How to Replace Your Dad - Chapter 242

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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 242
All eyes in the banquet hall converged on Constance.
The Emperor regarded him as well.
Constance fell to one knee at once.
“The Joy of the Empire has been stolen.”
What?
The banquet hall erupted in a great stir.
Imperial family and nobility alike furrowed their brows.
All exchanged glances, trying to measure the meaning of his words.
“What do you mean.”
“The Joy of the Empire?”
“Surely not….”
The Emperor asked.
“What has happened.”
Constance’s gaze fixed on a particular corner of the hall.
“There is one who obstructed the fulfillment of God’s Task and surrendered a Characteristic to a foreign power.”
It was Yustea.
“What.”
The Emperor’s face twisted.
* * *
‘So he’s playing it this way.’
I handed my cup to a servant and studied Constance.
Of course—there was no other way to deflect public blame.
He had completed God’s Task, presented to Calypso a Characteristic that would bring imperial glory.
How confidently he had boasted of it.
When I said nothing, it was Guinevere who grew uneasy instead.
“Are you all right? We should correct this quickly….”
She whispered.
But I merely shrugged and said nothing.
He was walking into the pit of his own accord—no need to stop him.
Constance rose from his seat and turned his entire body toward me.
The people in the hall froze.
I, the Saint of the Empire, had surrendered a Characteristic to a foreigner.
Beyond mere accusation, this was matter for Imperial Court and Temple sanctions.
Constance’s mouth twisted.
“Though I accept the guilt of failing to fulfill God’s Task and bringing disappointment, I humbly beg that Your Majesty also punish this disloyal wretch who surrendered a Characteristic to a foreign power!”
He was truly putting on a show.
The banquet hall erupted as if a meteor had fallen.
Those aligned with Constance wore expressions of ease.
They had apparently been told the matter beforehand by Constance.
Among them were some who had participated in the Underground Market.
“Wickedness without equal!”
“All this time, the Saint has enjoyed the protection of the Imperial Court and Temple because she was the seed of glory that would save all the people.”
“To monopolize wealth and rank alone, and to surrender God’s blessing to a foreign land—the title of Saint would be far too great an honor for such a one, Your Majesty!”
“Punish Saint Yustea!”
“Punish her!”
Chaos erupted.
This was the moment—clamor arose from every quarter.
Those nobles close to me let out groans.
“How can you hound the Saint on his word alone.”
“Is there evidence.”
Some stepped forward.
Constance spoke.
“I was monitoring the auction at the Underground Market to fulfill my task, but information was leaked to nobles in Esgaroth to obstruct the auction. Bring them forth!”
As he cried out, attendants of his house dragged someone forward.
The face of a boy barely seventeen was swollen all over.
He was a servant of Esgaroth.
He had been tortured severely.
My expression went cold at that moment.
I walked toward the boy with long strides.
“Eric.”
At my call, the boy flinched and hunched his shoulders.
He had confessed falsely, so he was afraid.
“You have nothing to fear.”
“Yes, yes… my lady….”
“You’ve been through much.”
“I’m sorry… I’m so sorry….”
Tears spilled from the boy’s eyes.
“It is not your fault. It is mine—I failed to protect you.”
“My lady…!”
The boy burst into tears.
I gripped his shoulders and turned to face Constance.
Constance curled the corners of his mouth upward.
“Have you anything more to say.”
The atmosphere of the hall had become entirely his.
All manner of accusation poured forth.
“I, I…!”
“How could you do such a thing!”
“There’s no need to ask. She feared a new Saint would emerge!”
Those nobles close to me swallowed dryly and glanced about.
The imperial family members who had long viewed me with disfavor twisted their mouths.
The Empress and Yohaël were leisurely savoring the overturned atmosphere of the hall.
The Emperor regarded me.
“Is it true.”
“It is true.”
The Emperor’s face twisted.
Constance wore a smile of victory.
But I continued at once.
