I Will Try to Save My Dad - Chapter 178

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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 178

I could tell it was her just from her profile.
“And here is the cargo manifest—”
“Wait. Later.”
I cut off the sailor’s words and shifted my position. Even as I came to stand beside Belesa, she kept her gaze fixed straight ahead.
‘Pretending not to know again.’
I hadn’t understood it when I was younger, but I’d encountered Belesa several times since then. So now I knew the truth: the fact that she deliberately avoided looking at me was precisely a sign that she cared about me deeply.
I too gazed at the massive ship’s hull as I greeted Belesa.
“Hello.”
“Hi.”
Belesa answered in a curt tone. We still weren’t looking at each other.
“How have you been?”
As I asked the casual greeting, I heard Belesa let out a scoff of exasperation.
“How much longer do you intend to interfere with my affairs?”
“Interfere?”
“You’re skilled at manipulating information. It was meticulous enough to fool my intelligence network.”
She was referring to the land values in the Edencia Kingdom that had skyrocketed dozens of times a few months ago. I was the one who had purchased the land before the price increase, and Belesa was the one who had sold it at a pittance.
“Then it seems your intelligence network lacks capability. A true intelligence agent’s skill lies in filtering trustworthy information from what’s released into the market.”
Since I no longer had my other memories, I had to predict future events on my own. Contrary to my initial concerns, my predictions based on information proved to have quite a high accuracy rate.
High enough that I could occasionally interfere with Belesa’s plans.
Because of my interference, Belesa had nearly lost the trust of the Edencia Kingdom’s king several times. Though Belesa’s name still appeared as a strong candidate for the next king, according to information that had recently spread in secret, the current king frequently summoned the Third Prince.
“And I haven’t done anything?”
“You made sure no evidence remained.”
Belesa released a small sigh. It was the first time she had revealed such weakness before me.
“Berry Quartz Trabel. What do you want from me?”
“Why do you ask such a thing?”
“The fact that you continue to do this means you want something from me.”
…
“What is it you want? My successor’s position?”
“No, I don’t need that.”
Even I thought I answered too quickly. Belesa’s successor position? The very thought made me recoil.
“It’s not that I want you to do something for me specifically.”
I turned my head to the side. Belesa was looking at me.
I had once thought of her as an inscrutable doll-like person, but now I felt I understood what kind of person she truly was.
“Even if I told you my reasons, Your Highness wouldn’t understand.”
When Belesa thought about it, she surely believed she had never committed a wrong grave enough to warrant this level of interference from me.
But I had made a resolution ever since the day I saved Father.
‘I will never forgive these three.’
Yuraha, Kane, Belesa—the true culprits who killed Father. I would never forgive them for as long as I lived.
Yuraha remained imprisoned in the Gorge Tower, where blizzards raged throughout the year. It was where the Aubaut Order sent priests who had committed grave crimes. Yuraha would spend the remainder of his life there. Suffering through cold and hunger, seeking redemption before God—such was Yuraha’s punishment.
Kane had become a hollow shell of a man.
‘He was also the cause of Uncle’s obsession with becoming head of the family.’
Kane still appeared flawless on the surface. His perfectionist nature and desire for recognition meant he likely tried to maintain the image of an exemplary eldest grandson of Count Trabel before Grandfather and other elders.
But once imprisoned, Kane fell prey to criminals’ schemes and became dependent on a mind-altering potion to survive.
The collapse of the trusted eldest son. Uncle and Aunt gradually lost their vitality, as if being drained of color day by day.
‘Ciel stopped visiting the Trabel Estate after her marriage, so the one remaining is—’
Belesa Valenhardt.
“…Do you resent me?”
Belesa asked.
“Yes.”
I answered.
By resentment, Belesa likely meant my hatred toward her for abandoning me. And she would never understand why I harbored such resentment.
If I were to meet Belesa in the place where another version of me existed, there was something I wanted to ask.
“Your Highness, do you feel any guilt?”
“I’ve never felt such an emotion.”
“What if Father had died in that war?”
“So that man told you about the past. That’s why you’re interfering with me.”
Belesa’s eyes fixed directly on me. Those orange eyes that carried dragon blood. She spoke with eyes that held no hesitation whatsoever.
“I owe you nothing. You were an unwanted child. Simply bearing you was enough for me to fulfill my duty.”
…
I was momentarily speechless. I had known this, but hearing it directly was quite shocking. I looked directly at Belesa as well. My eyes were green, resembling Julia’s eyes. Distinctly different from Belesa’s.
“Uncle Brown waited eagerly for my birth, I’m told.”
At my words, Belesa’s gaze wavered for a moment. I wondered if she and Uncle Brown had known each other, but I continued.
“Father said he was happy when I was born. Grandfather said he enjoys watching me grow.”
…
“My fiancé loves me so much he cannot live without me.”
“What are you trying to say?”
“I’ve received so much love. Enough to harden my heart against forgiving Your Highness.”
I finally conveyed my resolve to Belesa.
“Your Highness will never obtain what you desire most. Because I will ensure it.”

***

Belesa scoffed at my words.

“Try if you dare.”

I thought declaring war would bring relief, but it didn’t.
“Ugh.”
Regret washed over me, and my frustration refused to fade. I set down the documents I’d been reviewing and buried my forehead against the desk, muttering to myself.
“I regret it. I should have silenced him with something more impressive.”
“What’s done is done. Besides, those words were probably the best you could manage at the time with Ciel.”
“I suppose that’s true.”
Jeffrey had a way of cutting through to the heart of things with his casual remarks. I lifted my forehead slightly and looked at Jeffrey, who was sitting on the sofa.
“Jeffrey, have you grown again?”
It had been a month since I’d last seen Jeffrey. There was a time when I thought he’d always be roughly my height, but starting from when he turned seventeen, he’d shot up like a tree drinking water. Now, at twenty-three, he was nearly the same size as Theon.
“What? Every time you see me, you say that. I’m not getting any taller now.”
“My mental image of you must be too small. You’ve really grown so much.”
“Sister, that’s not ‘grown too much’—that’s ‘matured into a fine man.'”
Jeffrey swept his hair back with a self-satisfied air as he spoke.
“Hmm.”
He’d recently had photos taken in that pose for a magazine spread. The captions in Jeffrey’s magazine features often said something like “From boy to man.”
‘Is he joking?’
The melancholy I’d felt because of Belesa lifted slightly at Jeffrey’s unexpected boastful jest.
I felt ready to work again, so I picked up the documents and was raising my upper body when Jeffrey walked to the front of the desk and pulled the document I was looking at down with his index finger.
“What?”
Jeffrey leaned forward to meet my gaze. His sharp eyes, framed by a more defined face, fixed on me.
Unlike his usual playful demeanor, his expression was serious now, and his more angular face truly looked like that of an adult man.
“Berry.”
Jeffrey, whose modeling career had never faltered, had blossomed into a refined and handsome man.
Meeting my eyes, Jeffrey spoke with genuine seriousness.
“Will you marry me?”

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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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