🔊 TTS Settings
Chapter 2
I’m Sorry. Your Father Is Like This.
When she came to her senses, she had become a baby, and she was told that the most beautiful people in the world were her parents.
“My goodness! The baby opened her eyes!”
“Agoo, peekaboo! Give us a smile, our Jenis!”
She seemed to have been reborn.
Even though her mind was hazy, as if covered in fog, the despair she had felt when she was abandoned and her hatred toward Min Kyung-tae remained painfully clear. Because of that, Jenis could not trust these new people who called themselves her parents.
People said that if you did good deeds, you would be blessed in your next life. But she had never done anything particularly good. More importantly, her previous life had been so miserable that even a stray dog would spit at it.
Even if she had been reborn, there was no way someone with her fate would be blessed with loving parents.
So Jenis doubted them.
She distrusted them.
Whenever they tried to touch her, she cried loudly enough to shake the house. She threw everything she could grab—baby bottles, rattles, anything.
You’ll get tired of me today. You’ll get angry tomorrow. You’ll hit me eventually!
But they never changed.
Their life was not wealthy.
As archaeologists, the only things filling their home were moldy-smelling books. But they were the reason she lived.
Living with them, she was able to forget her terrible biological father from her previous life and the mother who had left behind nothing but tears.
“My daughter, will you marry Daddy when you grow up?”
“Actually, Mommy loves our Jenis more than Daddy. I could live without your father, but not without you. So let’s be happy together forever, okay?”
Sometimes Jenis wondered if her previous life had been so unfortunate precisely so she could meet parents like these.
She thanked them with all her heart.
There were no expensive clothes.
No dazzling jewels.
But every morning they greeted her with kisses and affectionate words. If she got even a single mosquito bite, they would make a fuss as if the sky were falling.
Being with them made her realize:
So this is what happiness feels like.
She laughed and cried over candy and cookies. Maybe even her mental age had regressed, because at some point she truly felt like a child.
Little by little, the traces of her previous life faded away.
Then, in the year she turned seven, she heard the news that her mother and father had died.
A man named Fernando, who claimed to be her parents’ longtime friend, came to see her.
He told her she had another biological father.
“Your father is a little sick right now. That’s why he doesn’t remember you. He may say hurtful things. But once he regains his memories, he’ll definitely love you.”
“You can live with me if you’d like. I’d gladly accept you as my daughter. A sweet and beautiful child like you would make me very happy.”
“But Jenis, would you meet your father just once? I think he treasures you very much too.”
Whether he said this or that, what did it matter?
Fernando seemed to be talking, but Jenis barely listened.
The biological father she eventually met looked a lot like her.
For a brief moment, she wondered if she might gain another family member like the parents she had lost.
It wasn’t that she wanted to forget them.
She was simply lonely.
She wanted someone she could lean on.
Stupid Jenis. What a fool you were…
“You idiot, Fernando! You’ve obviously been tricked by a scammer. Let’s do a paternity test first. Then you’ll realize you’ve been deceived.”
“I’ve never slept with a woman! I’m serious!”
Her biological father from her previous life had said the same kind of nonsense.
I never did that.
A man completely devoid of responsibility.
And when it was confirmed that she really was his child—
“Father? My father? She could be Father’s child instead of mine.”
He had run from responsibility.
What kind of garbage human being says something like that?
Jenis frowned.
But her disgust for Garen reached its peak because of the conversation unfolding before her now.
“Fine, I’ll admit she’s Roman’s bloodline. But what’s important is the environment she grew up in and the people who raised her. What kind of people were they? They don’t seem to have been wealthy.”
“Money isn’t everything. They were good people.”
“This isn’t about good or bad. It’s about proper education and refinement. We can’t simply allow someone unqualified to carry the Roman name.”
Garen had insulted her parents.
Jenis clenched her teeth.
If he wanted to say she was unqualified, that was one thing.
But what was wrong with her parents?
They were wonderful people with better character than anyone she had ever known.
Far better than this irresponsible man who wouldn’t even acknowledge his own child.
She had heard words like these before.
From Min Kyung-tae.
Her biological father in her previous life.
“This is why poor people are a problem. So what? If she’s really my kid, do I have to take responsibility?”
“You only liked me because I had money, right? Be honest. Ah, yes, you were a minor. That’s true. It’s true I lied about being married too. But if you were smart, you wouldn’t have gotten involved with me in the first place. And now you’re expecting me to raise a child who was brought up by a mother like you?”
