How to Replace Your Dad - Chapter 274

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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 a Father
Chapter 274
* * *
Urbano’s guards and Calypso could only gape.
There was no help for it.
The situation, in short, was this.
‘Currently, the front of Urbano Estate has been all but seized by Esgaroth’s carriages.’
That was even a euphemism—there wasn’t room for a single horse to move.
And in the midst of it all, I was…
“Sea bream with saffron, grilled.”
“Mmm, lovely aroma.”
I had brought a table all the way out front and sat dining with perfect grace.
Urbano’s butler, who had come rushing out of the manor in a panic, looked ready to expire on the spot.
“Wh—what on earth are you—”
He couldn’t quite bring himself to say “What’s the meaning of this!” to someone who was both a High Noble and a Saint, so the words died in his throat.
I cut into the sea bream with my knife and replied.
“I’m having dinner.”
“I’m well aware you’re eating! What I’m asking is why you’ve brought a table out in front of the estate to do it!”
“Because it’s suppertime, of course.”
“I beg your pardon?”
“We all have to eat to live. Am I to starve, then?”
“Then by all means eat, but why must you blockade the front of the estate?”
“Because I need attendants. And furniture, like a bed. I have to stay here until I meet the Marquis, after all.”
I had my excuses well prepared.
I waved my hand languidly.
An excessive number of servants cleared away my dishes with practiced efficiency, then moved the table.
From one of the tightly packed carriages came another table.
Not the round dining table I’d used for the meal, but a broad, flat desk—the kind you’d use in a study.
Different attendants carried this one into position.
They swapped out the chair as well.
I settled into the desk chair and picked up some papers at my leisure.
“Th—this…!”
Finally, the butler clutched the back of his neck.
The guards, Calypso, and the knights who had accompanied her all dropped their jaws once more.
My Esgaroth employees, by contrast, remained perfectly composed.
Calmly smiling to themselves.
Most wore the expression of ‘Our mistress is at her antics again—quite mad—isn’t she?’
Though I kept quiet most days, when something happened I had a way of creating quite the spectacle.
So this was likely a familiar sight to my servants.
I reviewed the documents and sipped my tea.
When I did, the table was swapped again—this time for a tea table.
In the meantime, the newly arrived nobles who had come to Urbano Estate departed.
“We need the carriages moved if we’re to get inside.”
“What in the name of the gods is happening out front!”
“It’s outrageous.”
The young nobles, blocked from view by the carriages and unaware of the commotion, left in a huff.
The butler now held his head in his hands, uttering sounds of distress.
He’d been sweating profusely seeing the young nobles off, and clearly his nerves were shot.
“Surely you’re not thinking of sleeping on this stone pavement? A noblewoman of your station surely wouldn’t do something so unrefined…!”
From the butler’s frazzled mouth came a remark that bordered on discourtesy toward someone of my standing.
I fixed him with a cold stare and spoke.
“What are you talking about?”
“…My apologies.”
“I brought a bed, didn’t I?”
My employees began unloading the bed from the carriage.
Of course, something that massive couldn’t fit inside intact.
It had been disassembled, so my servants diligently set about reassembling the frame first.
The butler looked back and forth between the scene and me, then staggered.
“Come now, do assist the butler of Urbano Estate.”
“Haha, you’ve given him quite a shock.”
“Our Young Lady’s endurance surpasses even that of the Esgaroth Knight Captain, who underwent waterfall training for seven years.”
“Might you care for some warm tea?”
The Employees of Esgaroth spoke to her with gentle smiles.
The Butler of Urbano Estate groaned—”Ugghhh…!”—and collapsed.
Then Calypso spoke in a fluster.
“Ah, Young Lady, perhaps we should withdraw for now and return later? The people at Urbano Estate are quite distressed….”
That was when it happened.
“It will not help, Calypso. The Saint wishes to distress us further, after all.”
