How to Replace Your Dad - Chapter 213

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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 a Father
Chapter 213
I entered the border region where Mother and the others had been held captive.
But there was a problem.
“The signal’s gone dead.”
The tracking device on the Marchioness Navarro had lost its signal at some point.
Duke Navarro and the Marquis looked hollow-eyed.
“Ah… ah, Claire….”
The Marquis called out his daughter-in-law’s name, gripping his forehead.
The Duke—the son—was in worse shape than his father.
I steadied Duke Navarro as he swayed on his feet, about to collapse, and asked, “Was she captured by the Reconstruction Council and the tracking device taken? Or did she cross the border and lose signal?”
“That’s difficult to confirm,” Yuise reported.
I bit my lip at her words.
I looked around, hoping to find some clue.
That’s when I realized something.
‘There’s no restroom.’
We weren’t just talking about one or two people confined here—there wasn’t a trace of a restroom anywhere.
I slammed my hand against the wall with a sharp bang.
The startled men asked, “What is it?”
“The girls were bait from the start.”
“What…?”
“They were drawing in family and lovers.”
I spoke coldly.
It meant they had no intention of returning the girls unharmed.
If the men formed a pursuit team and came after them, the girls were meant to serve as human shields to hold them back.
I clenched my teeth.
‘Mother would definitely have figured it out.’
Mother wasn’t the type to miss that kind of situation.
Which made me even more anxious.
If Mother realized it, she wouldn’t have just sat quietly.
She would have done something—anything—to escape.
And what if she got seriously hurt in the process?
What if her life was in danger…?
‘Please….’
I clenched my trembling hands tight.
That’s when it happened.
“Yustea!”
Yuise came running.
She was so urgent that she forgot to use formal speech with me in front of everyone else.
A communication stone was in her hand.
“Lady Dia…!”
“…!”
I rushed toward the communication stone.
The moment my anxious, heat-flushed hand reached for it—
[Son-in-law! Just bring the whole pot with you~!]
…Son-in-law?
What was this supposed to mean?
* * *
Border. Prince Luciano’s quarters.
Luciano was watching Dia scrape at a pot of food with a peculiar expression.
The moment she’d told him their location, she’d been eating like a woman possessed.
Dia felt his gaze and lifted her head.
“What?”
“Looking for any resemblance to Yustea,” Luciano answered gently.
Dia stared at him with a spoon still buried in the pot.
Yustea was the kind of girl who didn’t drop a single crumb when eating.
It was thanks to Marchioness Andres’s excessively harsh training.
Dia muttered as she scraped the pot vigorously.
“There’s nothing alike about it. That girl is kind and good-hearted like no one else. An angel fallen from the heavens, my daughter is.”
Luciano’s eyes widened for a moment, then he laughed softly.
“There is indeed a resemblance.”
“…What?”
“How deeply you both cherish each other.”
The room fell quiet.
Dia turned her gaze away, flustered.
“So that’s how you charmed my daughter.”
“And might your mother also be won over?”
“Ha! For someone with the best face, you’re smooth-talking too. That makes the mother-in-law nervous.”
Dia hugged the pot and let out a delighted laugh.
That’s when it happened.
Click—the door opened.
“Mother!”
In that instant, Dia tossed the pot aside and spread both arms wide.
“My daughter~!”
Dia smothered Yustea’s cheeks with kisses and patted her shoulder.
“Goodness, look at my girl’s face! Have you been eating well? Hmm?”
“Mother, what happened!”
Yustea ignored her mother’s fussing as if it were routine and pressed for details.
Dia spilled out what had transpired—discovering a sewer, swearing she’d make sausages from those bastards’ guts….
The expression drained from Yustea’s face.
She had asked her mother to stay put, yet the woman had come back with a whole adventure story to tell.
But at least she was safe, so Yustea released a long sigh.
Then she turned her gaze to Luciano.
“Thank you for rescuing my mother.”
Luciano smiled gently.
My fiancé. I hadn’t seen him in four years.
There was no trace of the boyish beauty from childhood in him anymore.
Well-groomed, soft silver hair.
Crimson eyes that gleamed with sharp clarity.
