/
I looked at him with a bewildered look.
‘How did Father come back?’
Of course, to make Father return, I did try to nudge Grandfather through Conrad.
However, I didn’t think that Father would be able to come back right away.
‘I thought it would take a lot of time though
’
Father slowly stepped forward and approached Uncle Decones.
Uncle Decones shouted frantically.
“What do you think you’re doing on Father’s birthday!?”
Although he seemed quite confident, he was clearly seen stepping back.
To me, the intimidating Uncle was simply like a mouse in front of Father.
The corners of Father’s mouth went up crookedly.
‘Whoaa, he looks so much like Grandfather.’
When he sneered like that, it was almost an exact copy of Grandfather.
“Decones. Haven’t I told you to fix that habit of shouting regardless of the situation?”
“
.”
“I told you your lifespan will become shorter.”
“W-what did I do? Rather, Older Brother don’t behave recklessly in front of Father, and— Hic!”
Rambling in a mumbling voice, Uncle Decones held his breath as soon as Father put his hand on his shoulder.
Father patted Uncle’s cheek with his blood-stained hand.
Even though he had a dull look, his force was frighteningly chaotic.
With his legs shaking, thud, Uncle Decones dropped down.
‘If it’s in terms of individual strength, Uncle Decones will never be a match for Father.’
No, in this Castle, there was no one who could rival Father in terms of force.
The reason why Grandfather didn’t handle his son, who didn’t have a good relationship with him, could be attributed to the notion that ‘there is no one who can handle him’.
“Stop.”
It was Grandfather’s voice.
Grandfather, who fixed his dry eyes on Father, said,
“Turns out, even after being shoved onto the battlefield for such a long time, your indulgence doesn’t change.”
“It is only right that a pup can not be higher than a dog.”
A pup was a dog’s child.
Father was Grandfather’s kid.
Then Grandfather was

‘Aack!’
Father and Grandfather’s gaze collided fiercely in the air.
As the atmosphere became sharper, Viscount Debussy began to clean up the seats.
“Since it’s late, how about we end the banquet, Duke?”
Grandfather answered, with his gaze still meeting Father’s.
“Okay.”
As soon as that happened, the maids approached me with short and quick steps.
“Young Miss, shall we go?”
“Yeahh
”
I glanced at Father and left the banquet hall.
***
The next day.
I fiercely jumped up as soon as the sun rose.
I immediately urged a maid, asking for her to change my clothes quickly.
“Yes, Young Miss. I’ll hurry up and prepare you.”
The maids who knew why I was stomping laughed, “Uhuhu.”
Hilda said as she unbuttoned my pajamas.
“Lord Daymond is at the Castle today, too, right? You must be happy that he has come, right?”
I nodded my head gently.
‘Of course. He’s my lifeline.’
Although Grandfather has approved of me a little now, we still don’t know what will happen later.
Since Grandfather has many outstanding grandchildren, his interest may shift toward them.
At that moment, I will surely become the odd one out again.
(t/n: the word is 낙동강 ì˜€ëŠŹì•Œ [nakdonggang orial] which means a duck egg in the Nakdonggang River. But the real meaning is, ‘the odd one out’ or ‘the fifth wheel’.)
‘More than anything, if by any chance, Grandfather dies
’
What is a duck egg in the Nakdonggang River? Life might become a duck egg and be chewed up by its relatives.
To prepare for that moment, Father’s help was essential.
‘I need to leave a good image.’
He just returned yesterday, so I couldn’t even greet him because he had to deal with this and that.
I washed my face until it was clean, and also changed my clothes.
“You’re going to Lord Daymond, right? Then, let us prepare to attend yo
.”
“No!”
“Yes?”
“I will gow awone.” [I will go alone.]
The maids looked at each other while saying, “Oh my?”
Then they soon burst into laughter.
It seemed that they thought I was feeling shy about meeting Father.
But it wasn’t that, rather it was because Hilda and Greta were people of the Duke’s Castle.
Father did not trust the Duke’s Castle’s employees.
Although I didn’t know the reason why. Anyway, if there is a Duke’s Castle person by my side, we wouldn’t be able to have a deep conversation.
The maids gave me an umbrella.
“Lord Daymond is usually in the barracks. You have to go out of the castle, but they say that it’s raining today.”
I thought it was a warm day, it seemed that spring was slowly coming.
“Yesh.”
After wearing a raincoat, I waved to the maids and went outside.
‘He wouldn’t be infinitely affectionate to me just because he’s ‘Father’.’
If he was like that, then he would have sent a letter while I was in the 12th Tower, right?
‘That’s that and
’
I remembered the contents of [IPTVG].
[A dark night. Erylotte was listening to the sound coming out the front of her uncle’s room.
“Did you say that Erylotte might not be the daughter of the deceased Uncle Daymond?”