The iron doors of Urbano Estate swung open, and a man stepped out.
The man Calypso and I had been waiting for.
Urbano the Marquis.
I rose from my seat.
“It is an honor to meet you, Marquis Urbano.”
I spoke with a bright smile.
Calypso’s face went pale as she watched the Marquis’s expression carefully.
“Ah, I… hello….”
The Marquis acknowledged her greeting with a light gesture, but nothing more.
After that, he simply stared at me with his arms folded across his chest.
I gave a small shrug.
Our gazes met sharply—his and mine.
* * *
In the end, I was invited into Urbano Estate.
Calypso walked beside me with an anxious expression.
The Marquis had instructed that she be brought along as well.
The Butler showed us to the Study.
“What shall I prepare for tea? Of course, if the Saint has already had quite enough, I should prepare only refreshments.”
The Butler looked down at me with half-lidded eyes.
It was an elegant jab: ‘You’ve drunk plenty of tea out front, so you won’t need any, will you?’
I had occupied the grounds and paralyzed every operation of the Manor. He must be seething.
I smiled brightly.
“Cold tea for me, please. Something refreshing, like Hibiscus Cold Tea.”
“Oh, I’m fine with anything…. S-something warm would be nice….”
“…Very well.”
The Butler bowed and soon returned with the tea.
He set before me a Hibiscus Cold Tea, before Calypso a warm Darjeeling, and across from us an unnamed golden-hued tea.
It was obvious who would sit across from us.
The Marquis Urbano.
I bowed my head as if to take my cup and caught the scent of his tea.
‘What is this? It has a savory smell….’
Just as I leaned in closer to inhale it more deeply—
“Oh.”
“….”
Calypso’s shoulder bumped into mine.
It seemed she too had been smelling his tea.
“I… I’m sorry.”
Calypso apologized first.
I shook my head and straightened my posture.
‘Hmm….’
I let out a quiet sigh.
Her miserable past had prevented her latent potential from blooming.
When I had briefly brought her out of the Restoration of the Former Empire and kept her at Esgaroth Castle with me,
[Calypso (Saint of the Former Empire)]
Constellation: None
Physical Attack: E
Special Attack: E+
Defense: F
Intellect: S (Status Abnormality. Current Rank D-)
.
.
—that was her condition.
But with conviction came clarity, and the status abnormality lifted.
Calypso’s condition now was….
[Calypso (Saint of the Former Empire)]
Constellation: None
Physical Attack: E
Special Attack: S
Defense: A+
Intelligence: B+
.
.
‘…her stats have skyrocketed.’
The special attack and defense ratings are staggering.
Special Attack: E+ → S
Defense: F → A+
Those stats must be due to her nature.
‘But Calypso always possessed such capabilities. So why were they E+ and F before? Was it her personality—unable to attack others even if it meant death?’
This is the system’s assessment of the character.
And now the system judges that Calypso can manifest her nature against others when necessary.
The conviction has changed everything.
‘…even her intelligence.’
“This is barley tea, sir.”
“Barley? You brew barley as tea? It would taste rough.”
“Where I come from, barley was far cheaper than oats, so we brewed tea from it.”
“….”
“The water had so many impurities and smelled foul. Even steeping barley made it barely drinkable.”
“…why are you telling me this?”
“Well, by observing what someone consumes, you can discern their nature and habits. So it seemed the young lady was trying to understand your tastes through your choice of tea….”
Calypso let out an awkward, uncertain laugh.
She had definitely grown wiser.
No one taught her, yet she grasps things on her own and acts accordingly.
A chill ran down my spine.
‘She’s growing at a frightening pace.’
“When grain is refined, its nutrients are destroyed. Unrefined barley is good for the heart.”
“The heart….”
“And seeing dumbbells and stretching equipment in that corner, it seems the Count must….”
Have a weak heart, she was implying.
I was about to nod in agreement when—
“You shouldn’t reveal such things so freely.”
