I’Ll Protect My Tyrant Dad! [EN]: Chapter 88

88. Does Acid Like Me Too?

It sounded like a pig being slaughtered. Startled, we all looked beyond the trees.

“……Leonhardt?”

Leonhardt started making Tarzan noises as he sprinted towards us.

“Aaaah-!”

“What’s wrong?”

“Aaaaaaah!”

It was an enormous scream.

Startled by his behavior, as if he was trying to block something that should never be heard, I stared at his fluttering hair.

Everyone was so surprised that they couldn’t even open their mouths, and Leonhardt arrived right in front of us.

I looked at him, bewildered, and asked.

“What is it?”

Then, Leonhardt quickly gestured towards Acid. It looked like he was mouthing, ‘Hurry, hurry! We’re going to die!’ While I was still puzzled, Acid urgently blocked me and said.

“Th, that! So! Th, calm down first.”

“What is it, really?”

“Sir Leonhardt! You have something to say, right?”

“Uhh!”

Leonhardt, who had rushed over with his eyebrows fluttering, tried to grab my wrist but was pushed away by Acid.

He puffed out one eyebrow so dramatically that it was visible even behind his mask, as if he felt wronged, and said.

“Ah, it’s swordsmanship practice time. I need to talk to Martin!”

“Is it that time already? But why are you in such a hurry…….”

“I, I’m in a hurry. I’m really in a hurry! Don’t talk to each other! Only talk to me!”

“……What, are you jealous?”

Leonhardt clenched his fist as if he had lost face, then threw a jab into the air and said.

“Absolutely not! You don’t know this older brother’s heart, Cien!”

‘It’s more amazing and commendable to see Leonhardt getting along with his peers like that, rather than always acting serious behind the scenes…….’

“……I think I want to never know.”

At those words, Leonhardt scratched the back of his head roughly and said.

“Ah, anyway, I’ll take Martin!”

“Okay. Have a good practice with Martin, Leonhardt!”

“Okay, got it. Chestnut.”

Leonhardt’s mouth seemed to be lifting in a rather contrived way, but I couldn’t interrupt his practice time.

Martin muttered with an uncomfortable expression.

“……I’ll, be back. The story about your father we were talking about earlier-”

“Ugh! Let’s go quickly! Martin! We have to go to class!”

Martin and Leonhardt held hands tightly and ran off with their eyebrows fluttering.

“Yeah. Classes are important, of course.”

I hid my dark intentions and smiled cheerfully.

‘If you two work hard, you’ll grow up well and become excellent swords of Mirmord!’

More than anything, attending classes is a student’s duty.

It might seem like I’m just focused on recruiting talent and doing other things since I came to the academy, but in fact, I’m also diligently attending classes, that’s what I’m saying.

I waved my hand at them with a proud heart.

***

After Leonhardt and Martin quickly disappeared for swordsmanship practice, Burger left to attend his after-school math class.

I wished Burger a happy future with a happy heart.

In the end, I ended up going home from school alone with Acid.

The muscle maid sisters made a fuss when they saw Acid and me together and ended up riding on horseback instead of in the carriage.

“Hoho, we have driver’s licenses.”

“……Why do you have driver’s licenses when you’re maids?”

“I wonder.”

“Hmm, you’re nobles……?”

At my suspicious words, Deadly Sister glared and grabbed the horsehair whip.

“The noble world is a jungle. The weak don’t survive!”

Bench Sister, who was next to her, reluctantly gave a punishment and echoed.

“They don’t!”

……And so, somehow, only Acid and I were left alone in the carriage.

On the way in the carriage, Acid was quiet for a while before opening his mouth.

“You recruited Burger and Martin as talents.”

“Yeah!”

I glanced at Acid, who had become strangely calm, and added a word.

“Acid is also my talent, and I really like Acid!”

I calculated that if I said that, Acid’s mood would soften. But Acid suddenly brought up something else.

“Cien.”

“Huh?”

“If you’re worried that I might feel hurt because you only take care of other people…….”

“……Huh?”

“You don’t have to.”

Acid smiled brightly.

“I like Cien, so I’m on Cien’s side no matter what. You don’t have to try so hard to be nice to me.”

“……Huh?”

“I don’t want Cien to do emotional labor. Every time I see you looking out for other people’s thoughts…… a little…….”

No one had ever said that to me before.

Even I thought it was natural for me to try to win other people’s hearts.

“It hurts. Cien is precious just as you are, so everyone can’t help but like Cien. You don’t have to try.”

“…….”

I flinched at that smile. It was a pure smile, like a magnolia flower blooming.

‘There are many people who smile beautifully, but why…….’

I didn’t feel anything when other people smiled like that, but strangely, when Acid smiled like that, resembling the sunlight, I kept feeling like ants were tickling the tips of my toes.

