How to Replace Your Dad - Chapter 144
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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 144
Stella had been loved by the public until now, but she wasn’t quite so favored among the nobles who valued dignity.
However, there were people among the nobles who cherished Stella.
Especially those old Imperial Army men.
Her spirit of sacrifice toward the people.
Her benevolence.
Due to such qualities, Stella received infinite love.
Even if Yustea caught the eye of some Imperial Army commanders, the reason she couldn’t receive their help was because of those old men.
General Tarega.
General Pastorale.
Former General Dale.
It was because they stood firm for Stella’s sake.
“Ah, grandfathers…!”
Stella’s expression brightened.
She thought reliable allies had appeared.
“I thought you were a lion, but you’re worse than a wildcat.”
General Tarega’s cold words could be heard.
“…What?”
Stella looked at him in confusion.
However, no one took Stella’s side.
The old men only glared at Stella with rigidly hardened faces.
‘Why are even the grandfathers acting like this.’
Especially Former General Dale, who was famous for cherishing Stella, even threw down his crutch and grabbed the railing.
“Is the relief grain incident true? Was it really your doing!”
“What…”
“The supply line was cut and hundreds of soldiers died. The soldiers I raised with my own hands—!”
“What are you saying?”
“I’m asking if it wasn’t you but your sister who provided the military provisions!”
Stella flinched.
‘Relief grain and supply lines…’
“The drought that made the people worry was also resolved because the Princes decided to provide support thanks to me!”
“Due to that incident, military provisions became insufficient and the supply line was cut on the battlefield, putting 3,000 soldiers in mortal danger.”
“It, it was resolved!”
“Yes, we asked Mother’s Trading Company to sell grain cheaply as military provisions. Thanks to that, Mother’s Trading Company suffered a huge blow that year.”
“…”
“That’s why you could easily swallow up Mother’s Trading Company when you drove Mother and me out, right?”
‘That story.’
How?
How do the grandfathers know that story?
There were no transmitters where we had that conversation.
I definitely checked.
I confirmed that there were no transmitters flying around in the air.
‘What did Yustea whisper about before I arrived?’
It was Yustea who arrived at the Colosseum first.
That girl might have babbled something to the grandfathers.
“I, I’ll explain what happened. You see…!”
“You already blabbered with your own mouth that you asked the Princes for support, so is more explanation needed?”
Former General Dale’s face was full of anger.
‘He said I blabbered with my own mouth… Then… then…’
Stella’s hands trembled.
They heard it.
That conversation was broadcast.
‘The transmitters weren’t only in the air.’
Stella whipped her head around.
Yustea was looking at her with an indifferent expression.
“You… it was on purpose.”
“…”
“You deliberately drew those words out of me. To trap me—!”
Stella, who had twisted her dress hem tightly, shouted with her eyes squeezed shut.
“That’s too much. Really too much. How can you go this far…”
Tears fell pitter-patter.
Stella was about to rush toward Yustea.
“So you’re the type who covers your mistakes with resentment. Hmm, it feels bad to think I lost to that type.”
Those were the words of Countess Ibanez.
The girl who couldn’t make it into the top 7 because her flag was stolen 20 minutes before the preliminaries ended.
She crossed her arms and shook her head.
Stella narrowed her brow.
“Don’t butt in.”
“From what I hear, even if you fell into a trap, you’re the strange one.”
“Hey!”
“If you hadn’t done anything wrong in the first place, you wouldn’t have fallen into a trap, would you?”
“What do you know…!”
“I don’t resent it. Falling into Yustea’s trap… well, it would be more accurate to say I lost to her strategy rather than a trap. Anyway.”
Princess Ibanez shrugged and continued.
“I accept that I lost. Because she was more desperate.”
“Th, this is different from winning or losing. This was done to destroy me!”
“If you fell for it, doesn’t that mean you were already a shady person?”
Stella’s throat bobbed.
Starting with Princess Ibanez, other people also chimed in.
“No, sister. From what I see, she didn’t even fall for it.”
Prince Ibanez shrugged and said.
“She didn’t?”
“Right, it does seem like Yustea knew about the transmitters.”
“Oh my, she even figured out the transmitter locations? Well, at this point it might have been natural to lose.”
“The important thing isn’t that, but that she blocked her every time… I mean, every time Stella tried to say something at first.”
“Blocked her?”
Everyone clearly saw it.
The sight of her trying to calm down Stella, who had been excited from the beginning.
And…
“She was giving eye signals toward the transmitters.”
“The good one was the sister, not the younger one.”
Princess Ibanez snorted.
