I Don’t Need a Dad Like This! - Chapter 104

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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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<Chapter 104>

Jair, who had come out to the corridor, looked around.

People had suddenly stopped moving.

“Did Rie use her ability?”

‘There shouldn’t be any danger. But if there is… use your time ability. Understood?’

He had said those words before.

She really was a smart child.

She must have suspected that Count Gillen might be a dark mage and moved to the Rioletta Marquis Castle.

Fortunately or unfortunately, the distance from here to the marquis castle wasn’t very far.

If they went slowly by carriage, about a day?

‘But Rie, how is she planning to get to the marquis castle?’

Just like his worry for Rie, Jair also knew it wasn’t a distance to run.

“Good thing I received it from Father in advance, otherwise I would have been fretting here.”

Jair took something out of his pants pocket.

It was a horse’s life clock.

Time Observers had the duty to observe and protect the life clocks of the Empire’s citizens, and at the same time, skilled administrators could directly create life clocks.

This clock was one the Emperor had personally made in the Tower of Time.

‘Since there’s one more time ability user, time will stop frequently. If there’s a need to move during such times, this will be useful.’

It was a life clock that could be used on animals.

Leaving the manor, he mounted the horse that had been standing obediently next to the Imperial carriage.

And when he forcibly turned the life clock, the horse began to move alive in the stopped world.

“Let’s go!”

Jair was anxious.

No matter how much Rie was a time ability user, she was only four years old.

Though she seemed to handle the clock freely, she was still young and didn’t have the skill level of Casselik.

If Count Gillen really was a dark mage, he would have prepared some countermeasures against time abilities.

What if Rie got captured instead?

“…Damn it.”

The boy gritted his teeth and increased the horse’s speed.

Even trying to erase the bad thoughts, the image of crying Rie naturally came to mind.

Rie with her clock stolen.

Rie suffering from dark magic.

Rubbing those small hands like a fly while crying that she was sorry…

“Rie!”

Bang.

The door of the Rioletta Marquis Castle opened.

As he was frantically running through the corridors searching for Rie, suddenly an unpleasant scream burst out.

“Uhahahak!”

“…?”

Jair paused and looked around.

No matter how he listened, the scream belonged to an adult man.

But in a world where time was stopped, the only people who could move were the Emperor, himself, and Rie.

Then… was the owner of that scream Rie?

‘Damn, how badly did they torment the child for such a voice to come out?’

Curses naturally spilled out.

He opened the door to the reception room, the source of the voice.

“Uhahak, hahahak! Please stop!”

Count Gillen, with his hands and feet bound, was bursting into tears and shaking his head frantically.

And below him, who was barefoot.

“The interrogation continues until you tell the truth!”

Rie was tickling the count’s bare feet with a white feather.

Jair was so shocked he couldn’t close his mouth.

Bare foot tickling.

That was the most terrible interrogation method among all those he had received reports about from the knights.

‘How could a four-year-old child do such a thing…’

Rie.

She might be a stronger child than he thought.

Jair looked down at the child’s small back with a slightly bewildered gaze and cleared his throat.

“Ahem.”

“Huh? Angel?”

Only then did Rie notice Jair’s presence and turn her head.

“How did you know Rie was here? Oh, by the way, Rie is punishing the bad guy right now!”

“Ah… Yes, well done.”

From a third party’s perspective, it seemed like one-sided bullying of the weak, but the boy nodded.

Jair didn’t know it himself, but he had become infinitely lenient when it came to Rie.

“You suddenly ran out and the world stopped, so I thought you must have gone to find Count Gillen. But how did you get to the marquis castle?”

“Oh, Rie used the count uncle’s handkerchief to time travel. Then, I traveled following the past, and when it ended, I could arrive where uncle is now!”

So she meant she had spent days peeping into his past and came here.

But Jair’s questions weren’t over.

“Time is stopped, so how is the count moving?”

“Oh, that’s!”

Rie wiggled her finger pointing at something.

Right on the count’s chest.

