How to Replace Your Dad - Chapter 140

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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 140

I didn’t want to fight unnecessarily and give the people watching the broadcast an exciting issue to get worked up about.

Even if Stella caused a scene by herself, as long as we were together, I would become involved in the incident too.

‘Let me try to convince her nicely first.’

“This is during the Family War. We have to use any method to see who wins. That’s why you moved my knights around too. So you have no right to be angry about being outmaneuvered.”

When I explained calmly, Stella flinched.

“That’s…”

“I understand you’re upset because your strategy failed. But I did what I could within the framework of the Family War. You have no reason to be angry at me.”

“…”

Stella bit her lips tightly.

She had nothing to say.

‘Has she calmed down a bit now?’

I gave Stella a meaningful look.

Toward the broadcasting device.

This place was being broadcast too, so I meant she shouldn’t give people material to gossip about outside of the Family War.

But…

“What makes you so superior in everything?”

Stella said through gritted teeth.

She was too excited to notice my hint.

“Stella, I—”

“I’m sick of that attitude of yours.”

“You really…”

“How long are you going to hate me over my mother’s affairs and interfere with everything I do?”

…Issue management was ruined now.

Since ‘mother’ came out of Stella’s mouth.

It would be a topic that would excite people and make them chatter.

“I don’t intend to deny that your mother was pitiful and that my mother went too far.”

“…”

“But our parents’ affairs are our parents’ affairs. I am me.”

“…”

“I told you. I was merely born.”

Stella’s eyes reddened.

Her expression was filled with resentful emotions.

“I didn’t understand since I was young. Why your mother and you treated me like a criminal too.”

“…Don’t talk about Mother.”

“You say you and your mother made efforts too, but I felt those cold stares from the beginning! Isn’t the side that made me feel that way in the wrong?”

Stella shouted loudly.

Now I was getting angry too.

This was the biggest reason I had tried to stop Stella.

I had hoped it wouldn’t become an issue, because then Mother’s name would be on people’s lips again.

“You want me to take responsibility for your inferiority complex too?”

“It’s not an inferiority complex…!”

“I made my attitude clear. I helped you and cleaned up all the messes you made.”

“That’s…”

“I made time I didn’t have to share meals with you occasionally. I was the one who arranged every meal between you and the Marchioness.”

“…”

“Besides, I don’t understand your saying that parents’ affairs are just parents’ affairs. Not in this society.”

“What?”

“You inherited all sorts of precious things. Status, wealth, rights. Everything you’re enjoying now came from your parents.”

“That’s obviously…”

“Then why do you try not to inherit the duties and sins?”

Stella swallowed dryly.

“G-guilt by association was legally abolished…!”

Guilt by association.

In other words, receiving punishment along with relatives.

‘She must have picked up such words from people defending her somewhere.’

I sighed.

“Don’t make dangerous statements. It was only partially abolished. Traitors still face family extermination.”

“Don’t exaggerate! Anyway, it’s true that you’re tormenting me for things that aren’t my fault!”

“I don’t mean you should prostrate yourself before me for life because your parents did wrong.”

“Then what?”

“I’m saying I don’t have absolutely no reason to dislike you.”

I stood up and continued speaking.

“Even so, I made efforts. Even when you did irreversible things to me.”

Stella gritted her teeth and stood up following me.

“So was I the only bad one?”

“What else now…”

“Did I alone commit a mortal sin!”

Stella said while breathing heavily with anger.

“After talking with you, I was always dumbfounded. I figured it out after thinking about it.”

“What.”

“What you said about not pretending to be the only wronged one, the only victim. That’s what’s unfair.”

“…”

“Aren’t you also pretending to be a victim?”

“…”

“You seem to think I was the one who got you expelled, but no. Even if the incident where I collapsed wasn’t actually because of you but because of the Restoration Council, there’s no fault of mine there.”

“…!”

I was startled.

The Restoration Council was mentioned.

And it was connected to Stella’s poisoning incident that all the Empire’s citizens found so fascinating.

‘Now everyone will be curious about that incident.’

“Stop. Don’t say any more.”

When I spoke coldly, Stella snorted.

She seemed to think I was stopping her because I had nothing more to say.

“I only collapsed and was on the verge of death in that incident, and it was the family members who decided to expel you—!”

Now I don’t know anymore.

