How to Replace Your Dad - Chapter 125
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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How to Replace Your Dad
Chapter 125
“When at the headquarters, what time are you referring to?”
[What I recall precisely was when I was being experimented on.]
“If it was then, your consciousness would have been hazy, yet you were certain it was Oscar?”
Text quickly appeared on the communication stone.
[Yes. I only saw him briefly when I was very young, but I remembered clearly.]
[Heterochromia with golden and blue eyes isn’t common either.]
“Just who is Oscar Herman that Your Highness remembers him so intensely?”
[Because he was an illegitimate child.]
Illegitimate….
That was Oscar’s nickname that appeared in the affection window.
Illegitimate Dawn Star.
Come to think of it, I had this conversation with Yuise.
“Isn’t Oscar the one suited to be the Intelligence Division leader?”
“He does bring information I don’t know sometimes. But there’s a reason he can’t become part of the Intelligence Division.”
“Why?”
“There’s a reason for that.”
“What is it?”
“Secret.”
The reason he can’t become part of the Intelligence Division….
‘Could that have meant Oscar is someone whose identity must not be revealed?’
I furrowed my brow.
“By illegitimate child, do you perhaps mean….”
[A child born from the Empress’s adultery.]
“…!”
[Before the Empress’s adultery was revealed, his name was 3rd Prince Oscar.]
My heart pounded.
I asked in a voice that seemed choked up.
“Didn’t the 3rd Prince pass away from illness?”
[That’s what the people were told.]
[If it were revealed that the Empress dared to deceive His Imperial Majesty and bore another man’s child, it would bring unprecedented dishonor to the Imperial Family.]
[The 3rd Prince was disguised as having died from illness, and the Empress was deposed under the pretense of going mad from the shock of losing her son.]
“But why wasn’t Oscar disposed of?”
He was evidence of adultery.
The Imperial Family wouldn’t have easily let him go.
[I heard he possessed a special ability.]
[His Majesty valued that ability, so he had the Hermann family raise him.]
Ah.
So that’s why they called him ‘Oscar Herman.’
I have an idea about that special ability too.
‘The golden eye on the right.’
That eye could read mana.
And incredibly precisely at that.
It was a very unique and amazing ability.
[After the Hermann family was wiped out by mysterious assailants, Oscar disappeared.]
“Those assailants would be the Restoration Council…?”
[Who knows.]
“Pardon?”
[Whether it was them, or Oscar dealt with them directly and went to the Restoration Council, is unknown.]
[It seems he suffered quite severely at the Hermann family.]
[After they were wiped out, it was revealed that there was a human experimentation facility in the basement of the Hermann Estate.]
[They say there were bloody handprints stamped all over at about a child’s height.]
“…!”
I covered my mouth.
I recalled the words Oscar had shouted in anger when he left Kuaron Castle.
“Following the methods chosen by society despite being excluded from it. How foolish.”
“Not even thinking of revenge against the establishment that dragged you into the mire. Pathetic.”
Oscar….
I squeezed my eyes shut.
* * *
A night when even the gaze of winged beasts was corrupted.
Only dim moonlight illuminated the corridors of Yohaël Palace.
Yohaël stopped in the middle of the corridor and quietly spoke.
“How did things go.”
At his question, a hooded figure emerged from behind a corridor pillar.
Yohaël turned to look at him.
When the man pulled down his hood, brilliant golden and blue eyes were revealed.
“Oscar.”
At Yohaël’s words, Oscar answered with an expressionless face.
“It was a failure.”
The two men’s gazes became deeply entangled.
Yohaël’s lips twisted.
“It seems I overestimated you.”
“My apologies.”
The sound of low heels echoed through the corridor.
Yohaël was slowly approaching Oscar.
He roughly lifted Oscar’s chin.
“Did you fail, or did you choose to fail.”
“….”
“I’m asking you. Oscar.”
Oscar stubbornly kept his mouth shut.
Seeing such an Oscar, Yohaël’s lips curved into a diagonal line.
Yohaël, who had slowly tapped Oscar’s cheek, spoke again.
“Oscar, my little brother.”
“….”