Other nobles also shouted.
“But still, unable to control her excitement, she blabbered all sorts of things, and now she’s making excuses about Yustea.”
“Anyone would get angry hearing ‘those words.'”
“I never understood since I was young. Why both your mother and you treat me like a criminal too.”
“…Don’t talk about Mother.”
“You say that you mother and daughter also tried, but I felt piercing gazes from the beginning! Isn’t the side that made me feel that way at fault?”
“Honestly speaking, I don’t like Baul Trade Guild Dia’s overly aggressive way of handling things, but I agree that Stella made an effort.”
Even the dignified noble lady spoke coldly.
“Yes. When Miss Stella spilled tea on my daughter for supposedly mistreating a servant at my party, you came to my manor.”
“To me as well. Well, it was more like a threat. You said if anything happened to that child in the future, we should be prepared to face the blade of the Baul Trading Company.”
One noble lady grumbled as she spoke.
Her daughters also chimed in.
“If Father had brought in a bastard child, and that bastard spoke to me about discrimination, I wouldn’t have forgiven it.”
“Yes, I couldn’t forgive it!”
You were the one who opened the floodgates.
That was the general consensus.
Stella looked around with a flustered expression.
“Taking credit for my sister’s achievements without showing even a hint of remorse.”
“Is there anyone who doesn’t know how much Miss Yustea has suffered after being cast out from her family?”
“And yet all she does is complain.”
…This is strange.
This kind of thing is strange.
Why is everyone blaming me?
Are they saying only I did wrong?
Stella’s mouth opened and closed wordlessly.
“I, I… I… my starting point was different from sister’s. It’s natural that sister, who handles family affairs, should help me… and that wasn’t from a kind heart but something she had to do…”
“Does it change the result if someone had a bit of reluctance when saving people?”
A tall young man let out a bitter laugh.
The men who came to the colosseum with him spoke mockingly.
“In my view, no matter how kind someone is, taking others’ help for granted is what’s strange.”
“Can that lady not speak without blaming someone?”
“Her excuses are beyond pathetic.”
Stella’s face turned bright red.
It seemed like everyone in the colosseum was her enemy.
“How, how can you all treat only me this way…”
The gazes of the audience watching the tearful Stella held not a trace of warmth.
“I… I also did my best for the country…”
“But is it true that Miss Yustea took the blame for the poisoning incident too?”
“What?”
“What is this Restoration Council?”
“…!!!”
“You seem to think I cast you out, but no. Even if the incident that brought me down was because of the Restoration Council and not you, there’s no fault of mine there.”
‘She mentioned the Restoration Council…!’
The family had warned her countless times.
Never to bring up the Restoration Council.
They said a strict imperial decree had been issued, and the moment those words left her lips, there would be no turning back.
Stella’s gaze moved upward.
To where the princes were.
Fourth Prince Ain sneered.
And…
“Ga, Gaspard…!”
“…”
Even Gaspard sighed with a troubled expression.
‘This was why. This was why Father…!’
This wasn’t the time for this.
She had to chase after Father.
If His Imperial Majesty was enraged, Father was the only one who could help her.
Stella, who had been looking around the audience with a panicked face, began moving stealthily.
In the end, she ended up fleeing with her tail between her legs.
She hurriedly left the colosseum.
The Imperial Palace Colosseum was located in the outer palace.
Since the exit led outside the castle, the area was bustling with people of all social standings.
“Fa, Father… where is Father…”
She was looking around when
she spotted a familiar figure.
“Jay!”
He was a young boy who sold newspapers.
A child so well-versed in island gossip that Stella used him as an information source.
He particularly liked her, which was endearing.
“Did you see Father? Where is my father…”
“…”
“Jay?”
“…I, I want to go.”
“Huh?”
Jay hugged his large bag full of newspapers and spoke in a gloomy voice.
“Wasn’t it Miss Yustea who had doctors on standby during the epidemic incident?”
“That was…”
“If the doctors hadn’t been waiting there, my little brother would have died that day.”
“Jay, Jay, listen to me. I was the one who moved the people. If I hadn’t brought them, they wouldn’t have met the doctors…”
“They suffered more traveling hundreds of kilometers with sick bodies!”
Jay said tearfully.
“I didn’t know it was Miss Yustea who helped us. I… I didn’t know that and spread bad rumors about my benefactor for Miss Stella’s sake…”
Jay glared at Stella.
“I won’t come even if Miss Stella calls me anymore.”
Jay ran off with a whoosh.
Stella’s breathing became labored.
‘No. It’s fine. Losing that one kid doesn’t change anything.’
