Dad is Back From a Deserted Island - Chapter 71

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

Father has returned from the Deserted Island
Chapter 71

Vivian was already fifteen years old.
She was old enough to understand what emotion made her heart race like this.
‘Get a grip, Vivian!’
And yet, I didn’t want to harbor such feelings for the Crown Prince before me.
Astonishingly captivating, but equally fragile and lonely—that was the Crown Prince.
How starved for human affection must he be, to behave so openly toward someone he’d only just met?
Having once felt such loneliness acutely myself, I wanted to be a good friend to Dietrich.
But this flutter of excitement creeping in felt somehow impure.
Yet here, face to face at such close proximity, my heart wouldn’t stop racing.
I was desperately trying to avert my gaze when—
“Hmm-nya.”
Hmm-nya?
Did the Crown Prince just make that sound?
Could someone produce such an adorable noise?
Startled, I looked toward Dietrich as though I’d never averted my eyes from him at all.
But Dietrich wasn’t looking at me.
He was looking at the pouch hanging from my chest.
Inside it lay Kiki, sleeping soundly and oblivious to the world.
Now that I thought about it, that adorable sound hadn’t come from Dietrich at all.
It was a voice I’d missed so dearly—one I’d spent more than half my life with.
“Could it be—”
“Shh.”
Dietrich quickly signaled me to be quiet.
And then.
“Hmm-nya.”
Kiki stirred in the pouch and murmured in sleep once more.
“…!!”
My eyes widened.
Kiki slept so deeply that one would suspect him dead if not for the faint rise and fall of his breathing.
He never talked in his sleep, never even twitched or stirred.
“Just… just now. Kiki really did move, didn’t he? Your Highness saw it too… didn’t you?”
“Yes. I saw it clearly.”
Only after confirming with Dietrich what I’d witnessed could I finally allow myself to feel complete joy.
“It really is working…! This is the first time Kiki has made a sound and moved. Wait. Are you alright, Your Highness?”
“Hmm?”
“If Kiki is improving, doesn’t that mean the power is transferring to you? It’s a power even the Divine Beast couldn’t handle. …Why didn’t I think of this sooner? If anything happens to you when you’re already so frail…”
Vivian examined Dietrich’s complexion carefully. But his pallor—translucent as glass—remained unchanged from usual. If anything, he seemed to have more vitality than before.
“I’m fine.”
“Really? You’re not feeling breathless or your heart racing too fast?”
When Vivian asked, drawing from her own experience, Dietrich nodded repeatedly, assuring her he was well.
“Thank goodness!”
“…!”
Only after receiving Dietrich’s definitive confirmation that he was alright could Vivian allow herself to feel the full weight of her joy.
Unable to contain her overwhelming happiness, Vivian sprang up and threw her arms around Dietrich’s neck.
A cool, austere fragrance—like winter itself—brushed against her nose.
The cold temperature, so utterly unlike the familiar warmth she knew, jolted Vivian back to her senses. She startled more at her own boldness than at his reaction and quickly pulled away.
“I’m—I’m so sorry!”
It was a habit she’d developed with Jean de Lamber, and it had slipped out without thinking.
But of all people!
Vivian bowed deeply, trying to hide her flushed face as she apologized.
“….”
Dietrich seemed equally flustered, as his reassurance was slow in coming.
How angry must he be to say nothing at all?
“Your Highness, I startled you. I’m truly sorry….”
“Is it a habit?”
“Pardon?”
“Embracing anyone when you’re happy. Is that a habit of yours?”
“Well, yes. It is, but…?”
Raised with abundant affection, Vivian had developed the habit of embracing whoever was nearby whenever something joyful or happy occurred.
Since those nearby were only Jean de Lamber, Anne, Eduard, Luca, and Elise, she had never felt it was a problem until now.
None of those five had thought to caution her about it.
“Don’t.”
“Your Highness…?”
“It would be better if you didn’t embrace just anyone like that.”
She lifted her head cautiously and saw Dietrich with his brows furrowed.
‘He really is upset. I’ll be more careful from now on.’
Since this prince so rarely displayed his emotions, Vivian grasped the gravity of the situation and could only nod earnestly.

* * *

‘Here again.’
The Garden, now shrouded in mist, felt strangely familiar and comforting.
Vivian wandered slowly through the masterless Garden.
The complete desolation that had consumed it before had vanished entirely, and the Garden had reclaimed the beauty it possessed when I first laid eyes upon it.
Though Diti’s presence remained nowhere to be found.
“Oh!”
Upon discovering the Fountain, which scattered light and sprayed water even through the thick mist, Vivian pointed without thinking.
Drawing closer to examine it, the Fountain displayed pristine and exquisite beauty, as though its waters had never once run dry.
Seeing the Fountain fully restored, I felt both delighted and overwhelmed by an indescribable emotion.
As Vivian absently brought her hand to the water streaming from the Fountain, a blinding light suddenly erupted.
“Ugh!”
Vivian gasped at the intense brilliance that forced her eyes shut.
Even with her eyes closed, a vivid crimson glow flickered before her vision. The light was so overwhelming it seemed as though it would consume her entirely.

“A dream….”
Immediately after confronting that crimson light, Vivian awoke.
Thump, thump. A pleasant heartbeat stirred Vivian from her slumber.
‘Perhaps….’
Seized by an inexplicable premonition, Vivian threw on only a shawl and rushed from her Bedroom. She had to confirm it now, this very instant.
“Vivi! Where are you going!”
Jean de Lamber, who had been enjoying a rare moment of leisure in the Living Room, called out in alarm, but his voice fell on ears too excited to hear.
“Ugh, this mist….”
Upon stepping outside the Building, the thick mist obscured even what lay directly before her.
Yet Vivian could discern the silhouette of a figure standing within that mist.
“Your Majesty!”
Dietrich, who rarely ventured beyond the Building where he stayed, stood in the Castle’s mist-laden Garden, gazing upon Vivian.
“Kiki? Where is Kiki?”
“Here.”
Vivian skipped all pleasantries and asked about Kiki’s whereabouts. Dietrich, unbothered by her rudeness, revealed Kiki cradled in his arms.
“Ah, she hasn’t awakened yet….”
Vivian, who had been brimming with an inexplicable certainty that Kiki would have opened her eyes, deflated in an instant.
But only for a moment.
Kiki stirred in her sleep, tossing restlessly.
Unlike yesterday, when her murmurs would fade into slumber, she tossed several times as though about to open her eyes at any second.
Her small brow furrowed deeply as her eyes squeezed shut.
….
Vivian gazed upon this sight, overwhelmed by a sense of wonder.
Perhaps that gaze tickled her?
Kiki lifted her arm and scratched at her head.
Vivian now covered her mouth with her hand. Otherwise, tears would surely burst forth.
Dietrich held Kiki a bit closer toward Vivian.
At such proximity that every wrinkle etched into that small face became visible, Vivian didn’t blink once, committing every detail to memory.
The tiny creature’s body curled up tightly as if stretching, then suddenly extended fully.
“Yaaawwwn.”
With a yawn so wide the mouth seemed ready to split, a pair of vivid crimson eyes emerged into view.

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————