How to Replace Your Dad - Chapter 236

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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
Episode 236
Crack—
The Royal Palace began to shake.
At the same time, system messages flooded in at tremendous speed.
[Abel: Barrier Dissolution successful.]
[Oscar: So I’m just a transport now, am I.]
[Oscar: Hold on tight.]
[Oscar: The tremors are intense. Abel doesn’t know the meaning of restraint.]
[Abel: When are you getting here.]
[Abel: Everything’s such a hassle….]
‘It worked!’
Why else would I have asked Michiya to put the necklace on me?
It wasn’t really out of concern that my family would worry about me.
I have the system message window, so I can relay information to the Irregulars.
The reason I asked her to put on the necklace was because it was a special object.
‘Bongmaseok.’
The Demon Sealing Stone—as toxic as poison to those of the Divine Line.
‘It was a pain to bring here.’
Even wrapped in triple layers of cloth and hidden in my bag, it felt unsettling.
Still, I brought it because I was carrying out a Divine Task.
In case the Pattern Manifestor attacked.
The Demon Sealing Stone was just a rock to anyone who wasn’t a Divine Line user, so it passed through inspection without a hitch.
There was no problem with Michiya, who wasn’t a Divine user, hanging it on the castle wall.
But….
‘It’s lethal to Divine power.’
The moment the Gillose Kingdom sensed the barrier disturbance and mobilized priests to reinforce it, it was over.
Without knowing the Demon Sealing Stone was inside, their calculations would fail.
That’s why it caused such a massive backlash, shattering the existing barrier entirely.
“Your Majesty!”
A Gillose attendant rushed in with a deathly pale face.
“A report from the Security Tower!”
“What is it?”
“There seems to have been an accident during Sacred Enhancement due to a barrier anomaly. That is….”
The attendant glanced at me and whispered to the King of Gillose.
He couldn’t have said something like “the calculation failed during Sacred Enhancement” in front of a foreign visitor.
The King of Gillose’s face twisted after hearing the attendant’s whispers.
Then the attendant went pale and spoke.
“We are investigating the cause.”
Fat chance.
The barrier was shattered. That was it.
[Abel: Infiltration successful.]
[Oscar: Demon Sealing Stone recovered.]
The Irregulars had infiltrated the moment the barrier broke.
The King of Gillose clenched his fists tight.
He pulled his lips into a smile, but his eyes glistened.
“It seems our evening must be postponed for another time.”
I nodded quickly.
“A wise decision.”
And I glanced around as if turning to leave.
‘I’ve been bothered by this since earlier. That thing.’
That glass tube attached above the head of the king’s bed.
It held the horns of a cow—the Quest item from the Consort Selection Competition.
And on top of those horns hung something strange.
Something like a ceramic shard.
My eyes lit up.
‘It’s a Fragment of Grace.’
Once I confirmed the target’s location, I pulled my lips into a smile where no one could see.
* * *
Night.
Michiya shook her head while sipping tea.
“The barrier breach caused absolute chaos.”
“….”
“Honestly, how much further will discipline decay?”
“….”
“A king with no interest in discipline is flipping the palace on its head.”
“…Are you allowed to be here?”
This was the room the king had locked me in.
Michiya had entered without hesitation and even ordered tea.
When Michiya—the queen’s cousin and a nobleman’s daughter—demanded it, the maidservant quickly brought it.
‘She lectures about discipline while doing something like this….’
I was speechless.
Michiya shrugged.
“Isis and I became final candidates and were admitted to the Imperial Palace. But the Consort Selection Competition was suspended due to the barrier incident, and since it’s hard to chat with Isis, my competitor, I thought I’d spend time with you.”
So she dislikes Isis, her competitor, but a spy from another nation is fine? I couldn’t understand the logic.
Still, hearing information about Gillose’s palace from Michiya was advantageous.
I quietly pushed the refreshment plate toward her.
“What is Isis doing?”
“Who knows? I saw her strolling through the rear garden in the afternoon.”
I hummed softly.
Michiya picked up a cookie from the refreshments and spoke.
“Why?”
