I Don’t Need a Dad Like This! - Chapter 95

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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 95>

“Sister Mary! I brought something delicious! Thank you!”

At Rie’s voice, the gazes of the two men who had been focused on the novel turned to Mary.

“….”

Mary felt a chill for a moment.

“Rie asked for it.”

“Haha, because Rie likes it.”

She hadn’t said anything.

The excuses that rang out like confessions made the atmosphere even colder.

Mary, who had been avoiding their gazes, finally opened her mouth.

“Um, Lady Emilia is….”

“Bathroom.”

“Miss Emilia stepped away for a moment.”

“Y-yes. Then I’ll be going now…!”

Mary nodded stiffly like a wooden doll and backed away.

“Oh, Mary? I thought the Duke was supposed to serve us today. What’s going on?”

The moment she closed the reception room door, Emilia, who had just returned, asked.

Mary urgently said to her.

“Lady Emilia! Do you know what the Duke and Marquis are doing right now?”

“What are they doing?”

Mary told her in detail about the eerie scene she had witnessed.

“…Duke Casselik really did that?”

Emilia’s expression was peculiar as she asked back.

* * *

The two men thought they would receive Rie’s verdict before leaving Birdwell Mansion.

But the child’s decision was postponed.

She said she would notify them by letter in a week about which male guardian would accompany her to the ‘Cradle’s Blessing Festival’.

After the two men left.

Rie, lost in thought, touched her round chin.

Originally, the child’s choice would have been Marquis Philip without any hesitation.

No matter how much she loved her biological father Casselik, Emilia was uncomfortable with him.

In the midst of this, a new man appeared showing interest in Emilia.

The kind, fun Marquis who liked Mother.

‘If I go to the Cradle’s Blessing Festival with Marquis Philip, Mother will definitely have fun too. He gets a hundred points as Mother’s boyfriend!’

However, Casselik, who had only been an unwelcome guest, seemed incredibly different today.

“…Father is reflecting more than I thought. He didn’t get angry even once today. He played with Rie a lot….”

Even Mother, who had gone to the bathroom, seemed to have heard something from Sister Mary, and looked at him with a softer expression than before.

Moreover, when Casselik was about to leave the mansion.

‘Don’t come visiting without notice again. But playing with Rie today… I’m grateful for that.’

Emilia’s eyes, which always turned triangular whenever she saw Casselik, had definitely softened.

“…Rie, what should I do?”

Just as she was holding her head, Mary handed her a letter.

“Miss Rie. A letter came from the Imperial Palace.”

“The Imperial Palace? Oh, then…?”

It’s a letter from the angel!

The child, who had needed an excuse to postpone an important decision, excitedly began reading the letter.

And a few days later.

Finally, Rie made her decision.

* * *

At the news that a letter had arrived, Philip left his office and received it barefoot.

However.

“…Let’s have lunch at a delicious restaurant next time.”

A polite sentence that completely omitted asking him to accompany her as a guardian.

“Ah. It’s a rejection.”

Philip, who realized Rie’s intention, barely covered his mouth with his hand to suppress a sigh.

“…I guess she wanted her biological father since it’s an official festival.”

He understood.

But imagining Rie being held in Duke Casselik’s arms and going to the festival made him let out an unpleasant bitter laugh.

So was Rie’s choice Marquis Philip?

At the same time, Casselik snatched the letter from his assistant’s hands and urgently tore open the envelope.

However.

“Let’s meet after the Cradle’s Blessing Festival…?”

The letter was disappointingly filled with roundabout expressions saying he couldn’t be the guardian.

Casselik, supporting himself on the desk with one hand, pressed his temple with the other.

Thinking of Rie toddling around holding Philip’s hand on the festival day made his heart feel like it was collapsing.

Casselik and Philip thought.

So would they not go to the Cradle’s Blessing Festival?

Although they were rejected as Rie’s male guardian, they were proper nobles who could attend as spectators.