Right.
First, Father…
Stella urgently raised her head.
“Using the mask of being the people’s representative with such a petty and narrow-minded personality?”
“Terrible.”
“What kind of hardship did Yustea go through because of that girl?”
Everyone’s gazes were completely different from before.
That’s when it happened.
“Stella!”
“…Mother?”
Emma, Stella’s mother, came running to her.
She was dressed differently than usual.
When going out, she always insisted on dressing so garishly it was almost tacky.
“Mother, why do you look…”
“They took everything away. They threw me this one old suitcase and kicked me out!”
“…What?”
“What happened? Huh? On my way here, those lowly creatures were whispering about me. What in the world is going on!”
“…”
“We, we can fix this, right? Right?”
“…”
“Why isn’t she saying anything…!”
Stella couldn’t bear the humiliation and slowly sank down to the ground.
Among the people, there was that gaze.
‘GM!’
Stella flinched when she saw him approaching her.
“Wh-what should I do? Tell me what I should do…”
GM’s gaze lingered on a subtle spot.
Not on her tearful self, but in front of her.
That is, on the system window…
[Public Favorability Decreased (-1%)]
[Public Favorability Decreased (-2%)]
[Public Favorability Decreased (-1%)]
.
.
[Public Favorability Decreased (-4%)]
[Player ‘Stella’s’ public favorability has dropped below 5%.]
[Scenario Failed.]
‘Scenario… failed?’
Stella’s face hardened.
Never before had she seen the words “Scenario Failed” appear.
Because GM had managed things so strictly.
Usually, even when he indulged Stella’s whims, he would never back down when it came to scenarios.
Therefore, she didn’t know what would happen if she failed.
“If I fail… what happens…?”
“It becomes troublesome.”
“Huh?”
GM said.
“This failure in particular is a very troublesome situation. That was a main scenario.”
“What… what’s going to happen…”
That was the moment.
Terminating game.
‘What?’
Crack—.
The system window shattered into pieces.
“What… is this…”
A strange anxiety overwhelmed her entire body.
It felt as if her whole body had become a heart, pounding violently.
‘Status window.’
The window didn’t appear.
‘St-status window.’
The window didn’t come up.
“Status window, status window, status window, status window…!!”
No matter how much she cried out, the window never appeared.
Stella grabbed GM’s collar.
“What about me? Can you reverse this? Huh?”
“…”
GM remained silent.
Stella’s mother Emma looked at her daughter, who was trembling all over, with a strange expression.
“Stella?”
“I asked if you can reverse this!”
“Why is she acting like this? In front of all these people.”
“GM—!”
“Don’t act like this and let’s go to the manor. You need to go there and beg your father or plead with him to fix this situation.”
Emma grabbed Stella.
“Don’t worry. You’re a child with many talents. You’ve been loved as if you knew all the answers.”
“…”
“You can fix this. So hurry…”
“There’s no system…”
“What?”
“Without the system, I can’t do anything—!”
Stella pushed Emma away forcefully.
Thud!
Emma, who had fallen on her bottom, looked at her daughter with a bewildered face.
“GM, there’s a way, right? Right?”
“It’s not like there are no methods at all.”
When he groaned thoughtfully, Stella’s face brightened.
“Th-thank goodness. If there’s a system, I can start over. I’ll do whatever you tell me to. I won’t be stubborn anymore…”
“But do I really need to do that?”
“…GM?”
“Now I know for certain. That the material is indeed important.”
“What…”
“I don’t need you anymore.”
With that ‘material,’ no matter how thoroughly I calculate, I can’t surpass Yustea.
“How can you say such a thing…? You love me…”
GM smiled as he watched Stella’s mouth gaping.
GM bent his waist toward her and said.
“Your only value to me is being Yustea’s blood relative, you stupid Stella.”
“…!”
He walked away just like that.
Stella’s face was stained with despair.
* * *
Esgaroth Estate.
Having finished cooking the black-bone chicken, I patted my shoulders.
‘Good, now I’ll feed this to the Irregulars…’
That’s what I was thinking.
The butler approached with a troubled face.
“Young Lady, a guest has arrived.”
“At this hour of the night?”
“Yes. They’re making all sorts of commotion outside. Shall I chase them away?”
“Who is it?”
“Well…”
The butler said with a troubled expression.
“It’s Miss Stella Andres.”
I furrowed my brow.
Why would Stella?
“Shall I chase her away?”
“…No. I’ll go meet her.”
I left the kitchen and headed outside to the gate.
Stella looked at me with a haggard face.
“Sister… please save me…”
—As she said that.
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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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