I Don’t Need a Dad Like This! - Chapter 2

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

【Episode 2】

* * *

“Good grief. You even dragged a child into this?”

‘Huh? Who’s that?’

Rie, who had been sleeping curled up like a bean bug, furrowed her brow.

“You must have been taught countless times that you need to be alone when using your ability. Have you gone so mad that you don’t even care about your child?”

“Who is it…?”

A childish voice.

Rie was sleepy and wanted to fall asleep right away, but she was curious about who was getting so angry.

As she rubbed her swollen eyes and sat up—

“Are you awake?”

A black-haired boy tilted his head.

The boy, who appeared to be about three or four years older than Rie, was dressed in a simple white tunic and shorts, barefoot.

‘Does he not have shoes? Should Rie give him some?’

But the boy didn’t seem to need shoes.

The place where Rie had awakened was an entirely white space with no sky or ground.

Gasp.

“This is… Heaven?!”

Rie’s mouth opened in a triangle shape as she jumped up.

Hoping she might be able to see her mother, she looked around like a meerkat, when she heard a sigh from beside her.

“Heaven, really. You’re not dead.”

“Huh? Who, who are you?!”

“I am a collection of lost time.”

Oh my.

Rie nodded seriously.

“What’s that?”

The boy shrugged his shoulders. He looked like he hadn’t expected Rie to understand anyway.

“You don’t need to know the details. What you need to know is that you got caught up in Casselik’s Time Travel Ability and are traveling to the past together.”

“Time travel? Only my dad can do that.”

The Theodore Ducal House where Rie lived was a family that had produced ‘time ability users’ for generations.

That didn’t mean all Theodores were ability users though.

Time ability users were born with an extremely small probability, which is why the primary role of Theodore dukes throughout generations was to produce ‘time ability users’ to continue the lineage.

And Rie, daughter of the current head Casselik, was powerless.

‘Since the child has been confirmed to be powerless, I’ll proceed with the divorce as per our contract.’

“…”

Rie trembled as she recalled her father’s voice from that time.

‘I’m scared.’

I heard that Mother had a contract marriage with Father on the condition that she would bear him a child with abilities.

But when Mother gave birth to Rie, who had no abilities, Father found another woman and divorced Mother.

‘Mother got divorced because of Rie. Mother didn’t do anything wrong…’

Rie’s eyebrows drooped downward.

Regardless, the indifferent low voice continued.

“Anyway, you’re also going back one year, and we’ll arrive soon. By the way, both you and Casselik will lose your memories. That guy’s ability is only that much, so he can’t transfer memories. So, are you ready?”

Gasp.

“N-no.”

Frightened Rie quickly shook her head.

“Then when will you be ready? I need to go soon.”

“…Rie is.”

Rie’s lips, which had been about to continue speaking, pressed tightly shut.

If I go back one year? I’ll have to separate from Mother again and live with Father and Aunt Serena.

‘Th-that absolutely can’t happen!’

Clang clang clang-!

It felt like alarm bells were ringing in her head.

What should I do in a situation like this?

Rie had never done it before, but she remembered how other children in the plaza would whine to buy snacks.

At those times, the children’s parents would look embarrassed but still buy the snacks!

“Hii, hiiiing.”

It was do or die.

“Hiiiing! Rie won’t go-!”

Plopping down and lying spread-eagle, Rie shook her legs left and right.

If the boy tried to drag her away by force, she planned to push him away with quick footwork.

“What, what’s this? Why are you suddenly acting like this?”

As expected, the flustered boy stepped back, seemingly embarrassed by Rie.

But-

“Hey, kid. Even if you don’t like it, you have to go. That’s what life is like.”

This kid talks like some old man!

Rie finally let out a shriek.

“If that’s what life is like, then Rie would rather just go to Heaven! I’ll be with Mother there!”

“Hey!”

“Father is mean. Even when Mother said she wanted to live with Rie, he refused. He won’t even play with Rie. He locks Rie up all day with scary Aunt Serena.”

Flinch.

The boy who had been approaching Rie stopped.

“Since Rie has no abilities, she has to work harder and be smarter. That’s the only way she can keep eating meat and sleeping in a soft bed, she said.”

“…Who said that? Duke Casselik?”

“No. Aunt Serena did.”

“Isn’t that woman crazy?”

Rie stopped what she was doing at the sudden word.

“Crazy…?”

Wasn’t that a curse word?

It was a scary word that Father used very, very rarely when he had an angry face.

As she stopped what she was doing and blinked her eyes, the boy whose face had turned bright red at some point stomped his foot with a thud.

“And Casselik who keeps such a woman by your side is a stupid and incompetent bastard!”

