I’Ll Protect My Tyrant Dad! [EN]: Chapter 109

That night, Matthias Mirmord, having safely sent Sien to the Mirmord mansion, summoned his close friend, Grand Duke Selbastian.

He had first tried to capture Saint Melodia, but she proved elusive, even with the collaboration of Delphia, who had barely escaped her confinement, and the fiercely venomous Duchess.

“That woman seems to possess tremendous power. Does she wield divine power?”

“Perhaps.”

“She seemed to have a talent for charming people. Damn it!”

Delphia lamented, saying she had unknowingly obeyed Melodia’s words.

It was quite strange to hear Delphia use words like ‘charm’ and ‘obedience’.

Matthias looked at Delphia and asked,

“Then, can you track Melodia again?”

“For now. I’ll try not to get caught again.”

“Be careful.”

Delphia left to recapture Melodia.

*Then all he had to do was cut off all of Melodia’s limbs in the meantime.*

Matthias, recalling the prophecy that Melodia had run away with, smiled maliciously and summoned Grand Duke Selbastian.

From then on, it would be a piece of cake.

Matthias dared to brazenly burst into the Emperor’s bedchamber.

However, because he was Mirmord, and Grand Duke Selbastian was by his side, and the news he brought was significant, his rudeness was overlooked.

The Emperor was greatly enraged by the Pope’s kidnapping of a noble and hesitated to discuss how to deal with the Pope.

Matthias, who was calmly reporting to him, felt a chilling glint in his eyes.

“Your Majesty, the Pope has already taken his own life.”

At this moment, no one would believe that the Pope had taken his own life if they saw Matthias’s murderous face.

The Pope would have been murdered by Matthias.

However, the Emperor was not foolish enough to speak the truth.

Instead, he erased his tired expression, rubbed his dry face, and spoke.

“It is fortunate that the Pope, who dared to kidnap the young daughter of a noble family in my empire, steal the life force of children in the slums, and threaten the imperial authority, has paid the price for his sins.”

“But there are still those who have not paid the price, Your Majesty.”

The Emperor asked back with an uncomfortable look.

“…Those who have not paid the price?”

Matthias spoke in a manner that was incomparably rude and presumptuous, even compared to his intrusion into the Emperor’s bedchamber.

“It is Saint Melodia, who fled to avoid punishment for her crime of human sacrifice, and the Crown Prince, who dared to threaten the foundation of the empire, Your Majesty.”

And it was at that very moment.

Did he sense his fate? Had someone whispered in his ear? No, it didn’t matter.

For some reason, the Crown Prince burst into the Emperor’s bedchamber and knelt on the floor.

“Your Majesty! Do not listen to their words. It cannot be!”

“…Crown Prince. Calm yourself and rise. Matthias Mirmord, do you dare to insult the imperial family?”

The Emperor’s voice had a power that no one could resist.

However, Matthias was different. He looked at the Emperor’s fierce gaze and intended to deny his words head-on.

But it was at that very moment.

“Your Majesty, I, a member of the imperial family, have something to say.”

For a long time, Grand Duke Selbastian, who had remained quietly submerged without coveting the position of heir, sparked a flame in his eyes.

“I have evidence of the Crown Prince’s corrupt collusion with the Pope, Your Majesty.”

The Emperor and the Crown Prince were both momentarily taken aback by the Grand Duke’s words as he stood still. In particular, the Crown Prince was stunned by the statement that he was accumulating evidence of his corruption.

“What? What are you talking about? Are you trying to slander me again?”

“You must also pay for the crime of offering all kinds of wealth to the temple only for Saint Melodia, and condoning the human sacrifice of imperial citizens, even nobles. Of course, I have evidence of that as well.”

The Emperor swallowed a sigh, and the Crown Prince screamed like a madman and rushed towards the Grand Duke.

His fierce hand aimed for the Grand Duke’s vitals.

“You, how dare you!”

However, the Grand Duke was a man who had rolled around on the battlefield for many years.

He grabbed the arm of the frail Crown Prince who was rushing towards him and asked back.

“Ugh!”

“Your Highness, Crown Prince. Answer my question.”

The Crown Prince struggled hideously and glared at the Grand Duke.

“Can’t you let go of this?”

“I have evidence. Didn’t you collude corruptly with the temple, Your Highness, Crown Prince?”

It was the moment when the Grand Duke, who had been exiled to the north and wandered in harsh lands for many years only because he was a threat to the Crown Prince, raised his voice for the first time and took off.

***

After hearing all that, I sincerely admired it.

I thought that Dad and the Grand Duke working together to get rid of the Crown Prince was something only villainous adults could do.

“Ah, there’s a disappointing part to this story too.”

“What is it?”

It’s perfectly refreshing, but…

“Well, it seems like Saint Melodia ran away with the original prophecy.”

“Sister Delphia couldn’t catch the Saintess?”

If they couldn’t catch the Saintess, there was a chance the plan would go wrong.

I was very anxious, but Dad didn’t seem too disappointed.

