I’Ll Protect My Tyrant Dad! [EN]: Chapter 115

After 5 Years, Finally Reunited

Late at night.

After Acid left, I usually couldn’t sleep well, but tonight was especially bad.

Finally, tomorrow, the five years arranged by Moira, the God of Time, would be fully over.

‘Once tonight passes, will Acid come back? He will, right? But there hasn’t been any contact…….’

I couldn’t easily fall asleep with that thought. I inhaled sharply and exhaled again, trying not to think of Acid.

Then, I seemed to fall asleep before I knew it.

In a dreamlike space-time, I felt someone sitting near my bed.

In my hazy dream, I looked at the person sitting near the bed with blurred eyes.

“……Who is it?”

A tall, dark man responded to my question in a rough voice.

“Sleep more.”

It was a silhouette that was familiar yet unfamiliar.

I was anxious with curiosity because I didn’t know exactly who the person was.

I blinked my eyes diligently and tried to focus on the person in front of me.

“……Wait a minute. Acid?”

I didn’t recognize him because his voice was too different. I didn’t know when he had reached inside my bed, but Acid, who had grown into a complete adult, swept back my hair and answered.

“Can’t you sleep? Shall I put you to sleep?”

I was tearfully happy to see Acid after a long time, but I hid that feeling and playfully retorted.

“……Huh? How are you going to put me to sleep?”

At that moment, he leaned over me as I lay down. A dark shadow fell over my face.

His sweet breath ruffled the hair in front of my eyes and tickled me.

Until then, I didn’t know what Acid was going to do.

However, the moment he kissed my forehead and the tip of my nose as gently as a bird pecking, I instinctively realized what Acid would do next.

His lips lightly touched mine. I clenched the blanket, stiffened.

‘Is this a dream? If it’s not a dream, there’s no way Acid and I would be kissing…….’

Unlike me, who was spacing out, Acid seemed to be saying it wasn’t a dream, biting my lip weakly with his front teeth and laughing softly.

The moment I heard his subtle laughter, my heart pounded so hard that I could feel my pulse in my ears.

I was so flustered that I slightly opened my lips.

Before I knew it, Acid’s and my breaths began to intertwine smoothly. It was a deep kiss that made it hard to breathe.

It was my first kiss, but it was so intense that I felt like my heart would stop, so I tried to raise my hand to grab Acid’s shoulder, but at that very moment.

Instead of Acid, bright sunlight began to flicker before my eyes.

‘What is it?’

With that question in mind, I abruptly opened my eyes slightly. And in front of my wide-open eyes…….

“What.”

There was no Acid, not even his shadow.

I opened my eyes hastily and let out an absurd sigh, facing the sunlight coming in from the window.

“……Was it a dream? That’s ridiculous.”

I made my face redder than an apple and tossed and turned in bed for a long time.

‘Was I so desperate that I even dreamed of kissing Acid? No way…….’

After tossing and turning for a while, I felt like the outside of the door was noisy, but I ignored it because my embarrassment was more significant.

However, after a few minutes, I couldn’t find peace when I heard the sound of someone sprinting madly towards my door.

Because I realized that today was the day we had promised Acid, the day five years had passed.

I couldn’t even go outside and remained lying on the bed like a fixture, tearing at the canopy.

I would be happy if Acid came, but I was afraid that bad news might be delivered.

I was just tearing at the canopy lace when I heard the sound of footsteps approaching the door.

And, bang! The door opened with a sound.

“……Sisters?”

The muscular maid sisters came in and called my name.

“Lady Cienne!”

They didn’t need to say more.

As soon as the maid sisters opened my bedroom door without any dignity, I immediately realized what they were going to say.

However, I said to them in a tearful voice.

“Yes, tell me.”

I wanted to hear them say, ‘Acid has arrived.’

I wanted to hear those words sooner, so I jumped up, ignoring my disheveled hair and bulging eyes.

Deidre muttered lowly, her eyes reddening.

“Lady Cienne, fi, finally…….”

I felt like I knew what the next words would be without hearing them.

I quietly took a deep breath and waited for them to finish speaking. However, they only reddened their eyes and stamped their feet.

I looked at the maid sisters approaching me beyond the canopy lace and said.

“Acid has come?”

“Yes, that’s right!”

“Congratulations, Lady Cienne.”

After five years, Acid had arrived.

Just thinking about it seemed to dissolve the knot in my heart.

***

While tidying my disheveled hair and putting on a dress over my slip to meet Acid, I felt like a hurricane had struck my heart.

To put it simply, I felt like my head was split in half, and an angel and a demon were arguing.

My emotions had matured considerably over the five years.

‘But what if I just like the Acid in my fantasy?’

I hadn’t seen Acid for a long time, and it was my first time seeing him after realizing my feelings, so I was excited.

After five years, I, who had turned twenty, had become quite mature.

My pink hair was longer, and I no longer had bangs. My green eyes had become much darker, like summer leaves.

I no longer wore children’s or teenagers’ dresses.

