Daughter of the Emperor

“I thought you would kill her as soon as you saw her.”

His voice went even lower. It was creepy and somewhat heavy. I got quite scared. What were you going to do to a defenseless child?

“That was what I thought too.”

I forced myself to straighten my crumpled expression. Even without looking, I could draw Caitel’s expression in my mind by now. This was not a good thing.

“Crazy fucker.”

Oh, our thoughts were the same. I was surprised for a moment, but then I just accepted it.

Now I see the guy who came in with my father was a human being with his head screwed on right. That’s right, you were a normal person. That’s good.

“As if that was unusual of me…”

Caitel lightly replied back and laughed. That horrifying laughter… It was low.

In fact, too low. I shivered as the chills, beginning from my toes, spread throughout my body.

“I really was planning of doing that.”

As I quivered, my body shook. Caitel finally stopped stroking my cheek. That was something to be grateful for.

“Think about it. My kid. It’s disgusting.”

His voice sounded like he really felt disgusted to death by the thought of it that it made me feel awkward as I eavesdropped; so much so that my mouth just plopped open.

“It’s your kid.”

That’s right, it’s your kid, you moron. Even hedgehogs find their own babies cute. You couldn’t even do better than a hedgehog? Loser.

Anyways that guy was a serious case that needs to be studied. If he would be crazy, he needed to be just adequately crazy. I didn’t know how he can get married off at this rate. He’s twenty-six years old. If he wanted me to be frank, there was only one year difference between us.

Damn, if only I wasn’t reborn as a baby, the situation would have been better than this!

Finally, I opened my eyes.

When I did, the first thing I saw was my father’s face with an expression that could freeze hell over.

“That’s why it’s loathsome.”

Seriously, how many faces did he have? I honestly wanted to know. What did he fucking do?

Sometimes, he seemed normal and sometimes he acted completely nuts. It had been already three months since I thought it over, but there’s not much I know about this guy even though he’s my dad.

That’s right, even though he is my dad…

“What glory and splendor could you earn by being the child of a mass murderer? The only thing you can get your hands on is stained dishonor and a throne colored by blood.”

There was darkness swarming in his eyes. His eyes were full of scorn, but they were not meant for me. He was looking far past me. He was looking down at all those numerous women who wanted to have his child. By the way he looked, I could instantly tell how weary he felt while thinking of them. Yes, this was the same way he looked like when he was looking at someone who couldn’t even be compared to a bug.

“That was enough to satisfy them.”

“How distasteful.”

Yes, just by looking at your eyes I could see you really think that way. I was so scared I didn’t care if my lips were sticking out and just looked up at him. Then I heard a low sigh somewhere.

Oh, it’s that guy.

They seemed to be friends. Maybe they both had a master and slave relationship? Anyways, thanks to that conversation, I knew they were close. However, it was still a voice I didn’t recognize. My point was that it’s not Ferdel who always stuck to him. Then who was that guy?

“If she had been a son, I would have killed her instantly.”

Caitel whispered as he lowered his head and kissed me.

“I don’t need a crown prince to succeed me.”

His voice sounded completely honest.

In the darkness, I looked into a pair of red eyes and quietly swallowed my breath. Caitel’s eyes held so much thick and heavy malice one couldn’t even breathe.

Of course, it wasn’t towards me.

It is still very scary thought.

“Your daughter can’t inherit the throne?”

“She can inherit it.”

Huh? This was the first time I heard such a thing. Did this country not have agnatic primogeniture? However, I have no desire to inherit the throne. I shook my hands for Caitel’s hands were too cold.

“But…”

Caitel let my hand go and took a step back.

“Before she can, I will sell her off like my older sisters.”

…Was I weird for being grateful he wasn’t planning to kill me or was my reaction normal? I did feel a bit hurt, but if I was being completely honest, I didn’t particularly care if I was sold off or was simply allowed to live…

No, he said he would spare my life, so what could I not do in return? It’s not like I didn’t know what he was like, so this really wasn’t any different from before. In fact, I had already predicted this and had prepared myself in advance for the inevitable.

