CH 38

There was no expression on Dad’s face who had returned to his true form.

“What? Dad?”

“Hahaha. I guess this is the very scary Dad the kid just mentioned.” 

Craig mocked.

The two didn’t recognize Dad, whose face was not yet known in the Capital. 

“What, what. Did you come to save your daughter? What confidence do you have? Do you think we’ll say yes, here we are, and give it back? Why didn’t you take care of your pretty daughter?”

The giggling fat man secretly pulled a dagger out of his back pocket.

“D, Dad! Be careful!”

Over time, his arm moved much more sharply, unlike his dull body. 

Tak.

However, Dad overpowered his wrist with one hand, overshadowing my worries.

“W, what…Ugh!” 

Then he pulled it straight and out the door.

“Aaaargh!” 

Dad grabbed the broken arm of the fat man by the back of his neck and pushed him to the side. 

Crack, there was the sound of something breaking.

‘Ugh.’

It’s a relief that I couldn’t see the disastrous scene outside the door.

“….” 

When Dad entered the room, Craig threw me down and grabbed the knife.

“You’re pretty good, aren’t you?”

“….” 

“But it’s too bad. I don’t know that stupid guy, but you’ll have a hard time with me. Even if I look at it like this, I’m a person who has lived my whole life eating only rice with knives.” 

Craig flew at my Dad with a knife in each hand and a calm look on his face.

Tak, tak! 

“Huh… “

But before the knife could reach Dad, Craig screamed.

“Aaaargh!”

He hit both of his wrists and broke his bones right away, so he fell to the floor.

“Ha, ugh, ah… W, what. This.” 

In pain, Dad grabbed Craig’s neck, pinned him to the floor, and climbed on top of him.

“Ugh!” 

I was then. 

I looked into Dad’s eyes, and the tears stopped.

‘Dad, I’m scared.’

Live…

Even when he faced off against the Paladins in Xenon, Dad didn’t look like that. 

He might have thought in secret that the knights wouldn’t really hurt me. 

But this time, it was different.

I was in a situation where I didn’t know what would have happened if Dad had been a little late.

“….” 

Dad’s clenched fist shot up into the air as if to throw it in Craig’s face. 

I covered my eyes with both hands.

But there were no scary sounds.

When I carefully lowered my hand that was covering my eyes, I saw that Dad had stopped and was breathing deeply.

Dad, who was trembling for a long time to swallow his anger, soon pressed Craig’s forehead with the palm of his hand. 

With a sound, Craig shuddered and passed out.

“D, dad…” 

Dad got up and came slowly to me. 

His steps staggered a little. His hands were shaking as he knelt down to open the iron window.

Tung,

The lock was on.

“Whoo.” 

Dad gently closed his eyes.

He seemed more frightened of trying to contain his anger than of being angry.

“Daddy…”

“I’m sorry, princess.”

Crack! With a little force, the lock roared and broke.

Soon, Dad stretched his arm into the open cage.

“Come here.”

* * *

“Dad, I’m sorry…I shouldn’t have come out to see the festival….” 

As soon as she was held in his arms, his daughter, who had been weeping, left those words and fell asleep as if fainting. 

It felt like his heart was breaking. 

Why is this little child saying she’s sorry?

The people who should feel sorry are him and the adults who have to live in this terrible place.

“No, princess. Dad is sorry. Dad is…” 

It was meaningless as it had already caused a great uproar, but Enoch again hid his true face and came out.

There was an unexpected face outside.

Axion.

And Cheshire next to him.

‘This guy, it’s dangerous. Did you go looking for Axion?’

When the host told everyone where the criminal’s hideout was, Cheshire ran somewhere without looking back.

Enoch was worried about Cheshire, but time was running out, and he eventually went to Lilith.

“How many people are inside?”

“Two.” 

When Axion asked, Enoch answered briefly and looked down at Cheshire. 

“You must be worried. It’s dangerous, but what if you go around alone? And I’m sorry. I’m in a hurry to save Lilith…: 

Cheshire’s expression darkened.

Does it mean that he’s sorry that he couldn’t take care of him, who ran out alone?

As expected, he was a very strange person.

“No, I’m sorry. There’s nothing I can do.”

“…? What are you talking about? Haa, I don’t know why my kids make me such an ugly adult.”

“All you have to do is know.”

Axion scolded Enoch, who sighed.

“Axion. By the way, it was an organization of these guys. The rest is….” 

“Don’t worry. Some guy caught them all. There.”

Axion pointed with his chin.

Enoch looked at him and was surprised.

Billy was seen shaking his hands in front of the gang members who had been beaten and fainted.

“Brother, you didn’t go home?”

Billy was welcomed as he approached.

“Oh, young man. Are you not injured anywhere? I came back because I was upset. Hey, they told me that even if you tied them upside down and beat them for ten days and nights, it wasn’t enough, so I showed off my skills after a long time.” 

“Wow, as expected, your muscles are extraordinary.”

“Hahahaha! Is the princess okay?”

Billy was worried as he looked at Lilith in his arms.

“Yeah. She fell asleep, probably exhausted.”

“Oh, my.”

Billy kicked his tongue and scratched his head.

“The world in such a state…When will our children be able to walk around comfortably?”

