How to Replace Your Dad - Chapter 243

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

How to Replace Father
Chapter 243
It was Luciano.
He held a communication stone in his grip, and by the way his breathing came ragged, he’d clearly run straight here.
Luciano pulled me close.
His gaze was ice itself.
“That’s a pathetic sight.”
Yohaël’s mouth twisted.
Luciano’s words had struck something in him exactly right.
“Your desperation, running here in fear of losing me—I suppose that looks fine to you.”
“Including myself.”
A crease formed between Yohaël’s brows. A hollow laugh escaped him.
Once Luciano had agreed with him, there was nothing left to say.
This was the difference between Luciano and Yohaël.
He was honest with his own emotions, and he did not wield those emotions to control others.
Luciano had said he’d loved me for a very long time.
But when I looked at Yohaël, he never let it show.
He was a man who understood that his feelings could leave scars on another.
I took Luciano’s sleeve.
“Let’s go.”
He looked down at me for a moment, then nodded.
As I turned to leave—
Yohaël’s voice stopped me once more.
“If you leave with him, I can no longer look after you, Child of Curse.”
Child of Curse.
It was mockery aimed at Luciano, born with red eyes—a symbol of misfortune.
I stopped walking.
My grip on Luciano’s sleeve tightened.
I turned and looked at Yohaël.
“Anyone would think you’ve been looking after Luciano all this time, Yohaël.”
“That’s not wrong. I’ve kept my line all along.”
Yohaël smiled softly.
It was a smile so cold it sent shivers down my spine.
Luciano opened his mouth to speak to him. Or tried to.
I was faster—his words never came out.
“You’ve gotten beaten every time, and now you claim you’ve looked after anything?”
It was violent language for a prince to hear.
Yohaël’s cold smile deepened.
Regardless, I spoke with bite. My days working in back alleys had sharpened my tongue.
“Does that psychological victory help you sleep at night?”
“You….”
“You need objectivity. You can’t see your situation clearly, so every time you get beaten back and lose ground—isn’t that right?”
“Yustea.”
I let out a sharp laugh.
“Talking about lines. Where’s your line when you tried to use Luciano as an experiment while His Majesty was down?”
“….”
“Oh, you wanted to think you’d kept some line? Everything was led by the Empress Mother. I kept mine. Yes, I swayed the nobles, but I never drew a sword.”
“….”
“You want to deceive others, but that’s just deceiving yourself. Either you don’t know the meaning of a line, or you’re just stupid. Is it an intelligence problem?”
“….”
The smile vanished from Yohaël’s face.
Luciano’s eyes widened as he looked at me.
Two princes lost for words against the acrid mockery of the back alleys.
But I lifted my chin sharply.
“Call Luciano that one more time, and it won’t end with some tit-for-tat response. I’ll cross whatever line you control so thoroughly that you’ll never draw it again.”
“You’re quite protective.”
“Of course I am! He’s adorable!”
Both princes’ expressions changed.
“….”
“….”
All expression vanished from Yohaël’s face.
Luciano stared at me intently.
I spoke to Luciano while keeping my eyes fixed on Yohaël.
“What’s wrong?”
“…I’ll do my best to be even cuter.”
“Yes.”
I nodded, breathing out sharply.
Luciano laughed aloud.
Yohaël’s eyebrows twitched upward. With his expression already gone, only his brows moving created an eerie effect.
He worked his jaw silently for a moment, then spoke low.
“You shouldn’t forget today, Yustea. It will be the beginning of a difficult and bitter path. Until the day you rest in my arms.”
“Didn’t I tell you that playing at being fatal is bad luck?”
Yohaël’s mouth pulled into a cold line as he turned away.
His footsteps echoed through the dim corridor.
After he’d vanished completely, I looked at Luciano.
“I won.”
“I don’t remember ever seeing you lose in all these years.”
Luciano cupped my cheek.
“I scratched him pretty good, so I can’t predict what he’ll do next.”
“Are you frightened?”
“How could I be? As long as I’m cute, my fiancée will handle whatever comes.”
He grinned playfully and pinched my nose.
I giggled.
Holding me like that for a moment, he looked toward where Yohaël had been.
