I Will Try to Save My Dad - Chapter 41

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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 41

“….”
The atmosphere grew increasingly awkward. I quietly released Theon’s hand and lowered my arm. He did the same.
“Sorry.”
Theon whispered to me.
“It’s fine.”
I shook my head. Yet neither of us could meet the other’s gaze. Why was that? We were friends, after all. How embarrassing.
In the meantime, I heard the Baroness Voltman’s voice drifting from the entrance as she conversed with a guest.
“So you’re the guest Father mentioned?”
Father?
I perked up my ears. Soon the footsteps of two people drew closer to the living room, and when I glimpsed the guest’s face, I nearly fell off my seat in shock.
“Marshall?!”
A petite frame reaching only to the Baroness Voltman’s chest. Pointed ears at the tips.
Behind her spectacles, a sharp gaze fell upon us.
“So the chicks have become two.”
“How did you get here?! Bonwell Village is incredibly far away!”
I hastily climbed down from the sofa and embraced Marshall warmly.
Marshall was the apothecary of Bonwell Village. A benefactor to both Father and me.
She patted my head out of habit, then made a disapproving sound.
“Your father has been putting this old woman to work.”
“Father did?”
“How else would I know he was in the Imperial Capital? The man is relentless, I tell you.”

***

Reytan’s ears tingled.
The commotion outside the Study suggested Marshall had arrived.
When I decided to take Berry to the Grand Temple, I thought this was the perfect timing to show her to Marshall.
Bonwell Village and Leaf Village were at least a ten-day journey by carriage. But.
‘I assumed Marshall would come to the Imperial Capital to visit the main branch of the bank, since her deposit maturity date was approaching.’
Fortunately, my assumption proved precisely correct.
Berry appeared outwardly healthy, yet she needed a definitive diagnosis.
Marshall was the pharmacist who knew Berry’s physical condition better than anyone else.
“It has been quite some time. Reytan.”
Baron Voltman greeted Reytan with formal speech. It had been well over ten years since the two last saw each other.
“Please, speak freely. Vice-Commander Voltman.”
“That is an old title. Hearing it from the Grand Master brings back memories.”
Baron Voltman’s gaze shifted toward Reytan’s sword.
Grand Master.
In the Aubaut Order, they stood above the Priests, and even the High Priest could not treat them carelessly.
Because of this, the nobility of the Heishal Empire could not speak disrespectfully to the Grand Masters without reason.
“Have you returned to active duty?”
“Yes. But hearing formal speech from you gives me goosebumps and makes me feel queasy. When did you become so refined?”
“…Our youngest…remains unchanged, I see…?”
Baron Voltman’s lips twitched slightly.
“Well. People don’t change easily, do they? Whether you speak formally or casually to me, I don’t mind. Do as you please.”
“Ahem, well. In any case, you’ve always lacked a sense of hierarchy.”
Baron Voltman cleared his throat and subtly dropped his formal tone. Reytan smiled faintly.
The two had served together in the same unit for roughly four months, with Baron Voltman as the commander and Reytan joining as the youngest Knight.
This was before he became a Sword Master.
Reytan had dropped out of the Academy and lived as he pleased, bloodied on the battlefield.
The turning point came when he was sixteen years old.

***

From childhood, Reytan could not feel familial warmth within the Trabel Estate.
The only people from whom I felt familial affection were my biological mother, Julia, and my older brother, Brown, who lived in Hisport Town.
Brown was also a son of Count Trabel, but he was born before the Count married Julia.
Due to the opposition of the first wife, Priscilla, he could not be registered into the Trabel Family. The fact that Brown was born in the same year as Mariane incurred Priscilla’s wrath.

“Don’t you hate the Trabel Family? You’re not exactly welcomed when you come here. All you get are cold stares. So why do you keep coming back, taking on more work for yourself?”
“Your face.”
“…Brother, you’ve lost your mind. People have been telling me I’m handsome so much lately that it’s exhausting, and now you too. Being born beautiful must be my karma.”
“Haha.”
“Why are you laughing?”
“I wish you’d always be this carefree. Whenever I see your face, all my worries disappear.”
“Worries? What is it? Has something happened recently?”
“Yes. My younger brother who entered the Academy this year seems to have switched careers to farming. His grades are a complete wasteland. Reytan.”
“Haha.”
“Don’t laugh.”

