Chapter 25

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Translated by Sylph

Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

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Tie thought she felt exactly like a cotton doll soaked with water.

Her curled-up body was too heavy to move easily, and she couldn’t tell how much time had passed.

Above her head, the crimson twilight had already begun to spread.

‘Even if you meet your daddy, that man won’t know who you are.’

At first, she hadn’t understood exactly what Kkamangi had meant by those words.

So she had thought it was carelessness.

But now she thought she understood.

What those words meant.

When she thought of herself desperately calling for Daddy.

Of Daddy hearing that voice, turning to look at Tie for a moment.

And then Daddy indifferently turning his head away……

The strength drained from her body, and she buried her head between her knees.

It was as tears dripped, plop, plop, onto the ground.

“Astie!”

“Hey, brat-!!”

“Tie?”

Familiar voices sounded right in front of her.

Only then did Tie raise her head.

She saw three people standing in the twilight.

Basto, whose complexion had drained of color.

Veil, whose whole body was soaked with sweat.

And even anxious-looking Nordix.

The members of Agabert that Tie had made…… Tie’s companions.

Tie drew in a shaky breath.

The moment she saw the state of the three of them, she understood at once.

That they had all been searching for Tie until now.

She wanted to say she was sorry for making them worry, but,

“……Ugh, hic.”

Contrary to her will, a hiccup escaped as soon as she opened her mouth.

“Hic, huh…… hic.”

Her sorrow swelled up, and the emotions she had been holding back burst out.

“M-mister…… and oppa and grandpaa……”

“……”

“Tie’s daddy, daddy……”

‘Tie, you know Daddy loves you more than anything in the world, right?’

Daddy had always hugged Tie and kissed her on the cheek.

‘Our daughter is Daddy’s treasure. As long as I have you, there isn’t anything Daddy can’t do…… truly anything.’

On hard days, she had silently pulled Tie into her arms and buried her face in her small shoulder for a long, long time.

And yet that same Daddy had seen Tie and simply left.

As if she were a complete stranger.

Pitiful tears streamed down her cheeks.

“Tie misses Daddy…… hic. I want Daddy, waaah……”

She missed Daddy.

Not the Daddy who saw Tie and turned away from her, but the Daddy who used to pull Tie into a tight hug like before.

“I thought, waaah, I thought if I just got to the imperial capital it’d be enough……”

Until now, Tie’s goal had been getting to the imperial capital.

She had only thought that if she went to the headquarters of the holy knights, she would be able to meet Daddy.

But after Daddy had turned away from her just now, the parts she had forgotten came back to her.

Once she met Daddy, then what?

What was she supposed to do after that?

Hadn’t she just confirmed it herself.

That to Daddy in this world right now, Tie was only someone else’s business.

The thought that it would be okay even if Daddy didn’t recognize Tie had been a huge mistake.

Because she naturally realized it.

‘That Daddy forgot Tie means.’

That she didn’t love Tie the way she used to anymore.

That she might find Tie bothersome, or think she had no need for her.

Her arms slowly lost their strength.

It had been the same when she lived in the Republic of Korea.

Not every adult liked Tie.

Grandma in 107 and the lady in 203 took good care of Tie, but one lady from another unit disliked Tie.

On the rare days when that lady ended up looking after Tie, Tie had to listen to her grumbling all day long.

‘Honestly, seriously. If it weren’t for him fixing the toilet, I’d have refused to watch this kid. She’s not even my niece, just some kid I’ve got no connection to at all, such a bother……’

The gruff bowl of rice set down on the table.

The cold stares she couldn’t even approach.

To some adults, children were only a headache.

Because they took a lot of hands and had to be looked after.

And if, somehow, to Daddy in this world now, Tie had become that kind of existence……?

‘……Tie can’t do it. I can’t.’

She didn’t have the courage to say it.

The courage to say that Tie was really Daddy’s daughter.

Sorrowful tears dripped, plop, plop, down her cheeks.

‘Even if I meet Daddy again, things can’t be like before anymore.’

Maybe Tie had wanted to believe that.

That if she could only meet Daddy, everything could go back to how it used to be.

But it wasn’t something that simple.

In the end, everything Kkamangi had said was right.

‘The Daddy from Jongno District……’

That had ended at the moment Daddy came back as a box of belongings.

When Tie left Jongno District, she had thrown away everything from there.

Tie hated herself for realizing all this far too late.

And that’s why the tears kept coming.

Again and again, without stopping no matter what.

* * *

“This is driving me crazy, seriously.”

In front of sleeping Tie, Veil clutched his forehead.

“What are we supposed to do? The kid’s completely not in her right mind!”

“Lower your voice, Veil.”

At Basto’s words, Veil’s face tightened.

Still, he obediently shut his mouth and followed Basto and Nordix out into the hallway.

The moment the door closed, Nordix spoke.

“Did you look into House Luminen?”

Basto and Veil’s eyes darkened.

The house most strongly suspected of being where Tie’s father belonged was Luminen.

They had already investigated the members of Luminen that morning, but……

“There wasn’t much to show for it. All four sons have parts that don’t fit if one of them is supposed to be Tie’s father.”

“What about the Duke Luminen himself, on the head-of-house side?”

“To be honest, that one is the most plausible.”

The word grandfather suited Duke Luminen better than father.

But that still didn’t make him too old to have a child.

“Wouldn’t he have had enough power to send Tie outside the house, if it were her?”

“But there are parts that don’t fit that either.”

Basto cut in.

“Tie clearly said so. That until not long ago, she had lived alone with her daddy.”

Veil and Nordix fell silent.

They remembered it too.

At least that Tie had said something like that.

“If that statement is true, then that means Tie was living continuously alone with Duke Luminen, but hasn’t the duke never once been absent from public appearances?”

Valentis Luminen still participated in magic stone conquests from time to time.

He constantly went back and forth across the battlefield, and when a conquest dragged on, it wasn’t unusual for him to camp in front of a magic stone for months.

And a man like that lived alone with Tie?

“Yes, that makes no sense.”

“And the brat also said her daddy wouldn’t remember her. Because he was under forgetting magic.”

But then who could possibly dare tamper with the memories of Valentis Luminen?

Him, the head of House Luminen and a great holy knight?

Either way, Duke Valentis seemed far removed from the “daddy” Tie had spoken of.

“If perhaps Tie’s father is somewhere other than House Luminen……”

“But the only place with someone who could be called the strongest holy knight is Luminen.”

With no way forward, the three of them fell silent.

As silence stretched on, Veil cracked the door open slightly.

Through the gap she could see Tie, who had cried herself to sleep.

“Stupid little brat. As if she’s some Necromancer King.”

Veil’s face was full of worry.

“All she can do is whine that she misses her daddy……”

It was the first time they’d seen Tie cry in such sorrow, so Nordix and Basto too had grown somber and could say little.

“Tomorrow I’ll go to .”

At that moment Basto spoke.

“Veil, you watch Tie. Jester is always crowded with mercenaries, so there’s bound to be more information circulating there about the holy knights.”

If they’re lucky, they might find another holy knight who could be suspected as Tie’s father.

Just as he was thinking that, Nordix, who had been quiet, muttered,

“You two. What do you think about simply asking the child openly?”

Basto and Veil turned toward him.

“What her daddy’s name is exactly. What he looks like, where they lived, things like that.”