I’Ll Protect My Tyrant Dad! [EN]: Chapter 122

The Truth Hidden Behind (122/140)

I was utterly bewildered and examined the contents of the gift bundle.

In an instant, my vision swam, and my surroundings blurred as if submerged in ink.

‘What… what is this?’

I looked around, puzzled, and soon realized the air had become humid. I was startled.

It was a vast desert.

In the middle of the expanse, Yuela, wearing a veil, and Moira, the God of Time, faced each other.

‘What is this? Is *this* the gift?’

I realized then that the reason I had temporarily become an empty vessel, devoid of emotions, wasn’t solely to pay the price of the bet.

It must have been a temporary deletion to allow me to fully accept all these emotions.

Because if I hadn’t been emptied, I might have fainted after hearing the conversation between Yuela and Moira unfolding before my eyes!

Yuela, looking weary as if she had walked for an eternity, gazed at Moira and spoke with conviction.

“I happened to peruse the prophecies of the temple.”

“So, what do you want?”

“I heard that my precious daughter in my womb is destined to die. A child destined to destroy Mirmord.”

The story of my mother visiting Moira, the God of Time, was already well-known.

But witnessing their conversation firsthand felt… abrupt.

I felt an unfamiliar maternal love emanating from Yuela, staring intently at Moira in the heart of the scorching Demon World, a love I had never known before.

But was it because I had lost my emotions?

Rather than being moved by her maternal love, I was simply curious.

I watched their story unfold as if it were an exciting movie.

Moira, disguised as a woman of Yuela’s age, shook her head, a troubled expression on her face.

“I don’t know how you learned of it, but it’s true that such a prophecy exists. But I cannot save a child destined to die, so please, go back.”

“I heard there’s a way to save the child. To die in her place. Because all lives have the same weight.”

In the sweltering desert where sand grains danced across the ground, Yuela’s eyes flashed with fierce determination.

Moira, as if weary, swept her hair back and muttered.

“I’m sorry, but your child is absolutely essential to the flow of this world. I cannot allow you to die in place of a child who will die to fulfill her destiny.”

Yuela took a deep breath and glared at her.

“I… I simply want to make a bet with you. On the condition of changing my child’s destiny.”

Moira briefly admired Yuela’s maternal love, her willingness to sacrifice herself for her daughter, but the God of Time wasn’t completely omnipotent.

She looked down at the woman carrying her child and shrugged.

“I’m sorry, but I cannot touch the wheel of prophecy right now. Too many people would die.”

“…Then, is there no way for me to protect the man and daughter I love?”

“I’m sorry, Yuela. Your name will be written in tragedy. Your husband’s as well.”

“…I don’t care about that. The man I love wouldn’t care either. If only I can protect my child.”

Moira looked at the woman who declared she would die to save her daughter.

In the intense heat, she scrutinized Yuela’s expression, then grabbed a large skein [a coiled bundle] of thread in her hand.

The skein, tangled before, unraveled smoothly as soon as Moira touched it.

She swallowed and whispered.

“There is a way. A very slim chance, but…”

“If there’s a chance for my child to live, I can bet everything on it.”

“Then I will tell you.”

“Another name for time is possibility. Time makes many impossible things possible.”

Moira threw the skein of thread into the air. It tangled and fell to the floor.

She carefully watched the scene as if telling fortunes, and said leisurely.

“Just now, decades later, I saw the possibility of the child destined to kill your daughter coming to me to save your child. If you can change fate, you can only rely on this. A very, extremely slim chance, but.”

“Then…”

The thread vanished without a trace after falling. However, one tangled skein remained on the floor. Watching it slowly rise into the air, Yuela swallowed.

“The child destined to kill your child coming to me to save your child is, in fact, a very small probability.”

“But, if that probability becomes reality…”

“Then I will change the cause and effect.”

I was surprised and opened my eyes.

The bet with Acid was only superficial. The real bet was between Yuela and Moira.

The moment I took the first step to save our dad, to change the original *The Life of Melodia*.

The moment Acid and I first met.

The moment Acid went to Moira to save me.

All those miraculous moments converged, and in the end, we had already changed fate.

‘But why did Yuela die?’

As if answering my question, Moira looked at Yuela and said solemnly.

“If fate can be changed because of this slim chance, and just by a bet between a human and a god, wouldn’t the world become extremely chaotic?”

Yuela nodded, as if she had already accepted everything, and replied.

“It seems like there needs to be more of a price.”

“Yes, a price like a human life is needed.”

“It seems I have to die for that possibility. I don’t care. If there’s even a little hope that my daughter can live.”

“Yes.”

It would be natural to never be indifferent in the face of death, but Yuela answered as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

“Okay. How do I die?”

Looking at the detached Yuela, Moira quietly whispered.

“To deceive fate, take away the child’s mana when you go to die. Human mana is all different. Especially your child’s.”

“…Okay, I’ll do that. Then, Moira, the God of Time, your bet with me is now…”

Moira said sternly.

“Yes, the bet is established. I bet that ‘the child destined to kill Sien Mirmord will not come to me’.”

“The price of the bet.”

“Changing fate. If you fail, your soul will be completely destroyed. No one will remember your existence.”

“I accept. I bet that ‘the child destined to kill Sien Mirmord will go to Moira’.”

As Yuela nodded, Moira gestured lightly.

Soon, a small breeze began to blow.

