I Don’t Need a Dad Like This! - Chapter 75

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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 75>

 

But he didn’t even glance at her.

 

“There’s no need for long words. Serena Theodore, you are a disgrace and a demon to the Chronos Empire! You used forbidden magic and murdered innocent people.”

 

“I didn’t murder them, it was necessary for everyone’s happiness….”

 

“That is murder!”

 

Serena’s shoulders flinched at the booming voice.

 

Her pale green eyes swept around her surroundings.

 

Contempt. Irritation. Anger. Hatred.

 

Gazes she had never received before going to prison pierced her like arrows.

 

Really, it was over.

 

Then the Emperor’s furious voice echoed throughout.

 

“Serena Theodore. You will receive the most terrible punishment in the Chronos Empire.”

 

‘If I’m going to receive such looks and treatment from people… it might really be better to die.’

 

It would be a death sentence anyway.

 

Having given up on everything, she closed her eyes and waited for the Emperor’s verdict.

 

However.

 

“I sentence you to spacetime imprisonment, a punishment higher than death.”

 

“…Spacetime imprisonment?”

 

What was that?

 

“The criminal’s remaining lifespan is 60 years. From now until you age and die, you must live alone trapped in spacetime. There are no people, no livestock, not even plants growing in that place.”

 

“What?!”

 

Shocked, Serena cried out.

 

“Your Majesty. Ra, rather give me death….”

 

Bang, bang, bang.

 

Without giving her a chance to say anything, the courtroom gavel pounded.

 

Serena’s face turned deathly pale as she looked around frantically.

 

She had to be alone for 60 years?

 

Then who would love her? Who would give her attention?

 

Wouldn’t it be better to just die?

 

“Pl, please give me death, Your Majesty. Just kill me! I’ll pay for my crimes on the guillotine! Your Majesty!”

 

She had no confidence to live her entire life alone like this.

 

‘A me who isn’t loved, a me who doesn’t receive people’s attention, would be the same as being completely empty.’

 

Serena burst into tears and pleaded, but she was dragged away by the knights.

 

“You people made me like this! You called me the flower of high society! You said I was like a protagonist wherever I went! So I only tried hard to live up to your expectations!”

 

Even after her voice gradually faded and her figure completely disappeared, her screams echoed throughout the courtroom.

 

“Hah. Let’s wrap up the trial.”

 

The Emperor, who had been holding his forehead for a while, staggered down.

 

Thus, she who was born as Serena Mersilla became Serena Theodore and faced a new life more terrible than death.

 

No, did she face it?

 

* * *

 

After the trial was completely over.

 

The Emperor brought Serena’s biological clock from the Tower of Time and broke the hour hand.

 

Above the half-broken hour hand, the second and minute hands were still ticking away.

 

The spacetime imprisonment sentence had been carried out.

 

With this, Serena wouldn’t die, but would live in a world where the hour hand doesn’t move—that is, where time has stopped unlike reality.

 

For the remainder of her lifespan.

 

“…It’s over.”

 

The Emperor sighed and slumped onto the sofa.

 

How desperately she had struggled until the end. Even now, her screams seemed to ring in his ears like tinnitus.

 

However.

 

Tick.

 

Her half-broken hour hand moved.

 

“!”

 

This couldn’t be happening.

 

The shocked Emperor bolted up from his seat just as knights came running in frantically.

 

“Yo, Your Majesty. Marchioness Conn, who was supposed to be judged after criminal Serena, has disappeared.”

 

“…What did you say?”

 

That’s right.

 

The dark mage had escaped together with Serena.

 

* * *

 

The Chronos Empire was in an uproar for a while due to Serena’s trial.

 

The term ‘spacetime imprisonment’ appeared as breaking news in daily newspapers, and from small tea times to grand banquets, whenever two or more people gathered, they would first cry out her name.

 

[<Breaking News> Spacetime imprisonment, Serena. Escapes.]

