I’Ll Protect My Tyrant Dad! [EN]: Chapter 20

Protecting the Tyrant Father! Episode 20. Are those scary men Dad’s friends? (20/140)

Episode 20. Are those scary men Dad’s friends?

2023.02.07.

Just ten minutes before meeting Dad’s closest aides, my heart was filled with happiness.

‘I get to see Dad and enjoy the hunting competition! It’s going to be fun for the first time in a while!’

I skipped and hopped with the maids towards the carriage.

Even with my small legs, I could run as fast as the muscular maids. It felt great to hop around like a little kitten or a white snow rabbit after so long.

“Our cute Cien.”

“She looks like a tiny baby roe deer!”

The muscular maids looked like they were about to cry.

‘Hmph, silly maids! A baby roe deer! I’m as scary as a baby lion, you know?’

But I didn’t say that. It would be counterproductive if the maids were scared of me.

Honestly, I do have a slightly intimidating appearance, so I shouldn’t say intimidating things. I endured, feeling like a villain hiding my strength.

“Are you excited about going to the hunting grounds?”

“Yes!”

I smiled like a small, ordinary child for the maids and hopped to the front of the house.

When I was about a hundred steps away from the fence in front of our house, where the beautiful roses were visible, I saw people gathered outside. I couldn’t see them clearly from a distance, but they seemed to be Dad’s friends.

It would be good to make a good impression on Dad’s friends. After all, they are people on Dad’s side. I had to make sure to keep them on our side.

But I couldn’t figure out why my heart was pounding so much.

It felt like I had drunk coffee, and I had a bad feeling. Maybe it was because I was nervous, so I pressed down on my chest and kept repeating in my head.

‘Don’t be scared, Cien Mirmod. You’re going to be a villain!’

I puffed up my cheeks like a pufferfish and kept cheering myself on.

The maids on either side of me looked down at me with puzzled expressions.

But I didn’t have time to pay attention to them now.

Just in case, I checked my outfit one more time.

Two pigtails tied with care, a small red ribbon neatly attached to the small hair next to my forehead, and rosy cheeks on my fair face.

‘Sigh, I look too nice! I need to look scary too.’

I had hidden a skull in my pocket, but that might not be enough.

I smiled slyly and thought of other items.

I had a lot of items. Especially the health supplements for the maids, which were essential for training them. I shook the health supplement in my hand and said.

“Hey, Onnies!” [Term of endearment for older sisters or female friends]

“Yes!”

Gulp.

I could hear the sound of swallowing.

Rolling, rolling.

I could almost hear the sound of eyes rolling.

I smiled inwardly.

‘These Onnies are eyeing the health supplements!’

I put my arms, softer than bread, on both waists and looked at them one by one.

‘It must be nerve-wracking for the Onnies too, since we’re meeting new people?’

Even though they are people who swing their fists without looking at anyone, they might be ignored somewhere…

“Hey, if Dad’s friends ignore you, tell me!”

“Yes?”

“I’ll protect you!”

“Ho, perhaps…”

“…Are you thinking of us?”

Before I knew it, Cien’s mercenary tactics began to shine.

The maids knelt on the dusty floor with admiring eyes and hugged me tightly. Their iron-like arms patted me.

When they are this touched, you just need to put a dot on it [add the finishing touch].

“Yes! I always think of our Onnies!”

The maids nodded seriously. I could see their loyalty rising.

I put the health supplement in the maid’s pocket and laughed like a villain.

A true villain knows how to take care of their close aides.

“Now, let’s head to the carriage!”

I decided to run out with renewed determination.

‘Dad has hardly any friends in our village. I hope the people we meet this time are good people. They must be, right?’

In fact, he didn’t have any at all.

Dad was too busy taking care of me.

I don’t know what kind of people Dad’s aides are, but they say birds of a feather flock together, so they won’t be much different from Dad. They must be very naive, easily scammed, and foolish.

‘I have to protect the small, kind Dad and his pure friends!’

Another burden to protect after Dad, I felt like my shoulders were getting really heavy. …Or so I thought…

***

Instead of running out saying ‘Dad!’, I walked calmly, maintaining the dignity, majesty, and grace of a young lady.

And I stood tall with my face up until Dad discovered me first.

Just as my fair face shone brightly in the sunlight, Dad found me and walked over quickly.

“Cien?”

Looking at Dad’s pure and melancholic iris-like smile, I politely lowered my head with my hands forward.

“Da… No, I greet the Young Duke.”

Dad whispered kindly.

“Our Cien, you’ve learned etiquette, how admirable.”

I put my hands behind my back and greeted him with grace and elegance.

And I looked around, wondering what kind of people Dad’s friends, whom I was seeing for the first time, would be like.

Where are the naive and cute friends of Dad that I need to protect…

“Gasp.”

Confused, I couldn’t find a place to look and rolled my eyes from side to side.

‘What, what is it? Are they really Dad’s friends?’

About ten aides came into my view.

They all seemed to be incredibly tall, over 2 meters [~6’7″]. Moreover, they were wearing strange leather on their shoulders, and most of all…

‘They have very fierce impressions!’

A gloomy and sinister aura filled the area around the carriage.

It was like jaguars, lions, and tigers surrounding a white snow rabbit, a herbivore. They were hiding their teeth, but they were swallowing hard while looking at Dad.

What, why are they showing such an attitude? Their eyes looked suspicious.

“Ah, Cien. Are you seeing them for the first time?”

I had to come to my senses. Even if you’re caught in a tiger’s den, you and Dad can both survive if you keep your wits about you.

I nodded solemnly.

“Yes.”

“They are friends who help Dad. Say hello.”

The scary men hurriedly spoke one by one.

“Nice to meet you!”

“We’ve been wanting to see you, Cien-nim!”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you!”

