I’Ll Protect My Tyrant Dad! [EN]: Chapter 121

The World After Loss

2024.01.26.

The moment she was stabbed, Cienne collapsed to the floor.

In truth, Cienne could have easily avoided such a pathetic situation. Acid had given her ample opportunity to evade, striking slowly enough. But…

‘You have to trust me.’

…Those words echoed in her mind, and she couldn’t bring herself to dodge.

Between them lay fifteen years of unwavering trust. A trust that no one could ever break.

And so, she entrusted her life to Acid as if it were the most natural thing in the world, naively so.

‘He won’t kill me.’

That’s what she thought.

But the moment his sword pierced her heart, that expectation shattered in vain.

As Cienne looked at Acid, she sensed her impending death.

Betrayed by someone she trusted, with Melodia right before her eyes, unable to defy fate…

“…Cienne, Miss.”

But, surprisingly, that worst-case scenario didn’t come to pass.

Acid slowly withdrew the sword from Cienne’s heart, muttering softly.

“It’s okay now. It’s… over.”

His eyes were red-rimmed. Acid, having tossed the sword that had touched Cienne’s chest to the floor, caressed her heart and whispered.

“…Ha, thankfully, there’s not even a mark left…”

Quietly gazing at Acid, Cienne made a strangled sound.

“What…”

“Stabbing your heart precisely was the condition of my bet with the god.”

Before her eyes, Acid was shedding tears.

Cienne would usually playfully poke him or tease him with a laugh when he cried.

But not now.

She touched her heart.

It was definitely beating normally, but it didn’t feel normal.

It felt as if all the emotions governing joy, anger, sorrow, and pleasure had scattered like a flood beyond the blade that Acid had thrust.

‘It’s as if all the emotions that make me who I am have disappeared. What is this feeling…’

Was it because of that?

Even when Melodia, who had been observing the situation, rose abruptly as if having a seizure, Cienne felt nothing.

With a blank expression, she watched Melodia jump to her feet.

Beside the seemingly emotionless Cienne, Melodia looked utterly bewildered.

“W-What, what on earth is going on here?”

“Just as you see it.”

Because Cienne had been stabbed, the tablecloth had fallen to the floor, leaving the cottage’s living room in a mess.

Melodia, who had already thrown a cracked teacup to the floor, rendering it beyond repair, asked once more through gritted teeth.

“According to the prophecy, you should be dead right now.”

“Yes, but that prophecy wasn’t fulfilled.”

She frantically ruffled her hair, becoming hysterical.

“There’s no blood! No blood, and you didn’t die! It’s not according to the prophecy!”

The elegant Melodia of usual was nowhere to be seen; she had instantly become a mess.

Perhaps due to the shock that the prophecy hadn’t been realized, her legs gave way, and she collapsed to the floor, tearing at her hair.

Acid said quietly.

“The prophecy was wrong, and fate has changed.”

Watching her crawl towards them, half out of her mind, Acid declared.

“I have won the bet with Moira, the god of time. The condition of the bet was to stab Miss Cienne’s heart with a sword. And…”

“No way! The sword, the sword was perfect. It was meant to kill Cienne Mirmord and spread the word of God widely in the world! This can’t be happening!”

As he watched Melodia mutter like a madwoman, Acid whispered coldly.

“Listen carefully, Saintess Melodia. Your prophecy was twisted. That’s why it could never be fulfilled.”

Melodia, seemingly greatly shocked by the fact that the prophecy had gone awry, glared at Acid, covered in cold sweat.

Acid looked at her and decided to fulfill the last mission given to him.

His last mission was, precisely…

***

To the hero who had crossed the ice cliffs, traversed the Demon Realm, and passed the lava lake, the god of time, Moira, made a bet.

“Our bet is ‘for you to stab Cienne Mirmord’s heart.’ I bet that you cannot stab her heart. Cienne will not die even if you stab her heart, so if you stab her safely, you win, and if Cienne doesn’t trust you and runs away, you lose. What do you say?”

“……”

“If you win, I, like a capricious god, will turn back causality and temporarily stop the wheel of fate. So that the contents of the prophecy cannot be established, so that you can deviate from fate.”

As Moira said, the wheel of fate finally stopped.

His surroundings instantly became silent.

He was unconsciously recalling the conversation he had with Moira as he left the Demon Realm.

“To prevent that damn fate from ever happening again… what should I do?”

“When the wheel of fate is temporarily stopped, you must eliminate what constitutes fate. But…”

“……I understand.”

“You will receive retribution.”

Acid smiled wryly.

“I don’t care.”

***

Acid sensed that the wheel of fate had stopped for a very brief moment.

In a state where time and space were frozen, he picked up the sword again without the resistance of causality. And he drew that sword like a sacred sign.

Without a single scream, Saintess Melodia died.

Killing her was easier than he thought, compared to the long ordeal of the past five years.

The moment Melodia’s body fell to the floor like a log, Acid spoke reverently, like a priest reciting the will of God.

“Now, the prophecy is over. And…”

The prophecy placed great importance on the existence of the ‘saintess’ and the ‘sword.’

In order to defeat Mirmord and for the power of God to flourish, in other words, for the prophecy to be established, the existence of the sword, a special saintess, and the will to fulfill the prophecy were essential.

