Dad is Back From a Deserted Island - Chapter 81

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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 81

“Where, you ask?”
“It was in the Underground… something like an altar. There are Stairs beneath the Throne that lead to that altar.”
“Beneath what, exactly?”
“Beneath the Throne.”
“The Throne I’m thinking of?”
“Are there other Thrones?”
The Throne.
It was the name given to the chair upon which the Emperor sat, though not every chair earned such a title. Only the chair placed in the Great Hall, where grand ceremonies like coronations were held, was called the Throne.
Naturally, it was not a place one could infiltrate in secret. Such a space was guarded with iron vigilance even at night.
Above all, the Throne itself could not be moved at will.
Setting aside the fact that it symbolized imperial authority itself, the backrest alone towered three meters high—making it physically impossible to relocate.
“…How did you even discover such a space beneath the Throne?”
“Just… did.”
I didn’t mention the day I sentenced Jean de Lamber to life imprisonment and returned—how I’d turned the entire Imperial Palace upside down in an indescribable rage before finding it.
Kiki reached a conclusion.
[The only way is to become someone who can freely handle the Throne.]
“….”
In the Empire, only the Emperor possessed such authority. It was a realm even Dietrich, despite being a prince, could never touch.
“You’re saying Dietrich must become Emperor to save him?”
Emperor. Even the thought of it drew a hollow laugh from my lips.
I had never even seen the Emperor’s face. The gap between him and me was that vast.
“As I thought—”
I covered Dietrich’s mouth before he could finish speaking.
“Don’t. If you’re about to tell me to forget you and go live happily, then say nothing at all.”
Struck by the accuracy of my words, Dietrich fell silent once more.
I exhaled deeply. Perhaps because such momentous revelations had been exchanged, exhaustion began flooding through me like a tidal wave.
As my mind suddenly grew hazy, I was the first to surrender.
“Let’s… sleep on this and talk again. I’ll come back. …Diti.”
“Sleep well. Vivian.”
He answered well, oblivious to the turmoil within me.

* * *

“The earth will crack open, Vivian. Why have you been sighing since this morning?”
Jean de Lamber asked with concern, watching Vivian pick at her food at the breakfast table.
Was she truly so upset about leaving the young prince here alone? How much affection had she developed for him in just a few days?
“Sigh.”
The moment Vivian saw Jean de Lamber’s face, the documents from her dream surfaced in her mind, and her distress deepened.
Murder. Arson.
‘Father must have committed those acts because of me, didn’t he?’
To Vivian, Jean de Lamber was the kindest and most wonderful father in the world. She couldn’t even imagine him committing such terrible deeds.
“Father.”
“Yes, my princess.”
Jean de Lamber, who had been watching Vivian’s expression, answered immediately.
“It’s about the young prince.”
So she was troubled about Dietrich after all. Jean de Lamber nodded with a somewhat heavy expression.
“How likely is it that His Highness will become Emperor?”
“Huh?”
Jean de Lamber’s expression grew strange at this unexpected topic.
“Even though His Highness is the firstborn son, he didn’t become Crown Prince because his health was too fragile, wasn’t it? If he regains his health, would His Majesty call him back?”
Political matters were a subject Vivian had never once broached before. Much less discussing the throne itself.
“Did His Highness… say he wanted to become Emperor?”
Cold sweat ran down my back. Before the regression, he was a man who had slaughtered all his own blood relatives to seize the throne.
If that hunger for power remained, it might be better to leave this place immediately. I had no desire to get entangled in such matters and see blood spilled.
“No.”
“Then why are you suddenly saying such things…?”
[Just tell him honestly, Vivian. After all, Jean de Lamber is the only one you can turn to for help, isn’t he? I wouldn’t recommend telling that old man about it.]
The old man Kiki spoke of was Eduard. In Vivian’s mind, Jean de Lamber was the only person she could confide in about regression and dragons and such matters.
Since he was someone who had experienced these mysterious events alongside her, wouldn’t he believe this absurd story as well?
“…Father. Would you believe anything I told you?”
“What kind of story are you trying to tell with such a buildup? You’re scaring me, Vivian. Your father will always be on our princess’s side, whenever you need me.”
The concern woven through his voice gave Vivian the courage she needed.
“You see, Father. Kiki and I last night—”
And so a long story began.
Clang—Jean de Lamber’s fork slipped from his hand.

* * *

Jean de Lamber’s reaction diverged sharply from what Vivian had anticipated.
Though visibly startled, he neither questioned whether she’d merely dreamed it nor expressed skepticism that such a thing could be possible.
He simply sought out Dietrich with a grimly hardened expression.
Dietrich received Jean de Lamber’s sudden arrival with composure, his white hair catching the morning light with unusual brilliance.
Jean de Lamber gazed upon a man who had surrendered everything to save his daughter.
Vivian stood a step behind, watching the two men with anxious eyes.
Jean de Lamber had asked her not to interrupt, as he had something important to discuss before coming here.
“I’ve heard the entire story from Vivian, Your Majesty.”
“I see.”
Dietrich regarded the man before him—whose demeanor so closely mirrored Vivian’s own—with an impassive gaze.
It wasn’t something he’d intended to keep secret.
To be precise, Dietrich had only wished to conceal this truth from Vivian, and now that she knew, it mattered little if others learned of it as well.
His reaction was calmer than expected. Given what he’d observed of Jean de Lamber until now, the man should have deemed him a threat spouting nonsense and separated him entirely from his daughter—yet here Jean de Lamber had come alongside her.
“Is it truly the case that Your Majesty turned back time?”
Dietrich said nothing. His silence was answer enough.
Jean de Lamber closed his eyes slowly, then opened them. A shallow breath escaped him.
“Truly—”
Jean de Lamber’s knees buckled. As he knelt on one knee before Dietrich, Vivian’s eyes widened in shock.
Dietrich’s brow twitched subtly.
“What are you—”
“Thank you, Your Majesty. Truly, I am grateful.”
Caught off guard by words he hadn’t anticipated, Dietrich found himself momentarily speechless.
“Without you, I would have carried Vivian’s death in my heart for the rest of my life.”
The weight of those words—
Vivian’s pupils trembled visibly.
“Do you… remember?”
“Yes. I remember everything.”
“Father?”
Whenever Jean de Lamber recalled the final moments of the daughter he’d failed to save, his chest constricted with anguish.
Even if the future had changed now, the fact remained that Vivian had suffered through her last days in that other timeline.
He’d believed it a miracle granted by the gods, yet the architect of that miracle stood before him.
That single truth alone was enough for Jean de Lamber to offer his very life to Dietrich.
Kiki, perched upon Vivian’s shoulder and observing the scene, murmured softly.
[You needed Jean de Lamber to find happiness, Vivian. So the wish left him with his memories.]
Only now did Kiki’s lingering questions find their answers.
His certainty about the Diamond Mine’s existence, his unwavering confidence as events unfolded—it all made sense now.
Jean de Lamber rose slowly, meeting Dietrich’s gaze. The wariness and discomfort that had always clouded his eyes when looking at Dietrich had vanished without trace.
“I am indebted to you.”
“There is no reason for your gratitude. What I did was not for your sake.”
Dietrich was a man without particular preferences, but if forced to choose, Jean de Lamber leaned toward the unfavorable.
I could never regard Jean de Lamber kindly, always thinking that if only he hadn’t left and died, Vivian would have been spared such suffering.
“I understand. But that doesn’t mean I won’t repay my debt.”
“Repay your debt?”
Jean de Lamber nodded.
“You saved my daughter’s life, so I wish to help save yours in return.”

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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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