I Will Try to Save My Dad - Chapter 2

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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 2

So this morning.
I had passed out and slept soundly through the night before waking up. And I was in distress.
A canopy bed draped with delicate lace curtains.
I thought only a princess’s house had something like this, yet here I was, lying in one.
“Of course—the wealthy Trabel Estate. They even furnish canopy beds in the secondary heir’s separate quarters…. Why do I know all this?”
This was my first time coming to the Trabel Estate.
I shouldn’t know anything about this place. Yet everything around me felt strangely familiar.
Like how this room in the Stone House was mine, or how I couldn’t escape this place until I turned twenty-four.
“Are you sure about this? You’re not lying?”
I rolled across the bed and tumbled onto the floor along with the blanket.
The fireplace loomed in the distance—or rather, my vision was upside down. I stared at it with my legs propped against the bed frame.
More precisely, at the marble column of the fireplace carved with vines.
“…Marshall always said a person must harbor suspicion at all times.”
The truth was, I had passed out the moment I saw my grandfather yesterday.
These memories might simply be a dream of mine.
“Right?”
Having found a reason to object, I gained the energy to move with vigor.
With a grunt, I pushed myself up and walked toward the fireplace. To prove these memories were nothing but my imagination.
“If you turn the flower decorations on the left column in the correct order, a secret space appears~”
There’s no way such nonsense could be real. It’s all a dream, just a dream.
I walked forward with confidence, but the moment I faced the six metal flower ornaments scattered across the carved vines, I hesitated.
The fireplace column was about my height. There would be no problem turning the six flowers in the correct sequence.
But before that—would those things actually turn?
“They couldn’t possibly turn~ This is all just a dream…”
Why are they turning?
I swallowed the urge to cry and moved my hand.
Click. Clank.
The built-in cabinet beside the fireplace slid sideways, revealing a secret space.
“….”
The room welcomed the person who had discovered its hidden self by beginning to illuminate.
Witnessing the magnificent sight unfold before me, I froze with my hand still on the last flower ornament, unable to remove it. My eyes had widened so much I couldn’t blink, and my jaw hung open so far I couldn’t close it.
I’d seen something similar in a picture book once.
When a commoner riding a flying carpet discovered a mysterious cave….
“This is insane….”
I quietly turned the flowers back.
Whirr. Whirr. Click. Clank.
Leaving the cabinet that had returned to its original position behind me, I shuffled back to bed.
I would ignore what I had just witnessed for now.
“Sigh…”
A breath escaped my lips unbidden. In truth, memories of Stone House and such were not particularly troubling.
Rather, it was magnificent—I possessed a superpower to see the future, didn’t I?
But then again.
If only that were all. The real problem was that strange memories kept surfacing, one after another.

– Those gathered here shall remember the noble sacrifice of Reytan Quartz Trabel….

A priest speaking solemnly before a coffin draped with the Empire’s flag, and sixteen-year-old me in black clothes, staring blankly at the casket.
My father, who had enlisted in the war against the foreign races by imperial decree, had been returned in that coffin.
From the day I buried my father in the earth, I stood before the Main Estate. It was a protest, demanding that my grandfather—with whom I had never had a private audience—listen to my words.

– Miss, how much longer will you persist? It has already been ten days. Even if you have not eaten or slept outside all this time, the family head has no intention of hearing you out.
– Isn’t it strange to you, Uncle Callet? You knew my father well since you were his friend. You know how strong he was. A Grand Master cannot simply die in such a minor war. It makes no sense.
– Yet such senseless things can occur on a battlefield. And Reytan… Reytan would not wish to see you like this.

I wanted the truth about my father’s death. With the power and wealth that Trabel possessed, I believed they could uncover the truth, even if my suspicions were merely circumstantial.
But no one in Trabel listened to me.
At sixteen, I moved alone. Without the family’s support, evading my relatives’ interference.
After eight years of heartbreaking struggle, I finally grasped a clue that could reveal the culprit’s identity—only to die before I could even examine it properly, run through from behind by a sword….
‘The other me was such a fool….’
My body trembled involuntarily at the memory of that final moment.
I wish I had at least seen the face of whoever stabbed me.
After all that suffering, not only did I fail to take revenge, I couldn’t even identify the culprit. How unjust.
Was adult me so consumed with that injustice that I granted myself these memories?
“Ugh, I don’t know.”
I threw myself face-down on the bed, burying my face in the blankets.
Just a week ago, I had been living peacefully with my father in a Rural Village.
If the bounty hunters hadn’t turned Marshall’s Herb Garden into a wasteland, I would have been eating the fried eggs my father made this very morning.
“I don’t need these memories, or a rich grandfather….”
To face such calamity the moment I arrived at Trabel.
My humble wish—that my wealthy grandfather might buy me a teddy bear—had shattered completely.
“Berry, when did you wake up?”
Just then, Father entered the room. At the sound of his cheerful voice, I sprang up immediately and called out to him.
“Dad!”
“If you step on the blanket with your feet…. No, never mind. How is your body? Are you in any pain? Do you remember what happened yesterday?”
“That’s not what’s important right now!”
“That’s not what’s important right now!”
Father, who had been hurrying toward me to check my condition, came to an abrupt halt.
Then what’s important? Father asked with his eyes.
“Father, I will propose a job to you.”
“…A job?”
“Yes. Will you listen?”
I didn’t want to believe in some future where Father died. But I needed to verify whether this memory was accurate.
I came up with a clever idea.
I would compare the personal information of everyone who visited Stone House today with my new memories!
“What is it?”
Father lifted me into his arms, and I used detective play as an excuse to ask him to take on the role of investigator.
I even added detailed explanations.
“So! Father will ask the people who come to the room for information! Names and ages and all sorts of things! Then I’ll hide and listen, and surprise everyone!”
Upon hearing my perfect plan, Father’s face contorted.
“…I don’t want to do that.”
“But Berry’s future dream is to become a capable investigator. And… Berry… still has aftereffects from fainting…. Oh my, it hurts.”
“….”
“Will you help me? Investigator Reytan?”
“…Yes. Investigator Berry Berry.”

