One Day, My Dad Disappeared - Chapter 26

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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 26
Our eyes met. Far too close for comfort.
“Oh, I’m sorry!”
In my excitement, I’d thrown my arms around Aidan without thinking. When I jumped back in embarrassment, he lifted both arms slightly and cleared his throat.
“Ahem, it’s fine.”
The Laboratory, which had been bustling moments before, fell silent like a spent Filament. I found myself staring at the floor when Aidan spoke first.
“Still, it lasted five minutes.”
“Y-yes, it did!”
Mortified, I hastened to agree with him.
“It’s the longest we’ve gotten it to burn yet! The other threads gave out in mere seconds.”
“If that’s the case, then the Bamboo Filament idea was a success.”
Aidan rubbed his chin thoughtfully as he studied the charred Bamboo Filament.
“Then the problem must be with the Glass Tube.”
“The Glass Tube?”
“The Filament made from bamboo clearly lasted longer than before. So we need to look for the problem elsewhere.”
Aidan lifted the Glass Tube slightly and examined it from side to side.
“The lamps we’ve been using until now burn gas, so they’re designed to let air flow in and out. But with this electric lamp you’ve conceived, air isn’t necessary at all.”
“Exactly. If there’s air inside the Glass Tube, the bamboo filament will keep reacting with the oxygen and burn away. We don’t want to burn the bamboo—we just need it to glow hot enough to shine. But…”
“Right, so that might be why it couldn’t last long.”
Aidan set the Glass Tube back in place as he spoke.
“So we need to remove all the air inside. If air remains, the bamboo filament will keep burning.”
“But if we need to remove the air from inside…”
I pressed my lips together.
“How would we do that?”
We couldn’t pour it out like water, and we couldn’t grasp it with our hands.
Aidan had spoken easily enough, but since he didn’t know the method either, his expression had grown dark.
“I’ve heard that wine storage containers used to preserve wine for long periods have a pump that removes some of the air inside.”
Aidan looked at me as he said this.
“Since the Winslow Family owns a wine vineyard, I should go there and see if we can find one.”

A few days later, Aidan returned from the Winslow Family estate with an Air Pump designed for wine storage. It was smaller than I’d expected. The mechanism worked by moving a handle up and down to work the piston, drawing in air.
“This is what removes the air?”
I examined the pump with fascination, turning it this way and that.
“It’s originally used to slow the Oxidation of wine, so I’m not sure if it’ll work.”
Aidan trailed off uncertainly, but he skillfully connected one end of the Glass Tube to the pump.
“Apparently, you keep pumping while heating it like this.”
Either way, this device was all we had to trust.
“Shouldn’t we seal it now?”
“No, let’s heat it a bit longer.”
By the fifteenth attempt, Aidan seemed to have caught a spark of determination. I was thinking it was probably time to stop when I heard a small crack—snap.
Crrrrack.
The fracture spread across the entire Glass Tube in an instant.
“Dangerous!”
Shatter!
The Glass Tube exploded into pieces, shards flying in every direction. I instinctively squeezed my eyes shut.
After the brief violent sound passed, I cautiously opened them.
“M-Master Aidan!”
His arms wrapped protectively around my face. And above them, blood ran in crimson rivulets. I gasped in shock and grabbed his hand.
“I’m fine.”
He said it plainly, but from what I could see, he was anything but fine. The wound looked disturbingly deep.
And it wasn’t just glass fragments either—it was the scalding Glass Tube that had shattered, leaving angry burn marks across his skin.
“How is any of that fine!”
“It’s just a scratch from glass.”
“It’s not ‘just’ glass!”
The sight of blood brought back the memory of Aiclo’s assault.
I’d done nothing but receive help again.
That time too—Aidan had pulled me close and protected me while I stood there useless.
My fingertips trembled. I couldn’t keep accepting his protection like this.
I quickly pressed my handkerchief—which I always carried—against the wound to stem the bleeding.
“Hold pressure on it for a moment.”
I was about to hand Aidan the handkerchief and release his wrist when he grabbed mine instead.
“……Oh.”
I looked up in surprise to find his green eyes darting around in confusion before he finally let go.
“I’m—I’m sorry. There was more blood than I expected, and I just got startled.”
“No, it’s fine, really.”
Given the amount of bleeding, his reaction was hardly unreasonable. I rubbed my wrist where he’d gripped it and began searching the cabinet.
I was certain there was a First Aid Kit somewhere around here.
I rummaged through the medicine box in the corner of the Laboratory and retrieved ointment and bandages. Whether by misfortune or luck, my time with Father had taught me exactly which salves to apply and how to treat wounds properly.
“This might sting a bit.”
And this place had an abundance of clean water. Aidan ensured even his drinking water was of the highest quality. I dampened sterilized cotton with the clean water and carefully cleaned the wound. Red blood bloomed across the white fiber.
“……I’m sorry.”
It was a wound that came from shielding me. At my murmur, Aidan looked up.
“Why are you apologizing?”
“Because you were injured because of me.”
“As if I’d be hurt over something like you.”
The words were dismissive, almost scoffing, yet his ears had turned noticeably red.
“Regardless. I’m still sorry.”
As I spoke, I examined the now-cleaned wound more closely. The bleeding had stopped mercifully quickly, but the burn from the heated glass was deeper than I’d initially thought.
By all appearances it should have been painful, yet Aidan maintained an unruffled, composed expression throughout. Something about that unflinching face irritated me for no good reason.
“I’ll apply the ointment now. Bear with it even if it hurts.”
True to the quality of Aidan’s First Aid Kit, the ointment was an excellent product. The moment I applied it to the wound, his hand—veined and flushed—flinched involuntarily.
“Does it hurt?”
“……No.”
“You’re lying.”
I spread the ointment more gently, more carefully across the burn. As I worked it in, the warmth radiating from his hand became oddly, sharply vivid. I should have let go, but I lingered, using the bandaging as an excuse to hold on just a moment longer.
“All done now.”
I wrapped the bandage slowly around the treated wound.
“You’re quite practiced at this.”
He murmured the observation while watching my work.
“My father’s fault.”
“The legendary hero got injured often, then?”
“Ha, of course he did.”
Father had sustained wounds regularly in his mercenary work. One day an abrasion, the next a laceration—he’d been stabbed, burned like Aidan was now, and suffered nearly every injury imaginable.
He’d once ingested poisonous plants by mistake and fallen ill, so I’d become something of a master in treating various wounds.
“You could have done well studying medicine formally.”
Aidan spoke evenly as he examined the expertly tied bandage.
“Still, you’ve learned something today.”
“What?”
“That Glass Tubes shatter if heated too long.”
“As if you need to learn something just to know that.”
Before I could stop myself, I was grumbling. Aidan merely shrugged lightly.
“Don’t shield me like that again. I’d rather be the one who gets hurt.”
It would constitute attempted murder of a nobleman otherwise.
“What? That’s absurd.”
“Still, how can a commoner accept your protection?”
“How could a gentleman stand by and watch a lady suffer an injury in his stead?”
“So I’m a lady now, am I?”
I asked in jest, but Aidan’s gaze slipped away.
“……You certainly don’t think of yourself that way, but regardless, I won’t let you get hurt. You’re my employee, after all.”
“Well, I’ve no interest in being the sort of subordinate who injures her superior either.”
I’d heard the word “employee” from Aidan countless times, and each time it felt strange. A peculiar sense of… lack?
Was it that I wanted to be treated as a colleague while working alongside him?
‘That’s never going to happen.’
I tapped both cheeks lightly. It was time to wake up from this dream.

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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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