I’Ll Protect My Tyrant Dad! [EN]: Chapter 101

“Please send me with you.”

The identity of the strange blue light was none other than Acid.

He, who had been present yet almost unnoticed, used the power of a healer to appear at this place.

Tedd, taken aback by his younger brother’s sudden intrusion, quickly waved his hands in denial.

“Acid! What are you talking about?”

“……Tedd.”

“Acid, you can’t. You’re… in danger.”

Stepping forward now meant inserting himself into the center of the power struggles between the temple, the imperial palace, and the Mirmord family.

Acid, still young, couldn’t possibly know these political currents.

At the very least, he wanted to prevent Acid, who knew nothing, from carrying firewood into the fire [a metaphor for needlessly putting himself in harm’s way].

Acid looked at his brother, Tedd.

As time passed, the unprovoked anger had dulled, but even so, he had never called Tedd his brother. That was how deep the emotional rift between them was.

“Brother.”

“……Acid?”

It was the first time Acid had called Tedd ‘brother’ since their reunion. Tedd bit his lip at his younger brother’s words.

Because the brothers’ relationship had not been restored, Tedd always found it difficult to deal with Acid. But he had never felt such a wall between them as he did today.

“Sienne is in danger. I have to go. Even if I end up in danger, brother, that’s only natural.”

“Why is that natural? Acid!”

“I should have died when I was in the orphanage, but thanks to Sienne, I got to live once more. So, I have to go.”

Matthias, who had been quietly listening to the brothers’ conversation, finally spoke.

“There are no divine power users in this family, are there?”

“No, it’s just me.”

“We need a healer with divine abilities to break through the temple’s barrier anyway.”

The temple’s barrier was twofold.

One barrier was made up of complex magic circles, and Matthias could destroy the first barrier if he used all his power.

The problem was the other barrier. Matthias, strained from dealing with the first barrier, could not possibly break through the second one safely. Moreover, the barrier composed of divine power automatically repelled those with impure thoughts.

Even for Matthias, who was arguably the best among the Mirmord family, destroying both types of barriers that the Pope had painstakingly created over many years was an extremely mentally taxing task.

However, if a divine power user was by his side, the situation would change.

“I’m a healer, so I’ll be helpful. I can keep helping Matthias recover his strength with divine power.”

Tedd’s voice subsided as he realized that his younger brother had made a firm decision.

“No, it’s dangerous even if you’re in the rear. You’re……”

But he still wanted to dissuade him. At least, he quickly stepped forward, thinking that he had to stop his younger brother, Acid.

Approaching Acid, he murmured while looking at the boy’s lips.

“You’re still young.”

But Matthias was faster.

He tilted his head, looking at Acid with an intrigued gaze.

“What does age matter for a healer? Step aside. I need that young one.”

Tedd gritted his teeth at the attitude that he didn’t need anything else to save his daughter.

Acid spoke mysteriously and stubbornly, as if he knew something.

“Yes. I will go. I have to go save Sienne.”

Acid closed and opened his eyes as if he had received a mission.

Matthias stared intently at Acid and said.

“Sienne told you to, didn’t she?”

“Yes. She told me to come and save her if she got hurt later.”

“I see. Then let’s go.”

Matthias didn’t ask any more questions. Instead, he took Acid’s soft hand with his own, which rarely had calluses, and said.

“Hand.”

Acid asked back with a puzzled look at the sudden words.

“……Yes?”

“You have to hold hands to move together [referring to the teleportation]. So, let’s go save her.”

It was when the aides, who had been frozen for a long time at Matthias’s words ‘We’re going to raid the Central Temple,’ finally came to their senses and began to murmur.

Tedd quietly bit his lip and muttered.

“Acid. I trust your judgment. I’ll just do my best to make sure you can come back, from this spot.”

He had decided to respect Acid’s decision.

At those words, Acid said with a faint smile.

“……Thank you. Then, shall we go now?”

Acid, who was at the tender age of transitioning from a boy to a young man, had a subtly mature air about him. Matthias, who had become even more displeased, whispered in a low voice.

“Ah, and one more thing. I’m taking you because you’re a healer, so don’t harbor any malice towards my daughter.”

Acid did not answer those words. Instead, he nodded slightly.

It was the etiquette of a vassal, but it did not satisfy Matthias. Matthias activated the mobile magic tool with an uncomfortable look.

A bright light flashed from the magic tool.

And so, Acid and Matthias moved to the Central Temple.

***

It was after I had been strangled for quite some time.

Even in the pain that felt like I was suffocating, I gritted my teeth and opened my eyes again.

It was because Axel Mirmord’s appearance, smiling with his teeth bared, felt excessively evil. I didn’t want to show such a person my flustered and suffering self.

Axel smiled crookedly as he looked at me.

“Yes, now I’ve calmed down. It was quite amusing, Sienne Mirmord.”

“…….”

I tried to answer those words as if it were obvious, but my body wouldn’t listen. Axel continued to speak.

“Stupid and young thing.”

“…….”

“You’re thinking that your father will come to save you, aren’t you?”

Perhaps because I had been strangled for a long time, a fit of coughing broke out.

I coughed for a while before fixing my bloodshot eyes on him.

“Wh……at.”

I didn’t want to give him any hints. Not caring about my bruised neck, I lowered my gaze.

‘These guys’ target isn’t me. It’s my dad. So, I just have to endure. Without dying. Then it will go according to my plan.’