“Your brother was delighted.”
“….”
“You can’t imagine how happy I was that the brother I thought was dead had grown up so splendidly.”
Luciano wasn’t the only one who saw Oscar at the Restoration Council headquarters.
Yohaël had also noticed that Oscar might be the missing 3rd Prince.
After the destruction of the Restoration Council headquarters, he became certain after meeting Oscar with his maternal grandfather’s help.
Oscar ground his teeth.
“…Don’t….”
He roughly grabbed Yohaël’s hand that was tapping his cheek.
“Don’t call me that.”
Just as he snapped back fiercely.
Thwack—!
Oscar’s face turned away.
Because Yohaël had thrown a punch with his fist wearing the imperial seal, a crack-like scar formed at the corner of Oscar’s mouth and blood seeped out.
Oscar gritted his teeth.
Yohaël said.
“Did you have a conversation with Yustea?”
Oscar’s eyebrows twitched.
Yohaël laughed and clasped his hands behind his back.
“Did she say she’d handle Arahan in the Imperial Palace prison according to your wishes?”
“…!”
As Oscar’s expression hardened, Yohaël curled up the corners of his mouth.
“There were no traces of battle in the area where the barrier was lifted. I’d say you retreated according to Yustea’s wishes. If so, you must have talked.”
“…What’s your intention in asking how things went when you already know everything.”
“I wanted to know your true feelings.”
“….”
“But it seems you’ve fallen for Yustea.”
Yohaël grabbed Oscar’s face again.
He whispered as he rubbed the wound with his thumb.
“Yustea, that child is clever.”
“….”
“She knows what others need, how to use that point to win them over.”
“….”
“But that child has a major weakness.”
Oscar frowned at the words that seemed to know everything about Yustea.
Oscar replied coldly.
“I know. She’s weak to affection.”
“So you trusted her?”
“What….”
“Did you think that since she’s weak to affection, if you gave her affection, she’d fulfill your wishes?”
“That’s….”
“What if there’s someone who gave her greater affection than you?”
“….”
“What if that person has wishes that oppose yours?”
“….”
“What if Luciano, who gave her greater affection, doesn’t want Arahan’s death.”
Oscar’s face hardened.
Yohaël removed his hand from his face and said.
“In the end, that child will side with Luciano.”
“….”
He remembered Yustea looking at Luciano.
Though the child herself hadn’t noticed, he who had been watching knew.
The eyes that looked at Luciano were different from when she looked at him.
They contained all sorts of colorful emotions.
By Luciano’s side, Yustea never showed any wariness at all.
She trusted that he would never harm her, and showed no wariness whatsoever.
That child.
A child who had been abandoned even by blood relatives and wandered the streets.
Only to Luciano….
Yohaël said.
“Looking at that child, you can’t help but know. So I acknowledged it. ‘Right now,’ the most meaningful person to that child is Luciano.”
“….”
“And today Luciano cast his vote in favor of Arahan’s return to being a mage under joint supervision of Matap and the Imperial Palace.”
“….”
Yohaël patted Oscar’s shoulder.
“You’ll need to choose carefully who to trust.”
With those words, Yohaël smiled.
And turned his back.
After Yohaël left the corridor, Oscar clenched his fists.
“I won’t trust. …Anyone.”
He had lived his whole life that way.
“There’s still a chance, Oscar.”
Those words too.
* * *
Day broke.
Yuise, who came to wake me, hesitated.
“Why does your face look like that?”
I was curled up on the sofa and opened my eyes narrowly.
“My eyes won’t open.”
“I can see why. They’re all swollen. …Were you crying?”
“As if. I couldn’t sleep.”
“Why?”
“Because of Oscar.”
When I sighed, Yuise furrowed his brow.
“Oscar?”
“He was the 3rd Prince.”
“…!”
Yuise flinched.
I glared at him.
“Why didn’t you tell me that?”
“…I wasn’t certain either.”
Yuise’s explanation was this.
While investigating the Imperial Family’s affairs as head of the Intelligence Division, he happened to see a portrait of the 3rd Prince.
That portrait looked incredibly similar to Oscar.
