I’Ll Protect My Tyrant Dad! [EN]: Chapter 75

Anessa shed tears, dabbing her face with a handkerchief.

“How… how could this happen!”

With a face that seemed to carry all the tragedies of the world, Anessa leaned back on the sofa. The Crown Prince, watching her with cold eyes, spoke.

“Isn’t it inevitable? I did my best.”

Anessa bit her lip and retorted urgently.

“If I had known I would be sold off in marriage like this…!”

The paternity test trial had a huge impact on Anessa’s life. Matthias Mirmode, in a private audience with the Emperor, revealed everything Anessa had done.

‘Matthias Mirmode, how dare you.’

His Majesty seemed to have considered everything, from the Princess visiting the Mirmode family and harassing Sienne, to the paternity test itself.

“Since His Majesty has already arranged your marriage with a foreign prince, there’s no turning back.”

“…Ha.”

Anessa knew what the foreign prince the Emperor had chosen for her looked like.

A fat, pot-bellied, and ugly man. Although he was the only legitimate heir, his appearance was quite… lacking.

It was, in essence, a marriage for the sake of friendship between kingdoms, and certainly not a desirable one.

Recalling this, Anessa roughly wiped her eyes with her handkerchief.

The Crown Prince looked at Anessa with a bored expression and said,

“It was a marriage that would have happened anyway. I could have delayed it, though.”

“Brother!”

Anessa cried out, her heart full of anguish, but the Crown Prince’s expression remained stiff.

“Anessa, there’s no way to help you.”

“So, you’re saying that neither you, nor Saintess Melodia, nor the Pope can help me?”

Anessa, who never expected to be sold off in marriage so suddenly, blew her nose and made a venomous face.

Melodia, who had been silent until now, smiled with picturesque melancholy. Even in this situation, Melodia’s appearance was extremely beautiful, so much so that Anessa blankly moved her lips and stared at her.

However, unlike Anessa, Melodia no longer looked at Anessa. Although Anessa and Melodia had built up quite a friendship, she stared at Anessa as if she were a stranger.

In other words, she seemed to have lost interest in Anessa. As expected, she didn’t answer Anessa’s words and whispered as she raised her teacup.

“Your Highness, Matthias Mirmode has finally stepped in.”

He gave her a look that dripped with honey, unlike the way he looked at Anessa.

“Yes, Melodia.”

She smiled softly and continued.

“I heard he had a conversation with His Majesty. I wonder what kind of conversation they had.”

The Crown Prince bit his lip as he looked at Melodia, the saintess who was about to leave for the ‘Path of Light.’

He could easily guess what kind of conversation they had. The Emperor had summoned him and the Princess and scolded them severely.

And that’s not all.

He had found a marriage partner for the Princess and told her to go abroad.

“They’re handing over the Mikel mine to Mirmode.”

He gritted his teeth.

The Crown Prince had always disliked his father, who was wary of the Mirmode family.

‘See how he immediately caved when Matthias Mirmode put pressure on him this time. The imperial authority is in a swamp.’

At that moment, Melodia took a sip of her tea and whispered.

“Judging by how angry you are, that’s not all, is it?”

“…Yes.”

He could have understood if that was all. But his father had made another drastic move.

He said he no longer trusted the Crown Prince and that he needed a new stimulus.

‘He said he still considers me the heir, but he could change his mind at any time.’

Perhaps it was because he bit his lip in anger. Blood flowed from the corner of his mouth. Melodia reached out her soft hand and wiped the blood from his mouth as she said,

“What is it, Your Highness?”

“Ha! What is it? He’s going to bring that half-wit Duke Sebastian to the capital. Does that make sense?”

To bring even Duke Sebastian, his half-brother who was guarding the capital, meant that he was narrowing his own position as Crown Prince.

‘Father has no desire to strengthen the imperial authority at all.’

It was when the Crown Prince was grinding his teeth that Melodia opened her mouth in her usual calm tone.

“Ah, Duke Sebastian, you mean His Highness the Crown Prince’s half-brother?”

“Yes!”

At that time, the Princess, who had been listening to their conversation and clutching her handkerchief, said in a mocking tone.

“I guess that means he’s going to divide the line of succession. I’m being sold off in marriage, but you’ve been hit hard too, Brother. To have your position as the next Emperor threatened by a half-wit duke. How unfortunate.”

“…Anessa.”

“Why? Thinking about it, it was a mistake to provoke Mirmode. Why did I have such greed? It’s like…”

Anessa stared intently at the Crown Prince and glared at Melodia.

“As if I was possessed by something. Right, Melodia? Why did I listen to you? I don’t understand. Hearing you say to attack Mirmode… It was so sudden, and strange.”

At Anessa’s words, the Crown Prince became angry and pounded the table with his fist.

“Melodia didn’t bewitch us!”

“I don’t know. If Melodia hadn’t incited us, would we have made such a bad move to try to catch Mirmode? Think about it, Brother. The reason I took the risk and tried to abuse and drive out Sienne Mirmode was because of Melodia and you, Brother.”

The Crown Prince and Princess’s voices rose. Melodia only sipped her tea with a faint smile on her lips.

“Hoo…”

She waited for the Crown Prince and Anessa to calm down, quietly exhaling and putting down her teacup.

Even Anessa, who was about to attack Melodia, flinched at her dignified attitude.

Soon, Melodia, who was watching the Crown Prince’s expression next to him, patted his shoulder gently, as if to comfort him.

“Yes. In the end, we couldn’t get rid of Sienne Mirmode.”

The Crown Prince, feeling an inexplicable sense of peace at her touch, suddenly turned red at the words ‘Sienne Mirmode.’

“Yes, Melodia.”