“It is true that I obstructed the underground auction, but I have not surrendered any Characteristic to a foreign power.”
“That is a lie!”
Constance cried out.
“The Saint could not enter the Third Channel. That was witnessed by Calypso himself!”
He spread both arms in appeal.
“One who does not receive a task directly falls behind in Contribution Score and cannot receive a Characteristic. Knowing this, the Saint—!”
“A Characteristic!”
This time it was I who cried out.
“I have obtained a Characteristic.”
At that moment, the hall fell silent.
The Emperor’s eyes widened.
“What.”
Now it was Constance who grew urgent.
“How dare you deceive His Majesty!”
“If Your Majesty permits, I will prove it.”
“Prove it.”
“As you know, my Healing cannot restore lost body parts.”
“….”
I knelt before the Dowager Empress.
“Now, I can restore the organ Your Majesty removed due to illness.”
“…!”
The Dowager Empress’s eyes widened.
The hall shuddered greatly.
Constance’s face went ashen and he cried out.
“You must not listen to her words. That woman might do anything—!”
But he could not finish.
The Dowager Empress raised her hand.
She regarded me with trembling eyes.
“Is it truly so.”
“Would I dare speak falsehood to Your Majesty.”
The Dowager Empress took my hand.
Her body was in ruins.
Such profound fatigue that even walking was a burden.
This was why she had refrained from interfering in the Inner Palace, why she had been silent all this while.
She required dialysis at regular intervals, and dialysis caused her tremendous suffering.
The more one’s body aches, the more desperately one desires health.
She could not let slip the chance to return to what she once was.
“I beg you,” she said.
“Your Majesty, Dowager Empress—!”
Constance cried out in anguish, but I drew up the corners of my mouth.
I clasped the Dowager Empress’s hand.
In that instant, a brilliant glow flooded forth.
The space of a few breaths from the Dowager Empress.
Until the sickness that had worn upon her face utterly vanished.
“…!”
The Dowager Empress forgot all dignity and opened her mouth wide.
“Ah… ahh…!”
A cry as if something were breaking free tore from her.
The hall fell silent.
The Emperor was the first to speak.
He steadied the trembling Dowager Empress and said,
“Mother.”
At his call, the Dowager Empress swallowed several times over.
But her trembling and inability to speak came not from shock, but from something else entirely.
“What reward should I grant you.”
The Dowager Empress spoke, looking at me.
“What… what.”
“What did you say?!”
“…?!!”
The hall erupted anew.
I spoke with a gentle smile.
“How could a subject accept reward for honoring her parent.”
The Dowager Empress laughed.
“Can such a thing be. There is no gift more precious than this.”
I bowed my head.
The Dowager Empress turned to the Emperor.
“This old body has verified it directly. Her words are truth. The grinding pain, the fatigue that stole my breath—all are gone.”
“…!”
The Emperor swallowed hard.
Then he asked,
“Does it apply only to humans.”
In any case, his perceptiveness was keen.
He had grasped what my ability was from the word ‘restore.’
I smiled faintly.
And then—
“Hahaha—!”
He burst into laughter.
He had acknowledged that I was a Fragment of Grace walking among them.
“Indeed, the seed of glory. My precious treasure who brings the Empire’s fortune!”
At the Emperor’s declaration, the hall seemed ready to burst forth once more.
“This is… what is….”
“Restore organs? How is it possible….”
“Wait, then that means….”
The old ones’ eyes widened first.
What do those with sufficient wealth and power desire most in their aging years.
‘Health,’ of course.
The elderly nobles descended upon me.
It was only natural that Constance’s face had gone ashen.
* * *
All attention in the banquet hall fell on me.
More so than the Dowager Empress’s birthday, the appearance of a Fragment of Grace walking among them drew far greater interest.
Especially the elderly nobles would not leave my side.
“I should like to invite you to my manor.”
“An invitation is mine to make first! I have been exhausted all day…!”
