I Don’t Need a Dad Like This! - Chapter 20

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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 20】

“N-no, it’s not.”

Serena desperately turned her head away as if she didn’t want to be caught.

“What do you mean it’s not? Coming here so suddenly is strange in itself. What’s wrong? Tell me.”

“Actually… I asked Rie to be the flower girl for this wedding. I wanted to get closer to her as her new mother.”

“Right. You’ll be family soon.”

“Even if she hasn’t accepted me yet, I thought she might do it out of courtesy… but apparently Rie cried and made a huge fuss saying she didn’t want to do it. In the end, I’ll have no flower girl…”

“What?! She rejected your flower girl request?!”

Before she could finish speaking, Cedric exclaimed in shock.

Weddings without flower girls were quite common. However, for the wedding of a younger sister who had been cherished like gold and jade since childhood, this should never happen.

“It definitely sounds like a rejection of you. That’s essentially the same as turning their back on our family.”

“Surely not, Rie wouldn’t… May I come in for now?”

“Of course. Come in and let’s talk. I was just with Ella anyway.”

“Yes. Thank you.”

Serena entered the manor with his support.

* * *

“Serena, it’s been a while. But why have you come back looking so haggard?”

Ella was Cedric’s lover and fiancée.

She had been waiting in the reception room and patted Serena gently as if handling a baby.

Serena felt better meeting people she could act spoiled with after so long.

“You must have seen the newspaper… a lot has happened.”

“I saw it. The Duke’s daughter, Rie? That child said in the courtroom that she didn’t want to live with her father? How could that be possible? To reject a ducal house of all things!”

That was something Serena was curious about too.

Even at four years old, being born a noble, she should know how much difference there is between the status of the Theodore Family and the Birdwell Family.

‘Could it be…?’

Serena’s eyes widened as she fidgeted with the warm teacup Ella had given her.

“Come to think of it, that child Rie seemed close to Marquis Philip.”

“Marquis Philip?”

“He’s friendly with a mere four-year-old child? What use could there be?”

He appeared gentle on the surface, but was someone with few connections in high society due to his subtly cold-hearted nature.

The two surprised people gaped.

“I don’t know either, but… Marquis Philip even said he would visit Rie later.”

And the two of them talked about me too.

Aunt Serena. Remembering the title Philip had said with a smile made heat rise to her forehead.

“This is just my thought… Could it be that Rie became close with Marquis Philip and mistakenly thinks she’s gained that level of status? A young child could easily think that way.”

“Surely not… she couldn’t be that cunning.”

Ella shook her head back and forth.

Cedric also looked bewildered.

“Marquis Philip didn’t seem like that type either, but he must really dote on the child.”

“It’s not that, I’m just worried that Rie might develop twisted values. Of course, I probably don’t have the right to act as a mother to that child…”

“What are you talking about, you’re even scheduled to marry the Duke! If the child is spoiled, of course you should correct her!”

“Right?”

To do that, she would need to find a way to separate Rie from Marquis Philip, or make Marquis Philip distance himself from Rie.

That’s when it happened.

“Oh, come to think of it, I heard that Marquis Philip doesn’t get along with Crown Prince Jair.”

At Ella’s words, Serena’s head shot up.

“I heard that Marquis Philip is close with the Imperial Family?”

“Yes. But apparently not with Crown Prince Jair. They say they’re complete enemies? The Crown Prince won’t even accept Marquis Philip’s greetings.”

It was welcome news to hear.

“Really? Then…”

Suddenly, a good idea came to mind.

An idea to humiliate both Rie and Marquis Philip at her own wedding venue.

‘But if I say it directly, my image might be ruined.’

“Ahem. Um…”

As she blushed as if embarrassed and fidgeted with her hair, both people’s gazes turned to her.

“How about this?”

She began to speak, blinking her innocent eyes.

* * *

Time passed quickly to the wedding day.

“Rie, are you ready?”

Emilia’s voice could be heard from outside the door.

“Just a moment!”

But Rie was still in the middle of packing.

The child, who had been stroking her chin with her short fingers, looked up at the ceiling and thought.

“They said it takes 4 whole hours by carriage to get to the Grand Cathedral.”

Four hours was an incredibly long time.

She might get hungry, or she might get bored.

“So I need to pack cookies… and a handkerchief…”

The new bag she had prepared for today!

Rie ruthlessly crammed cookies and a handkerchief into the small bag with ribbons.

“Oh, right!”

Clap!

Then she clapped her maple leaf-like palms together.

Because she had almost forgotten something important.

“I might get bored in the carriage, so I should pack 【The.Cave.Do】 volume 2 too!”

When they added the book, the ribbon bag suddenly bulged out as if it would make a ‘ri-boong’ sound.

Finally, the most important clock was tied to a string and worn as a necklace.

Rie lowered her face and struggled to put on the necklace. Once she hid the clock inside the dress collar, her outing preparations were complete!

“Rie, are you ready?”

“Uuung-!”

As she slung the ribbon bag over her shoulder and ran out with a wadada, Mother appeared wearing a gorgeous dress.

The mother and daughter truly looked like nobles for the first time in a long while.

When they needed dresses to attend the wedding as guests, it was thanks to the Birdwell couple rolling up their sleeves and pooling their money.

Though it wasn’t the finest fabric, they called a tailor to make custom dresses.

However, Emilia’s expression as she looked down at herself was dark.

“…We’re going to go bankrupt just from attending one wedding.”

Thunk!

That’s when Morgana’s walking stick made a thunking sound.

“It’s a ducal house wedding, so we should dress this well.”

She said with a snort. Mordic beside her felt the same way.

“That’s right, look at our Rie. How pretty she looks wearing doll clothes.”

Unlike the worried Emilia, the elderly couple looked like they were dying from how cute Rie was.

“Oh my, let us hug our Rie once.”

“Ueeet. Grandma, Grandpa… ji!”

Rie, who was hugged by the couple, made a squeaking sound.

‘Rie is becoming flat. At this rate, I’ll become a paper person!’

But she had to endure it.

Grandma and Grandpa had even sold the bracelets they always wore to buy this dress and bag!

Then, Mary appeared, pale as a sheet.

“B-Baron, Madam. There’s a guest outside.”

“A guest? Do you mean the carriage has already arrived?”

“N-no. Ma-Marquis Philip says… he’ll escort Lady Rie and Lady Emilia…”

“What?”

Thud.

The walking stick fell from Morgana’s surprised hand.

Regardless, Rie, who poked her head up like a meerkat from their embrace, excitedly stomped her feet.

“Marquis Philip came?! Mother, Rie is going to see Marquis Philip-! Mother, hurry and come too!”

No one stopped the child who escaped from Grandma’s embrace and ran off with a wadada.

After standing dazed for a moment, Morgana, who came to her senses first, muttered.

“I was already surprised she acted so casually with the Duke, but to become this close with a marquis… what exactly is that little rascal Rie doing…?”

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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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