I’Ll Protect My Tyrant Dad! [EN]: Chapter 15

Tyrant Dad, I’ll Protect You! Episode 15. Honey Bread Seems to Be an Unprecedented Genius (15/140)

15. Honey Bread Seems to Be an Unprecedented Genius

January 20, 2023

Things were proceeding as expected.

Duchess Ruchella smiled, recalling Cien’s bright eyes that hadn’t wavered from her gaze.

‘Yes, she was quite lovely.’

Just as she shrugged and took a sip of her rooibos tea, one of the young ladies, seemingly oblivious to the atmosphere, suddenly interjected.

“Aren’t the children in our family rather distant, lacking affection for one another?”

The children of the Mirmord family had to develop their abilities from a young age.

Because they never knew when someone might try to assassinate them.

So, naturally, they lacked the innocent charm of typical young children.

“Ahem, that’s right.”

“But Honey Bread… I mean, Lady Cien must be very affectionate towards Matthias and his wife, right?”

Duchess Ruchella cleared her throat.

“Isn’t her very existence affectionate enough?”

“Oh, is that so?”

Just as the ladies were growing tense,

The door slid open, and Duchess Ruchella’s head maid appeared.

“Madam.”

“What is it?”

Duchess Ruchella looked at the maid with a sharp expression.

It seemed like something was flickering behind her, and the Duchess narrowed her eyes.

“I told you not to interrupt.”

No one could interrupt the ladies’ tea time.

Except for one exception: ‘the visit of small children’.

Of course, until now, not a single child had been bold enough to knock on the Duchess’s private chamber door.

“Ah, that’s…”

Beyond the head maid’s calm dress, a small chestnut head peeked out.

“Lady Cien has requested a private audience.”

“…What?”

As soon as the Duchess questioned, Cien’s smiling face appeared in the tea room.

Pressing her chubby cheeks with both hands, Cien shouted loudly.

“Grandma! I’m here!”

“…Honey Bread?”

“Yes!”

At Cien’s affectionate appearance, Duchess Ruchella’s lips curved upwards.

Cien quickly ran to the table and bowed deeply.

“Hello!”

A tiny child, as small as the teacups they were holding.

At the little child’s loud greeting, the faces of the three ladies, except for the Duchess, softened.

***

The ladies’ tea time was quickly cleared away.

However, the Duchess remained aloof and cold, as if displeased by the interruption of her rest time.

Then why did she accept my request for a private audience?

‘Still, I can finally have a private audience with Grandma!’

Duchess Ruchella, the best source of information among the people I know so far.

‘I can’t meet the information guild separately yet… For now, the information that the Duchess can give me is the most crucial!’

I resolved to extract information, but something felt off.

“Sit on my lap immediately.”

“Yes?”

The Duchess tilted her head and ordered with a stern expression.

‘Why on my lap…?’

I couldn’t dare to go against the Duchess’s wishes, so I quickly sat on her lap, but something still felt strange.

It was difficult to have a proper conversation.

‘Why is she making me sit on her lap?’

Since we were facing the same direction, I couldn’t see her expression.

‘This is troublesome.’

However, Duchess Ruchella’s voice remained consistently dry.

After asking simple, trivial questions, she finally provided one important piece of information.

“There will be a significant event in the family soon. About three months from now.”

An event. I need to dig deeper.

“Um… The maids say that a lot of scary uncles come to the event…”

“Ah, yes. Anyone can become the successor of our family, whether they are direct descendants, collateral relatives, or adopted children, so outsiders who want to challenge the position of successor will come. But most of them are just small fry.”

“Small fry?”

“Yes. Except for about three people in our family, they are all small fry.”

The Duchess was discussing the power structure of the family in a nonchalant tone.

I carefully opened my mouth and asked.

“Then… are those three scary uncles?”

“Those three are obvious. Axel, Delphia, and, Ma… No. Ahem, among them, Axel, who is quite dangerous, said he would return after finishing the war. It’s annoying.”

