The Duke Dad I Chose Can’t (Really) See Well - Chapter 41

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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 41

 

Finally, slowly.

 

Very slowly, I could see his wariness beginning to fade.

 

However, while his wariness had lessened, his anger hadn’t disappeared. He turned around sharply.

 

“Hurry up and go. I won’t say anything else.”

 

“What were you doing here anyway, Ashirion?”

 

“That’s none of your business…!”

 

That’s when it happened. From somewhere came a whimpering, pained sound. Ashirion, who had been about to shout, muttered a curse and headed somewhere.

 

There was…

 

“…!”

 

A bird.

 

It was about the size of an adult crow, but one strange thing was that its belly was swollen like a large mountain range.

 

Moreover, the way it was panting and gasping for breath looked serious at first glance.

 

“Is this… Ashirion’s bird?”

 

At those words, Ashirion’s bloodshot eyes met mine.

 

“If you tell anyone else about this, I won’t let you-”

 

“I won’t tell.”

 

“…”

 

“You don’t want anyone to know this bird is sick, right?”

 

“…”

 

“If you’re human… you wouldn’t do such a thing, Ash.”

 

Ashirion hesitated and looked at me.

 

He clenched his fists tightly with a suppressed expression. However, he didn’t tell me to leave either.

 

I approached very carefully and gently stroked the bird’s legs.

 

The bird, which had been struggling to keep its eyes closed, slowly met my gaze at my gesture.

 

“How long has it been sick?”

 

“…Since before coming to Stukkyia.”

 

Ashirion said in a choked voice.

 

“Is that why you haven’t been around for several days?”

 

“Because I don’t know when it might be the last time.”

 

“…”

 

“I wanted to be there for the end. Unlike with Father, at least for this one…”

 

Ashirion stopped speaking there and closed his mouth.

 

I could instinctively tell.

 

That this bird didn’t have much time left.

 

Ashirion’s eyes reddened. After roughly wiping his eyes, Ashirion sat down near the bird that was gasping with difficulty, as if he had given up.

 

Then the bird, as if acting spoiled, turned toward Ashirion with difficulty despite its swollen belly.

 

Ashirion smiled slightly with reddened eyes, as if he didn’t mind it.

 

That was the moment.

 

‘Huh?’

 

The shape of the swollen belly was a bit strange.

 

For it to be ascites… wasn’t something odd about it?

 

‘Could it be.’

 

“Ash, is this bird female by any chance?”

 

At my question, Ashirion nodded.

 

‘I knew it.’

 

This bird wasn’t facing death!

 

I shouted toward Max, who was standing nearby looking helpless.

 

“Max, you brought a handkerchief, right?”

 

“Uh…? Yeah. But why?”

 

“Quickly!”

 

At my urging, Max held out a neatly folded handkerchief that smelled of jasmine.

 

As I wrapped the handkerchief around my hand to check, Ashirion grabbed my wrist.

 

“What are you doing right now?”

 

“This bird isn’t suffering from a fatal disease!”

 

The strongest life force belongs to newly born life.

 

So the marquis’s experiments would have targeted the life in the womb first, rather than this bird.

 

In other words, it wasn’t filled with ascites, but the life in its womb had grown too large. I briefly explained this fact to Max.

 

“So if we remove the egg, the bird can live?”

 

“That’s right!”

 

I nodded at Max’s question.

 

“If we just take out the egg, the bird can live. So-”

 

“That’s exactly why we can’t do it.”

 

That’s when it happened. Ashirion muttered in a voice that seemed devoid of emotion.

 

“…It will die. If it gives birth to the baby.”

 

At his following words, Max and I froze in place.

 

“If it gives birth to the baby, it will die… just like Mother said…”

 

Ashirion, muttering with a dazed expression, didn’t seem to be in his right mind.

 

Max and my expressions hardened.

 

* * *

 

‘Now…’

 

What should I do?

 

Ashirion thought blankly.

 

Even though his eyes were clearly open, it felt like everything before him was turning black. Thump. Thump. Thump. His heart was beating violently, and he couldn’t think of anything.

 

“I hear your mother was a snake beastman?”

 

That’s when it happened. An old voice intruded into his muffled ears.

 

That day was the day of Father’s funeral.

 

Marquis Medena, who had placed a large sum of money down as if offering condolences, looked down at Ashirion, who was just standing still in the pouring rain, and said this.

 

“How pitiful. You’ve lost your father after your mother.”

 

“…Lord Marquis.”

 

“Where will you go now? You don’t seem to have any relatives.”

 

“I don’t know. I… I…”

 

“Come under me.”

 

“…Pardon?”

 

“I will sponsor you. In place of your parents.”

 

The servants urged the hesitating Ashirion.

 

There won’t be another opportunity like this.

 

Your elders wouldn’t want you to be alone either, Lord Ashirion.