Min Kyung-tae’s voice overlapped with Garen’s.
His face overlapped with Garen’s.
And Jenis finally snapped.
“Excuse me, mis…ter! Or should I say not mister? Maybe half-brother? Mister Big Brother?”
“Big Brother? Hey, you!”
“Why are you getting angry? You said you’re not my father, so you’re my brother. You really must not be very smart. You don’t even remember what you said a moment ago.”
Jenis mocked him openly.
“Why are you throwing a tantrum? I’m just calling my big brother a big brother. What a strange personality. I guess money and intelligence really can’t coexist.”
“Ha!”
“I wish you could be even half as good as my mom and dad… Ah, my mistake! If I compare you to them, my parents would feel insulted. They were intelligent and kind people. Unlike someone.”
Garen’s face turned pale.
He looked seconds away from collapsing.
But Jenis didn’t care.
She felt satisfied, as though she had finally avenged her parents.
Her only regret was that she had never spoken this way to Min Kyung-tae in her previous life.
As for accepting Garen as her father?
Not a chance.
She would rather beg on the streets than live under him.
Money?
Power?
They were nice.
But smart as she was, Jenis knew there were things far more important than wealth and authority.
* * *
They had been tearing into one another even before introductions were finished.
There was no chance they would suddenly become friendly afterward.
Two men in their twenties and a seven-year-old girl sat together in heavy silence.
Fernando seriously wondered how he was supposed to handle this situation.
That was when Bianca arrived.
The former Duchess and Garen’s mother stormed in.
“Milady!”
“Open the door!”
The commotion outside grew louder before the reception room doors burst open.
An elderly woman dressed more extravagantly than anyone entered.
“Mother!”
“Aunt!”
Thanks to the tangled web of noble family connections, Fernando was also a distant relative of the old lady.
Both men jumped to their feet as though struck by lightning.
Without even discussing it, they instinctively moved to block Jenis from view.
“Move aside.”
Bianca brushed both Garen and Fernando away as easily as if they were paper dolls.
Then she spotted the tiny girl sitting on the sofa and inhaled sharply.
“My goodness!”
The elderly woman’s voice trembled as if she might faint.
“Mother, it’s not what you think! Let me explain. Please watch your blood pressure first!”
“Aunt! Just wait a moment! You see, what happened was—”
Fernando and Garen desperately tried to calm her down, worried she might collapse.
Meanwhile, Jenis squeezed her eyes shut and waited for the barrage she expected.
A slap.
A blow to the head.
She tensed her shoulders and neck, preparing herself.
A child rejected by her father.
Surely his mother would reject her too.
There would be insults.
There always were.
That was what she expected.
Then Bianca’s hand touched her.
But instead of a slap or violence, it was a warm, gentle embrace.
“My beautiful little one, lift your head. Let me get a good look at your face.”
Bianca was delighted.
“…?”
“…!”
Fernando and Garen were stunned.
So was Jenis.
Hesitantly, she raised her head.
She looked up at Bianca with eyes full of uncertainty.
The elderly woman, with platinum-blonde hair and violet eyes—features barely resembling Garen’s—was smiling at her so sweetly that she looked ready to melt.
“You look exactly like Garen. Though I hope you didn’t inherit his personality. Don’t worry, dear. This grandmother will teach you how to hide your temper properly.”
She spoke warmly and kindly, saying things that somehow felt completely off-track.
Listening to her, Garen suddenly snapped back to reality.
“Mother! We don’t even know for sure if she’s my daughter—”
“You performed a paternity test, didn’t you? And it matched. Did I hear wrong?”
“A match doesn’t necessarily mean she’s definitely my child!”
The method of paternity testing was simple.
Both parties dropped blood into water mixed with medicinal herbs and checked whether the blood merged together.
If they were blood relatives, the blood would unite.
If not, it would remain separate.
The flaw was that it only confirmed blood relations.
The blood would merge between parent and child.
It would also merge between grandparent and grandchild.
Or between siblings.
The degree of merging differed depending on how distant the relation was. Very distant relatives could be distinguished, but close relations such as parents, children, and siblings showed almost no difference.
After listening quietly, Bianca asked,
“So you’re saying she could be your father’s child?”
“Well, no. That’s not what I’m saying, but…”
Of course, Garen considered himself innocent as well.
He wanted everyone to understand that.
Ignoring him completely, Bianca gently patted Jenis’s cheek.
Then she said,
“My dear child, I’m sorry.
Your father is like this.”
