TL: Zimming
"Dad!"
I purposely ran to my dad pretending to be very happy. I stretched out my arms and took his hand,
"I really, really miss you."
He gazed at her seriously. I was surprised that my hands were unconsciously tightened by the cold gaze.
I smiled brightly at my dad, trying to calm down.
'Don't get caught. I can't lose my family.'
"I'm hungry. The doctor said I had to eat healthy meals while recovering so I only ate oatmeal everyday. The meal is neither sweet or salty so it doesn't taste good—"
"Long-distance teleportation."
"Huh?"
"The medicine of youth."
"...!"
Everyone knows I developed this device with Veronica's help, but not medicine of youth.
The development and distribution of the medicine had nothing to do with "Lady Dubbled"
"Hope mercenary guild."
He even mentioned something I had hidden so well. As I lowered my head while trembling, I could still feel his piercing gaze.
"When will you tell me the whole story?"
"H, how...."
"I hope you tell me everything"
"...."
Dad gazed at me without faltering.
"I, I mean, I...."
"I hope it's not an excuse either."
I closed my eyes tightly.
I knew it. It's almost impossible to deceive the Duke of Dubbled.
'But I wanted to be a child in front of my dad.'
It's not difficult to admit that I've made up the poison, but the problem is after that. If he asks me why, I have nothing to say.
Even if I know that the Marquis of Nodelli was the main culprit behind the attack, I also cannot say that my goal is the suwon, which the Marquis of Nodelli is planning to acquire. Saying that is like revealing that I have regressed three times.
'My family will be disappointed.'
He might be horrified.
They'll be scared.
He may not consider me a family anymore.
For as long as five years, I deceived my family who truly loved me. Pretending to be an ordinary child and knowing nothing, even though I've won their hearts, I've lied to them.
Of course, it was all for Dubbled, but that alone can't easily be forgiven for deceiving the family for five years.
What would everyone think if they found out that a child they adopted as a favor was not actually a child, and that the goal was to survive under the power of Dubbled?
'I can't forgive myself either.'
Even if my family forgives me, our relationship will change.
I may not be able to maintain a peaceful and harmonious home as before.
'If I lose my family again....'
"I'm disappointed in you,Leblaine. I regret the last 10 years of thinking of you as my child."
"I truly thought of you as a family. We were sisters, I believed we could rely on each other. ...Please leave, Leblaine. I don't want to see you right now."
I suddenly remembered something that Duke Amity and Mina had said in my first life.
At that time, I was falsely accused of poisoning, but this time there is nothing to be falsely accused of. But it's true that I fooled my family with intentions.
"I must look so stupid in your eyes. It's terrible. You're a creepy child, Blane."
The incident when I revealed my identity to the child, who was the only one I could call a friend throughout my life, passed through my mind.
My father leaned deeply on the backrest and crossed his legs slowly.
"Leblaine."
"...."
"Leblaine Dubbled."
"I'm sorry."
"...."
I bawled and rubbed my hands together desperately.
"I'm sorry, Duke. I'm sorry. Don't hate me."
Dad lifted himself up when he saw me kneeling down and crying.
"I didn't mean to do any damage to Dubbled. I just, just, wanted to live. I didn't want to be a sacrifice again. I'm sorry. I'm sorry."
My vision is all blurry thanks to the tears. But I didn't take my eyes off my dad walking towards me.
"Please forgive me. Don't throw me away...!"
"...Blaine."
"I was wrong. I'll do better. I can do it well. I mean, I mean...."
"Leblaine!!"
I only came to my senses when I heard a very angry shout. When I blinked, tears fell and my vision cleared.
Dad was frowning. Very painfully.
"Don't make me sad anymore."
My dad hugged me as I lowered my desperate hands.
My shaky body touched the warmth of the person I love the most. I held my dad's waist tightly and cried out loud.
I don't want to lose this warmth.
I can die a few more times.
It's okay if my body crumbles and my soul is torn apart.
'I want to be Leblaine Risette Dubbled for a long time.'
***
Henry turned to Isaac, frowning with his ears against the wall.
"Stop fooling around."
"Why is it silent? Did father cry again?"
Johann grabbed Isaac by the back of his neck and threw him into a chair.
The three brothers had been eavesdropping on the story since the beginning of the conversation between Leblaine and Theodore.
He noticed that something was not right with Leblaine from the beginning. Moreover, Johann, who was with her there, was convinced that the butterfly, which appeared in good time, was actually created by Leblaine with divine power.
Above all, father, who extremely pampered her, never visited her while she was hospitalized in the Imperial Palace.
Leblaine was back today, so it was not hard to guess that the two will talk.
That's why the three were hanging around the room next to Theodore's office.
"So what is it. Why did the kid have to eat poison?"
When Isaac asked hastily, Henry frowned and kicked his butt.
"Ah! What, why?"
"Stupid guy."
Unlike Isaac, Henry and Johann were aware.
Leblaine is hiding something huge that they don't know.
So they have confidence that they wouldn't be surprised no matter how absurd her secret was
"I've died three times, and I'm living my fourth life. I'm not the real child of fate, and after the real child of fate comes, I will be sacrificed."
'What?!'
Henry's eyes got bigger. Johann also hardened and looked in the direction of the office.
'No way.'
That can't be right.
It was not possible.
Regressing wasn't possible.
Johann also clasped the sofa's armrest with a bewildered face.
Is she making fun of us?
"Ah."
Isaac nodded with a casual face.
"That's why she's so mature."
"What?"
"When we were kids. She's a four-year-old baby yet she said something very mature. ...she also eats carrots."
Henry frowned as Isaac nodded, "So that's how it was."
"Are you saying you believe that? It's stupid and...."
"That's what the kid says."
"...."
"Are you guys stupid? Since the kid is our younger sister, even if she lied, we need to believe her."
Henry and Johann looked at Ishark with their eyes wide open.
Soon Johann burst into laughter, and Henry smiled.
That was when the conversation began again in Theodore's office.
Although father has no resemblance to Isaac, but the way they handle their loved ones is exactly the same.
"Alright."
He only replied calmly.
"I tried so hard because I didn't want to be a sacrifice, but I had always died. When I lived as Lady Amity and Lady Vallua… in my life as Lady Amity, I died as a sacrifice, and when I was Lady Vallua, I was beaten to death. Maybe in this place-.
"What?"
"Huh?"
"What do you mean you were beaten to death?"
"The Duke of Vallua abused me...oh, but it's okay. I have made their family fall in this life."
As LeBlaine spoke innocently, Theodore's office was silent for a while. Johann suddenly asked,
"Where was William Vallua's body buried?"
"His limbs must be torn apart and turned into a powder."
Johann's fist was tightened.
Henry glanced to the side.
Isaac, who everyone else thought would run rampage, was quiet for some reason. Rather, he held his chin as if he was anxious, and narrowed his forehead.
"What, why?"
When Henry asked, Isaac asked with a serious face.
"…Is the kid older than me because she had lived three times?"
"What?"
Isaac asked in a sullen voice.
"So now I have to call her older sister, not a kid?"
Henry looked at Isaac as if he was looking at a worm on the side of the road.