The Duke Dad I Chose Can’t (Really) See Well - Chapter 30
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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 30
Well, I agreed with that statement too, but…
Since she’s the daughter of a saint, wouldn’t this much be possible? Even if she was born illegitimately.
‘Anyway, what’s important is that nothing happened.’
I was shrugging my shoulders, thinking it was no big deal.
“…Hanisha.”
Max put down his spoon.
“I’m sorry.”
Then he spoke honestly in a composed voice.
“I just heard from the worker misters. That you’re in a… similar situation to me.”
It seemed he had heard that I was abandoned here and had asked the duke to adopt me as his daughter.
“My despair came first, so I couldn’t pay attention to your situation.”
“…”
“Even if I had been certain, I shouldn’t have said that to you.”
“How desperate a second chance becomes for someone who has lost something precious… I said you wouldn’t know…”
Max’s low voice sounded like he truly regretted those words from that time.
‘Well, I was hurt just a tiny bit, but…’
Still, since it’s a good day, I should let it slide here. It wasn’t intentional either.
Just as I was thinking that.
“So from today on, I will…”
Max, who had been hesitating and moving his lips slightly, took a slow breath with a determined face.
“…become your personal sock errand boy.”
“…Huh?”
“Though I failed this time, iron that has been bent once becomes stronger. I would be grateful if you could consider it an honor that the future genius has become your personal sock errand boy…”
Max’s voice grew distant.
Right. No matter how much of a Mad Max he was, he was still only 13 years old…
My eyes grew cold, but Max recovered his momentum again and began appealing his genius nature.
“No, never mind that.”
I raised my hand to shut Max’s mouth.
“Do this for me first.”
“This?”
I tapped a certain spot. Max’s eyes widened.
“Why are you giving this to me…”
“And after you use this, I’ll ask you for something else.”
I held out a gold coin I had prepared in advance. It was money left over after giving wedding gifts.
“I want to donate this.”
“Oh, to an orphanage or something?”
“No.”
I shook my head firmly.
“The underground auction house.”
“…What?”
Max looked at me with a dumbfounded expression.
* * *
Max tried to dissuade me several times.
“Hey, do you even know what kind of place that is? Why on earth do you want to donate there?”
“I can’t tell you that. It’s a secret.”
But no matter how much he pressed, Hanisha kept her mouth tightly shut. She only added that she just wanted him to do it for her.
At Hanisha’s insistence, Max finally quietly slipped out of the house.
Perhaps because he had wasted some time trying to persuade her, several shops were already closing. Worried he might be late, he quickened his pace.
Just as it seemed they were about to close, he made eye contact with a staff member wearing a hat.
“Excuse me. Are you closed by any chance?”
“We were just about to… but come in for now.”
“Thank you!”
Perhaps seeing his anxiety, the staff member, though slightly annoyed, opened the door again.
“What brings you here?”
“I want to make a donation.”
“To where?”
“Um, the underground auction house.”
The staff member glanced at Max. It was a look that said, ‘Is this kid, still so young, already interested in such places?’
But Max was equally surprised. When ‘underground auction house’ came out of Hanisha’s mouth, he thought he might actually faint.
‘But…’
“Here, sign this.”
Max recalled the document Hanisha had handed him.
Hanisha had tapped a blank space below the names of numerous Stukkyia servants. It was an adoption consent form.
“…My name here? Why?”
“Why? Because I want Max to do it for me.”
“But it would be better to get it from someone else rather than me…”
Max knew that while she was the daughter the duke had brought personally, it was only temporary. So it would be better to get it from someone more ‘Stukkyia-like’ than himself.
“Don’t you want to do it?”
“It’s not that, but… still, I failed… and I haven’t achieved any clear results yet…”
“That’s true.”
Hanisha responded lightly.
“For now.”
“…Huh?”
“If you fail, you can try again, and if you fail again, you can rest and try once more.”
“…”
“Most importantly, I think Max’s heart for his family is more precious and valuable than Max’s failures.”