I prepared for my social debut, which I would soon be welcoming if I could survive, and wore elegant and neat lady’s clothes.

Today, I wore a pure white silk dress that accentuated my body’s curves.

“We have decorated you beautifully, so let’s go meet Acid now.”

Walking lightly to the drawing-room where Acid was.

The door opened, and finally, I could see Acid in front of me.

And he was…….

‘He’s so different!’

He wasn’t the Acid of the past, but he looked exactly like the Acid in my dream.

His shoulders were broad, and he had a sturdy physique. His moderately long hair and eyes filled with deep longing were looking at me.

He was no longer the weak and restless figure he had been in the past. He appeared before me as a strong and masculine figure.

I quietly looked at Acid and opened my mouth.

“……Acid, is that you?”

He walked towards me, who was standing quietly at the drawing-room door, and muttered in a hoarse voice.

“I see Lady Cienne again.”

“……Yeah. You’ve changed a lot.”

“I’ve worked hard to become stronger.”

He, who had become a sturdy man with a thick physique, knelt on one knee and held out his hand to me.

“Your knight has returned, so please have mercy on the lady.”

I guess that meant he wanted me to reach out my hand.

Knights usually express their desire for a kiss on the back of their lady’s hand after completing their mission.

But now that I was aware of my feelings for Acid, it was strangely embarrassing to offer him the back of my hand.

That was probably because I was aware of my romantic feelings for Acid.

‘I’m too nervous to reach out my hand.’

After not reaching out my hand for a while, Acid looked up at me with questioning eyes.

I smiled awkwardly and stiffly took out the hand I had hidden behind my back.

‘……Okay. First, let’s do what my heart tells me! It’s just a kiss on the back of the hand, so what!’

While pretending to be nonchalant, my heart was pounding strangely.

But I wasn’t sure if this pounding was because I was excited to meet a friend after a long time, or if I really liked Acid, or because of the kiss in my dream last night…….

I dismissed the situation as being because it had been too long since we had met and quietly looked down at Acid’s head.

Acid, who probably didn’t know my fluctuating emotions, brought his hot lips to the back of my hand.

His lips, which were not rough but soft despite his long years of hardship, tickled the back of my hand.

Feeling a subtle current flowing through my hand, I carefully hid my hand again.

There was a moment of silence.

A subtle longing appeared and disappeared in Acid’s eyes.

He quietly opened his mouth and said.

“……I have returned safely, Cienne. I have also received spoils of war.”

“Spoils of war?”

“It is a gift package from Moira, the God of Time.”

It was a palm-sized gift box, well-wrapped in red velvet and neatly tied with a bright yellow ribbon at the end.

I took it because he offered it so reverently, but I wondered if Moira had given such a small box.

“Why would Moira give this to me…….”

“I’m not sure about that.”

Perhaps this gift could be an opportunity to change our destiny.

Filled with such hope, I smiled happily.

But……!

***

“It won’t open no matter what I do!”

This damn gift package really wouldn’t open no matter what I did. Acid also looked sympathetic.

While stopping me from trying to beat the gift package with a hammer, Acid whispered.

“If you win the bet that Moira made, the gift package will open.”

I sighed and put the gift package down on the drawing-room table as if throwing it.

“I can only know if I win the bet? Then, you should have told me in advance. Ah, by the way, the bet…….”

Come to think of it, I had forgotten the most important thing because I was excited about Acid.

I opened my eyes sharply and said to Acid, who was sitting across from me in the drawing-room.

“Acid.”

“Yes?”

“You made a bet with Moira, the God of Time, right? A bet that can change fate. What is the content of that bet? If I know the enemy and know myself, I will win every battle [a reference to Sun Tzu’s *Art of War*], so I will help you win the bet! While you were gone, I also researched Moira a lot.”

Acid’s expression looked sad for a moment.

“The content of the bet cannot be revealed.”

It was a strangely ominous tone.

“But you will know soon. To fulfill the conditions of the bet, after capturing Saintess Melodia.”

As soon as I heard those words, I felt strange.

Whatever that bet was, I suddenly felt that it would not be good for us.

But there was nothing I could do.

“Okay, I understand. Then let’s catch Saintess Melodia first. Is that all we have to do?”

“Yes.”

Anyway, Melodia had to be found.

Otherwise, she would keep talking about ridiculous prophecies and bothering me and the Mirmord family.

I narrowed my brows and looked at Acid.

Acid’s eyes were fixed on me honestly.

‘Ah, why can’t I make eye contact?’

If my heart keeps pounding at such an important moment, I won’t be able to plan the operation!

I banged my head wildly inside and finally calmed down.

Ignoring my still pounding heart, I smiled awkwardly and looked at Acid again.

“Melodia will probably reveal herself soon. So let’s wait quietly.”

“How are you so sure?”

A subtle discomfort flickered across Acid’s lips and disappeared.

“I also know Moira’s arrangement, as does Melodia. Melodia will approach us soon. Perhaps, starting today.”