How to Replace Your Dad - Chapter 263

—————
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 263
Marquis Esgaroth’s brow furrowed as he watched the person traveling alongside Yustea.
It was Luciano and his soldiers.
Even Empress Regina narrowed her eyes, still focused on the Mirror World.
“You brought Luciano with you?”
Luciano was male.
The Heavenly Horse avoided that sex.
Then why?
Ain’s eyes narrowed.
“At first she approached alone, so why suddenly….”
The moment he trailed off.
Marquis Esgaroth burst into laughter.
Every eye turned toward the Marquis.
Empress Regina smiled.
“Why do you laugh, my lord?”
“My remarkable granddaughter has impressed me greatly.”
Then Marquis Nevarro, who had been watching the Mirror World near Marquis Esgaroth, spoke.
“Quite so. She anticipated the Heavenly Horse would be caught by the barrier. Once caught, it can flee no further.”
“Exactly. If only the Heavenly Horse cannot escape….”
Marquis Esgaroth’s mouth twisted upward at an angle.
Guinevere and Roji cried out.
“The opponent will no longer be the Heavenly Horse!”
“She’ll face her partners in battle, not the Heavenly Horse!”
Calipso stands alone.
What Ujina commands are merely female hunters at best.
The female clergy number barely five.
But Yustea brought Luciano and his Elite Soldiers.
“When factional warfare erupts, it’s obvious who’ll have the advantage.”
Marquis Esgaroth murmured.
The nobles watching the Mirror World gaped.
“How on earth did she foresee such a situation?”
“Look there!”
A young nobleman pointed at Yustea inside the Mirror World.
A small mirror held in Yustea’s hand.
“A Mirror World—!”
A resonant voice rang out across the Town Square.
The Temple of the Imperial Palace.
The Emperor, watching the Mirror World alongside the Pope, burst into boisterous laughter.
Ha-ha-ha-ha!
Delighted laughter filled the hall.
“She used the Mirror World transmission as both reconnaissance and a tracking tool.”
The Senior Priests clicked their tongues.
It was astonishing.
“How could she think of such a thing….”
“The fact that she prepared a Mirror World beforehand means she decided from the start to use the transmission itself as a tool.”
“She even weaponizes the transmission itself toward victory. How remarkable….”
Pope Asunta shook his head slowly.
“The Holy Maiden truly was born with the gift of astonishing people.”
The Emperor chuckled and rested his chin on his hand.
“Which is precisely why she is the seed of glory.”
Pope Asunta let out a quiet laugh.
‘How presumptuous.’
The Imperial Palace and the Temple cooperated for the sake of the Empire’s peace, yet they were also fierce rivals who constrained each other.
When the Holy Maiden first appeared, how much did the Palace and Temple check each other?
To claim the Saint for themselves.
And now that Saint leaned toward the Imperial Palace over the Temple.
The Emperor studied Pope Asunta with a complacent expression.
At his at-ease demeanor, Pope Asunta’s eyes grew sharp.
“We must determine precisely whom the Holy Maiden has chosen.”
The Saint wasn’t holding the Emperor’s hand.
So don’t go thinking we’ve won this.
“He’s my son.”
“Is he? These days, a mere betrothal can’t bind young hearts completely. Who knows? In the end, she might choose someone else.”
…
“We have the precedent of Prince Yohael, don’t we?”
He was betrothed back then too.
But in the end, Yustea’s heart turned toward Luciano.
What guarantee was there that she wouldn’t slip from Luciano’s grasp as well?
Pope Asunta let out a dry chuckle and reached for his teacup.
The Emperor’s eyes narrowed for an instant.
But soon his expression settled back into an unhurried smile.
“Is there anyone Luciano’s equal?”
The Emperor tilted his head toward the Mirror World.
Luciano’s face reflected in the Mirror World.
Silver hair of fine quality fluttered in the breeze.
Sharp, delicate features set within clean lines.
His eyes gleamed with an almost feverish light.
Veined, muscular arms wrapped around Yustea’s waist without a gap.
[Be careful. Bite your tongue.]
[Hurry. Quickly.]
[I understand.]
Luciano exhaled a sigh and glanced at Yustea, then let out a wry laugh as if to say there was nothing to be done.
