Chapter 160. Please retire now! 2021.08.14.
There is a saying that non-response is the best way, but that didn’t work for Veron Arthur Devlica. For about 10 years while I was growing up, Veron, big and small, had been harassing me and Aidan. It wasn’t something that could be solved by being consistent with indifference. Even the expectation that he would touch the people around him was hit. If Veron is really behind this incident, it may not end with Oscar.
‘I’ll protect it.’
No matter what. It couldn’t be done every time, so the conclusion was a preemptive strike. I will hit first before Veron can make more moves.
‘To do that, I need external power first.’
It was quite cumbersome and time-consuming to secretly operate the guild behind the scenes and try to weaken Devlin. So he had to become a true emperor. He wasn’t a scarecrow emperor who couldn’t enter and leave the castle without permission from his father. I needed to imprint my existence to the public. . . . It wasn’t long before the commotion in the street reached Dad’s ears. After a month, Dad stormed into the palace where Oscar was resting. Dad, not finding me sitting on the sofa eating snacks because he was hungry, went straight to Oscar.
“Oscar. Are you okay?”
“yes. … Mabel cured me.”
“thank god. Do you know how worried I was because you were hurt?”
Dad let out a sigh of relief and stroked Oscar’s hair roughly. As if embarrassed, Oscar averted his gaze and wiggled his fingers.
“Aren’t you to blame? It happened because I went outside alone on my own…”
“It’s a later thing to be scolded. My son is injured, what does that matter now? It was okay because I saw her unharmed. Those nasty guys who suddenly got caught up in the barrier.”
Dad’s expression turned grim, as if he was thinking of a group of robes who were being tortured in prison by the imperial army by now.
‘Strawberry cake is delicious.’
It was quite fun watching the father who became a fool while eating the chef’s special cake. It was quite cute to see the dishonest rich man expressing affection while feeling awkward with each other. When I’m there, they pretend to be cool to help each other out, and that’s cute too.
“I’m worried… Thank you, Father.”
“okay. I need to recover soon. Aren’t you a knight?”
“…yes.”
“Don’t worry, this dad will definitely catch him behind the scenes. Please return to duty after fully recovering.”
“Yes, I understand.”
When the rich man’s conversation, which seemed friendly but somehow sounded like a mission report, ended, Dad patted Oscar on the shoulder and stepped back.
“Now I have to go to Mabel. I can’t take my eyes off this guy. Do you have accidents every day? Oscar. Maybe Mabel stopped by here?”
At Dad’s question, Oscar pointed at me, who was sitting on the sofa watching the two of them from the first row.
“ah. If it’s Mabel, it’s over there.”
“…hmm?”
My eyes met with my father, who turned his head. I smiled and waved my hand.
“Here is Mabel, who makes accidents every day. Hi Dad.”
“There you are… I see. My lovely daughter.”
Dad hurriedly tried to fix it by adding a word, but to no avail. It’s because my dad was so lovable, cute, and precious every day that I was in a state of exhaustion. Dad, who was sitting next to me, lifted me up and sat me on his lap.
“I was worried about it. I heard you went out without an escort, so why did you do that?”
“I didn’t have time to pack an escort and go out. Because Oscar was dangerous. No one else could have saved an Oscar if it wasn’t me.”
“But Mabel. Then, if you get hurt too… Ha, no, well done.”
My father, who had always worried and worried, sighed as if he had given up and tapped my cheek.
“If I and my children were in danger, I would have run away regardless. You don’t have to resemble your parents even in these things.”
“Even if Dad was in danger, he would have run as well.”
It wasn’t empty words, but I meant it, but Dad smiled and pressed my cheeks with both hands.
“Who the hell do you learn such lovely words from?”
“Dokakajjyum.” (I studied on my own.)
My face was pressed like steamed buns, and my pronunciation was completely muffled. When I glared at Dad, Dad gave my cheeks freedom.
“By the way, Mabel. How did you know Oscar was dangerous? You must have been in the imperial castle.”