But since he didn’t have heterochromia and even his hair color was different, he couldn’t be certain.
“He has the most suitable abilities for the Intelligence Division but keeps refusing, so I wondered.”
“Yuise can’t fight as well as Oscar, and can’t gather information as well either….”
When I muttered, Yuise got upset.
He pressed both hands firmly against my cheeks.
“Ugh.”
“Stop teasing me.”
“Ahgehgheega eegeoh na. (Alright, let go of this.)”
Yuise removed his hands with a displeased look and asked.
“Why are you worried about Oscar.”
“It feels like he might not come back….”
“…Because his desire for revenge against the Imperial Family runs deep?”
“Yeah….”
When I frowned, Yuise sat across from me.
“Then will you stop working with Oscar too?”
“Hmm….”
I leaned my head against the sofa armrest and groaned.
I couldn’t sleep because I was worrying about that.
“I heard that yesterday Luciano voted in favor of Arahan’s return as a mage.”
“He probably thought his abilities were too valuable to waste. Though he wouldn’t think of using him for human experiments like Yohaël.”
Because that’s the kind of person Luciano is.
“I heard the Emperor and Arahan will have a private meeting today. If that happens, Oscar’s infiltration of the Imperial Palace will fail.”
“That’s right.”
“As expected, you’ll take Luciano’s side?”
Hearing those words, I looked out the window weakly.
“I have no choice…”
—I said while.
* * *
Oscar looked up at the watchtower on the castle wall.
No crow appeared.
There was no contact from Yustea at all.
‘In the end, she chose Luciano.’
The private meeting between the Emperor and Arahan was at 3 o’clock.
It was noon now, so only three hours remained.
Oscar turned around.
His destination was Yohaël Palace.
Arriving at Yohaël Palace, Oscar entered his greenhouse.
In the greenhouse, Yohaël was waiting as promised.
Yohaël smiled brightly.
“It seems you’ve made up your mind.”
“…What do I need to do?”
Yohaël placed some kind of magical device on the table.
As soon as he saw it, Oscar’s face hardened.
Yohaël spoke in a gentle voice.
“It’s a covenant orb. A magical device that causes death if the covenant is broken. It’s an important item treated as a sacred relic, so you’ll need to handle it carefully.”
“What kind of covenant do you want?”
“Bring me Yustea.”
Yohaël stared at him with cold eyes.
“Make her listen to me very well.”
“…You want me to break her?”
Yohaël gave no answer.
He simply smiled more deeply and held out the covenant orb.
That was all, but it was impossible not to understand that it meant to break her.
“She’s the Saint. And she was your fiancée.”
“So?”
“And yet you’re telling me to break her.”
“If she won’t come on her own, there’s no choice. I’ve given that child quite a few chances until now.”
“You…!”
“I don’t want to see that child laughing and crying somewhere beyond my reach anymore.”
“What?”
The expression disappeared from Yohaël’s face.
With his face completely blank, he said:
“That child is the one who made me greedy.”
“…”
“If you sign the covenant orb, Arahan will die in his prison cell within 10 minutes.”
“…”
“If you need time to think, go ahead. But in the end, the covenant will be your only choice.”
Saying that, Yohaël brushed past him.
Oscar slumped into a chair at the greenhouse table and let out a shallow breath.
‘I know.’
This was the only way.
Yustea had abandoned him.
She would take Luciano’s hand.
‘I know… I know that…’
Oscar clenched his fist tightly.
Yohaël had come forward so confidently because he knew Oscar would ultimately make the covenant.
Oscar slowly reached for the covenant orb.
That was the moment.
“What’s this? A covenant orb?”
Oscar flinched.
Because he heard Yustea’s voice.
When he turned his head, she was approaching the table dressed as a servant.
“How did you…”
“Oh, the outfit? I had to sneak into the underground prison.”
“What?”
“Arahan.”
Yustea smiled brightly.
“I promised, didn’t I? That I’d help you.”
“…Why.”
“What?”
“Why me instead of Luciano…”
“Luciano?”
Yustea furrowed her brow.
“What does that have to do with anything?”
I made the promise with you.
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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