CH 20

Gerald was distressed.

The Duke Gerald Von Ernst was a busy man who headed the three ministries of magic, medicine, and chemicals. A few months ago, his second daughter was born, and his wife Octavia devoted herself to caring for her. So she could not give much attention to their eldest daughter, Lydia.

For the family man Gerald, this was a serious problem. He was receiving reports about his beloved daughter from the people at home. It seemed that she would sometimes become ever so slightly unsettled and talk to the employees about it.

His beloved daughter was considerate of their circumstances. She didn’t come to depend on him, talking about how she felt lonely or such. Of course she was under heavy pressure being born into a duke’s house, but as a parent, it was lonely to not be depended upon. It seemed that since she had no outlet, she would instead let her dissatisfaction out on the employees.

Knowing that he himself was the cause, he felt hesitant about scolding her. So he couldn’t say anything harsh. He felt sorry that the employees were getting vented on so he’d apologize to them whenever he got the chance, but he knew that wouldn’t solve the problem.

He only amounted to a good-for-nothing father. As he was at a loss, something that he couldn’t overlook happened.

“Please fire this insolent maid!”

(TN: Originally, I TLed this as please fire such a rude maid, but I revised it because I now know from experience that it sounds awkward. Please praise me for my improvement.)

It happened while he was greeting the new employee before going to work. Just when he felt happy that his beloved daughter came to see him off, his debt came due.

His daughter had misunderstood her dignity. Her going uncorrected for that was his own fault for not doing anything.

It looked like he had to scold her after all. His chest felt heavy when an unexpected voice came.

“You have a really ugly personality.”

He wasn’t just surprised at the way he spoke. He sounded so calm despite his words that Gerald didn’t feel anger. It was indeed harsh criticism towards his daughter, but he was also right on the mark.

Before Gerald could react, a heavy, dull noise sounded. Their private gardener, Dennis, had hit his own son.

“Ii…!?”

“Apologize.”

Since he didn’t have a son himself, Gerald initially wondered if men were so unforgiving towards each other in the family. But he himself was raised strictly. He had no memories of raising his hand against his Father. Was this how the Baumgartner house worked?

It looked like that hurt quite a bit. Looking like he wasn’t even able to speak, his son, Isaac, crouched down.

His copper eyes reflected disapproval. But he didn’t seem to hold any anger. It seemed that he held his own sense of justice. Gerald felt a little interested in what kind of thoughts he had.

“Just now, what did you say to me…!?”

“If your personality is ugly even when you’re this small, your face will get ugly too when you get big.”

“Huh…!? Who do you think I am!!”

Even when she loses her temper my daughter is adorable. Thinking that, Gerald decided to watch quietly. Dennis raised his fist again, but he held him back with his hand. He let him know that he wanted to see what would happen. With a grimace, Dennis didn’t raise his hand any more than that.

Even while that was happening, the boy calmly continued to question his daughter. After he told her that that wasn’t good, he simply listened without forcing his own sense of justice on her or condemning her.

But being forced into a situation where she had to gradually start thinking for herself instead of just blindly accepting things like she’s been doing until now, his beloved daughter surely felt condemned.

“-But why are you great?”

“I, I am the Ernst Family’s…”

“Is someone who has to ask for help from their Father just to fire a maid really great?”

“…”

Finally, his daughter could no longer continue speaking with the values she had blindly followed. Even the way she frustratedly glared at the boy was, although pitiful, extremely cute.

When he considered what to do, he heard a weak slap on the boy’s left cheek.

She herself would want to resist if she felt like the situation was hopeless. But regret already appeared on her face. It seemed that her temper calmed down enough for her to understand that that was a bad move.

His daughter, who had never used violence until now, feared the boy’s reaction. But even then, the boy was calm.

“Using violence means you admit defeat.”

“!!”

He had felt that the boy had intelligent eyes, but to think that he understood the foolishness of resorting to force at the end of an argument at the mere age of seven. Despite the difference in status, he should’ve felt humiliated from being hit by a girl younger than him.

He had difficulty in using words, but the way he looked at her eyes and faced her head-on without resorting to insults was blameless. Gerald admired the boy who kept his calm no matter what.

He saw his daughter’s cheeks dyed in shame or anger as she walked off. When he made to apologize for his daughter’s rudeness, he looked at Dennis, who shook his head. Maybe because his loyalty towards the Ernst House was strong, or maybe because he treated his son roughly, he conveyed that he didn’t have to worry about it. Being told that out of the blue, Gerald could no longer apologize.

