Raising the Grand Duke of the North as a Farmer Behind Dad’s Back - Chapter 54

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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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Episode 54
* * *
“Camilla.”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
Basil, sprawled across the desk, spoke in a voice barely alive.
“Which is harder—developing a territory or raising a six-year-old?”
“An impossible question indeed, sir.”
“Then what about fighting monsters versus fighting a six-year-old? Which one’s more fatal?”
“Undoubtedly the latter. There’s simply no winning.”
“So…….”
…….
“Making peace with the world versus making peace with a six-year-old. Which one’s harder…….”
“Why not simply apologize first, Your Highness?”
Camilla cut him off with a look of exasperation.
“You should have explained things slowly and carefully instead of bringing up the Holy Temple and frightening the child like that.”
Basil ran his hands through his hair in frustration.
“I didn’t know. I thought it was the best approach.”
All day his mind had refused to settle on his work, and his energy had drained away. His decision had been right—he was certain of it. And yet something nagged at him.
Might there have been a better way?
Just then, Camilla exhaled softly and spoke.
“No matter how mature Haniel appears, he is still just an ordinary six-year-old. And…….”
She paused briefly, her voice remaining steady.
“A rather special one at that.”
“What are you trying to say?”
“That the power dwelling within that child is an undeniable fact. His desire to prove himself through using that power, his longing to be loved because of it—these things require your acknowledgment.”
…….
“I understand your wish to keep him nestled in the nest, safe and sound, but that child cannot grow that way.”
“So you’re saying I should order him to perform Pillar Purification?”
“At the very least, you might ask why he is so fixated on Pillar Purification in the first place. There is a difference between forbidding it outright and actually listening.”
At this measured rebuke, Basil’s expression crumpled.
“Why do you always offer advice only after I’ve made a mess of things?”
“Did you consult with me before making this mess?”
……No argument there.
Even the strongest cannot overcome experience.
“……So where is he now?”
“I instructed Brad to comfort him, so I have left the boy in his care.”
In truth, Brad had come from the gate to the mansion only because Camilla had summoned him.
Basil pressed his forehead again.
“The boy’s been gone for eight hours now…….”
“The world typically calls that going out, sir.”
“Sigh…….”
What if he doesn’t come back?
That was precisely when his heart began to truly burn with worry.
Bang! The door flew open.
“……?”
Pitter-patter-patter-patter!
A child with silver hair came rushing through.
“Haniel?”
Basil rose from his seat.
Braced for resistance, he found himself momentarily at a loss.
The boy had returned—that much was certain. Basil took a step forward, thinking to soothe him—
Whoosh!
“I’m sorry……!”
Haniel threw his arms around Basil’s legs and cried out.
“I’m sorry! I was wrong, Your Highness!”
“……What?”
“I—I was the one at fault. I shouldn’t have talked back or screamed or run out like that!”
…….
“I wasn’t thinking clearly. I won’t do it again! So please, just forgive me once!”
There was something odd about the child.
Her entire body trembled like an aspen leaf.
And that wasn’t all.
With her face buried in his lap, she kept murmuring apologies as if entranced……
“What’s wrong with you.”
Basil’s expression hardened instantly.
“What on earth happened.”
“I won’t talk back anymore. I won’t misbehave either! If you tell me not to go near the Pillar, I won’t! I swear it!”
“Haniel.”
“So please……!”
“Why are you…….”
The child’s head snapped up suddenly.
“Why are you crying.”
“Please…… don’t send me away.”
Drop. Drop.
Tears fell silently.
Basil went rigid as if struck across the back of the head by the sight of the child’s tears—something he’d never witnessed before.
Haniel clutched at his trouser leg and spoke with desperate urgency.
“Please…… just hide me…….”
* * *
She thought she’d been arrogant.
‘I came to the Northern Region to hide.’
To avoid meeting him, to live in secret from him—that’s why she’d come here!
‘And yet I thoughtlessly ventured beyond the Northern Region’s borders.’
Carelessness breeds disaster.
She’d thought she’d learned that bitter lesson the day she watched the granary burn to ash from a single small mistake—but she hadn’t.
A minor error and a lapse in judgment had nearly cost her everything by forcing her to face him.
It was terror beyond shock.
Haniel was now overwhelmed by pure terror.
The terror of tainting his Divine Power through her own negligence, of nearly losing him a second time by her carelessness.
“Haniel.”
“Hic…….”
“Look at me. Come on, look up.”
Basil’s voice came low and measured.
In truth, Haniel barely remembered how they’d made it back to the manor.
She’d simply nestled into Brad’s arms as they returned to the Northern Region, and the moment the manor came into view, she’d run to Basil and poured out the whole account.
“You met a Holy Knight outside the Northern Region?”