Axel was not ‘quite’ dangerous, but ‘the most’ dangerous.

I froze and made a sound like a cat groaning.

“Uh…”

“To say that he will end the demon war in a month is not only arrogant but completely crazy.”

The people of the Mirmord family used to go hunting demons to suppress their belligerence. That was politely referred to as the ‘Demon War’.

‘Demons like shiny things and collect all sorts of magical tools, so treasures often appear on the demon battlefield.’

So, Mirmords, including Axel, also participated in the Demon War to get the things that the demons possessed. But once you stir up the demons, you can’t easily retreat. So it took at least a year or more.

But Axel Mirmord had now declared that he would end the war in a month.

Can I pacify this family in a month?

My body began to tremble at the news, and my hands started to sweat.

“…I see.”

“Axel is trash.”

The grandmother added briefly, wondering what she thought of me, who had become stiff.

“Ah, I’m sorry. My expression must be scary for you because you’re a child.”

‘But Axel will start to pacify the family in earnest after returning from the war. There is still, still a chance!’

Perhaps feeling that I was anxious, my grandmother frowned.

“Don’t worry. Matthias will take care of everything. If you die, it will be your dad’s fault.”

I looked at my grandmother with pale eyes, who easily talked about death.

‘I don’t want to die!’

My heart ached when I thought of our dad’s infinitely harmless and soft eyes.

If our dad takes care of it, the end will surely be a massacre. I can’t trust our innocent dad. I can only trust myself!

‘What should I do now?’

The only way to effectively stop Axel was to overpower him or remove him politically.

‘Axel… is a guy who uses black magic. Should I use white magic or divine power?’

I clenched my fist seriously.

Not knowing my complicated thoughts, my grandmother whispered casually in my ear.

“By the way, you’ll be bored for a while. Because the position of the head of the academy is vacant.”

My eyes widened. There will be no education for a while, so I will have free time.

“Um, it’s okay!”

“…Why? You’re not like a child.”

“Because I’m going to keep coming to play with Grandma!”

“Is that so?”

I couldn’t see her expression because I was looking in the same direction in my grandmother’s arms, but it was a cold voice that seemed to say, ‘You’re going to play with me?’

So I bit my lip tightly as if gambling.

This is the only way to make the Duchess my ally and inherit her power.

I carefully brought up the main point.

“Yes! Um, I talked to the maids about Grandma…”

‘Sorry, maids.’

It’s actually a lie.

“…You, you talked about me?”

“Yes.”

“Wh-what did you say?”

“Guys, there’s a Grandma I love the most in the world…”

Bulge.

From some point on, veins were bulging on the grandmother’s hand holding the table.

It was the kind of vein that you could only see on muscular maid unnies [older sisters].

But I endured the fear, twisted my body subtly, and continued shyly.

“…There is?”

“Grandma is so cool, I want to be as strong as Grandma…”

It was sincere that I wanted to be as strong as the Duchess.

Axel is coming back in a month, and if I’m weak, our dad will surely be eaten up. I had to build up a lot of strength before that.

Not knowing my thoughts, my grandmother muttered in a locked voice.

“…I.”

“Yes.”

My grandmother stuttered suddenly, in a trembling voice.

“C-cool… am I?”

It was obvious that she was looking at me as if trying to dissect my little head.

Sitting on the grandmother’s tightly stiffened thigh muscles, I struggled to continue.

“…Yes! To become a very cool person like Grandma…”

“To, to become.”

“What should I do? I heard there are artifacts that make you super strong… There’s also something called white magic, which is the opposite of black magic…”

Duchess Ruchella clenched her fist tightly.

I lifted my trembling face and glanced up, winking.

But, my grandmother’s face was terribly distorted…

…Just when I was glancing around, wondering if I had failed, my grandmother opened her trembling lips and said.

“I had a time like you too. A time when I yearned to become stronger. You remind me of myself back then.”

She was definitely saying it positively, but it was strangely eerie.