More precisely, the clock placed on his chest.

“Rie stopped time and tied up the count uncle’s hands and feet, and took off his socks… but his feet smelled really, really bad, so I was startled and fell over, and the clock fell out, then uncle suddenly came alive and moved.”

So she meant she discovered a new ability by accident while suffering from foot odor.

The process of discovering the ability was very Rie-like too.

“Anyway, I’m glad you weren’t hurt.”

He was sighing in relief when the count, who had been lying there like dead, whimpered.

“…Your Highness the Crown Prince?! Please help me! Rie keeps tickling my feet!”

“She must be tickling because you deserve it. You’re a dark mage.”

“What? Rie keeps saying that too, but I’m really not a dark mage! Trying to take Olivia’s hair was all because Evelyn asked me to!”

“Lies! Reveal your identity, villain!”

“Ouch!”

Rie slapped the count’s sole.

Watching this, Jair commanded.

“Rie, hands.”

“Hands?”

“Yes. They got dirty, so I’ll wipe them for you.”

“…Huh.”

Realizing something from his words, Rie sniffed her own hands and wrinkled her face.

“It’s not that bad!”

Gillen, feeling wronged, screamed, but Jair took out a handkerchief and wiped Rie’s dirty hands.

“For now, keep making excuses.”

Jair naturally expected that Gillen would make up lies.

So he planned to go along with the conversation while distinguishing lies from truth.

“…Sigh. I understand. I know you all think I’m making excuses using Evelyn. I didn’t want to sell out the woman I love either, but… that’s the truth. Evelyn wanted Olivia’s hair from the beginning. But she was afraid of becoming distant from the child, so she asked me to do it instead.”

“The reason?”

“Well… should I really say this…”

The count, who had hesitated for a moment, sighed.

“Evelyn says she doesn’t know who the child’s father is. She had been hiding it from the child, but it became necessary for this examination, and she said she felt sorry to tell her directly.”

“So you committed such an act knowing full well how strange you would look?”

Jair’s eyes narrowed.

“Actually, she had kept it secret from me too and only casually mentioned it this time. I didn’t know before either.”

“What a wonderful love you’ve found. Listen well, Count. I could consider you a Dark Mage right now and take you to the Imperial Palace.”

“What? No, why do you keep bringing up Dark Magic?!”

“It seems we’re too young to properly grasp the situation. You’re already involved in an incident that will shake the Empire.”

“…!”

The Count’s breathing became rough.

As he said, the young children before his eyes were the Crown Prince and a Time Ability User.

Once he became conscious of that fact, he realized how heavy the meaning behind the boy’s words was.

“…No. I’m really not.”

“Right. You might not be. Then whatever it is, it would be best to confess anything suspicious.”

“Ah, now that I think about it, there was something strange!”

Gilren, who had been desperately racking his brain, let out an exclamation of “Ah!”

“Whenever we talked about Olivia’s hair, Evelyn would spill water on the floor.”

“Water?”

“Yes. I just thought she had a somewhat clumsy personality… but no matter how clumsy, it’s not something a high noble would do repeatedly, is it? That wasn’t accidentally spilling it—she was doing it on purpose.”

Rie’s eyes widened as she listened to his story.

“Rie knows that! Dark Mages, you know, when they want to avoid Time Ability Users. They drop water mixed with Dark Magic and have secret conversations there!”

“How do you know that, Rie?”

“That’s because Kami….”

Oops.

Rie’s eyebrows drooped as she suddenly closed her mouth.

“Once upon a time, a friend told me… A very, very smart friend…”

Then, after being silent for a moment as if thinking about something, Rie stood up abruptly with a determined expression.

“Angel. Rie needs to meet Countess Rioletta.”

“You alone?”

“Yes. Since this is the Marquis Castle, the Countess will come soon, right? I can tell whether the Countess is a Dark Mage or not!”

At those words, one of Jair’s eyebrows raised.

Even for a Time Ability User, distinguishing Dark Mages would be difficult.

“How?”

“Well…!”

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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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