The Strongest Daughter-In-Law Of The Black Lion Family [EN]: Chapter 72

#72.

“Are you still sick?”

“It’s not that.”

Zachary sighed repeatedly, stopping mid-sentence. He gulped down water as if his chest was tight, then exclaimed,

“Rachel is ignoring all my calls. Even if I go to her, she won’t see me, and even when I bring up the lawsuit, she only talks through Keira.”

Ah. So that was it?

Only then did I understand why Zachary was fidgeting like a puppy needing to pee.

I heard that Rachel had filed for custody a few days ago, and it seemed he hadn’t been able to meet her since. I reacted coolly.

“I told you to accept her sooner.”

“That was the best I could do then. I still don’t regret it.”

Zachary muttered stubbornly. His reaction was familiar, and I tried hard to suppress my laughter.

I wondered who Zerachiel took after, and it turned out he was the spitting image of his father.

“I see.”

I drew out my words playfully and took a bite of the sherbet. It melted in my mouth, so delicious.

“Then you don’t need my help, the indomitable father who doesn’t regret anything?”

“What?”

“Actually, I’m in very, very good contact with Rachel. I even contacted her yesterday?”

At those words, Zachary’s eyes flashed. He rushed towards me, trying to grab my hands, but Zerachiel quickly snatched both of my hands, ending his attempt in failure.

Zachary growled with blazing eyes.

“What are you doing?”

“I don’t like others touching what’s mine.”

Zerachiel smiled sweetly and held my hands tightly. Because of that, I had no choice but to watch the sherbet melt before my eyes.

As I stared at the sherbet pitifully, an even more pitiful voice pierced my ears.

“Help me.”

Zachary turned my chair completely towards him.

“Just create a place where I can talk to her. That’s all I need.”

Zachary looked desperate. His empty eyes, which seemed to have no attachment to life, were now overflowing with anxiety and jealousy.

Indeed, unlike the father who was being turned away at the door, that fox beastkin was freely coming and going from Rachel’s mansion.

“Well……”

I quietly recalled my communication with Rachel.

— Yes. Zachary is doing better now.

‘Yes. So now it’s a blitzkrieg [a swift, overwhelming attack]! In this gap……!’

— That’s enough. I’m going to step back now.

‘Yes?’

— So you don’t have to try anymore.

Rachel’s reaction, who I thought would be the happiest, was lukewarm. I thought the obstacle between them had completely disappeared. But it was a reaction as if she was blocked by an even bigger wall.

‘She must have been hurt a lot.’

I remembered Zachary acting coldly towards Rachel at the banquet. When I recalled him even provoking her to get along with the fox beastkin, I understood why Rachel wouldn’t meet him.

But if we dragged on like this, Rachel and Zachary’s relationship might never recover.

‘That can’t happen.’

For Zerachiel’s future, the two must not fall apart.

Zerachiel has already gone around one and a half times, so there’s no need to leave an excuse for him to go crazy like in the original story.

I took out an invitation from my bag and placed it on the table. It was because I had come up with an excuse to have Zachary and Rachel meet.

“Actually, Rachel invited Zerachiel and me to Illangbore a few days ago. She asked us to go hunting together.”

“What?!”

Zachary looked at the invitation with envious eyes. I gently pushed the invitation towards him.

“Would you like to go together?”

“But she won’t let me in willingly.”

Zachary replied in a listless voice.

Indeed, he was being turned away at the door, so she would hardly let him into Illangbore.

Seeing him looking as if his tail would droop if he had one, I burst into laughter.

“Of course, you can’t go in that form.”

“I can’t go in this form?”

“Didn’t you hear me? I said we were going hunting?”

As I waited with my eyes blinking, Zachary tilted his head, looking like he didn’t understand at all.

After a while, he belatedly realized my intention and muttered in shock.

“Don’t tell me…… Don’t tell me you’re telling me to transform into a beastkin and become prey?”

“That’s right!”

I clapped my hands and smiled brightly.

“We can’t go together, but we can leak the hunting location in advance. You can stay there quietly and get caught by Rachel! Right?”

As I smiled brightly as if asking for agreement, Zachary’s expression became bizarre. He turned to Zerachiel with a creak.

“It seems that being next to you is making that kid go crazy too. She’s saying all sorts of nonsense.”

“Why do you think it’s nonsense?”

Zerachiel tilted his head and smiled slyly.

“It looks like the most perfect plan to me.”

* * *

At that moment, Zachary massaged his forehead as he looked at the white ferret daughter-in-law spouting crazy things and his son agreeing with her.

This can’t be real.

It’s not surprising that his son is crazy; it’s nothing new. But how is that kid going crazy too?

Zachary rubbed his forehead nervously, as if he had a headache.

Right, I shouldn’t have talked to these guys in the first place.

It was right after he staggered back to his seat.

Ivan was flattering Chelsea, rubbing his palms together next to her.

“Our Chi Chi-nim [term of endearment] is so smart. How did you come up with such an extraordinary idea?”

“Hehe.”

Why do you like it too?

Zachary stopped thinking as he watched Chelsea, who was blushing and happy. If I stay here any longer, I feel like I’ll lose my dignity.

Zachary jumped up from his seat and said firmly.

“Absolutely not.”

There are things a family head should do, but to transform into a beastkin and jump into his ex-wife’s hunting ground…

That was a foolish act no different from saying, ‘Please catch me.’

“Right. I definitely said that……”

Zachary sighed deeply and stared at the potion in his hand.

The shimmering yellow potion was a medicine that changed fur color. As Zachary only stared at the potion and didn’t drink it, Ivan, who had slipped out secretly from Rachel, urged him.

“Drink it quickly. Rachel-nim will arrive soon.”

“Do I really have to go this far?”

Is this really the best?

Zachary’s eyes shook uneasily. Regardless, Ivan was being annoying.

“The chances of survival are higher as a yellow lion than as a black lion.”

“No, I mean, why do I have to be prey in the first place?”

“Because it’s Chi Chi-nim’s perfect plan. Are you now rejecting Chi Chi-nim’s perfect plan, who is the benefactor of the family head and the darling of Jabishi?”

Zachary stared at Ivan with a disgusted face at the reaction that there was no rejection in this plan.

‘Anyone would think he received the head of household’s order.’

Ivan, who had become Chelsea’s excellent doormat, even showed blind loyalty.

Of course, that loyalty included the thrill and fun of being able to watch Zerachiel get beaten up from the sidelines.

Ivan puffed out his chest and said.

“If you stay as a black lion, you’ll be spotted right away, and then Rachel-nim might really kill you by mistake.”

“That’s true.”

Zachary immediately agreed and swallowed hard. Rachel would do that.

In the end, Zachary, having finished his 고민 [worries], poured the potion into his mouth. At that moment, the black hair, which was the symbol of Jabishi, began to turn yellow.

Zachary, who had become a blonde with golden eyes, awkwardly touched his hair.

‘Rachel liked my black hair the most.’

It was the black hair that she cherished because she liked long hair.

But is it okay to face her in such a ridiculous state? If I do this, it seems like no charm will work, let alone a beauty trap.

It was around the time I was having such 고민 [worries]. Ivan was fussing, even pushing my back.

“If you’ve 다 드셨으면 [finished drinking], hurry up and transform into a beastkin! What are you dawdling for?”

Should I just kill him?