I Will Try to Save My Dad - Chapter 164

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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 164

“I have an important announcement to make.”
The moment the medal ceremony concluded, the Emperor rose from his seat and spoke. An important announcement. I felt all eyes shift to the back of my head at those words.
They were curious, wondering if this grand announcement would be about the betrothal.
“I know you have all been concerned about my succession.”
But as he continued, the gazes fixed upon me suddenly swiveled toward him.
“Theon Phil Igselona.”
A stir rippled through the hall.
Theon’s name, spoken differently than during the medal ceremony. The imperial surname appended to it drew gasps of shock from those who could not contain their astonishment.
“The Crown Prince, you say!?”
Succession, Igselona, a grown son.
Though the Emperor had not yet uttered the words confirming Theon as Crown Prince, most had already grasped the meaning.
“Wasn’t he said to be the grandson of an impoverished baronial house?”
“Yes, that’s right. He had talent, but since his family lacked wealth, he became a disciple taken in by Reytan Quartz Trabel. I heard he even became a Sword Master.”
“Still, from a baronial house…”
The atmosphere grew charged. Fragments of surrounding conversation drifted to my ears.
The Empress consorts, who could not ascend the dais and sat instead on the broad staircase beside it in two rows of five, fixed their piercing gazes upon Theon.
I quietly took Theon’s hand.
‘Look.’
The Trabel Estate stands with Theon. He clasped my hand in return.
At our gesture, the expressions of several Empress consorts hardened.
The Second Empress, the Sixth Empress, the Seventh Empress, the Ninth Empress.
Noted.
“Silence!!”
A resonant cry from the Attendant filled the hall. Only then did the crowd fall silent and turn their gaze toward the dais.
As the assembly quieted, the Emperor lowered the hand he had been holding aloft as a gesture for silence, and spoke to Theon with the tender expression of a loving father.
“Come forth. My son.”
Theon rose and walked toward the dais, met with a cascade of applause and cheers.
I applauded as well, committing the sight to memory. It was the moment I had so long awaited. Theon being recognized as Crown Prince.
“Are you crying?”
“I’m not crying.”
Calips grinned as if to tease me. I could have wept. If only Yuraha had not been standing beside that dais.
‘What is he scheming?’
I glanced toward where Yuraha had been. He had vanished into the dim recesses of the exit passage and did not reappear.
“Today, I shall invest my son as Crown Prince. The moment when the Crown Prince’s coronet is placed upon my son’s head will be truly joyous and glorious.”
The birth of a new power.
At those words, the nobles, adept at walking the tightrope, quickly burst into cheers.
‘Yuraha killed Father.’
I clenched my teeth without letting anyone notice.
A minor war where the Grand Master shouldn’t have fallen. But there was the variable of Windis.

– Your Highness, are you saying it’s strange that Windis was embedded in the Gorge Cliff?
– I reviewed the investigation records. There was documentation that the blade portion, excluding the hilt, had completely burrowed into the cliff. Doesn’t that seem odd to you?
– I consulted with other Grand Masters about that. They said it wouldn’t be impossible if the Holy Sword’s power was utilized.
– Windis is a sword with the rampage attribute. It disperses power through its wide lateral blade. If your father had tried to use Windis’s ability to cling to the cliff to prevent falling to the canyon floor, the blade would have penetrated shallowly, and the cliff would have developed horizontal fractures.
– …Then what happened?

The Grand Masters barely exchanged information about Holy Sword abilities, perhaps because the attributes of the Holy Swords were so distinctly divided.
I’d never actually seen Demian and Father discuss such matters.
It was information only the Grand Master chosen by the Wind Holy Sword could know.
Theon Phil Igselona answered my next question.

– My theory is this. The culprit must have caused Windis to rampage somehow. Inside that cliff is a windy cave, so the wind that exploded from Windis’s rampage would have been sucked into a small opening connected to the cave. That’s why Windis’s blade went entirely into the cliff.
– Is that possible?
– If the timing of your father falling, Windis rampaging, and the wind erupting all aligned perfectly.
– To be honest, the premise that the culprit intentionally caused Windis to rampage seems impossible to realize.
– But there’s no other explanation. You said your father could hear Windis’s voice.
– That’s right. Can you, Your Highness?