***

And then, this afternoon. The results were….
Perfect. One hundred out of one hundred.
‘I even guessed that Butler Serber bought Ink Company stock.’
I looked at myself in the mirror and made a sad face.
Actually, I didn’t need to mention the Ink Company, but I had my reasons.
‘Jacob, who’s coming as his replacement, is a petty man.’
Serber lost his house due to failed stock investments and squandered his entire fortune.
He lost his health too, languishing like a withered leaf, and eventually quit his job, with Jacob becoming the new head butler!
‘A vicious one who’s stingy with food!’
The head butler of the Main Estate had the authority to decide what food, clothing, and shelter support items would be provided to the separate residences of the direct line.
But after Jacob became head butler, the items coming in gradually decreased. Especially food.
Desserts were limited to types with less sugar, breakfast was always bread and soup, and lunch and dinner were restricted to only one main dish.
‘It was because Father’s separate residence is Stone House, right? How frustrating.’
So it was better when Serber was head butler.
Serber was also close to my uncle, but the lesser evil was better than the worst….
‘Hmm?’
Something felt strange. My thoughts had been feeling more mature lately.
I tilted my head and looked at myself in the mirror. I was still seven years old.

“Because the lesser evil is better than the worst. That’s why I came looking for you.”

The memories of another me who lived until twenty-four years old—these new recollections had surfaced.
‘So you were the culprit…!’
That’s why I had the same thought about whether it was the better or lesser evil!
I had let my guard down. I almost accepted these new memories as something natural.
You were planning to make me regard what you experienced as the true future, weren’t you? But I—!
“Berry, your eyes will get worse if you hold the mirror so close.”
“Okay.”
Father gently took the mirror I’d brought right up to my face and removed it from my hands. In the tabletop mirror sitting on the table before the sofa, Father’s face reflected beside me as he sat next to me.
I didn’t need a future like that.
“What’s wrong?”
“Berry… doesn’t like big Berry.”
I pouted my lips, and Father gently pinched my cheek and shook it.
“You’ve been singing about how happy you were to turn seven for months now.”
“I take back my statement.”
“Of course you do. But Detective Berry-Berry.”
“Yes?”
“I have a question for you.”
A question?
I looked up at Father.
A suspicious gaze. I had a bad feeling this wouldn’t be a pleasant question.
“What was that about Ink Company stocks you asked Serber earlier? There was nothing like that in the information I gave you, Detective.”
“Oh….”
What an unfavorable question to ask.
I usually played detective games, so he let it pass without suspicion, but the Ink Company stock story wouldn’t be so easy to brush aside, would it…?
“Marshall Grandmother told Peter Uncle not to buy Ink Company stocks because they’d collapse completely. You know Peter Uncle, right? The one who likes matching pictures with cards!”
And in times like these, it’s best to bring in an adult with deep experience. …I had a memory of another me saying that.
“Marshall?”
I heard Father’s suspicion ease slightly.
Marshall Grandmother was the only adult who could weaken Father, and she was our family’s benefactor.
I was often sick from infancy, and each time, Marshall Grandmother, the village pharmacist, would check on my condition.
“You know how when I see the butler, it suddenly reminds me of something? Don’t Peter Uncle and the butler look similar?”
“…They do resemble each other somewhat….”
“Right?”
I laughed innocently, as if I knew nothing.
Father fell silent and pondered for a while before asking me.
“Berry-Berry, shall we make a promise?”
“Hmm, what is it? Tell me.”
“While we’re at Grandfather’s house, let’s keep it a secret that Berry is so capable.”
I gazed steadily into Father’s eyes. Others said he was frightening, but I had never seen anyone with eyes as warm as his.
Even now. His eyes brimmed with worry.
“We won’t stay at Grandfather’s house long. Just for a while.”

– Berry, I’m sorry. It seems I’ll need to stay longer than I thought.

But in my memories, we lived at the Trabel Estate our entire lives. Father spent his whole life trying to protect me—

– All the relatives are beasts. They think of nothing but tearing each other apart to seize the position of heir.

One of those beasts killed Father.
“But how do you keep being competent a secret?”
“Berry pretends not to be good at what you’re good at. Can you do that?”
“Should I try? Since Father is asking~”
So I cannot ignore this memory I don’t want to believe.
With a probability of one in a hundred million million.
What if Father’s death is real?

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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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