“It’s a shame. But you worked hard, Your Highness.”

Melodia smiled brightly, folding her eyes [a Korean expression describing an eye smile].

In fact, Anessa’s words were not wrong. The reason he tried to get rid of Sienne Mirmode was because of the woman he fell in love with at first sight, Saintess Melodia.

Because she said that Sienne Mirmode must be eliminated, he tried to ensnare Mirmode by using Anessa and the Yoter Merchant Group. He was willing to risk everything like a moth flying into a flame….

‘Everyone said it was strange to find fault with the Mirmode family with a paternity test, but even though everything failed, listening to Melodia makes me feel like it was worth it.’

Just Melodia patting his shoulder and saying he had worked hard made him feel like the anger towards his father and the inferiority complex towards Matthias were melting away. He took Melodia’s hand, which was caressing his shoulder as if to comfort him, and said briefly.

“…Melodia.”

“Yes.”

“I think you’re the only one for me after all.”

He ignored Anessa’s gaze, which was looking at him with an absurd expression.

To him, his beloved woman was more precious than his sister, who was a foolish tool to be sold off to another kingdom to make the empire more prosperous.

Saintess Melodia was his first love, and the only woman he wanted to give the position of Crown Princess to. He gazed at Melodia with affection.

Soon after, their clasped hands fell apart, and Melodia looked back at him.

“Really?”

“Yes, then as we talked about before, the engagement…”

Melodia smiled briefly and shook her hand.

“I have to leave for the Path of Light now.”

“Melodia? You’re really going? Not just saying you’re going to the Path of Light and trying to stay secluded?”

“Yes, Your Highness. Of course.”

‘Heading to the Path of Light’ meant walking to the Lux coast located at the southernmost tip of the empire.

It was named that because a long time ago, there was said to be a demon realm shrouded in dark light near the coastline of the Lux coast, but this was actually close to delusion.

Now, ‘walking the Path of Light’ refers to the process of constantly walking and walking along the southernmost coast of the empire for several years, as if on a pilgrimage, and bestowing grace on the people of the empire.

Because of this, it was also called the Pilgrim’s Path instead of its official name, the Path of Light.

Although it was a pilgrimage site that anyone, such as the Pope, Saintess, or Cardinal, would visit, most of them visited around the end of their lives just before retirement.

It was rare for a young saintess to visit the Path of Light. The Crown Prince frowned at the rather unusual move.

“Why are you leaving for the ‘Path of Light’ already? You’re still young. You can get married and leave.”

Instantly, Melodia’s eyes, which had been gentle and lovely, turned cold.

It was such a quick change of expression that the Crown Prince was taken aback.

But as if all that coldness was a lie, Melodia gently raised the corners of her mouth and said kindly.

“His Holiness the Pope and I have something to find on the Path of Light.”

“Something to find?”

“Yes. I’m sure that if we find ‘it,’ Your Highness the Crown Prince will ascend to the throne without being checked by anyone.”

The Crown Prince bit his lip at her words.

Since meeting Melodia, everything had gone well when he listened to her.

Although he had lost face in the Sienne Mirmode paternity test incident….

‘That’s because I was trying to work hard for Melodia and made a mistake, and she’s not at fault at all.’

It seemed that Melodia thought that she had to keep Sienne Mirmode, who was only ten years old, in check.

“Okay, then when you come back, we…”

“Yes. Good. Let’s get married. When I come back safely, that is.”

She raised her hand, brought it to the Crown Prince’s cheek, and said kindly.

It was a fairly simple proposal.

Melodia wasn’t even smiling. But to the Crown Prince, who was in a budding love, everything about her seemed good.

Anessa watched the scene with cold eyes.

‘It’s not even funny.’

Even though they had lost everything, how could those lovers be so brazen?

She felt strangely bad.

‘Why did Melodia try to keep Sienne Mirmode in check?’

Sienne Mirmode was smart, but she was still a child.

She was just a young sprout that the pure and kind Melodia was trying to eliminate, so why did she try to get the Crown Prince’s hands dirty?

Suddenly, a question arose.

But suddenly, she felt sick, as if she had motion sickness. Melodia, noticing Anessa’s uncomfortable expression, smiled kindly and spoke.

“Anessa, you seem to have a bad headache. Rest.”

As she said, she couldn’t continue thinking anymore.

Anessa touched her throbbing forehead and leaned back on the sofa.

***

Why was the temple side so eager to eliminate Sienne Mirmode?

It wasn’t just Princess Anessa who had doubts about it. Matthias Mirmode, who had resolved all these incidents with Sienne, felt the same.

Inside the office of the Young Duke of the Mirmode family.

Matthias looked down at the desk and whispered, resting his chin on his hand.

“In the end, the Crown Prince colluded with the temple to carry out this plan. Is that what it means?”

“Yes, that’s right. The Yoter Merchant Group, the temple, and the Crown Prince. It can be seen as a collaboration of these three. But the question is why the Crown Prince and the temple stepped in.”

“They must have tried to tarnish our family.”

“But…”

“Yes. It’s too much. It was such an excessive thing that I wonder why they did this to tarnish the Mirmode family.”

Matthias smiled satisfactorily after checking the report that he had eliminated all the council elders who had received kickbacks from the Crown Prince.

As expected, the assassins he had personally trained had never made a mistake.

“But when I think about it, I don’t think I need to worry about the reason.”

“Yes?”

“The temple and the imperial palace attacked my daughter at the same time….”

Matthias’s eyes narrowed. The tip of his finger pointed to the map on the desk.

In the center of the map were the imperial palace and the temple.

The tip of his finger was placed in the middle of the imperial palace and the central temple.

“I should get rid of both.”