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“Ah, these gazes feel like daggers stabbing me! But please trust me, Lian!!! You are my beloved son, I love you! Your wellbeing is of utmost importance to me! I was considering your happiness and future!!!”

“I will decide my own happiness and future,” I say. “Don’t make plans about them on your own.”

If Lian’s father dictates my every action, setting up Leis Village Defense Operations would prove to be impossible. I’m already feeling a headache because of that.

Lian’s father slumps to the floor helplessly.

“You’re right… I’m sorry for bypassing your consent. I really am.”

“Do you understand what you did wrong now?”

“Yes, Lian… I truly do. I’ll only make decisions after consulting you from now on… So please, don’t look at me so coldly, my beloved son…”

I massage my temple as a headache splits my skull.

While it’s good you’ll consult me before making any big decisions, I also don’t want to get involved in your evil deeds.

But now that he mentions it, it’s for the best that Lian’s father informs me of his hatching crimes beforehand. It will allow me to stop him before he does something stupid.

I look down at Lian’s father just as he looks up at me with a distraught face. A long sigh escapes my lips.

“That’s right. Please do so in the future. For now, though, what’s done is done, father.”

“I-I know, Lian! Even I understand that much… It might be too late, but I’ll make up for it, I swear! I’ll do anything in my power, so please, will you forgive your father?”

If you’re saying you’ll atone for what you did, there’s not much I can do. It’s what you should do anyway. In this reality, although humans might forgive, God won’t.

In those historical dramas my grandpa watched every week without fault, the main character says this kind of line to the villain when the situation reaches its climax. It doesn’t mean it’s wrong, though.

“Father, are you genuinely repenting?”

“I am! My heart feels like it’s about to burst! It’s so full of regrets!!”

Lian’s father starts to cry while clinging to my feet. He’s so loud, and his face is so drenched with snot, tears, and sweat that it doesn’t look like he’s faking it.

Lian’s father truly looks like he wants to make amends. And he also says this with the utmost sincerity.

I shift my gaze to the bespectacled knight.

The knight sighs with displeasure and shrugs. He pushes up his silver-rimmed glasses to its rightful position and nods at me, not a word leaving his lips.

He seems to have accepted that the criminal feels truly repentful.

Way to go, Lian’s father.

But it doesn’t mean you’ll escape your due punishment.

“You’re not lying, are you?” I ask. “Can you promise this is the last stupid thing you’ll do?”

“Of course, I swear in the name of the Goddess! This is the very last time!”

“Please, don’t go back on your words… Use them as a guideline, and live righteously, father.”

Lian’s father’s eyes widen, his lips quivering as he looks up at me.

“Do you… really forgive me for doing something stupid and as irreparable as that?”

Whether I forgive you or not, it doesn’t change the fact that you need to fix your mess.

For the children he’s sold as well.

“…It can’t be helped. I’m your son after all.”

I mean, it would be too awkward to pretend we’re complete strangers.

I should have nipped this crime in the bud. But I haven’t suspected a thing, even though we both live in the same mansion.

Later, we’ll have to apologize for all the trouble this unworthy father has caused, huh?

Even though the New Year’s holidays should be a time for celebration, the mood has grown grim on this Eve. It wouldn’t be a lie to say I don’t feel depressed.

“L-Liaaannnnn…!!”

Lian’s father sniffles loudly like a little child, clinging to the knee of his not-yet-adult son.

With bone-deep weariness, I stroke my father’s slumped back in an attempt to soothe him.

“What a… moving scene…” The knight with an exhausted appearance weeps, a handkerchief in his hands. Where did it even come from?

I also want to cry.

My own father became a criminal. It’s heart wrenching.

“His son is so kind and caring… I’m s-so moved my tears won’t stop!”

This, a moving scene?

I find this a very embarrassing and miserable scene instead. A father who insists he’s innocent even though he’s done something horrible, and his son who scolds him, telling him to reflect on it.

“Lian-sama.” The bespectacled knight slowly gets up from the sofa and turns toward me. “Is it fine by you?”

“Me?”

Even without my permission, he’ll have to atone for the sins he committed, right?

First of all, we have to find the children he sold. And then, we have to save them somehow, apologize, and talk about this matter with the children face-to-face. It will be a herculean task, but there’s no choice but to do it.

With my thoughts and decision solidified, I nod and say, “Yes. As I said before, there’s no use crying over spilt milk, but he can still rectify his wrongdoings.”

The bespectacled knight who looked displeased since the start flashes a gentlemanly and friendly smile. “Marvelous. It’s a relief, knowing there are still young men with hearts of gold in this world. Not everyone is trash, huh? I’m truly grateful.”

“I don’t think you should be thanking me for that…”

“It’s the truth. To sully the honor of someone as bright as you is indeed foolish, an act deserving death. As I thought, being demoted and sent to the frontier is still too light a punishment. Let’s just sentence him to death!”

“Senior! Voicing that aloud is dangerous! Please have some restraint!”

“Sentence him to death?!”

After taking in the sobbing figure of Lian’s father, I turn my gaze to the bespectacled knight..

“P-please, you don’t have to go as far as to kill him! If he’s dead, he can’t fix anything!”

“You are really too kind.” The bespectacled knight smiles in astonishment. He then raises a hand to his chest, and bows.

“You even forgive this kind of human garbage and give him the chance to redeem himself. I’m thoroughly impressed for the first time in a while… You’re really such a wonderful person. I’m so tired seeing this kind of trash in this world, but I feel lucky that our paths crossed..”

“I beg of you… anything but capital punishment.”

“Alright, we won’t do it.

What a relief. It seems like Lian’s father just escaped the jaws of death.

I sigh in relief.

Although he’s a father who committed a hateful crime, he’s still my father. There are no second chances at life. If he dies, it’s over, and he can’t rectify his wrongdoings.

But being demoted and sent to a remote area, huh…? How long will the sentence be…? Well, I think the village and its territories will be fine as long as we have Lowendal.

“Thank you so much.”

“There’s nothing to thank me for. This turn of events was so sudden I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Sirias Sagez, the newly appointed captain of the Royal Palace Knights. And this is—”

“I’m Charleux Schuricht, the vice-captain…”

“What?”

What did he just say?

I feel like they said the Royal Palace Knights…

“Royal Palace… Knights?”

“Yes. Charleux and I came to apologize for the insolence of this human rubbish ex-captain Serpentine, who dared to do unmentionable things to someone as splendid as you.”

“What?!”

Serpentine?

Wait a minute.

Aren’t we talking about Lian’s father here? The man who trafficked children and swore to make amends for it, and avoided capital punishment by being relegated to a remote region!?

I’ll take the JLPT exam tomorrow, trying to pass N2! I hope I’ll be lucky enough and pass the exam with high score! (✧Д✧)