How to Replace Your Dad - Chapter 88

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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How to Replace Your Dad

Chapter 88

Just as my face was about to touch Oscar’s chest.

Three hands shot out.

The Clan Leader’s hand grabbed Oscar’s face, while Yuise’s hand seized his neck.

Father grabbed my shoulder.

Thanks to that, I fell away from Oscar and looked up at Father who had appeared behind me.

Father’s aura was menacing.

“Those with bad hand habits tend to lose their wrists.”

Oscar quickly raised both hands.

“Oh my, it was just a joke.”

The Clan Leader furrowed his brow.

“Know your place. What kind of rudeness is this toward the Young Lady?”

“I was curious. Whether just touching would heal or purify, if it only works on designated targets, if you can set an area and distinguish between allies and enemies. Things like that?”

Oscar showed the wound on the back of his hand.

Then he playfully told me it was to confirm whether I could really heal.

Well, I don’t really mind.

‘What I mind is this.’

I looked into the pouch Oscar handed me with sparkling eyes.

“How did you get this? …This ‘Essence of Ecstasy’!”

When I spoke, Oscar smiled broadly.

“Yuise mentioned it. She asked if I could identify someone among the vassals who had the Essence of Ecstasy.”

“Can you identify it?”

Oscar pointed to his right eye with his index finger.

“My eye is rather special.”

Yuise released Oscar’s neck as if throwing it and said.

“He can read mana.”

Ah, so that’s how he immediately noticed that Cesar had attached a mechanical doll to me.

I smiled brightly and said.

“Where did you find it?”

“Beudeungni’s vassal. I think it was Marquis Namia. He had it.”

“Thank you.”

“Don’t mention it.”

My existing mana was around 50.

The Essence of Ecstasy I received from Onel added 400 more.

‘With this one, that makes 600.’

That’s about the level of a high-ranking priest.

“Well then, now it’s time for Holy Site training.”

“Holy Site?”

The Clan Leader asked as if wondering what I meant.

I smiled brightly and showed him the documents.

“I snatched it from Marquise Andres!”

“Pardon?”

The Clan Leader startled and took the documents.

The Clan Leader’s Unit members also hurried over, craning their necks to check the documents.

“It’s really the Holy Site…!”

“Wow—!”

The Clan Leader’s Unit members’ eyes widened as if they might pop out.

The Clan Leader stared at me blankly while holding the contract.

Then he slowly hugged the contract to his chest.

“Young Lady, hooray…”

—he said.

I’m glad he’s happy, but…

‘Isn’t he a bit too happy?’

And I soon learned the reason.

The Clan Leader said with a joyful face.

“Now the Clan Leader might not have to get married…”

What?

Who’s getting married?

* * *

Father’s Office.

The Irregulars’ Elite and I looked at the portrait the Clan Leader presented inside.

“A marriage proposal has arrived. From the youngest daughter of Marquis Sanponse.”

“Wow, sending a marriage proposal without even meeting? How bold.”

Oscar said while examining the portrait.

I looked at the Clan Leader.

“Marquis Sanponse… one of the seven families?”

“That’s correct.”

“If she’s the marquis’s youngest daughter, she’d be the empress’s sister?”

“Yes…”

“Lady Angelica Sanponse?”

“That’s right…”

The Clan Leader and I simultaneously rubbed our faces with both hands.

Oscar looked at us with a puzzled expression.

“If she’s the youngest daughter of the Sanponse marquis family, isn’t that not bad? If you have to marry anyway, it’s better to do it under good conditions.”

That would be true.

The Sanponse marquis family is the empress’s family.

It’s the maternal family of the First Prince, who’s closest to the crown prince.

Looking at conditions alone, she was an incredibly good match.

…Yes, looking at conditions alone.

I sighed and said.

“Lady Angelica has two divorce records.”

“Divorce is nothing. Our side is technically an illegitimate son of a marquis, so it’s not like we can’t match each other, right?”

“In her first marriage, she pushed her mother-in-law down the stairs.”

“…Was the mother-in-law a particularly wicked person?”

“In her second marriage, she locked her husband’s young daughter from his previous wife in a warehouse and nearly starved her to death.”

“…”

All the Elite fell silent.

That’s right.

Angelica Sanponse was someone with serious personality problems.

That’s why, despite having the great backing of the Sanponse family, no one had approached her for six years after her second marriage.

Oscar laughed awkwardly.

“Well, it doesn’t matter. It’ll be settled at the level of Marquise Esgaroth anyway. The Clan Leader wouldn’t want to gain the Sanponse family as in-laws.”

“This marriage is being pushed by that Marquise.”

At the Clan Leader’s words, the Elite startled.

I sighed.

