How to Replace Your Dad - Chapter 223

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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 223
* * *
Luciano had to stop at the Imperial Palace first to report on the border incident.
It was custom for those who came to greet him to follow him all the way to the palace.
Which meant I, who had just brushed lips with Luciano in front of everyone, had to follow along too.
“….”
“….”
“….”
Everyone was silent.
But their eyes were moving frantically.
Looking at me, then at Luciano, then at the color of lipstick on my lips, then at the lipstick smudged on Luciano’s.
I whispered to Luciano.
“Your, your lips should probably be wiped….”
Luciano laughed brightly.
Could this man smile so radiantly?
At his bewilderingly luminous grin, I could only blink.
And then I lost my train of thought.
Only after Luciano started walking again did I regain my senses and hurry to catch up with him.
“Your lips. Your lips.”
“What about my lips?”
He asked, his smile radiant enough to cast a halo.
“You have lipstick on them. You need to wipe it….”
“Hmm.”
Now that I think about it….
‘He knows and isn’t wiping it at all!’
He had no intention whatsoever of cleaning it off.
As if he were showing it off.
Just thinking of him going before the Emperor and his ministers like this gave me a headache.
I glanced around and lowered my voice.
“Wipe it.”
“Not interested.”
“I said wipe it.”
“No.”
This is driving me insane, truly.
Luciano didn’t mind at all and arrived at the Imperial Palace.
He even finished his report looking exactly like that.
The Emperor and his ministers alternated their gaze between the lipstick on my lips and the lipstick smudged on Luciano’s mouth.
I regretted pointing out the lipstick smudged on Father’s and Mother’s lips at the border camp last time.
It was such an embarrassing situation!
I should have just ignored it.
In the end, this report seemed to have turned into a public display of the Second Prince’s couple’s affection.
‘I must be insane.’
To nervously just dab lipstick on Callipso out of anxiety.
I gazed into the distance at faraway mountains with a bewildered expression.
* * *
A shrimp appeared on the spoon scooping soup.
I was the one scooping the soup, and it was Luciano who placed the shrimp on it with his chin propped up, grinning widely.
He really… looked happy.
I stared at him with clouded eyes.
“Weren’t you angry?”
He had been angry because I wasn’t thinking of my own safety.
“Go ask any passing man—is there any man who could stay angry when his lover does something so cute?”
“….”
“Though you shouldn’t actually go grab someone and ask them.”
“….”
His expression suggested he’d break the wrist of any man I grabbed.
“Did the kiss feel that good?”
“A kiss? Ah, that felt good too.”
His tone implied there was something even better.
When I furrowed my brow, he curved his lips up.
“Jealousy.”
At that, I startled and the shrimp fell off the spoon.
“I thought it was only I who felt jealous.”
Luciano placed the shrimp back on the spoon as he spoke.
I ate the shrimp he’d placed and said.
“…I do. I’m jealous.”
Luciano laughed as if he owned the entire world.
A man born as the Emperor’s second son, blessed with such tremendous talent, and who had further cultivated his martial prowess through effort.
That this brilliantly shining man acted as if he owned the entire world over my single jealousy was absurd.
…But cute.
Heat rose naturally to my cheeks.
I was trying to fan myself and turn my head away when my chin was caught.
With eyes lowered, he drew near.
Just as our lips were about to meet.
“I understand there’s plenty of affection, but I wish you’d understand there’s also plenty of work to be done.”
It was Ain.
Standing askew in the open doorway, he was watching us.
Beside him, his Death Servant, Eppy, slid smoothly into the room.
I quickly approached Eppy.
“Eppy. It’s been a while.”
“Bi, sit still.”
At that, Eppy quickly coiled into a ball and settled beside Ain.
“What is it?”
Luciano had returned to his usual expressionless face.
Ain spoke with an annoyed look.
“The game board has flipped. Your brother brought the Reconstruction Council’s Saint, and made a friendly exchange with a foreign power—only for it all to become meaningless.”
“What do you mean?”
I asked, startled, and Ain crossed his arms.