The youngest woman among the Senior Priests let out a sympathetic sigh.
“Truly sacred…”
The woman murmuring as if entranced fell silent when she caught the murderous glint in Pope Asunta’s eyes.
The Emperor let out a quiet laugh.
Pope Asunta set his teacup down on the saucer with a sharp clink.
The gesture was distinctly irritable.
“Then I shall take my leave.”
“Won’t you watch further?”
“The outcome is already clear, isn’t it?”
Pope Asunta rose to his feet.
Luciano and Yustea arrived before the Heavenly Horse.
Luciano’s soldiers surrounded the barrier.
[What—what is this…!]
[…!]
[Luciano….]
Ujina, the female priests, and Calipso looked on with bewildered expressions as they watched Luciano and Yustea.
Yustea stepped forward ahead of the others.
[If you stand down quietly, there needn’t be any bloodshed.]
Yustea’s face filling the Mirror World looked like she’d turned into some street thug—
The Emperor chuckled.
“Even those known as prodigies struggle against her. How could the gently raised hope to prevail?”
The Emperor’s face was suffused with satisfaction.
* * *
“If you stand down quietly, there needn’t be any bloodshed.”
As I spoke with utter shamelessness, Ujina’s face twisted.
“How contemptible—!”
Ujina glared at me.
“You’d steal what I’ve already captured? Is that befitting a Saint?”
At her scathing words, I shrugged.
All that mockery, yet beneath it I could see her nerves straining taut.
As I remained calm, Ujina cried out.
“You’re being broadcast through the Mirror World. All the people are watching your shameful conduct right now.”
“Shameful?”
“Yes.”
“In what way am I being shameful…?”
As I tilted my head with a puzzled expression, Ujina let out a bitter laugh.
“I’ve captured the Heavenly Horse through my own hard work. And now you’re stealing it from me—!”
“Did you catch it alone?”
“These hunters were brought to support me at my husband’s behest.”
“No, I meant—”
I gestured toward Calipso.
Calipso’s eyes widened as she looked at me.
But my gaze remained fixed on Ujina.
“The reason the Princess has never approached the Heavenly Horse until now, despite bringing these hunters, is because there was no opening, isn’t it?”
The Heavenly Horse is the fastest creature in the world, monsters included.
Even more seasoned hunters find it difficult to capture.
Yet these inexperienced hunters brought by Ujina managed to catch the Heavenly Horse only because of Calipso.
Because the Heavenly Horse was entranced by Calipso’s nature and heart.
“If Calipso hadn’t created an opening for the Heavenly Horse, could the Princess have captured it? It would have fled before she even deployed a Barrier with the Holy Artifact.”
“That’s—”
“You manipulated your opponent just as I did, yet you call only me contemptible?”
As I tilted my head once more, Ujina’s face flushed crimson.
She was seething.
Deliberately, of course.
She’d grated on my nerves enough times.
“Now then, hand over the Heavenly Horse.”
“N-no, I can’t!”
“In that case—”
As I murmured, Luciano’s knights drew their swords.
Ujina and the hunters’ expressions hardened visibly.
The female priests seemed to judge that taking the Heavenly Horse by force in this situation was impossible.
They retreated slowly.
But Ujina did not yield easily.
“W-what if I refuse to break the Barrier even at the cost of my life? If we don’t leave, the Princes will arrive. If we lose the Heavenly Horse in a battle here, everyone loses!”
Ujina’s voice rose sharply.
She must have been desperate.
In the first trial, Ujina’s relationship with her husband, Ludovico, had been completely ruined.
If she didn’t earn merit this time, even her position as Princess Consort would be in jeopardy.
Calipso looked between me and Ujina alternately.
“Um… I don’t want there to be bloodshed… and the Heavenly Horse getting hurt…”
Calipso hesitated, yet she tried to convince me nonetheless.
She rose from where she had been shielding the Heavenly Horse, her face earnest as she looked at me.
“The Heavenly Horse has done nothing wrong… please don’t harm it for your purposes…”
‘A truly formidable opponent.’
She was born to this.
This is no exaggeration.
That gentle, kind nature of hers must be drawing the people’s affection through the Mirror World.
