How to Replace Your Dad - Chapter 245

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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 245
* * *
I stepped into the rear garden with a smile.
Every eye fell upon me.
They seemed puzzled by my mention of a gift.
Ujina was the first to react, even before the Grand Empress Dowager.
She stood beside Guinevere and Roji, laughing uncomfortably while cradling her swollen belly.
“My, it seems Miss Yustea Esgaroth has been quite busy of late.”
Translated, her words amounted to this:
You must have been occupied—so occupied you couldn’t finish reading Her Majesty the Grand Empress Dowager’s invitation to the end.
The Grand Empress Dowager had written at the close of her invitation:
At this gathering, I shall accept only the sincerity of your hearts as you think of this old woman.
Despite the rejection of gifts, she was now openly rebuking me for dashing into the garden brandishing something called a present.
Observing Ujina’s words, Roji let out a silent scoff.
It seemed Ujina had been trying to assert discipline with something like, “You didn’t really bring nothing without any tact, did you?”
Of course, she didn’t truly mean whether I’d brought a gift or not.
Once I actually produced the gift, she was already glaring daggers in reproach.
She was merely preening that within this circle, only she—carrying the imperial great-grandchild—could present a gift to the Grand Empress Dowager.
I smiled brightly at Ujina.
“Is a gift merely a material thing?”
Just like you.
At that, Ujina’s face went rigid.
‘Oh, did I say something similar before?’
Judging by how Guinevere and Roji looked as though they’d taken digestive medicine, I apparently had.
In that gap, Empress Regina quickly offered her support.
“What sort of gift has our Saint prepared this time?”
It was perfectly timed support.
The words “Saint” and “again” were particularly pointed.
They emphasized that I had accomplished countless deeds for the Empire and restored the Grand Empress Dowager’s health.
Under these circumstances, the invited guests in the rear garden had no choice but to hold their tongues, curious as they were about my gift.
Observe:
Those who had been whispering fell silent and waited for my words.
Ujina and her mother-in-law, Empress Lira, tried to open their mouths, but the other empresses quickly interjected.
“Do tell us.”
“What sort of gift will astonish us this time?”
Ujina and Empress Lira had apparently earned considerable displeasure.
The way these hyenas were helping me made that clear.
After all, having seen Ujina provoke the heirs of powerful families like Guinevere and Roji, one could gauge how freely she had been conducting herself.
The Grand Empress Dowager took my side by not refusing.
“Bring them in.”
At my words, the Imperial Palace attendants escorted a group into this space.
They were old men in tattered clothes.
Some held worn hats in their hands.
Those who saw the dozen or so elderly men swallowed back hollow laughter.
The invited guests stirred.
“What is this?”
“I haven’t the faintest idea.”
“Perhaps they are figures of cherished memory from the Grand Empress Dowager’s past.”
“Memories, you say? Not an ill thought, but surely these men can’t be a gift equal to a great-grandchild….”
Everyone wore expressions suggesting I had chosen my gift poorly.
They thought it would have been better to heal again, perhaps erasing the wrinkles from their skin.
For the elderly, there was no gift greater than youth.
Even Empress Lira and Ujina, who had been tense, burst into soft laughter.
“It appears our Saint has prepared the gift of memories for Her Majesty.”
“How charming, really.”
As Empress Lira and Ujina spoke in turn, mocking laughter erupted throughout the space.
Guinevere and Roji exchanged glances, then whispered to me:
“Should I pretend to faint? I could buy us time!”
“Take that chance to erase the wrinkles, would you!”
Their eyes were wide with evident frustration.
But I watched the Grand Empress Dowager quietly.
…Until she rose smoothly from her seat.
“…?!”
“…!!!”
As the Grand Empress Dowager, who had remained seated all this while, rose with trembling pupils, everyone in the rear garden flinched.
Empress Lira and Ujina alike, the other empresses, and even Empress Regina started in surprise, turning to stare at the Grand Empress Dowager.
I looked at Ujina.
‘Did you mock my gift?’
Meeting my gaze, Ujina’s face twisted.
Her expression was one of bewilderment—what had I done?
I raised my chin slightly.
Contrary to all speculation, this was precisely the gift the Grand Empress Dowager would treasure most at this moment.
The Grand Empress Dowager spoke.
“Tomad. Is that Tomad…?”
“Your Majesty!”
A man holding a worn hat knelt.
The Grand Empress Dowager looked around at the old men, her expression one of disbelief.
“Marilia, Carmen, Itagon… Capri—!”
