I Don’t Need a Dad Like This! - Chapter 19

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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 19】

Then she could hear Emilia’s voice trying to stop her, wondering when she had come home.

“Mother! Rie will hear everything, why are you shouting like that!”

“A wedding invitation, and even asking the child to be a flower girl! Do you think this makes any sense?!”

“Flower girl…?”

Rie’s eyes widened as she rolled down from the bed and slightly opened the door.

Kami peeked his head through the gap and muttered as if what was bound to come had come.

“Seeing Lady Birdwell getting angry about marriage talk… I think your father probably sent a wedding invitation.”

“Huh. …What’s that?”

“It’s sending an invitation asking people to congratulate you because you got married. Probably with that Serena woman or whatever her name is.”

“Right. A year ago, Father married Aunt Serena too!”

Rie vividly recalled the situation from that time.

For reference, a flower girl was someone who scattered flowers on the ground, meaning they wished for a path of flowers to unfold in the bride’s future.

In her previous life, Rie was forced to become Serena’s flower girl.

So she had to receive flower girl training starting a month before the wedding.

‘Rie. If you smile like this, people will dislike you. Sister will fix it for you. Ah, yes. Now you’re pretty. Like a doll!’

Starting with criticizing the corners of her mouth.

‘When you walk, you must walk modestly. That’s right. Walk quietly while just smiling. Throw the flower petals vigorously on the ground. How pretty!’

Because Serena kept pressing her naturally protruding baby belly with her finger, Rie had to hold her breath every time she walked.

Walking quietly like an adult wasn’t fun at all.

“I should have scattered toy pieces instead of flower petals back then. Ugh.”

Rie’s lips pursed into an ‘S’ shape, filled with anger.

That’s when she suddenly came to her senses.

‘…At that wedding venue… Marquis Philip was there too?!’

That’s right.

Father might be a poop carriage to Rie, but in the Chronos Empire, he was a top-tier duke.

So all the guests who came to the wedding were also nobles among nobles.

Among them was Marquis Philip, who was His Majesty the Emperor’s younger brother!

‘Then, then… I could go to Father’s wedding and meet Marquis Philip directly!’

Now that a solution had occurred to her, there was no need to worry anymore. Rie ran down the corridor with quick steps.

“Rie. Why did you come here?”

Surprised by her appearance, Emilia blocked the study room doorway and asked.

Over Emilia’s shoulder, she could see the wedding invitation torn to shreds on the study room floor, and Mary supporting Morgana who was on the verge of fainting.

‘Oh my.’

With Grandmother in that state, would it be okay to say such things?

Rie was worried about Morgana and hesitated, but then thought of Philip and gathered her courage.

“Grandma, Mother. Rie can go to the wedding venue alone.”

“What?”

“That invitation came for Rie, right? Rie will go to the wedding venue.”

* * *

A few days later.

Serena, who had read the reply from the Birdwell Family, spoke dejectedly.

“I thought she had definitely become close with Rie at the library… She’ll come to the wedding but won’t be a flower girl. I thought I understood the child’s heart, but I guess I don’t.”

Her light brown eyebrows, which were always cheerfully raised, drooped down dejectedly.

An expression that would make any man’s heart ache if they saw it.

But Casselik didn’t take his eyes off the report.

“A child who says she wants to live with her mother wouldn’t be a flower girl for another woman. Anyway, since she said she’ll come to the wedding venue, try talking with Rie and getting close to her.”

For a moment, her eyebrows that had been innocently drooped almost twitched slightly.

‘Another woman? He talks about the person he’s about to marry like that?’

But Serena hid her expression and tried to smile while clutching her handkerchief.

“You’re right. These days there are many weddings without flower girls… I was asking for too much. I guess I had pointless dreams thinking it would be my one and only wedding.”

“Asking for too much?”

Casselik stared at Serena.

The Theodore Ducal House had everything in abundance.

Expressions like asking for too much or having pointless dreams didn’t suit it at all.

Certainly she was different from Emilia yet had many similarities.

She would demand things like dresses and shoes as if they were natural, but at times like this she acted frustratingly like that woman.

That was the problem.

When Serena acted frustratingly like that woman, he couldn’t be as firm as usual.

Was it regret?

‘No, what regret.’

It’s not like he was some regretful male lead from a novel.

Actually, after Rie’s poop carriage comment, he had asked his assistant about its meaning.

‘That child called me a poop carriage, what does that mean?’

‘I don’t know if I dare say this, but… it seems she was copying a trendy word that spread among the maids. It’s… a word used to describe a low-quality ex-lover…’

‘What? Low-quality?’

‘It’s not my words but a term the maids made up! I heard some strange romance novel is popular among the maids these days. Something about a man who was cruel to a woman and then beats the ground in regret…’

‘Regret? I didn’t do anything like that. Why would I regret?’

Casselik, who finished his brief contemplation, spoke.

“It doesn’t matter who does the flower girl role instead of Rie, so pick whoever you want, relatives or whatever.”

“Really?”

“Why are you making me say it twice?”

“Ah! I’m sorry. And thank you, Duke. I’m really… happy!”

Only then did Serena’s expression brighten.

She even clapped her hands together like a child, unbecoming of her age.

However.

“…Conversing with the Duke isn’t an easy task.”

As soon as she left the reception room, she sighed like a pitiful person.

“Phew. I thought I’d be happy marrying a man who matched my status… but it’s quite different from what I imagined.”

The reason she had agreed to the contract marriage with Casselik.

It was because he was the perfect man who ranked second only to the Imperial Family in the Empire.

But Casselik wasn’t as affectionate as she had imagined, nor did he show her any interest.

Instead, he only went around investigating his former wife and Rie.

She rubbed the corners of her mouth that felt like they might twitch.

‘But that’s exactly why I’m more attracted to him.’

What would it be like if such a wicked man someday knelt down and groveled before me?

Just imagining it made Serena’s face flush as she clutched the hem of her dress.

A love story between an innocent woman called an angel and an iron-willed man.

Gazes mixed with admiration and envious jealousy would be directed at her.

That’s right.

They say joy comes after hardship.

Although she was struggling now with her husband’s coldness and indifference… before long, she would become the perfect woman who had won Casselik’s heart!

The first gateway to that was Rie.

“…Usually children like pretty people. But that child Rie is so peculiar that it’s not easy to get close to her.”

Serena muttered while looking at her face from various angles in her hand mirror.

There was the option of treating her well, but honestly speaking… she didn’t want to be kind to Rie.

The boredom and humiliation she had experienced in the library.

That incident still haunted her even before sleep.

“That’s right. Only those who are qualified can enjoy kindness. Rie doesn’t deserve my kindness.”

But she needed to get close to that child for Duke Casselik to show interest in her.

What should she do?

After pondering, Serena immediately took action. And soon she arrived at her family home, the Mersilla Marquis House.

As she got out of the carriage, a gentle-looking man who resembled Serena came running out with his arms spread wide.

“My lovely sister! What brings you here without even a letter!”

His name was Cedric. The eldest son of the marquis family and her real older brother.

“Brother-!”

Without hesitation, Serena ran and threw herself into her brother’s broad embrace, her shoulders trembling finely.

Sensing that something was amiss, he carefully grasped her shoulders.

“Serena? Are you crying? What happened?”

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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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