I woke up from a deep sleep and tried to think about all the questions that were just question marks, but I woke up earlier than I expected.
I think I slept for about two hours now.
I buried my face in the pillow and closed my eyes, thinking I could sleep a little more, but I couldn't fall asleep.
It was an ironic situation where my eyelids and body were heavy, but my mind was sane.
“I just have to get up.”
After working out and thinking I took a nap, I need to get a good night's sleep.
I took a clean shower with cold water to wake up my body which was as limp as water-soaked cotton, and returned to the bedroom.
The maid who came to dry my hair asked.
“While you were sleeping, Lord Perdes came by.”
"Yes?"
“Yes. He asked me to let you know when you wake up. What should I do?”
“I will go and see Lord Perdes myself, so you don’t have to do that.”
I was going to ask Perdes about the magic circle I saw in the basement anyway, so this was good timing.
“Just find out where Lord Perdes is.”
“Yes, Miss.”
After the maid left, I picked up the book where I had drawn the magic circle.
By the way, what book is this?
Since I was pressed for time and just grabbed whatever I could, I didn't check what book it was.
What if it's a book that contains important records, such as family history or biography?
I suddenly became worried, so I hurriedly opened the bookshelf and checked.
Fortunately, it wasn't a book containing important family records.
[Empire 520 June 09]
[Sir Olben suggested to Adele that she should be sent to the Imperial Knight Academy.]
... It was an important record for me.
The book I picked up without thinking turned out to be my father's diary.
That was the diary that contained the next content that I had always been curious about.
It was a coincidence I never dreamed of.
I was always curious about what would happen next, and I wanted to read it right away, but I was also scared.
I was afraid that my father might write something denying my abilities.
On the outside, he seemed to genuinely care for me and love me, but I was afraid that he actually hated me.
So, I hesitated to turn the page, but the maid who had gone out to find out where Perdes was came back.
“I heard that Master Perdes is meeting with the Master right now.”
“Master?”
“Yes. He is Master Majo.”
Ah, you're talking about that teacher.
Come to think of it, I have never seen Perdes' magician teacher before.
While that teacher was living at Duke Leopold's residence and teaching Perdes, I was at the Royal Academy of the United Nations.
When I graduated and came back, the teacher had already left the Duke's residence.
Still, I heard that he occasionally stops by and chats with Perdes about various things, and today seems to be that day.
“Would you like to go now?”
Hmm, what should I do?
If it were another time, I would have gone there to say hello to the teacher, but now I wanted to read my father's diary more than that.
I didn't want to go and bother him for no reason.
“No. I’ll come see you later, okay? Let me know when the teacher returns.”
“Yes, Miss.”
The maid went out again, and I slowly pushed away the hand that had been meaninglessly fiddling with the bookshelf.
The bookshelf flipped over as light as a feather.
The black letters written in tiny grains on slightly yellowed paper caught my eye.
[I told him that I couldn't do it, that I would never send Adele to the Knight Academy, but Lord Olben didn't give up.]
[He continued to persuade me, saying that it would be a shame to let Adele's abilities rot away like this and that she might be able to become the first female commander-in-chief of the Imperial Knights.]
[It's getting difficult because he keeps coming to me every day and telling me to please reconsider just once.]
“Miss, don’t you want to go to the Imperial Knight Academy?”
As I read my father's diary, I remembered something Lord Olben had said to me long ago.
“If you go to the Knight Academy, you will receive swordsmanship lessons in a better environment than learning from me.”
“So, tell His Excellency the Duke that you want to go to the Knight Academy and learn swordsmanship in earnest.”
I was so taken aback by those words that I ran to my father and told him that I wanted to go to the Knight Academy.
Then my father got angry and said that he absolutely could not do that and that if I said that again, he would issue an order to never pick up a sword again.
It was the first time my father had been that angry since my mother passed away.
Even when my mother passed away, I wasn't particularly scared because he wasn't angry at me.
