I Don’t Need a Dad Like This! - Chapter 1

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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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【Episode 1】

Prologue.

Sacred Courtroom.

Emilia had staked all her possessions for this trial.

Her daughter was only four years old.

She couldn’t let her child be taken away by a man who only knew business and had brought in a mistress as his new wife even before the divorce.

“Rie is only four years old. She’s even said she wants to live with me.”

“How much did you say the Birdwell Baronet Family’s assets were?”

She flinched.

But her resistance ended right there.

The man who had been sitting leisurely tilted his head.

Duke Theodore Casselik, called the pillar of the Chronos Empire, and her husband.

“Five thousand gold given as divorce alimony. Your parents bowed their heads to me in gratitude, saying they could pay off their debts with that money.”

Emilia couldn’t say anything.

Her mind went completely blank for a moment.

Because it was true.

Casselik, who had been staring at her quietly, sighed.

“By the way, five thousand gold is an amount that wouldn’t make the Theodore Family blink an eye. Leaving such a family to be raised by the Birdwell Baronet Family—who could be certain that my bloodline would grow up properly?”

“Your Grace. Still, the lady is speaking out of concern for Rie, so you’re being too harsh.”

That was when it happened.

A worried voice from the gallery suddenly stopped Casselik.

Serena stood there with an expression that looked like she might cry if touched.

She was his mistress and future duchess.

“Madam. No, Miss Emilia. I will raise Rie as if she were my own child. Please don’t worry about that.”

“…Right.”

Casselik’s voice finally softened.

“You seem to be imagining some strange future, but Serena isn’t the type of woman to be swayed by petty emotions.”

“…”

“She will raise Princess Rie very well. Don’t worry about unnecessary things.”

Unfortunately, Emilia couldn’t refute Casselik’s argument.

Watching her with only her lips pressed together, he gestured toward the judge.

“Then let’s conclude this trial…”

“What?”

“Why?”

That was when it happened.

The heads of the spectators who had been looking straight ahead throughout the trial turned.

Creak.

“Ouch.”

The door opened, and a little girl appeared, blinking her eyes while standing on her tiptoes and grasping the door handle.

Large eyes reminiscent of the blue sea. Neat silver bob cut.

Even her cheeks, white and soft like flour.

All eyes gathered on the small child who seemed glued to the ground.

Soon.

“Why don’t you ask Rie?”

“Pardon?”

When the flustered judge asked in response to the childish question, the child who had toddled inside raised her voice boldly once more.

“Your Honor! I’ll respect you, so please ask Rie who she wants to live with!”

The child’s name was Rie.

She was the daughter born between Emilia and Casselik, and none other than the protagonist of this trial.

The moment all eyes focused on her.

“Imperial Law Article 84.”

Rie put down the bag from her shoulder and pulled out a thick book.

“What are you doing?”

Casselik frowned, but.

“…When a child reaches an age where they can express their own opinion…”

The child squinted her eyes and glared at the book.

“The child’s wishes shall be given top priority in designating a guardian!”

Rie, who read through it clumsily but without stopping, let out a “whew” sigh and looked at the judge.

“Your Honor. This is correct, right?”

A moment of silence passed.

The people observing in the courtroom were shocked by the fact that what the child had just read was a Law Book.

The same was true for both Casselik and Emilia.

“Hmm. That’s correct. So what is Miss Rie’s wish?”

The only one showing curiosity in the courtroom was the judge, whose glasses glinted.

Rie looked at the judge’s face watching her and took a deep breath.

And then.

“Rie doesn’t need a dad like that!”

She shouted with all her might the truth she had wanted to say all along.

“Rie will live with Mommy!”

The tiresome life at the Duke’s Castle.

How unhappy Rie and her mother had been in her previous life when she followed her father.

Rather than living that life again.

It would truly be better not to have such a father at all.

1.

“When I was alive, you treated me like I was invisible, but now that I’m dead, you come looking for me on your own.”