“Yohael, arriving one step behind your brother, brought something even bigger.”
“The First Prince?”
“That’s right. Humans can access the Divine Channel.”
“…!”
I flinched in shock.
The ability to access the Divine Channel was a secret held only by those with Patterns.
Both the Reconstruction Council and I knew of it, but it wasn’t something disclosed to the outside world.
“Your expression suggests you already knew. Why didn’t you say so first?”
“There are things in the world that should be revealed and things that shouldn’t. The Channel is something that shouldn’t be.”
It was too powerful a force.
The Reconstruction Council had grown all this time on the strength of the Channel or something like it.
Once you obtain a Pattern and complete a god’s cruel task, you gain tremendous power.
“This means cruel tasks at the national level are about to begin.”
“It’s already started.”
My expression hardened.
I immediately accessed the Common Channel.
But there was no task posted on the Common Channel.
“A task was received through a higher channel.”
Ain’s eyes widened slightly.
“You can access it too?”
“Yes.”
“Right, it was received from Channel Five, I hear. …By Callipso.”
At the mention of Callipso, both Luciano’s and my expression changed.
Ain continued.
“Your brother brought her, but it’s Yohael who’s reaping the benefits. Yohael even showed everyone Callipso accessing the Channel and receiving a task. They’re all singing Callipso’s praises. The Temple, of course….”
He spoke on with a twisted smile at the corner of his mouth.
“They’re trying to make her into a new Saint.”
“….”
“….”
Luciano and I fell silent.
Ain rose from his seat.
“So do well. Don’t get pushed out.”
Though his tone was cutting, I smiled brightly.
Ain flinched.
“You came out of concern, didn’t you? Thank you.”
“…Well. There’s also the favor of saving Bi.”
With that, Ain left, taking Eppy with him.
Luciano looked at me.
“I’ll arrange things to restrict Callipso’s actions.”
“Please don’t. If you do, people will think I’m oppressing Callipso by borrowing my fiancé’s power.”
“Isn’t it unfair? You’ve built achievements and provided proof all this time, yet you’re in a situation where everyone’s eyes turn red for a new Saint. Surely that’s enough to be sick of.”
Luciano stared at me intently.
I laughed.
“I gained so much through the title of the first Saint. I was able to support Father becoming a Marquis, and though I fell from noble society once, I stood again with the name of Saint.”
“….”
“Everything has yin and yang. I must take responsibility for what I possess.”
People offer praise and support in exchange for proof.
Are you someone we can trust and follow?
Are you someone who can put our minds at ease?
Are your abilities limited to just that?
—Such kinds of proof.
The greater the expectation, the more one cannot fail to meet it.
That was the weight of the chain that those beloved by the masses must bear.
“Isn’t it overwhelming?”
Luciano’s voice was dark.
I grasped his cheek and whispered.
“I think I’m a strange person.”
“…What?”
“I’m thrilled.”
To smash through the world’s distrust of me and the enmity of my enemies.
My eyes sharpened with light.
The next day, I learned the task that Callipso had received.
A task from Channel Five’s Sage of Intellect.
It was to offer up a spear that cleaves the sea.
* * *
The Empress’s Palace.
A teacup sat before Callipso, who was tense.
“Drink.”
At the Empress’s words, Callipso gripped the teacup with both hands.
She didn’t know etiquette.
Yohael removed Callipso’s left hand and spoke.
“Tea is held with one hand. Don’t stick your fingers inside the handle—hold it by the handle itself.”
“Yes, yes….”
Callipso grasped the handle with a tense face.
Crash—!
The cup fell from her imperfect grip and tea spilled everywhere.
The Empress sighed and rose.
“It will take time to learn etiquette. Stella would have been better at this.”
“She’s said to be a quick learner, so she should pick it up soon.”
“We’ll see.”
“After the task is completed, there will be a banquet. If she makes a scene like this before the ministers and clergy, it will be I and my mother who lose face. Please teach her well.”
At Yohael’s words, the Empress’s eyebrow twitched.
“He doesn’t seem to think that girl will fail the task.”
