I’Ll Protect My Tyrant Dad! [EN]: Chapter 111

The Definition of Emotion

I stared at the villainous men who were Father’s closest aides.

For my education, they were putting on a clumsy act again today.

“Oh, no. The innocent butterflies are dying!”

According to Father, that man only killed sex offenders. He had killed over 100 sex offenders, or so I heard.

He was shamelessly pretending to be a naive farmer who loved butterflies, hiding his heinous side.

I clenched my fists, trembling with betrayal.

Just then, Villain 2, noticing my gaze, spoke in a melodious voice.

“Hey, hey. How dare you bully these cute and lovely butterflies! Friend! Here’s a honeybee. Make sure it collects honey from the flowers! For the sake of the fragile honeybee!”

I opened my hazy eyes.

The thing that man was holding in his hand was an Asian giant hornet.

Not a honeybee, but a harmful Asian giant hornet.

‘Are these fools who can’t even distinguish between honeybees and Asian giant hornets really villains? Am I being deceived?’

I was having a slight moment of reality check, but I hardened my expression.

‘Those men, now that it’s come to this, I’ll make sure their daily lives are difficult! I’ll make them do incredibly inconvenient good deeds! I’ll make them annoyed.’

I glared at the villainous men who were awkwardly smiling while caressing the butterflies and opened my mouth.

“Why do you guys have such mean expressions?”

“Hic, m-mean expressions? Th-there’s no way.”

“You hid it well, no, you did well…….”

Looking at them like this, they were so foolish that I didn’t know why I hadn’t noticed until now.

I narrowed my eyes and said to them.

“Alright, everyone! Repeat after me!”

“Yes! What should we repeat?”

“I am kind!”

“I, I am kind?”

“I love honeybees and butterflies.”

“I love honeybees and butterfl……ies!”

They seemed to be getting goosebumps all over their bodies from the virtuous act.

‘Serves them right!’

If they deceived me, it was only polite to receive that much punishment. I glared and clenched my fists, suppressing the villainous men who were diligently pretending to be virtuous.

Like that, at the moment I was punishing one by one the people who had deceived me in this mansion.

I happened to see them complaining about how ‘virtuous behavior is too difficult.’ Seeing that, it felt like the wickedness hidden inside me was being satisfied.

Whenever I saw Father’s close aides, the villainous men and older sisters, I would run like a bullet down the hallway and smile brightly at them.

“Hello! Shall we do etiquette training today?”

“E, etiquette training?”

“Yep!”

“I have something to do outside…….”

“Is that so? Then everyone, community service, commence!”

“C, commence!”

“While you’re out, go volunteer and purify your wicked souls!”

“Understood!”

“You have to get a certificate too. Forgery means death!”

They left to volunteer with tearful faces.

In fact, now I didn’t really care whether their souls were wicked or virtuous. I knew very well that Father was the one who deceived me, and they were just Father’s hands and feet.

But the reason I bothered to keep talking to them, making them do good deeds, and tormenting them was surprisingly simple.

It was because one side of my heart felt empty.

‘I can’t go looking for Saintess Melodia for the time being. Father is worried, so I can’t move…….’

Thanks to Father’s house arrest, I was stuck in the mansion, unable to move an inch.

In fact, I understood Father’s feelings. His only daughter was kidnapped, strangled, and came back with bruises, so it was only natural to impose house arrest.

But an unexpected side effect came to me that Father hadn’t even thought of.

Leonhardt also stepped up to interrogate the priests to find the contents of the prophecy, claiming to be a budding villain, Father was busy assisting Grand Duke Selbastian, and Grandmother and Sister Delphia were searching for Melodia’s whereabouts like crazy.

Only I was taking a break.

When you have nothing to do, you tend to overthink.

In my heart, Acid, who had said he would protect me and then left, kept coming to mind. The way he had asked for a kiss at the end kept coming to mind.

After recalling Acid’s voice, who had said he would protect me, one side of my heart even felt empty.

At the same time, my face flushed red.

‘It’s strange. Is it this hard to not have Acid by my side?’

It really felt strangely like a corner of my heart had been emptied.

It felt like this crack in my heart would be filled when Acid returned.

‘Why do I feel like this…… It’s like I’m on a roller coaster.’

I quietly sighed and looked ahead again.

In times like this, pretending to reform the villainous men while tormenting them was one of the ways to mentally calm down.

I clenched my fists very viciously and said.

“Alright, everyone, quickly do jumping jacks! This is a virtuous exercise!”

“V, virtuous exercise?”

“Yes! After this, let’s play a game of distinguishing between honeybees and Asian giant hornets! Originally, good people do things like that!”

Even in this situation, the men were fawning over me, pretending to be good people to please me.

“O, of course. We are definitely not bad guys!”