Of course, seeing Rie and Emilia with that guy from the audience seats would be nauseating.

But what if they visited them during every break?

Couldn’t they prevent the three of them from growing closer?

The two men decided.

“…I absolutely must go.”

“I didn’t want to act this pathetically. But it’s better than regretting it, isn’t it?”

To attend even as spectators.

So they would watch ‘that guy’ with their own eyes and protect Rie and Emilia.

Thus, on the day of the Cradle’s Blessing Festival.

The Grand Garden of the Imperial Palace, boasting the largest grounds in the Chronos Empire, was opened.

Dozens of carriages stopped in front of the Imperial Palace.

The nobles who got out of the carriages all had smiles blooming on their faces in the festive atmosphere.

Although small parties and gatherings had been held here and there, the atmosphere had been slightly dampened by the dark magic and Serena incidents.

Today they could finally enjoy the festival atmosphere.

The Grand Garden of the Imperial Palace was magnificently decorated with a blue theme symbolizing peace, as if to comfort such nobles.

Right here, the beginning of the ‘Cradle’s Blessing Festival’ and the first event.

A flower-finding game was planned to be held.

“Duke Casselik has entered the audience seats?”

“…Then he’s not participating as Miss Rie’s guardian.”

Casselik ignored the surrounding crowd whispering about him and sat in the front row of the audience seats.

‘Where is that fox bastard?’

With his long legs crossed and arms folded, he glared at where the participants were gathered with an unpleasant look.

That’s when he heard the fox bastard’s voice.

“Duke Casselik?”

When he turned around, he met Philip’s bewildered face.

“You’re….”

“Duke, you’re….”

‘Why are you here?’

The two men who had started speaking simultaneously hesitated.

Philip, who came to his senses first, quickly asked.

“Weren’t you supposed to come with Rie?”

“No. I… thought Rie chose you.”

“I thought you chose the Duke.”

“What?”

Through their brief conversation, both men realized they had both been rejected.

Then who on earth was Rie’s male guardian?

‘There was another competitor besides that fox bastard?’

‘There was another competitor besides that Duke bastard?’

“…Philip. If you know something, confess honestly.”

“I’m just as bewildered. I thought I was the only adult Rie was close to.”

The two men, now united in purpose, sat down together.

Front row, two pairs of eerily displeased eyes began glaring at the participants in the garden.

“Uh, Mother… scary….”

“Y, yes. Mother too. Should we move over there?”

While children and parents were all quietly moving away from that murderous atmosphere.

“Wow, the garden is so pretty-!”

Hearing Rie’s voice, which now made them react unconsciously even without seeing her, both men quickly turned their heads.

The one holding Rie’s hand and occupying the seat next to her was.

“Father has been planning this space for three months. Pretty nice, isn’t it?”

None other than Crown Prince Jair.

* * *

Rewinding time briefly to a few days ago.

Jair immediately refused the Emperor’s order to fill out the festival participation form right now.

“I’m not going.”

“Why won’t you go? It’s held once every five years, so if you miss this one, you won’t be able to participate even if you want to!”

“So does Father want to go out as my guardian?”

“A, ahem! No, I. You know it’s hard because of the eyes that see the future. Rather than me participating as a guardian and acting foolishly….”

“I can see the future too, you know?”

At the dry retort, the Emperor had nothing to say.

“Haah, that’s right….”

He sighed.

He too disliked crowded places because of his Time Observer ability. So his son, who had the same ability, would naturally feel the same way.

‘…But if he doesn’t participate in that festival….’

Just as worry crossed his mind.

“I know what Father is worried about.”

The calm boy’s clear voice echoed through the now quiet office.

Jair’s expression, which always seemed bored as if uninterested in worldly affairs, was serious.

“…You’re worried that the Crown Prince’s supporting forces will weaken because I don’t participate in Empire events, aren’t you.”

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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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