‘Handle it yourself…’

Probably both the Imperial Palace and the people watching the mirrors in the town square were in an uproar.

* * *

Yustea’s thoughts were correct.

[Even if the incident where I collapsed wasn’t actually because of you but because of the Restoration Council, there’s no fault of mine there.]

The Imperial Palace Colosseum became so noisy it seemed ready to explode.

“What, then. So the poisoning incident wasn’t Yustea Andr… no, the Saint’s fault?”

“So she was wrongfully expelled?”

“The Saint never showed it all this time.”

There weren’t many nobles who knew the truth about Stella’s poisoning incident.

The heads of the Seven Families who learned the truth at the Andres Estate.

And the powerful figures who watched the Restoration Council incident through the mirrors.

But this time, all the nobles learned about it through the mirrors.

Not just the nobles.

The incident became known to all the people watching the Mirror World.

The faces of the Andres Estate vassals turned deathly pale.

“M-My lord…!”

One vassal looked at Count Andres in panic.

Count Andres’s face was unusually hardened.

He gritted his teeth.

The first person he checked on was the Emperor.

The Emperor had risen abruptly from his seat, gripping the table.

As the leader of the pro-Emperor faction, Count Andres, who sat near the Emperor, quietly called to him.

“Your Majesty.”

When he called in a lowered voice, the Emperor looked at the Marquis with a furious expression.

The Emperor growled in a grinding voice.

“The Restoration Council was mentioned. By your daughter.”

“…”

“I can no longer overlook your daughter.”

“…I apologize.”

“If you knew she was lacking, you should have kept her mouth shut thoroughly…!”

As the Emperor’s voice began to rise, people’s gazes gathered.

The Emperor gritted his teeth and glared at the Marquis.

“What were you thinking when you brought that child into Andres?”

“…”

“It’s like putting a sword in a child’s hands.”

The Emperor sat down with a cold expression.

His attitude showed he would no longer engage in conversation.

The faces of Andres’s vassals turned yellow.

Luciano glanced at Count Andres.

The mask-like smile that was always on his face revealed his true expression.

An extremely angry one.

At that moment, in the town square.

“What, what? Yustea wasn’t the culprit of the poisoning incident?”

“But they called her a witch!”

The town square stirred greatly.

The people watched the Mirror World with their mouths agape.

The argument between Yustea and Stella wasn’t over.

[What am I supposed to do about the family deciding to cast you out? Could I have gotten up from my sickbed to defend you?]

[Yes, you might think you’re innocent. I thought so too.]

[Liar.]

Stella let out a hollow laugh.

Frowning, she crossed her arms and made an arrogant expression.

[Would someone like that have hardened their expression like that upon seeing me?]

[I acted that way toward all of Andres, not just you.]

[Everyone admitted it was a mistake. They even said they’d bring you back. Yet you trampled on the adults’ hearts with such a cold attitude. I wouldn’t do that.]

[What?]

[Listen, Yustea. Let me tell you something.]

Stella approached Yustea closely.

And she curved her eyes languidly.

[Forgiveness is something you do for yourself.]

[…]

[Don’t just say you loved your family with words. If you truly loved them, you would have tried to forgive their mistakes.]

“Hah…”

A middle-aged woman looked at the Mirror World with an incredulous expression.

“It’s easy to say when you haven’t experienced what Yustea went through.”

She muttered with emotion.

Quite a few people had seen how Yustea lived after being cast out from Andres.

Because she had truly done all kinds of work.

“No matter what work she did, she’d get kicked out because of being called a witch…”

The middle-aged woman had once worked with Yustea at a construction site.

She was a child she viewed favorably because she was sincere, worked well, and had a good heart.

She was the first worker to arrive at the site and the last to leave.

“Why do you come so early? Even if you’re young, your bones will wear out if you work so hard.”

“I’m happy to have work. If I work hard and become needed, I won’t get kicked out, right?”

“What place would kick out a child like you?”

She laughed so cheerfully during such conversations, but later she found out.

About a week later, it was revealed that Yustea was the Andres Noble Lady.

The site supervisor threw Yustea out of the construction site and poured dirty water on her.

Yustea, covered in the filthy water, bowed her head without a word.

“Do you know how much I got scolded because word reached the high-ranking nobles that I let you onto the site?!”

“I’m sorry…”

Anyone would have been angry after being treated like that.

But she just clenched her hands tightly and apologized.

