CH 28

Former head of a ducal family chews on his happiness ①

Translated by KaiesV

Edited by KaiesV

「Father, good morning to you.」

「Ahh, good morning. Ollie.」

My beloved daughter Ollie is smiling in front of me.

My daughter, Ollie, has shiny crimson hair and beautiful, clear, sky-blue eyes. I am glad those eyes are smiling with joy.

Ollie was treated coldly by the former crown princess, Louise-sama, for a long time in our homeland, the Kingdom of Barsheik.

I, too, could not understand why Ollie had to be so attentive. Even now that I understand why, I still don’t understand why Ollie had to be imitated in such a way.

And even His Majesty understood Ollie at the end when we were leaving the country, but before that he didn’t try to understand. That is how much Louise-sama was adored by His Majesty, the country, and the people around her.

——Louise-sama took precedence as a country over Ollie, my daughter. And no matter what I or my wife said, she refused to accept that Ollie wasn’t deceiving us. Not only those of the same age who were around Louise-sama, but even the adults were the same. If I hadn’t been able to get the Royal Shadow to move, even His Majesty might have remained faithful to Louise-sama.

Because Louise-sama was so influential in that way.

I always wanted to create a place where Ollie could smile from the bottom of her heart. I have been talking with my wife for a long time about increasing our options for Ollie’s future.

I had decided that wherever Ollie went, my wife and I would go with her.

I hoped that someone would be a friend to Ollie when she started attending the academy. I wanted someone who would understand Ollie’s good qualities. In this context, it was surprising that Ollie befriended and won the heart of His Highness Prince Ihmut, who was visiting from a neighboring country as a guest of honor. But finally, I didn’t look at Ollie in a bad way with the colored glasses「because Louise-sama said so.」

I can’t tell her how happy that made me.

And Ollie also made a friend of the same age, Miss Nathe. I was happy about that, but I didn’t like the fact that His Highnesses the Second Prince and others thought Ollie was a bad girl.

Ollie decided to head to a neighboring country, so it was only natural that we began preparing to head to a neighboring country as well. His Majesty stopped me when I told him I was resigning as head of the dukedom, but if I mentioned Ollie, His Majesty would say,「I guess it can’t be helped?」

His Majesty learned from the Royal Shadow that Ollie was no such thing as a bad girl, but whatever it was, His Majesty was too late to stop the Prince’s Highnesses from running amok. He was too late to admonish them, even about Louise-sama. It’s just as well that he had cut Ollie off because he cares about the Prince and Louise-sama and the others.

The kingdom of Barsheik has been shaken by the commotion of Louise-sama and her friends. I consider it a good thing that we got out of that country, which is going to be very difficult, with Ollie.

I have been gathering information about that country via my acquaintances who are still in the country. We don’t want Ollie’s smile to be clouded for any reason. I will do everything in my power to make sure that no one from the Kingdom of Barsheik will make Ollie sad again.

「Father, you see, today, Ihmut gave me a present.」

「I’m glad to hear that.」

「Yes. I’m glad to know that Ihmut gave it to me.」

Ollie smiling in front of me is cute, even without the greed as her parents. Se was smiling, especially since we are in a neighboring country, perhaps because we no longer have anything to worry about. She is very lovely with a small smile on her face as she holds the scarf given to her by His Highness Prince Ihmut, saying,「Fufufu.」

This is how Ollie was originally supposed to live.

As the daughter of a duke, she was supposed to live surrounded by people without any inconvenience—— Despite having it taken from her, Ollie grew up healthy. She never resented the fact that it was taken from her, but only looked forward to doing what she could.

It was impossible not to love a daughter who lived her life that way.

「Hey, Father. I’m not sure I’m happy with how happy I am. Because there are too many kind people in this country, and too much kind time goes by.」

「Yes, of course.」

Ollie smiled happily at my words.

Now, when I see my daughter laughing happily with a sincere smile, I feel happy too.