kscans

Chapter 186 - Scribbles. Dorfen and the Marquis, His Father

"I admire you, Son of Marquis Kigris."

"......You are a nuisance."

Without hiding the look of utter contempt in his eyes, Dorfen shot down the lovely young lady's confession.

The young lady was dumbfounded.

The girl, who even from a distance gave a slender and gentle impression, quickly flushed red, her face contorting with anger. Her pretty face was ruined.

"How cruel! I summoned all my courage for this!!"

The girl cried out, on the verge of tears, but it had no effect on Dorfen. In fact, his eyes, now filled with even more disgust, did not hide the feeling of looking at a snake.

"I do not understand the lack of ethics in confessing to a married man. Are you not mistaken in where you direct your courage?"

That's right. Dorfen had a beloved wife. And yet, women of this sort were relentless. It wasn't uncommon for high-ranking nobles to have multiple wives, but with His Majesty the King having only three wives, it had become an unspoken rule among the current Frontier nobility that a man could have up to two wives. One must not have more wives than His Majesty the King. This was the common sense of the nobles. Dorfen had no intention of criticizing this, and he believed it was right for those who could afford it to provide for many. But he wanted no part of it for himself. Dorfen was now just a knight. He lived a life suited to his station and dearly loved his sweet wife and children. But it seemed those around him did not think so. Everyone still called Dorfen the son of Marquis Kigris. This was his father's fault. Dorfen, who had intended to leave his house and renounce his noble status, later found out that the Kigris family had apparently kept his noble registration on file. They must have believed their son would regret his decision and come back. This was conveyed to Dorfen when he was granted his knighthood.

It was because His Majesty the King, looking at Dorfen who had come to the royal palace with a perplexed expression, asked him again.

"A knighthood is of a lower status than a noble peerage. The Marquis family has other titles, would it not be better to be granted a title from a branch family than a knighthood?"

He was implicitly referring to a branch family title of the Marquis family. It was true that his father, the Marquis, held multiple titles, but he had thought it had nothing to do with him, who had left the Marquis family.

Something wasn't adding up.

Sensing this, he stormed his family home, only to discover the fact that his noble registration had not been removed. With his face frozen in astonishment, he yelled at his family.

"I am already married to Sasha, you know?! What is the meaning of this! Even though we were married by a covenant to the gods, I have not received permission from His Majesty the King!!"

That was right. Noble marriages required the king's approval, and Dorfen, who had unknowingly skipped this step, could have been charged with lèse-majesté. Furthermore, the entire Marquis Kigris family was in a situation where they could face joint liability.

My father and the others are not ones to not understand something this simple!

With a look of pained exasperation, Dorfen gritted his back teeth. Looking at him calmly, the Marquis Kigris who had been yelled at, let out a small, tired sigh.

"His Majesty is aware."

"What?"

The expression slid right off Dorfen's face.

"...Her Highness the Princess. It seems she put in a good word for us."

Furrowing his brow slightly, Marquis Kigris recalled the moment the trap he had set had been broken.

The marriage of someone with noble status required the consent of His Majesty the King. Using this to his advantage, Marquis Kigris had left Dorfen's noble registration intact so that even if Dorfen married a beast-human woman, he could argue that the marriage was invalid and use the king's authority to force them to separate. The father of Dorfen, who had been eagerly awaiting this opportunity, one day received a summons from the royal palace. Wondering what it was about, the Marquis went to the castle and saw Little One sitting beside His Majesty the King. She gave a faint smile and looked up at Marquis Kigris.

"There is something I wish to ask you regarding Dorfen."

The smiling girl got straight to the point without any probing. A cold chill ran down his spine, and the Marquis sat down opposite the two.

"Dorfen's registration is strange, so I am here to confirm. I heard from his application that Dorfen had his name removed from the nobility, and I registered him as a commoner, but... Dorfen's noble registration is still on file at the royal palace, is it not?"