‘Today was quite strange.’
When he whispered that he loved me, there was no leisure in him.
A man who’d never lost his composure in any moment before.
‘Is it because of Constance?’
Even as I thought it, I narrowed my eyes.
‘No. The Constance affair didn’t leave much of a mark on Yohaël.’
Yohaël had only remained silent at Constance’s boasting—there was no evidence he’d supported him.
Even if Yohaël had incited Constance, Constance wouldn’t speak of it.
Since Constance could no longer board Luciano’s ship, Yohaël was all Constance could cling to.
No matter how stupid he was, there was no way he’d betray Yohaël in this situation.
‘There’s something.’
Yohaël’s silence at Constance’s boasting, and something significant enough to make him lose composure.
Finding out what that was shouldn’t be difficult.
“I should go to the Underground Prison.”
The reason could wait—I’d hear it from the fool’s own mouth.
* * *
In the Underground Prison, where Luciano had cleared away the guards, screams were pouring out.
“Aaaahhh!”
It was Constance’s voice.
I stepped on Constance’s back of hand while speaking.
“Already screaming? Eric must have hurt worse.”
I meant Eric, the employee of Esgaroth Manor whom Constance had dragged off and tortured.
“Just because we healed him doesn’t mean the painful past disappears. Eric is only seventeen.”
“Do-doing this and still…!”
“A fool who dared bluff to the Imperial Family has no right to speak.”
Constance looked at me with rage.
“You… you crazy bitch….”
“Yes, what all could this crazy bitch do?”
Constance’s face went pale as parchment.
He’d witnessed my Rewind.
Me returning health in an instant to the Empress Dowager, who’d been reduced to tatters by illness and age.
He’d also seen the deep regard in the eyes of the Empress Dowager and the Emperor toward me.
And Luciano, the prince closest to the Crown Prince’s seat, stood solidly behind me.
Even sympathy was hard to come by with Luciano leaning against the wall with his arms crossed.
The fool had called me a “crazy bitch,” and Luciano was already wearing an expression that said he was debating whether to kill him or not.
“If the nobles learn that you’re oppressing me…!”
“Will they?”
“What?”
I crouched down and tapped Constance’s cheek as he lay sprawled on the floor.
“Your body will have nothing wrong with it. No matter what agonizing torture you suffer, I’ll heal you. To explain it so your stupid mind understands: that means no evidence remains.”
“What do you….”
“But as I said, healing doesn’t erase a painful past.”
“…!”
I whispered.
“You’ll be begging for death, wanting your mind to break, but no one will ever know.”
“….”
“You should be grateful you won’t become crippled, Constance.”
When I smiled, his face twisted with terror.
He gasped like a fish.
“I… I am… I….”
“But I’m quite merciful. The proof is that I’m letting you live despite your daring to lay a hand on my people.”
Constance swallowed dryly.
I lifted his chin.
“Why did you bluff like that? Why did Yohaël stay silent about your ridiculous scheme?”
Constance’s eyes trembled violently.
Conflict was palpable.
Should I tell?
What if Yohaël deals with me for speaking?
But if I don’t tell, this crazy woman might really torture me.
But he seemed to reach a conclusion quickly.
His lips slowly opened.
“If I hadn’t bluffed that day, His Majesty would have announced the Crown Prince….”
“What?”
This time, I was the one who asked again.
Luciano’s brow furrowed as well.
My grip on Constance’s chin tightened.
“Speak plainly.”
“His Majesty had deliberated long on the Crown Prince, and his heart leaned toward Prince Luciano.”
“That’s….”
“Because you swept up every achievement with your special trait!”
“How did you know there would be an announcement of the Crown Prince?”
We had no such intelligence.
Judging by Luciano’s shock, neither did he.
Constance swallowed dryly.
“His Majesty summoned Count Urbano and privately conveyed his intentions to him.”
Count Urbano.
With the Seven Families dissolved, he’d become the leader of the New Nobles who seized power.
He was both a comrade-in-arms who’d trusted the Emperor with his back on the battlefield, and his dearest friend.
The Count’s mother was even now the Empress’s wet nurse, making them milk siblings as well.
“He wished for the Count to persuade the New Nobles who stood at odds with Prince Luciano.”