“I was wondering if Isis might be the informant.”
“The informant…? You mean the person who informed on you?”
“Yep.”
I said it brightly.
The king had said that the one who revealed I was a Saint was “a competitor of mine and Grian’s.”
Someone performing a Divine Task.
‘Apart from me and Grian, anyone performing a Divine Task would likely be someone from outside.’
The Consort Selection Competition was a perfect cover.
They could have used it as a pretext to enter, just as we did.
Moreover….
“Isis has been searching everywhere in the palace.”
That night when Michiya and Isis secretly left their lodgings.
Michiya was rummaging through the pantry with my food supplies.
And Isis was searching the palace, according to Grian.
As we were discussing this….
Knock, knock.
A knock sounded.
Michiya rose quickly.
“That must be a signal to go. I can’t be caught staying too long.”
So she definitely hadn’t come through proper channels.
She seemed to have bribed soldiers and attendants.
I again felt Gillose’s remarkable discipline slip away and nodded.
The door opened and Michiya left.
The soldiers in the room changed, as if for a guard rotation.
I watched the new soldiers who had lined up against the wall.
And….
“Should I apologize first?”
They stared at me.
“Prince Luciano said to come see you when we returned.”
“I agree.”
“This is getting tedious….”
“Hah, Young Lady, you’ve really outdone yourself this time.”
They—the Elite members of the Irregulars disguised as soldiers.
Yuise, Cesar, and Abel glared at me. Miliano laughed awkwardly.
I clasped my hands together quickly.
“I’m sorry~!”
* * *
My ears are ringing.
Yuise and Cesar had lectured me for a full twenty minutes straight.
I could still hear comments like “Do you have any sense?” and “We’ve informed the Clan Leader, so prepare yourself to die, got it?” ringing in my ears.
While I was barely conscious, the Irregulars discussed among themselves.
“In all my years, I’ve never seen a castle this easy to infiltrate.”
“But security will be tightened now.”
“We can’t use the route we came in. We’ll need to find an underground secret passage.”
“Seems like we could just smash through….”
“No matter how rotten the discipline, a frontal assault on the Royal Palace is impossible. …Or is it?”
Even the Irregulars seemed bewildered by Gillose’s astounding lack of discipline.
I shook off the echo of the lecture and spoke.
“Gillose is in chaos because of the king’s tyranny.”
The kingdom was full of people seeking only their own survival.
If they could fill their own bellies, they treated the palace’s safety and the greater good like trash.
If the king’s favor turned, even nobles became targets. Who would be loyal to him?
“If we exploit that, we can destroy the Fragment of Grace.”
“You’re going to complete your Divine Task even now?”
“We need to come away with profit.”
My identity as an Imperial Saint had been revealed.
If Gillose protested, we’d give them a casus belli for war.
The Empire’s nobility would see their chance and attack me.
I needed to secure some advantage to offset that.
‘Because of that damned informant.’
I narrowed my eyes.
“The informant… if caught, they’re dead.”
As I muttered, the Irregulars sighed.
Yuise asked.
“How are you planning to do this?”
“It’s in the king’s bedchamber. If Oscar is here, we can Teleport straight to the bedchamber, destroy it instantly, and leave.”
But the response was strange.
The Elite of the Irregulars went silent.
“Where’s Oscar?”
They shook their heads.
“Did he leave? Then I’ll go with Antonio. Using his brute strength to destroy the Fragment of Grace would be better than using mana.”
They shook their heads again.
“Worried Antonio might cause a scene?”
They shook their heads a third time.
It was the third refusal.
I frowned.
“Why?”
“….”
“….”
Abel and Miliano looked at Yuise and Cesar.
Yuise and Cesar remained oddly silent.
“What is it? What happened?”
Abel pointed directly at Yuise and Cesar as he spoke.
“Antonio wanted to come along, but you two kept saying ‘you’re useless, all you do is cause trouble,’ and sent him away through Oscar.”
“….”
“….”
Cesar and Yuise went quiet.
I squeezed my brow.
“What were you idiots thinking!”
“….”
“….”
Cesar and Yuise grew even quieter.