He shrugged and said.

“Yeah. She’s gone to catch her now… We’ll be able to catch the Saintess soon. And we have all the important prophecies in our hands.”

“How can we have the important prophecies in our hands when the prophecy book is gone…?”

When I made a very disappointed face, Dad gently teased me by poking my cheek like he was squishing a bun.

“Sien, shall I tell you something interesting?”

“Uh-huh…”

“The Pope, didn’t you feel he was a bit careless in managing the prophecy book?”

After hearing that the Pope was careless in managing the prophecy book, something immediately came to mind.

The Pope used the paper from the prophecy book to light incense near the altar.

“Um… a little. But I thought there must have been a reason why he had to tear up the prophecy book to light incense. Like there was a condition that the prophecy book had to be on the altar, or something? But why are you suddenly bringing that up?”

At that moment, a wicked smile formed on Dad’s lips.

It was such a sinister smile that even I, who knew Dad well, felt it was shady.

When I drooped my eyes, Dad quickly waved his hands and showed me his ‘foolish smile’ again.

“So, listen carefully, my daughter. It was special that Acid deciphered the prophecy book.”

“Huh?”

“Originally, no matter how high your divine power was, they say you couldn’t properly read the prophecy book. So there was a team of priests in the temple who secretly deciphered the prophecy book. The prophecy book was roughly half deciphered.”

“What are you talking about…”

Dad gritted his teeth and said.

“There were quite a few priests in charge of deciphering it, and those priests are in my hands. They say they know some of the contents of the prophecy book. Let’s go listen to their testimonies together, no, let’s go interrogate them.”

I purely admired Dad.

‘Wow, Dad is really like a villain!’

But there was no time to admire him.

I nodded and quickly chirped.

“Then where are those priests who were deciphering the prophecy book now? You didn’t torture them, did you?”

“…I just tied them up.”

“Let’s go torture, no, interrogate them! Where are they now?”

“Mirmord Mansion.”

I grabbed Dad’s hand and walked briskly towards the mansion.

Right now, Acid was trying not to kill Mirmord. I had to do my best to do what I could too.

That’s how I returned to the mansion and faced one of the priests.

The priest, with his whole body tied up, looked at us with tearful eyes.

“P, please save me! I haven’t committed any sins…”

“That depends on what you say, priest.”

Dad kicked the priest, who was tied up, but quickly straightened his leg when he saw my gaze.

I looked at Dad, who was still trying to pretend, with cold eyes and asked.

“Don’t hit him. We have to hear his testimony.”

I stared at the priest with slightly pitiful eyes.

Of course, it’s true that this priest is on Melodia’s side, but it doesn’t seem like there’s any definite evidence that he’s attached to Melodia yet…

More than anything, his pure white priest’s robe was soaked in dust and sweat and had turned into a gray mouse, so I felt a little sorry for him.

‘I have to keep my mind cold until I get the information, Sien.’

I tried to calm my mind while thinking of Acid.

Then, I glared at the priest, who was trembling with pale lips, and opened my mouth.

“Priest, testify about your relationship with the escaped Saint Melodia. I heard you know about the prophecy book.”

“Th, that is. I am a priest who h, helped Melodia and deciphered part of the prophecy book, I am…”

He was trembling and couldn’t even continue speaking properly because he was scared and kept biting his purple lips.

I raised my eyebrows with an uncomfortable look and asked Dad.

“Can Dad explain it?”

“That guy is a priest who was secretly deciphering the prophecy book with Melodia. From what I heard, it seems like Melodia didn’t completely decipher the prophecy book either. So she ran away with the prophecy book to buy time to decipher it.”

The priest hesitated and said.

“Th, that’s right. Melodia gave parts of the prophecy book to some priests with strong divine power. Then she had them decipher the contents. It was very difficult to decipher, so they had to pour out all their divine power, and some people vomited blood or went insane…”

“…It was that bad?”

Melodia’s obsession with the prophecy book was enough to make me stick out my tongue. When I showed an uncomfortable look, Dad patted my shoulder and said.

“Keep talking.”

“Melodia said that once the contents of the prophecy book were completely deciphered, the world would be transformed. Everyone would worship God, and the Saintess and the Pope would sit in the highest positions… She also said that those blessed by God would become the most special.”

“What did you decipher?”

“The content I deciphered wasn’t much. Um… it was about how the world would move according to what was written in the prophecy book.”

I shrugged.

I wasn’t going to believe in such ‘fatalism’.

The only hint I could get from the priest’s words was one thing.

In short, it meant that Melodia still hadn’t completely deciphered the prophecy book.

“Then that’s enough.”

Dad also looked at me and smiled softly.

“Yes, all we have to do is catch Melodia. Then we can change ‘fate’. Acid will also… be able to come safely and healthily.”

The priest, or rather, the prisoner, whose lips had turned purple, clicked his front teeth together and said urgently.

“Th, then please let me go now…”

“No. Now it’s time to shut up, no, be quiet. You can’t leave until the prophecy book is in our hands.”