Chapter 50
“Y-You’re talking as if we were the ones who stopped it!”
“Don’t you have a guilty conscience?”
“There’s no way I would!”
At his big brother’s shamelessly raised voice, Father let out a snort.
“You should have a guilty conscience. In effect, didn’t you stop it all this time? Didn’t you try to do whatever you pleased while keeping me around like a scarecrow?”
His uncle’s lips trembled as if he were dumbfounded.
“Hah. A-Are you actually trying to pick a fight with me right now?”
“You asked, so I simply answered. If I were trying to argue, I wouldn’t be doing this.”
“Leokal!”
I had been watching the two of them the entire time, and I tightly gripped Father’s hand. It wasn’t my turn to step in yet.
After laying all the groundwork, then I would step forward. That was why I kept my mouth firmly shut and sent Father silent support.
Perhaps my encouragement reached him, because Father’s hand, which had been trembling slightly, finally steadied.
“There’s no need to shout. From now on, I won’t just sit back and take it. I intend to face the truth.”
“Hah. This is absurd. Absurd! Do you have any idea how your mother and I raised you?”
“You left me alone, didn’t you. Did you ever once try to embrace me with love, or take me anywhere?”
Perhaps memories from that time surfaced, because Father’s voice, which had been calm until now, gradually grew colder.
Listening to that voice was like being pricked by thorns—my heart ached sharply.
“That’s because…! You were sickly from the time you were little. You’d collapse at the slightest thing!”
“That was true back then. But if you had properly taken care of me even once, such a deep wound wouldn’t have remained in my heart.”
“Nonsense. There were dozens of people to look after you—what more care did you want? You’re still whining like a little child!”
“Yes. That’s right. Because of that one time I asked for attention, Mother and my elder brother were busy blaming me. Saying it was because I was like that. To a child, you always blamed everything on me.”
Since it wasn’t wrong, his uncle could only open and close his mouth without a word.
For someone who has suffered mental abuse for a very long time, facing themselves is harder than experiencing death.
It’s no different from confronting every moment of the life they’ve lived.
Father was doing that right now.
Digging up the life he never wanted to face, tearing open the past he wanted to forget, enduring all those nightmares—for me. For our future.
“Hah. You’re a man steeped in delusions of persecution.”
“Think whatever you like. That doesn’t erase what you did to me, and it doesn’t change anything. Scarecrow or not, Mother made me a marquis.”
The grandmother’s hand, which had been resting quietly, began to tremble.
She had been openly displaying her feelings—How can you do this?—but perhaps she hurriedly calmed herself, because she waved her hand dismissively.
“That’s enough. These days, whenever family members meet, they fight. Are we family, or are we enemies?”
“Mother, listen to what that Leokal bastard is saying. He’s talking as if this were all our fault.”
“That’s enough. No matter what we say, he’ll just keep talking about us like that, so there’s no point in continuing.”
“Mother….”
Behel glanced at Father with a look of lingering dissatisfaction, then snorted.
“If that’s what Mother says, then I have nothing more to say.”
“But if a dog one has raised tries to bite its owner, I won’t just stand by any longer.”
Seeing the grandmother’s expression—far more relaxed than before—I could tell what she was thinking.
She’s planning to strip Father of the marquisate.
I was certain.
That must be why she had suddenly grown so composed.
From here on, the grandmother would begin laying the groundwork to remove Father from his title. To do that, she would need formal approval from the imperial family.
One fortunate thing was that she wasn’t particularly close to the imperial family.
“Yes. I’ll wait, no matter what actions you take.”
“Fine. Let’s see how long you can keep that up. That position of yours wasn’t created by you alone….”
“I know. That’s why I lay flat all this time. But I don’t intend to do that anymore. May we end today’s family gathering here? I believe I’ve said everything I needed to.”
“You…! Mother hasn’t even stood up yet!”
“There should be days like this, too. Come on, Amanette.”
“Yeah!”
Father gripped my hand even tighter than before.
“Have a safe trip there, Elder Brother.”
“…….”