After finishing the conversation, the boy seemed to realize that he might get scolded. He turned his head up towards them slowly and quietly. Seeing those curious copper eyes looking up at him, Gerald could only smile bitterly. He ended up giving the boy a bad role.

“Thank you, Isaac.”

That’s why he expressed his gratitude.

“No… your… I’m sorry for saying all that to the young lady.”

He seemed to know that he spoke roughly and apologized. But he was able to learn from him. Don’t just force your own morals onto them, but let them look back and think about what they should’ve done. That felt like a bright light for Gerald, who had the misunderstanding that he must scold her to correct her.

Lydia was Gerald’s first child. Of course he was fumbling for the way to raise her right. Still, he would’ve never thought that he would learn it from a small boy. He could only feel his spinelessness as a father.

After he told him how he wanted to use this as reference from now on, his butler told him to go to work. Gerald reaffirmed his beloved daughter’s lovableness and said his goodbyes to Dennis and his son, Isaac.

This incident would surely become a good push for his daughter to grow. This opportunity had to come, Gerald thought in his carriage.

But the next day, change already appeared.

“Good morning, Father.”

“Good morning, Dia. You’re early today.”

Even though Gerald was slated to leave early today, Lydia waited for him at the entrance hall.

Unlike her overbearing energy from yesterday, she seemed nervous.

“I only need a little, so could you please give me some of your time…?”

She looked up at him nervously with his own eyes. Gerald returned a fluffy smile.

“I don’t mind.”

“Um, this is about Katherine… the maid from yesterday…”

After looking down for a bit, Lydia clenched her tiny hands and looked up.

“I take back my request…! But if Katherine wishes for it, please remove her as my personal maid and appoint her somewhere else.”

Lydia went quiet. She knew that her father wouldn’t fire one of his maids. Even still, she wanted to report her own failure to him.

Gerald was astonished. Even as she trembled slightly, her eyes looking up at him housed determination. He did think that there would be change, but this was very fast.

“I understand. I won’t do anything bad to Katherine. Does that give you peace?”

“Yes.”

Hearing Gerald’s words, Lydia finally calmed down. Her face loosened and she exhaled.

Seeing her reaction, Gerald narrowed his eyes and brushed her pale blonde hair.

“Dia, great job.”

Having prepared herself to be scolded, Lydia widened her eyes and froze. After a while, she realized that her courage to face her own mistake was being praised. Her feelings that were neither quite joy nor relief battled with her feelings of shame from her actions yesterday, and her temperature rose.

“…I’m sorry, for troubling you.”

“You’re a good child. And I’m happy to be troubled by you. I’m also sorry for letting you feel lonely.”

Moist eyes full of love, Gerald hugged his beloved daughter. Lydia slowly extended her hands around her father’s back and squeezed tight. And in his arms, she quietly shook her head at her father’s apology.

“…Gerald-sama.”

As Gerald enjoyed his first father-daughter hug in some time, his butler spoke. Though he felt disappointed, Gerald separated himself from his daughter’s arms since it was time to leave.

“I’ll be going now, Dia.”

“Have a safe trip.”

His daughter seemed shy. Desperately suppressing his urge to hug her again, Gerald headed to the carriage waiting for him at the front door.

When he opened the door, a voice came from behind him again.

“Faaather! Can I see you off again…!?”

Gerald stopped his feet and turned around with a smile.

“Of course.”

Having conveyed her hopes with a do-or-die spirit, Lydia’s expressioned sparkled at her father’s reply.

Beyond the closed door, Lydia didn’t know. She didn’t know that right after that, Gerald collapsed, overcome with emotion.

-One year later,

“Thank you, Isaac!”

“I eh!? Er, Milord, what on earth happened!?”

Surprised with his thankful hug, as usual, the gardening apprentice boy didn’t know why he was being thanked. He asked with a bit of a scream.

“Dia is cute today as well!!”

Hearing what he had to say with a bright, ear-to-ear smile, the gardening apprentice was taken by dumbfoundedness.

“Haa. That’s, good…?”

“Yeah.”

It’s because of you. Gerald thanked him many times. Because he’s here, they’re leading such happy lives.

Gerald knew that he didn’t have that intention, he only acted out what he thought and felt. That’s why he would express his gratefulness any number of times.

TN:

I should mention that I’ve been on the fence about whether to capitalize certain titles, which is why “father” used to be capitalized and why you used to see weird things like “little Sister.” Haha sorry for that. I’ve decided to just keep titles like those in lowercase.