Even now, that sensation seemed to be flowing along the tips of my body.

I wiggled my fingers and subtly turned my gaze to the side.

“……Does Acid like me too?”

“Of course.”

I smiled brightly and brought up the next words.

My heart was pounding because I calculated that Acid would like it so much if I said this.

“Then I like Acid too!”

Acid quietly bowed his head to me.

He looked like a vassal.

I felt good when Leonhardt, the Captain, Ted, and even Delphia Sister showed such a minion-like attitude, but when Acid did that, I felt like my heart was sinking.

“……Acid.”

“Yes.”

“So…….”

“……Yes.”

I looked at Acid and whispered softly.

While firmly holding onto the heart that was trying to flutter like a leaf swaying in the pine breeze.

“Please stay with me in the future too!”

After those words were finished, I really wished it would happen.

I wanted Acid to be by my side even after I became an adult. I just thought I would be happy if that happened.

***

Meanwhile, Martin and Leonhardt finished their sparring lessons and went their separate ways home.

Martin kept thinking about what Leonhardt had said during the ‘swordsmanship practice’ time.

Leonhardt was trembling as he talked about Cien.

According to Leonhardt, Cien is…….

‘Cien doesn’t know anything.’

……Yes, he said she doesn’t know anything.

When Martin first heard those words, he didn’t know exactly what Leonhardt meant.

He was preoccupied with the thought of what exactly he meant by saying that.

‘What doesn’t she know?’

That’s why he answered so casually and arrogantly.

Leonhardt’s eyes were shining coldly behind his mask.

‘……How dangerous Matthias Mirmord is. Cien doesn’t know anything.’

Martin frowned and asked back.

‘Is that possible? She doesn’t know Matthias Mirmord?’

‘Cien doesn’t know. And that’s possible.’

‘I don’t understand.’

‘Anyway, remember it. Never talk about Matthias’s infamy in front of Cien. This is a warning. You could die too.’

‘I already said a little…….’

At those words, Leonhardt opened his mouth wide and said.

‘May he rest in peace.’

Then he put down his protective gear and sword and disappeared.

On the way out of the school, walking past the spot where he had disappeared, Martin bit his lip and frowned.

“He’s oblivious in strange places, he’s a really strange kid.”

Cien Mirmord.

A young female classmate of the same age as him.

He never thought of getting close to this kid, but somehow it happened. Martin bit his lip tightly.

But Martin felt like he knew why Cien didn’t even dream of knowing Matthias’s identity.

That child seemed to give endlessly to the people she liked.

Cien loves her father, so she would never doubt his heart. After thinking that, he felt dreamy.

At the same time, Cien’s voice floated in his ears like a hallucination.

‘Martin is my person now!’

‘What?’

‘My person. Is there anything wrong with that?’

……No one had ever said ‘my person’ to him. There were many people who admired him, but no one had given him their side. So, of course, he was going to refuse those words.

Martin recalled Cien’s brave appearance when she saved Burger from being assaulted in the past.

After that, he felt like a small, righteous seed had been planted in his heart.

‘……It might not be so bad.’

On the way home from school, he looked at the nameless pink wildflowers blooming, and thought that they somehow resembled Cien.

And the moment he realized his thoughts, his cheeks turned as red as apples.

A warm season was approaching.

***

That’s how a few days passed, and it became the weekend.

It was a sweet holiday without going to the academy, and I had recruited Burger and Martin to my side, so I was going to sleep in for the first time in a long time…….

“Cien, don’t you play with Acid these days?”

……But I failed because the maid sisters woke me up.

I opened my goldfish eyes towards the maid sisters who were spoon-feeding me soup.

“Uung. I played with him yesterday too?”

“Ah……. Acid kept hovering around the room just now.”

“Acid?”

Deadly Sister looked at me and smiled slyly.

“You two, maybe.”

I shook my head, putting the soup bowl on the narrow table.

“I don’t know!”

I could feel the maid sisters exchanging glances. Deadly Sister whispered slyly.

“We haven’t said anything yet!”

I covered myself with the blanket and rubbed my pounding heart.

‘I just like Acid as a friend, but because people around me keep pushing me in a strange way……!’

It was definitely like that. There wasn’t even any opportunity. I just saved Acid, and Acid is just loyally following me, that was the relationship.

‘Acid is a commoner and I’m a noble, so according to the Imperial Law, he can’t do anything. No, but why am I even imagining this!’

To get my mind right, I covered myself with the blanket, closed my eyes tightly, and then opened them.

I have to persuade the Senate to sponsor me today, so I didn’t have time to worry about trivial love affairs.

After thinking that, my mind was cleared as if I had been splashed with cold water.

I kicked off the blanket and jumped up, bouncing my body.

‘I have to tell them to sponsor me!’

Now it was time to meet Dad!