“Yeah. Daymond was on a battlefield long before Erylotte was born. How can he make a child on the battlefield?”
“But for what reason did Grandfather receive Erylotte?”
“There is a saying that there might be a possibility she was a child that was born by experiment.”
“A child born by experiment? Do you mean ‘Homunculus’? That’s impossible! Human production has never been successful. Above all, even experimenting is strictly prohibited by law!”
“Therefore, even Father had no choice but to announce him as Daymond’s daughter.”]
Of course, there was no evidence for those words.
But I had thought that that could be the case. Since it was understandable why I did not have a Blessing if I was a human which was produced, even if I was a noble.
Father already had no affection for his family, but if I was a fake daughter, he might not even want to deal with me.
‘I have to appeal that he will become a help for me by showing my smart side.’
I walked with powerful steps.
It was raining hard outside.
‘I like rainy days.’
I opened the yellow umbrella and walked in the rain.
“Hm, humm, hm.”
I hummed as I splashed by the puddle filled with rainwater. A little big puddle, and jump!
I jumped and crossed.
On the way, I did discover something in the grass. It was a small yellowish-green frog.
“Fwog
!” [Frog
!]
I ran along, following the skipping frog.
The small one was really quick.
I followed it with much difficulty and tried to reach out my hand, but

Thud!
I fell over a jagged stone.
Falling, the frog jumped in front of my nose, pong pong pong. Then it jumped away.
“Oh my.”
I heard an adult’s voice near me.
As I raised my head, there were several men holding umbrellas.
Although I couldn’t see their faces which were covered by the umbrellas, seeing that they were using gaiters on their legs, they were soldiers.
One of the soldiers came up and grabbed me on the side and raised me up.
“Why is a young kid falling down in a place like this?”
At those words, the soldiers also approached.
Only then did I see the people’s faces properly.
‘Gasp.’
Why do they look so intimidating?
A big person whose build was like a bear.
A person who had a straight long wound in his eye.
A person whose face was completely burned.
And others.
Looking at them, they were the perfect people to be scared of.
The big person whose build was like a bear frowned.
“What child is it?”
“You should’ve recognized it when you saw it. It’s blonde hair and red eyes, you know.”
“It is Young Miss Erylotte, the General’s daughter.”
The soldiers put me in between them, and began exchanging whispers noisily.
Since a group of soldiers came, another group came from behind.
“Did you say Young Miss Erylotte?”
“Why did the Young Miss come to the barracks?”
“Did she come knowing that it’s breakfast time?”
And another group again.
“Did you say that the Young Miss Erylotte is a breakfast?”
“What nonsense are you talking about?”
In an instant, I was surrounded by soldiers.
All of them had great impressions.
I hugged the umbrella handle tightly.
***
In the Duke’s office, the Main Castle.
The Duke of Astra confirmed the documents that Daymond handed out. It was a report that recorded the current situation.
As soon as the Duke finished reviewing, Daymond got up.
“If you’ve checked it, then I’ll be on my way.”
“When will you return to your territory?”
“I will remove the faces that you don’t want to see within this week, please do not worry.”
“Until when are you going to talk like that? Don’t forget that I’m being patient with you.”
“Well, thank you so much for that.”
The two’s gazes collided fiercely in the air.
Daymond bowed his head, and left the room holding a document stamped with the duke’s seal.
As he walked down the hallway, Enzo, Daymond’s aide, who was waiting, followed him.
“How did it go?”
Daymond handed over the document which was stamped with the duke’s seal.
After checking the documents, Enzo’s expression hardened.
“Isn’t the territory’s budget being drastically reduced? Although only 10,000 soldiers returned, to think that he can’t raise the budget!?”
“It’s obvious what that old man is up to. He’s going to tame me by blocking the funding line first.”
“If he’s going to treat you poorly, then why did he order the General to return?”
As the other brothers were slowly loosening their reins, he thought of tightening it properly.
Of course, before that, he had to tame him into a dog that listens well.
‘Turns out he’s a cunning old man.’
Enzo frowned.
“What are you going to do now?”
“I have no thoughts of dancing easily on the palm of his hand.”
Enzo swallowed a sigh.
The two people headed straight to the barracks.
“How about the soldiers?”
“100 elite soldiers are in the barracks, and the remaining soldiers are outside the manor. As soon as permission to enter is granted, we plan to immediately head to your territory.”
“Be sure to supervise the elite soldiers. If a useless disturbance happens, the sons of that old man will think that this is the perfect time to dissolve my army.”
“Yes.”
Special attention was devoted to the management of the elite soldiers.
The elite soldiers were talented people whom Daymond gathered from various places.
There was one who was a slave.
A former mercenary.
A criminal.
And even a beastman.
With only a hundred elite soldiers, they destroyed the border of the Pellygang Kingdom.
They were astonishingly talented people.
