I’Ll Protect My Tyrant Dad! [EN]: Chapter 86

Tyrant Dad, I’ll Protect You! 86. An Unexpected Rumor (86/140)

86. An Unexpected Rumor

2023.09.26.

The next morning, the academy classroom buzzed with excitement, almost reaching a frenzy.

The reason? Burger was absent.

To be honest, Burger’s presence had been minimal until now. He was seen as a kid who occasionally got beaten behind the academy teacher’s back, a pitiful kid, a kid with a strange personality… That was about it.

So, no one would have cared if Burger didn’t come to school.

That’s how it should have been…

“I heard Burger is a big deal?”

“I heard he’s a foreign prince!”

“So, he was hiding his identity? I thought he was just a fallen noble!”

The whole academy was abuzz because of a girl who suddenly arrived with a gossip magazine.

“Here, it says ‘Raymond Hessberger.’ It’s a family that even the Emperor can’t treat carelessly!”

“Wow, the ‘Hessberger’ family is said to be the richest family on the continent. They control a huge source of wealth!”

It’s not that children are oblivious to social hierarchy.

Rather, because they are young and impressionable, they react even more strongly to power dynamics.

“No wonder Martin and Sien Mirmord were trying to befriend Burger. It seemed strange. And what’s with the name Burger? It sounds so fake!”

In an instant, all eyes turned to Riena. Riena was silently looking at her book with a blank expression, but her fingertips were trembling slightly.

She seemed to have noticed that everyone was staring at her.

The moment Riena flipped a page with her trembling hand, a child said loudly.

“Then what about Riena now?”

Riena was also the daughter of a fairly prestigious count family.

Besides, what happened within the academy walls was often overlooked.

No matter how clever Burger was, he was a poor fallen noble, so Riena’s use of some level of violence could be tolerated.

That was how aristocratic society functioned.

“Originally, towards fallen nobles…”

But direct violence was always a problem.

What if the victim turned out to be at the top of the social pyramid?

The children who were staring at Riena began to whisper amongst themselves.

“If Burger is really a foreign prince, isn’t it a diplomatic issue?”

Martin, who had been listening to all the gossip, slammed his book shut nervously.

Amid the chaotic rumors of Raymond Hessberger, Burger, and Sien Mirmord, he remained silent.

Then, someone opened the door and came in.

‘Sien Mirmord, finally here.’

He stared at the clock. It was one minute before the teacher started the morning assembly.

‘I wanted to talk to her.’

Martin bit his lip irritably and glared at Sien. She was smiling brightly.

Even when the children around her were whispering busily, even when the teacher came in with a pale face, she didn’t care; she just rested her chin on her hand and tapped her toes.

As if she had expected all of this, she wasn’t curious about the rumors.

Seeing that, Martin’s suspicion of Sien intensified.

‘She definitely seemed interested in Burger… If she’s not interested in this rumor and acts like she already knows, there’s only one explanation.’

That Sien Mirmord intentionally spread this rumor.

The suspicion grew deeper and deeper, and Martin couldn’t suppress his curiosity.

***

“Sien Mirmord.”

“Huh?”

“You spread the rumor, didn’t you?”

After the boring class ended, during break time.

After calling Sien to an empty classroom at the end of the hallway and locking the door, Martin asked quite directly. He phrased it as a question, but it was such a confident statement that no one would have mistaken it for one.

When Martin’s clear gaze turned to Sien, Sien just shrugged.

“What rumor?”

“The rumor about Burger.”

Sien raised her eyebrows, pretending to be uninterested, as if she knew it would be about that.

“So what?”

“I know Burger. His family isn’t that great.”

“Huh?”

“He’s probably barely related to the Hessbergers. Even if he is related, he’s just a young child from a collateral [distant] line.”

Martin thought that Sien would tell him the information as soon as she heard his reasoning. At least, he thought she would admit that she was the one who spread the rumor, or deny it.

But Sien was a child who was far from his expectations.

“You’re really interested in Burger, aren’t you?”

Martin asked back with a speechless expression.

“…What?”

“No, I heard yesterday that people saw you and Burger hanging out on the way home from school? I heard you even brought Burger a bandage.”

Martin was speechless.

“Martin, do you actually like Burger?”

“What? I, I like girls.”

“…Who said that?”

Sien shook her head at him and smiled.

“No, not that.”

“Then what…?”

“Because you were so interested in Burger, because you kept worrying about Burger, you felt like you were condoning school violence, so you kept hovering around him?”

“…”

Martin covered his red face with his hands.

Even in the midst of that, I could see his eyes rolling to the side, so I laughed briefly.

“Martin.”

“…What.”

He looked tired.

