~Chapter 17~
Kaelos’s face stiffened as he listened.
His fine features changed the whole atmosphere with just a furrow of his brow.
While he was still chewing over the child’s words, Esther spoke again.
“Then let’s do it this way. If you give me a house, I won’t be your kid anymore.”
She had decided to use her last resort.
She meant it—even being struck from the family registry was fine.
You don’t like me, the family doesn’t like me, so why don’t I just leave?
I really am a genius.
To think of such a method. As long as she had a house, a new beginning wouldn’t be a problem.
“…What?”
The words from the child’s lips were so shocking he wondered if he’d heard right.
What if he doesn’t believe me?
Esther clenched her tiny fist, face firm.
“…I mean it. I really won’t. I won’t ever see you again.”
She stressed it three times, and even Kaelos—who’d shown little interest in his own child—couldn’t help but feel strange.
“…Didn’t you say you wanted to see me earlier?”
He asked stiffly.
“Yeah. But I don’t need to anymore.”
If one carrot worked better than another, she’d switch baits.
That was only natural.
“Didn’t you say you liked me?”
“Nope. That was a lie.”
Esther answered quickly, lifting her head, afraid he might change his mind.
But Kaelos’s expression didn’t look good.
“Dada?”
“….”
“A little house is fine, too. Just enough for me, Shiphon, and a squirrel.”
Maybe he thought she was asking for a mansion, so she clarified.
“I didn’t lie.”
“….”
Maybe it really wouldn’t work?
Ugh, now it feels like I gave away info for nothing. Maybe I should find someone else to help instead.
If I say my abilities come from divine authority, it’ll work.
Maybe a slightly greedy person would be better—
someone who, as long as they gained steady benefits, would always stay on her side.
Then and now, the place with the greediest humans is always the same.
The Imperial Capital.
The strongest of humans gathered there.
Surely she’d find someone who could shield her from her family.
“Fine. I understand how you feel. I’ll go now.”
Esther cleanly abandoned her deal with her father.
“Where to?”
“Home.”
At her answer, he frowned, then glanced at her and rose from his seat.
“Wait. I’ll take you.”
Kaelos declared—after years at the temple—that he would return home.
Kaelos Egbert had come back—carrying his child.
It was only natural that the ducal household, moving along in its usual routine, was thrown into upheaval.
Even after years, rumors about Kaelos Egbert remained a hot topic, sometimes resurfacing in high society gossip.
He had once shaken the entire social world with a scandal:
a great elopement with a woman no one even knew.
And not only that—the then-duchess, unable to endure her son’s disgrace, had collapsed and never risen again.
The scandal that had captivated women and incited men’s envy ended in tragedy:
the lover who bore him a child had wasted away and died.
Kaelos, devastated, had flung the child into the family’s care and given himself wholly to the temple—never returning home.
That was the story society knew.
And most of it was true.
Except for one thing:
the lover hadn’t died. Kaelos had secretly sent her away to be cared for.
“You dare return so shamelessly?”
The moment he heard of Kaelos’s return, Duke Ernheart Egbert stormed from his study, eyes blazing, to block his path.
“I hardly think I’ve come to a place I shouldn’t, Father.”
“A place you shouldn’t? Do you know where you are! After what you did to your mother!”
The air between father and son—meeting after five years—was so heavy with killing intent it made the skin prickle.
“I had no wish to come back to this suffocating place. I only came to drop off the child.”
Kaelos brushed past him.
“Since when do you play at being a father? Did I ever give you permission to return here? Leave this house at once!”
Esther blinked at the two ferocious beasts before her.
She’d known their relationship was bad—but not this bad.
“Then will Your Grace do your duty as a grandfather, while blocking my path?”
“What? You, who never even showed your face, dare say that?!”
Kaelos’s gaze turned icy.
“And why should that child be my grandchild? You’re no son of mine. Some bastard you sired outside is none of my concern!”
Ernheart erupted, fury blazing.
At that moment, his eyes met Esther’s in Kaelos’s arms.
“…!”
“….”
His eyes widened.
He’s not even really my family… so why does it feel strange?
Esther’s heart thudded faster.
No… I’m used to being hated.
It wasn’t anything new to be hurt by.
So she gave a bright, innocent smile.
Don’t be awkward. I’m fine.
Strictly speaking, what he’d said wasn’t wrong.
As she thought so, Ernheart’s stiff facial muscles twitched violently.
“Dada, I can walk myself.”
She squirmed until Kaelos reluctantly set her down.
His expression was also hard—things looked ready to explode.
If I stay, I’ll end up the shrimp whose back breaks.
She had no intention of being caught between two beasts.
“Dada, do what I said, okay? Go to that mountain. Then your head won’t hurt.”
She tugged lightly on his trouser leg. He frowned, then nodded.
“Yes!”
Having finished her business, she trotted upstairs, leaving the two men behind.
Let them fight or not—just not where she had to see it.
Tomorrow, the real “friendly strategy” begins.
It was time to summon the survival instincts she’d once wielded more stubbornly than a cockroach.
Neither man’s eyes left her small back until she disappeared.
Only then did Kaelos speak again.
“Has age loosened your tongue, Father? Have you forgotten the difference between what can and can’t be said?”
“If you hadn’t come, none of this would exist.”
At Kaelos’s razor-edged words, Ernheart frowned, his voice easing slightly.
“Then strip me of the Egbert name. Cross me off that cursed pureblood registry. Then we won’t have to see each other’s faces.”
The atmosphere in the drawing room, without even a cup of tea, was glacial.
“How amusing. You never once looked your child in the eye, yet you brazenly appear now?”
“I’d say that’s better than a duke who only meets eyes when it suits him.”
“What was that?!”
His voice rose.
“Fine! You’re not here to play father, so spit out your business and leave!”
“Even if you told me not to, I would. Word will spread soon. I came to warn you. A god has ‘descended’ at the temple.”
“…What?”
“And the sixth divine relic has appeared.”
Kaelos’s voice was calm.
At once, Ernheart remembered the golden bracelet he’d glimpsed on the child’s wrist.
The child who’d suddenly gone to the temple.
The son who, uncharacteristically, returned with her.
“No, it couldn’t be…”
“Yes. That child received both a relic and divine authority from the god.”
Ernheart’s eyes widened. His face lit with excitement, as though thrilled.
“The Egberts are not forsaken! This house can yet grow stronger.”
Kaelos’s fist clenched tight. His gaze was sharp as winter frost.
“You haven’t changed. Let me be clear: I have no intention of making that child a Saint. Nor of placing her in the temple.”
“What?”
“I came to warn you—not to scheme using her.”
Kaelos Egbert gave his warning with a face as cold as steel.
