I’Ll Protect My Tyrant Dad! [EN]: Chapter 14

The Tyrant Father I Will Protect! 14. Dad is Too Innocent to Say Bad Things! (14/140)

14. Dad is Too Innocent to Say Bad Things!

2023.01.17.

The next day, news broke of the mysterious deaths of the head of the training center and Lilmi, the discipline officer.

Moreover, the northern tower was buzzing with the news of Dad’s succession and the restoration of his title as Count.

So, I was able to rest without receiving any training.

‘That’s a bit strange. I thought they would only wander in the maze until their death, not die this quickly.’

I wondered if there was a problem with the illusion, but I didn’t feel sorry for the deaths of those crude villains. I didn’t have time to care about them.

Now is the moment of imminent crisis!

Isn’t this a situation where Axel might barge in at any moment after hearing the news that Dad has become the successor?

‘No, am I going to face the final boss right away like this? I don’t have any weapons? Is a gruesome ending the only thing for extras like us?’

I, along with the muscle maids, remained in the northern tower, burying myself on the sofa with hollow eyes. The maids seemed happy that Dad had been chosen as Mirmod’s successor, chattering incessantly.

“Cien-nim [term of respect, like ‘Miss’ or ‘Young Lady’], congratulations! It seems the Duchess is going to gift you a new mansion! Soon, you’ll have a pretty room just for you!”

“T, then we can… serve the young lady too!”

The maids continued to speak enthusiastically, like a dam had burst.

Their eyes were so intense as they spoke that I flinched slightly.

They are definitely on my side, but why are they so scary…?

‘Still, these maid unnies [term of endearment for older sisters or female friends] are planning to stay with me forever.’

My heart softened, as if covered with a cozy blanket.

I need to give them a treat to make them like me more, right?

They were powerful maids with a history of beating up the head of the training center’s cronies without fear of retaliation. Keeping them on my side will definitely be a good thing.

I smiled as brightly as the sun and tapped the maids’ steel-hard arms.

“You know, when I grow up, I’ll build a muscle training room in the mansion for you!”

The maids’ eyes widened at my ambitious promise.

“Oh, my!”

“Is today my birthday…?”

“Hey, don’t cry. You’ll lose muscle!”

Watching them being happy, I sighed inwardly.

They don’t know. That our fate is getting closer to death!

‘All three successor candidates are dangerous, but Axel has a strong desire for power. He’ll definitely finish the war quickly and come back.’

In the novel, the great villain Accelerator Mirmod appears as the successor of the evil Duke’s family.

He purged all the Mirmod family members who stood in his way through a bloody coup.

Since our Dad has become the successor…

He must have proudly put his name on Axel’s first list of purges.

‘I thought there would be a power struggle with Axel someday, but I didn’t expect it to be this soon.’

Axel.

A blood-loving maniac with very… dirty sexual tastes, a piece of trash.

‘What should I do to beat that bastard?’

I bit my lip, recalling the training methods of the original protagonists and the locations of the high-end artifacts that appeared in the original story.

I, Cien Mirmod. Five years old, currently taking over the evil Duke’s family indefinitely.

Fortunately, the gamble I made with the head of the training center was successful.

Then, I should try another gamble now. There was no time to just sit and be frustrated.

I took off the pink knitted wool gloves that the maid unnies had diligently made for me, and whispered toughly like a protagonist in a noir film.

“I’m betting… double.”

The maid unnies tilted their heads, questioning my serious demeanor.

“Yes?”

I tilted my head sharply with cold and threatening eyes like frozen ice.

“I’m going to bury… that bastard.”

First, I need to prepare a shovel to bury that bastard who will be on the opposite side and torment our kind Dad and me. I’ll even make a nice mound where that bastard will be buried.

To do that, the first thing to do is, of course!

I said with a very threatening expression.

“I’m going to see Grandma.”

“That’s great!”

“You must like your grandmother because you’re a baby!”

…It’s not that I like my grandmother, it’s just part of the plan.

In other words, I was planning to carry out a major operation to win over Grandma.

‘I, Cien Mirmod, have a plan.’

