I’Ll Protect My Tyrant Dad! [EN]: Chapter 84

Jealousy of Acid

Martin stared intently at my outstretched hand before shaking his head.

“No.”

Well, I didn’t expect him to agree on the first try. But I needed to hear his reasons. That way, I could address them.

“…Why?”

He chuckled and said,

“Honestly, it’s a little scary to be close to you.”

“…Why is that?”

I looked at him quizzically, gazing at his pink, cotton candy-like hair and his round, steamed-bun-like hands. The reason he said it was ‘scary’ to be close to me probably wasn’t because of my appearance.

I directly stated what I suspected.

“Ah, I get it. Is it because of the Mirmord family?”

“The Mirmord family?”

He scoffed as if he couldn’t believe it. I blinked at him, a questioning look on my face.

“Yeah! You want to be friends with me, but you’re scared of the Mirmord family’s bad reputation, right? But I didn’t grow up in the Mirmord family—”

“No, it’s not the Mirmord family. To be exact, I’m scared of your father.”

“…My dad is scary?”

I gaped at the ridiculous statement.

“R, really?”

Martin took a step back and paused, as if sensing joy in my eyes.

I shook my head as if it were nothing.

“Is it because of the Trial of Guilt? I’m not close to demons! I can swear! Don’t be prejudiced and let’s be friends!”

I kept appealing, but Martin looked uneasy and said,

“I’ve never even seen that trial. It’s not because of that. Matthias Mirmord is…”

He scanned me up and down and whispered lowly,

“…worse than a demon. Don’t you know? We all grew up listening to stories about Matthias Mirmord. Scary tales about how Matthias Mirmord will take you away if you cry at night.”

My eyes widened.

‘My dad, who always gets scammed, has such a bad reputation! This is a good sign, though?!’

It was a truly absurd story, but he seemed serious.

But I had something to say.

“I feel bad when you speak badly about my dad.”

“I’ve heard rumors that Matthias Mirmord cherishes you… I guess it’s true. I’m sorry for insulting your family.”

His sincere apology made me feel embarrassed. He looked at me seriously and said,

“…I’m sorry to you, but I hope you understand why I can’t be friends with you.”

I was momentarily stunned by his sincere words, indirectly revealing that he couldn’t be friends with me because of my dad. Just then,

Leonhardt and Acid came running towards us, cutting through the wind. He stomped his feet and shook his head.

“…Leonhardt?”

“I killed them all! I took care of that Burger guy too!”

“O-oh? But?”

He looked like there was a big problem.

He took a deep breath and shouted as if spitting fire,

“I’ll punish that guy who slandered Matthias as a demon!”

“…What? Weren’t you not close to my dad? More importantly, were you listening from the beginning?”

“T-that’s not important!”

I even felt a hint of bewilderment at his desperate attitude for my dad’s honor. He was acting like his life was on the line, which was quite suspicious.

“A-anyway! I challenge you to a duel!”

“I refuse.”

Leonhardt asked back with a dumbfounded expression.

“What?”

Martin looked at me, Leonhardt, and Acid with questioning eyes, then disappeared.

Leaving only a lingering feeling about my dad in my heart.

***

I felt so bad about Martin’s words that my dad was scary that I skipped dinner.

I snuggled into bed, rubbing my face against the pillowcase and closing my eyes tightly.

Then, my dad, who was already soft-hearted, seemed to have turned as soft as tofu. He was fussing around, opening and closing my door, making a fuss.

‘Is Dad really a bad person?’

He was the one who slaughtered the pig to throw a barbecue party…

I felt incredibly down. I burrowed deeper into the blanket. I could hear my dad’s trembling voice from beyond the blanket.

“Sienne, aren’t you eating dinner? Why?”

I mumbled without lifting the blanket.

“Just because…”

My dad, who managed to hear me, replied,

“Did someone bully our baby?”

I lifted the blanket just a little and chattered,

“No, I’m sleepy. I thought a lot and my head hurts too. So.”

“You look weak.”

The reason I was weak was because I heard bad things about my dad.

“Go away, Dad.”

Thinking about it, I remembered the descriptions of the Mirmord family in the original . The people of the Mirmord family deliberately fabricated bad reputations and let them leak to the outside.

‘In the Mirmord family, they plaster adult Mirmords with bad reputations…’

I wondered if my dad’s bad reputation was fabricated in that way.

‘There’s no way my dad, a commoner, could have done all those dangerous things.’

My dad is just a person with potatoes in his hands… He worked hard in the neighborhood youth association, but he was a kind pushover who didn’t even know the exact prices of potatoes and sweet potatoes…

I buried my face in the pillowcase and shook my head, trying to erase the thoughts that dominated my mind.

But I couldn’t fall asleep that night.

***

The next morning.

I arrived at the academy with dark circles under my eyes.