“Alright! If you guys become bad guys, I’ll tell Father right away!”

I deliberately threatened them.

At my words that I would tell Father, they grimaced and started doing jumping jacks diligently.

It was right then, when I was playing with the villainous men, that Ted appeared before my eyes.

“Lady Sienna, the maids said they have prepared a small party.”

“Huh? A party?”

It was when I tilted my head in bewilderment.

Behind Ted, the maids were running over, showing off their muscles.

***

The people of the Mirmod family seemed to have a knack for easily catching when my mood was down.

Just today, Grandmother held a small tea party for me.

A strawberry party!

The head chef put in a lot of effort for me, who likes strawberries.

Strawberry cakes and strawberry drinks, including fresh strawberries and pickled strawberries… All sorts of strawberry-filled foods were on the table.

To put it a bit exaggeratedly, I ended up eating so many strawberries that I could smell strawberries in my hair.

I patted my swollen stomach and looked at Ted in front of me.

“I feel good having a strawberry party with Ted.”

“I was worried because I didn’t have the talent to entertain you, but I’m glad if you liked me as a conversation partner.”

“Uh-huh. Ted, eat a lot of strawberries quickly too.”

“Yes, thank you.”

I chewed on a handful of strawberries and subtly watched Ted.

Come to think of it, there was something I wanted to say after meeting Ted.

“Hey, Ted.”

“Yes.”

I was also worried about whether to say this or not.

But if I didn’t say this to Ted, I felt like I would feel stuffy inside. I blinked and then blurted out the next words.

“Ted, are you okay even without Acid? I…….”

I was about to say that I felt so empty, but I bit my lip.

It was because I felt like I had become a child acting spoiled in front of Ted.

‘Ted, who is blood-related, must be more upset than me. Did I say something too immature? Ted also said he believed in Acid.’

But it was also true that Ted was the only one I could confide in about my complicated feelings.

‘If I tell Father, he’ll make a fuss about killing Acid.’

While I was repeating regrets and self-justification in my mind, Ted seemed to be watching my expression.

Then, he put down the fork with a strawberry on it on the table and smiled lightly.

“The day Lady Sienna was kidnapped, I tried to dissuade Acid. But Acid was firm. Perhaps his affection for Lady Sienna was more precious than his life.”

My face turned bright red in an instant.

“He is a younger brother I have been observing and loving all along. I can know my younger brother’s heart.”

Ted was indirectly saying that Acid liked me as a woman. As soon as I heard those words, my cheeks flushed uncontrollably.

“But I will leave the confession to Acid when he returns. But Lady Sienna.”

“Yeah.”

“Thank you for thinking about him often so that Acid’s heart is not in vain.”

“……Huh?”

“Acid will want Lady Sienna to forget him so that she doesn’t have a hard time, but. I am his brother, so…… I can’t help but think more about Acid.”

“…….”

“I think I just realized that Lady Sienna also likes our Acid. I am truly happy about that.”

At the words ‘I am happy to know that you like Acid,’ I could feel both of my cheeks turning red as if they would burst.

‘How can he say such things without batting an eye?’

Until Acid left, I had never defined my feelings for Acid.

I had only thought of him as my precious friend.

Many things had changed as soon as I kissed his cheek, but I had thought that Ted would not know that.

But Ted was talking as if he had read my mind, saying that I liked Acid. I was even embarrassed by that fact.

“I li, like Acid?”

“Yes. Lady Sienna cherishes my younger brother like a friend. I’m glad you won’t forget him.”

‘Ah, it was about a friend.’

I cooled my burning cheeks with my cold hands and then lowered my eyes.

I felt like I had been making assumptions all by myself, so I couldn’t face Ted for some reason.

‘I didn’t even say that I liked Acid romantically, so why am I embarrassed? There’s no reason to be! There’s no reason to be embarrassed, I am.’

Even though I rationalized it like that, it took a little time to fully meet Ted’s gaze. I deliberately decided to start rambling the next words.

“Th, that is. I can’t forget him even if I try to forget him. How can I forget someone who left to save me? I’m not such an ungrateful person. And…….”

“Yes.”

“……I, said I liked Acid.”

“Yes, you did.”

A faint smile appeared on Ted’s lips.

It was a smile as clear as a rainbow after the rain, so I momentarily lost my gaze to his lips.

“So…….”

“Yes.”

Ted persistently waited for my next words.

But I couldn’t say the next words. It was as if I had a fish bone stuck in my throat.

I definitely have something to say, but how should I explain this frustrating situation that feels like it’s stuck in my throat?

I deliberately rested my chin on my hand, pretended to be distracted, and lowered my gaze. And I whispered softly.

“That…… the fact that I like Acid. My feelings. So…….”