On a day when the rain was drizzling down.

When a tall man and a young child arrived at the funeral hall, sharp gazes pierced toward them.

“Oh my, isn’t that Duke Casselik?”

“That child, could she be Emilia’s daughter?”

“…He never showed her even once when Emilia was sick. Now that the child’s mother is dead, he brings the child.”

What the people said was true.

Rie hadn’t seen her mother since her parents divorced.

Because her father, Duke Casselik, raised Rie in the Duke’s Castle and separated her from her mother.

Their marriage, which began with a contract, had one condition.

[Casselik Theodore shall have ownership of any children between the two.]

A contract was called a promise.

So if you didn’t keep it, you’d go to prison, which is why Rie had only communicated with her mother through letters.

‘Mom said we’d definitely meet later.’

Deep dimple marks were etched below the mouth of the child trying to hold back tears.

‘Mom. Are you inside that black box?’

That’s when it happened.

Emilia’s relatives, who had taken seats in the front, whispered while looking at Rie and Casselik.

“Should we greet the little one? Or not?”

“…Never mind. If we talk to her, the Duke will blow his top.”

Rie flinched when she saw their faces.

They all seemed to vaguely resemble her mother, but their expressions were frightening.

Rie shrank like a baby deer under the gazes that openly scrutinized her.

If it had been another child, they would have hidden behind their father’s legs or held his hand.

But after her parents’ divorce, Rie had never received protection from her father.

It was the same now.

“…Why…”

Far from caring about the child, Casselik couldn’t overcome his emotions and breathed roughly.

“Why!”

“!”

Rie was startled when Casselik suddenly dropped to his knees.

“…Why did you leave so soon? That can’t be right. Surely that notebook said there was still one more year left…”

“Your Grace. Please calm yourself.”

“Why did you die so soon? It was just about to be completed, so why!”

Thump thump.

Rie’s heartbeat quickened at the shouts echoing through the hall.

She didn’t know what was happening, but her father, who was always scary, was now crying like a child.

It wasn’t a good situation.

Rie’s eyes wavered like they were facing a harsh wind as she watched his collapsed figure.

Right at that moment.

“…It’s okay… I can turn it back. If I start over again….”

“Your Grace!”

Casselik, who had been muttering like a madman, rushed out of the Funeral Hall.

His sudden action turned the quiet Funeral Hall into chaos.

“Why is the Duke suddenly acting like that?”

“He’s the one who abandoned Emilia, so why would he want to act like that at the funeral?”

When he disappeared, the sharp gazes that had been directed at Casselik turned to Rie.

“What urgent matter could there be that he’d leave even his child behind?”

“Look how scared she is. How pitiful.”

Daddy left. Then what about Rie?

Her tiny starfish-like hands trembled violently.

Aunt Serena had said.

That Rie could eat bread and wear clothes only because she was Theodore’s bloodline.

If that weren’t the case, she would have been thrown out on the streets.

“Where are you going, Daddy!”

Rie, scanning her surroundings with frightened eyes, began chasing after Casselik.

“Don’t go…. Don’t abandon Rie, you can’t abandon Rie, waaah, huaaang!”

Finally, the tears she had been holding back burst out.

It felt like her sorrowful and anxious heart had become a monster devouring her.

Rie followed Casselik into an abandoned Warehouse by the roadside, grasping at straws.

“…Daddy?”

But all that came back was a cold shout.

“How did you get here, damn it!”

Breaking out in cold sweat from whatever he had been doing, Casselik spat out curses.

What was strange was that white light was emanating from his hand holding the Clock.

“You get out right now. Otherwise….”

Casselik hurriedly tried to contain the light with one hand while waving the other, but something seemed to have already begun.

“Huh?”

Rie’s big eyes widened at the unexpected situation.

“Damn it!”

Along with Casselik’s curse.

Light more intense than the sun covered Rie, and her vision flashed white.

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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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