Dad is Back From a Deserted Island - Chapter 66

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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 66

Even as the Empire’s greatest master of intuition, my instincts screamed danger. If this man—future Emperor or not—was making unwelcome advances toward Vivian, I could not simply stand by and watch.
‘Yet his demeanor is surprisingly restrained.’
Still, I could not let my guard down. The Prince’s behavior was anything but normal, no matter how one looked at it.
I whispered into Vivian’s ear as she withdrew from the bed, telling her to eat comfortably.
“Vivian. Have you spoken to him about Shinsu?”
“No… He coughed up blood and collapsed. How could I mention my business then? I thought I’d wait until he’s fully recovered.”
“Mm. My princess truly has a considerate heart.”
I wished we could finish our business quickly and leave this place. My daughter was a kind child who knew how to show compassion to the afflicted.
Before I could find a suitable reason to send Vivian from this room, the Prince finished his meal.
Though the medicine in the bottle was extraordinarily bitter, not a flicker of discomfort crossed his expression as he swallowed it.
He seemed less like a person and more like a masterfully carved statue. The only moment life kindled in the Prince’s face was when his eyes met Vivian’s.
“I feel much better thanks to you. Your name was… Vivian, wasn’t it?”
“Ah, yes. Allow me to introduce myself properly. I’m Vivian de Lamber, and this is my father—”
“Jean de Lamber.”
The Prince did not even direct his gaze toward me. Whether my name was Jean or anything else clearly held no interest for him whatsoever.
Fearing that innocent Vivian might grow attached to this man without knowing his true identity, I quickly spoke up.
“Now that I think of it, I haven’t yet asked which house you belong to.”
I calculated that hearing the Prince’s name would naturally create distance between Vivian and him.
“Though I am an uninvited guest who arrived without notice and have imposed upon your hospitality, I cannot help but ask the name of one to whom I owe such a debt.”
“…Dietrich.”
The name was similar to Diti’s.
While Vivian was thinking this, I gave the Prince a sharp look. He intended to give only his name and move on.
“Dietrich, and?”
Only then did the Emperor’s eyes move for the first time, focusing on me. That’s right—until now, he had not properly met my gaze.
“Dietrich. Gedeon Kozenmark.”
“You were Count Kozenmark! …Wait, Kozenmark, you say?”
Vivian, who had been answering innocently, faltered.
Kozenmark. It was a name she had heard countless times before. After all, it was a name that had been drilled into her ears while studying the Empire’s history.
Among the countless nations on the continent, only the Empire had maintained an unbroken ruling dynasty for over centuries.
This was because of the founding myth of Dragon bloodline descent, which made it difficult for those bearing other surnames to harbor treasonous ambitions.
That imperial house was none other than Kozenmark.
‘We… we just walked into the imperial family’s residence. Us? And didn’t he say this man had a presence similar to a Dragon? Then it’s only natural he’d be of imperial blood! How could I have missed that!’
Vivian’s cheerful expression vanished in an instant, replaced by a deathly pallor.
Jean didn’t stop there—he drove the wedge deeper.
“This… this can’t be. Now that I think about it, I’ve heard the name of the First Imperial Prince is Dietrich. Could you possibly be… the First Imperial Prince…?”
‘That look in his eyes—that’s exactly what the Castle Steward meant.’
I could immediately understand what it felt like to be regarded as something less than human.
It was the gaze one might cast upon an annoying insect.
The Imperial Prince Dietrich regarded me with a chill far colder than one might spare for a summer mosquito, before his attention shifted to the terrified Vivian.
When their eyes met, Vivian flinched in alarm and bowed her head deeply. I steadied my trembling daughter’s shoulders with reassuring hands.
Forgive me, Vivian. But this is better than becoming entangled with that Imperial Prince.
“I-I-I beg your pardon, Your Highness. I was presumptuous and disrespectful in my ignorance.”
“…It’s fine. The fault lies with me for not revealing my identity. I wish you would treat me as you did before.”
“How could I possibly dare to—”
Vivian hesitated, and when she finally lifted her head again, the sight of Dietrich—looking as forlorn as a final autumn leaf—left her speechless.
Though his expressions rarely shifted dramatically, there seemed to linger about him a bittersweet sadness.
Among all those who only fear him at first sight, he had finally found someone who treated him with ease—and now even that had crumbled away.
I could almost hear the silent lament of his heart.
‘Father, really!’
Vivian shot me a reproachful glance, her resentment suddenly kindled.
“V-Vivian…?”
I understood in that moment what it meant to feel the heavens collapse—receiving such a look from my daughter for the first time.
“Why did you do that, Father? He’s already so pitiful.”
Pitiful.
That man would massacre his own blood relatives within a few years and ascend to the throne, Vivian!
Unable to speak of what the future held, I could only gape helplessly at the injustice of it all.
It felt as though a fox’s tail were swishing behind that accursed Imperial Prince.

