I Will Try to Save My Dad - Chapter 9

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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 9

The moment I saw Count Trabel, my mind went blank.
In my memories, I had never been alone with him. Part of that was my deliberate avoidance, but it was also because he had never approved of me.
A child incapable of great things. That assessment from our first meeting had followed me my entire life.
‘Huh?’
In other words, I had no idea how to behave in a situation like this.
I thought my head would shatter, yet it was being stroked. Was this the kind of thing one does before devouring live prey?
“…What are you doing…?”
“…What do you mean!”
After patting my head a few times, Count Trabel spoke to me in a suddenly alert voice.
“I need to hear in detail what you were trying to do in my room. Come along.”
“Yes….”
The Commander’s Office was used as a rest room for direct descendants, but that only happened with Count Trabel’s tacit approval. If the room’s owner asked what I had been trying to do, powerless as I was, I had no choice but to follow and explain myself.
As I reluctantly began climbing the stairs, Theon came to my side and spoke.
“I’ll come with you.”
Theon’s expression was rigid. He was clearly as frightened by Count Trabel’s presence as I was.
Yet what was that determined look in his eyes?
If we went together, I felt like he’d confess to Count Trabel something like, “The culprit trying to steal the candy was me.”
“I want to talk to Count Trabel alone.”
I couldn’t let my future ally fall out of favor with Count Trabel!
I gave Theon a mischievous smile and climbed the stairs. Count Trabel was already approaching the final step.
Yikes, I’d be scolded if I didn’t hurry.
“Don’t run!”
“Yes….”
As I climbed slowly, people had gathered in one section of the hallway. The knights must have rushed over after hearing the thunderous voice of the Trabel Family head.
And among them was a familiar face.
“Young miss…?”
It was Anne, Mariane’s spy maid.
Her darting eyes seemed less concerned for my wellbeing and more focused on understanding the situation. A private audience with the family head held great significance for a direct descendant.
It could mean endless good fortune. If I wasn’t careful, I’d draw the relatives’ suspicion—

—Reytan Quartz Trabel’s noble sacrifice….

In that instant, I recalled the priest standing before Father’s coffin, delivering the eulogy.
I rushed forward, hurrying after Grandfather as he approached the Commander’s Office door.
“G-Grandfather! I’m sorry!”
“What?”
“Berry was trying to steal your candy from the Commander’s Office!!”
Shhhhh.
Silence fell among the gathered people at my words. Rex in particular froze mid-sentence to his subordinate, his hand trembling slightly.
“Quiet! Get in here!”
See, Anne? I’m going to get scolded by Grandfather… please remember to tell everyone…
I could picture Aunt Mariane clapping her hands. Oh, this is perfect.
With the resolve of a mouse venturing into a lion’s den, I entered the Commander’s Office.
‘Whimper.’

***

“This… this is my fault.”
Staring at the firmly closed Commander’s Office door, Rex’s complexion deepened to an ashen gray, like his very hair.
He couldn’t even begin to imagine what terrible things might be unfolding behind that door.
The refreshments kept in the rest room were regularly stocked for direct family members who might visit without warning, but they were nonetheless Count Trabel’s personal possessions.
Eating a few candies would normally be no issue at all.
The real problem was that Count Trabel had chosen to make it one.
“It’s… it’s my fault, sir.”
When Rex turned at the trembling voice of a woman, he saw a maid whose face had gone deathly pale.
“I told the young lady to sit on the bench in the Central Courtyard. I never imagined she would wander the Training Grounds alone…”
As the maid eventually collapsed to the ground in tears, Rex blinked.
It felt like watching an enemy soldier captured on the battlefield shed crocodile tears to lessen their guilt—tears utterly devoid of genuine remorse.
And he’d never seen this face before.
“Who are you?”
“A maid from Stone House, sir.”
“Did you come to fetch Miss Berry?”
“No. It seems Miss Berry came here together with us from Stone House. She said her leg was hurting, so I was searching for a knight I knew.”
Hearing his subordinate’s explanation, Rex furrowed his brow in confusion.
Miss Berry had said she came alone.
He didn’t know the full circumstances, but did it matter now? Not when Count Trabel was enraged.
And what of young Master Reytan’s expression?
Rex too was a swordsman. It would be no exaggeration to say that a considerable portion of his pride in serving Trabel had been cultivated through watching Reytan.
“…”
Overwhelmed by helplessness, Rex covered his eyes with his hand.
Just then, the long-awaited news arrived. The subordinate he had sent to Stone House had returned.
“Were you here, sir? Young Master Reytan has arrived at the outer Castle Gate. I’ve left word so the message can be delivered—is there something wrong with Miss Berry?”
That’s right. A big deal.
Rex muttered with his eyes covered. What he saw was his future.