“If anything makes you uncomfortable, feel free to let me know. Though even if you do say something, I’m not sure there’s much I’ll be able to help with.”
The second uncle, who hadn’t been able to say a single word all day because he was busy reading the room, and the grandchildren who were always so quick to blunder and thus couldn’t utter a peep either, only darted their eyes around.
With a faint chuckle, Father briefly swept his gaze over them, then took my hand and led me outside.
Unlike usual, Father’s expression as we headed back to our room looked noticeably lighter. I gently tugged at his hand.
“Dad.”
“Hm?”
“What kind of person is His Majesty the Emperor?”
At my sudden question, Father tilted his head, looking slightly puzzled.
“What kind of person, you ask….”
Of course, I knew what kind of person the Emperor was. He was someone more greedy than anyone else.
To securely protect his own position, he even maintained close relations with ducal houses—something previous emperors had never done.
That Lily, the mother of the twin masterminds, is the Emperor’s half-sister.
Blinded by greed, Lily’s mother slept around with just about any man. Though she came from a lowly family, her flashy beauty and captivating charm that drew people in meant many men flocked to her.
One of them was the previous Emperor.
Despite having an Empress and children of his own, the Emperor fell for her, and she bore his child. The problem was that the child looked so unlike the Emperor that one could doubt whether she was truly his.
That’s why the Emperor concealed her very existence.
As a result, Lily was declared dead shortly after birth and was raised in a discarded section of the imperial palace.
That was how Lily grew up twisted.
That might be why she hated the twins she bore so much.
In any case, the current Emperor was Lily’s brother, and there was no particularly detailed description of his personality anywhere.
“His Majesty the Emperor is a very frightening man.”
“Is that so?”
“Yes. He clearly separates public and private matters, and he dislikes becoming personally close with anyone. There may be closeness in public affairs, but none in private.”
Perhaps that stemmed from what happened with his own father.
The Emperor—rarely mentioned.
How could I make someone like that grow close to Father?
To the Emperor, Father and Grandmother would probably be no different from anyone else.
“Come to think of it, His Majesty seems to have many worries these days.”
“Worries?”
“Yes. He wants to solidify imperial authority, but the Empire is currently divided into the imperial faction, the grand duke faction, and the noble faction… He wants to absorb the grand duke’s side, but it doesn’t seem to be going as he wishes.”
“Hmm….”
“The power of the nobles has grown too strong, too. I don’t even know why I’m telling you all this.”
Father, who had been speaking as if confiding in a close friend, quickly fell silent.
As though it was no longer something he should be telling me.
“Mm.”
“Don’t worry. It’s not something you need to concern yourself with.”
No, Dad. Because of what you just said, we might have gained a little hope.
I looked down at the floor and smiled faintly. If we could strengthen imperial authority—or rather, the relationship between the Emperor and the grand duke—then he would surely stand on Father’s side.
Even if he didn’t openly support him, at the very least he would oppose Grandmother’s claim that Father was unfit to be a marquis.
“It feels like I’m always making things hard for you. All I ever wanted was for you to grow up loved, like an ordinary child.”
“Huh?”
“Lately… yes, ever since we brought the twins back, something feels wrong.”
“No, Dad. You did the right thing. There isn’t a single thing you’ve done wrong, so don’t think like that.”
“But….”
Facing Father, who still looked worried, I stretched out both arms wide. Knowing this was what I always did when I wanted a hug, Father picked me up.
“Amanette?”
I gently patted his head.
“We’re going to be happy.”
“Hm?”
“We’ll be happy, so don’t doubt it. Bringing the twins back, taking that child from the orphanage, deciding to stand up to Grandmother—all of it.”
When Dad loses his spirits, I do too.
Honestly, I’m exhausted as well. I don’t even know if what I’m doing is right. But to regret it now… it feels like it’s already too late.
If you’ve decided to change things, you have to see it through to the end.
And if it doesn’t work out, you can at least say you did your best.
“Amanette….”
“Alright then! Today, will you introduce me to those kids and the older brothers?”
“Huh?”
It’s time to change the future, Dad