Having barely stopped coughing, I quickly organized my thoughts and quietly replied in a voice that had gone completely hoarse.

“My dad won’t come to get me. Because, my dad hates me.”

Axel chuckled and laughed.

His laughter, which seemed to tear at my eardrums, lasted for almost a minute. The moment I glared at him because my ears felt like they were about to burst, Axel whispered.

“Sienne……. You’re saying something truly ridiculous. Your dad hates you? He cherishes you so much that he sent me……”

“……?”

“To the Demon Realm.”

I widened my eyes. It was because the sentence ‘He cherishes you so much that he sent me to the Demon Realm’ didn’t quite make sense.

Knowing that I was looking at him blankly, Axel began to chuckle.

“Don’t you know what kind of guy your father is?”

“I know.”

He was a kind and good dad. He was a noble person who shouldn’t be insulted by the likes of Axel.

Thinking that, I glared at him with strength in my eyes.

Then Axel laughed as if he had seen a tremendous comedy show.

“Hahaha, it’s utterly ridiculous. Well, yeah. Even trashy bastards raise lilies in their arms [a metaphor for even the worst people can have something beautiful in their lives]. They can’t live otherwise.”

As I watched Axel Mirmord sneer, I couldn’t understand exactly what Axel was saying.

Of course, from his point of view, my dad was ‘trash.’ But Axel’s anger was excessively exaggerated. It felt like the anger of someone whose entire life had been thrown into the gutter.

But as far as I knew, my dad wasn’t that kind of person.

“You’re probably that kind of dog-like role to him, maybe.”

I muttered in a voice that had become even huskier.

“……No.”

“Matthias Mirmord is trash. He’s a terrible piece of garbage that all the citizens of the empire know. You might think I’m crazy, but your father is a murderer and a piece of trash who uses everything.”

At that truly absurd story, I glared at him with blazing eyes.

“My dad…… isn’t that kind of person, and it’s probably because you’re trash that you see everything as trash. Birds of a feather flock together [meaning people of similar character tend to associate with each other].”

I didn’t want to show any signs of emotional agitation. But I couldn’t stand the provocation that used my dad.

“Get lost.”

I spat, mocking Axel. Because my mouth was torn, blood-mixed saliva fell to the floor.

But despite my rebuttal and mockery, Axel didn’t seem very agitated. He just looked at me as if I were ridiculous.

“If you think so, the truth will soon be known.”

After he spoke with a sinister smile, the door behind him opened. Seeing the faint light flowing in from outside, I blankly thought.

The uncle wearing the Pope’s robes was coming in. I tried to concentrate on the Pope and tried to forget the words that Axel had jeeringly uttered.

‘Hmm, is that guy the Pope? Then this must really be the Central Temple.’

The person presumed to be the Pope raised the corners of his lips and said, mocking me.

“Oh, my. You’ve seen my face? What to do. To show my face while doing such a bad thing.”

He lightly snapped his fingers. Then my vision went dark again.

Since I wasn’t wearing an eye patch this time, he probably temporarily blinded me with divine power.

‘These damn bastards!’

No matter how I thought about it, it seemed there was no such thing as a prisoner’s bill of rights in this world.

I became seriously curious about what ‘bad thing’ the Pope was going to do in the future.

***

I don’t know how long I was blind.

Since I couldn’t see, I couldn’t know what the Pope and Axel were doing in front of me. I narrowed my eyes and organized my thoughts in my head.

‘Those guys are probably doing some dog-like짓 [a Korean slang for a despicable act], right?’

Feeling a subtly unpleasant breath around me, it seemed like the Pope had come close to me.

Holding my breath and sitting still, I heard a sinister voice in my ear.

“Good girl. I’ll release you now.”

It was the Pope. I said mockingly, enunciating each word.

“That voice pretending to be gentle is disgusting.”

“Oh, our child is a very rude little one, isn’t she?”

With the sound of clapping, my vision became bright again.

As I blinked and tried to readjust, the Pope opened his lips and muttered a very old dead language that I didn’t know.

“Rune.”

I don’t know exactly what a rune is, but a pure white light was instantly created around him. It was a light that sparkled like fireflies, but it was subtly unpleasant.

A sticky sensation was felt on the back of my hand, and rune letters began to be drawn on the back of my hand. I narrowed my eyes and muttered.

“Mental…… binding?”

“Hehe. You can read rune letters.”

The Pope smiled contentedly and tapped my head.

A pure white light lingered at his fingertips. The light enveloped my cheeks and body like water flowing down.

And it was right after all the light enveloped my entire body as if to devour it and disappeared in an instant.

‘What are you glaring at? No matter what, I already know you’re a piece of shit.’

Surprise lingered in his eyes. I inwardly cursed the Pope to my heart’s content and recalled the actions the Pope had taken so far.

He was a piece of trash who recklessly sacrificed orphanage children to the gods, a murderer who killed priests, and therefore, a bastard who deserved to be torn apart and killed evilly.

The Pope, receiving my fierce gaze, rubbed his dry face and muttered.

“Ah……. I see now?”

I don’t know what he’s talking about now.

But…….

“I mean, I now know how you became such a special child.”

The Pope, who had read all my thoughts, smiled sinisterly and raised his chin.

“Reincarnator, Sienne Mirmord.”

At this moment, it seemed clear that he knew my secret.