“Hoo…”

“What’s wrong, Sienne?”

I sighed deeply and collapsed on my desk. Then Leonhardt started chattering.

“You’re doing that because of Acid, aren’t you?”

I’m not.

“Because Acid hasn’t been by your side lately?”

That’s not it either.

“As your brother, I’m telling you, you two don’t match well.”

Was it because I met a peer friend? I stared at Leonhardt, who had become strangely talkative, with lifeless eyes and opened my mouth.

“It’s nothing… Oh, wait a minute?”

“Why?”

“Now that I think about it, where did Acid go?”

As soon as I heard Leonhardt’s words, I unknowingly craned my neck and looked around. Acid was really gone.

“Class is about to start…”

I had been so focused on chasing after Burger, the math genius boy, and Martin, who admired him, that I had become negligent towards Acid.

Whether it was because I didn’t pay attention to him, or for other personal reasons, Acid skipped the entire first class today.

Even though I’m in this classroom.

‘I feel strange because Acid is gone.’

…I guess I’ve gotten too used to Acid.

I stroked my somehow empty chest and muttered to myself.

“He’ll come during lunchtime, right?”

“Yeah, right? Under the zelkova tree.”

“Yeah!”

We decided to have lunch under the zelkova tree today instead of the cafeteria.

Leonhardt, who was staring at me intently, smiled brightly and nodded.

It meant he was happy.

***

Meanwhile, Acid was briefly outside the classroom.

He thought that something had been wrong with his heart lately, like a broken faucet.

It felt as if emotions were constantly leaking out of his heart, just like water dripping from a broken faucet.

Was it because Sienne had been neglecting him lately?

‘Sienne is busy, so she might neglect me. But why do I keep feeling like this?’

He lowered his gaze and walked down the hallway before stopping.

Whether it was already break time, there were girls gathered around the window.

But it wasn’t the girls’ presence that caught his attention. It was because he heard the girls talking about the name ‘Sienne’ by the window in the hallway.

“The Duchess Sienne has a loyal dog.”

He unknowingly hid himself against the wall of the hallway.

“Ah, you mean that commoner? The healer.”

“Yeah, that’s right. At first, I thought he was in love with Sienne. They seemed so close.”

His heart momentarily thumped at the word ‘love affair.’ Even though he didn’t have the age or knowledge to properly understand the meaning of the word, it strangely pierced a corner of his heart.

He bit his lip tightly and leaned against the wall of the hallway. Unaware that Acid was eavesdropping, the girls giggled and spat out the next words.

“Eh, probably not. Sienne seems interested in other geniuses, right?”

It was a different feeling than before.

The feeling of having the fact that Sienne wasn’t interested in him confirmed by a third party was really not good.

To exaggerate, it felt even worse than when he realized that he had been abandoned by his brother Ted.

“Then, well, Acid is just an employee!”

It would be normal to feel good when hearing those words. Because people cherish and love Sienne.

Because they acknowledge him as Sienne’s minion.

But his heart wasn’t fluttering with happiness, but rather throbbing unpleasantly.

“Should I take care of him?”

“Should you? Since he’s a commoner, if you give him a little bit of your fiefdom, he might immediately come over to you.”

Listening to the voices of the girls laughing while looking at each other, Acid thought. He didn’t care how those girls treated him. Only one thing was important to him.

‘I’m… just Sienne’s employee.’

Thinking that way, he felt suffocated as if a heavy weight was hanging in his heart.

‘Why do I feel like this?’

It was as if he wanted to occupy a bigger place in Sienne’s heart.

As if shaking off the thoughts in his head, Acid shook his head violently. The fine hair brushed against his face, shaking off the dark parts of his heart.

‘Yeah, what more could I want than to be Sienne’s employee?’

It was Sienne who saved him from his life in the gutter. He shouldn’t dare to want anything else. He slowly clenched and unclenched his hands and walked towards the zelkova tree.

It was to follow Sienne’s orders before being divided into classes based on skill level. She had told him to read a book there and to come near the tree after the skill-based classes were over.

To faithfully follow those words, he approached the old zelkova tree full of green grass in the center of the academy. Near the old zelkova tree, he saw a little lady with familiar pink hair.

Acid unknowingly smiled and shouted.

“Sienne!”

But there was no answer.

Feeling puzzled, Acid hurried his steps. As he got closer to the zelkova tree, he had no choice but to stop.

The shade of the branches cast a shadow on Sienne’s face.

Sienne was dozing off, holding a book in her hand with her eyes closed. A breeze blew, causing Sienne’s pink hair to flutter.

The sight was like watching a scene from a masterpiece.

Acid watched Sienne from afar, unable to approach.

Before long, she quietly raised her head with sleepy eyes and then rubbed her eyes. Acid captured even that sight in his eyes.

And, finally…

“Oh? Acid!”

Sienne found him.