I’Ll Protect My Tyrant Dad! [EN]: Chapter 136

The Tyrant Father I’ll Protect! Episode 136. Side Story 2: Finding Dad’s True Happiness (9)

Episode 136. Side Story 2: Finding Dad’s True Happiness (9)

2024.03.19.

It was a special arrangement: a trip for just Acid and Dad.

The stated reason was to vet the prospective son-in-law.

Of course, Acid nodded earnestly at Dad’s words.

***

“Is this the place?”

“Yes, it’s where extreme training takes place.”

Acid calmly nodded and looked around.

It was an ice cliff covered with glass-like icicles.

“I understand. Are we staying here?”

“Yes.”

“I’m fine, but Matthias might be uncomfortable. I’ve brought something.”

Acid casually took out a small tent from his pack and set it up.

Matthias looked at him with a displeased expression.

“You brought a tent?”

Acid nodded calmly at Matthias’s words.

“Yes. I don’t mind hanging from the ice wall to sleep, so I’ll endure it.”

“……Do you think I’m such a scoundrel?”

Matthias clicked his tongue and took out a small magic tool from his pack.

He simply pressed a small button on the magic tool, and a splendid tent appeared in front of the ice wall.

“Come in. You need to sleep well.”

***

He told stories of Sien’s childhood.

“Sien especially loved eggs in her hometown.”

It was a childish remark, but it seemed to stimulate Acid’s competitive spirit in a strange way.

Acid murmured as if he knew Sien well too.

“That’s right. Lady Sien likes omelets.”

“……Don’t agree. What do you know about our Sien?”

Matthias wore an uncomfortable expression.

Acid smiled gently and maturely, as if to lighten the mood.

“Not as much as Matthias, but I’ve been with her for a long time.”

Matthias scanned Acid’s expression, which seemed to hold no lies, and retorted with a disgruntled look.

“Then for dinner, we’ll make an omelet, thinking of our Sien.”

“……Yes.”

Acid hesitated for a moment, and Matthias questioned him briefly.

“Why? Don’t you want to make an omelet?”

“It’s not that.”

“Then why?”

“It’s nothing. I’ll start cooking.”

The situation of making an omelet with a small burner magic tool in front of an ice wall was, perhaps, even comical.

But Acid did his best to make the omelet.

Since all of this was Matthias’s test, he intended to do everything perfectly, even the smallest things.

Matthias, who was watching him, tossed out a word.

“You’re working quite hard.”

“Is being good at cooking also a requirement?”

“……Of course. I can’t let my daughter starve.”

A strange glint appeared in Acid’s eyes.

“Of course, I will do my best.”

Matthias watched Acid cook diligently, unaware that he was wearing a satisfied expression.

“Do your best.”

He spoke as if he would stand back with his hands behind his back, but Matthias didn’t just stand still.

He made a light soup next to Acid, who was making the omelet.

After using some vegetables and water that he had packed in his bag along with the tent, the dish was completed more easily than he thought.

Inside the tent, they placed the omelet and the soup on a small table.

“Thank you for the meal.”

“Take a bite.”

As he watched Acid take a spoonful of the soup he had made, Matthias suddenly thought.

‘This is the first time I’ve cooked for someone other than Sien.’

And the second person he cooked for was Sien’s husband candidate number 1.

That thought made him feel strangely unpleasant.

But before he could even utter a grumbling word, Acid’s eyes widened.

“It’s delicious!”

“……Well, I’ve always been good at cooking.”

“Is that so? Well, I guess that’s true. It seems like there’s a world of difference between my cooking and yours.”

The omelet that Acid made also looked decent enough to eat. But compared to the dish Matthias made, it felt like nothing.

Acid said with a slightly disappointed expression.

“I wanted to show you my great cooking skills… It’s a shame.”

As Acid drooped his shoulders down as if he was a little disappointed, Matthias chuckled and retorted.

“What are you talking about? I’m twice your age, so of course I’m better at cooking. And you know, I was quite good at cooking even when I was fighting wars. Even when knights from all over the continent gathered before…”

Matthias, who had been rambling on about his own story for a while, suddenly shut his mouth.

Acid in front of him was making an expression as if he would listen to everything he said. So, somehow, he kept trying to say what was on his mind without even realizing it.

But that’s not how it should be.

‘I have to vet the son-in-law, I can’t give my heart right away.’

Matthias returned to his skilled examiner stance and said with a stiff mouth.

“No, why am I saying this? Just keep eating.”

“I understand. Thank you for the meal.”

Acid nodded seriously and lifted his spoon.

Matthias rested his chin on his hand and smiled as he watched him devour even the carrots in the soup.

‘It’s fun to see him eat the carrots that Sien doesn’t eat.’

He was reminded of Sien in her childhood, who would never eat carrots.

But Acid was different.

As Matthias watched the dish in the pot disappear in an instant, he suddenly noticed something strange.

