How to Replace Your Dad - Chapter 257

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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 257
Emma’s face had gone ashen as the Marquis held her by the throat.
Her lips trembled.
“M-Marquis….”
The words barely escaped her strangled throat.
But the Marquis’s grip showed no sign of loosening.
Emma’s eyes, quivering slightly, darted toward Stella.
Her most potent weapon—the Marquis’s own daughter, who shared his blood.
But Stella could not move.
Terror had drained the color from her face.
“A… ah….”
At this point in her life, Stella had never once witnessed the Marquis in a rage.
Years later, when Stella had grown, she would lament that she had not been raised within the Andres Estate, yet the truth was otherwise.
Within the safe walls the Marquis had provided, she had lived like a princess.
She had known only the sweet indulgences he bestowed upon her.
“Father….”
The murmur in her voice was almost pitiful.
Yet the Marquis did not look at Stella.
“It seems neither you nor your daughter has learned the meaning of your place.”
“…ugh.”
“You need to understand, in your very bones, whose hands you have dared to reach toward.”
All color drained from Emma’s face.
Stella collapsed in terror.
I understood. Even I felt my skin crawl beneath the Marquis’s overwhelming presence—how much more terrible must it be for these two?
The Marquis hurled Emma away.
Her throat bruised and pale, she coughed violently.
The Marquis did not grant Emma even a moment to catch her breath before he spoke.
“Pack your things today.”
“Pardon?”
“You will not return to this manor.”
“M-Marquis—!”
Emma’s face was as though she had been struck by lightning.
She crawled toward the Marquis and clung to his legs.
“Where could I possibly go with young Stella? Please, Marquis…!”
Witnessing her mother’s wailing despair, Stella too seemed to grasp the gravity of the situation.
The Stella who had been frozen in fear suddenly moved with urgency.
Tears streamed from Stella’s eyes as well, yet the Marquis did not spare them so much as a glance.
When his resolve would not bend despite their clinging pleas, Emma turned instead to throw herself before me, begging.
“Forgive me. I have committed a sin worthy of death. Young Lady…! Please, I beg you, show mercy. Oh, Young Lady!”
“No, sister… I was wrong. I’m sorry… I’m sorry!”
Heart-wrenching sobs echoed across the manor’s entrance.
I looked at Luciano.
‘What do you think?’
Of course, I was not asking whether he would grant forgiveness.
The Marquis seemed unlikely to reconsider his decision regardless of what I did.
What I was truly curious about was….
‘Why does she insist on this? It’s such a burden.’
Luciano whispered.
“She seems to harbor profound regret.”
“….”
“So then—I need hardly ask whether you wish to remain in a world where your biological father loves you.”
Hardly at all.
My expression made that abundantly clear.
Though the moment the Marquis glanced my way, I quickly brightened my eyes.
* * *
Inside the manor.
Luciano and I stood alone in the room.
Beyond the door, the Marquis’s voice could be heard issuing instructions regarding Emma and her daughter.
Emma and Stella were truly being cast out.
I lowered my voice as I spoke.
“How is your mana capacity?”
“You mean whether I have enough mana to return to the original timeline.”
Typical Luciano.
He reads minds before words are finished.
Luciano shook his head.
“The Marquis of Andres’s mana, plus the Imperial Palace’s Divine Blessing and Magic Stones amplified several times over by the Reconstruction Council’s techniques.”
“So then….”
“Not for me. Impossible for anyone else but me.”
Luciano exhaled a frustrated sigh.
I wanted to sigh just as badly.
Luciano spoke again.
“We’ll have to invest time. As I age, I’ll gather Magic Stones. Once your power awakens and you can manifest the Pattern, we can substitute that for the Divine Blessing.”
“That will take ten years.”
“But it’s the safe and certain way.”
Still, ten years was far too long.
There was too much I had to face in the meantime.
I wasn’t just worried about myself—living as the Marquis of Andres’s daughter—I was worried about Luciano.
‘He’d have to live for years under the name of the cursed prince.’
He had reversed the world’s perception through his own strength.
But that must have been an incredibly painful and difficult time for him.
I didn’t want him to endure that suffering twice.
“But with the Magic Stone and Divine Blessing, we could return immediately. Wait… Magic Stone and Divine Blessing?”
My eyes widened, and Luciano stiffened.
Luciano narrowed his brow at the light blazing in my eyes.
