I Don’t Need a Dad Like This! - Chapter 4

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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 4】

“Rie didn’t say anything- Mama was the first one to ask if the poop carriage was Papa-.”

“Rie, stop it.”

Of course, Rie didn’t stop.

Bursting into laughter with a “wahaha,” the child spun around and around her as she covered her face with her hands.

Good grief.

To be fooled by a four-year-old child!

No, to be honest, the child had no intention of deceiving her.

Emilia had simply understood because she too secretly thought Casselik was a poop carriage.

“Papa is a poop carriage, right?”

The child, grinning from ear to ear, got down on all fours and looked up at her.

‘Ah, I shouldn’t have been swayed by Rie’s words…!’

Emilia spread her fingers that had been covering her flushed face.

Then she cleared her throat and scolded the child.

“Rie. Even if Papa is… well, not to your liking, you can’t call him a poop carriage.”

“Why not?”

“Because he’s Rie’s papa. He’s the head of the household.”

“Head?”

“Head of the household. It means the person who takes responsibility for the family.”

“A poop carriage is someone who abandons their lover and has a bad personality. Papa is a poop carriage.”

Oh dear, she won’t listen.

Well, Rie has eyes too, so she wouldn’t see Casselik as the head of the household.

‘Ah, no.’

Emilia shook her head frantically and grabbed her hair.

“Rie, you can’t say such things to Papa.”

But her mechanical words sounded pathetic even to herself.

Casselik was definitely a poop carriage, yet she couldn’t speak honestly to the child about it.

She had rationalized it as being for the child’s sake, but that wasn’t really true.

So she felt guilty.

She was sad about being unilaterally divorced and thinking she might never see Rie again.

It broke her heart to have the child she bore from her own womb taken away.

Yet at the same time, she felt a little lighter knowing she would escape from this damned married life.

The past years of being treated as a mere tool for producing children as a duchess in name only. When the child turned out to be powerless, she had to live with even more contempt.

Perhaps that’s why.

When she heard about the divorce, she unconsciously let out a sigh of relief.

Momentarily forgetting about the child who would be left alone in the castle.

But then.

“Congratulations, Mama.”

A small, soft palm grasped her knee.

It was such a tiny hand that it couldn’t even cover her entire knee, but her body flinched at the small warmth.

“When you leave the castle, you must live very happily.”

It was the first time.

“Don’t get hurt.”

“…Rie, Mother is.”

Caught off guard by the unexpected situation, Emilia couldn’t continue her words.

She had wanted to escape from this castle, to run away from the child. Yet the child was congratulating her.

Her true feelings, which she had tried to hide, slipped out without her knowing.

“Yes. I’ll be happy.”

When Emilia covered her mouth and widened her eyes in surprise at her own words, the child laughed heartily and threw herself into her arms.

It was a strange thing.

Before speaking her true feelings, she had been anxious and desperate to hide, but once she confessed her honest thoughts, courage she never had before surged up.

Emilia silently gazed tenderly at the small child moving in her arms.

She felt even more foolish for trying to give up without even trying.

This wouldn’t do.

She would somehow find a way to live together with Rie.

* * *

Meanwhile, Casselik, who had returned from court, attended the monthly meeting at his business office immediately after the divorce.

“Your Grace. You must be tired, so today’s meeting…”

“We’ll proceed.”

The retainers who had tried to offer a few words of comfort soon remembered once again that he was ‘Duke Theodore.’

Most time ability users were recruited as knights, leading victories in monster subjugation and territorial wars before returning as heroes.

This was possible for one reason only: their ability to turn back time.

Those who could regress even in the face of death survived any situation, performed as heroes, produced the next generation of ability users, and then stepped down from their positions.

But Duke Casselik was different.

Having manifested his ability at age five, he initially showed interest in swordsmanship and war like ordinary ability users, but suddenly began showing interest in business from age twenty-one.

Starting with weapons, he gradually expanded into trade and broadened his territory.

Eventually, the hotels and restaurants he created began appearing throughout the Chronos Empire.

Feeling threatened, the Imperial Family demanded unreasonable monster subjugations from Casselik, but he completed the Imperial Family’s absurd orders without even using his ability.

High society gave him a nickname after seeing his thoroughness.

A man made of ice and iron.

Nevertheless, he had wealth and honor, and as his marriageable age approached, people whispered.

What kind of luxury would the woman who married such a perfect man enjoy?

But unfortunately, for him, marriage was merely one of life’s tasks.

Producing ‘the next generation’s ability user’ – only one born per generation.