But when he yelled at me and got angry, I was so scared that I burst into tears.
And then I ran to Lord Olben and cried out to him, blaming him.
The memories of the past that came to mind were vague and sad.
The fact that my father had always denied my swordsmanship skills was like a dagger stabbing me in the heart and hurting me.
If I had been born a man, my father would not have hidden it or denied it.
He would gladly send me to the knight academy and brag about his son's outstanding swordsmanship skills.
[When Lord Olben asked me if I was doing this because Adele was my daughter, I was speechless. Not because he hit the nail on the head, but because it wasn't.]
I thought so... but it wasn’t?
[Even if that child were my son, I would not have taught him how to use a sword.]
I quickly read the next sentence, wiping away my slightly wet eyes.
[Gender didn't matter. What mattered was that this was Duke Leopold's house and that the child had inherited their blood. A blood that was both blessed and cursed.]
The father's sincerity was evident in the letters he wrote with great pressure so that the ink smudged slightly.
[If this had been an ordinary family and not the Leopold Dukes, and if I had been an ordinary parent, I would have done everything in my power to support her.]
[I would have sent her to the Knight Academy and given her a better teacher to teach her swordsmanship. I would have taught her myself.]
I knew my father was thinking something like this.
I was deeply moved and embarrassed by the sincerity of my father, whom I had not known for years.
I also wondered what made my father so worried.
So I read the diary so intently that I forgot to breathe, but there was no specific mention of that part.
[...But I couldn’t do that. Because I didn’t want that child to become like me.]
Rather, I came to know more about my father's incomprehensible true feelings.
[So, when that child becomes an adult and of marriageable age, I plan to send her to a distant foreign country to get married.]
Sending me to a faraway foreign country meant that he had no intention of giving me the title of Duke.
I have no intention of taking a son-in-law in.
[...And I must never contact her again. Even if I die, I must never let that child come back here. Ever.]
Moreover, he said that he would never contact me again and that he would never allow me to return to the Duke Leopold family.
At those words that were no different from a declaration of disobedience, I clenched my fists without even realizing that the paper was crumbling.
Why on earth, why, why, why, why did you think that, Father?
I felt so depressed that I wanted to hug and bury my father's body buried deep in the ground.
[This power is both a blessing and a curse. In the end, it will devour the child and send her to hell.]
Most of what was written in my father's diary was incomprehensible, but this part was the most incomprehensible.
The blessing written here was definitely the blessing of the red dragon.
The blood relatives of Duke Leopold were blessed by the red dragon and were able to possess physical abilities superior to those of ordinary humans.
Although that ability sometimes led to inconvenient situations, it was generally convenient.
It wasn't something that could be called a curse, but why did my father refer to this power as both a blessing and a curse?
Judging from the fact that there were a lot of books about curses in the basement, it seems like he didn't just leave it at that level, but tried to solve it.
“Haa, it’s difficult, it’s difficult.”
I opened my diary to change the question marks into periods, but I sighed when I saw that there were more question marks instead.
My head hurt so bad too.
I slumped against the back of the sofa, my head pounding.
“How can I find the answer?”
Should I ask the managers who worked with my father?
No. If they knew something, they would have told me a long time ago.
Besides, given that my father had not even confided his true feelings to Lord Olben, it was highly likely that he had not told his other vassals either.
Perhaps we can find some clues by looking at the records written by the past Dukes of Leopold?
With that much thought in my mind, I headed to the archives room in the annex.
The archives contained important family documents, including the records of past Dukes of Leopold and the history of the Duke's family.
“What do you want to see first?”
The Duke's history book probably won't be of much help.
The achievements of the previous Dukes of Leopold were now unnecessary.
As I was looking through the neatly organized documents, I took out a file folder with no title or label and opened it.
“This is the annual estate operation plan.”
Judging from the handwriting, it seemed like my father had written it himself.
This is also content that I don't really need right now, but since I finally got around to it, I'm skimming through it.
“Empire 424, December 17...?”