“Exhausted? You speak of exhaustion before me, who had my liver removed.”
When the cantankerous old men descended like they were beholding thousand-year ginseng, everyone’s jaws dropped.
Especially elderly nobles whose bodies bore the scars of youthful battles showed excessive attentiveness.
Those who had served as generals.
They clung to my side as if about to burst into dance.
“What do young folk prefer these days.”line>
“Sweets are always best for the young!”

“Surely Esgaroth keeps sweets well-stocked. Shall I buy you fine clothes. What of a horse. What say you.”
Like a cat before catnip.
Even the grandfather of Roji and Romeban, known for being taciturn, slipped me a note—psst, just like that.
Roji nearly spat out her drink.
The one who saved me here was Marquis Nevarro.
“Leave our Yustea be and step aside!”
Our.
I was not the only one startled by the unexpected title.
Not only the elderly nobles but also Roji, who had been sipping wine nearby, turned her wide eyes toward Marquis Nevarro.
The old nobles let out hollow laughs.
“To hear you speak thus, one might think her your own granddaughter.”
“The old codger of Esgaroth and you getting along so poorly, yet now his granddaughter is ‘our Yustea’.”
The Marquis smiled gently and positioned himself beside me.
“Our dear Guinevere’s one and only friend—she is indeed our Yustea.”
The Marquis chuckled contentedly, emphasizing his granddaughter’s bond with me.
Yet his expression also resembled one beholding thousand-year ginseng.
“Trouble her no more and step aside. She must be exhausted.”
“Hah!”
The elderly nobles protested with hollow laughter, but Marquis Nevarro waved me off with a sweeping gesture.
“Come to my manor tomorrow. Guinevere will be waiting.”
It seemed the Marquis was the one waiting, not Guinevere, like he was waiting for thousand-year ginseng.
In any case, I too was eager to escape.
I laughed awkwardly and slipped from the banquet hall.
My destination was the Underground Prison.
More precisely, the Underground Prison where Constance had been taken.
He had been taken there for daring to speak falsehood to the Imperial Court and attempt to incite the nobles.
When I reached the entrance to the Underground Prison, communication came through.
It was Luciano.
[Where are you.]
“I’m at the prison entrance.”
[Why the prison.]
“Being taken to the Underground Prison doesn’t mean everything is finished, does it.”
[Everything…?]
“There’s still retaliation to be done.”
At my matter-of-fact reply, laughter bubbled through.
[Seems like he’ll be begging on his knees.]
“Of course.”
[I’ll have the guards step aside.]
“Yes!”
We were exchanging playful words like this.
A presence stirred behind me.
When I turned, I saw a beautiful blond-haired man.
I stiffened my expression at once.
“I’ll contact you again.”
And as I ended the communication, the blond man crossed his arms and leaned against the wall.
“How affectionate.”
“Is it strange to be affectionate with one’s betrothed. …Yohaël.”
Yohaël smiled faintly.
“Were you always this affectionate when you were my betrothed.”
He said, lifting my chin.
I immediately knocked his hand away.
“I was. Before you abandoned me.”
As I turned to leave, Yohaël’s voice followed.
“If I said I regret it… would you come back to me.”
My steps stopped at that moment.
I turned to look at him again.
“Things aren’t going well for you, are they.”
“They aren’t. Because you keep standing in my way.”
He drew near and buried his forehead in my shoulder.
“I dream of you every night.”
“How sickening.”
“The memory of you laughing in my arms feels like yesterday, Yustea.”
His voice grew small.
“If I apologize, if I kneel… would you come back to me.”
“….”
When I fell silent, he lifted his head and regarded me.
“I am regretting it.”
“….”
“That I realized too late how much I love you.”
The man who had always seemed so strong appeared terribly small.
So I told him.
“How pathetic.”
Yohaël’s gaze changed.
As he narrowed his brow and began to speak,
Footsteps sounded from behind.

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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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