“I will give you a small gift for your life. I will temporarily stop time and send your child to another world and bring her back. I will tell your child some of the future. The child will feel like it’s a novel, but she will have the desire to change this fate. I hope that will be a butterfly effect…”

Listening to their conversation, I thought quietly.

…I had vaguely felt it all along, but the place I knew wasn’t in the novel where Melodia was the main character, but in the reality of the future.

I continued to watch Yuela, who was struggling to save me.

“Okay. It seems like there is a chance for my daughter to live.”

As soon as she finished speaking, the desert shook, and a very small puddle and a path appeared in the middle. A small, shabby scarecrow stood right there.

There was an arrow-shaped signpost with nothing written on it, and a very small barley seed.

“What is that?”

“This desert symbolizes your daughter’s vitality. Right now, there is almost no chance of survival, so it is like a desert.”

“…Ah.”

“That signpost and barley seed are the existence that directly reveals your will to revive the child who will die as a sacrifice of fate.”

“If that barley sprouts…”

“Yes, decades later, on the day new life is born in the desert, your child will be able to survive.”

The scene that had unfolded vividly like a movie was cut off at the starting point of Yuela’s answer.

Yuela endured all these sacrifices to save me.

I closed my eyes and thought of her.

Tears seemed to flow from the cracks in my eyelids.

Until now, I didn’t know anything about the existence of a mother.

I had thought she would be an eternal unknown to me.

I didn’t even have the capacity to feel her absence.

Because I had only thought of her as an evil woman who abandoned me.

But when I learned the secret that my mother had loved me so much that she would give up her life, my heart began to swell.

Perhaps all the moments and emotions I felt were traces of my mother’s love for me.

As soon as I realized that fact, my heart fell to the floor with a thud.

‘I want to see you again.’

I put my hand back into the gift bundle, driven by the foolish thought that I could meet Yuela again.

Then, a small puff of smoke popped out and began to surround me again.

But this time, Yuela wasn’t visible.

Instead, I quietly looked around and thought.

A large field of green barley stretched before me.

And in that field were Acid and Moira.

‘That desert from before has turned into a field of green barley. Acid and I harvested the seeds that Mom sowed, and the desert became land teeming with life. I survived.’

Acid and Moira were discussing the bet.

I looked at the boy who had the duty to stab my heart with pitiful eyes.

That’s why he had looked so uncomfortable and bitter all along. It was hard to bear the fact that he had to stab my heart…

Realizing that, I was momentarily breathless.

I bit my lip tightly and closed my eyes.

Along with the rustling of green barley in my head, a woman’s clear voice was heard.

When Acid was leaving the origin of this world, Moira had given him a brief hint.

“Child, do you know?”

But Acid, who had closed his eyes, seemed not to hear Moira’s voice at all.

“Fate has already changed. So, the dagger that Melodia is holding also… cannot take a person’s life. No matter how sharp the blade is, nothing will come out even if you stab it.”

I opened my mouth without realizing it.

“Then you shouldn’t have made Acid stab me. Why did you give me such pain?”

Moira, who was looking at Acid with his eyes closed, suddenly looked at the sky.

Whether it was a coincidence or not, her eyes were pointing exactly in my direction.

“But… to not completely go against fate, you have to pretend to be keeping fate. So, I had to stab you and take away your good heart and emotions for a while.”

After hearing all her words, my vision began to flicker and blur.

Before I knew it, tears were falling from my eyes.

The memory of my mother, who had worked so hard by betting with Moira to protect me,

The memory of Acid, who had struggled to visit Moira for me for the past five years,

And the emotions for the people I loved all began to rush in like a flood.

Finally, the very bottom of the gift bundle unfolded like a panorama.

This time, it was an extremely fragmentary memory.

It was the conversation I had with Matthias on the day Yuela died.

“There is someone who wants to kill you and Sien. It is my destiny to die. So don’t be sad, and don’t even think about helping me.”

“What on earth are you talking about? You can get out of this even now. Let’s get out.”

“I can’t go. Just, please… protect the child from them.”

“…I will protect her more precious than anyone else. So–”

“Promise me. Raise our child to be kind. So that she can shed the stigma of being the daughter of a villainess, so that she can grow up beautifully…”

“I will. I will raise her to be a good child. I will raise her to be a child who loves the world, so that she can grow up happily. So…”

I remembered the face of my dad, who was foolishly laughing, desperately trying to protect my innocence.

Dad wasn’t pretending to be weak for no reason.

He was keeping the will that Mom had made while dying.

‘Foolish Dad. You should have said that. I bothered you for pretending to be coy, but you should have said it was Mom’s will…’

My heart began to ache.

As overflowing emotions began to surge into my empty heart, small sparks burst from my fingertips.

It was a signal that the temporarily lost emotions, the stolen mana, were returning.

‘Now that the wheel of fate is turning completely, I will return your complete self to you.’

It seemed like I heard someone’s voice in my ear.

The moment I heard that voice, my mind cleared and I slumped to the floor.

But I couldn’t just stay still in this place.

I glared at the gift bundle, which was rolling around on the floor and no longer contained anything, and got up.

Now, all that was left was to be perfectly happy.

But…

“Acid!”

No, that’s not important!

Acid left!

Now all that’s left is to be happy, but he misunderstood and left!

As soon as I screamed, I started running outside like crazy.

I had to go find Acid, who had said he was leaving and turned his back as if he would never come back.