5. Something Small and Pretty

Count Trabel entered the Commander’s Office, settled onto the sofa, and gestured toward the one across from him.
“Sit.”
“Yes….”
I shuffled toward the sofa and pressed both hands down on the seat as I attempted to climb up.
Ugh. As I grunted and strained to hoist myself onto the high sofa, Uncle Callet lifted me and set me down.
Because he’d placed me flush against the backrest, I couldn’t bend my knees. As a result, I found myself sprawled across the sofa with both legs stretched out—quite an audacious posture—facing the head of the Trabel Family.
Ugh. It felt like I was buried under heavy air rather than sitting on a sofa.
“Callet, bring that over here.”
“Yes, sir.”
When Count Trabel gestured behind me, Uncle Callet retrieved something and placed it beside me on the sofa.
It was a glass jar filled with candies.
“Candies…?”
“How old are you?”
Before I could even register my confusion, Count Trabel, seated on the opposite sofa, addressed me.
I was certain he’d muttered something about me being seven years old on the stairs earlier.
I wanted to ask if he was testing me, but as nothing more than a mouse, I had no freedom to make such remarks.
“I’m… seven years old, sir….”
“Then why are you so small? I won’t tolerate lies about your age.”
“I’m telling the truth…!”
Tsk! Count Trabel clicked his tongue sharply.
“Your nutrition must have been lacking, which is why you haven’t grown.”
“Oh, no. Father prepares a nutrient-rich diet tailored to growing children every day….”
“What does that fool know.”
“…He knows quite well….”
“Ha, this little thing doesn’t back down from her words. You’re just like your father.”
I hadn’t meant to displease Count Trabel, but I hated seeing Father’s efforts dismissed.
Father had struggled so hard to raise me alone! If Count Trabel saw Father’s recipe book, he’d never say such foolish things! It’s so unfair!
“However.”
Count Trabel’s gaze fixed upon me, buried in the sofa. His golden eyes, gleaming with intensity, naturally induced tension in anyone who beheld them.
Gulp.
I quietly swallowed and slowly curled my hands. My palms had already begun to sweat.

“It seems you’re looking for something in your grandfather’s safe.”

A memory circled through my mind.
After Count Trabel’s funeral, when Theon Phil Igselona came to find me at twenty-four years old.
In the Crown Prince’s hand was a letter that had been delivered to the Imperial Palace—one that Count Trabel had arranged to be sent after his death.

“The circumstances suggest it’s likely decisive evidence that your relative, who orchestrated Reytan Quartz Trabel’s death, was in collusion with an accomplice.”
“…Did Grandfather know that Father’s death was murder?”
“I’ll verify it. I’ll move on this.”
“No. I’ll do it. There’s the reading of Grandfather’s will this afternoon. No one will pay attention to where I am during that time. Everyone will be focused on who becomes the next family head.”

And so I opened Grandfather’s safe, found the letter as evidence, and was stabbed to death by someone whose identity I never learned….
‘Why did Grandfather send such a letter to Theon Phil Igselona?’
It remained a mystery.
I was certain one of my relatives was the culprit. The perpetrator’s belongings, which Theon Phil Igselona recovered, bore the crest of the direct Trabel line.
Why did Grandfather send a letter to Theon Phil Igselona? If he had, wouldn’t it have revealed that one of Grandfather’s children had killed Father?
‘Besides, Grandfather thought Father died in an accident.’
Grandfather had dismissed my other concerns that Father’s death was suspicious. At the time, I resented it, but I thought it was unavoidable.
Grandfather had always been angry with Father, calling him a worthless, reckless son.
‘Could it be that Grandfather didn’t hate Father?’
I had assumed he wouldn’t even care about the death of a son he despised. Yet Grandfather had also investigated Father’s death—and had come closer to the truth than I had, or even than Theon Phil Igselona.
‘By revealing crucial evidence to the Crown Prince… was he asking for the perpetrator to be punished…?’
I was lost in thought.
So when those golden eyes drew suddenly closer, I had no room for other thoughts—only wondering how those eyes had regarded Father.
I pushed myself up, gripping the table, and meeting his gaze from close range, Grandfather spoke.
“This time, you’re not crying.”
“…Pardon?”
“Am I really so frightening to you, child?”

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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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