“She thinks we’ll refuse. She’s trying to make us antagonize the Sanponse family.”

“That would be it. From the Sanponse perspective, there’s nothing bad about it. They’d become the maternal family of the Saint, Young Lady.”

The Clan Leader handed over another letter.

“This is a letter saying the Marquise will soon visit Cuaron with Angelica Sanponse.”

“How fast.”

“They don’t intend to give us any room to escape.”

“What’s your reason for welcoming the holy site training?”

“I think we could hide her at the holy site for a while, using the joint military training preparations as an excuse. When the Marquis comes, we can ask him to handle the cleanup.”

Father nodded.

“Right. Yustea to the holy site…”

At that moment, the Clan Leader and I spoke simultaneously.

“Father.”

“Clan Leader.”

Because if Angelica sees that face, she’ll become even more desperate for marriage.

The Clan Leader and I looked at each other with determined faces.

Father remained quietly silent.

Seeing Father like that, Yuise and Oscar snickered, and Antonio…

“So we’re protecting the princess, right… Ack!”

…got hit by Father.

* * *

A few days later.

Using the excuse of sending him to the holy site, Father decided to hide deep within Kuaron Castle.

Father glanced at me sideways.

His face asked if he really had to go.

I smiled benevolently.

“Hurry up.”

Angelica is visiting today.

Princess… no, I need to hide that handsome man and handle the conversation well.

I decided to guard the castle in Father’s absence.

After all, they probably wouldn’t dare lay a hand on the Saint.

After Father moved, I soon looked around at the employees.

“Today is the day Kuaron receives its first outside guests. There must be no negligence in our service.”

Kuaron’s employees all bowed their heads at once.

“Well then, shall we go greet them?”

I looked around at the Elite wearing knight uniforms.

With their capes bearing each squad’s symbolic colors, they looked quite impressive.

The Elite bowed their heads.

It was now noon.

Time for the guests to arrive.

When I stepped into the courtyard, Kuaron’s vassals were packed tightly along the walls.

Everyone was excited about the news that a daughter of the Seven Families was visiting.

These weren’t vassals of central Esgaroth, but retainers of the jurisdiction.

For their master to marry the daughter of a Head of the Seven Families was a great honor.

“They’re getting their hopes up for nothing.”

Yuise whispered to me.

I answered with a smile and looked toward the gate.

Soon they appeared in the courtyard.

The guests from the Sanfonse family.

That is, Angelica and the daughters she had from each of her two marriages.

And the person who came with them was…

“…”

Seeing that man, I flinched.

It wasn’t just me.

Even the Elite’s faces hardened.

Antonio looked bewildered, but Yuise quickly pressed down on his shoulder.

Everyone gathered in the courtyard knelt down.

“Infinite glory to the Imperial House! We greet Prince Yohael!”

…It was First Prince Yohael.

I also bowed my head.

“We greet First Prince.”

“We meet often, Yustea.”

He wore the same spring sunshine-like smile as always.

“I’ve been assigned to observe the northern military training. Since I came north, I heard my aunt was going to Kuaron, so I came along.”

“I see.”

“I informed the Marquise, but it seems the news didn’t reach Kuaron.”

I could see Yuise, who was prostrating, secretly grinding her teeth.

The reason the Marquise didn’t relay the news was obvious.

She was worried we’d refuse using the excuse that we weren’t prepared to host royalty.

“I apologize. The news came late, so our preparations are inadequate.”

At my words, the Prince raised an eyebrow slightly.

This was essentially saying we weren’t prepared, so please return.

“Don’t worry about it. I’ll be going to the citadel soon anyway. I can at least have a cup of tea, right?”

“Of course.”

Having said that, I paid respects to the Sanfonse family guests and told the butler.

“Please escort them to the reception room—”

“The garden would be nice.”

It was Angelica’s second daughter who spoke.

The second daughter said with a bright smile.

“And I’d like those guards.”

“…”

She was pointing at Yuise and Oscar.

“You’ll do it, right?”

“…”

“Oh, I’m the older sister.”

As the second daughter smiled brightly, the first daughter with a more modest appearance looked flustered.

“Viola, what rudeness is this?”

“But we’ll be living in Kuaron soon anyway. Her Majesty the Empress sending brother Yohael is a signal to Marquis Esgaroth not to refuse Mother.”

“Viola…!”

“You know this much too, right? Guide us to the garden. Oh, I like milk tea. I want lots of cream.”

The second daughter, Viola, called the butler saying “Guide us.”

The butler glanced at me.

Angelica just crossed her arms without particularly restraining her daughter’s rudeness.

Rather.

“Marquis Kuaron’s pride is quite something.”

“…”

“Holy site training when guests are scheduled to visit. Even if you look down on Sanfonse, there should be limits.”

