I Will Try to Save My Dad - Chapter 17

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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 17

Within the Trabel Estate, Father’s reputation was rather poor, but in truth, he was quite popular whenever he ventured into the outside world.
A wastrel who squandered every business entrusted to his family’s care, yet unparalleled in swordsmanship—unmarried despite having a daughter, striking in appearance, and vanished from sight for six years.
The man himself remained quietly ensconced behind the towering walls that encircled the Trabel Estate. The mystique had spawned fantasies that had grown to extraordinary proportions.
‘Ah, so he wants Father’s signature on this flyer?’
I could discern the Shop Manager’s intentions, which made the situation rather entertaining. I sipped my orange juice while observing how events would unfold.
‘A shop where Reytan Quartz Trabel has visited—that’s quite the image to cultivate. Not a bad promotional strategy at all. Though whether Father will actually sign the flyer remains to be seen!’
From Father’s vantage point, he would see only the top of the tray. As the Shop Manager’s index finger guided the flyer along the tray’s edge, it rose into view before Father.
The eyes of Father in the flyer met those of Father seated on the sofa.
“Ahem, well. Reytan, there’s something I truly wish to tell you….”
“….”
Father lifted his head slightly without speaking.
The moment their gazes met, I drank my juice with fervent intensity. The tension was too gripping to look away.
‘Though Father is a former Grand Master, his opponent is a seasoned merchant!’
How would the Shop Manager, who had weathered every conceivable circumstance to reach his position, extract a signature from Father?
“I’m a fan.”
Cough.
“Berry, here’s a tissue.”
The unexpectedly simplistic approach caught me off guard, and I choked. Theon retrieved my juice glass and pressed a tissue into my hand.
Did he truly believe such a straightforward confession would earn Father’s signature? Really?
Father found the remark unworthy of response and remained silent. Just as I began to feel a twinge of disappointment, the Shop Manager’s next words proved far from ordinary.
“Twenty-one years ago. You were eight years old. The day Reytan visited Hisport Town wearing a wine-colored necktie as a belt. I doubted my own eyes. Before that moment, who had ever shattered such conventions? Hats worn as hats. Trousers worn as trousers. Such rigid thinking! Yet objects need not be confined to a single purpose! When my rigid mind shattered against that wine-colored necktie, my path was set. Fashion! Though I lacked the sensibility to become a designer, I devoted myself to this industry! Reytan, you transformed my entire life—!”
“….”
Theon and I stood with our mouths agape, staring at the Shop Manager. As he passionately confessed to being Father’s devoted fan of decades, Father asked what his business was, and only then did the Shop Manager, flustered, request his signature on the flyer.
Father’s hand obediently reached for the pen. It seemed the only way to end the Shop Manager’s speech.
“…I love—”
“Be quiet, Shop Manager.”
“Yes, sir.”
The Shop Manager took the receipt and the signed flyer, then departed swiftly with practiced composure. Father exhaled a barely perceptible sigh and turned his head toward us.
“Shall we go?”
“Yes!”
“Yes.”
But Father’s ordeal was far from over.
Just as we were heading toward the carriage, receiving an uncomfortably reverent farewell from the Clothing Shop staff.
“R-Reytan—!”
It was the Head Designer, whom I’d seen when measurements were taken for the custom garments. Her frizzy hair bounced like cotton candy as she rushed toward Father in a panic.
“You’re leaving already? Before you go, could you take a look at these?”
“….”
When Father stopped walking, the Head Designer attempted to regain her composure. Yet several telltale signs escaped her notice—or rather, they didn’t escape mine. Flushed cheeks, quickened breathing, an urgency in her tone that betrayed she couldn’t afford to let Father slip away.
My instincts were screaming.
‘She’s another one of Father’s admirers…!’
The more supporters Father had in the future, the better. I made a mental note of the shop’s name once more.
Trang Clothing Shop.
Best to commit it to memory, just in case.
“These are newly designed buttons, and I was hoping to ask Reytan to choose some for me~ This button can have embroidery added, and this one has absolutely exquisite detailing on the sides.”
“Do I only need to decide on the button design?”
“If you could just pick two from here, I’d be so grateful. They’re going into a dress for Berry.”
Father examined the buttons in the wooden box the Head Designer offered, even lifting some to inspect them more closely. That meant he was interested, but the decision would take time.
“Theon, shall we step outside for a moment?”
“It seems Master still has matters to attend to.”
“Father~ Can we go outside? I’ll stay with the Knights!”
“Of course.”
Father, carefully examining the button designs near the counter, added a word to me by the door.
“Hold hands tightly with the biggest Knight. I’ll be out shortly.”
“Okay. Theon, we can go.”
I flashed Theon a bright smile and we headed outside together.
Six Knights who had been waiting in front of the clothing shop immediately approached us.
“Father said I should hold hands with the biggest Knight.”
When I relayed his words, five massive palms instantly thrust forward in front of me. Then they began thumping against each other in a test of strength.
The Knight whose hand remained at the end spoke with satisfaction.
“I’m the biggest.”
That was when I took the Knight’s hand.
“Do not come closer.”
Another Knight standing on the outer perimeter spoke in a sharp voice, blocking someone’s path.
Who was it? The Knight obscured my view of whoever it was.
“Ah, you Knights certainly have your hands full. But I have business with that boy over there.”
Someone Theon knew? I turned my head to the side.
Theon stared blankly ahead, clearly having no idea who the owner of that cheerful voice was.
Then the voice’s owner managed to slip her face around the Knight’s arm, peeking out to the side.
It was a kindly-looking commoner woman. She spotted Theon and hurried to speak to him.
“Theon, you remember me, don’t you? Hmm?”
“The Innkeeper Woman?”
Theon’s eyes widened. I asked him.
“You know her?”
“She ran the inn where I stayed before coming to the Trabel Estate.”
She was kind, Theon added.
“That’s right, you remember! I have something to ask you—do you have a moment?”
“Yes.”
Wasn’t I following along far too obediently? I whispered urgently to Theon.
“Don’t go far. Stay nearby and talk, Theon.”
Theon nodded and positioned himself near the wall of the Clothing Shop building, conversing with the Innkeeper Woman.
If anything went wrong, I could simply ask the Knights for help.
‘Still, the Innkeeper Woman’s information is on the tip of my tongue. I can recall all the famous innkeepers in town.’
I played with the Knights while pretending to ignore Theon’s conversation, keeping my ears sharp.
Theon’s voice wasn’t particularly loud, and the Innkeeper Woman spoke in hushed tones, so I couldn’t hear everything clearly.
“Young Master Reytan is coming out.”
It seemed Father had finally chosen a button. I waved at him as he opened the door, but the Innkeeper Woman cried out in an indignant voice.
“She cast out that little one! That sick child!”
“What do you mean?”
Father interjected into the conversation.

