How to Replace Your Dad - Chapter 183

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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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How to Replace Father
Episode 183
Crack—!
With a sharp sound, Yustea’s head snapped to the side.
Her palm stung.
Stella, coming to her senses at last, flinched and looked at Terius.
His face had gone rigid.
‘Oh no, what do I do….’
Recently, a string of unbearable events had piled one after another.
Defeat in the match.
Mother’s death.
Yesterday, she’d been wound so tight with worry that Terius might suffer some misfortune.
And now, rejected by Terius on top of everything else, her mind felt like it had gone white-hot.
“This is… Your Highness, this is so….”
It was the moment Stella stumbled forward to grab Terius.
Her hair was seized, her neck wrenched backward.
“Kyaa—.”
A scream was about to tear free.
Bang—!
A vicious pain exploded across her cheekbone, and her vision truly turned white.
“Again. If you don’t want all your teeth knocked out, clench your back molars.”
It was Yustea.
Yustea stood with her fist raised, middle finger extended to a sharp point.
With her other hand, she gripped Stella’s hair firmly in place.
“Let… let go…!”
Smack—!
The fist drove into her face once more.
“Aaaah!”
Stella staggered, then crumpled to the ground.
Yustea’s knuckles had connected square with her nose, and warm blood dripped steadily from beneath it.
“…!”
Terius jolted and looked at Yustea.
Indifferent, Yustea shook out her hand.
Stella looked up at her with trembling eyes.
“You… you….”
“Why? Did you think I’d let you hit me without hitting back?”
Terius’s eyes widened so far they nearly fell from his head as he swiveled them to take in the situation.
‘She just… with her fists… gave her sister a double nosebleed…?’
No word in the lexicon suited a lady.
He’d seen ladies quarrel among themselves and strike each other’s cheeks in frustration—though those were the only displays he’d witnessed.
And those encounters, he’d only observed a handful of times in his entire life.
During a period of intense harem intrigue, quite by accident in a deeply private corner of the palace.
He had never once witnessed a fist—least of all one with the middle finger extended rigid—brought down in a savage strike like that.
‘Are conflicts in Imperial high society always this vicious?’
It didn’t seem to be.
The Empire’s retinue, who had come running at the commotion, stood stunned at the sight of Stella bleeding from both nostrils and Yustea with her fist clenched.
The protocol officers who remained in Yeongbin Palace to assess the delegation’s condition.
Luciano, who had come to check on Yustea and Terius for being late.
And the palace attendants—all of them swiveled their eyes between Yustea and Stella.
“What… is… this?”
Guinevere asked in a bewildered voice.
At that, Roji let out a bitter laugh.
“Can’t you see? A fierce battle has broken out here in Yeongbin Palace too. Just as fierce as at the harbor.”
“Roji.”
Romeban coughed lightly and called to his sister.
Stella, shamed before so many witnesses, had gone deathly pale.
“How… how could you do something so crude, so base….”
“Nonsense.”
“What, what?”
“You hit me first. Whether you use your palm or your fist, it’s assault either way. Is there a hierarchy of assault?”
“I… I admit my hand flew out without thinking. But I was in a situation where normal behavior was impossible. I came to my senses and was panicked, trying to apologize….”
“You still don’t understand why I hate you.”
Yustea brushed back her hair and exhaled a burning breath.
Stella clenched her lips tight.
“Because I’m a concubine’s daughter! Because I’m endlessly inferior to you!”
Stella pushed herself up from the ground with trembling hands and fixed Yustea with a fierce glare.
“Is it my fault I was born a concubine’s daughter? I was simply born. When I was born, I was a concubine’s daughter. Do you think that made me feel at ease?”
“….”
“I’ve said it countless times. That despite everything, I tried to understand you and grow to like you—!”
Stella’s voice rose in anguish.
The surroundings grew silent.
The protocol officers, Terius, Luciano, and the others gathered around turned their attention to the sobbing Stella.