She called the name of each person I had brought, one by one.
The Grand Empress Dowager’s usually composed voice rose.
She walked unsteadily forward, grasping the hands of the elderly in their worn clothes.
“You lived. You endured and lived.”
“It is a life Your Majesty saved…!”
The Grand Empress Dowager pulled an old woman called Marilia into an embrace, breathing heavily.
Her voice and shoulders trembled faintly.
It was natural that the Assembly Hall stirred once more.
“What, what is happening?”
“How can the Grand Empress Dowager….”
“Why on earth—”
The empresses, princes, and even the fiancés of the imperial daughters stared at me in bewilderment.
I smiled quietly.
The eyes of Guinevere, who had been murmuring the names the Grand Empress Dowager called, widened suddenly.
Anyone educated at the Academy would know these names.
Beyond Guinevere, whose scholarship was excellent, young nobles clapped their hands over their mouths.
‘That’s right—these are the palace attendants the Grand Empress Dowager rescued from the tyranny of the previous emperor.’
Evidence that the Grand Empress Dowager, then an empress consort, had risked her life to stand against the previous emperor.
Why the nobility had gathered before the Grand Empress Dowager after the previous emperor fell to illness.
The very first and most powerful event by which the Grand Empress Dowager won the support of the people!
“Have I ever received a gift so joyful in my life? The finest… a gift I shall never forget, the finest of all, Yustea!”
“…!”
“…!!!”
The Assembly Hall erupted with noise.
My gift had overshadowed even the news of Ujina’s imperial great-grandchild.
I spread my skirts wide and bent into a bow.
‘One must not think the Grand Empress Dowager is humane and kind simply because she stood against tyranny to protect the palace attendants.’
The Grand Empress Dowager’s gaze turned toward me.
Her eyes held a sharp gleam of exultation.
‘One must not forget that merely because she spent a long time in her chambers due to illness.’
She is a strategist who, under the title of the thirteenth empress, elevated her son to the imperial throne.
* * *
The warm reunion between the Grand Empress Dowager and the former palace attendants rippled outward.
Voices rang out praising the Grand Empress Dowager for not forgetting the former palace attendants she had protected against tyranny.
The current palace attendants, unmindful of their loyalty, revered the Grand Empress Dowager who had protected the former attendants.
Even young palace attendants, born after the previous emperor’s tyranny, stirred with emotion.
Through the mouths of palace attendants, the story spread to the populace.
Remembering that the Empire had a compassionate Grand Empress Dowager who loved her people, the masses celebrated the Imperial Palace.
“Pfft—!”
A seasoned nobleman watching this spectacle burst into laughter.
Elderly generals who had served as commanders of the Imperial Army guffawed and slapped their knees.
“Yustea Esgaroth, what in heaven’s name is going on inside that head of yours!”
The assembly hall of the nobility was filled with raucous laughter.
“What else would the Grand Empress Dowager desire after reclaiming her health?”
“To rebuild her power and seize authority once more.”
“Those who recall ‘that event’ will seek out the Grand Empress Dowager.”
“A new faction will assemble under the Grand Empress Dowager’s hand. The New Faction will quite eagerly seek her patronage.”
A small elderly man chuckled and gazed at Marquis Esgaroth.
“The New Faction will lose considerable numbers.”
Marquis Esgaroth’s lips curved upward.
At that, the other elderly men clapped their hands in delight.
“By finding mere handful of people, she has diminished the New Faction’s strength and returned power to the Grand Empress Dowager.”
“What in the world is Esgaroth doing? Might he not take my grandson under his wing as well?”
Marquis Esgaroth and Marquis Nevarro, self-proclaimed soul rivals, both clicked their tongues.
“How could this be Esgaroth’s education alone? Yustea—that child was a brilliant talent favored by the Grand Empress Dowager from her earliest years!”
Seeing Marquis Nevarro, his expression roiling, Marquis Esgaroth turned his lips upward in a smile.
“Mind your blood pressure. Jealousy is bad for the body at your age.”
“Jealousy? Why should I? Why would I? Is that child your good fortune? She’s my son’s good fortune!”
Though he attempted in every way to diminish Marquis Esgaroth, the victor of this contest was clear.
Marquis Esgaroth ground out his cigar and arched an eyebrow.
His expression was insufferably arrogant.
The elderly men burst into laughter once more.
“Whether it’s your son’s good fortune or what have you, in the end, isn’t it you, Marquis Esgaroth, who has that child as his granddaughter?”
Bang!