The boy seemed much angrier than Rie.

“Hey.”

“Huh?”

“You change it.”

“…Huh? Change what?”

“Yeah. I changed my mind. I’ll give it to you, the Time Ability. If it’s an ability I gave you, you won’t lose your memories even if you regress.”

The boy who had been fuming for a while nodded his head and spoke to Rie.

“…Is that really okay?”

Would it be okay for Rie to receive something so incredible?

“Of course. Wouldn’t you be better than some bastard who’s thirty-two years old and abandoned his family?”

Oh my, maybe it really was okay to accept it?!

“Take my hand. You need to get up now.”

Did she really have to go now?

She moved her lips in confusion, when a white hand was extended before her eyes.

“This body will help you. Don’t worry.”

“…If you help me, yes!”

Rie swallowed her saliva and nodded, taking the boy’s hand.

And when the world flashed white again—

“Princess Rie, you need to wake up—!”

Someone frantically woke Rie up.

She had returned to one year ago.

* * *

Rie blinked her eyes at the warm air enveloping her entire body.

‘Huh.’

She came to her senses and looked around.

This place was Rie’s Bedroom in the Duke’s Castle.

Warm sunlight was streaming in through the long, magnificent windows, drawing white lines.

‘It was definitely winter though.’

Had she been dreaming…?

“Did you see the New Publication 【If You Keep Acting Like That, I’ll Run Away】?”

Hehe, Rie’s ears suddenly perked up as she was looking around the bedroom with her mouth open.

“I already read it all the way to the end though?”

“Really? I’m curious!”

“Ugh, should I tell this story or not?”

“Don’t tell me, no wait, do tell me. No, don’t! Actually, just tell me this one thing. So did the female lead run away?”

“…If he acts like that, wouldn’t she run away?”

The maids standing by the bed were chatting. They probably thought Rie was still asleep.

Anyway, the topic of their conversation was a romance novel famous among the maids.

But volume 2 had come out a year ago, so…

‘Rie really did come back to the past!’

Her heart pounded like a drum.

It felt just like magic.

Then was that boy from earlier a fairy who cast magic?

“Hey, boy. Did you come here with me too?”

Rie turned her head with an excited heart.

“Princess Rie. Is something wrong? You’re finally awake.”

But the answer to her question came from the maid sisters, not the boy.

“…Huh? Where did he go?”

“Pardon?”

She looked around, but the black-haired boy was nowhere to be found.

“Rie and my friend traveled through time together, but my friend disappeared.”

Maybe the maids had seen the boy.

“Sisters. Did you see a boy with really black hair?”

“Haha… No. We didn’t see anyone. Since you’re awake, we’ll prepare breakfast for you.”

The maids laughed awkwardly.

There was no need to take seriously the strange words of a four-year-old.

“Hey, these days people read novels by keywords, right?”

“Yeah. That’s right.”

Their topic of conversation returned to the novel again.

“Then what are the keywords for this novel?”

“The female lead runs away because of the rude male lead, right? And the male lead regrets it, so…”

“Runaway female lead, regretful male lead?”

“…Regretful male lead?”

The moment she heard those words, Rie’s mind flashed and rang.

When she thought about it, it was really strange.

Even before the divorce, Father had treated Mother coldly.

He even brought Aunt Serena right before the divorce and completely cut ties with Mother.

But.

“…When Mother went to heaven, he cried so much.”

When someone you love dies, you feel sad.

Rie, who had witnessed her mother’s death, knew this well too.

But if Father hated Mother, why was he sad?

And the strange thing was that he had said something odd while kneeling in front of the black coffin.

‘Why did she leave so soon? That can’t be right. I’m sure that notebook still had another year left….’

‘Why did she die so early? It was just about to be completed, so why!’

What was the notebook, and what was it that he said was about to be completed?

Anyway!

Father is awful -> Mother died. -> Father cried his eyes out.

“…Kyah!”

Rie’s mouth fell wide open.

“This is totally a weeping male lead!”

She wasn’t exactly sure what a weeping male lead was, but since he went ‘waaah’ and cried, it probably meant a crybaby male lead.

That’s right.

Having just heard the maids’ gossip, Rie saw Casselik as a weeping male lead.

But the unfortunate thing was?

‘Our mother isn’t a runaway heroine though….’

Rie fidgeted with her fingers.

After the divorce, Mother lingered around the Duke’s Castle every day, saying she wanted to see Rie.

Then the illness she’d suffered from since long ago suddenly worsened, and she went to heaven.

‘…This time that can’t happen.’

Rie clenched her fists.

Let’s leave Father as a weeping male lead.

But I need to turn Mother into a runaway heroine!

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