I Don’t Need a Dad Like This! - Chapter 37
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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 37】
Rie looked straight at the child, her eyes widening so much they nearly popped out.
‘Huh? It’s that kid who ran away crying last time!’
‘If Duchess Serena has a child, you’ll be abandoned!’
When she told her that if she liked Father so much, she could have him, the girl suddenly ran away.
‘Still, she looks happy now. That’s a relief!’
Rie, who had been secretly worried about her friend, felt relieved and let out a sigh of relief.
“Yaaawn. Huh? Sorry. What did you just say?”
The problem was that Rie, who had been enduring boredom, finally couldn’t overcome her yawn.
“Ugh… Have you been deliberately trying to annoy people from the start?”
It was when Mary, who had been suppressing her anger while watching those around her, sharply turned her head.
Between her shimmering navy blue hair, something black appeared and disappeared.
It was a black crescent moon shape.
“Whatever. No matter how much you pretend to be fine, I’m the one who’s a Time Ability User in the end. And you’re just the daughter of a humble Viscount’s House.”
Mary, who had been fuming, tapped Rie’s shoulder and disappeared, but Rie couldn’t react at all and was stunned.
‘Huh, huh?!’
Then she belatedly opened her mouth wide.
Because the identity of the evil wizard was none other than Mary!
‘If Mary gets adopted, she’ll go to the Duke’s Castle. If Mary goes to the Duke’s Castle…’
At the same time, she recalled Kami’s terrifying warning.
‘The wizards will definitely try to get close to Duke Casselik somehow.’
That’s right! An evil wizard had already entered Theodore Ducal Castle, just as written in that notebook.
She had to inform them of this fact quickly.
* * *
After the identification test was over.
It was when Serena was moving to board the carriage.
“Was it really true that you had prophetic dreams?”
A low voice from behind her, sounding incredulous, stopped her in her tracks.
Casselik asking a question first. It was the first time he had shown interest in her.
“…Yes. I’m not sure if they’re prophetic dreams, but that’s what people say.”
“Interesting. The ability to see the future is a privilege of Time Observers… I heard there are occasionally people who see the future through dreams, even if briefly. To think it was you.”
It was a plain answer, but the red eyes looking down at her were slightly gentle.
It contrasted with the sharp atmosphere from just a few days ago.
‘…The gentle Duke is indeed handsome.’
Serena’s heart pounded.
The gazes of those around them watching clung to them.
Today’s protagonist was Mary, the time ability user, but Serena received no less attention.
It was because of the prophetic dreams. Of course, it was nothing more than Count Greenlenton’s scheme.
‘…Since I made what I planned into reality, wouldn’t that also be a prophetic dream?’
After offering life as a sacrifice according to Count Greenlenton’s orders, her world had turned rosy.
“Thank you. I’ll continue to work hard for the Theodore Ducal House.”
When Serena tucked her disheveled hair behind her ear and smiled brightly, those around quietly admired her beauty and personality.
“Duke Casselik has chosen a good new wife.”
“That’s right. His former wife Emilia, far from being helpful to the Duke, always went around looking dejected and getting criticized.”
That’s when it happened.
“Mother, wait! I need to see that poop carriage, no, Father for a moment! Just for a second!”
“Rie. It’s late today, so if you have something to say, let’s write a letter. Okay?”
“No way! This is urgent! I need to tell that poop Father right now!”
A troublemaker entered among the people’s praise that had sounded like pleasant melodies.
In Serena and Casselik’s view, they could see Rie leaving Emilia behind and running over with pattering steps.
“Father!”
“A-ahem. What’s the matter?”
Casselik’s low voice cracked. He, who had always been arrogant everywhere, had become nervous.
However, Serena, who was struggling to somehow link arms with him, didn’t notice that change.
“Father, well…! Are you really going to adopt Mary?”
The child who had been hesitating and fidgeting with her fingers tilted her head back.
“Yes. We’ve decided to adopt her.”
“Then… when is she coming?”
“I thought she would need time and told her to come once preparations were complete, but she said she would come right away starting tonight.”
“Huh…”
The child opened and closed her baby bird-like lips as if shocked.
To others, it would look pitiful and cute, but Serena felt inwardly satisfied.
‘Our Rie. Usually she doesn’t even acknowledge the Duke, but now that he’s adopting a new child, she seems a bit anxious?’
She should have behaved better when she had the chance.
When I even went to the library with you, if you had acted cute even a little, I would have let you stay by my side.
“Finally the Theodore family will have a child. Rie will congratulate us too, right?”
Serena linked arms with Casselik and deliberately pressed closer.
Watching this, Rie looked like her thoughts were complicated. Her light eyebrows with soft down furrowed mercilessly.
Casselik, who had pushed Serena away, asked while feeling some inexplicable anxiety.
“Do you have something you want to tell me?”
“Hmm, I do, but… not here…”
The child who had been touching her soft chin finally made up her mind and pouted her lips.
“Then, can I sleep at the Duke’s Castle tonight?”
“Pfft.”
At that perfect timing, children passing by snorted with derision.
Look at her, clinging to the father she abandoned like that.
The moment she heard those whispers, Serena felt like she had everything.
It was ridiculous that she wanted to live with her father now, but in this mood, she thought she could let her stay for a few days.
“Oh my… Since Rie wants it so much, shall we allow it for a few days?”
Serena asked, pretending to be kind.
Of course, Casselik, who had been planning to allow it even without her asking, suggested just in case.
“If you want, I’ll change the primary guardian back to me.”
“I don’t want to.”
“Alright.”
Though he was rejected instantly.
* * *
“Rie, do you really want to stay at the Duke’s Castle? Did you start wanting to live with Father?”
“Absolutely, totally not! But Rie has something to do at the Duke’s Castle. Something really really important.”
Emilia still looked worried, but she didn’t pry any further.
Instead, she gently stroked both of Rie’s cheeks with her soft hands.
“Mother won’t stop you if you want to go to the Duke’s Castle. It’s your choice. But if anything bad happens to you there, you must come straight to the manor. Understood?”
“Yes!”
The child, having received plenty of encouragement from her mother, got out of the carriage with a determined expression.
This was Theodore Ducal Castle.
The place where the evil wizard was.
Whoosh—
Even though this was clearly the warm Southern Region, a strangely cold wind swept by.
‘Coming back to the place where I was always mistreated…!’
In the past, she would have been too scared to even think of coming, but Rie was a regressed former five-year-old, current four-year-old.
Mother’s guardian angel.
And a Time Ability User who would solve the poop carriage incident!
‘I can do it!’
Rie clenched her tiny fists and entered the Duke’s Castle with her bag dangling from her shoulder.
Then two maids with indifferent expressions appeared.
“Hello, Lady Rie. We have to serve you during your stay at the Duke’s Castle.”
“Oh! Alice and Daisy, hello!”
The familiar Maid Sisters she hadn’t seen in a long time!
“Yes. Since Lady Rie, who abandoned the Theodore family, insists on staying at the Duke’s Castle, we’ve been assigned to you.”
“If you need anything, please let us know. But try to handle things yourself as much as possible. You’re all grown up now, so you can do it, right?”
But they stood in the corridor chatting among themselves without even offering to carry the child’s bag.
Her starfish hand raised to greet them felt embarrassingly awkward.
“Why did you come?”
“I don’t know. Since they said they’d adopt a Time Ability User, they’re probably worried about really being abandoned.”
“But she was already abandoned when she was a Non-Ability User?”
Rie’s shoulders drooped as she watched them giggling.
‘Everyone’s still ignoring Rie… I thought she’d moved beyond being a third-rate villain, but what’s she trying to do?’
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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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