Brad had just finished relaying the full story and left.
“What…… why are you crying like this.”
Tears streamed from her large eyes. She’d sworn never to cry again, but something in her tear ducts seemed to have broken.
“I’m sorry…….”
Basil’s insides were burning.
He would have preferred if she’d just sobbed openly.
The sight of her shedding tears in silence was killing him.
“How frightened were you, exactly.”
“…….”
“I told you I wouldn’t send you to the Holy Temple.”
“But…… but.”
The child’s lips trembled as she spoke.
“If I become useless, you’ll send me away…….”
“What.”
“If I become a burden, you might want to cast me out beyond the Northern Region……!”
At her voice breaking open, Basil’s eyebrows twitched sharply.
Useless?
A burden?
Cast out?
“What on earth are you thinking.”
“…….”
“That’s not going to happen.”
“…….”
“Haniel.”
Basil sighed and spoke.
A sudden thought occurred to him.
“When you were living in the slums… did anyone ever tell you that you were useless?”
The child’s shoulders trembled slightly.
“If you got sick, they’d throw you out… or did they tell you not to even show it?”
“…….”
……Damn it.
Basil barely swallowed the curse trying to escape his lips.
But somehow, in that moment, he felt he understood the child’s darkness a little better.
Why he tried so hard to be “useful” with every ounce of strength.
Why he wouldn’t honestly admit his pain, even when it hurt.
He pulled the child close and soothed him.
Within that steady comfort, Haniel’s tears gradually subsided.
“Little one.”
He chose his words slowly.
“I swear to you—I will never push you away or cast you out. You will always be Bertus’s child.”
“…….”
“But that has nothing to do with whether you have Divine Power or knowledge.”
“…….”
Haniel looked up at him suddenly.
A thick tear rolled down, and Basil wiped it away with his extended finger.
“It’s simply because you are… desperately precious to me.”
“…….”
“Even whimpering like this, even crying—you’re precious, beautiful, and lovely. That’s why I keep you close. There’s no other reason.”
A brief silence fell at his steady tone.
“A baby…….”
Suddenly Haniel murmured through his tears.
“Like baby pigs and chicks, right, like that?”
……What was he saying.
But Basil grasped the gist well enough and nodded.
“Yes.”
“…….”
“Babies are supposed to be praised just for doing their business properly until they grow up.”
“……Sniff, um…….”
“Who was it that gave you a bucket and told you to hang in there.”
Basil gently patted Haniel’s back.
“So stop. Don’t struggle so hard on your own. Trust me,”
“…….”
“Trust the family you’ve chosen.”
Haniel’s eyes widened slightly.
‘……Family…….’
Like Haniel and Father.
Haniel and Basil too, at some point without noticing…….
‘What do I do.’
His heart stung, as it always did.
‘I thought my family was only one person.’
So he’d sworn not to grow too close to the Grand Duke, not to give too much affection…….
But like clothes soaked by drizzle, he’d already come to depend on him without realizing. When he came to his senses, he’d become something like family.
It was complicated, but he couldn’t deny it.
Haniel loved Basil. Like a sticker, he clung close and wanted to stay by his side forever.
That solid embrace felt like a fortress that would protect him eternally.
Haniel rubbed his eyes roughly with his small hand.
“……Your Highness.”
“Mm.”
“I’m sorry for not saying I was hurting… and for worrying you…….”
Haniel swallowed once carefully before speaking.
“From now on… I won’t hide my pain. I’ll speak honestly.”
Basil listened, and a deeply satisfied smile played at his lips.
“Good. Now this pretty mouth is finally working properly.”
His heart felt warm and fluffy, reassured.
‘Being honest about it… that’s alright, isn’t it.’
The moment the realization struck him, his chest seemed to fill with gentle warmth.
A warmth that made his heart swell—the kind that made him want to grow one step further.
Haniel watched quietly as Basil carefully wiped his face with a handkerchief. His tone and expression were rough, but his touch as he brushed away the tears was impossibly tender and deliberate.
‘…I never thought I’d make peace with the Grand Duke like this.’
And somehow, it had become a reconciliation where all the tears and snot came out.
“…….”
Haniel fell silent for a moment, thinking.
The shock of meeting Dantelion had already settled into calm.
The sudden reunion with his father had been startling, but what he needed to do remained unchanged.
‘…Alright.’
Once he’d made his decision, Haniel spoke.
“So that’s the thing, Your Grace.”
“…….”
“It’s really okay if I perform the Pillar Purification.”
He spoke calmly, fidgeting with his fingertips.
“Because… actually, I don’t have a Core.”
Silence stretched between them.
“Right now…….”
As if parsing the words, Basil’s expression—frozen for an instant—suddenly shifted.
“What did you say?”

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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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