I Will Try to Save My Dad - Chapter 95

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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 95

“Would you like to come with me?”

That was a few hours ago, at Stone House.
When Sherry asked me to go to Goldport with her to find Father.
‘…Ugh.’
My instincts were screaming at me.
This person wasn’t our real Sherry…!
Under normal circumstances, I might have simply thought it odd and moved on. After all, she had the same appearance, and even her speech patterns and mannerisms resembled Sherry’s.
But because of the letter’s contents, my guard was at its absolute highest. Moreover, Sherry would never suggest going out without Father’s permission first.
‘This has to be someone who changed their appearance with an Alchemist’s potion! Where is the real Sherry?!’
The fastest way to find out would be to get this impostor mimicking Sherry to confess.
But I couldn’t interrogate her recklessly. Father wasn’t at Stone House.
‘What if this impostor is actually a skilled mercenary?’
Someone could get hurt.
I need to bring her to Father. Father is at the Investigation Bureau. This actually works out perfectly.

“Then I’ll tell Theon and Jeffrey to get ready to go out!”

I acted as normally as possible. Then I immediately ran to Theon and Jeffrey and filled them in on the situation.
There’s a fake Sherry upstairs. So let’s bring her to Father and have him catch her!
Beyond that, I explained the anticipated scenarios and our countermeasures. The three of us had worked through several incidents together, and our coordination was quite solid.

“Jeffrey, first ask Anne to search for the real Sherry.”
“Leave it to me! I’ll tell Anne right now.”
“Berry, what about the coachman? He could be someone the impostor bribed.”
“Right, Theon’s got a point. That’s actually what I wanted to ask you about…”

The imposter likely bribed the coachman. That was the only way to change the destination to wherever they wanted.
‘The imposter’s true identity is probably the kidnapper…!’
While Father was away, they approached me disguised as Sherry. They were targeting me, not Father.
But I had no intention of going along with it meekly. Our side’s forces were formidable too.
We rode in the carriage toward Goldport, laughing and chatting as if nothing were amiss.
Partway through, the imposter naturally drew the carriage curtains, claiming the sunlight was too bright. This was clearly a ploy to hide our destination. They really had bribed the coachman.
‘Just as planned!’
We smirked at the sight. The person sitting in the coachman’s seat was Lex, the Commander-in-Chief of the Red Eagle Knights.
Theon must have persuaded Lex well. When the carriage stopped and the imposter opened the door to check our arrival location, they panicked.

“Central Investigation Bureau Branch 17? Why…?!”
“Berry, come this way!”
“Berry, we’ll hold them off here!”
“Berry! Hurry and call Reytan!”
“Got it! Just hold on a bit longer!”

With Lex’s help, I descended from the carriage and entered the Investigation Bureau. While Theon and Jeffrey held back the panicked imposter, the plan was to quickly summon Father—
‘I didn’t expect them to even suppress them so they couldn’t escape.’
Moreover, even as I stepped out of the carriage, the imposter still wore Sherry’s appearance.
“Theon, Jeffrey. It’s dangerous. Come out.”
“Yes.”
“Yes, sir!”
At Father’s command, Theon and Jeffrey exited the carriage.
My eyes widened at the sight of the man with pink hair left alone in the carriage.
‘What. Lucian Alexis?’
It was completely unexpected.
I’d considered the possibility that Lucian suddenly appeared, but the maid’s dress he wore was the same one the imposter had been wearing.
‘Then… did he inform Father by letter of his plan to approach me? Why?’
As I pondered this question, my gaze met Lucian Alexis’s orange eyes directly.
Despite his delicate, doe-like appearance, his eyes were those of a predator at the top of the food chain.
A mysterious light. And pupils that trembled slightly as he looked at my startled expression.
Lucian’s lips, which had been quivering, moved.
“Berry, this is—”
His words, tinged with an apologetic tone, couldn’t continue. A sudden gust of wind sealed his lips shut.
And from it flowed a cool voice.
“I’d prefer it if you didn’t speak carelessly to my daughter.”
It was Father.

