How to Replace Your Dad - Chapter 207

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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
Chapter 207
Those golden eyes that shone alone through the pitch-black night remained unchanged.
A spark of life danced in her irises.
But there were differences.
Her hair, which once barely touched her shoulder blades, had grown considerably.
The roundness of her cheeks had diminished slightly, and in its place, her once skeletal frame now carried a pleasing fullness.
Yustea, whom I was meeting for the first time in four years.
She strode forward and came to a halt between the Irregulars and the knights of other families.
Everyone forgot their flight and stared at Yustea.
Their eyes widened to saucers at the sight of the Saint who had appeared after four years’ absence.
“You. You. You.”
Yustea pointed out the knights who had been insulting the Irregulars, one by one with the tip of her finger.
The knights flinched.
Yustea smiled brightly.
“Stay right there.”
“Yes?”
“What….”
The knights muttered in confusion.
Yustea didn’t answer their questions.
Instead, she passed by the Irregulars and headed toward the temple.
The Irregulars sprang up in alarm.
“It’s dangerous, Miss!”
“Yes, that’s right!”
Even the Elite rushed toward Yustea.
At that moment.
Boom—!
With a tremendous crash, the temple wall collapsed in a heap.
It finally revealed itself.
The entity the senior priests of the temple and the Imperial Army had desperately sealed away.
The Death Knight—!
The Irregulars and Elite quickly drew their weapons.
But Yustea raised an arm to stop them and spoke.
“What is a Death Knight?”
“Uh… a dead knight?”
Even in his panic, only Antonio answered.
While rolling his eyes.
Yustea laughed softly.
“Correct.”
The dead.
In other words, a ghost.
“That’s my specialty.”
The moment the Death Knight began to move its massive body, Yustea pressed her hand to the ground.
Light emerged from where her fingertips touched.
The light became a violent wave that swallowed the Death Knight whole.
[Gaaaaahhh—!]
It was a chilling sound.
Enough to make the men cover their ears in agony.
But something was strange.
It sounded almost like a scream.
The Death Knight thrashed violently, as if swept away by a current.
But only for a moment.
Cracks spread across its body, and soon it began to crumble into sand.
“…?!”
“…!!!”
The other families’ knights and heirs who witnessed this turned rigid.
“Purification….”
“It can’t be. The senior priests couldn’t purify it even when they came in numbers.”
Even seeing it with their own eyes felt like a lie.
But Yustea turned her back on the Death Knight without hesitation.
The moment she did, the Death Knight crumbled completely into dust and vanished.
Yustea strode forward again, approaching the knights she had pointed out a moment before.
She smiled prettily.
The knights’ faces flushed crimson.
Four years ago, when I’d seen her headed to the Mirror World, she seemed more child than woman.
She’d been so small and thin that there was no room to perceive her as anything but a girl.
But the Yustea I faced today was different.
Fully blossomed, she commanded every eye.
A sweet fragrance seemed to brush the tip of one’s nose.
It was like the scent of spring flowers bearing dew, or like the fresh aroma of ripened fruit.
The knights swallowed hard.
“I… we… we greet you for the first time. I am….”
A knight with a dazed expression was just about to open his mouth.
Slash—!
“Ugh!”
Yustea kicked the knight’s knee.
She’d struck the bare skin, carefully avoiding the greave-covered portion.
Overcome by pain, the knight crouched down and gripped his knee.
Yustea spoke.
“What are you doing?”
“Yes?”
“Yes… yes…?”
As the other knights flinched, she smiled brightly.
“Kneel.”
All of you who wronged my children.
A guardian had arrived.
* * *
I faced their masters after making those who had been persecuting the Irregulars kneel.
“This is… why are you… why my knights….”
The masters looked between me and their knights in bewilderment.
They seemed torn between being surprised by my sudden appearance after four years and protesting the fact that someone else’s knights had been made to kneel.
I spoke.
“Your knights threatened my children.”
“What?”
“They were even prepared to throw one of my children to the Death Knight as prey.”