With that as his sole purpose, he entered into a contract marriage with a daughter from an insignificant baron family.

There was a theory that the more unusual the partner’s eye and hair color, the higher the probability of bearing an ability user, and Emilia had rare water-colored eyes and pale gray hair.

And as soon as the child she bore, ‘Rie’, was confirmed to be powerless-

[Duke Casselik finds new wife immediately after divorce… Quick with business, quick with making new ability users.]

He found a woman to replace Emilia – Serena.

“Tch. It was a contract marriage from the start, what more could she want.”

Returning to the Duke’s Castle, he tossed the newspaper onto his desk.

If this newspaper was circulating throughout the region, Emilia must have seen it too.

‘She looked like she was about to cry in the carriage, she’s probably sobbing alone again.’

Weighed down by fatigue, he pressed firmly on his temples.

It had been a contract marriage from the beginning.

He had even drawn up a contract to prevent any complications.

It meant he wanted this marriage to end cleanly.

‘The new wife probably won’t be happy to hear the former wife is staying in the house.’

‘…Former wife, ah.’

The unfinished voice seemed to want to say something more, but like scattered grains of sand, the conversation ended there.

But Emilia, that woman, wouldn’t be something to worry about.

Her teary-eyed appearance had been somewhat concerning, but she was a woman who had never acted outside his expectations.

That’s when it happened.

“Should I tell him this or not? This is awkward.”

“I’m not sure either. Since it’s happening in the Duke’s Castle, I suppose we need to report it…”

“Whoever’s outside. Come in.”

He could hear faint conversation from beyond the door.

Normally he would have pretended not to hear, but his already sensitive nerves were irritated, so he called the people in.

Then the butler and head maid appeared, reading the room carefully.

“If you’re going to gossip, at least do it where I can’t hear.”

“Y-Your Grace! Gossip, absolutely not…!”

“Then what is it.”

“Well, that is…”

As the butler uncharacteristically fumbled with his words, the head maid beside him opened her mouth with apparent resolve.

“…It’s about Lady Emilia.”

“Emilia?”

Why that quiet woman?

“Yes. Lady Emilia is… currently throwing a divorce party with Lady Rie.”

A moment of silence passed.

Even the assistant, who had been working at the auxiliary desk as if invisible, stopped what he was doing.

Casselik blinked stupidly as if he’d been hit hard on the back of the head.

His body, which had been sitting leisurely, was now standing.

“…Who? What kind of party?”

And with whom?

“Y-Your Grace!”

The Head Maid was shocked by the sudden action that followed.

Casselik began running to Rie’s room to check the situation himself.

* * *

The scene he discovered was quite a sight to behold.

Plates and desserts scattered carelessly across the table.

Colored paper, crayons, and star powder from fireworks scattered on the floor.

It was chaos itself.

“…Ha.”

But ultimately, what made him let out a hollow laugh were the words written on the paper.

[Escape from the Poop Carriage! Congratulations on Your New Life!]

Poop carriage. He didn’t know what that meant, but somehow it didn’t feel good.

That’s when it happened.

“Y-Your Grace.”

Emilia, who had been smiling with cake cream on her nose, quickly stood up from her seat.

‘Worried she might be crying?’

Far from crying, her brightly smiling face hardened as soon as she saw him.

That’s right.

This woman too must have been pretending to be anxious on the outside while thinking inside that it couldn’t be helped since it was a contract marriage.

‘But what exactly was there to worry about…’

Casselik sneered and looked at Emilia with a cold gaze.

“Even throwing a party. I suppose you were counting down the days until the divorce during our contract marriage?”

“Your Grace, that’s not it…”

“Still, to throw a divorce party with your daughter in my castle—I didn’t know you were such a thoughtless person?”

“…”

Emilia was at a loss for words and pressed her lips tightly shut.

Meanwhile.

“Hmm… Hm?!”

Rie, who had been lying on the floor playing with paper folding, belatedly noticed Casselik.

‘Ah, it’s Father!’

It was the first time seeing him since returning to the past.

But Father looked completely different from the man at the Funeral Hall.

His body that had collapsed weakly was now massive enough to block the entire door.

His black eyes that had burst into tears were now narrowed, sending such a fierce gaze that it made her body tingle.

‘He’s angry. He’s angry!’

Rie widened her eyes pretending to be surprised while smiling wickedly inside.

In fact, the hastily thrown divorce party had another grand goal besides wanting to make Mother happy.

‘Namely, tormenting Father!’

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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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