Dad is Back From a Deserted Island - Chapter 37

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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 37

Thump, thump. My heart raced with unease.
Luca clenched his fists where no one could see, leaving crescent marks from his nails upon his tender palms.
‘What is this? Is there some secret between them that I don’t know about? Why?’
Eduard was too preoccupied with concealing his pain to notice his grandson’s agitation. Even maintaining a composed expression demanded all his strength.
“Oh my, I’ve just remembered—there’s an urgent matter I must attend to inside. Louis still seems eager to play more. Would you two keep him company in my stead?”
“Yes! Grandfather. Please, go right away!”
“Then I’m counting on you, Luca.”
“Yes, Grandfather.”
Eduard placed a hand upon Luca’s shoulder before withdrawing inside. His gait was deliberately slow, an effort to conceal any limping.
Louis, sensing his master’s distress, drooped his tail in melancholy.
Vivian gently stroked Louis’s back in consolation.
“It’s alright, Louis. We’re here for you, aren’t we? Right, brother?”
“Huh? Oh, yes.”
Luca forced a smile.
Even if there truly was a secret between them, Vivian couldn’t have created it. Eduard must have asked her to keep it.
That thought only deepened my melancholy.
What could this secret be that even I, his own grandson, cannot be told? And why does Vivian know of it?
Am I truly so untrustworthy?
A maelstrom of emotions swirled within me, making it nearly impossible to focus on play.
“Oh, brother!”
So when Louis, finally roused by Vivian’s encouragement, came bounding toward me with a ball in his mouth, I didn’t even notice.
Caught off guard by the sudden charge, I lost my footing and tumbled backward into the Fountain behind me.
“Pfft!”
“Brother! Are you alright?”
Vivian rushed over in alarm, watching as I coughed up water that had entered through my nose.
“Louis! How could you make brother fall in!”
“Whine—”
“….”
This is bad.
I should smile and say I’m fine, but I couldn’t muster the will to do so.
I’ve known how to mask my feelings with a false expression since childhood.
Yet Vivian’s worried face seemed unbearably hateful to me in that moment.
“Brother! Take my hand and come out!”
Vivian extended her hand, but Luca remained seated at the edge of the Fountain, regarding her with an unreadable gaze.
“Brother?”
“Vivian. What did you talk about with Grandfather just now?”
“Huh? What?”
“You were whispering with Grandfather.”
“Oh, ah, ah—I didn’t say anything at all.”
Vivian possessed no talent for deception.
Even someone far less perceptive than Luca would have recognized the lie in her words, spoken as they were to the empty air.
“He’s my grandfather.”
“Huh?”
“He’s my grandfather, so why won’t he—”
The boy’s voice cracked as he spoke.
‘Telling secrets to a child, of all things.’
I was utterly pathetic.
Feeling the sting of tears, I let out a hollow laugh.
‘What a mess. Really.’
At least the fact that I was already soaked through meant no one would notice if I cried.
But even that small comfort didn’t last long.
“Brother. Are you crying?”
“…No, I’m not.”
She clearly didn’t believe me. I wiped my eyes hastily, pretending to wipe my face dry.
Vivian watched me with concern, fidgeting nervously with her fingers.
“Why? You said you weren’t crying, Vivian.”
“No, that’s not it—”
After hesitating a moment longer, Vivian squeezed her eyes shut and summoned her courage.
“B-brother, are you angry with me? Did I do something wrong?”
I didn’t want to grow distant from Luca.
If I had done something wrong, I would apologize as many times as it took, hoping only that he would smile at me again as he once had.
Seeing Vivian so anxious, watching my every expression, I felt my resolve crumble.
What was I doing with this child?
I was furious with myself for making her say such things.
“I’m sorry, Vivian.”
“Huh?”
“I’m not angry with you. You haven’t done anything wrong. I was just having strange thoughts on my own.”
“What kind of thoughts?”
But I had no intention of laying my heart bare.
“That’s not something you need to know. Just don’t worry about it, Vivian.”
Water dripped steadily from my clothes as I rose from the Fountain’s edge, though I made no move to wring them out or dry myself.
“I need to go inside and wash up, change into dry clothes. Come on, let’s head back, Vivian.”
“Brother….”
“If you go in alone, you’ll get scolded. Come on.”
At Luca’s urging, Vivian couldn’t bring herself to ask any further questions.
My footsteps felt heavy as I trudged behind Luca back toward the Mansion.

* * *

“Sigh.”
[What’s with the sighing?]
On this warm afternoon, Kiki noticed me sitting idle instead of going outside to play, and asked.
“Ugh.”
[Are you ignoring what I’m saying?]
“Hmph.”
[Hey!]
“I don’t know, Kiki.”
[What?]
“I feel like I’ve done something wrong to Luca, but I don’t know what it is. Even when I ask him, he won’t tell me.”
[Luca? Why that brat. What did he say to you? Should I go give him a piece of my mind?]
Kiki squeaked as if ready to dash off and tear out every strand of Luca’s hair that very instant.
Even Jean de Lamber didn’t act as an overprotective guardian like this.
“That’s not really it…”
I spilled everything about what had happened this morning.
[Hmph.]
Kiki snorted.
[You’re worrying over such a simple matter. He’s sulking because you know a secret he doesn’t. Just come clean and reveal the whole thing.]
“Really? That’s why he’s upset? But—”
I shook my head dejectedly.
“I promised grandfather to keep it secret. I can’t just blurt it out.”
[Then either go tell that man his grandson is sulking over this and ask him to coax the boy, or confront him directly about what the secret is. Don’t just sit here wearing out your little head.]
Kiki, who had no concern for what other humans might think, prescribed a very simple solution.
With nothing to lose, and no other options besides what Kiki had suggested, I knocked on Luca’s bedroom door.
“Brother? Are you in?”
“…Come in.”
As I entered, Luca greeted me from an armchair. He was holding a thick book, apparently in the middle of reading.
It was a difficult book whose title I couldn’t even comprehend.
“This morning—”
“I’d rather not discuss that. Vivian. I told you it’s not something you need to concern yourself with.”
Before I could even finish speaking, Luca erected a solid wall between us.
At this point, stubbornness flared up inside me. Not my concern, indeed!
“I don’t accept that! You’re upset right now because grandfather and I made a secret without you!”
“…”
It was Luca who found himself at a loss for words. He had never imagined that someone so much younger than himself could strike at the heart of the matter with such precision.
“I promised Grandfather that I would keep his secret. That’s why I can’t tell you.”
“Then why—”
Luca couldn’t finish his sentence.
“You could just ask Grandfather directly. Ask him what we talked about. He’s your grandfather—why won’t you ask him? He would answer you if you did.”
I was afraid of hearing that it wasn’t my concern.
“…!”
Luca realized that he had just voiced to Vivian the very words he dreaded hearing.
Vivian’s sky-blue eyes, fixed upon me, seemed to pierce straight through to my very soul.

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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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