“That you knew this means….”
Count Urbano, in the end, had not chosen Luciano.
Constance’s mouth curved upward askew.
“Count Urbano despises the Seven Families, which stagnated and created all manner of corruption.”
“Prince Luciano receives protection from the Seven Families’ remaining forces, so he can’t be raised to the imperial throne?”
“Yes. His Majesty was deeply troubled.”
The Seven Families’ power had been transferred to the New Nobles.
The New Nobles couldn’t simply be killed again.
If that happened, the old powers who’d allied with the Restoration Council would rise again.
“I merely wanted to inform His Majesty that you had an alternative.”
“….”
“That a Saint wasn’t only you—one who could bring glory to the Empire through her special trait. …Ugh!”
Constance let out a groan.
It wasn’t I who’d stepped on his throat this time.
It was Luciano.
“Talk too much and you won’t live long.”
“P-prince… ungh….”
Standing up from the dying Constance, I spoke.
“Yohaël had a reason to stay silent.”
“Yes.”
If the Emperor had already decided to appoint a Crown Prince, there would soon be another announcement.
The New Nobles, in the end, had not chosen Luciano.
Which meant….
“The Crown Prince Selection Trial.”
“The Crown Prince Selection Trial.”
Luciano and I spoke simultaneously.
Yes, the Crown Prince Selection Trial would begin.
It was the beginning of upheaval that would overturn the Empire.
* * *
A week after the Empress Dowager’s birthday banquet.
The Empire was quiet.
Yet it was nothing like peace.
This was the quiet before the storm.
[Father has been summoned to the Imperial Palace. It seems ‘that matter’ is about to begin.]
It was a message from Guinevere.
[Grandfather and Father are making no contact with any faction. Not since the private audience with His Majesty last time. I suspect they’ve heard some hint of what’s coming.]
A message also came from Roji of the Olbera Count Family.
The Emperor was meeting with the heads of neutral factions.
‘The time is coming.’
I set down the communication stone and descended to the first floor.
Father and Grandfather were leaving the courtyard.
Each faction was gathering and deep in discussion about the Crown Prince Selection.
Esgaroth had me, Luciano’s fiancée.
‘Because of that, Father and Grandfather have become the apex of Luciano’s faction.’
Father and Grandfather couldn’t go down to the Manor and were constantly busy in the Archipelago.
But today was different.
Father and Grandfather’s expressions were unlike before.
“What is it?”
“The Crown Prince Selection Trial has been announced.”
“…!”
At last.
I swallowed dryly and approached the two.
“What are the details?”
“All princes and princesses will have the opportunity to participate in the selection. The Crown of the Crown Prince will be awarded to whoever wins the trial.”
“Wow, they’re playing for high stakes….”
It wasn’t just Luciano and Yohaël.
“Who will preside over the trial?”
That was the most crucial question.
If the presider favored a particular prince or princess, it would be problematic.
Power would concentrate with the presider.
Father’s eyebrows twitched.
“The trial will be held in three rounds. The first round is presided over by the Empress Dowager, the second by the Empress and Empress Regina, and the third by the Emperor himself.”
So the Imperial Court elders would preside.
Just then, the communication stone flickered.
It was Guinevere.
She’d messaged in the morning, now sending an urgent signal.
“Excuse me for a moment.”
I picked up the communication stone.
The moment I opened the channel, a shout burst through.
[Come to the Imperial Palace, quickly!]
“What?”
[All the fiancées of the princes and princesses are gathered at the Empress Dowager’s Palace!]
I stiffened.
Wait, they all gathered except for me?
I cried out urgently.
“My coat, my coat!”
Even Father and Grandfather couldn’t stop me.
If the Empress Dowager was presiding over the first round, I had to make a good impression.
I’d healed the Empress Dowager, but she wouldn’t take my side based on that alone.
I quickly boarded a carriage and headed for the Imperial Palace.
The Empress Dowager’s Palace was packed with people.
“Your Highness, we’re so glad to see you recovered.”
“Please let us see you often.”
Even the other Empresses crowded in, supporting their sons and daughters-in-law.
The competition among future daughters-in-law had begun.

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————