***

Jeffrey, Theon, and I were inside the Branch Leader’s Office at the Investigation Bureau. It was the safest place within the Investigation Bureau’s facilities because children were present.
“Sister! Theon and I were blocking the fake from escaping, right? But when the fake Sherry struggled, something happened! Her appearance changed, you know?!”
Jeffrey’s tail stood straight up as he explained what had happened earlier, standing near the sofa.
“Wait, her appearance changed? How?”
“Her face became more handsome! She got taller! Her hair became shorter! And the color changed! The same pink as Sister Berry! I didn’t like it!”
“Berry, this tastes good.”
Theon beside me handed me a glass of juice with a straw. I nodded at Jeffrey’s story and sipped the juice through the straw. It was apple juice.
Then I turned my attention to the sounds coming from outside the Branch Leader’s Office. The commotion within the Investigation Bureau wasn’t just from Jeffrey.
“The person in the interrogation room with Demian right now is Lucian Alexis? From the Edencia Kingdom?”
“He was wearing a maid’s uniform. Apparently he has cross-dressing tendencies. Surprising, really.”
“You’ll be even more surprised when you hear the charges.”
“What are they?”
“Attempted child abduction.”
It was the conversation of people standing near the door of the Branch Leader’s Office. Such talk was spreading throughout the Investigation Bureau.
Though Demian had ordered everyone to keep quiet, with so many people around, this information would leak out soon.
‘The newspapers will be all over this gossip, won’t they?’
It seemed I wasn’t the only one thinking that way.
“By tomorrow, the newspapers will be plastered with it. The secret tastes and criminal activities of an Edencia Kingdom diplomat.”
“Just thinking about reporters pestering us for information gives me a headache already. Setting aside his tastes, surely he wasn’t actually trying to kidnap anyone, right?”
“We’ll have to wait and see. Demian is conducting the interrogation.”
Father had also entered the interrogation room with Demian. I was also trying to figure out Lucian Alexis’s motive for the crime.
He had sent a warning letter saying that someone with a changed appearance would approach someone familiar-looking. But if the person he was trying to approach was himself, then that letter was a crime announcement.
Wouldn’t that lower the chances of success?
Why was he trying to take me away? He had even asked that my cousin’s ankle not be grabbed.
‘Ugh. I can’t think of anything. Since I’ve never been involved with the Edencia Kingdom, it seems like Lucian Alexis must have approached my other self when she was younger too.’
Memories of my other self’s childhood would occasionally surface when there were related clues, and strong impressions were the criterion.
Something that would leave a strong impression on my other self at seven years old….
“…Money?”
“Money?”
Theon reacted to my words.
Oh! Now that I think about it, I’ve recalled important memories thanks to Theon several times before, haven’t I?
I turned my head to the side. I could see the face of my male friend who would become more handsome than Lucian Alexis. His bangs had grown considerably, falling down to his eyelashes. Because of his thick, full black eyelashes, Theon’s eyes were unusually clear and had a deep atmosphere.
“…Berry, why are you looking at me like that?”
But it was a miss. No matter how intently I looked at Theon, nothing came to mind. Only the bashful Theon’s nape turned red.
“Oh, no. I’m just worried about whether we found Sister Sherry.”
Lex, the commander-in-chief of the Red Eagle Knights, had returned to the Trabel Estate, saying he would mobilize the knights to begin a full search for Sister Sherry.
In my other self’s memories, Sister Sherry had always been at Stone House, so I didn’t think there would be any great danger, but….
I turned my head. Holding the straw in my mouth, I slowly sipped the juice and continued thinking.
‘What is it?’
Then something caught my eye. The lower part of the long window next to the door of the Branch Leader’s Office. Beyond the window, something small was moving busily back and forth across the floor. Then it stopped in front of the window and propped itself up on two legs, peering into the Branch Leader’s Office as if checking the situation.
‘A hamster?’
It was a hamster no larger than the palm of my hand, its fur the color of cookie crumbs dusted across its tiny body, with only its two blunt ears dark as midnight.
The moment my gaze locked with those obsidian eyes.

– How amusing. Something so small.

Thud.
The straw I’d been holding slipped from my fingers and fell into the glass.

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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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