The door opened, and Count Urbano appeared.
Calypso tensed at once.
Count Urbano took the seat across from us and studied us.
More precisely, he studied Calypso.
“You came not merely to gather information for me, did you.”
“Ah, no….”
“The Saint is your rival, is she not.”
“….”
“A leader’s physical vulnerability is a grave weakness. Had only you known, you could have leveraged it as blackmail to extract information from me.”
“….”
Calypso’s fingertips trembled as she hesitated.
When she couldn’t find her words, Count Urbano pressed further.
“Yet you seem to have known.”
“Yes….”
“Then why did you share this with the Saint?”
“Because I didn’t want to exploit a weakness. And I didn’t want her to exploit it either.”
Both Count Urbano and I stared at her.
Count Urbano let out a low chuckle.
I furrowed my brow.
‘By telling me, she was also signaling that she knows.’
In other words, even if I discover it myself, don’t use it as leverage.
Count Urbano turned his gaze to me.
He seemed curious to see how it would unfold.
So I….
“Really.”
I sank deeper into the sofa and let out a sigh.
As my expression grew irritated, Urbano chuckled softly.
“The Saint took a hit, it seems.”
“I won’t call it a total loss.”
“What gain is there, then?”
Urbano crossed his legs and continued.
“It was Calypso who first identified my condition. And it was Calypso who prevented me from exploiting it.”
“Yes.”
“If I were to evaluate the two of you, Calypso would receive a far higher score.”
I lifted my teacup and spoke.
“I’ve gathered enough to know that Calypso is a troublesome woman.”
“Pardon?”
“Now that I know, I won’t fall for the same trick twice. As you yourself must realize, I’ve never lost twice to the same opponent.”
….
Urbano’s hand, reaching for his teacup, froze for a moment.
Only then did he lift the cup and speak.
“How arrogant. Do you know why I oppose you as an Empress Candidate for the Empire?”
“Then you must be frightened.”
“…Pardon?”
“If you wish for an Empress Candidate other than me, you must be hoping that Calypso’s faction wins this competition.”
I set down my tea and looked at him directly.
“But now that I’ve resolved to watch Calypso closely, does that not frighten you?”
….
“You know my words about never losing twice to the same opponent—they are no lie.”
Urbano withdrew his hand from reaching for the teacup.
And he regarded me with a cold expression.
“No one doubts that your personal abilities are exceptional. Neither do I.”
“How reassuring.”
“But not everything is decided by individual ability alone.”
“Then?”
“Though the individual may be lacking, the collective can prevail. So it was with the Empire’s founder, who struck down the head of the Former Emperor.”
….
“Calypso can gather people. Those with cleaner hearts, with better intentions, will rally beneath her.”
….
“And so the Empire will have a brighter future.”
Urbano’s eyes were grave and profound.
I could discern what future he envisioned.
I set down my teacup.
And I looked at him squarely.
“A dream you cannot protect in the present is merely an illusion.”
“Pardon?”
“What this fractured realm needs is strength.”
I met his gaze.
“Even if Calypso becomes Empress, such things will repeat. Perhaps a beautiful future will come.”
….
“But in the meantime, she will fail to stop invasions, and the realm will descend into chaos.”
….
“Can you believe the people will endure that time?”
Foolish.
I understood the people’s lives far better than Calypso ever would.
A single policy, a single threat from an enemy nation—and the people’s fragile lives would crumble.
“They don’t act cruelly because they refuse to live righteously.”
….
“The people grant power to rulers because they need someone to protect them in return. Yet the one who receives that power should himself be protected? That is precisely arrogance.”
The nobles do not understand.
How fragile the people truly are.
Even this man, renowned for his wisdom, can only reduce it all to numbers.
But the price of that bright future is counted in ones and twos—each a common citizen clinging fiercely to their single, finite life.
I met his hardened gaze directly.

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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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