Stella trembled and gripped the hem of her skirt in her fists.
“I admit it. In your eyes, I must have fallen short. I understand.”
“….”
“The great Yustea. You, whom the whole world says is exceptional. I understand how deficient I must have seemed in your eyes.”
“….”
“I understand now that you, in your own way, tried to adjust me to Andres. I’ve had moments of frustration about myself, so you must have too.”
“….”
“But I was only ten years old when I came to Andres.”
Tears spilled from the large eyes fixed on Yustea.
“Only ten years old….”
“I was—.”
“I was just a little girl happy to be told I could live with Father. A little girl who gradually realized the weight of my mother’s sin and didn’t know what to do.”
“….”
“There’s no way I could achieve in a short time everything you’d earned through ten straight years of effort.”
“….”
“Do you know how lonely and frightened I was in Andres? Can you understand the heart of a concubine’s daughter constantly compared to her extraordinary sister?”
The faces of those watching Stella’s sobbing transformed.
Everyone had someone they felt was a wall.
Someone they could not surpass.
Themselves crumbling before overwhelming talent.
Memories of sleepless nights spent consumed by inferiority kindled empathy for Stella.
Yustea opened her mouth.
“So?”
Stella’s face crumpled.
Even those who had felt empathy for her now wore uncomfortable expressions as they looked at Yustea.
“Even so, that….”
“You’re right. Stella probably didn’t wish to be born a concubine’s daughter.”
Stella’s lips twisted.
“Yes. In such circumstances, it’s my fault I couldn’t make greater efforts. To you—brilliant Yustea, you who excels at everything, you who strive endlessly—my own desperate flailing could never—.”
“That doesn’t give you the right to be a perpetrator.”
“…What?”
“Just because you suffered doesn’t mean all your actions deserve unconditional understanding.”
“I….”
“I never once told you to apologize to me your whole life just because you’re a concubine’s daughter.”
“But… but you treated it as my fault when you were driven out….”
“What I found abhorrent because of that was Count Andres and Benjamin.”
“You’re lying…!”
Luciano let out a quiet chuckle.
Every word Yustea spoke was sincere.
The quest to settle her Ill-fated Relationships proved it.
In that quest, the designated ill-fated relationship was someone people wouldn’t easily recall.
In other words, whoever had remained as Yustea’s most unpleasant memory had been designated as the ill-fated connection.
Count Andres.
Benjamin.
And Emma.
The fact that Stella was not designated as a villain was proof that every word Yustea spoke now was genuine.
Stella swallowed hard.
The atmosphere began to shift.
The expressions of those who had pitied her were changing.
“But you… you act as if you’re taking revenge, stealing everyone I love….”
“What exactly did I steal from you?”
“Father too, and Yohaël, and Prince Terius—!”
Stella cried out at the top of her voice.
The expressions of the onlookers changed entirely.
Guinevere frowned and spoke.
“What are you talking about? Yustea never returned to Andres, nor did she end up with Prince Yohaël. As for Prince Terius….”
What kind of relationship could they possibly have?
When they looked at him with such expressions, Terius shrugged.
“I said I’m not a thing to be taken, didn’t I, Stella?”
Stella’s face flushed red.
“I… I only meant that you care for Yustea more than me….”
Roji, with her arms crossed, let out a scoffing laugh.
“No matter how much you dress up the words, the insane truth underneath always shows itself.”
At that, Stella’s voice caught.
“Are you insulting me?”
Roji spoke.
“If someone appears that he cares for more, that’s being stolen from?”
“…Pardon?”
“If you’re not his absolute priority, that’s being stolen from?”
“That’s…!”
“Fine, say you were stolen from. I don’t understand it, but let’s say that’s true. It seems there was some grand promise I don’t know about.”
“Why would you speak that way…!”
“Even if it were so, is all of that Yustea’s fault?”
“What do you mean…?”
“Why don’t you blame those men who didn’t recognize your efforts and cared for Yustea more than you?”
