Deadline Is Raining in the Status Window - Chapter 182

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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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Well, Seian certainly looked like he was playing the role of a breeding stallion, so how could I possibly be in a good mood? As I stood there with my lips pursed, the woman placed her hand on my head and stroked it as if petting a dog.
“You wouldn’t want to use something another person has already used, would you?”
This woman’s way of speaking was absolutely infuriating. But she had a point, so I didn’t deny it. It was true that the thought made me feel rather uncomfortable.
As I pouted my lips even more, Cecilia chuckled and poked my cheek.
“You’re still just a child. You need to learn to love Seian too.”
This person was absolutely out of her mind. I furrowed my brow and swatted her hand away. Don’t force such inhuman love on me.
Having graciously declined such sentiments, I stepped out of the Meeting Room and began contemplating darkly where to go next. Should I return home and send a telegram to Kanna? Or should I go straight to the Separate Palace and turn everything upside down?
If the Sung King died, it would become a diplomatic issue, but the High Priestess could simply be replaced. It was a position that rose through merit alone, regardless of bloodline or anything else. So why couldn’t she have simply aged peacefully within the safe confines of Sungkuk Kingdom instead of drawing attention and incurring my displeasure?
Yes, I should go directly to the Separate Palace, eliminate everyone from Sungkuk, and capture Seian to escape. Lost in such thoughts as I descended the Staircase, I locked eyes with two men standing before two carriages lined up side by side, both staring at me intently. The moment they saw me, they began waving their hands, rambling on about whether I was doing well, if my condition was good, and suggesting we go eat something delicious—they looked exactly like parents waiting for their children outside an entrance exam hall.
“Mitchell Neftis! My daughter! Let’s go quickly, Father has already arranged for an expert!”
“My dear stepdaughter! You’re not the type to fall for something like this! Come with me, Zibenstein can help!”
But they were essentially soliciting me. The two of them, bumping shoulders competitively, eventually started tearing at each other’s heads, and my father threw a punch at Duke Zibenstein’s jaw, officially opening the curtain on a genuine fight.
I needed to stop this. I couldn’t let my one and only father die at the hands of Bruno. Why were all the men around me so fearless?
“I’ll listen to both of your stories. Stop this.”
“Why would you listen to that bastard! Let’s go home right now!”
“Are you my father? Why are you calling him that bastard?!”
“Father?! How many years difference is there between me and you?!”
“My heart will always be that of a twenty-year-old youth!”
“You’re insane!”
This is the level of conversation between the only two Dukes in the Empire. For a moment, I had worried about diplomatic issues if I killed the Sung King, but wasn’t an Empire with only such Dukes already in the process of collapse? Wouldn’t it be better off without them? Imperialism wasn’t a good thing anyway. Even the colonial nations would welcome their absence with open arms.
“Hah! In times like these, the one who strikes first wins!”
In an instant, Bruno disappeared from my sight, and I heard a dull thud from my right side. He had moved incredibly fast using some form of magic, but because I was heavier than expected, he had apparently strained his back.
Oh dear… it would take several weeks for those startled muscles to relax.
“Say, stepdaughter.”
“I am not your stepdaughter.”
“What exactly is your weight?”
“Despite my delicate appearance, I weigh over one hundred kilograms.”
“Why?!”
“It just happened that way.”
When I underwent my transformation, my bones and muscles changed composition, becoming incredibly dense and heavy. My volume actually decreased in the process.
Since there was no reason to explain everything, I answered briefly, and Bruno shed tears of grievance. Watching him, my father mercilessly teased him for crying like a grown man. His childish banter was unbelievable for someone well past forty.
“Mitchell! Forget about that guy and let’s hurry home!”
“I said I would listen to both stories.”
When my father tried to pull my hand, I remained rooted to the ground without budging an inch. He struggled and strained to drag me along, eventually catching his breath and wiping his sweat. And for some reason, he seemed incredibly proud.
“My daughter is incredibly strong!”
My father, who went on to say I resembled Mother even in this regard, declared he would follow me wherever I wished to go. Having lost in strength, he seemed intent on completing the picture by appearing to graciously yield to my desires.
“Very well. Let’s go to the Club that Count Letem frequents.”
“How unlucky that it had to be Letem of all people.”
“That household is filled with nothing but Bats, so they keep secrets with absolute rigor.”
Duke Neftis and Duke Zibenstein, who let out small exclamations of understanding, then asked me for the name of the club, saying it would be good to establish a proper connection. Since there was no sign hanging outside, I guided the two carriages and walked a bit faster.