A C-grade wasn’t exactly exceptional.
Reytan Quartz Trabel had always been perceptive from a young age.
Whenever he excelled at something, it bred jealousy. That jealousy, multiplied several times over, would return to his own mother.
Heir to the Trabel Family. Checks and balances to seize that position.
I couldn’t abandon the sword. This is my destiny. So I mustn’t stand out in anything else.
Only then could my mother live in peace within this cursed family.

Whiiiine—!
Crash!!

Second year at the Academy. Sixteen years old.
On the way back to the Trabel Estate, the carriage carrying Reytan Quartz Trabel plummeted down a sheer cliff.
The coachman, the attendant, the horses.
All dead. Except for Reytan.
Covered head to toe in blood and dust, he returned to the Trabel Estate amid the wreckage of the accident.
Standing on the front porch of the Main Estate were those he had once thought were blood relatives.
Count Trabel. And Priscilla, his first wife, along with her children.

“R-Reytan.”

At his return, someone’s face went pale. As if confessing to being the culprit. Reytan understood.
Had a horse afflicted with madness reared up and sent the carriage over the cliff? Had the coachman drunk heavily the night before?
All the speculation he’d done on the way here had been pointless.

‘Even beasts look after their own family….’

Until now, I had strived to maintain an ordinary standard in everything except swordsmanship. Heir lessons, Academy classes—all mediocre. Neither falling behind nor excelling.
Unremarkable in all things save the blade, yet I aimed to be the respectable second son of Count Trabel.
It was tedious and exhausting, but I feared that living a diminished life would sadden Juliana Brown.
And yet.

‘What’s the point?’

Once I’m dead, everything ends anyway.
That carriage was the one Juliana had intended to ride in.
It wasn’t a crime targeting me alone.

‘Damn it.’

Something snapped inside Reytan Quartz Trabel’s mind with a sharp crack.
The birth of the Trabel Family’s black sheep had arrived.

***

Marshall, Father, and I.
The three of us were in Baron Voltman’s Study.
When I went to find Father to tell him Marshall had arrived, Baron Voltman kindly excused himself from the Study so we could talk.
“Ah—.”
After thoroughly examining my throat, Marshall shook her head slowly.
“Tsk, tsk….”
At the sound of her disapproval, Father and I tensed, watching her carefully.
What is it? Is my condition worse than I thought?
“Marshall, is Berry alright?”
“How would I know if she’s alright or not?”
“Why, why is that, Grandmother?”
“Can’t you see? She looks perfectly fine, yet this old woman had to come running at your beck and call, you ungrateful child.”
I’d been fooled.
Marshall launched into a tirade of scolding directed at Father, though his lips kept twitching upward despite his apologies.
“Father, were you worried about me?”
“Yes.”
“Your father worrying about you isn’t something that happens just once or twice. Still, just to be safe, I’ll leave you some medicine.”
Marshall opened her bag with an exasperated sigh. Dozens of small medicine bottles, organized by type.
“Were you worried about me too, Grandmother?”
“Worried? Hardly.”
“It must have been heavy carrying all that from the Imperial Capital to here.”
“Sharp as a chick, aren’t you.”
I let out a soft laugh at Countess Trabel’s words. She pointed at the closed door with the tip of her chin.
“The examination is finished. Tell that chick to come in now.”
“Chick?”
Who was waiting outside? When Father opened the door instead, Theon stood fidgeting before us.
“Oh, Theon.”
“Ah, Countess Trabel asked me to bring this….”
It was a tray holding beverages. Theon’s expression in the corridor seemed oddly grave.
I descended from my chair and approached him. His complexion looked pallid.
“Theon, are you unwell?”
“No. There’s nothing wrong with me.”
“Then what?”
I tilted my head in confusion. Father explained on Theon’s behalf.
“He was worried. Marshall was going to examine Berry.”
“What? Really?”
“…Master’s words are correct.”
It was at that moment I was moved by Theon’s kindness.
Thud-thud-thud.
Loud footsteps thundered across the wooden floor, followed by Anne’s urgent cry to stop running.
We turned our heads. It was Jeffrey.
“Berry, big sister—!”

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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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