[Episode 143]
“Have you calmed down now?”
“…yes.”
I blew my nose and nodded, and Dad took me in his arms and sat on the bed.
It was very embarrassing to sit on Dad’s lap after growing so fast. As I slipped down from my father’s lap, my father’s eyebrows moved slightly.
“why?”
“yes?”
“Why are you going down?”
“…No, he’s tall, he’s old… and he’s a bit shy.”
But how come 7 years have passed and Dad’s appearance remains the same?
Wow, the look was really crazy.
I stretched out my hand and pressed my father’s cheek, and my father smiled with a puzzled look.
“why?”
“I just want you to be my father.”
I should probably refrain from saying that I saw him because he was so handsome. I’m still a father
“So does it really feel like a fake?”
“That’s not it…”
I rubbed my forehead lightly as I held him in my father’s arms.
“I missed you.”
“me too.”
As I recited my longing, Dad nodded in agreement as well. The corners of his mouth were freed.
When we first met, I was really small and young and my dad was very young.
‘Compared to then, I might look a little more mature now.’
That’s because I was still young at the time.
“What have you been doing?”
“Day.”
“A job?”
“Take care of your sons’ accidents.”
“…Oh, did Callan and Cillian have an accident?”
“I sent it to the academy, and it happened very differently every day.”
Dad answered with a tired expression.
It seemed like something was going to happen, but it was surprising. I walked up to my dad again and hugged him tightly.
“He said he didn’t like sitting on your lap.”
“Still… hugging is good.”
Dad hugged me.
“Did anything happen?”
“Um, there was nothing. Except for the fact that my father caught me around the fifth year and the family turned upside down once.”
“yes?”
“I heard you fell into a long sleep. Why didn’t you tell him?”
“Ah…”
I didn’t think I would be able to hide it forever, but unfortunately it was found out.
I wished my grandpa and grandma didn’t know until the end. When I laughed awkwardly, my father stroked my hair.
“dad.”
“okay.”
“I was having a hard time.”
“Yeah… you must have suffered.”
Dad patted me on the back and replied.
“It wasn’t fun, and I wanted to come here, but I was worried about what to do if I couldn’t come here forever…” “
Yes.”
“I did something bad for the first time.”
When I recited that I did something to my grandmother that I shouldn’t have done as a human being, my dad laughed, saying that it was still alive.
“I heard that your father didn’t kill you.”
“I thought people would have bitten their tongues and died.”
“You don’t have that kind of courage. How much did you pile up?”
“I guess that would be a lot of money.”
Dad replied cynically.
I quietly kept my mouth shut, thinking of my father’s wealth, Etam’s wealth, this era, and the gold nugget that was in the warehouse.
Yes, the rich of this era had much more money than the rich of that era.
“Um…”
With that said, I have nothing more to say.
“also.”
“yes?”
“Tell me more, what you’ve been doing, what you’ve been thinking, how hard it has been. entire.”
Dad added, patting me on the back.
“I will listen to everything.”
I felt a sense of relief at those firm and resolute words. There were so many things I wanted to say.
“yes…!”
I smiled broadly and told the story eagerly.
The thing about Lucillion and the star keeper, the fact that his younger brothers chased after him like a stalker every day, but also that it was all a prank by the star keeper.
“I must have collapsed.”
“It was a bit like that, but…”
Thinking that those people would live a normal life again made me feel sick to my stomach.
But…
“It’s okay because I’ll be happier.”
“okay.”
“And Lucillion did something. I don’t know what it is…”
Now that I have a family,
it’s much richer than the one I lived in, has a lot of power, and I have a very strong family.
“It should be. You have become the proper owner of our family.”
Dad laughed.
“I heard that the imprint has hardened, but can you feel it, Dad? I don’t know if anything has changed.”
“Well you…”
Dad’s hand lightly touched my head.
“I could feel it opening my eyes.”
Dad said.
“Am I? I didn’t feel anything.”
“Maybe I just wanted to come.”
Dad shrugged his shoulders indifferently. Uhm, is that so?
“But didn’t I grow up too well?”
“You grew up well? yes.”
Dad agreed with my words, as if he was saying something strange.