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“Count Letem seems to have questionable tastes. The reek of strong liquor mixed with perfume.”
“Somehow, I find myself in complete agreement with you. It’s truly dreadful.”
The two of them, united in their contempt for others, followed a staff member’s guidance while thoroughly cursing Count Letem. They railed against his string of illegitimate children, his refusal to marry formally, and his hundred lovers, declaring such men to be the enemies of womankind and finding perfect accord in their shared indignation.
“I thought your head was filled with nothing but red ideology, yet here you are capable of rational thought.”
“I assumed you were nothing but a filthy exploiter of class society, yet surprisingly, we seem to understand each other?”
That’s because you two are simply engaging in gossip without touching on each other’s areas of expertise. Gossip, by its very nature, requires no discrimination or class—only the desire to curse someone.
With the free will to insult, we curse Count Letem with perfect equality. For a moment, liberal democracy bloomed in this place.
“The usual for me.”
When I ordered peach juice, Father asked for the same thing, while Bruno chose a peach sherbet. I’d noticed since the affogato incident that he seemed quite fond of frozen foods.
“Ah, this—while the guards inspect it, the whole thing melts, so I can’t get a proper one from the bakery.”
It arrives half-melted or turns into sugary milk every time, so I eat plenty of it outside, he said. Father and I didn’t press further because we felt sorry for Bruno.
Given Father’s personality, he would have normally mocked Bruno, saying that if he truly pitied exploited workers, he should pick peaches himself and make sherbet with his own hands. The fact that he didn’t say such a thing meant Bruno truly was pitiable.
“Then let’s hear your business.”
Before I could dwell on my unexpected sympathy for Bruno, I needed to get to the point. When I asked why they were both waiting for me, Father raised his hand eagerly and answered first.
“You came from Sungkuk because of the marriage alliance with the Crown Prince, right? Leave it to me—I’ve already arranged everything from the kidnapping to a place to hide him!”
Father truly did think a lot for me. Knowing I wouldn’t want to lose Seian, he’d prepared kidnappers, an escape coordinator, and even a secret villa in Neftis.
On the surface, Crown Prince Seian would disappear, and I could see him for life in a secret villa known only to me… Well, Father really is garbage.
“Your method is far too garbage. I reject it.”
“Why not! How romantic is kidnapping and confinement!”
Father grumbled about how romantic it was to force-feed someone who was starving to death, telling them they must live by your side forever. The details were so specific that I asked if this came from experience. But surely my biological mother wasn’t the type to suffer such treatment from Father?
“It’s what your mother did to your father. I’ll become your grandmother.”
My grandmother was a late-century madwoman. Terrifying. I’m grateful she passed before I was born. Terrifying. Now that I think about it, there’s an incredibly spacious and ornate underground dungeon in the Neftis Main House. Perhaps that’s where Grandfather lived. Terrifying. I should stop thinking about this.
“Hmph! That’s the sort of thought that would come from an elite pig’s head, ignorant of others’ suffering!”
When I rejected Father’s proposal, Bruno seized his opportunity. The man who’d been going on about how much he still had to do for Cecilia suddenly pulled out a business card and a photograph, placing them on the table.
In the photograph was a beautiful blonde boy with delicate features, dressed in the white robes symbolic of a healer. The mole demi-human I’d met in the Underworld was quite beautiful too, but this was on a different level of ‘beauty.’ Hair like melted gold completed a mythical beauty, and if Ganymede, whom Zeus kept by his side, existed in reality, he would have had a face like this.
“How beautiful!”
“Truly beautiful! Who is this precious-faced boy!”
“If both of you are truly handsome-faced, I’ll go mad.”
I examined the photograph carefully, as touching it felt almost sacrilegious. Bruno looked at us with an expression of disgust before revealing the boy’s identity.
“Apet, one of the Seven Houses of Zibenstein, a healer of charity.”
Apet? Isn’t Apet the one who was in Sera’s party in the original work? She was affiliated with Zibenstein?
“He’s a professional healer, but unfortunately he was born with the Saint skill. Sungkuk has had quite a time dealing with it. If you take him with you, there will be things he can help with.”
Now that I think about it, in the world of 【Dawn’s Repentance】, priests serve as career counselors, and those with divinity are generally involved in communication with the divine or prophecy. I’d always wondered why Saints went around healing the injured. Saints and healing skills were separate things.
Certainly, recruiting this beautiful boy would give Sungkuk a much more sacred appearance. A priest who does free volunteer healing—that’s good material for publicity.
“What kind of help is this person offering? And why are you so certain they’ll help me? Is Zibenstein structured so that the lower houses unconditionally obey whatever the Duke in charge commands?”
“Well, if it were any other house, perhaps. But we can’t break the principle of equality in Zibenstein. Besides, Apet volunteered.”

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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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