A tall, lean frame that commanded an ineffable, subtle pressure.
Luciano slowly reached out and carefully took my fingertips.
His wrist carried a scent of cologne I’d never smelled before—distinctly adult.
“I missed you.”
My face flushed red.
I looked up at Luciano.
Somehow the air felt sweet.
“I… too.”
Just as I was saying that—
Bang!
Father kicked the door open.
The aura he radiated was like a patriarch who’d heard a wild beast had breached his home and come armed to the teeth.
“Ah, Father, why didn’t you wait….”
I stammered in shock, and Father replied with an expressionless face.
“I smelled hyena.”
I swallowed hard.
His eyes looked ready to tear Luciano apart.
Father glared at Luciano.
“Let go. Your hands, now.”
“That would be difficult. We’re stuck together like magnets.”
Sparks flew between Father and Luciano’s eyes.
Father cast a glance toward Dia.
A call for reinforcement.
“Mother might also think this doesn’t look so good.”
Dia was Luciano’s most formidable enemy.
She loved her daughter fiercely and was rough beyond measure.
With a track record of kicking at Luciano (or trying to before being stopped), she was Yustea’s last line of defense.
So when Aslan looked eagerly toward Dia—
“Looks good to me.”
…Betrayal?
Aslan’s expression slowly twisted.
Meanwhile, Luciano smiled.
The smile of a confident victor.
* * *
Father was crushed.
He stared at Mother with such a shocked face it was almost pitiful.
I tilted my head.
The dynamic between Dia and Luciano was strangely good.
I slipped over to Luciano and whispered, “What happened?”
“It’s all about luck, really.”
“What?”
Luciano just smiled mysteriously.
‘Is it because he saved Mother…?’
As I thought that, Luciano was watching me intently, chin propped on his hand.
“Why are you looking at me like that?”
“The promise from four years ago. I’m wondering whether to tell you I haven’t forgotten it.”
“You said you’d kiss me.”
“….”
“While telling me you’d missed me. That you missed me so much.”
Recalling that promise, I swallowed dryly.
My pupils trembled slightly, and Luciano sighed gently.
“So it is difficult.”
His voice carried resignation.
As he said “Fine” and began to rise—
I glanced around urgently.
Then I whispered like a black-market merchant hawking contraband.
“Tonight….”
“…?”
“Come.”
“…!”
I could feel Luciano’s gaze intensify, but I bolted away without hesitation.
Then he gave chase.
His speed was absurdly fast.
“Ahhh! Stop! Don’t come!”
“You say that and run? Did you think I’d just say ‘very well, miss’ and let you go?”
I was practically fleeing from a predator.
Whoosh—!
He caught me from behind and pulled me into an embrace.
A shrill scream tore from me in surprise.
I covered my face with both hands and mumbled, “People are watching….”
“Let them. You’re mine.”
His voice was soft, honeyed.
“And I’m yours.”
Ohhhh—.
My entire body throbbed like a single heartbeat.
Somewhere inside me felt uncomfortable.
My heart pounded wildly, my lungs seemed to squeeze, my chest tingled so much I worried I’d develop asthma.
But I gathered all my courage and opened my mouth.
“I’m… I’m yours—.”
Then it happened.
“Lucia…?”
A cautious voice came from somewhere.
I turned my head in surprise.
There was a girl.
Thin bangs hung down to her nose, obscuring her face.
I examined her carefully.
Between the bangs, I caught a glimpse of crimson eyes.
‘Red eyes….’
A symbol of a curse.
Just like Luciano’s.
She was so small and frail that her age was impossible to gauge.
And she carried what looked like a stray dog—dirty, scrawny, diminutive.
“Your Highness.”
Luciano released me and approached her.
‘Your Highness?’
I blinked.
Luciano introduced her.
“A princess of the Anatol Kingdom. And….”
He met my gaze directly.
“A Player.”
A Player?
I spun to face him in shock.
‘Like me—a Player of the game?’
“It’s she who granted the patterns to the Reconstruction Council all this while.”
“…!”
I took a sharp breath.
* * *
The Irregular Elite, Father, Luciano, and I discussed the princess inside the barracks.