Normally, the salary would differ between a noble and a commoner. Furthermore, their guarantees and treatment would also differ. Although this was irrelevant in the egalitarian Little One's unit, they were still categorized as a rule. Dorfen's name was on both ledgers. One was a list checked against the noble directory submitted to the royal palace. The other was based on the individuals' own applications. Seeing these discrepancies, Little One had requested His Majesty the King to summon Marquis Kigris for confirmation.

"This means that one of you has submitted a false application, does it not? I wonder which of you is trying to deceive the royal palace?"

The girl's smile deepened. The Marquis, his cunning plot exposed, broke out in a cold sweat only in his mind. The King, looking at the Marquis with pity, offered a helping hand.

"...It is a parent's love for their child. Don't be so harsh, Chihiro."

His expression softening, the King soothed his beloved daughter. They were not related by blood now, but she was the child he had caused great hardship in a previous life. In this life as well, at the request of the gods, she had faced a series of hardships, and the King had become more overprotective than in her past life. He wanted to do everything for her this time that he couldn't do before. In the King's teary-eyed view, Little One was glaring at the cunning Marquis with sharp eyes.

"That's right. A parent's love. ...A parent's love that could have put Dorfen in a situation where he would be charged with a crime if one step was taken wrong. I cannot comprehend it."

Sighing under her fan, the girl turned her resentful, sharp-angled eyes on the pale-faced Marquis. Scratched all over by the sharp thorns contained within them, the Marquis could not move a muscle. He probably never thought it would come to this. For Dorfen to seriously become a commoner and marry a beast-human wife was nothing short of a nightmare for him. To Dorfen's father, who could not accept reality, the girl turned a face of resignation.

"Let us keep this matter to ourselves. He is my personal guard knight, after all. It is fine for him to be registered in both, is it not? Father-in-law."

Smiling at his beloved daughter, the King nodded magnanimously.

"Of course. He is your personal guard, so you may do as you please."

"Thank you very much. He is close to his wedding with his beloved fiancée. I would not want to spoil their future with something like this, you know."

Marquis Kigris, who had raised his head with a start, felt the ice-cold contempt in the girl's eyes before him. A strange sensation of being looked down upon from a great height, as if he were an insect.

He must have seen through his plot to petition the King and have his son's marriage annulled.

Now that His Majesty the King had given his permission, no one could object to Dorfen's marriage. If he were to say anything about this, she would surely bring Dorfen's registration to light. That is, she would make him a commoner and put him out of the Marquis's reach. If he just nodded silently, he could surely keep his son's registration.

Having judged so, Marquis Kigris solemnly accepted Little One's secretly held consultation.

As his father explained matter-of-factly, Dorfen's eyes widened into perfect circles.

"...You could have just abandoned me. Why?"

"...A child is a child, no matter how old they get. Until the day I die, you are my son. A member of the Marquis family. This will not change."

At the Marquis's mumbled words, as if something were caught in his teeth, Dorfen stared at him with an expression of disbelief. For a noble, the family was what was important. Children were tools for that. What mattered was how much profit they could bring to the Kigris family, and there was no consideration for the individual. He had been raised that way, and his parents had clearly stated so. As the second son, he was a spare in case something happened to his older brother, and if nothing happened, he was to marry into some good connection. What mouth did the father who had always said such things have to declare him his son?

Don't you mean a pawn?

As if Dorfen's feelings were conveyed, Marquis Kigris grimaced with unconcealed awkwardness.

"...I have always been strict with you. I admit that. ...But that doesn't mean... there were no feelings. ...Of course there were."

If he removed his noble registration, they would truly become strangers. The gap between a noble and a commoner was extremely large. He wanted to avoid that at all costs, the Marquis muttered in a small voice. At the sight of his father's dejected, hunched back, Dorfen couldn't stop the back of his eyes from growing hot.

Why now? You never showed a shred of emotion or feeling before, so why do you now say you want to be a father?