I poured out complaints to the very people responsible for removing the two most useful members of this operation.
Just as they had lectured me earlier, they now stayed silent.
* * *
In the end, there was only one option.
“I’ll have to sneak into the king’s bedchamber.”
“If Luciano and the Clan Leader find out, all hell will break loose.”
Cesar muttered, so I shot him a look.
Cesar quietly turned away.
“Miliano, assess the external situation for me.”
“Yes.”
Miliano left immediately.
While waiting for Miliano to gather information, Yuise asked.
“Going in today?”
“Yeah.”
“It’ll be dangerous.”
“You can’t keep pretending to be soldiers indefinitely. You’ve restrained or knocked out the actual soldiers, right?”
“That’s true, but we haven’t secured an escape route yet.”
Yuise looked worried.
“I’ve already thought that through.”
As we discussed this, Miliano returned with information.
“Through Language Magic, I confirmed with the attendants and guards the patrol times and routes of the king and his security detail.”
The briefing was clean.
I looked at Miliano with admiration.
“You’re the only one I can trust.”
The other Elite members made displeased faces.
“Antonio would have caused trouble even if we brought him.”
“He’d probably be pursued by now.”
The guilty parties who had left Oscar and Antonio behind protested.
I glared at them.
“Oscar…”
“Once the barrier is reactivated, Oscar’s useless anyway.”
“Right. He can’t cross powerful barriers like the Royal Palace barrier.”
The guilty ones protested again.
“His applications within the barrier are endless.”
The guilty ones fell silent again.
I silenced them and explained the plan.
“I’ll go with Abel to destroy the Fragment of Grace in the bedchamber. You search for a passage. But don’t push yourselves. If worst comes to worst, I have a last resort.”
The Irregulars nodded.
We began moving immediately.
Miliano used Language Magic to neutralize the guards.
“Hold your position and stand, but you cannot speak a single word.”
Language Magic was genuinely convenient.
We could even strip away maidservant uniforms.
I dressed as a maidservant and headed to the bedchamber with Abel.
‘The King of Gillose has entered an emergency council, so he won’t return for a while.’
If anything suspicious happened, the other Elite would send a signal.
We walked quickly down the corridor.
I had Abel walk ahead.
It would look odd if a guard and maidservant walked too close together.
As we walked…
Abel stopped.
Startled, I whispered to him.
“Why?”
“A presence.”
He sensed something unusual.
Abel pointed toward the courtyard beyond the corridor we were in.
“I hear something.”
I looked in the direction he indicated.
Through the thicket, I saw pale hair.
No, not pale—silver hair.
…Silver hair like Isis.
I froze.
‘If Isis is performing a Divine Task like Grian and me, she might be watching me.’
If she went to the king now and informed him, the whole plan would fall apart and I’d be captured.
I grabbed the dagger I’d taken from a guard and approached the thicket.
Abel followed closely behind me.
Isis didn’t move.
Did she freeze sensing Abel’s aura? If she could sense Abel’s presence, she was well-trained.
I parted the thicket with one hand, gripping the dagger.
“What are you doing here…!”
I couldn’t finish.
My eyes met Isis’s.
My gaze dropped—not to Isis’s face, but to what she held.
So….
“…Bread?”
It was Abel’s voice.
Isis had her face covered in cream and was tearing into bread.
Isis spoke in an awkward, wavering voice.
“I don’t know when I’ll eat next….”
I asked.
“…Did you slip out of your lodgings and search the palace?”
“Pardon? You knew?”
She answered hesitantly.
“I was just so hungry, looking for anything to eat….”
As I fell silent, Abel spoke.
“She’s just a glutton.”
Isis was just a glutton who couldn’t resist her hunger….
‘Wait. So who exactly is the competitor to me and Grian?’
Apart from Isis and Michiya, all the other Consort Selection Competition candidates had left.
Then who….
As I pondered, I froze.
“It’s that person.”
And if that person really was Grian’s and my competitor, it was dangerous.
“I need to go to the Underground Dungeon!”
I had to save Grian.
If I didn’t, this Divine Task would fail!

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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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