“Don’t give me that look. When you make that face, everyone’s defenses crumble.”
“Luciano….”
“Whatever it is, no.”
“Luciano.”
“We invest the time.”
“Lu—ci—a—no.”
….
He squeezed his eyes shut.
Through gritted teeth, Luciano spoke.
“At least tell me. What is it?”
“Divine Blessing is the power of God, isn’t it? Where there’s divine power and Magic Stones—we steal them from there.”
“…You wouldn’t.”
“The Imperial Temple!”
Luciano leaned forward.
He ground out his words.
“Do you know what’s in the Imperial Temple?”
“The World Tree, brimming with divine power. And Magic Stones too.”
“The Pope is there. The Pope and all the Senior Priests—do you think you could succeed in overpowering them?”
Luciano’s expression darkened sharply as he spoke.
“And the current Pope isn’t Asunta.”
The Pope in our time was Asunta.
The kind-hearted old woman with white hair—Asunta, who had nearly danced a victory dance the first time she felt the Saint’s power.
But now she was the second-ranked Senior Priest.
There was a former Pope.
“The current Pope is Idel. You don’t know about Idel?”
I knew him all too well.
Idel became Pope at just twenty-three.
And at twenty-eight, he was driven from his seat.
He had burned to death a thousand cult followers who threatened the Terretsa Church.
He was remembered in history as the most savage, beautiful, and cruel Pope of all.
“Even though I’m a prince, I might be forgiven. But you—if you’re caught, it’s execution. Besides, as a non-noble, you can’t even enter the Imperial Temple.”
“We can find a way to get inside.”
“What—”
We were in the middle of such whispered words.
The sound of a doorknob turning reached our ears.
We quickly took our seats and straightened our posture.
Count Andres entered.
“I apologize for my prolonged absence.”
He settled into the chair beside me as he spoke.
“The Imperial Palace carriage should arrive shortly.”
“Very well.”
“But tell me—does His Highness have prior acquaintance with my daughter?”
There was something cagey in the Marquis’s smile.
He was asking why I had helped her.
He was suspicious.
My throat tightened with tension.
But Luciano remained utterly unruffled.
“No.”
“So you leaped from an Imperial Palace carriage to aid a child you’d never met. Truly, such selflessness is remarkable.”
He didn’t believe it.
I was just about to speak up.
“She’s pretty.”
Both the Marquis and I fell silent.
The Marquis narrowed his brows and asked.
“I beg your pardon?”
“I saved her because she’s pretty. Is that not reason enough?”
……
The Marquis fell quiet.
It was a reckless statement—the sort only a child would make.
He let out a short, stifled laugh.
“A charming girl indeed, and clearly takes after me. My daughter does.”
He placed a hand upon my head as he spoke.
“It’s nearly time for her arrival. Shall I show you out?”
Luciano rose to his feet.
The moment the Marquis turned away to open the door, Luciano swiftly pressed a small Communication Stone into my hand.
I nodded.
* * *
Luciano returned to the Imperial Palace by carriage.
His knight, noticing the distorted expression on his face throughout the journey back, asked him a question.
“Is there some matter troubling you, Your Highness?”
“No. Rather—is there any occasion whereby a noble might enter the Imperial Temple?”
“The Imperial Temple, you say?”
The knight, deliberating, shook his head.
“I cannot speak with certainty, but if such an opportunity exists, it has already passed, and there are no ceremonies forthcoming that would warrant entry.”
“I see. So it would be…”
Luciano let out a sigh.
And yet the brilliance in Yustea’s eyes refused to fade from his mind.
She was the sort who flitted about like quicksilver, always doing something unexpected.
‘Still, it’s impossible now.’
Count Andres would watch Yustea closely, and there were no festivals or ceremonies coming that would grant access to the Palace.
‘The next ceremony is in winter, then.’
Come winter, he would need to be especially vigilant—ensuring she couldn’t slip into the Imperial Temple when the next ceremony arrived.
Time passed as these thoughts occupied him.
Four days later, in the afternoon.
Empress Regina, Luciano’s mother, came to see him.
“Luciano.”
Luciano, who had been turning pages in a book, looked up.
Empress Regina spoke with a displeased expression.
“Is it true you leaped from a carriage in Carpensia and beat those children senseless?”
“…I beg your pardon?”
Luciano’s hand stilled.
‘How could she have learned of this?’