 

Ashirion carefully took that hand.

 

He shouldn’t have done that.

 

Marquis Medena, who had seemed to treat him kindly, changed his attitude in an instant.

 

Seeing the animals that had collapsed after undergoing experiments, Ashirion pleaded. Not to do this to innocent animals.

 

“As expected, beast blood flows in your body too. How insolent.”

 

“…Please do not insult my mother.”

 

“Did I say anything wrong? With lowly beastman blood flowing through you, daring to try to give birth to a human hastened her death.”

 

“Mother said she was definitely happy after giving birth to me. Father definitely said-.”

 

“Oh my, Ash.”

 

The Marquis sighed as if pitying him.

 

“Foolishly, you believed those words at face value. Well then. Your mother was a snake who bewitched even your father, so that’s what you learned from watching.”

 

“….”

 

“Still, that was probably the best your father could do. If he didn’t think that way, he would have resented you for being born after killing your mother.”

 

No. That couldn’t be true.

 

Until the moment he died, Father held Ashirion’s hand and said.

 

Meeting you was the greatest fortune of my life.

 

Your mother said the same thing. That she absolutely had no regrets….

 

But Ashirion had definitely seen it.

 

Every night, Father would look at Mother’s photo buried in his office drawer.

 

So, he might have hidden resentment toward the son who made him lose such lifelong love….

 

Ashirion squeezed his eyes shut.

 

If he ran away from here, all these animals would probably die.

 

But the Marquis’s experiments had failed. They would continue to fail in the future. The result of forcibly modifying the power that life possessed was bound to fail.

 

‘If that’s the case.’

 

Let me at least raise these children to be healthy.

 

And on the day these children die, I will die together with them.

 

From that day on, when the Marquis finished his experiments and left, Ashirion would secretly come and continue the experiments.

 

When blood was insufficient, he willingly used the beastman blood dwelling in his own body. He used the beastman blood flowing in his body as a living blood pack.

 

However, the bird he cherished most had become pregnant.

 

You can’t give birth to a child.

 

A child is misfortune.

 

You can’t become like me. So….

 

The moment his thoughts began to continue.

 

“-Stop it!”

 

“…!”

 

Like a stone thrown onto a lake beginning to freeze, his mind snapped awake with a sharp clarity.

 

“Get a grip, Ash.”

 

When he found his focus, Hani-sha was looking at him with an angry face.

 

“I don’t know what you’re thinking right now, but stop it anyway. This bird is trying its best to live somehow.”

 

“…But I.”

 

“You mustn’t ignore that will. Even if you are this bird’s owner!”

 

“…!”

 

At the firm words, Ashirion’s eyes widened greatly.

 

Hoping to live.

 

That was a thought he had never once had.

 

Ashirion lowered his gaze.

 

Hani-sha was right. Though it was breathing with difficulty, it was still alive.

 

“I can save it. It will definitely live.”

 

It was a simple statement without any certainty.

 

However, strangely, his heart began to calm down slowly.

 

If this child hopes to live. Then I….

 

Ashirion took out his tools. He swallowed dry saliva and slowly moved his hands.

 

How much time had passed like that.

 

With great difficulty.

 

But clearly… he extracted the egg.

 

Having finished the hemostasis, Ashirion looked at the bird with a tense face.

 

The bird looked a little tired. However, it was definitely alive.

 

It’s alive.

 

It didn’t die.

 

The moment he realized that, tears he didn’t even know about flowed from Ashirion’s eyes.

 

Because he was madly happy that the bird was alive.

 

Because he felt relieved about that.

 

Ashirion very carefully patted the bird.

 

Like Father had done, repeating thank you, thank you… in his heart.

 

* * *

 

After that, the three people consistently met at the stable.

 

It wasn’t particularly a promise they had made.

 

“Excuse me.”

 

But Hani-sha would subtly stand next to Ashirion while seeming to read the situation.

 

Ashirion would only glance at such Hani-sha but didn’t scold her.

 

“Here, the Misters gave this to me. They said to share it together.”

 

Then Max would come. Carrying armfuls of food he had received from the Blacksmiths.

 

“There’s no other reason, I just brought it because the Misters were sharing it…. B-by the way, you’re 13 years old, right? We’re the same age, so why are you so skinny? Eat heartily. Your face is turning pale white.”

 

The Commoner with red hair and purple eyes talked a lot.

 

Though the pouring words were somewhat bothersome, it wasn’t to the degree of being unpleasant to hear.

 

“Max, don’t touch that side with too much force. The bird is in pain.”

 

“When did I use force? I touched it very lightly like a feather. Younger Boy, you. You’re trying to take care of it alone, aren’t you? If you lie, you’ll be punished….”

 

“Ah, there’s poop over there.”

 

“Ack!”

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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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