“The Duchess doesn’t have much power, but they’re so happy.”

“The baby-nim is so innocent.”

Unlike their thoughts, I was not an innocent but a calculating child.

There is a difference between someone who has held power and someone who has not.

Even if the family’s powerful figures ignore Duchess Rucella, there is a lot of potential in her and a lot I can learn from her.

Well, it was fortunate that many of the family’s children and successors overlooked this fact.

‘Silly maids. But do I really look innocent?’

I seriously contemplated while looking at the maids.

Am I not as threatening as I thought? I thought I would look very, very scary, like a gazelle in front of a deer.

‘I should puff up my chubby cheeks to look like a poisonous pufferfish!’

I glared and filled my cheeks with air. Finally, the maids’ eyes widened as they met my terrifying expression.

“Our baby-nim is so cute, even acting cute!”

Haa…

I thought to myself.

It’s ruined, it’s ruined.

I’ll look scary when I get a little older!

Still, it’s not like I’m going to see Grandma and act cute. I’m going to gather information about the Mirmod family’s succession structure, including Axel, first.

‘Knowing yourself and your enemy, you will win every battle.’

There were a lot of villains in the Mirmod family.

They liked slaughter, tore people apart, and were very threatening and scary guys who could blow away a kid like me with their fingers.

Especially Axel Mirmod!

Axel was a famous villain, so I knew roughly what kind of guy he was in the novel, but the information I got directly from the family members would be different. I also have something to seriously ask Grandma.

While I was clenching my tiny fist and seriously contemplating the future, the maids began to whisper to each other.

“How can she be so cute?”

“I think she’s thinking about cake. Her eyes are sparkling!”

“It could be candy!”

…Haa.

“It’s not cake or candy?!”

“Oh, oh my. I’m sorry, baby-nim!”

These maid unnies, everyone is so calm except for me? No one knows the seriousness of the situation!

But…

Even so, I smiled at them, folding my eyes into crescents.

Because they were all my precious people.

“Give me cake!”

…It’s also true that I want to eat cake, so, whatever!

***

When Cien decided to visit the Duchess, Duchess Rucella was having tea with three of her closest vassal family wives.

A table engraved with the family’s symbol, beautiful teaware, and four noblewomen sitting in a circle.

Today’s tea time topic was varied.

Axel Mirmod’s carrier pigeon from the battlefield, which was mostly about wiping out all the enemies.

Of course, there was no respect for elders in the letter sent by that arrogant carrier pigeon. There was a bit of mockery written about the wife who had already lost power.

Grand Duchess Delphia’s illusion summoning was also a hot topic. Delphia announced that she would brilliantly enter the succession structure with illusion summoning. Without even knowing that the successor has already been decided.

Even the case of the great thief Molly, who was from a family of petty thieves, illegally occupying the relic…

It contained content that would be extremely taboo to bring up as a topic in a typical social tea party.

“Ah, Duchess. I heard the head of the training center suddenly died?”

“I heard he died suddenly in his sleep.”

“Then we have to pick a new one.”

However, the Duchess remained indifferent to their words.

The three wives, who were watching each other, said in unison.

“Ah, I heard that Matthias-nim has become the successor.”

“He did.”

“…I heard that the Chairman of the Senate also approved it.”

“Yes.”

“Will the Emperor stay still…?”

“Well, what can he do? He has to stay still.”

The Duchess replied, drinking her tea expressionlessly. She seemed uninterested even though her son had been reinstated.

The family’s wives exchanged glances.

They had lived as the Duchess’s closest aides for a long time, and they were ‘real close aides’ who still stood by her side even after she lost her position in the family. As much as they were tight-lipped, they were quick-witted.

Clearly, it seemed like Duchess Rucella had a topic she wanted to talk about…

In the meantime, one of the youngest wives intervened.

“Ah, I heard that Matthias-nim has a daughter. I heard she’s very bright.”

The other wives exchanged glances and sighed. Some bit their lips and shook their heads.

Everyone in this place knew that the relationship between the Duchess and Grand Duke Matthias was not very good.