But, there was a problem

‘They were so entrenched in the bottom that their cruelty was unspeakable.’
The places they passed by were completely devastated.
The name they called such elite soldiers was ‘Daymond Territory’s Beasts’.
‘I must quickly return to the territory.’
Since he didn’t know when the leash of the rabid dogs would be released.
It was the moment he just entered the barracks.
Daymond stopped standing tall.
“What’s that?”
Enzo, who was chasing after him, also naturally stopped.
“Are you talking about the training ground? Ah, if they don’t train even for just a day, they’ll get a little ache, so they got the Main Castle guard’s permission to train
”
“But what kind of training method is that?”
Training was always the same. Was there anything special?
Enzo stepped out from behind Daymond with a strange expression and looked at the training ground.
The training ground was noisy and bustling with elite soldiers.
In between that, was a bright yellow chick wearing a raincoat
 No, a child was seen.
The child was shaking, perhaps because she was afraid of the chaotic soldiers.
His eyes met with the child who didn’t know what to do.
“
!”
The child rushed their way. Then she clung to Daymond’s leg.
“Fwathher!” [Father!]
“
.”
Daymond’s expression hardened, as if he was flustered.
***
I perfectly stuck to Father’s leg like a cicada.
‘Ah, I had a hard time because I was really scared.’
Seeing only the finely large nobles, I was really scared of these soldiers.
Their bloodthirst from the battlefield did subside, however, their appearances themselves were severely scary.
“Is this the General’s daughter?”
“You punk, it’s not ‘this’ but Young Miss.”
“Are kids this small?”
“I-I want to h-h-hug her, too.”
“HUAHAHA! Mosco, if it’s a punk like you, you’re going to crush her with one hand!”
I was shaking because I was really afraid of being crushed.
At that time, it was Father who appeared like a savior.
Although Father’s eyes were scary, they were better than the three-meter tall man with monster scales on his skin.
“Young Miss?”
The man behind Father asked.
He was a man who made a favorable impression with his splendid navy blue hair that suited him.
“Ah, I am Enzo, the General’s aide.”
“Hewwo
.” [Hello
.]
“Yes, it’s an honor to meet you. But, how did you come here?”
“Hirda. She gabb me an umbwella and a waincoat. If I go tcho Father. Because it’sh waining.” [Hilda. She gave me an umbrella and a raincoat. If I go to Father. Because it’s raining.]
I was so surprised that the supporting role penalty became stronger, and my words didn’t come out well, even more than usual.
“Um, so you’re saying that you came to look for General, right?”
I nodded my head.
The soldiers laughed, “HAHAHAHAHA!”
“Cute, she’s cute.”
“Is the fun of having a child like that!?”
Perhaps because of how energetic the laughter was, the atmosphere in the barracks quickly grew excited.
Although when Father narrowed his eyes, that laughter suddenly stopped.
“Looks like you’re less tense now that we’re back from the battlefield.”
At those words, the intimidating-looking soldiers flinched.
Enzo hurriedly made an eye signal, and the soldiers quickly lined up.
Father said, with his hand on his waist.
“I’ll give you 10 minutes. Get ready for training and return to the training ground.”
As soon as his words were over, the terrified soldiers turned deathly pale and immediately ran.
After that, Father looked at me.
“
Until when are you going to hold onto me?”
Then Enzo smiled awkwardly.
“Didn’t the soldiers look so intimidating? It seems that she’s scared a lot. Why don’t you hug her?”
That was a very good idea.
However, I slipped away because I couldn’t be seen as someone who acted like a baby anymore.
“Ewylotte, walk awong
.” [Erylotte, can walk by herself
.]
Enzo chuckled, perhaps thinking I was cute.
Of course, since he had been on a bloody battlefield for more than five years, a child like me must definitely be cute.
I followed my walking father cutely.
Boing. Boing.
And grabbed Father’s pants.
“
.”
“
.”
‘But I’ll look like a child who’s acting like a baby.’
I also knew it was unreasonable, yet I let myself do so because my heart was throbbing.
Even so, fortunately, Father just glanced at me, and there was no particular remark.
I chased Father, entering a building in the barracks.
‘I need something to make up for it.’
It was the moment I was walking while thinking like that.
Enzo opened his mouth.
“Will you hold a return banquet for the soldiers?”
“They are those who have rolled for five years in the war. They must be looking forward to the return banquet.”
“However, considering the reduced budget, it is not an easy matter. We don’t have any money, so how can we hold a banquet
”
Grandfather cut the budget.
‘So Grandfather is trying to tame Father.’
Usually, when taming a child, the very first thing a parent would do was cut the budget of the territory which the child ruled over.
For a moment, a light bulb in my head turned on. Pop!
I shook the waist of Father’s pants.
“Ewylotte hash money.” [Erylotte has money.]