If Melodia, who was obsessed with the prophecy, died and disappeared, the prophecy would be rendered useless and vanish.

In that way, the prophecy that had tormented them for so long was finally completely over.

The wheel of fate began to creak and turn again.

It was Acid and Cienne’s victory.

But there was still an unfinished story.

Acid looked at Cienne.

She now looked strangely empty, as if she hadn’t realized anything.

Acid could understand why Cienne was making that expression.

‘It must be because I stabbed Miss Cienne’s heart.’

Daring to betray her and stab her heart with a sharp blade.

It was a foolish act, even if it was to save her.

‘…I saved her safely, so I have fulfilled my duty. I even went on a date… once.’

Now, to her, his existence would be nothing more than a trauma.

Acid briefly washed his face to hide his trembling eyelids and expression.

The price for daring to stab Cienne’s heart with a sword must be paid.

By disappearing from her sight forever.

***

Although Cienne’s condition was a bit strange, the task of changing fate was successfully completed anyway.

Because Cienne survived, and Saintess Melodia died.

Acid collected Cienne, who was staring blankly into the air, and left the cottage.

Outside the cottage, Cienne’s father, Matthias Mirmord, was standing anxiously.

“Cienne?”

“It’s cold. Let’s go home quickly.”

“Yes, let’s go quickly. The carriage is warm.”

She nodded lightly towards Matthias and stared intently at Acid, who was walking behind her.

Acid was also facing Cienne.

Since being stabbed, Cienne had been acting as if she had become a different person.

Her body was even healthy, but she seemed mentally incomplete. Acid’s worried gaze reached Cienne.

She muttered with a blank face.

“I’m tired.”

She felt that something within her had been shattered.

‘I feel like an empty vessel.’

The fluttering she felt when she saw Acid felt like a story from a past life.

No, it was ambiguous even to call it a past life. Because now, when she looked at Acid, she didn’t feel any emotion at all.

Leaving the cottage, riding in the carriage, and arriving at her bedroom in the Mirmord mansion, Cienne was finally able to catch her breath.

Breathing was not difficult, but she didn’t know how to deal with people approaching her.

As she listened to the countless cheers of the Mirmord family members towards her, Cienne just wanted to lie down in bed and rest.

Due to her unusual appearance, all the people of the Mirmord family were considerate and didn’t say anything to Cienne.

Thanks to that, she was able to quickly enter her bedroom without talking to anyone.

But she didn’t know that an ambush remained.

Cienne was planning to take a warm bath after dismissing all the people around her.

However, instead of the maids who would help her with the bath, Acid followed her into the bedroom.

“Acid? Is there something you want to say?”

As she asked dryly while standing in the doorway, Acid quietly whispered while kneeling on one knee.

“Although it was to save you, I dared to stab Miss Cienne’s heart.”

“……”

“I will leave.”

Cienne quietly contemplated, looking down at the top of Acid’s head.

Even though he said he was leaving, she only felt ambiguous, not sad.

But just a little…

‘No, I… maybe I feel strange?’

Her hands seemed to have turned cold, but it was bearable.

Cienne blinked and waved her hand.

She was just tired now.

So she gave an answer that she would never have given normally.

“…Do what you want, Acid.”

She would never have let him go normally.

Knowing that Acid’s pupils were blurring at her words, she only closed and opened her eyes without saying anything else.

Acid looked at Cienne and whispered quietly.

“Finally, I will fulfill my oath of allegiance.”

The moment Acid’s lips touched the back of her hand, Cienne thought for a moment.

‘Does the person who wins the bet also have to pay the price?’

If so, she thought that what she paid as the price of the bet might be her love for Acid.

But even with all emotions gone, she was relieved that it was she, not Acid, who had to pay the price.

‘Acid has already suffered a lot. It’s okay if I lose my emotions.’

Thinking that, Cienne quietly looked at Acid and said.

“Will you come back someday? I hope we can see each other again. There are things I want to discuss regarding your bloodline.”

Acid did not answer.

Instead, he quietly lowered his head and then raised it again.

Cienne read the will in his words that he would ‘not return.’

But she didn’t feel any emotion.

Only a strange sensation, as if her lungs were being slightly pressed and her mood was subtly sinking, dominated her.

***

Acid laid me down on the bed and then left.

After perfectly reassuring even my dad, who was restless because my complexion was bad and my health seemed strange.

I was going to talk about what to do with Ted and Acid’s ‘noble blood’ that Melodia had mentioned in the cottage…

Acid cleared everything away because he didn’t want to worry me.

As he waved his hands excessively, I also lost my motivation.

‘Was I originally this unmotivated?’

Exhausted from fatigue, I ruffled my hair.

At that moment, I suddenly saw a velvet-shaped box on the side table.

That is…

‘Was that a gift Moira gave me?’

It was Moira’s gift that Acid had given me.

‘I think she said that gift bundle would open if I won the bet…’

I had lost my emotions, but I hadn’t died anyway.

Then didn’t I win the bet without major bloodshed?

Thinking that, at that moment, the ribbon of the gift bundle, which had never opened no matter what I did, naturally unraveled.

As if the veil of secrets I possessed was being lifted.