Moreover, Matthias’s daughter, Cien Mirmod, was the daughter of ‘that villainess’ who was famous for being evil in the family.

She was still a child, but it was unsettling that she was the daughter of a villainess.

Even that ‘villainess’ was the woman involved in the Incident of the Demon of Salvation, which was the reason Matthias left the family.

The Incident of the Demon of Salvation.

It was the incident in which Yuela, Cien’s mother and Matthias’s lover, tried to summon a demon but failed.

She was dragged to the temple and met a miserable death without summoning the demon.

Matthias could not prevent her death, but after that… he killed everyone who reported Yuela to the temple. It was called the Blood Purge.

It was true that the people of the Mirmod family were constantly committing evil deeds. However, Matthias Mirmod killed all those involved in Yuela’s death in a way that was too gruesome to even mention.

Wouldn’t the Duchess dislike such an unpleasant topic?

“…Matthias’s daughter, you say?”

Duchess Rucella put her teacup down on the table.

It was such a rough touch that it was fortunate that it didn’t make a clanging sound.

And what about her breathing? The wheezing sound filled the quiet tearoom.

Everyone looked at the Duchess with a bewildered expression, ready to appeal if necessary.

It was the very moment when the wife who brought up the topic was about to bend down and offer an apology.

The Duchess opened her mouth, her face lighting up as if a flame had been lit in a lamp.

“Ah, yes. The Grand Duke’s daughter, have you all seen the honey jar [term of endearment]?”

“Y-yes? Honey jar?”

“…D, Duchess?”

Unlike the bewildered wives, Duchess Rucella added another word.

“That honey bread [another term of endearment] is so cu… no, so sassy.”

This time, honey bread…?! [referring to another nickname]

Duchess Rucella, who had never shown such a strong reaction of cherishing someone, used an unexpected nickname, and one of the youngest wives choked.

“Hiccup, hiccup!”

But who cares if someone chokes? Duchess Rucella, whose emotional expressions were always cold and aloof, had changed her attitude.

How did Matthias’s daughter win over her grandmother?

“Why are you all so surprised?”

Duchess Rucella said coldly, and they finally came to their senses.

But they still couldn’t figure it out.

What kind of reaction should they show?

One of the bravest wives opened her mouth and said.

“Y, yes. Cien-nim is really amazing…?”

“Ahem.”

The Duchess coughed, slightly raising the corners of her mouth at her words.

The white-haired old woman and the middle-aged woman who were watching her shone their eyes. Having read the Duchess’s intentions, they began to flatter her in a hurry.

“That’s right. The rumors are spreading. I heard she’s also receiving a good education.”

Originally, it is natural for a student to study hard.

“I heard she has an indomitable spirit. I heard she stood up against the conspiracy in the garden at that time without giving in?”

At best, she only won in a children’s quarrel.

“Besides, she’s five years old, but she’s very good at talking!”

Five-year-olds are originally good at talking.

Relatively, Cien’s outward development was slow due to the reincarnation penalty. However, the people in that place were enthusiastically overlooking that fact.

“That’s right.”

The Duchess, who was nodding with a satisfied expression and listening to their flattery, declared seriously.

“Listen carefully.”

“Yes?”

The eyes of the three wives were focused on the Duchess.

“I think that child is an unprecedented genius in Mirmod.”

“G, genius?”

If the story between Cien and the head of the training center had spread widely, they might have seriously agreed with the statement ‘Cien is a genius’.

However, the head of the training center, who had devised the plan, died mysteriously, Matthias buried the incident, and Cien kept her mouth shut.

Therefore, at this point, it was absurd to say that Cien was a genius.

Nevertheless, the Duchess nodded with a rare smile.

“Yes, ordinary children are at an age where they drool. On the other hand, what should I say, honey bread seems quite smart.”

She gazed at the teacup and slightly raised the corners of her mouth.

“Although I don’t like it very much.”

At that time, the three wives who were watching Duchess Rucella secretly exchanged glances.

With eyes that meant that the Duchess seemed to like Cien very much.

Because her cheekbones were about to explode every time she said the nickname ‘honey bread’.