The grandmother opened her mouth as if to emphasize her words.

“This won’t do.”

It was a big deal that negative words came out.

Was it a failure? Unpleasant thoughts began to creep in.

After all, it couldn’t be so easy to win over the Duchess, and thoughts of defeat were consuming my mind.

That was when I was frantically thinking about how to treat her in the future.

A voice full of spirit came to my ears, which were full of disappointment.

“Shall I tell you what to do to become like me, Honey Bread?”

I looked at my grandmother with sparkling eyes.

What do I have to do to become like Grandma?

‘But Honey Bread?’

It was strange to say Honey Bread in a serious situation. But I decided to listen with my ears perked up.

“I will teach you directly.”

“…Yes?”

“Don’t be too happy. I’m not doing this because of your request.”

Grandmother continued coldly.

“This is all because the head of the academy died suspiciously, so there is no one to teach you for the time being. Also, there is no successor to the head of the academy, so all the instructors are restless… It would be better for me to teach you. Wouldn’t it?”

It seemed like an unavoidable thing.

But there was a possibility that the Duchess would hate me because she took on this unavoidable task.

Worried about the future, I carefully continued.

“Um, it’s okay if you don’t-.”

“Ahem.”

“…?”

“I am the only one who can educate you.”

She was firm. And when I listened to the tone of her voice in detail, it didn’t seem like she hated it that much.

Then it was good for me.

‘The Duchess is someone who has a prime [a period of great success or popularity]. She has fallen now, but she still has a slight foothold in society, and she may have the power to stop Axel even a little bit.’

I saw hope that I could live.

Duchess Ruchella was knowledgeable in many fields, but especially as a high-ranking magician, she could freely use magic potions or poisons.

Decades ago, the magic potion Kids TenTen, which she made for children to grow taller, was spread all over the empire and was officially used.

Was that all?

Rumor had it that she possessed a great number of offensive artifacts. Of course, there were also objections. If the Duchess had so many offensive artifacts, would she have given up the power of the family so easily?

Still, the Duchess was much stronger than a child like me who had nothing.

Feeling that my chances of survival had increased, I smiled brightly and said.

“Wow, thank you!”

The grandmother, who was staring down at my round eyes from above, put one hand to her mouth, cleared her throat, and muttered.

“Ahem, ahem. Yes, Bread.”

Not knowing what Bread meant, I blinked and tilted my head.

‘Who are Honey Bread and Bread?’

When I looked at her with puzzled eyes, the Duchess averted her gaze and replied coldly.

“Go out now. Come again tomorrow.”

“Yes. Grandma, I love you!”

I came up on the table and kissed the back of my grandmother’s hand, then ran out.

‘Now I can be strong too!’

Standing in front of the door and looking down at my hands, I clenched and unclenched my fists.

I already felt stronger.

‘Hehe, exciting.’

I was jumping around in my heart, but then I realized that I had more to say before I left, so I turned my body slightly.

“Ah, by the way, Grandma…”

When I turned my head, Duchess Ruchella’s face was red.

It was like a runaway train.

Besides, she was carefully stroking the back of her hand, but when I turned my head, she looked startled.

She said again with a cold expression.

“What is it?”

Unlike her cold expression, her face was still red. It was a bit questionable, but I opened my mouth, pretending not to know, because I had something to get.

“If you teach my friend too, can’t you?”

I raised the corners of my mouth to the sides so that my upper and lower teeth could be seen clearly.

It looked very awkward…

Grandmother nodded indifferently.

But since she said she would teach me, I was satisfied with that for today.

I bowed deeply so that my round head could be seen.

“On the day of the education, I will send you a message again.”

Thinking that it shouldn’t be too late, I smiled brightly and folded my eyes [a Korean expression for smiling so much that your eyes disappear].

“Yes! I want to see Grandma as soon as possible!”

Grandmother frowned at me.

“As soon as possible. Then today, no, today would be burdensome.”

‘Of course! About a week later…’