“……Wait. Acid?”

“Yes. What is it?”

Acid, who had been eating food without thinking, suddenly raised his head.

“You’re only eating my cooking? Aren’t you eating the omelet you made?”

“……”

Matthias leaned back and whispered lazily to Acid.

“It’s an omelet that Sien ‘likes’.”

It implied that he should eat it right away.

At those words, Acid took the fork to the omelet and poked it, saying.

“I’m eating it. I’m going to eat it.”

Matthias quietly watched Acid.

Acid, who was eating the omelet he had made, frowned slightly.

‘Is it not very tasty?’

He slowly lifted his fork, cut the omelet, and put it in his mouth.

The taste of the omelet was, well…

“The taste is average?”

Matthias slightly raised the corners of his mouth as if he now knew, watching Acid manage his expression.

“That’s it.”

Acid stiffened his body and avoided his gaze.

“……Yes? That, what. What…”

Matthias crossed his arms in front of his chest and whispered.

“Acid, unlike Sien, you don’t like omelets, do you?”

Matthias subtly pushed the omelet in front of him and said.

“You don’t have to eat it if you don’t want to. I’ll just think you’re a picky eater for a kid.”

“A kid……”

Matthias said with an arrogant and victorious expression.

“Yes, a kid.”

Acid looked at Matthias and recalled what Sien had said in passing a long time ago.

Unlike his villainous side, Matthias was kind to many things around his daughter.

In other words, he also had a somewhat childish side.

But if he fell for the childish prank of being called a kid here, he would never be able to become Sien’s husband.

Acid deliberately made a stiff expression and straightened his shoulders.

“Matthias. I am not a child, but an adult.”

“Really? You’re just a greenhorn kid. One who can’t even eat omelets.”

Acid lifted his fork and stabbed the entire omelet.

“……I will enjoy the meal.”

The huge omelet disappeared into his mouth.

Although he had a look of disgust on his face, Acid was diligently chewing and swallowing the omelet.

Thinking that the sight was funny, Matthias smiled.

“Yes, eat well. You have to overcome your picky eating habits to become a real adult.”

It was even a subtly kind word, but neither Acid nor Matthias noticed the kindness in those words.

‘It’s interesting that he can’t eat omelets.’

The meal was coming to an end.

It was only a short meal, but Matthias was beginning to learn about Acid’s subtle picky eating habits.

And Acid, in his own way, was noticing that Matthias had some affection for him.

As Acid chewed the omelet thoroughly, Matthias got up and said energetically.

“I’m done eating, so let’s do the dishes now.”

“……The dishes? Yes, I understand.”

“Then what else would we do but eat and do the dishes?”

“You’re right.”

Acid nodded with a dazed expression, unlike his energetic words.

In fact, Matthias also knew what Acid was thinking.

Perhaps Acid was surprised when he arrived in front of the ice wall, thinking it was a trip.

As soon as he saw the ice wall in front of him, he must have been prepared to climb it as a test. So, he seemed a little embarrassed that they were suddenly eating and doing the dishes.

As if he knew the thoughts stuck in his head, Matthias shrugged his shoulders.

“Well, what are you doing? You have to endure the cold and do the dishes to become a real adult.”

“I understand.”

Matthias shrugged his shoulders and watched Acid, who was clearing the dishes.

‘Well, should I keep the secret that I brought him to the ice wall because I didn’t know where to go on a trip?’

Matthias had never been on a trip before.

But he knew one place where he wouldn’t be disturbed by anyone.

It was this ice wall, where rumors of extreme cold kept ordinary people from even approaching.

In fact, Matthias’s psychology was simple.

He wanted to have a proper conversation with Acid in this place without being disturbed by anyone else.

‘The Mirmord mansion is a bit uncomfortable for deep conversations.’

Sien is worried that her father will harm her lover. The butler and maids, who have watched Acid since childhood, are anxious that he will be hurt.

Whenever he tries to take Acid to the drawing-room to have a conversation, everyone glares at him with daggers in their eyes.

He was also quite troubled while testing his daughter’s prospective son-in-law.

‘The ice wall is a bit rough, but if you’re going to be Sien’s husband, you can’t be afraid of this much.’

It was a kind of courage test, and Acid passed the test quite well.

‘My daughter has an eye for… Hmm, that’s not it.’

Matthias shrugged his shoulders to organize his thoughts and brought a boiling water magic tool into the tent.

The magic tool worked on the principle of disinfecting the dishes.

That’s how he put the dishes, spoons, forks, etc. into the magic tool to wash them.

It was as if the omelet incident from earlier was still bothering him, Acid asked slowly.

“If not being picky is part of the condition, I will change. Don’t worry.”

Matthias smiled with a rare refreshing smile.

“Well, now that I think about it, I don’t think you need to change your picky eating habits.”

“……Is that so?”

Matthias suddenly burst into insane laughter when he saw Acid’s complexion brighten a little.