“…”

The atmosphere in the courtyard froze in an instant.

I said to her.

“The northern military training is not far off. It’s an important northern event that the Prince is graciously attending. Please understand our difficult circumstances.”

“Are you saying the annual military training is more important than meeting one’s future wife?”

Angelica’s tone became sharp.

The vassals flinched.

Then, Yohael stepped forward.

“Please don’t make things too difficult for Yustea.”

“It seems Your Highness wants to elevate this child’s dignity over someone like me who shares your blood.”

“Aunt.”

“I find Quaron’s rudeness…”

“Angelica Sanponse.”

“…!”

When Yohaël called her name, Angelica flinched.

Yohaël was known to the world as a courteous and gentle person.

He wasn’t a man who carelessly flaunted his authority.

Angelica had believed this, which was why she could easily show her disappointment even to the First Prince.

When Angelica became flustered, Yohaël smiled slightly.

“Please consider my dignity… I beg you.”

Angelica flinched and turned her gaze away.

I spoke to the butler.

“Escort the guests to the garden.”

“Yes, Young Lady.”

With that, the butler departed with the guests.

The Clan Leader approached me.

“This matter has become more burdensome than expected. I’ll handle the guests along with the vassals.”

“It’s fine. If there are no Quaron bloodline members present, there will be even more chaos after the Prince leaves.”

“But…”

“For now, shall we exclude those two… no, three?”

I gestured with my eyes toward the other princesses… no, handsome men.

It was Yuise, Oscar, and Antonio.

Yuise wore an annoyed expression, Oscar had an awkward smile.

Antonio looked bewildered.

“And one more thing.”

“Please speak.”

“Contact this person…”

After giving instructions to the Clan Leader, I walked alone down the corridor to head to the garden.

It was when I had entered the corridor with the exit leading to the garden.

Someone suddenly pulled me aside.

I was startled and looked at the person who had pulled me.

“…Your Highness.”

“It seemed like you wouldn’t give us time to talk alone.”

“What do you want to say.”

When I looked at him coldly, he smiled brightly.

“Something interesting happened in Andres.”

“If you’re talking about Stella, ask her.”

“Well. Stella isn’t answering my calls either.”

“If you came all this way to ask me about that, you chose the wrong person.”

As I pulled away the wrist he was holding, Yohaël chuckled softly.

“Don’t be like that. I might be able to help, you know?”

“Help?”

“Grandfather is trying to push this marriage through by any means.”

“…”

“How desperate must he have been to send me?”

I had expected this.

The First Prince wouldn’t have come for no reason.

“Grandfather’s target is you, Yustea.”

“So?”

“So if you come with me, this marriage can be called off. Very peacefully.”

“The engagement with Stella is under discussion.”

“It’s not like two sisters have never married into the royal family together.”

At Yohaël’s words, I let out a hollow laugh.

“You want Stella and me to become your wife and concubine side by side?”

“If you want, I can give you the position of main wife. It’s not difficult anymore.”

“What?”

“There are rumors going around that Stella’s poisoning incident wasn’t your doing. Right now it’s just rumors.”

“And?”

“But if I marry you, it will become fact.”

“…”

“A chance to restore your honor. Not bad, right?”

Count Andres wouldn’t particularly want to publicly announce that the poisoning incident wasn’t my doing.

As long as I don’t return, there’s no need to bear the family’s shame.

And it would be ridiculous for me, branded as the perpetrator, to publicly declare ‘I didn’t do such a thing.’

Without evidence, the public wouldn’t believe it anyway.

Since Stella was such a popular figure.

“I’m the only one who can stop Grandfather, Yustea.”

“…”

“The position of Empress. I can give you the most honorable crown a lady can possess.”

“…”

“Won’t you take my hand?”

I stared at him intently.

That was the moment.

Bzzzzt—.

A vibrating sound echoed through the quiet corridor.

I smiled brightly and took out what was hanging around my neck.

It was a communication stone.

Holding the blinking communication stone, I connected the communication.

[So, what’s the matter?]

The smile disappeared from Yohaël’s face when he heard the voice flowing from the communication stone.

I said.

“Are you the only one observing the northern joint training, Your Highness the First Prince?”

When I asked, that voice flowed from the communication stone once more.

[No.]

“Then?”

[I’m also in the north.]

“Then I’d like to invite you to Quaron… Prince Luciano.”

Who said you’re the only one who can stop this marriage?

I looked at Yohaël, whose lips were curved in a crooked smile.

Yohaël said.

“…I didn’t expect this move.”

I replied.

“I really hope you’ll come, Prince Luciano.”

Completely ignoring Yohaël and speaking to Luciano.

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