That’s right, if this guy was trying to kill me off, I would just take it lying down.

To be honest, this decision was a natural result of the circumstance I was in. I was just a baby who literally couldn’t do anything but take it. The person they were talking about didn’t care one way or another, but someone else did. Oh yeah, there was one other guy in the room.

“I always point this out, but you are not even human.”

The other person’s voice sounded like he was sick and tired of him. I couldn’t deny it because I also agreed with him. That’s right, that’s not a human being. He’s just a crazy monster.

Having heard that, Caitel laughed his head off as a response. I guess he had no reason to hold back as I was already wide awake, so he laughed so hard he threw his neck back.

Hey, from the way you are laughing on, Nanny would end up coming, so you might as well laugh enough to be satisfied.

“I am human.”

Yes? What? I was so taken aback by the crazy life form that dared to insist it was a human that I furrowed my eyebrows. Caitel, seeing this, touched my cheek and added.

“Just with a problem.”

Well, at least you figured that out on your own.

I let out a sigh. To think my father is that. To think my life is this.

Dear God, couldn’t we just reset my life? I would like to reset my life.

“Why didn’t you kill her?”

The silhouette that stepped closer was quite big. He must be tall. I didn’t know if it was because it’s from a child’s view, but he seemed like a giant among men.

What was this guy saying now?

“I tried to choke her neck, but in this small lump, there was a life force struggling to live.”

Caitel exclaimed excitedly as if he just made a fascinating discovery.

“It was so mysterious I gave up.”

“Isn’t that obvious?”

“Is it?”

Would someone please stop this conversation? It was not fun to hear at all. I’d rather he just let me go. Oh, Daddy, to come into your daughter’s room at this hour of the night isn’t right! Okay?

…Ah Damn. why couldn’t I speak? I had a mouth! Why couldn’t I use it?

“It was overkill to execute that girl.”

The guy said in a serious voice. He had taken the wrong position in the room so he was covered in darkness and I couldn’t see his face even if I wanted to. Ah! I tried to wipe my tears away. I have eyes! Why can’t I see him?

“Who?”

“The girl who made your daughter cry.”

Caitel’s hand stopped petting my head as he heard those words which brought forth a forgotten memory. I also lowered my eyebrows and made a face. At the same time, Caitel’s face darkened.

“Ah. That.”

The smile on his face was instantly replaced with an unknown expression. He removed his hand from my head and stood there as if he would snap any second with a sword in his hand if touched. I instinctively felt fear and clenched both of my hands, but it didn’t affect the other guy at all.

“To execute someone just for making your brat cry. Don’t you think your paternal bond is too deep?”

“It’s not because she made my brat cry.” Caitel immediately denied it.

“Then?” The guy questioned.

Caitel’s vision fell on him for a moment. He had simply moved his eyes but the pressure from his eyes was nothing to scoff at or ignore.

Was he mad?

I was dismayed as it looked like a sword fight would break out any second when Caitel practically spit out each word one by one as if to enforce them.

“She touched what was mine.”

I made a face at that. At the same time, I heard Caitel’s voice grew lower and continued.

“She was the one who kept on begging me to take her in exchange for not destroying her country, so I caught her even though her life was as worthless as a bug’s, but she didn’t know her place and kept running around. When she finally tried to touch what was mine, I had to kill her.”

No, wait.

I felt a sense of danger from him. I felt his words were off, but I didn’t know exactly what so I fell into a state of deep confusion. It’s weird, really weird. What’s weird about it though? I know something is off… As my thoughts wandered off about what made his statement bizarre, I heard the other guy speak.

“According to your words, are you implying your daughter is not…”

“This is mine.”

Ah! Now I figured it out. This sense of danger…

So what Caitel was saying right now was that he doesn’t consider me as his daughter. So in other words…

“If you try to touch my stuff. you have to prepare yourself for the backlash. Don’t you think so?”

You crazy f*cker!

-END. Ariadna