🔊 TTS Settings
Chapter 03
‘I have to save Dad.’
Hmph.
I snorted toward the eagle statue that looked impossibly high above me.
Dad’s death had happened because one of our relatives worked together with an outside force.
Sadly, the other me never figured out which relative was the culprit, nor the identity of the outside accomplice.
But I had a way to save Dad.
‘The annex competition that returns every five years!’
The Travel Count family valued skill above all else and had always chosen the most capable direct descendant as the next family head.
Each child of the family head received their own annex, and their rank in succession was shown by the jewel set into the eagle statue above the front door.
First rank: Diamond.
Second rank: Sapphire.
Third rank: Emerald.
…
Last place: no jewel at all.
Commonly called the “Stone House.”
‘Dad deliberately chose last place. He wasn’t interested in becoming family head, and he didn’t want anyone becoming victims of power struggles. But….’
The annexes were symbols of power within the Travel family.
In my memories, when Uncle Hebant handed over the Diamond House to Aunt Marian, he suffered such a terrible headache that he collapsed foaming at the mouth right there on the spot.
‘If Dad becomes first in line, he can’t go to war. That’s one of Travel’s rules.’
There were only two annex competitions left.
When I turned ten.
And when I turned fifteen.
During the second one, I would make Dad the number one successor candidate.
‘Sly snake Uncle Hebant, hyena Aunt Marian, fox Uncle Yosel.’
Sorry, but eight years from now, my dad is going to become the next family head.
Maybe knowing the future wasn’t such a bad thing, even if I hated the future itself.
“Kihihihi.”
Drunk on the feeling of victory, I placed both hands on my waist and laughed like a villain.
“Why are you outside without even wearing a coat? You’ll catch a cold.”
“Ah, Daaad. I was thinking about something important.”
“Think while wearing your coat.”
“Okaaay.”
Though I was quickly caught and carried back inside by Dad.
Now that I had a goal, I needed a plan.
Of course, I couldn’t make it obvious.
“Ah, the moisturizer. Please wait a moment. I’ll go get it.”
“Mhm.”
Sherry, who had been helping me bathe, left the bathroom to retrieve something she forgot.
Wrapped tightly in a giant towel, I crouched down and touched the floor.
“Oh, the floor’s warm.”
The Travel family owned many mines, and one of their specialties was heat stones, minerals that naturally produced warmth.
A heat stone the size of a fist cost as much as a common laborer’s monthly salary.
Just the bathroom floor alone probably had dozens of months’ worth of wages embedded into it.
Back in the house where I lived with Dad, I had to dry myself and quickly put on clothes after washing or I’d freeze.
But now, the entire bathroom felt as warm as sitting beside a fireplace.
‘So this is why adults say money is the best!’
And this was only the Stone House.
How many hundreds of salaries were buried beneath Uncle’s Diamond House or Grandfather’s main estate?
I felt like I juuust barely understood why my relatives were so obsessed with becoming heir.
Which meant it would be best to delay attracting their suspicion as long as possible.
‘Until the next annex competition, it’s probably best if Dad stays in last place. If we attract unnecessary attention, troublesome things could happen.’
That meant we needed to quietly build strength over the next few years.
But in the Travel family, where every little thing eventually reached Grandfather’s ears, that wouldn’t be easy.
Still.
“Who would’ve thought His Highness once stayed with our family? I heard my younger uncle chased him out when he entered as a trainee knight?”
“That happened.”
“Sometimes I regret not becoming close to His Highness back then. If I had, maybe I would’ve realized there was something strange about the war my father went to.”
There was one hidden gem that only I knew about~
Someone everyone else thought was just a muddy little stone, so nobody even bothered being wary of him.
“How do I become friends with hiiim…?”
“With who?”
Right then, Sherry returned with the moisturizer and spoke to me.
I looked up and grinned mischievously.
Who?
“With you, Sherry?”
“Oh my.”
The greatest connection I would gain within the Travel family.
The person who would become my future ally.
