C 103
"Dad!"
"Daughter, what are you doing here? And the others?"
"They're all dealing with other people to help me."
"They're not even helpful."
As I awkwardly chuckled, Dad's gaze slowly moved downward.
Following my father's gaze, I turned my head to see the hands that Phil
Rosemont and I were holding tightly.
Under the fixed gaze, Phil Rosemont withdrew his hand and hid behind
me.
"Phil...?"
"That person is scary..."
"He's my dad."
"...Eirin's father is scary."
Phil murmured in response. I was at a loss for words at that honest
assessment.
The boy who had just trembled and straightened up with stiffness had
disappeared, leaving only the now weak Phil Rosemont.
"Thank you for your help, Phil."
"No, the teacher said in the past that you shouldn't avoid a lady in
danger."
It probably took a lot of courage.
So, I was even more grateful.
It must not be easy to stop a dangerous opponent by taking the initiative
to protect someone you've just met.
"Thank you, Phil. You're a brave person."
I said with a wide smile. Phil Rosemont's eyes turned bright red, and then
he lowered his head.
"B-Brave...?"
Nervously, Phil Rosemont's words trembled.
"Yes."
"My brother said I couldn't do anything on my own..."
"No."
In the face of my firm words, Phil Rosemont blushed and nodded.
"I should brag to my brother..."
"Let go of me! Let go of me! Erno Etham, you damn bastard!"
The commotion grew even louder. People began to arrive in masses.
The scattered Ethams also gathered near the terrace one by one, and soon
they realized the situation and touched their foreheads at the same
time.
—"
As if my father's feet pressing on the back of the unpleasant man had
become even heavier, he began to struggle only with his arms and legs like
an upside-down turtle.
"Do you know who I am?"
"I do, my plaything."
Erno Etham replied.
"My plaything?"
Is he the guy with whom Dad pretended to have an affair with last
year?
"Plaything?! Why am I a plaything? This young bastard, anyway, looks like
we've gone back in time...!"
Dad's assessment is always the same even if the people and places
change.
At this point, I want to see my past father. If it had come out like a
novel, wouldn't it have been "I'm the crazy psychopath of the duke's
family"?
"...But, with that face, was he Dad's playmate?"
It's not that he's ugly, but he's not handsome enough for Dad to use him by
his side.
"Is that what Dad likes?"
It was at the moment I pondered with my arms crossed.
"Eirin."
"Yes?"
"No matter what you're thinking, it's not that, so stop making that
face."
At Dad's words, I kept my mouth shut.
"What expression was I making?"
Mmm.
I shook my head vigorously and looked at my father.
"That person has been following me since yesterday... Do you know who he
is?"
"I do, yes..."
"There's a lot of noise."
Dad was about to speak when someone intercepted him.
When I turned my head to the familiar voice, there were already many people
on the terrace.
"What the hell is going on? Don't tell me Duke Etham has caused another
accident."
It was the emperor.
As he entered the terrace, the emperor looked at the man resembling a
cockroach on the ground and then at Dad.
"Because my precious daughter has a bug."
The emperor's eyes narrowed.
From the expression on his face, it was clear that he knew the unpleasant
man.
"It's a family matter, so I'll handle it."
"It happened at my banquet; how could it be a family matter?"
"Your, Your Majesty! It's unfair!"
The man on the ground raised his voice to the emperor while incessantly
struggling over what he was thinking.
"I'm just here to find my lost daughter again! The Ethams forcibly took my
daughter from me!"
His face contorted, and soon he started shedding tears as if he were
sad.
The sudden change of expression in an instant left me speechless. The
unpleasant man was crying with the most pitiful expression in the
world.
At that moment.
Suddenly, my head started pounding. I hesitated and covered my head with my
hands.
"This girl... When she grows up without... a destiny... dragons... it's
common for them to die."
"Only then... The future will be peaceful and happy..."
"... even if it's painful."
"So remember, this is your daughter."
Suddenly, a voice appeared in my head and hurt for a moment.
What appeared in the vague memories that suddenly surfaced in my
head...
"Isn't that man?"
That man held me in his arms when I was a child. I think there was someone
else there, but I don't remember.
"Could that person...?"
Is that bastard, or something, my biological father?
In "Adopted," I got a blood test, but I was dismissed without hearing the
results.
In "Adopted," she was dismissed for stealing artifacts with Mayla, and that
bastard was still captive, so he couldn't even get a blood test.
I thought he was a Suin lizard, so I thought he wasn't part of this
family...
"He really was a dragon, wasn't he?"
If so, there was definitely a possibility that I was also a true member of
the Etham family.
I've heard that dragon blood doesn't exist outside of this family.
"So, is he really my biological father?"
I looked at the man who seemed offended.
I can see why he seemed familiar to me. I don't remember him, but it must
be because he was someone I met when I was young.