The date written at the very bottom of the plan caught my eye.
I think I slept for about two hours now.
I buried my face in the pillow and closed my eyes, thinking I could sleep a little more, but I couldn't fall asleep.
It was an ironic situation where my eyelids and body were heavy, but my mind was sane.
“I just have to get up.”
After working out and thinking I took a nap, I need to get a good night's sleep.
I took a clean shower with cold water to wake up my body which was as limp as water-soaked cotton, and returned to the bedroom.
The maid who came to dry my hair asked.
“While you were sleeping, Lord Perdes came by.”
"Yes?"
“Yes. He asked me to let you know when you wake up. What should I do?”
“I will go and see Lord Perdes myself, so you don’t have to do that.”
I was going to ask Perdes about the magic circle I saw in the basement anyway, so this was good timing.
“Just find out where Lord Perdes is.”
“Yes, Miss.”
After the maid left, I picked up the book where I had drawn the magic circle.
By the way, what book is this?
Since I was pressed for time and just grabbed whatever I could, I didn't check what book it was.
What if it's a book that contains important records, such as family history or biography?
I suddenly became worried, so I hurriedly opened the bookshelf and checked.
Fortunately, it wasn't a book containing important family records.
[Empire 520 June 09]
[Sir Olben suggested to Adele that she should be sent to the Imperial Knight Academy.]
... It was an important record for me.
The book I picked up without thinking turned out to be my father's diary.
That was the diary that contained the next content that I had always been curious about.
It was a coincidence I never dreamed of.
I was always curious about what would happen next, and I wanted to read it right away, but I was also scared.
I was afraid that my father might write something denying my abilities.
On the outside, he seemed to genuinely care for me and love me, but I was afraid that he actually hated me.
So, I hesitated to turn the page, but the maid who had gone out to find out where Perdes was came back.
“I heard that Master Perdes is meeting with the Master right now.”
“Master?”
“Yes. He is Master Majo.”
Ah, you're talking about that teacher.
Come to think of it, I have never seen Perdes' magician teacher before.
While that teacher was living at Duke Leopold's residence and teaching Perdes, I was at the Royal Academy of the United Nations.
When I graduated and came back, the teacher had already left the Duke's residence.
Still, I heard that he occasionally stops by and chats with Perdes about various things, and today seems to be that day.
“Would you like to go now?”
Hmm, what should I do?
If it were another time, I would have gone there to say hello to the teacher, but now I wanted to read my father's diary more than that.
I didn't want to go and bother him for no reason.
“No. I’ll come see you later, okay? Let me know when the teacher returns.”
“Yes, Miss.”
The maid went out again, and I slowly pushed away the hand that had been meaninglessly fiddling with the bookshelf.
The bookshelf flipped over as light as a feather.
The black letters written in tiny grains on slightly yellowed paper caught my eye.
[I told him that I couldn't do it, that I would never send Adele to the Knight Academy, but Lord Olben didn't give up.]
[He continued to persuade me, saying that it would be a shame to let Adele's abilities rot away like this and that she might be able to become the first female commander-in-chief of the Imperial Knights.]
[It's getting difficult because he keeps coming to me every day and telling me to please reconsider just once.]
“Miss, don’t you want to go to the Imperial Knight Academy?”
As I read my father's diary, I remembered something Lord Olben had said to me long ago.
“If you go to the Knight Academy, you will receive swordsmanship lessons in a better environment than learning from me.”
“So, tell His Excellency the Duke that you want to go to the Knight Academy and learn swordsmanship in earnest.”
I was so taken aback by those words that I ran to my father and told him that I wanted to go to the Knight Academy.
Then my father got angry and said that he absolutely could not do that and that if I said that again, he would issue an order to never pick up a sword again.
It was the first time my father had been that angry since my mother passed away.
Even when my mother passed away, I wasn't particularly scared because he wasn't angry at me.
But when he yelled at me and got angry, I was so scared that I burst into tears.