At that, the kneeling knights protested.
“We prioritized the evacuation of the young nobles and young masters.”
“Yes. We only meant to have them engage the Death Knight while we evacuated…!”
Hearing this, their masters frowned.
“I see. You made a mistake, but since this matter stemmed from a misunderstanding, I won’t lodge a formal complaint.”
“Why not? I believe I’m owed an apology and compensation.”
“What?”
The masters let out a bitter laugh.
“It was merely an unavoidable judgment made in a crisis situation.”
“So why were my children the unavoidable ones to be thrown to the Death Knight?”
“Well, they were closest to the Death Knight….”
“And I was standing just as close. Why was I conveniently left out?”
“That is….”
“And you dare speak of their ‘lowly origins’?”
“Their origins are indeed not particularly distinguished….”
“Children personally recruited and trained by Esgaroth, the Earl of Esgaroth?”
“….”
“Bring me a glove. You have insulted Esgaroth, the Earl of Esgaroth, and we must settle this with a duel!”
“I apologize!”
The knight’s master immediately bowed in apology.
The other masters did the same.
The faces of the knights who had insulted the Irregulars turned pale as death.
With their master bowing his head, any prospect of advancement was now gone.
But I decided to drive the final nail into the coffin of their lives.
“Only to me?”
At that, the masters clenched their eyes shut.
Not just to me, but the thought of apologizing to mere soldiers made their vision go dark.
Yet they could not stand against me—a Saint, the betrothed of the Second Prince, and the daughter of Esgaroth, the Earl of Esgaroth.
“…We are truly sorry.”
“We apologize on behalf of our knights’ insolence.”
“We will ensure that such incidents do not occur again.”
The faces of the Irregulars lit up.
Meanwhile, the knights who had insulted the Irregulars turned deathly pale.
With their masters flushed with anger, punishment within their family was inevitable.
If they were unlucky, they might even be cast out entirely.
I smiled brightly.
“That looks nice, by the way.”
“…Yes?”
“Is that a tracker?”
“It is, but….”
“It does look good.”
“….”
One of the masters of the knights who had insulted the Irregulars—the one holding the tracker—clenched his eyes shut once more.
Then he handed me the tracker.
And so I thoroughly emptied the master’s pockets.
I looked at the knights still kneeling.
And I opened my mouth.
“Get d—shame….”
But the Irregulars were faster than me.
“Get d—shamed on you!”
“Get d—shamed on you!”
It was a resounding chorus.
Watching them seem to have their chest cleared of years of buildup, I chuckled.

The insulting knights and their masters withdrew with slumped shoulders.
I turned my body toward the Irregulars.
“How have you been….”
“What happened?!”
Yuise shouted.
“You said you wouldn’t cross the Red Eclipse under any circumstances. That’s what should happen!”
With my appearance, the Restoration Council would do everything in their power to target me.
Yuise was concerned about exactly that point.
His face was contorted with worry.
But I didn’t answer and simply stared at him.
“Why won’t you answer….”
“You’ve had a hard time.”
Yuise flinched.
I placed my hand on his cheek.
“That’s how you became an adult.”
“…What do you know about it.”
“Adults worry first.”
“….”
Yuise turned his head away.
With his teeth clenched tight.
He was holding back sadness.
That too was proof of his maturity.
“How hard has it been?”
“…Not much.”
“You haven’t gotten better at lying.”
When I smiled wryly, the other unit members made pained expressions.
The unit members spoke up in a rush.
“It was incredibly hard! Most of the Seven Families collapsed, so the waves of power struggles were intense!”
“The First Prince returned and clashed with Andres, so defending was another ordeal!”
“The Restoration Council keeps popping up even after we catch them, causing chaos…!”
“If we make even a small mistake, they come at us eagerly to protest!”
“As a result, the unit leaders have been called to disciplinary hearings several times! Yuise was called the most!”
Waaah!
It was like children tattling to their mother.
“You worked hard protecting them.”
I’d heard that with the Clan Leader taking charge of Cuaron, Yuise had become responsible for the Irregulars in the Archipelago.