“Thanks to you, Burger was less hurt. He’ll be grateful to you.”

I tried to open the classroom door.

“That’s not what you came here to talk about… is it!”

I shrugged.

“That’s what I came here to talk about? And Martin.”

“Why.”

He looked exhausted.

“Burger is a prince. That’s not a false rumor, is it?”

***

I closed the door and looked at Martin’s dumbfounded expression.

Martin must have thought I spread a false rumor, but I didn’t. Burger is actually the prince of the Hessberger Kingdom.

Although he is the 13th son, his father, the king, is not very interested in Burger, and Burger is free to live as he pleases.

‘Burger was disgusted with this empire because of the constant bullying, so he left, probably.’

The king of the Hessberger family didn’t care how Burger lived.

‘The children won’t bully Burger because they think it will escalate into a diplomatic issue, but in fact, the king probably doesn’t even know if Burger is alive or dead.’

This was certain because I saw it directly in [the novel the protagonist transmigrated into].

Thinking that, I waved my hand lightly.

Burger was already at the door.

It wasn’t the warm face that used to recite hamburgers and cheeseburgers, but a cold, cold gaze. I stared at Burger and handed him the Burger keyring in my pocket.

“You wanted this. Now, let’s talk.”

“…If you thought I’d fall for something like this…”

“Prince Hessberger.”

Burger fiddled with the Burger-shaped keyring and suddenly looked at me. I said with a warm smile.

“You seem to already know that I spread the rumor?”

Burger is smart.

Besides…

“You told me to spread the rumor. That letter, Acid, gave it to me.”

I was going to spread the rumor behind Burger’s back, but of course, I was going to get Burger’s consent.

If Burger showed even the slightest sign of disliking it, I was going to drop the ‘spreading rumors operation.’

If Burger, who received the letter yesterday, said that he was uncomfortable revealing his identity, if he showed any sign of that, I might have just let it go.

But…

“You were looking forward to it too, weren’t you.”

I said to Burger. Burger flinched greatly.

As if my words were correct. I carefully took out the next words.

“You couldn’t say it yourself. Because your father told you directly ‘not to reveal your identity.'”

There was such a backstory in the original .

The position of the 13th prince was quite ambiguous. He was born with noble blood, but it was difficult to receive proper treatment in the kingdom. Especially if his mother had passed away like Burger.

So Burger came to the Imperial Academy of the Empire.

In short, Burger’s admission was a kind of escape to avoid being sacrificed in the power struggles between the imperial families.

“…My father won’t like it if he finds out that the rumor has spread. That’s why I was quiet.”

I said firmly to Burger.

“Wouldn’t your father be upset if he knew you were being abused?”

At those words, Burger retorted with a tearful expression.

“What do you know about my family? My father doesn’t care about me at all. He doesn’t even know if I’m alive or not-”

I looked at Burger quietly and opened my mouth.

“Well, then it doesn’t matter, does it? If he doesn’t know anyway…”

At those words, Burger gave me a cold look.

In an instant, I felt like I had made a mistake. I realized that I might have hurt Burger’s feelings.

I lightly agreed.

“I’m sorry, Burger. I must have sounded like I was lecturing you. I’m really sorry for talking carelessly about your family affairs.”

“…Do you know?”

I stared at Burger.

He seemed smarter than I thought when he put down his Burger obsession and math obsession.

“…Yes, Sien Mirmord. I thought if I endured like this, they would lose interest in me. But…”

I stared at him and opened my mouth again.

“Burger, you’re naive. Do you think Riena will leave you alone? Do you think if you stay still, she’ll think, ‘Oh, it’s not fun anymore,’ and leave?”

Only then did Burger sigh and reveal his true feelings.

“…Yeah, so I left you alone. Because you were doing what I wanted. I didn’t want to get beaten by others either. I’m a prince, after all.”

In , the nobles who bullied and ostracized Burger continued to prosper afterward.

So it probably wouldn’t escalate into a major diplomatic issue.

“But I had that thought too.”

“…What thought?”

“Right now, everyone seems to be leaving me alone because they’re worried about it escalating into a diplomatic issue between the Empire and the Kingdom. But anyway, my father doesn’t care about me.”

“…”

“I’m just a prince in name only. The fact that that’s revealed… doesn’t feel good. Of course, it’s better than getting beaten up.”

Burger sighed and swept his hair back. Now, Burger didn’t look like a nerd who was only interested in math, but like a real prince.

But Burger’s words were wrong.

I shook my head at Burger.

“No, Burger!”

“…What?”

I blinked and tilted my head.

As if I didn’t understand why he was discouraged.

“From now on, you’re a prince sponsored by Mirmord, so why are you just a prince in name only?”