Dad is Back From a Deserted Island - Chapter 75

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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 75

Cool eyes softened gently into crescents.
‘Does she recognize me?’
I was about to wave my hand in greeting when something passed straight through Vivian’s body.
“Wh-what just pierced right through me!”
The strange sensation barely registered before my shock took hold.
Vivian’s mouth fell open at the sight of pale pink hair fluttering before her eyes.
“That’s….”
[Vivian, it wasn’t you.]
Kiki, who had been mesmerized watching Diti, reacted as well.
What had passed through Vivian’s body was a younger version of herself from childhood, with eyes set far lower than they were now.
Watching the small child who barely reached her waist, Vivian murmured.
“I was that small?”
[Yes. Absolutely tiny, like a pea.]
“The one who was pea-sized was you, Kiki.”
Vivian glanced dismissively at the small young monkey. Kiki received that gaze and instead lifted her chin defiantly.
[And yet you dare speak such words after seeing my true form?]
“That’s…low of you.”
Vivian grumbled at the memory of Kiki’s original form, then fell silent.
Observing her childhood self through another’s eyes felt profoundly strange.
The small, skeletal girl wore clothes as tattered as rags, far too large for her frame.
Her hands, which she waved so energetically, were painfully thin.
Beneath her gleaming eyes lay deep hollows, dark shadows testifying to malnutrition and grueling labor.
Yet despite her pitiful appearance, young Vivian wore a bright, laughing smile.
Unable to hide the joy of reuniting with her only friend after so long.
“Diti! I’m sorry. It’s been forever since I came, hasn’t it?”
“Did those people keep you locked up again?”
“Um…. I ruined some clothes by washing them wrong.”
Her voice was hollow as she murmured about being confined for over a week.
[You. Did you ever experience such things?]
Kiki asked while grinding her teeth.
Ron and Mary had been driven from the house before Kiki hatched from her egg.
Kiki had thrown such a tantrum when she later heard stories of Vivian’s days of mistreatment.
I had received quite the scolding trying to dissuade her from seeking out the Prison where Ron and Mary were held.
“Well… I’ve been locked up a few times before. But have I ever been confined for tearing my clothes? I can’t quite remember.”
[How can you forget something like that?! No, wait. It’s better not to have such memories.]
A strange sense of dissonance washed over me.
Though I had forgotten Diti’s existence for a long time, he was the first person in Vivian’s life to make me feel excitement.
After meeting Dietrich again, I naturally found myself thinking of Diti more often. I remembered vividly what had happened in the dreams where that boy appeared, and what conversations we had shared.
[Why do you have that expression on your face?]
“Something feels off.”
[What feels off?]
“When Diti first appeared in my dream, Father had already returned home.”
It was also after I met Kiki. I was certain of that memory, at least.
Beside me, tilting my head in indescribable bewilderment, Kiki tilted his head in unison.
“Do you sense something strange too, Kiki?”
[Well, you see…]
Kiki, who had been tilting his head, suddenly began sniffing frantically around the surroundings like a madman.
“What are you doing?”
[Don’t speak to me for a moment. I need to concentrate.]
After circling the area, Kiki’s gaze fixed upon where Diti and young Vivian sat. Then, as if seized by great resolve, he approached them cautiously.
His movements were extraordinarily careful.
Even knowing he was in a phantom-like state—unable to be heard even if he shouted, unable to touch anything at all—he proceeded with such care.
Kiki approached young Vivian first. He carefully extended his hand, but as expected, it passed right through without making contact.
“I’m sorry. I wanted to bring you something to eat, but I have nothing to give.”
“It’s alright! I picked lots of wild strawberries on the way here. Look at this!”
Unaware that a monkey beside her was poking at her body, young Vivian pulled out a worn pouch.
Inside the old but clean pouch lay small wild strawberries.
Though tiny, their deep crimson color made them look appetizing.
Young Vivian picked up one strawberry.
“It’s the same color as your eyes, Diti. Strawberry-red eyes. How pretty!”
“Your eyes are prettier.”
“What? Oh my. Hehe.”
At the boy’s words, young Vivian’s cheeks flushed and she bounced on her feet.
Kiki, who viewed anyone Vivian showed interest in with suspicion, turned to look at Diti.
A gulp.
Even from a distance, I could feel Kiki’s tension.
Circling cautiously around the boy, sniffing, closing his eyes as if sensing something, Kiki murmured.
[This is most peculiar.]
“What you’re doing right now?”
[My senses tell me that what we’re seeing is not merely a dream.]
“If it’s not a dream, then what is it?”
Had the experiences before Father returned been so difficult that I lost my memories?
Kiki’s crimson eyes turned toward the void. Like the eyes of a divine beast piercing through things humans could never perceive.
The crimson eyes that had been groping through empty space fixed themselves upon Diti, who was conversing with the young Vivian.
[Familiar.]
He wasn’t simply repeating the same words over and over.
The power dormant within this boy’s body felt familiar.
It was undoubtedly identical to the force that had awakened him from his slumber within the Egg.
Such an immense power invariably leaves traces behind.
The power this boy possessed had passed through Vivian and been transmitted to Kiki.
Kiki’s senses were distinctly pinpointing that trace.
But how?
This place was a dream, and the boy was merely someone appearing within it.
The premise I had taken for granted wavered, and an entirely unexpected answer emerged.
[Vivian.]
“I’m listening, Kiki.”
The atmosphere was hardly one for jesting, so Vivian responded with equal seriousness.
[It may sound like nonsense, but what we’re witnessing… doesn’t appear to be an ordinary dream.]
It was a statement that could only be received with narrowed eyes.
“If it’s not an ordinary dream, then what is it?”
[A past that time has lost.]
“Could you explain it in a way that’s easier to understand?”
Kiki clutched at my small head. My reason wanted to deny it, yet my divine beast instincts were crying out with certainty.
[We are now gazing upon a time that clearly existed, yet has become something that never was.]
Did I explain that simply enough?
Vivian furrowed her brow. It was still difficult to grasp in a single hearing, yet she could dimly comprehend the meaning.
“So right now this is—”
Then, suddenly, the mist began to thicken until nothing could be seen even an inch ahead. Everything was receding into the distance.
“Kiki!”
[Stay right there, Vivian!]
Before my vision was completely obscured, Kiki came rushing toward Vivian and clung to her shoulders.
At the same moment, the landscape before my eyes shifted once more.
As the mist that had engulfed the beautiful Garden dissipated, the first thing that caught my eye was color.
A deep wine hue settled heavily. And the golden tone that harmonized with it.
The room, constructed of mahogany wood with its heavy and solid texture, exuded an opulent yet weighty atmosphere, devoid of any lightness.
The emblems adorning every corner of the room were unmistakably those that only the Emperor could bear.
Could this be the Emperor’s Office itself?
Vivian turned her head, swallowing hard as tension gripped her.
In the center of the room, an oppressive presence loomed.
The back of a tall, broad-shouldered man came into view.

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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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