He had been desperate.
To protect the Irregulars.
“Now you can just be yourself.”
Yuise rested his forehead against my shoulder.
“Welcome back.”
Finally hearing a proper greeting, I laughed softly.
The other Elite members nodded from behind Yuise.
But the touching reunion was brief.
“But why did you really come?”
Yuise immediately raised his head and fixed me with a piercing stare.
His temperament had grown impatient again, as it had been four years ago.
“Do you know I have a trait called the ‘Divine Point’?”
“Of course. It’s been very helpful.”
“The Divine Point showed me something.”
Do not bury Father’s corpse.
The enemy watches for the time of mourning.
When I relayed the Divine Point’s message, the Irregulars’ expressions changed instantly.
“The Clan Leader is going to die?”
“I don’t know.”
“But it says Father….”
“I have another person I can call Father.”
“…Count Andres.”
I nodded.
“But if it really is Father who dies, I can’t just sit still.”
Yuise nodded.
He understands what Father and I mean to each other.
“It’s okay. You’ve always changed the Divine Point before.”
“Yeah.”
I smiled brightly.
Yes, I came back to change this future.
So….
“First, let’s find the Mage Stones.”
Since I’ve come this far, I won’t return empty-handed.

* * *
The Imperial Palace.
The families’ people mobilized for the Mage Stone search had gathered.
The heirs of their families stood behind their knights with heads bowed.
“So you’re saying you didn’t find a single one?!”
Prince Gaspard shouted in frustration.
Both Prince Ain and Prince Ludvico let out sighs.
Mage Stones were essential for reinforcing the barrier.
“If this goes on, I’ll catch some grief from Luciano.”
Ain shrugged his shoulders.
At that, Gaspard let out a derisive laugh.
“You didn’t actually think your connections would find one, did you?”
The Emperor had promised a reward to whichever prince brought him a Mage Stone.
So the princes were desperate, even issuing mobilization orders to the deepest-rooted noble families.
The fact that Ain thought his side might find one was laughable.
A man with such lowly origins—a mother like Mobi—dreaming so big.
“Ah, well, Luciano did mobilize your maternal relatives and Esgaroth. It would’ve been reasonable to hope. Though Esgaroth hasn’t shown up even now.”
Ain raised an eyebrow.
“Don’t be sarcastic.”
“Am I wrong?”
Ain frowned.
If not for the Empress’s return, he would have thrown a punch.
But then it happened.
Those bearing Esgaroth’s banner entered the Imperial Palace.
But….
“A carriage?”
The princes rose from their seats.
Those watching the carriage widened their eyes.
The figure walking behind the carriage looked familiar.
Gaspard’s face went rigid.
At the same moment, Ain cried out.
“Yustea!”
Yustea turned and said, “Oh.”
She bowed respectfully.
“I greet you.”
It was definitely Yustea.
Those spring-bloom locks with their lustrous sheen, those eyes bright as the morning star.
Even that flawlessly graceful bearing that seemed as if pricking it would yield not a drop of blood.
Yet she was far more beautiful than she had been as a child.
The princes’ pupils trembled slightly.
‘No, that’s not the important thing.’
There was something more pressing than her unexpected arrival.
Gaspard extended trembling fingers, pointing at Yustea.
“How did… did you participate in the search?”
Yustea nodded.
Then she spoke.
“Would you accept this first?”
“What is it?”
“Mage Stones.”
“Mage Stones?!”
Gaspard sprang forward as if launched.
Ain followed in urgent haste toward the carriage.
Gaspard’s eyes trembled.
“You found them…?”
“Yes. But….”
Yustea’s expression turned troubled.
She placed a hand to her cheek and sighed.
“The quantity is rather large.”
Gaspard quickly lifted the cloth covering the carriage.
Inside were three Mage Stones of enormous size.
“…!”
Yustea spoke.
“Would you accept them, Prince Ain?”
Well, well.
I’d certainly chosen a good sister-in-law.

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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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