I Will Try to Save My Dad - Chapter 188

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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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Special Side Story 2

“What do you mean, a woman? Your father only has eyes for your mother.”
Reytan said this while composing Windis’s aura. But in that moment, a passerby outside pushed the door open, offering to help Berry, who had been struggling with the handle.
“Thank you so much!”
“It’s nothing.”
Hisport Town was overflowing with kind people—almost to a fault.
Reytan clicked his tongue and placed the payment for two pairs of sunglasses on the counter, then quickly pursued Berry outside.
Despite his expectation that a seven-year-old with short legs couldn’t possibly run that fast, Berry moved with surprising agility.
The crowded streets became an obstacle for Reytan as well. Unlike Berry, who could slip between the legs of adults, his sturdy frame forced him to navigate around people.
“Caught you.”
Reytan scooped his niece up after they’d passed one block.
“You can’t just run off without a guardian like that.”
“Whine…”
Reytan caught his breath and checked on Berry’s condition. Then he looked up and spotted Brown across the street, buying a newspaper from a boy.
‘Brother?’
Why was he still in Hisport Town? He’d left quite some time ago.
Brown, dressed to the nines with a bouquet of flowers in hand just as Berry had described, was laughing carelessly.
“Father! No!”
Berry had spotted Brown again. Reytan quickly ducked into an alley to prevent their reunion.
His niece, wearing the same sunglasses as him, tilted her head up at him as if asking what he was doing. With a white lace bonnet on her head, Berry looked quite amusing, yet undeniably adorable.
“….”
This really was difficult. Babysitting was harder than expected.
But one thing was certain: Berry could not meet Brown right now. Brown was on his way to meet Belesa Valenhardt.
‘I can’t let Berry meet that mad woman.’
She was Berry’s biological mother and the First Princess of Edencia Kingdom.
I couldn’t fathom how his oblivious brother and that haughty princess had fallen in love, but their devotion was unparalleled.
I was speaking of Belesa Valenhardt.
She had declared to the royal family that she would marry Brown.
Though she faced fierce opposition from the King, Belesa remained unmoved. In fact, she saw it as making things easier. If a powerful person opposed her, then she simply needed to become an even more powerful person.
‘A woman who set her goal to become Queen and marry Brown.’
At some point, Belesa stopped visiting Berry altogether. When Reytan asked why, Belesa answered without the slightest change in expression, as if stating the obvious.

“Because if I see her, I’ll want to take her away immediately. Preparations or anything else won’t matter.”
“Preparations?”
“Didn’t I tell you before? If something bothers you, you just eliminate it.”

I couldn’t fathom what he was thinking to say such a thing.
In any case, based on various experiences and information gathered, Reytan had concluded that Belesa Valenhardt was not in her right mind.
To the point where if the King of Edencia were assassinated one day, she could be suspected as a prime suspect.
So encountering Belesa while loitering near Brown might not be good for the child’s emotional well-being.
“Uncle Reytan!”
“What.”
“Father is over there!”
“I see.”
“Can we follow him?”
“Yes. Let’s go.”
Reytan slipped out of the alley with a teddy bear tucked under his left arm and Berry tucked under his right.
After heading in a completely different direction from Brown, he entered a balcony seat on the second floor of a nearby Dessert Cafe and ordered strawberry juice and strawberry cake.
They were Berry’s favorite menu items.