Max had already lost his family once. Such a child still hadn’t lost his kindness even in despair.
That’s what Hanisha thought strength was.
Getting up again even in despair.
“So I want Max to do it for me.”
“…”
For the first time, he was at a loss for words.
However, he tried not to think of other words. He felt like something might burst out from his churning heart.
Instead, he signed the adoption consent form with trembling hands. He was shaking so much that instead of using the signature he had practiced in preparation for becoming famous as a genius, he honestly wrote out his name.
This was what Hanisha had asked me to do. I was a bit worried, but there must be another reason.
“…I will sponsor the Underground Auction House.”
“Alright. Will you sign separately as the recipient?”
The staff member who had confirmed Max’s identity asked.
After reckless orphan adoptions, laws were established requiring primary identity verification when making donations or sponsorships.
However, there were people who wanted to reveal their identity when donating but hide it from the recipients.
Since donations and sponsorships couldn’t be blocked, once identity was revealed, they could freely choose what name to use.
“Hani…”
Max, who was about to say Hanisha’s name, hesitated.
She had asked me to do something she could have done herself. There must have been a good reason for that.
‘Well, it’s probably because I’m more trustworthy!’
Max barely suppressed his shoulders from rising with pride and opened his mouth.
“I’ll do it separately. The name is…”
The staff member’s expression became strange upon hearing the name.
* * *
That night.
In the prison cell of the Underground Auction House where not a ray of light entered.
The door, which never let light in except during matches, rarely opened.
The guard’s indifferent gaze, looking at the trash at his feet, stopped at one place.
“Have you been well?”
He spoke playfully toward the inside of the cell.
“You finally got a sponsor. But… they seem to have mistaken you for a girl?”
“…”
“Well, you are pretty enough for that. Lucky you. Getting fans just from your face alone.”
The guard giggled and laughed.
However, the boy still didn’t move.
He just glared at him with golden eyes gleaming in the darkness.
‘They said the demon’s eyes that opposed the Orphel God were exactly those golden eyes.’
The boss, recognizing their rare value, had paid a high price to bring the boy here.
“That bastard may look like that, but he’s very useful. He swept away attacking monsters all by himself. Ones several times bigger than him!”
Perhaps because he had heard that story, he had once flinched at those eyes.
But once he realized that bastard was no different from a mere ‘beast’, he now saw him as lowly as a wild animal in a cage.
Perhaps it was natural.
That boy had human appearance but couldn’t understand human language or speak for himself.
He only hunted through instinctive movements.
Human yet not human.
Literally a ‘beast’.
So he could say whatever he wanted. After all, he was nothing more than a wild animal that couldn’t understand anything.
‘Well, today might be the last day for that too.’
The boy who was said to have excellent skills somehow didn’t fight properly in matches.
He just sat still and endured the attacks that poured down on him.
What the audience wanted was entertainment. Under the guise of ‘sponsorship’, they bet their money and watched to see who fought more fiercely.
The customers who came to enjoy the matches were greatly angered, and the officials even ‘educated’ him to make him move somehow, but the result was the same.
The boy did nothing. He just silently endured all the pain.
Eventually, he was scheduled to be disposed of after the final match.
But miraculously, a sponsor had appeared. If even one sponsor was attached, a ‘Chess Piece’ could continue living. It was a very lucky case.
‘Really now, some people barely make enough to eat day by day.’
This bastard just sits there and receives sponsorship. What a lucky life.
“Disappointing, isn’t it?”
He said while tapping the iron bars with the rod he was holding.
“You must want to be free soon too.”
“…”
“Dying and becoming free would be better than being trapped here.”
“…”
“Ah, or how about changing your mind even now and working hard? Your sponsor might take you away.”
Since that bastard was no different from a beast anyway, he wouldn’t understand his words. That’s what he thought when he spoke.
But at that moment.
“…”
The boy’s golden eyes met his exactly.
Filled with clear killing intent.
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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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