***

Worried the commotion would grow, we moved to the adjacent alley.
The Innkeeper Woman was startled by Father’s involvement, but she seemed determined to speak her mind.
“Even if you were to take my life, sir, I must say this.”
“Go ahead.”
“I’m caring for a child in my inn who might die tomorrow. A child cast out from the Trabel Family’s grounds yesterday evening.”
“So the child lived outside, then.”
‘Outside’ referred to the living spaces between Count Trabel’s walls. The Innkeeper Woman continued her explanation in an aggrieved tone.
“That’s right. The child is six years old and has been suffering from illness, they say. If you saw the child yourself, sir, you’d understand why I’m doing this. Even if the sister did steal something belonging to the Countess….”
Anne…!
The Innkeeper Woman’s words struck me like lightning.
Was Aunt Mariane using the sick younger sibling as leverage to blackmail Anne?
I couldn’t hide my shock. The altered future was providing clues.
‘It’s thanks to Theon.’
If only Father and I had come, we would never have met the Innkeeper Woman. Theon was the connecting link in this entire affair.
My heart raced inexplicably.
“Still, not yet….”
The Innkeeper Woman’s emotions grew increasingly heated, but with Father present, she seemed to suppress her anger forcefully. Then she appealed in a voice heavy with resentment.
“The sister still works as a maid in the Trabel Family. How could they throw a child shaking with chills onto the dirt ground and cast her out?”
“Threw?”
“Yes…! The Knights dragged that little one out and hurled her forcefully to the ground…! I saw it clearly with my own eyes!”
At those words, Father, I, and Theon all looked at the Knights listening to the story.
“….”
I quietly released the Knight’s hand I’d been holding, and Theon muttered with wavering eyes.
“Six years old….”
“No, sir!”
“That district falls under the 4th Knight Order’s jurisdiction. They’re absolutely vicious, those men.”
“If it were me, I’d have taken the child to a physician out of my own pocket.”
“You too? So would I.”
The Knights quickly drew a line between themselves and the 4th Knight Order, waving their hands dismissively. The Knights escorting us today belonged to the 2nd Knight Order.
Father spoke to the Innkeeper Woman.
“I see. It seems this matter has nothing to do with us, so what can we do about it.”
“Young Master, please help us. The local physician here insists the child merely has a common illness and prescribes useless medicine—the symptoms only worsen. Moreover, that child’s older sister works as a maid in your Separate House. So—”
“So I can’t simply help without consequences. The Countess may have ordered Anne’s family expelled, after all. Since the treatment of servants isn’t my jurisdiction, I’m quite sensitive about overstepping my authority when the position of next family head is at stake.”
“….”
Father was a nobleman too. By refusing while explaining circumstances that needn’t be explained to commoners, the Innkeeper Woman could no longer ask for his help. She let out a sigh and bit her lip.
Using Theon as a pretext to somehow secure Father’s assistance had been the Innkeeper Woman’s only hope of saving Anne’s younger brother.
“That poor child…. How can one bear to see such suffering….”
Soft murmurs escaped the Innkeeper Woman’s lips as she hung her head—resignation and frustration intertwined.
From what I’d just heard, it seemed they hadn’t known each other before.
‘Here’s someone willing to stand before a nobleman to help a child they’ve just met. If she’d done that with Aunt Mariane or Uncle, she’d have faced terrible consequences.’
Father may have a fierce expression, but he’s the kindest of them all.
Yet that face… I feel like I should remember it, but I can’t quite place it….
Father asked the Innkeeper Woman.
“You run an inn somewhere, don’t you?”
“…The Moonflower Inn, sir. It’s a small three-story establishment at the edge of Hisport Town’s center.”
Ah! Now I remember.

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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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