“It’s a Channel Five task. Few have access to it. Among those, Callipso alone has received a task. With no rivals, she’ll succeed easily.”
“What about Yustea?”
“She gained quite a few Points from the last task of the Goddess of Beauty, but she won’t be able to reach Channel Five.”
It would take at least a year to scrape together enough Points from the Common Channel to attempt entry to Channel Five.
Higher gods rarely post tasks to the Common Channel, aside from the Goddess of Beauty.
Even the Goddess of Beauty posts to the Common Channel only once or twice a year.
The tasks of lower gods offer only pittance in Points, so entry to Channel Five would be nothing but a dream.
Callipso spoke hesitantly.
“I have a task to complete, so etiquette lessons are… very difficult….”
“We will complete the task. You merely need to offer it to the god.”
“I beg your pardon?”
“We’ve already discovered what the spear that cleaves the sea is.”
Triaerdan—a Divine Relic sleeping in the West Sea.
That was it.
Yohael’s lips curved up coldly.
‘Now it is you who will fall. …Luciano.’
Callipso gazed at that face uneasily.
In the dead of night.
Callipso hesitated.
She lingered in front of Luciano Palace instead of returning to the room the Imperial Palace had given her.
After a time, Luciano came out from the palace.
Callipso’s face brightened the moment she saw him.
But then she faltered and stopped.
Because Yustea was beside Luciano.
“Callipso, this man is mine. So don’t touch him.”
Remembering that resolute voice, her body went rigid.
“Callipso?”
The one who spoke first was Yustea.
“Ah, hello, Miss….”
When she spoke in a timid voice, Yustea asked.
“What’s the matter?”
“It’s about… the task… I wanted to tell you… Um… I heard from Prince Yohael… And I thought it would be good to tell you about the task… Um… The Prince was looking for….”
Callipso, speaking nervously in a scattered way, squeezed her eyes shut.
‘Why am I always like this….’
She hated that she couldn’t speak coherently.
Yustea took her hand.
“It’s okay. Take your time.”
The muscles in her palm twitched.
Callipso, staring at Yustea, hunched her shoulders.
‘Miss seems to dislike me… so why does this put me at ease…?’
She, whose lips trembled slightly, spoke.
“The spear that cleaves the sea is called Triaerdan. It’s said to be submerged in the West Sea….”
“Triaerdan.”
Yustea and Luciano’s eyes met.
Triaerdan was certainly a Divine Relic befitting the task.
Callipso murmured.
“I thought it would be good if you found it first….”
“That’s impossible. We didn’t receive a task from Channel Five.”
“Ah….”
“But thank you for telling us.”
Callipso started in surprise and looked at her.
“No, that’s not… I….”
Her voice grew timid.
It wasn’t an unpleasant feeling.
* * *
Jedo Esgaroth Estate.
Irregulars who had come at the summons frowned.
“How petty—receiving a Channel Five task? Miliano, can’t you access Channel Five?”
“I almost never do tasks, so Channel Five is impossible for me. Ha ha….”
Antonio grumbled with a sullen face.
Yustea’s Team and Cesar also looked displeased.
“Making Callipso into a new Saint, is it.”
“I understand now why the Reconstruction Council isn’t risking their necks to steal Callipso away.”
“They’re making Callipso into a Saint so she’ll learn this and that with the Temple’s help, and then they’ll take her when the time is right.”
“We can’t let her become a Saint. We need to steal Triaerdan away, don’t we?”
Cesar furrowed his brow.
The Irregulars spoke back and forth with sharp voices, and I looked around and found ‘that person’.
“Where is she? Did you bring her? Huh?”
Asked eagerly, Yustea’s Team said “Yeah” and rose.
“I did bring her. But why in the world did you ask for her?”
“Retrieving Triaerdan is impossible. It’ll take an absurd amount of money and manpower. And even then, there’s no guarantee we could retrieve it.”
“But no matter how much it takes or how many people we need, we’ll manage it in the end.”
“That means we have time. For us!”
So ‘that person’ is what we need.
I looked at the person brought in by Yustea’s Team and smiled wickedly.

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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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