* * *

The Castle Steward, who had stepped away to clear the accumulating snow, returned only much later.
He was startled to learn that Dietrich had awakened, shocked to see him speaking coherently to Vivian, and utterly astonished when the father and daughter referred to him as “Your Highness”—the poor man looked as though a decade had been subtracted from his remaining lifespan.
“H-how did you know…? The fact that His Highness resides here is something only an extremely select few are aware of.”
“His Highness told me his name directly.”
My attention kept drifting toward Vivian and Dietrich, making conversation difficult.
Yet discovering why the future Emperor was living in such a place, subjected to such treatment, remained equally important.
“I had only heard that the First Prince withdrew from society due to his aversion to contact with others, but I never imagined he would be in a place like this.”
….
“This hardly seems an appropriate location for recuperation. Do you know how His Highness came to reside in this Castle?”
The wrinkled face darkened with discomfort, but I pressed forward without yielding.
That boy would commit such brutal fratricide in the future. If anything went wrong, it might be wiser to liquidate all my current ventures and flee to another country.
“That is…”
“I do not wish to feign ignorance. I am not a parent driven by ambition to force my daughter into the Imperial Court, and if possible, I have always hoped we could live ordinary lives without entanglement. Please, tell me what you know. Surely even you find his demeanor… unusual.”
In that brief exchange, I discerned one more thing.
Dietrich regarded the Castle Steward as one might regard an insect, yet his gaze toward me was far colder still. His disdain for me was unmistakably apparent.
When have I ever met him?
The stammering Castle Steward, perspiring despite the bitter cold, whispered so softly that only I could hear. Even he found Dietrich’s demeanor toward Vivian peculiarly gentle.
He did not wish for a kind girl who treated even a worthless old man with affection to become entangled with the First Prince and suffer misfortune.
“It is called recuperation, but in truth, it is exile in all but name. I cannot fathom why you two do not sense it, but I am terrified merely by standing before His Highness. And that fear… is shared by His Highness’s family—the Emperor and Empress, I have heard. Can it be said that parents fear their own child? Especially the Emperor, the very sun of the Empire?”
It was absurd. To me, Vivian remained a precious existence worth protecting with my life, even now at fifteen.
There would be no circumstance under which I would ever fear her.
“For that reason… I have heard that the First Prince was confined to the Separate Palace from birth and raised there, provided only the bare minimum necessary for survival… Even his wet nurses fled multiple times.”
This was not information the Imperial Court would publicize.
If it became known that such an ominous being had been born within the Imperial Family, there was no telling how the people’s hearts would be unsettled.
“Though I am told it was not as severe when he was younger—it must have been about ten years ago. The Empress encountered the First Prince and was so startled she lost consciousness. He was sent to this Castle immediately after.”
The voice that had been whispering grew progressively quieter.
“Given that he has always been frail, sending him to such a cold place without a proper physician is… essentially an order to die here. Since she bore him with her own body, she likely found it distasteful to kill him directly.”
The Castle Steward carefully concluded his account.
“I-I did not witness this myself, yet the Castle does receive quarterly allocations from the Imperial Court. This is what the budget administrator told me.”
“Allocations… are provided?”
The place was too desolate to imagine receiving funds from the Imperial Court. The Castle Steward answered bitterly.
“The allocations sent to the abandoned Prince. The journey is long, so many thieves pilfer along the way. By the time it arrives here, as you have seen… only enough remains to purchase meager meals and insufficient firewood.”
“I see…”
Dietrich’s eyes, fixed upon Vivian, were remarkably tender. Watching this, my gaze grew heavy and sank.

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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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