Our eyes met Oscar, who was far away. Oscar shook his head weakly. Dad didn’t know much about my abilities. I only knew the extent of my abilities that others knew. It seemed to me that he was just evasive, but I didn’t mean to.
“With the ability to assimilate to animals, I searched for and found the missing Oscar.”
“…a fairy tale?”
“We can talk.”
Udangtang! It was the sound of startled Oscar getting down from the bed and knocking things over. Oscar, who came down awkwardly, tried to cover my mouth with his whole body. But even this was a necessary process. In just a few months, I’m going to have an accident. At that time, if it is revealed that he is hiding his ability from his father, the situation will become more serious. Therefore, this became about the first stage of step-by-step thinking. The atmosphere, which had been warm enough to drip honey from my sudden confession, became quite serious. Dad, who got me off his lap and sat next to me, asked with a serious face.
“It’s the first time I’ve heard that. Did you hide it on purpose?”
“huh.”
“why?”
“Because I don’t want to be emperor.”
Afterwards, his thoughts were revealed in his father’s expression, and he was able to read them right away. Then it was a face that said so.
“That story is over, Mabel.”
“It’s a story in progress for me. To be honest, when I became emperor, none of my intentions were reflected. Do you know how unfair it was?”
“I don’t even remember, how can I feel unfair?”
“A little me!”
Actually, I have vivid memories from one month after I was born, but I wouldn’t believe it if I told you.
‘Look at this.’
My assertion that it was a little flying was just looking at it as if it were a cute complaint.
“Anyway, I didn’t want to be emperor, and I didn’t want to go to Abelard either. So I tried my best to be as useless as possible.”
The tearful attempts of the past passed through my mind. Operation < Such heinous man is death penalty! >. < Huh? Is that just a gift? Give me more! >Operation. Operation < All you guys do, the Emperor will sleep. > In addition, he worked tirelessly, such as blaming his subordinates for being bald, but failed every time. It was a truly colossal defeat.
“A worthless person? Have you ever been like that?”
“…Ehhhh.”
Dad really nailed the fact that I was a fiasco. Dad, who was thinking hard, asked again.
“Then Mabel, did you intentionally hide it because you feared that if your abilities were known, you would be far from dethroned?”
“That’s right.”
“Anyway, I think the situation has already ended with the power of healing…”
“Keuheum.”
Since earlier, Dad kept saying the right things, so I ran out of things to say.
“Well, even so, if you say you have the ability to communicate with animals and even assimilate them, you wouldn’t want to miss them any more. You did a good job hiding it. If Abelardo knew about it, those crazy things would run wild again.”
In the end, Dad didn’t seem too angry or angry because he was less bothered.
‘Because Michael hasn’t given up on me yet.’
The man had a history of saying that if I didn’t become emperor, he would stop at nothing to take me to Abelard. Soon, Dad expressed his doubts again.
“But why are you revealing that now?”
“I will be emperor now. properly.”
“Really Mabel?”
“huh. So Dad.”
I looked up at my father and smiled brightly. then cried out
“Please retire!”
Dad’s hand stroking my hair stopped in mid-air.
“what…?”
“Be the back room situation agent for me.”
Dad put on a shocked expression.
“Mabel, you really…”
Oscar, who was sitting on the bed, laughed incredulously and shook his head.
***
The Donovan family was newly granted a vast fiefdom and became the owner of the Donovan duchy. Originally, it was right to become the owner of a large territory and be given the title of Grand Duke, but the promotion was still on hold because the owner of the new fief still remained in the qualification of successor. Its owner was Oscar Alle Donovan. As the prince of Ermano, he formally succeeded to the family and was promised the title of grand duke, and went to educate the successor as his mother’s family, the Duke of Donovan.
‘It was going to be like this anyway.’
The first day Oscar returned to the Donovan family after arranging his life in the imperial castle. Previously, he would return to the imperial castle after spending a few days at the Donovan family. I just returned to my usual bedroom, but somehow I felt as if I had landed in an unfamiliar place. Oscar made up his mind to keep getting weaker.