As if such incidents weren’t just once or twice.

Even though she was shocked to hear it was Yustea, that sight felt pitiful.

“What forgiveness when you don’t even know how Yustea lived…!”

The middle-aged woman spoke as if bursting with indignation.

Then her family members who were watching the Mirror World with her gave her warning looks.

Stella was a child beloved by everyone.

The representative of good nobles.

A noble among nobles who thought of the people.

There were often those who took Stella’s matters as their own and charged forward.

If she publicly criticized Stella with such an image, no one knew what the middle-aged woman might face in the town square.

But it was strange.

No one reproached the middle-aged woman.

Even those who added their words…

“Well, what… the fault does lie with Andres.”

“R-right. Young Lady Stella said she didn’t know anything.”

They only defended Stella like that but didn’t argue loudly.

But when they defended Stella, complaints came from the other side.

“But still, wasn’t it too much to say she should forgive and all that?”

“Right, Yustea is the victim, but she takes forgiveness for granted.”

When such words were heard, those who had been defending Stella cleared their throats.

Meanwhile, Stella’s friends who were occupying one side of the Plaza of Justice cheering for her were flustered.

“The atmosphere is a bit…”

“Y-yes.”

A young woman Stella’s age widened her eyes.

“Don’t get swept up, sir. You know how kind Stella is. She was just trying to console Yustea.”

“R-right?”

“Of course.”

The young woman Stella’s age shouted.

“Is she called a villainess just because of poisoning Stella? How selfish has Yustea been all this time!”

People flinched.

The young woman around Stella’s age shouted once more.

“How much has Lady Stella looked after us all this time! Since she has a forgiving nature, isn’t she telling us to forgive others too so we can put our hearts at ease?”

Only then did the reaction in the town square change.

“Ah, of course…”

“Right. Lady Stella isn’t at fault.”

Perfect.

The young woman around Stella’s age lifted the corners of her mouth.

‘This is the difference in virtue, Yustea.’

No matter how arrogantly she acted, she wouldn’t be able to tear down what Stella had built.

But then it happened.

[Talking about forgiveness and such…]

Yustea, who had been listening to Stella’s words with her head down, opened her mouth.

Stella made an expression as if she was sick of it, going [Ahh…]

[It’ll all be over if you just understand.]

[So? If I forgive you?]

[…What?]

[Should I return to Andres?]

[…!]

Stella flinched.

Yustea raised her head to look at Stella.

[Should I go back and live with your father, grandmother, and brother again? Would that be alright?]

[That’s…!]

Stella’s mouth gaped open and closed.

[I’ll do that if you want.]

[I, I…]

[Look, Stella. How ridiculous this forgiveness you speak of is.]

[…]

[I can’t go back. What’s broken doesn’t return. Yet telling me not to even resent the one who broke it is just your greed.]

[…]

[Think about the adults? No, you’re thinking about yourself. You don’t want me to come back, but you want me to like you.]

[…]

[What am I supposed to do after forgiving you and forgiving the family?]

[Well, just don’t interfere with me…]

[You’re mistaken.]

Yustea stared intently at Stella.

[I’ve never interfered with you once. I just stopped helping you.]

[…What?]

[Everything you’ve achieved so far was because I cleaned up after you. But now I’m not doing it, so things are going wrong.]

[You… do you know how violent those words are to me? You’ve denied everything I’ve accomplished!]

Stella screamed in frustration.

[The drought that had plunged the people into worry was resolved because the Princes decided to provide support thanks to me!]

[That caused a shortage of military rations, cutting off supply lines on the battlefield and putting three thousand soldiers at risk of death.]

[It, it was resolved!]

[Right, I asked Mother’s trading company to sell grain as military rations at a loss. Thanks to that, Mother’s trading company took a huge hit that year.]

[…]

[So when they kicked Mother and me out, they could easily swallow up Mother’s trading company, right?]

[…]

Stella flinched.

[I was the one who first noticed the epidemic and prepared countermeasures!]

[You moved the people from the plague-stricken village to the archipelago on your own, nearly killing all the islanders.]

[I was worried… they needed treatment first…!]

[I quickly sealed off the archipelago and the travel routes. I was also the one who had doctors standing by so they could receive treatment before entering the archipelago.]

Stella’s complexion darkened.

The people watching the Mirror World widened their eyes.

“What, so all of that was actually Yustea’s achievement…?”

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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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