"Is that true, Duke Etham?"
"I don't know."
Dad replied.
I looked at the pathetic man struggling on the ground for a long
time.
Dad was looking at me. His expression is always the same, but why does he
seem nervous?
"Duke Etham, I told you to do it because you said you would adopt the girl.
But if she already has a father..."
"I said I don't know if this bastard is my daughter's real father or
not."
In response to Dad's answer, murmurs intensified all around.
"No! That girl is definitely mine! She's a girl I won after a lot of
effort!"
Even if he were my father, did he give birth to me? The mother I don't even
know would have given birth to me.
I don't even like that man's words.
"Yes, do you really believe that? Fine. Isn't the new high priest here? The
authority for blood tests lies with the high priest. What do you think?
Let's decide it here."
"I don't mind."
As soon as the emperor spoke, Lucilion appeared among the crowd and
said.
"Me neither! I don't mind, Your Majesty!"
The idiot, still under my father's feet, quickly raised his hand and
said.
The emperor's gaze returned to my father.
Dad remained silent.
"What do you think, Duke Etham?"
".........."
Dad rarely responded. Then he turned his head and looked at me.
When I nodded, Dad sighed and lifted his foot from the idiot's back.
"...I agree."
"Then let's proceed right away."
Lucilion approached me with a smile.
He lightly pricked the tip of my index finger with a small needle.
Blood welled up.
Then he went straight to Dad and reached out his hand.
"Why, Dad?"
Wasn't it between that bastard and me? Dad frowned as if he thought it was
strange.
"It's with this, not with me."
Dad pointed at the bastard with his chin.
"I know. Just to be safe, I'll try to proceed with all three at the same
time."
"In case you didn't know..."
Dad didn't continue, but I thought I knew what he was trying to say.
Even if my father were to adopt me, I couldn't become his biological
daughter. My father's only children are Callan Etham and Sillian
Etham.
So maybe he was trying to say that there's no possibility of me coming out
as his true daughter in this test.
"God..."
Lucilion looked at the sky for a moment as he muttered, then he curved his
eyes and smiled.
"If you say so."
Lucilion must be the only person in the world who sells God for my
curiosity and greed.
"He's crazy."
Dad said what he wanted to say and extended his hand. Lucilion pricked his
father's middle finger with a needle.
Blood gushed out, to the point where it dripped slightly. Dad's brow
furrowed.
"Wow, it seems like the needle has run out of usefulness."
Lucilion, who had cut Dad's finger, turned around. Then, with a smile, he
showed me a needle that had been fine until now but had corroded before I
knew it.
"I can't help it."
Lucilion casually spoke and pulled a dagger out of thin air.
"What, what are you doing?! You can get another needle... Aargh!"
Dad quickly stepped on the back of the bastard and prevented him from
getting up.
I looked at the two of them in bewilderment.
"It's the will of God."
Please don't pronounce His name like that.
Lucilion forcefully pressed one of the bastard's hands with a stern face
and moved the dagger.
With a creepy crunching sound, a long line formed on the imbecile's
palm.
"Aaaaaargh!"
"Do you know what? I hate wasting my time and my skills."
Lucilion smiled and whispered in the idiot's ear.
Surprisingly, I heard everything.
"Then let's begin."
Lucilion threw the dagger and smiled cheerfully.
The dagger that flew through the air disappeared in an instant with a halo
of light.
When Lucilion started mumbling something incomprehensible, the blood on my
fingertips, the blood on my father's fingertips, and the gurgling blood of
the bastard leaped into the air.
"This must really be impossible to manipulate."
It wasn't a structure that could be hidden.
His pure white divine power and my blood split in half and mixed.
When the blood and divine power were fully mixed, the blood that had been
bright red shone colorless and transparent.
Shortly after, one of the two split pieces mixed with the blood of the
bastard.
No, he was trying to mix it.
Kwiik-!
However, my blood mixed with the bastard's blood sparkled and then exploded
with a burst.
The idiot's face was covered in my own blood.
"Oh...?"
"This is a rejection. In the opposite case, the blood mixes very well and
shines gold."
Lucilion explained.
"So, first of all, he's not from my teacher... No, it seems that he's not
the real father of the princess."
At that moment.
The bastard clenched his teeth and struggled, barely managed to separate
himself from my father's feet, and jumped up.
"Don't talk nonsense! No matter what they say, I'm that girl's father! All
of you are framing me! It's a fraud!"
The bastard looked at me with glassy eyes.
"Girl, they're hurting Dad! You need to help your father right now! Do you
want to see your father die? Kill them all right now!"
He shouted at me.
In the moment of silence.
Water droplets the size of a huge rock fell on the dog's head.
Splash-!
Plank-!
The water she had created spilled and threw the bastard to the
ground.
"What is this impostor saying?"
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