And then I ran to Lord Olben and cried out to him, blaming him.
The memories of the past that came to mind were vague and sad.
The fact that my father had always denied my swordsmanship skills was like a dagger stabbing me in the heart and hurting me.
If I had been born a man, my father would not have hidden it or denied it.
He would gladly send me to the knight academy and brag about his son's outstanding swordsmanship skills.
[When Lord Olben asked me if I was doing this because Adele was my daughter, I was speechless. Not because he hit the nail on the head, but because it wasn't.]
I thought so... but it wasn’t?
[Even if that child were my son, I would not have taught him how to use a sword.]
I quickly read the next sentence, wiping away my slightly wet eyes.
[Gender didn't matter. What mattered was that this was Duke Leopold's house and that the child had inherited their blood. A blood that was both blessed and cursed.]
The father's sincerity was evident in the letters he wrote with great pressure so that the ink smudged slightly.
[If this had been an ordinary family and not the Leopold Dukes, and if I had been an ordinary parent, I would have done everything in my power to support her.]
[I would have sent her to the Knight Academy and given her a better teacher to teach her swordsmanship. I would have taught her myself.]
I knew my father was thinking something like this.
I was deeply moved and embarrassed by the sincerity of my father, whom I had not known for years.
I also wondered what made my father so worried.
So I read the diary so intently that I forgot to breathe, but there was no specific mention of that part.
[...But I couldn’t do that. Because I didn’t want that child to become like me.]
Rather, I came to know more about my father's incomprehensible true feelings.
[So, when that child becomes an adult and of marriageable age, I plan to send her to a distant foreign country to get married.]
Sending me to a faraway foreign country meant that he had no intention of giving me the title of Duke.
I have no intention of taking a son-in-law in.
[...And I must never contact her again. Even if I die, I must never let that child come back here. Ever.]
Moreover, he said that he would never contact me again and that he would never allow me to return to the Duke Leopold family.
At those words that were no different from a declaration of disobedience, I clenched my fists without even realizing that the paper was crumbling.
Why on earth, why, why, why, why did you think that, Father?
I felt so depressed that I wanted to hug and bury my father's body buried deep in the ground.
[This power is both a blessing and a curse. In the end, it will devour the child and send her to hell.]
Most of what was written in my father's diary was incomprehensible, but this part was the most incomprehensible.
The blessing written here was definitely the blessing of the red dragon.
The blood relatives of Duke Leopold were blessed by the red dragon and were able to possess physical abilities superior to those of ordinary humans.
Although that ability sometimes led to inconvenient situations, it was generally convenient.
It wasn't something that could be called a curse, but why did my father refer to this power as both a blessing and a curse?
Judging from the fact that there were a lot of books about curses in the basement, it seems like he didn't just leave it at that level, but tried to solve it.
“Haa, it’s difficult, it’s difficult.”
I opened my diary to change the question marks into periods, but I sighed when I saw that there were more question marks instead.
My head hurt so bad too.
I slumped against the back of the sofa, my head pounding.
“How can I find the answer?”
Should I ask the managers who worked with my father?
No. If they knew something, they would have told me a long time ago.
Besides, given that my father had not even confided his true feelings to Lord Olben, it was highly likely that he had not told his other vassals either.
Perhaps we can find some clues by looking at the records written by the past Dukes of Leopold?
With that much thought in my mind, I headed to the archives room in the annex.
The archives contained important family documents, including the records of past Dukes of Leopold and the history of the Duke's family.
“What do you want to see first?”
The Duke's history book probably won't be of much help.
The achievements of the previous Dukes of Leopold were now unnecessary.
As I was looking through the neatly organized documents, I took out a file folder with no title or label and opened it.
“This is the annual estate operation plan.”
Judging from the handwriting, it seemed like my father had written it himself.
This is also content that I don't really need right now, but since I finally got around to it, I'm skimming through it.
“Empire 424, December 17...?”
The date written at the very bottom of the plan caught my eye.
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