***

I lost Father because of Uncle!
But now I have strawberry cake!
“Here.”
Uncle Reytan handed me a fork and pushed the cake plate right in front of me.
“Can I really eat it…?”
“That’s why I ordered it.”
Gulp.
It was an irresistible temptation. Even though I was wearing tinted glasses that made everything dark, the cake topped with a large strawberry gleamed with a lustrous sheen.
“Thank you for the meal!”
Without hesitation, I took a bite of the cake with my fork.
It was so delicious my cheeks nearly melted. Father rarely bought me this, but Uncle Reytan was buying it for me generously.
My wariness gradually crumbled away.
‘Perhaps Uncle Reytan isn’t a scary person after all….’
Maybe he’s a good person and I’ve just been misunderstanding him!
“Berry Quartz.”
“Yes?”
Never mind. He’s scary.
Just as I was finishing the cake, Uncle Reytan called my name.
When an adult calls your name in a low voice, there’s usually only one reason.
It meant I was about to get scolded by Uncle Reytan.
“Is it alright to run around the streets alone without a guardian?”
“No, it’s not.”
“What if you got hit by a carriage?”
“That would be terrible….”
I spoke in a hushed, guilty tone, then readily admitted my mistake and bowed my head to Uncle Reytan.
“I’m sorry.”
“That so?”
A nod.
I nodded my head.
I was genuinely reflecting on my actions. Now that I thought about it, that path was one carriages traveled too. For someone as short as me—shorter than a carriage wheel—it was a dangerous route.
“If an apology is all it takes, then safety rules wouldn’t be necessary.”
“…Huh?”
When Father scolded me, it usually ended at this point with a promise not to do it again. But Uncle Reytan didn’t stop there.
“Tell me, Berry. Why did you chase after Father so desperately? You were supposed to come tomorrow anyway. Father must have had his own business—you shouldn’t interfere.”
“Uncle Reytan…”
Of course, I wasn’t in the right.
But still…!
“You sound like an investigator.”
I couldn’t help but feel a little excited.
Uncle Reytan’s tone of voice sounded just like an investigator!
As I’d always told Father, my second career aspiration was to become an investigator.
My first was to become wealthy.
“Save the admiration for later. Answer first. …Detective Berry Berry.”
“Gasp.”
Detective Berry Berry?
That’s cool. It sounds like a code name.
Suddenly, I felt like Uncle Reytan and I would get along really well.
Oh right, I should answer first.
“Well, you see—”
I started to spill everything I knew, then stopped myself.
I’d almost made an important mistake.
In situations like this, I shouldn’t carelessly reveal information that only I knew.
‘Is anyone around…? No one here!’
Still, to be safe, I glanced around once more before adjusting my sunglasses with my right hand.
Then I reported confidentially to Uncle Reytan the investigator.
“Father shouldn’t be carrying a bouquet of flowers.”
“…Why’s that?”
Uncle Reytan asked.
“Actually, this is classified information…”

***

Achoo!
Brown’s entire body convulsed with a cough that was entirely involuntary.
“My, have you developed a pollen allergy?”
“Ugh. That’s why—achoo! That bouquet is—achoo! Achoo!—I’ll just accept your kind gesture. Thank you….”
What a pity, Belesa thought, tossing the bouquet into the Inn’s trash bin.
It was better to discard things that served no purpose.
Once the trash bin was placed outside the corridor, Brown—now somewhat recovered—looked at Belesa with reddened eyes.
He had been curious since Belesa entered the Inn room, but his entire face had been itching too much to ask.
“Those clothes you’re wearing—aren’t they men’s clothing?”
“Hmm.”
Belesa let out a pleased hum through her nose.
Even someone as good-natured as Brown possessed jealousy. Yet Belesa did not further provoke him to nurture that jealousy.
She was already sufficiently satisfied with this much.
“They’re your clothes. I brought them as a gift.”
“My clothes?”
“Would you like to open them?”
Brown gathered his wits and spoke.
“Belesa.”
There was still something he needed to ask about. The familiar wrapping paper of the bouquet Belesa had brought, and a newspaper from a specific region.
“Did you go to Hisport Town? You said you didn’t want people to recognize you.”
More than disliking the fame itself, he had been worried that if word spread of her arrival, Berry might emerge. Belesa playfully stretched Brown’s cheeks as he sat in the chair.
“It’s fine. No one recognized me.”
“They didn’t recognize you?”
Belesa Valenhardt was a celebrity.
Not all ten out of ten people knew her, but certainly anyone who kept up with the newspapers would not fail to recognize her face.
“Hmm? That shouldn’t be possible, should it?”
At Brown’s bewildered gaze, Belesa burst into laughter.
The morning’s events had been quite an amusing experience for her as well, so she was eager to see Brown’s reaction immediately.
But it was not yet time.
“I’d like to show you, but it’s inconvenient right now. The potion hasn’t fully stabilized yet, so I don’t know when its effects will wear off.”
“I don’t understand what you mean, Belesa.”
Belesa whispered mischievously into Brown’s ear.
“It means I still have things to do with you.”
The tips of Brown’s ears flushed red.

And the next morning.
“Well? What do you think?”
Brown Quartz stood before the bed, his jaw dropping as he gazed at Belesa.
He couldn’t believe it. Belesa had…
“You look exactly like me, don’t you?”
…become Brown Quartz.

***

“…Father, I’m here.”
No, wait—this feels a bit awkward.

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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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