with good humor.
“Hmph. I wanted to learn more piano from Elise.”
“We have a piano at our house too, Vivian. It’s bigger and white. I can teach you as well.”
When Vivian, having overheard the adults’ conversation, began to whimper, Luca quickly moved to soothe her with gentle coaxing.
Elise pouted beside them.
“That’s mean, Luca. I wanted to play more with Vivian.”
“You can come visit too.”
“Really? Can I come tomorrow?”
“Do as you wish, Elise.”
“Truly? I’ll go right away tomorrow. Vivian! Let’s play together again tomorrow!”
“Yes! I’d love to!”
Watching the girls laugh with delight, Luca chuckled softly as well.

* * *

Inside the carriage heading to Eduard’s Residence.
Luca gazed out the window, his chin resting on his hand.
The carriage, cushioned with the finest and most luxurious fabrics and goose down, barely trembled as it moved.
Eduard, seated across from him, crossed his legs and spoke.
“It seems you took quite a liking to the child we met today.”
“You did as well, Grandfather. You invited someone you’d just met to the Residence, which isn’t like you at all.”
The atmosphere between grandfather and grandson—a relationship that should have been most intimate—was hardly warm.
Luca always strived to appear mature in Eduard’s presence, while Eduard found his grandson’s demeanor thoroughly disagreeable.
“I thought it necessary to keep her closer and observe her for a while. But what is it about her that appeals to you so? She’s far too young for me to consider her a suitable match for you.”
At those words, Luca’s face flushed crimson.
“A match? What on earth are you talking about? She’s just a child.”
Not Elise. Luca grumbled inwardly, but was so flustered by the absurdity that he inadvertently revealed his true feelings.
“Vivian is just… well. She’s just a child. All the other children know who my grandfather is and either grow nervous or try to curry favor in front of me, but she doesn’t do any of that. It’s comfortable.”
He got along well enough with Elise too, but Elise was old enough now that she couldn’t help but be aware of such things. She was in a similar position to Luca, after all.
Above all, even Elise had initially been conscious of the fact that Luca was Eduard’s grandson.
But Vivian was never conscious of such a thing.
It was only natural. Jean de Lamber had not educated Vivian like other noble children, and had never even told her who Eduard was.
To Vivian, Luca was simply a friend’s son. Or rather, her father’s friend’s son.
That very fact made Luca’s heart—burdened by the weight he carried—feel extraordinarily light.
Remembering the times he had played with Vivian, a smile naturally formed on Luca’s lips.
“That’s why I took a liking to her.”

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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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