“I’m here to not be pathetic, but what if I’m pathetic?”
He treated the servants with a resolute attitude. He was as dignified as ever while changing his clothes and going to the restaurant for dinner with Duke Donovan. Duke Donovan had already arrived at the restaurant. The two had a quiet meal, as they did once every few months. Duke Donovan was the first to speak in a space so quiet that even the sound of dishes clashing could be heard like thunder.
“Oscar.”
“Yes mother.”
“Do you resent me?”
At the words that stabbed him to the point out of nowhere, Oscar bowed his head in sweat. I couldn’t bear to make eye contact with Duke Donovan.
“no. How could you say such a thing…”
“I thought it was possible to think that way because I was the one who asked His Majesty to tell you to come into the duchy.”
Unexpecting that Duke Donovan would admit that he had asked Mabel, Oscar was a little taken aback. But he soon regained his composure.
“It would be a lie if I said I never blamed my mother for a moment. I hated it a little bit.”
That hatred extended not only to Duke Donovan, but also to his father, and eventually to Mabel. So I got angry and left. Oscar did not deny my pettiness.
“But… actually, I always knew. That my presence is a threat to Mabel. But I pretended not to know. While I said that I would protect Mabel, I was actually the one who put Mabel in the most danger.”
How ridiculous he must have looked when he boasted that he would protect such a subject.
“In the first place, Mabel was an existence that did not need to be protected by others. Because you are strong yourself. So I thought I had to develop my strength too.”
“Is that why you sincerely faced your mission?”
“yes. Because in order to protect someone else, you have to learn to protect yourself first.”
This was the first time he had confessed his true feelings to others. However, knowing that the other person was her mother, Oscar lowered his head, nervous inside. It was then.
“Good job Oscar.”
“…yes?”
“Well done.”
I doubted my ears for a moment, but I couldn’t believe that I had heard the wrong words from Duke Donovan again.
‘Well done.’
How often do you hear compliments? No, have you ever heard of it? As soon as he looked up, his eyes met his mother’s. My image was reflected in the same deep-colored eyes as his own. Oscar longed for those eyes of a person who was always upright and pursued justice.
“Always remember that heart.”
“I will not forget.”
“Trust you.”
Believe in you, not believe in you. That word was enough for Oscar.
***
My attempts to persuade my father to retire were terribly futile. The reason was that he could not take his hands off state affairs at all. Instead, we reached a consensus after heated discussions. The first dad will not attend regular meetings in the future. It was an unavoidable condition to reveal my presence as an emperor. When I look at the second house, my dad also watches it from the side. It was actually a bit scary for me to handle it alone, so it was rather a good thing. The third Gustaf belongs to me now. So Dad could no longer give this order to Gustav privately. In the emperor’s office, now my complete office, Gustaf approached my father and secretly reported.
“There was a ban on it.”
“Hey Gustav. You should report to me, not Dad.”
“Oh, I forgot.”
Gustav, scratching the back of his head, came up to me and reported on his investigation into the Oscar raid.
“The person who seemed to be the chieftain did not open his mouth until the end. One of the weak-willed henchmen tried to tell the truth, but because of the restraint, he convulsed and his heart burst and died.”
“It’s a familiar tactic.”
It wasn’t confirmed, but it gave me more confidence in my belief that the culprit was Veron Arthur Devlica. Dealing with taboos and playing with people was exactly the same as his method.
“If we learn anything new during the investigation, we will report it immediately.”
Gustaf finished his report, looking at his father again. It seemed to have become a habit, so I left it alone for now. Dad checked the papers I had passed first. Dad’s hand, which was quickly reviewing it, stopped at some point.
“hmm?”
“what’s the matter? What’s wrong?”
“…why is this name here?”
“aha.”
It was then that I realized what Dad meant. The document Dad opened was the list of participants for this year’s swordsmanship competition. Among the many spirits, there was one name that stood out by far. That’s… Mabel Gardenia Hermano. That was the name of one of this year’s contestants.