 

[<Breaking News> Dark mages behind it? Marchioness Mersilla and Sedric Youngshik also missing]

 

[<Breaking News> Commoners trembling in anxiety at the appearance of dark magic]

 

Accordingly, the Imperial Palace entered emergency meetings.

 

Present were the Emperor, Crown Prince Jair, Prince Roheim, Imperial Knight commanders, and Imperial diplomats.

 

And Duke Casselik attended.

 

The Emperor spoke.

 

“Those rat bastards escaped quite well. They secretly took Serena away before I could use my ability… were these guys always this quick?”

 

“If they weren’t quick, there wouldn’t have been a war with the Fold Empire before the regression.”

 

“Then you’re saying you’re quicker. You should have handed down Serena’s punishment instead of me.”

 

“I agree.”

 

No one laughed at the dry jokes between the Emperor and Casselik.

 

That’s how serious the situation related to Serena and dark magic was.

 

The Emperor sighed.

 

“…For now, we’re tracking the dark mages by deploying your Shadow and the Imperial elite knights. Meanwhile, we need to show that the Imperial Palace and the time ability user are still strong so people don’t tremble in anxiety.”

 

“How do you mean?”

 

“Hmm…. How about you and Miss Rie attending a banquet together?”

 

“Impossible.”

 

“Why?”

 

“Now is inconvenient.”

 

Casselik flatly refused.

 

After hearing such things, with what face could he make such a request?

 

First, he had to meet Emilia and clear up all misunderstandings.

 

But the Emperor, who couldn’t know this, rubbed his face in frustration.

 

“Then, what about using your time ability to go back to the past?”

 

“I’ve already turned back time to the past several times. If I go back to the past again in a situation where dark mages are running rampant like now, I don’t know what they might do to me.”

 

To Rie and Emilia too.

 

“Then….”

 

The contemplating Emperor nodded his head.

 

“Right. Whether we hold a festival or a banquet, let’s try to create other topics of conversation. Once we get tracking results, we’ll hold another meeting, so let’s wait and see until then.”

 

“Understood.”

 

After ending the meeting, Casselik immediately ordered the coachman as soon as he got in the carriage.

 

“Go to the Birdwell Barony.”

 

Originally, this would have been time to investigate the dark mages’ movements.

 

But currently, having read the entire notebook, his priority was absolutely Emilia and Rie.

 

‘I still don’t quite understand the feeling of love.’

 

The moment he learned of the future where Emilia would die after getting amnesia and forgetting him and Rie, an instinctive resolution formed.

 

To put everything back in its proper place.

 

* * *

 

Birdwell Barony.

 

Rie sat on Morgana’s lap and read through the newspaper.

 

“…Serena. Escaped…? Grandmother. Aunt Serena ran away.”

 

Rie’s family was also watching how the situation was unfolding through the newspaper.

 

“This old woman saw it too. I have no idea how the world is turning. She pushed out my daughter and brazenly sat in the Duchess’s seat… and now she escaped after conspiring with dark mages?”

 

Morgana slapped her forehead.

 

“Oh my goodness. It’s the end times, the end times!”

 

“Huh? End times!”

 

Rie, who had been looking at Grandmother, also slapped her forehead with her tiny palm like a fern—

 

“It hurts!”

 

Her forehead stung!

 

The child’s mouth gaped open.

 

“Our baby, your forehead turned red.”

 

“Grandmother… is Rie a blockhead?”

 

That’s right.

 

Rie was indeed a blockhead!

 

Having realized this cruel truth, Rie’s lips drooped sadly.

 

But there were many other things to worry about besides that—

 

‘Father found out. What should I do now?’

 

Ever since Casselik discovered that she was a Time Ability User, Rie hadn’t met him even once.

 

She had been thinking about confessing honestly to Father… but at that time, she was so shocked that she ran away with Mother.

 

The problem was this.

 

He might reveal Rie’s identity to people.

 

‘Father is always searching for Time Ability Users… so he might spread rumors to people.’

 

Moreover, for some reason, Kami had given Father the notebook, so he must have realized the whole truth.

 

In that case, it seemed better for Rie to confess to her family first before rumors spread.

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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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