‘Crown Prince Theon Phil Igselona.’
My first plan was to make him our ally.
“Daaad!”
After putting on moisturizer and changing into pajamas, I came out of the bathroom and saw Dad entering my room.
Maybe because I had spent the entire bath thinking about how to save him, I felt absurdly happy to see him.
“Careful. You’ll fall.”
Dad caught me as I ran toward him and lifted me easily into the air.
I rubbed my forehead against his neck and said,
“Berry missed you sooo much.”
“What’s gotten into you? You’re acting spoiled.”
Dad smiled while speaking, and I caught a faint scent of cologne from him.
It seemed he had bathed too.
“Does our little BerryBerry want something from Dad?”
“Nope, I’m just happy to see youuu.”
“Berry.”
“Yes?”
“You didn’t wash your face, did you?”
Caught red-handed.
At Detective Dad’s sudden question, I reflexively looked up.
How unfair.
“N-No, I did?”
I stuttered from panic, but that only seemed to make Dad more suspicious.
He narrowed his eyes and asked,
“You really washed properly?”
“Ahem, Mr. Reitan. Are you doubting your own daughter right now?”
“Yes. Your past offenses are rather extensive.”
“Huhhh? That’s unfair! Ask Sherry!”
Sherry was the daughter of the nanny who had taken care of Dad.
Maybe because of that, even Dad—who was especially wary around the Travel family—trusted Sherry somewhat.
“She washed very carefully.”
Listening to our conversation, Sherry giggled and took my side.
Even after that, Dad still looked suspicious, so I had to demonstrate face washing motions in the air.
“…Pfft.”
I kept hearing the two of them laugh every now and then, but that must’ve been my imagination.
Because I was serious.
Adults wouldn’t tease a serious child, right?
“Sorry for doubting you.”
“Mhm.”
Dad’s apology finally cleared my name.
Whew, proving innocence is hard.
It was already nighttime.
Sherry greeted us, saying it was bedtime.
“Would you like to sleep together with Young Master Reitan tonight? If you need anything, just pull the cord beside the bed. My room is downstairs.”
“Okay! Good night, Sister!”
“You too, Miss. Sweet dreams.”
Still in Dad’s arms, I waved goodbye to Sherry.
Once she left, only Dad and I remained in the room.
Dad’s room was next door, but since he worried I might struggle sleeping alone in this unfamiliar place, he decided to stay with me tonight.
When I tilted my head upward, our eyes met immediately.
A grin naturally spread across my face.
“This is exciting.”
“Why?”
“It’s been forever since I slept with Dad! I’m so excited. What if I can’t fall asleep at all?”
I was completely wrong.
Warm blankets.
Dad’s voice reading a storybook beside me.
For Berry, there was no stronger sleeping medicine.
My eyelids gradually grew heavier, and the bear illustration in the storybook resting on the blanket over my stomach faded in and out of view.
A little while later, only the sound of soft breathing remained in the room.
Reitan quietly stared at his sleeping daughter.
Her tiny hand tightly gripped his clothes, as though she was worried about something.
No matter how mature she seemed, Berry was still only seven years old.
‘I need to leave.’
He had to leave this place.
Berry was a smart child.
A child who instinctively understood how money worked.
A lovely daughter who possessed the qualities the Travel family valued most in a family head.
He could not allow his siblings to see Berry as a threat.
They were beasts who believed it was best to crush danger while it was still young.
“……”
Reitan’s cold gaze shifted toward the window.
He slowly rose from the bed.
Feeling his clothes slip from her grasp, Berry whimpered in her sleep.
When Reitan stroked her hair, a smile soon returned to her lips.
“Dad will be right back.”
He whispered softly to his sleeping daughter before heading downstairs and opening the front door.
Under the pitch-black night sky stood a man with red hair.
“I was about to come find you, but you arrived first.”
It was Kallet, Count Travel’s aide.
Despite Reitan’s unfriendly tone, Kallet calmly stated his purpose.
“The Count is summoning you.”
