TIDSF 33

Chapter 33

Calix rose from his seat, grasped Wood Refaire’s hand, and gently pushed his shoulder to help him straighten his posture.

Though aged, the old man’s faded water-colored eyes still held an undying light, which Calix looked into steadily.

“I owe your granddaughter a debt, and I made her a promise.”

“……”

“And no matter how the connection began…”

Calix smiled.

“No parent abandons their child.”

“……!”

“Don’t worry. I wouldn’t dare harm even a hair on her head. Your daughter will grow up safe and become the Duke of this family.”

“…I see. Thank you.”

Wood Refaire’s expression finally relaxed a little.

Calix helped him sit back down and returned to his own seat.

“I had a feeling you’d recover quickly.”

A short silence fell.

Eventually, Wood Refaire moved his hand from the wine to the water glass and took a sip.

“…Seems the medicine I took before wasn’t very good.”

He exhaled deeply.

**— Wow, I didn’t know degenerative disease could be cured this completely. But leaving that aside, your organs are in terrible shape… Have you, uh, used drugs for a long time or something?

— Never touched drugs, not even once.

— Huh? Sure looks like you’ve been on something for ages. Sometimes we use very tiny doses of refined narcotics in treatment, but this… this looks like someone gave you junk just to get through a moment. Only amateurs would do that.

— ……

— I mean, your organs have pretty much stopped working.

**

Wood Refaire recalled the words of the young physician who had recently joined as his personal doctor.

“I see.”

“You’ve become quite noble-like.”

He brushed off the heavy subject with light conversation.

“It’s thanks to my father’s excellent teaching.”

“You’ve got some nerve. Calling him your father, huh?”

“Well, adventurers are usually like that. Gotta know how to get a meal wherever we go.”

Wood Refaire let out a soft chuckle.

“True, you won’t starve anywhere. That’s good.”

“Still, please live long. Your daughter worries about you a lot.”

His smile deepened.

“I thought I’d go my whole life without children, but in my twilight years, I gained a grown son.”

“Even I think I turned out pretty well.”

“Can I ask you something?”

Calix looked up at him.

“The Empire and your child are placed on a scale. You can only save one. Whichever you choose, the other will fall. Who do you save?”

“Why even ask something so obvious?”

“…Right, that was a pointless question.”

Wood Refaire nodded lightly.

“Of course I’d save my child. Who cares about the Empire.”

“……!”

“Whether the nation falls or the world ends, what I must protect doesn’t change.”

There was strength in Calix’s voice.

**— Would you abandon your family if both they and the Empire were in danger?! How long will you keep choosing strangers you’ve never even met over your own blood?!

— Of course.

— What?

— Brother, we’re heroes. We never asked to be, but luck made it so. That means we have a duty to fight for the greater good, for the comfort of the many. As nobles, we’ve lived easier lives than others. It’s only right to give back. And… my wife and kids aren’t weak. Even if I die first, they’ll live on just fine.

**

Wood Refaire slowly closed his trembling eyes and nodded.

“I see. Honestly, I’ve always been the same. More than this world or the duties of nobility, my family always came first.”

“Most people are probably like that.”

“It’s a shame he didn’t realize that sooner.”

What kind of face did his brother-in-law make, when his daughter was executed in disgrace, condemned by the people?

He had lived his life only for others, but in the end, died without respect from anyone.

“Live a life for your family.”

Wood Refaire spoke softly, his voice so faint it could disappear at any moment.

* * *

“…So that didn’t work either.”

Ughhh!!

I screamed inwardly and rolled across the floor.

“Piiiii!”

The small black slime that always clung to me cried along with me.

I poked and squished its soft, wobbly form before letting out a sigh.

I was still in a foul mood.

“Lime, don’t you know anything?”

“Pii?”

“Something like a miraculous potion, an ancient artifact that defies fate, a forbidden spell that can bring back the dead… anything like that.”

For months, I’d been combing through famous medical texts and ancient-language tomes, but found nothing truly useful.

“……”

I sprawled across the office floor, eyes darting around.

Crumpled notes with scribbled summaries of novel settings and scraps of information littered the room.

I should throw all that away before someone sees it…

I had no motivation.

Honestly, the “Fruit of Arpedis” in the novel was basically a cheat item.

If even that couldn’t save him, how could I possibly do it?

I knew that…

But I still want to try something, anything.

After I was framed for treason and executed, and after he was chased to this remote northern region of Altard, my uncle didn’t abandon me. He gave up everything—his position, his title—to follow me here and suffer alongside me.

He deserved peace in his old age.

This is a novel.

In stories, people come back to life for all kinds of absurd reasons.

I sighed and looked around the office.

Over the past few months, the mansion had finally started to resemble a proper household.

There hadn’t been any income since the auction of the “Aurora Diamond,” so we weren’t exactly rich… but we had managed to hire a few servants.

When I first arrived, the fireplace had crackled with flames. Now only a faint ember remained.

No wonder it’s cold.

I curled up on the bare floor, not even a carpet underneath me.

“……”

There was nothing I could do.

Feeling helpless for the first time in a long while, I let my forehead thunk against the cold floor.

I even brought in the doctor known as the “Madman,” who was once one of my father’s comrades in the original story.

He’s the one who develops the cure for degenerative disease in the novel. Soon, he’d probably be hailed as the Empire’s best physician.

But it was too late.

The drug addiction had already done too much damage…

Uncle’s organs were so damaged they could fail any day now.

After months of digging up every bit of information I could, my mind was starting to feel foggy.

“…Count Rudeng.”

If only it weren’t for them…

Knock knock.

As the knock broke through my thoughts, the door swung open.

I didn’t even have time to respond.

“Good evening, daughter.”

It was my father.