Luciano’s explanation was this:
She was the illegitimate daughter born when the King of Anatol fathered a child with a common village woman during his travels.
Because her mother was of low birth, she had never been acknowledged and had been locked away in a tower.
In Anatol, those with red eyes faced especially harsh rejection, so the king never recognized her as his daughter.
Then the Game Master—who had abandoned Stella—found her.
The Game Master granted her a trait, allowing her to manifest patterns in those with narratives.
So the Anatol side, the Game Master, and the Reconstruction Council made a deal, and she fell into Reconstruction Council custody.
“While the Reconstruction Council was in chaos over kidnapping the girls, she fled to the border and asked me for help.”
At Luciano’s explanation, I looked at the princess.
“Why did you choose Luciano?”
“Um… my favorability rating didn’t show….”
“What?”
“The favorability didn’t appear for this person. It was my first time. I thought… he was special….”
No favorability rating?
Was that even possible?
Even people who hated me showed 0 favorability—it still appeared.
As I examined the situation by studying the princess closely, she grabbed Luciano’s collar and recoiled.
She seemed frightened of people.
Luciano gently pushed her hand away.
“Didn’t I tell you not to touch me?”
“….”
Her face grew pouty, as though she might cry.
Luciano seemed to be the only person she relied on here.
I spoke gently.
“What’s your name?”
“…Raven.”
“What?”
“I was called Raven….”
The Irregular Elite’s expressions changed.
“Those bastards….”
Antonio’s face twisted with anguish.
The others were equally stirred.
The princess tried to hide, trembling as she clutched Luciano’s collar.
But Luciano restrained her, leaving only her head hung low.
That’s when Mother came in.
“Calypso. That child’s name is Calypso.”
“What?”
“I saw her called by that name in a past life. This name probably came afterward.”
Mother gently lifted Calypso’s chin.
Calypso flinched in surprise, her shoulders bunching.
“Anyway, this has gotten complicated. We have the Reconstruction Council’s treasure in our hands.”
The Reconstruction Council would certainly launch a full assault.
I bit my lip and spoke, “Let’s go to the Archipelago. We’ll hide her somewhere as safe as possible….”
Right as I said that—
Kaboom—!
A massive sound erupted.
Everyone rushed out of the barracks.
White Dragons—the very symbol of the Reconstruction Council—swarmed around the camp.
Upon them rode figures who looked like Reconstruction Council soldiers, controlling the dragons.
That’s when—
[I’ve always hated disobedient girls. They complicate things.]
A well-dressed man was visible in the distance.
Without doubt, a Reconstruction Council executive.
I quickly pulled Calypso into my arms and shouted, “Form ranks!”
Battle had begun.
To keep her out of harm’s way, I tried to get Calypso to safety immediately.
But the moment I moved—
Whoosh—!
A rope shot toward Calypso.
The Irregular Elite blocked it.
Luciano positioned himself in front of us and fought.
“Hurry, Calypso!”
“Ah, doggy…!”
The dog escaped from Calypso’s arms.
Because Calypso chased after the dog, protection became difficult.
I ran after her to grab her.
Clang—!
A barrier the Reconstruction Council had erected began to tighten around Calypso and me.
I threw myself forward instantly.
The barrier caught only one person.
* * *
The Irregulars and Luciano resisted fiercely, and the Reconstruction Council eventually retreated.
But the princess alone was taken.
Back at their headquarters, the Reconstruction Council executives exhaled in relief.
The expression of Rafael, the executive who had masterminded the kidnapping of the girls, was frozen.
He was furious enough to go mad.
If not for the princess, he would have pursued them and killed a few of those dogs.
Another executive tried to console Rafael.
“The mission failed, but we did retrieve the princess. Isn’t that a win?”
He then gestured to the barrier practitioners.
“Break the barrier. The princess needs proper education.”
The barrier dissolved.
What appeared was….
“Ow, my back.”
Yustea, rubbing her lower back.
Screech—!
A chair scraped harshly as someone stood abruptly.
Yustea and his gaze met.
‘Why are you coming out from there.’
‘Hey, Oscar.’
Yustea smiled awkwardly.

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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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