I Will Try to Save My Dad - Chapter 127

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 127

“Jeffrey, you really dressed up today, didn’t you?”
“Yeah. Looks good, right? I wore it just like this to show Berry.”

Even on the day I’d blown up the illegal auction house beneath the Seren Art Museum, Jeffrey had come from a photo shoot that morning.
After being so busy shuttling back and forth between Stone House and the outside for several days—
“Three gold coins! I made a lot, didn’t I? That’s a week’s worth!”
Jeffrey said proudly. Considering that the average monthly wage for adult laborers was two gold coins, it was an enormous sum for a fourteen-year-old.
“Wow. Jeffrey, that’s incredible. That’s double what you made last time, isn’t it? But they paid you in gold coins? They didn’t deposit it into your account?”
“I asked them to pay me in gold coins.”
“Really? Why?”
Larger sums were safer when deposited in a bank.
Jeffrey was using the servants’ quarters at Stone House. Sherry, Anne, and Jeffrey aside, the other servants commuted from the residential spaces beyond the wall. So Jeffrey had the quarters to himself, but that didn’t change the fact that anyone could enter.
‘Should I buy him a safe…?’
Now that he’d come into this money, Jeffrey needed a place to keep his valuables. I was seriously pondering this while gazing at the gleaming gold coins when Jeffrey spoke to me.
“Gold coins are so cool~ I’m going to keep asking for them from now on, so you take care of them for me, Berry.”
“Huh? Me? Anne already manages the money you earn.”
“I don’t trust Anne! You take care of them for me. Until I say it’s okay!”
Worried I might refuse, Jeffrey folded my palm with the three gold coins upward into a fist and made me promise solemnly.
“You got it?”
“Yeah…!”
“Good.”
Woof woof. Jeffrey’s tail wagged even more vigorously than before.
Had he and Anne gotten into a fight? He was entrusting his modeling fees to me instead.
It wasn’t something I couldn’t do since I could just keep them in the Room of Contemplation… but it seemed like there was something more to this.
I asked Jeffrey a question.
“But when will you say it’s okay?”
“Huh? You’re curious?”
“Yeah.”
When I nodded, Jeffrey suddenly looked around evasively, pretending to be distracted. He seemed to be debating whether to tell me or not, but when our eyes met, he grinned and whispered to me.
“It’s a secret.”
“Seriously?”

***

“It seems the Secret Society no longer exists.”
I made my way to the Training Ground and, settling onto a bench there, relayed to Theon the shocking revelation I’d just experienced.
Jeffrey keeping secrets from me…! Of course, I had a few secrets I couldn’t tell Jeffrey either…!
“It’s a first.”
“A first for what?”
Theon sat beside me, wiping sweat from his brow with a towel as he asked.
The sword Theon used was positioned away from the bench, forged by Baltar from the finest iron ore refined from the Crest Mine.
He said he’d poured his entire heart into it as his first commission under Baron Oldman’s name. Thanks to that craftsmanship, even boulders were cleaved like cheese, though the sword’s stubbornness was so fierce that only certain people could wield it, according to its maker.
Later, Baron Oldman gave it to Marshall Grandmother, and Marshall Grandmother gave it to Reytan Quartz Trabel’s disciple—the maker was apparently shocked by that fact.
Before giving the sword to Theon, Father had swung it himself, alternating his gaze between the massive tree split in half and the blade, then clicked his tongue.

“Stubborn thing. It won’t be easy for just anyone to handle.”

Contrary to Father’s concerns, Theon never let the sword leave his hands. And before long, he wielded it as naturally as if it were part of his own body.
Anyway. That’s not what matters right now. The fact that Jeffrey has a secret from me is what matters.
“This is the first time Jeffrey has ever said he has a secret. He always answered whenever I asked. I might actually be shocked.”
….
I was shocked, but Theon didn’t seem shocked at all. He laughed lightly and took a drink of water. I gazed out at the empty Training Ground with Theon beside me.
‘I don’t want to grow distant from Jeffrey.’
If he trusted me enough to entrust precious gold coins to my care, that should mean something. But somehow it felt disappointing. I suppose it’s selfish of me, considering I have plenty of secrets from Jeffrey too.
‘Besides, lately we’ve barely seen each other except when we cause trouble together to pad our performance records.’
Out of sight, out of mind. It wasn’t Jeffrey I felt distant from—it was the situation itself that felt lonely.
“Hmm.”
A sigh escaped my lips without my realizing it.
“Don’t worry. Berry.”
“Mm?”
“The Secret Society will continue to exist. There are plenty of members.”
“Plenty of members?”
The Secret Society was something like a game we played when we were younger. There couldn’t possibly be anyone besides Theon, Jeffrey, and me.
At my bewildered response, I turned my head to see Theon, resting with his elbow propped on his thigh, looking back at me as he continued.
“First, Jeffrey. And you and me.”
“Mm.”
His sweat-dampened bangs hung lower than usual. Between them, I could see Theon’s dark brows and his beautiful, striking eyes. Admiring his features as if enchanted, I nodded.
“Baron Oldman and me.”
“Huh?”
“Count Trabel’s youngest granddaughter and me.”
“Mm.”
“The Grand Master’s only daughter and me.”
Let’s see how far this goes. I responded by nodding once each time Theon finished speaking.
After he’d listed about four more, a mischievous glint appeared in Theon’s deepening gaze.
“Both Theon and I failed the Academy entrance exam this year.”
“Huh.”
That was—!
Theon knew that Baron Oldman was me, knew that I was actually intelligent, and knew exactly what purpose I had for going to Diamond House.
Theon teasing me about failing the Academy entrance exam, coming right after Jeffrey’s shocking revelation, was the second shock I’d received today.
“I deliberately failed because I need to go to Diamond House….”
“And—.”
Theon opened his mouth again, his face brimming with mischief and composure.
“I’m also engaged to the Crown Prince’s fiancée.”
Surrender. I raised an imaginary white flag.
I never thought the day would come when I couldn’t help but laugh at Theon’s jokes. The shock from Jeffrey’s revelation vanished completely from my mind.
“Right. That’s true. Wow. We really do have a lot of members in our Secret Society.”
As I shook my shoulders and laughed until tears formed in my eyes, Theon awkwardly scratched his cheek and handed me a handkerchief.
“Was it that funny?”
“Yeah. I didn’t realize it before, but it seems Theon’s jokes are right up my alley.”
“A joke….”
“It wasn’t?”
“It was. A joke.”
Theon nodded. Then he spoke to me.
“Speaking of jokes, Sir Shylo contacted me saying he’d like to meet you once.”
“With me?”
“Yes.”
“When?”
“Within this week.”
Wait. I’m forbidden from going out this week. Since Sir Shylo wanted to meet me, I couldn’t go out as Baron Oldman either. If I went out in my true form, word of the sighting would definitely spread all the way to Grandfather.
“How?”

***

According to Theon, Sir Shylo came from a prestigious knight family with a long and storied history. A young master of impeccable pedigree.
The night that followed.
I met that young master for the first time.
“It is an honor to make your acquaintance, Miss Berry Quartz Trabel.”
“…Hello, Sir Shylo. I’ve heard much about you.”
Sir Shylo wrung out his clothes, which were thoroughly soaked and dripping water.
Splish. Water cascaded from his garments onto the floor as though he’d been doused with a bucket.
“Ah, my apologies. The Crown Prince instructed me not to be discovered by the Trabel Family.”
“So you…”
“Used the Sewers.”
[Reeks.]
Akum muttered.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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