“I wanted to enjoy my childhood a little longer, but it’s a pity.”
“why?”
“I want to pamper myself a bit more… There are things I can only do when I’m young…”
“It’s okay to pamper me anytime.”
Dad grabbed me by the waist, lifted me up, and sat me on his lap.
His face flushed with shame.
“I will accept you whenever you act childish, no matter how old you are. That’s what parents do.”
“…yes.”
I gently buried my face in my father’s shoulder and rubbed my forehead.
Her body, which had grown up for a while, could no longer even touch her father’s chest.
“But if you date and get married, surely the other person won’t be jealous?”
“…what?”
Dad’s smile brightened.
Yes, it was the smile I always saw when I felt uncomfortable.
“…dad?”
“What love and marriage?”
“No… I also became the head of household, so first of all I have to fulfill my duties as a second generation…”
“You don’t have to do everything. Because there are too many children.”
Still, I heard that the duty of a family head or a king is to produce the next generation of heirs.
Dad smiled even more brightly when I made an expression that I didn’t understand.
“Take me somewhere.”
“…what if I bring it?”
“I’ll have to test it myself to see if I’m suitable as your companion.”
It sounds like you’re going to kill them all, but I’m sure it’s my mistake?
I looked at my father with a very confused expression, and he smiled and lightly kissed me on the cheek.
“Still, it’s good that it’s been like this for a long time.”
“Right?”
“Yes, your mother must have been too.”
“Mom…”
It’s a pity that I didn’t see it.
‘Come to think of it, who was it that handed me over to that fake dad?’
There were still questions about that part. The fact that I, who I was sure was dead, came to life.
“I went to your mother’s grave after you fell asleep.”
“…was it?”
“Yeah, I’ve been ordering people, but I haven’t been able to visit properly.”
“why?”
At my question, Dad became quiet as if pondering for a moment. It was a light question, but it seemed like a heavy knife to my father.
“There are quite a few things I want to say as an excuse, but…”
Dad slurred slightly.
“If I were to bring out only the sincerity from among them, it would probably be because I lack the courage.”
“Courage…?”
“Yeah, I still can’t believe it. The fact that Dahlia is dead.”
I took a deep breath at those words.
The reason why my mother died was actually my fault. Because he couldn’t handle me who was born as a dragon…
Dad lost his lifelong partner, and Callan and Silian had to lose their only mother.
“I’m sorry…”
I muttered softly as I was held in my father’s arms.
“sorry? what?”
“Because I was born…”
Because my mother died.
I had to lose three people because of me, a mother I had never met.
Even so, it was just amazing that he was trying to save me without change.
‘Is it because it’s the world I created?’
Because the world is moving as I hoped?
If I beg everything to go back to normal… what would the story be like?
My story was being serialized as ‘Abduction’. Then, there is a story of the ‘main story’ somewhere.
So if I say I want to turn this story into a main story, will I be abandoned somewhere on the street?
“Eirin.”
Between the thoughts swirling in my head like a storm, a low voice settled in my ears.
“…”
“Eirin?”
“Your father.”
“You don’t have to blame her for her death. We made you, and she decided to give birth to you.”
Dad said.
“You didn’t have your will here. You, who were just born as our fruit, don’t have to think like that.”
“…”
“There is no sin in a child born just to live. There is no one’s fault in this.”
Dad looked at me and said. It’s not your fault.
“It’s just that we’re a little… ok. It’s just a little bit unlucky. So don’t blame yourself.”
“…yes.”
“No one in the world has the right to resent a child born. The same goes for yourself.”
I nodded as I squeezed the hem of my father’s clothes.
“To be honest, I never once thought it was your fault. You are just my precious daughter. That’s all.”
I just laughed at the kindly falling voice.
“dad.”
“okay.”
There was a time when I always recited to myself that being born was not a sin.
Being born as a woman, being born first, it wasn’t something I decided or depended on.
How I longed to hear this.
“i love you.”
And that’s what I wanted to say.
The strength of my father’s embrace of me grew stronger.
The first night I came back was neither cold nor hot, just cozy, so I thought I had finally returned home.