Theon Phil Igselona shook his head.

– Reytan Quartz Trabel is special. It’s only possible for someone with affinity high enough to converse with high-ranking spirits.

The only witness: Windis.
A masterless Holy Sword rampages because there is no Grand Master to release the divine power that accumulates in the blade.
‘Father was injected with more divine power than he could handle at once. That’s what caused the rampage.’
Evidence emerged to support Theon Phil Igselona’s claim.
Yuraha. Someone with such strong divine power that he was raised as the next High Priest from childhood.
The reason neither I nor Theon Phil Igselona could identify Yuraha was that we had no idea the next High Priest even existed.
The current High Priest is too elderly to face Father now.
‘Why is he here?’
Yuraha’s presence here deeply troubled me. This war must have been Yuraha’s plan.
With Belesa’s intervention causing Father to depart earlier than planned, Yuraha should have been on the battlefield.

– Berry Quartz.
“Berry Quartz.”

In that instant, the chilling voice of the accomplice who had killed another me overlapped with Yuraha’s beautiful voice that I had heard weeks ago. My shoulders trembled.
And a new memory that had never surfaced until now.

– Berry, Berry.
– Yes?
– You know Father is strong, right?

A memory from just before Father left Stone House for the battlefield.
As I threw a tantrum begging him not to go, Father spoke those words to soothe me.

– Wounds inflicted using Windis’s power cannot be healed even by the finest recovery elixirs.

Wounds that even the sacred relics of the Grand Temple—which had healed Victor’s eyes—could not cure.

– Why are you suddenly saying such things?
– Just… I’m bragging about how strong Father is. Remember it.

There was a reason the accomplice’s voice had sounded like metal scraping. Before Father died, he had left behind a hint for the me who would remain.
‘How much did Father know?’
Roooaaarrr—!
The thunderous applause of the crowd awakened my mind from its immersion in another version of my memories.
Theon Phil Igselona had placed the crown of the Crown Prince upon his head and ascended the platform. Camera flashes burst relentlessly, blinding my eyes.
“Damn. What does he eat to grow so magnificent? He’s incredible.”
Calips muttered beside me, clapping with what sounded like frustration.
“That outfit was prepared by Uncle, wasn’t it? Maybe I should visit your Clothing Shop too. I need to have something tailored for the graduation ceremony.”
“Father did…?”
“Yeah, you didn’t know?”
“How did you find out, brother?”
“A few days ago. My servants brought up the wrong luggage, and it turned out to be his. I asked him about it then.”
Calips spoke. I gazed at the golden decorative cord running across Theon’s left chest.
A golden-maned lion.
…
I lifted my gaze. Theon’s eyes were directed toward me.
Theon with a smile in his eyes. It was the expression I had always seen from him. Because of that, Theon wearing the Crown Prince’s crown felt not strange at all.
“It seems like he only sees you. Is it alright, that Crown Prince who knows nothing but his own woman?”
Calips grumbled.
I smiled back at Theon, trying to smile as I always did. I loved Theon so much. I missed Father so terribly. Tears threatened to spill.
“Indeed, joyous occasions should be fulfilled on the same day to double their blessing.”
At last, the moment arrived when His Majesty the Emperor would announce our betrothal.
“My son has cause for celebration.”
The Emperor turned his gaze toward me as well. Before long, journalists with cameras had crowded near the platform, pressing themselves against the walls.
Knights with drawn swords blocked their advance, preventing them from moving forward, though they did not obscure the camera lenses.
The perfect photograph from the prime vantage point.
“Theon Phil Igselona. And Berry Quartz Trabel.”
The Emperor subtly turned his body toward the direction where the journalists stood, opening his mouth with a radiant expression.
“Having received the request of these two individuals and the head of the Trabel Family, I hereby grant permission for this betrothal—”
Boom!
A massive explosion shook the building violently.

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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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