That matter had been kept in strictest confidence by Count Andres.
It was a delicate, messy family affair involving his own legitimate daughter and a bastard child—hardly the sort of thing he would let slip beyond his walls.
He had even bribed Luciano’s guards to keep their mouths shut.
Empress Regina stood with her arms crossed, regarding her son.
“So it’s true.”
“How did you find out?”
“Come with me.”
“But—”
“Now. Fix your jacket properly. We’re going to the Empress Dowager’s Palace.”
The Empress Dowager’s Palace—what was this about?
The Empress Dowager was a woman of exacting propriety.
Regina, with her wilful temperament, had never suited her, and the Empress Dowager rarely sought her company.
Before Luciano could ask, Regina had already left the room.
He followed in her wake.
‘Did it slip from the attendant’s mouth?’
Luciano’s brow furrowed.
If word had reached the Empress Dowager through an attendant, she would have summoned him for a lecture.
‘How bothersome.’
But something was strange.
As they entered the Empress Dowager’s rear garden….
“You’ve arrived, Luciano.”
The Empress Dowager gestured to the seat across from her with a remarkably warm expression.
Even the noble ladies watching smiled brightly in his direction.
“You’ve done something admirable, I hear?”
The Empress Dowager asked.
Luciano paused as he was about to sit.
“What do you mean, Your Majesty?”
“They tell me you rescued a girl in peril—that you threw yourself in front of the people to protect them.”
“That’s—how could—”
Luciano was still murmuring when—
“Yes, Your Majesty! It was nearly a disaster, but thanks to Prince Luciano’s intervention, we all made it through safely!”
A round face popped out from behind the Empress Dowager’s chair.
A plump, cherubic face.
Large, sparkling golden eyes.
Soft beige hair tied in bows on either side. That girl was….
‘Yustea!’
Luciano’s hand stiffened.
‘She spoke of it directly?’
The sordid business at the Andres Estate?
Yustea’s eyes sparkled with mischief.
‘Why should I care if House Andres is embarrassed?’
“Your Majesty, might I pay my respects to the Prince directly?”
“Of course.”
Yustea came tripping over and curtsied gracefully to Luciano.
The noble ladies burst into delighted laughter at the charming courtesy of the young lady.
“Thank you for your kindness, Your Highness.”
“…Very well.”
Yustea whispered softly.
“I found a way to slip into the Temple.”
“….”
Luciano shut his eyes tightly.
‘This is unbearable.’
Without him present, she had pushed her way into the Empress Dowager’s favour.
It was genuinely absurd.
Luciano whispered back.
“It will be dangerous.”
“But I’ve received permission to visit the Temple?”
“…What?”
How on earth—
Luciano’s expression hardened.
The noble ladies, observing the whispered exchange between Luciano and Yustea, exchanged puzzled looks.
“What could they be discussing so intently?”
“Indeed.”
As the noble ladies chattered on, Luciano flinched—but Yustea seized the moment to speak.
“The prince said I’m pretty!”
“My goodness.”
“Oh my, my, my.”
The noble ladies burst into delighted laughter.
Yustea performed the role of an innocent child, her face bright and artless as she continued.
“He even told my father he rescued me because I was so lovely.”
“Oh my, my, my, my!”
Nothing delighted noble ladies quite like tales of romance.
They watched the sweet antics of the charming children with undisguised pleasure.
Even the Empress Dowager chuckled softly, speaking her thoughts aloud.
“I had thought Luciano was shy, but it seems I was mistaken.”
Empress Regina’s eyes widened.
“Is that your taste, then?”
……
Luciano clenched his teeth.
But there was nothing he could say.
“Yes.”
Agreement was his only option.
He narrowed his eyes at Yustea, unseen by the others.
‘We’ll settle this later.’
Yet he did benefit from her exposure.
The Empress Dowager had instructed Luciano to help Yustea view her garden.
After paying their respects, Luciano and Yustea made their way to the garden.
Luciano spoke through gritted teeth.
“Thanks to you, I’m now a prince who’s so smitten with a girl that I leap from carriages.”
“But you were the one who told the Marquis I was pretty first.”
“True enough. Wait—what’s that?”
Yustea pulled something from beneath her skirts.
It was an Apprentice Priest’s Uniform.
“I’m going. To end the regression.”
“You’re driving me mad.”
“I hear that a lot.”
It was hardly a compliment.

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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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