The Duke Dad I Chose Can’t (Really) See Well - Chapter 26

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 26

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Early morning.

Max quietly opened his eyes.

His younger siblings were sleeping soundly, snoring without a care in the world. Now was his chance.

Max carefully slipped out of the room and headed to the storage.

This place, where dust floated hazily in the air, used to be a stable. If only they hadn’t been forced to sell all the horses due to lack of money, the horses would have greeted him with cheerful neighing sounds.

The last horse that remained was one that Phil had personally rescued and raised since it was an abandoned foal.

He had said he wanted to raise it because it whimpered and seemed lost, just like himself before his older siblings found him.

At that time, his older brother looked a bit troubled but nodded, saying, “Alright. Let’s raise it.” His older sister felt the same way.

But their household finances declined day by day, and eventually they had no choice but to sell that horse too.

Max expected Phil to cry bitterly when they sold the horse. However, Phil didn’t cry.

“If we sell it, we can live a little better.”

“Phil, you…”

“So I’m okay with it, brother.”

Even with his eyes completely red, Phil smiled.

That was when Max first felt true wretchedness. How heartbreaking the poverty that forced such a young child to grow up was.

And how pathetic he was for only being able to say “Thank you for understanding.”

From that moment on, Max set two goals.

To earn a lot of money.

To become happy with his family.

‘To do that, I need to work a little harder.’

Max moved aside the boxes stacked in one corner. Beneath them, on top of blueprints that had been revised countless times, lay something that resembled a human leg.

It was something he had worked on until dawn, and he had secretly named it a ‘prosthetic leg.’

It was an assistive device that could be attached to someone who had lost a leg to help them walk.

“Good. This part is done…”

Max quietly pulled something from his pocket. It was a mineral he had brought from Stukkyia.

The blacksmith shop in Stukkyia was as difficult, dirty, and grueling as the rumors said.

But he needed the right material to make the prosthetic leg. That’s why Max had endured all that hardship to enter Stukkyia.

There was only one reason for this.

His older brother.

More precisely, it was because of his newly acquired older brother.

Originally, Max had no older brother.

His parents and two troublemaking younger siblings. It was a bit much for a poor tenant farmer’s household, but he could still say they were happy.

Until the religious war broke out.

Max lost his parents and siblings in an instant and became an orphan, wandering aimlessly. He begged for food and clung to the feet of clerics, hoping for small salvation.

However, seeing him clinging to their feet, the cleric said this:

“Pray. If you pray, God will help you someday.”

It was an absurd statement.

If there really was a god, shouldn’t he have stopped that war where all those innocent people died?

Evil continued to accumulate. Naturally, Max’s heart also became tainted with darkness.

“Why are you rummaging through there? Don’t you have anything to eat?”

That’s when he met his older brother. It was when he was digging through a trash can after thugs had stolen the food he had barely managed to beg for.

“…Mind your own business and go on your way. You must be some kind of idiot.”

Naturally, no kind words came out.

“I want to mind your business.”

However, his brother didn’t back down and pointed to his crutch, saying:

“I’m not exactly normal either.”

Just below his left thigh. The tightly tied pant leg alone made the absence of his calf evident.

Max realized his mistake, but the words had already been spoken. Even after realizing his error, his brother just smiled lightly.

“If you have nowhere to go, would you like to come with me?”

Feeling sorry, Max followed him. There he met Riche, his older sister. She was also a war orphan like himself.

Even though they had another mouth to feed, his sister and brother genuinely welcomed him.

“We’ve all lost our families. We’re people who share the same wounds.”

“So… Max. How about we become each other’s family?”

It was such an absurd statement that it was almost laughable. Max burst out emotionally:

“Will our dead families come back just because we do that? It’s just playing house. Our dead families won’t come back to life no matter what!”

“You’re right. That’s true.”

“…”

“We’ll still miss them and feel pain.”

“Then why—!”

“But we can comfort each other.”

“…”

“When each other’s wounds fester and burst, we can apply medicine, and when we want to cry like crazy, we can cry together.”

“…”

“It’s okay, it will pass, everything will be alright… while saying things like that.”

They were trivial words. Complete strangers could never become blood family.

But…

Because it seemed less miserable than prayer, at least.

Because the kindness of extending a hand to someone like him made him want to cry, Max said he would do it.

And so, Bashel, his older brother. Riche, his older sister.

With the addition of Phil, the younger brother they brought home a few years ago, and Lea, the younger sister, they became a family.

And his brother and sister decided to hold a wedding ceremony to bind them together under the complete name of family.

He wanted to give them a gift worthy of the occasion, but Max had no money.

All he had was his brilliant mind and skilled hands.

So he sought out Stukkyia.

With Stukkyia’s strong technological capabilities, he would be able to find suitable minerals.

So that, just as his brother had given him the will to live, he too could give his brother legs to move forward.

The mineral in his hand wouldn’t change shape no matter how hard he struck it, and it fit together naturally. It was perfect for making a prosthetic leg.

‘What would Hanisha say if she saw this?’

The youngest, with platinum hair resembling brilliant dawn sunlight and blue eyes like emerald waves, would surely praise him as a genius.

‘That kid must be feeling a bit bored today without me around, right?’

Thinking that made him feel a little sorry.

But tomorrow’s wedding of his brother and sister was more urgent.

Anyway, that child was receiving all the affection from the craftsmen. There were plenty of people to play with her even without him.

‘Well, even if she’s sulking, I can apologize by running errands for socks.’

Just as he thought that, the clock mounted on the wall rang loudly.

It was something Max had made, programmed with his sister and brother’s bedtime to notify him daily of when he needed to sneak out.

Max turned off the clock, properly hid his prosthetic leg so it wouldn’t show, then returned home.

Now he just needed to quietly enter his room and pretend to sleep as if nothing had happened…

“Ahhhhh!”

However, Max couldn’t help but let out a loud scream.

Phil and Lea, who had gotten up at some point.

“Hello, genius teacher!”

And it was because of Hanisha, who was between them, wearing that dawn sunlight-like smile he had just been thinking about.

“You, you, you—why are you here!”

Max, who had been screaming, shook his head again.

“No, more importantly, did you tell anyone before coming out? What if the adults worry?”

“No one will worry.”

“What? What do you mean by that?”

A young child being outside alone at such an early hour—there was no way they wouldn’t worry.

“First… first let’s go back to the castle. If you go back with me, you won’t get in trouble…”

It was when Max was trying to help Hanisha up from between his siblings.

“Max, what’s wrong?”

A familiar voice called from behind. Riche was coming inside, supporting Bashel.

Startled, Max hid Hanisha behind his back.

“Sister, well…!”

“Oh. You’ve already introduced yourselves?”

“…Huh?”

As Max blinked, Riche smiled gently.

“I saw you outside. Since you were with the dog, I told you to come inside first. You said you knew each other?”

Dog?

At those words, Max looked around.

Looking closely, something white was wagging its tail between his younger brother Phil and younger sister Lea.

‘That’s… a dog?’

Just then, the animal presumed to be a dog suddenly started sniffing, then jumped up from its spot and approached Max’s feet.

The dog’s eyes widened as it sniffed around his feet.

“Woof!”

Then it barked vigorously as if it had found something it had been tracking for a long time.

Then Hanisha muttered admiringly.

“Wow, you really do have a good nose.”

“Woof!”

“Well, I guess so. Seeing how you found this place in one go from that far away, you really seem to be the best.”

“Woof woof!”

“So how is it? Does it really smell like fragrant jasmine? You were making all sorts of bold claims to me.”

“Whiiine…”

The dog’s ears drooped as it had been barking proudly.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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