“…!”
Stella’s lips trembled.
‘That’s… well, you see….’
Yustea opened her mouth quietly.
“That’s the reason I came to hate you.”
“What….”
“The victimhood that pours only onto me. Harm based on that victimhood.”
“….”
“The shamelessness of calling everything you did to me unavoidable.”
“I….”
“Think carefully about yourself. This is your last chance.”
Yustea swung her fist.
When Stella flinched, Yustea lifted her head and spoke.
“If attacked, I retaliate. Don’t forget that’s the kind of person I am.”
With that, Yustea turned sharply on her heel.
Showing no intention of speaking further, she said to Luciano:
“Shall we go?”
“Let’s.”
He smiled slightly as he and Yustea left Yeongbin Palace.
Stella gripped her pale, trembling hands tightly amid the pouring gazes.
‘I’m not… I’m not such a shameless person.’
Yustea had cleverly picked at the crowd once more.
I had my reasons.
I….
As she thought this, Guinevere spoke.
“I’ve been thinking—unlike Yustea, you didn’t hold those three men in resentment. Wasn’t it because you viewed them as trophies?”
“…What?”
“Didn’t you think of them not as people but as possessions?”
As Stella’s face flushed crimson and purple, Romeban, Roji’s older brother, spoke.
“Had I been one of those three you mentioned, affection fading would have been inevitable, it seems.”
“What do you mean…?”
“I would not take as an object of affection someone who regarded me as a possession.”
“…!”
The crowd began to disperse.
Stella looked around in helpless confusion.
Someone approached her.
It was Terius.
Stella’s expression brightened at the sight of him.
“Your Highness….”
“I think you should leave Yeongbin Palace.”
“…Yes?”
“By now, you’ve repaid the debt sufficiently, I’d say.”
Stella’s expression hardened.
She hurriedly grabbed Terius’s arm.
“Wait, Your Highness…!”
“Today.”
“What am I to do without you? If you knew all I’ve done to be by your side…!”
“It wasn’t for me.”
“…Pardon?”
“It was all for you alone.”
Stella’s face went ashen as she opened and closed her mouth.
Terius withdrew her hand with a bitter smile.
“You need to think carefully about the direction of your sacrifice and effort. This is the last gift I give to my savior, Stella.”
With that, Terius walked away.
Stella collapsed into the empty rear garden.
‘What are they all saying?’
Why was only she wrong?
What would she do if everyone left her?
Without Father and Yohaël and Terius and even Mother… how was she supposed to live…?!
There was nothing left.
“What… what do I do? How… how do I do this? Oh, Mother…. What do I do…!”
Broken, Stella burst into tears of anguish.
* * *
When we arrived at Luciano Palace, a System Window appeared.
Episode complete.
-Your understanding among the people increases.
-The Imperial Heir’s trust in you increases.
-Terius’s understanding of you increases.
-Episode now available for progression.
.
.
As I was looking at the window, Luciano spoke.
“Is the episode involving Stella now concluded?”
“You can see the window?”
“At least well enough to see that an episode called has ended.”
It seems Luciano can see the rewards and upcoming episodes because he obtained the GM characteristic.
I nodded.
“She seems to fall outside the main story.”
I exhaled and sat down.
‘For now, or perhaps forever, it will be a parting.’
Stella was as good as crippled.
She wasn’t receiving help from the GM, and her connections had utterly abandoned her.
Her Public Approval Rating, which had been her greatest strength, was at its worst.
Now that girl posed no threat to me whatsoever.
“Should I congratulate you?”
“I’m just tired.”
In the midst of such trivial conversation.
Terius entered.
He sat across from me and asked.
“So, what did you want to talk about?”
“We need to settle accounts. For me cleaning up the mess Your Highness made.”
“Are you going to keep speaking formally? That’s a shame.”
“Informal speech is possible if you prefer.”
“That sounds better.”
Terius chuckled and asked.
“So what do you want?”

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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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