Wasn’t that purity proven by the Heavenly Horse’s favor toward her?
“I have no intention of harming the Heavenly Horse.”
“But… you said yourself that I won’t break the Barrier under any circumstances… if fighting breaks out, the Heavenly Horse will flee… and if it gets hurt in the process…”
“The Barrier will have to come down before the Princes arrive.”
Ujina let out a hollow laugh.
With narrowed eyes, her hand resting on her hip, she spoke.
“Don’t underestimate me. I’ll stand firm here no matter what.”
“Really?”
I approached the Barrier.
Ujina spoke with confidence.
“Of course!”
“Then think for a moment.”
“What do you—”
“If a battle breaks out here, who ultimately wins?”
I let a gentle smile play at the corners of my mouth.
“Can Prince Ludovico, with no combat experience, defeat Prince Luciano, who brings back victory after victory?”
“…”
Only then did Ujina’s face go pale.
I drew close to the Barrier, meeting Ujina’s gaze directly.
“Just as the Princess said, the Mirror World is broadcasting. Prince Ludovico’s defeat in battle will spread across the entire Empire.”
“….”
“Can you bear the shame of it?”
“That is….”
I whispered.
But I made sure she heard every word.
“If neither of us can be Crown Prince, at least we can preserve our dignity.”
“….”
“Hand over the Heavenly Horse quietly, and I’ll show mercy on everything else.”
“….”
Ujina swallowed hard.
The worst scenarios must be unspooling in her mind.
Ludovico defeated in battle, drowning in disgrace.
Herself, forced to inherit that shame.
The two of them bearing that humiliation for the rest of their lives.
‘Easy.’
People like this were always easy to handle.
For the arrogant, nothing cuts deeper than losing face.
The barrier dissolved.
Luciano’s adjutant moved swiftly toward the Heavenly Horse.
“Surely it must hurt, yes…? Perhaps an anesthetic….”
Calipso stammered anxiously.
The adjutant smiled gently.
“A Heavenly Horse’s horn is similar to a hoof. It has no nerve endings, so you needn’t worry. Besides, it grows back.”
Luciano’s soldiers looked at kindhearted Calipso with approving smiles.
Luciano, watching with his arms crossed, whispered softly.
“Better she doesn’t fall into Yohael’s hands.”
“….”
“A difficult opponent.”
“Yes.”
Calipso was a peculiar and formidable adversary.
Unlike Ujina, she harbored no obvious malice.
Unlike Stella, she was no hypocrite.
Should that gentle nature sway the masses, she would become a most terrifying enemy.
…Even I found myself thinking I wanted to protect her.
In any case, the Heavenly Horse’s horn was now in my possession.
All that remained was concluding the transaction with Idel.
We hurried toward Idel’s cave.
‘Five minutes.’
Having traveled almost by flight through magic, we arrived in exactly five minutes.
‘Once I hand this over….’
But something was wrong.
The princes who should have been waiting at the cave’s entrance were nowhere to be seen.
Neither were their soldiers.
“What’s this…?”
I furrowed my brow.
Kraaaaahhhhh—!
A bone-chilling roar echoed out.
I looked up sharply.
The roar came from inside the cave.
“Idel’s roar….”
And what followed was….
“Seize it! Don’t let it escape!”
“Damn it! Bring the flaming arrows!”
“Flaming arrows inside the cave? Are you trying to burn everything to ash?!”
The princes’ shouts.
‘These madmen…!’
Luciano and I rushed into the cave.
The princes were attacking Idel.
‘They must have attacked because they couldn’t get the Heavenly Horse’s horn.’
But surely they understood a life was at stake—why would they suddenly…!
‘Was there something there?’
A dragon species—and one as massive as Idel—would require at least several hundred soldiers to defeat.
So why had I suddenly lost my mind like this?
I ran toward the cave mouth like a madman and plunged inside.
Idel had enlarged to a monstrous size and was crushing soldiers beneath his weight.
Worse still, his claws were embedded deep in Gaspard’s chest.
I screamed.
“What have you done!”
Gaspard gasped, his voice broken and strangled.
He murmured something.
“Mar… ia….”
The fact that he was delirious meant his condition was grave.

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