Marquis Nevarro slammed the table and stood.
“Don’t get so worked up. In that state, how will you manage the line outside my estate?”
Outside his manor stood a queue of elderly people, desperate to receive even once what was known as the Saint’s healing—Yustea’s Reversal technique.
The implication was mockery: Marquis Nevarro was merely one of them.
“You…!”
“This time, do try to form a proper line. Once you’ve received it, your condition improves dramatically.”
“…Have you received it yourself?”
“My Yusi is deeply filial. She ensures I receive it every week.”
“Blast it all!”
Marquis Nevarro cried out and left.
Raucous laughter echoed through the assembly hall.
That afternoon, the Grand Empress Dowager’s Palace.
The head maid of the Grand Empress Dowager’s Palace conveyed news of the noble assembly with a gentle expression.
The Grand Empress Dowager chuckled.
“Marquis Nevarro was utterly defeated.”
“Regrettably, until now the only advantage Marquis Nevarro had over Marquis Esgaroth was bloodline.”
In the past, when Aslan was hidden and the Marquis had only Javid as his son.
Marquis Esgaroth had repeatedly lost to Marquis Nevarro’s boasting about his children.
“Much has changed in my absence.”
“You were absent for quite some time, after all.”
The Grand Empress Dowager, who had burned the parchment inscribed with news from the assembly, spoke.
“Yet in less than a month, the people call out my name.”
“As Marquis Esgaroth says, Miss Yustea’s filial piety runs deep.”
The Grand Empress Dowager chuckled softly.
“Do you see it as filial devotion toward the mother of the Empire?”
“Your Majesty?”
“That child has proven it—if I am to take another’s hand, it should be hers.”
“I agree. Who among the Inner Palace possesses such wit?”
The Grand Empress Dowager rose from her seat and gazed out the window.
“There is no need to offer the other children a chance. They cannot stand as her equals.”
“Your words are most just.”
“Bring Yustea to me.”
“…!”
The eyes of the Grand Empress Dowager’s Palace head maid widened.
Yet she, having served the Grand Empress Dowager for many years, was quick-witted enough to bow without comment.
“Very well.”
Shortly after, Yustea entered.
Upon seeing Yustea, the Grand Empress Dowager smiled warmly and gestured to the seat across from her.
“I suspected you would be summoned about this time.”
“I had merely been with Empress Regina.”
“And you speak without bowing. Whatever shall we do? You grow more appetizing by the moment.”
To her teasing words, Yustea only smiled.
“From you, I have received only gifts.”
“I merely did what was necessary.”
The Grand Empress Dowager’s eyes widened.
“Having received gifts thus far, I too must make recompense.”
She extended parchment.
Yustea’s eyes gleamed sharply.
“The contents of the first test of the Crown Prince Selection Tournament.”
Having confirmed the parchment, Yustea lifted her head with a start.
“Resolution of the disturbance in the Eastern Region?”
“The Eastern Region has endured repeated territorial disputes over its port. It is a chronic headache for the Imperial Court.”
The content was fitting for the Crown Prince Selection Tournament.
The problem most frequently discussed among the people.
A fitting test for the Grand Empress Dowager to prescribe.
‘However….’
The Eastern Region.
That was where the Andres Estate lay.
* * *
The moment I left the Grand Empress Dowager’s Palace, I sought out Luciano Palace.
“Resolution of the Eastern Region’s disturbance.”
“For now, only I know the test contents. But four days hence, it will be announced publicly….”
“People will gather in Andres.”
The greatest power in the Eastern Region was Andres.
If Count Andres took action, the disturbance would be resolved.
“…You won’t lend your support to Luciano’s hand, will you?”
Luciano shrugged.
It meant obviously not.
“Of all the things to come up.”
“The Grand Empress Dowager has no choice. She must be impartial, after all.”
Luciano pinched my nose and shook it.
“Since I have you, any ordinary task will create inequality issues.”
“I—can’t—speeak—properleee—. (I’m so relieved you found out ahead of time.)”
“I’ll handle this myself, so you stay put.”
“…I want to help.”
“If you step forward, there’s only one condition Count Andres will demand.”
That I return to Andres.
But that was something I could absolutely never grant, so ultimately Luciano would face defeat.
I nodded.
‘Luciano must have a method.’
Before I left Andres, Luciano had been my cruelest tormentor.
He must surely have a way.
…Or so it seemed….
* * *
“What? Count Andres has been abducted by the Restoration Council?”
At news that reached me two days later, I clutched my head.

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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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