“…I know.” 

“Oh right! Here!” 

What Billy give is…

These were Princess Lara’s shoes.

“Why this?”

“Hoho, it wasn’t a fair match. For my Emily, I can earn money and buy one for her.” 

“Haha…” 

“You worked hard today, young man. Be sure to stop by my pub! Let’s have a beer together!”

Enoch smiled and nodded his head.

* * *

Early in the morning.

The disturbance in the Capital was immediately reported to the Emperor.

“What?”

After the aide’s words were finished, the Emperor gritted his teeth.

“How dare those worms… Know what it is and touch it.”

Enoch’s daughter was a leash he had been working on for seven years.

What would have happened if it had gone wrong? 

“Therefore.”

“It is said that Axion Libre was personally investigating. All those involved have been arrested and will probably be punished under his authority.”

“Ah, don’t do that.”

The Emperor waved his hand.

“Let’s take care of it in the imperial family.”

“Yes?”

“By my orders. The worms deserve the death penalty. Don’t even dare to do something similar. And…”

The Emperor added, smoothing his chin.

“On the line of Axion, you can’t even touch the nobles. Find the nobles involved and punish them all at once.”

The aide’s eyes widened.

“Aren’t the nobles innocent?”

Aren’t commoners just wild dogs without owners roaming the streets?

In this case, the nobles bought a few young stray dogs with money.

“Why do you want to do something that will make the nobles unhappy in the name of Your Majesty?”

The aide was perplexed.

To the Emperor, the people without powers and commoners were not Imperial citizens. 

It was strange that he dared to issue an edict to punish commoners in the Emperor’s own name, but—.

It didn’t make any more sense to ask the aristocrats to be taken in as well. 

“Our honest and righteous Sir Enoch likes this kind of thing. He must be very angry….” 

“….” 

“As the master, I have to show this level of sincerity.” 

The Emperor smiled like a snake.

* * *

Blink.

I opened my eyes to the sunlight coming through the window, and it was morning.

‘Oh my.’

Why morning? Come to think of it, I haven’t remembered since I was in my Dad’s arms.

It seemed that I fell asleep right away because I was relieved. 

“Laaady!” 

“Are you awake? Have you come to your sense? What am I gonna do with my Lady? Are you sick?” 

As soon as I got up, Jun and Jetty rushed at me like lightning.

“Dad… What about Dad and Cheshire? Cheshire, is he not hurt?” 

“The Duke stayed until just now and left after we came. He probably went to fix things yesterday.” 

“Cheshire is fine too. He couldn’t even sleep, and he was next to the Lady…I pushed on his back to ask him to close his eyes, and he barely left. 

“Ah, I see.”

I was relieved.

For a while, too. 

I was taken aback by the reaction of the two, who seemed to know everything about yesterday’s accident. 

“S, sisters. But do they know what happened to me yesterday? Don’t tell me, grandpa too?”

It would be a big deal if it went into grandfather’s ears by any chance. 

Dad might be crazy if grandfather discovered that we went out to see the festival secretly and even had an accident. 

No, he might have already been crazy—.

“Uh, um.”

“Ah, that.”

For some reason, Jetty and Jun noticed each other.

Then Jetty spoke quietly.

“Don’t worry. The big master doesn’t know anything yet. No, everyone in this family doesn’t even know that the Lady sneaked out yesterday.”

“Yes. We know that there was an accident with the lady, uhm because…boss? Yes, I knew because the boss told me.”

“Boss? Ah!” 

You mean Rico. I pretended not to know and scratched my cheek.

I know their identities, but we tend not to talk about it openly.

Should I say it’s an implicit agreement?

“Would you like to wash up, my Lady?”

“Yes, yes.”

I asked as Jetty washed my face with warm water.

“But Rico, no, how did the boss know?”

“The boss was very worried about the Lady going out to play yesterday. There are many cases of child disappearance in the Capital these days.” 

“Aha, I see. But yesterday, I only told you that I planned to go out secretly, didn’t I?” 

Jetty warmed up and he laughed.

“Hmmmm. I’m sorry. Please understand. It is our duty to report on every move of the members of the duchy.”

“Puahaha! Yes, I understand.” 

“Anyway, so the boss put about 10 undercover guards behind the Lady. The Duke went out with you, but just in case.” 

“Yes, yes?” 

No, what’s that? Seeing me surprised, Jun smiled.

“It’s not that the Duke can’t save the Lady, but even if something unexpected happened, the Lady would have been safe.” 

“You don’t have to do that, but I’m sorry…If you put something like that on it, my dad will notice.”

“Oh, not at all. Our <Red Hawk> is…” 

“Hey, Jun!”

When Jetty noticed Jun, Jun laughed haha and corrected it.

“No…but our colleagues? Yes, my colleagues are all trained veterans.”

“Still, Dad is a sword master, right? Just… everyone feels it when someone is following them, right?”

Jun grinned.

“Following is only for the servants. Even the Duke doesn’t know when I heard my colleague shake hands with the Duke yesterday and gave him a full name.”

“…What?” 

What are you talking about? I blinked and then I was stunned.

Don’t tell me—.

“U, Uncle Billy?” 

Jetty and Jun laughed.