I scanned them with suspicious eyes.

“What… what do you all do?”

“Hahaha, I’m a very kind hunting ground keeper.”

One of the men smiled, looking like he was about to kill someone.

All ten of them looked very scary, but the two standing next to Dad, who seemed to be his closest aides, were the scariest and most grotesque.

‘Those people are strange! One is wearing a ribbon that would be good for my hair, and the other’s face is too shiny!’

The bald man with the pink ribbon on his head smiled broadly when he received my gaze.

I gnashed my teeth like sunflower seeds [meaning to grind one’s teeth in annoyance].

‘…Are they really Dad’s friends?’

They were very scary-looking men, enough to make the muscular maids run away.

A fierce physique that would be perfect with an axe on their shoulders.

Large, rocky faces with powerful jaws that could chew iron.

Did they notice that I was looking at them with suspicious eyes? They tore their mouths open and gave even scarier smiles.

I quickly hid my suspicious gaze.

Originally, a proper villain would be good at hiding their gaze.

The man with strange glitter on his face, one of the two I was staring at, bowed his head to me.

“Nice to meet you, Cien-nim.”

He seemed to have good manners.

I was our Dad’s daughter and in a position where I should never be underestimated, so I lowered my voice and spoke solemnly.

“Okay, hello.”

He gave a bright, healthy smile at my answer. I slyly turned my eyes to the other side.

‘Scary! They look too scary!’

Then Dad smiled with a naive face and stroked my head.

“They are a little lacking, but they are kind people.”

“Ahem, ahem.”

“Hahaha. Am I a little lacking?”

When I glanced at him, the muscles and tendons were moving back and forth.

You shouldn’t judge people by their appearance, but he looked like a very scary person.

This might be my prejudice, but that’s how it looked based on appearance alone.

I was thinking hard with my small head, and I could feel Dad wondering.

‘Sigh, this doesn’t seem right.’

I coughed, hiding my hands slightly behind my back.

At that moment, the good-hearted thought that you shouldn’t judge people by their appearance raised its head.

‘The muscular maids looked scary too. But they had kind personalities with scary faces, right?’

“Hehehe.”

But seeing them sweating profusely while looking at me and constantly making strange smiles, I couldn’t help but be suspicious.

“Haha, there’s no one as kind as me in the world.”

“That’s right.”

They even sang strange songs.

‘Are they fools? Or scary people pretending to be fools?’

My head was confused. I narrowed my eyes like a snakehead and glanced at them.

‘If those guys have bad intentions and are sticking to our Dad…!’

If anyone touched our kind Dad, I could show them a proper nightmare.

I sharpened my baby teeth, smaller than my little fingernail, and glared at them.

***

After saying goodbye to Dad’s aide uncles in front of the carriage, I got into the four-wheeled carriage that Dad had prepared for me.

Sitting on the warm and cozy velvet chair, leaning my head on Dad’s arm, I fell into deep thought.

‘Why do those people look so familiar? They look like faces I’ve seen somewhere.’

I held Dad’s hand tightly and looked at them.

‘Really, this situation is strange.’

No matter how much you shouldn’t judge people by their faces, those people were strange.

“Dad.”

“Yes, my daughter.”

“Are those uncles really kind people?”

Dad’s expression cracked.

Dad asked in a voice that sounded somehow cold.

“Why? Are you suspicious?”

“Um… a little? They look scary.”

“I see. That’s a big problem…”

Hearing Dad’s low muttering, I made up my mind.

I grabbed Dad’s arm and said.

“It’s not a big problem. I’m never scared.”

“Okay, they’re not scary people, so be comfortable. Okay?”

I shook my head.

Dad, who was looking at me like warm sunlight, opened his mouth as if emphasizing strongly.

“Those people are really kind people.”

I recalled the fact that I had forgotten.

Dad was the type of person who believed that everyone was kind and had no suspicion at all.

You shouldn’t trust Dad’s judgment.

No matter how much I thought about it, it wouldn’t work.

The thought that I should find out if those guys, no, those people, are really kind people at today’s hunting competition, crept into my mind.

***

Meanwhile, the atmosphere among Matthias’s closest aides was close to a funeral home.

They followed the four-wheeled carriage carrying Matthias and Cien on horseback, spewing accusations at each other.

In particular, the accusations were focused on ‘Hessian Continent’s Mad Dog,’ Melle.

“That’s why I told you not to wear that hideous ribbon.”

A hideous ribbon. Frankly speaking, it was a cute ribbon. If Melle hadn’t used it.

“…Ha, she must have been shocked, right?”

Cien-nim became suspicious.

The bigger problem was Matthias-nim. His cold gaze scanned him. Just recalling that cold and chilling gaze that doubted his aide, who couldn’t even act properly, made his body tremble.

“Yes. We showed something ugly to Cien-nim, so that delicate person must have been shocked.”

“Atone with death.”

Melle grumbled.

“…Ah, I can just take off the ribbon!”

He slowly drove the black horse and stuffed the ribbon into his pocket.

And he wore a starlight brooch on his chest like a medal, with an expression that he felt was pleasing, but others saw as terrifying. It was a starlight brooch for volunteer organizations that kind and good commoners often bought.

“Is it okay now?”

Unlike what he introduced himself as to Cien, he was a person who punished crimes, befitting the nickname ‘Mad Dog.’

He introduced himself as a benevolent judge who killed sex offenders, murderers, etc.

His hideous wrist was tattooed with the number of evil people he had directly punished.

So there was no way his ferocity could be hidden by a starlight brooch.

But…

“It’s much better.”

“Cien-nim will like it too.”

The villains actually had a very low standard for ‘goodness.’

“Let’s do better. We still have a chance to make up for it.”

“Well, there’s the hunting competition.”

“We have to show her only good things then.”