Since he was young, his father had been a strict man. A leading marquis, truly noble-like. The marquis, who led the many noble families and was a noble among nobles, had never shown a fatherly side to his sons. He had always been drilled with the pride of a noble, taught his position, and Dorfen only had memories of being lectured daily not to tarnish the family's honor. He had followed that obediently.

So his father must have been shocked by Dorfen's first act of rebellion. Dorfen, who said he would marry Sasha, was severely intimidated and berated, and was disowned by his father, the Marquis. That was to be expected, Dorfen had been relieved in a way. He cast aside his life as a noble, which had been full of troubles but also enjoyable in its own way, and began a life with his beloved fiancée. Many commoners belonged to the knight order. What's more, Dorfen was a renowned warrior in the knight order. There were expeditions, and in connection with that, he had learned to camp and cook for himself. So he was used to being a commoner, and although a bit awkward, there was no problem with him living with Sasha in a room in the outer precincts of the royal palace. The two rented a room near the Count's mansion and began a small life together.

That life was so happy that he hadn't even thought of his family home.

And now, this unexpected situation.

"...Her Highness the Princess will surely arrange things. You can take a knighthood as a commoner, or if you wish, I will grant you a viscounty as a branch of the Marquis family."

At his clumsy father's offer, Dorfen's eyes wavered greatly.

"...I do not need a title."

"I see."

His father's reply seemed a little disheartened. At that, Dorfen opened his mouth with a beaming smile.

"His Majesty the King has given his permission, has he not? I will marry Sasha as the son of Marquis Kigris. I will eventually take a knighthood, but I will remain your son until you pass away, Father."

Commoners have no family rank. Only nobles have surnames. So even if he married a commoner, Dorfen, who had not lost his noble registration, could call himself the son of Marquis Kigris.

"...I will accept only your feelings and your name. I will cherish them."

Hearing the words of his son, who had grown into a man in his own right, the Marquis's shoulders shook greatly.

"...I see."

The same word as before, but with a different temperature, filled with some kind of emotion.

"Yes."

His father's back, which had seemed endlessly large when he was a child. It had become smaller at some point. Ah, I have grown.

Dorfen was more than ten centimeters taller than his father. But it wasn't just his body. His inner self had also grown to the point where he could perceive his father's feelings and subtleties.

Children are meant to leave the nest.

The Marquis Kigris father and son, who had had an unexpected reunion, gradually began to close the distance between them. A mysterious gentleman who sometimes appeared in the shade of the Jorje mansion's hedge. Some days he was with a lady, other days with a man who resembled Dorfen. Sasha smiled wryly at the man who showed his face every few days.

"Ah, it's Grandpa."

Dorfen's sons, who spoke quite fluently, raised their voices innocently, but Sasha placed her index finger on the children's lips to shush them.

"Your father will introduce him eventually. Until then, pretend you don't know, okay?"

"Okay!"

"Got it!"

The lively Dorfen family with their triplets. It was probably not long before the members of the Marquis Kigris family would join them. Time is a panacea that conquers all.

And so, it would have been a happy 'happily ever after' ending, but the story returns to the beginning.

"I told you! I have no intention of taking a second wife!!"

"...It's free love, isn't it? I know nothing about it."

Grandpa feigned ignorance.

The Marquis was spreading rumors in various ways to get Dorfen a second wife befitting the status of the Kigris family. Underestimating Sasha, the one and only and first wife, as a commoner and a beast-human at that, the nobles who schemed to form a connection with the Marquis Kigris family were inciting their daughters.

Fed up with the endless confessions and seductions, Dorfen stormed his family home again.

The insolence of his father, who turned away with a huff. He was like a difficult child. This was also another side of his father that he was seeing for the first time. ...Though he couldn't welcome it.

"If this continues, I will seriously take a knighthood!"

To Dorfen, who made a declaration of severance while chewing on a bitter pill, Marquis Kigris, not to be outdone, straightened his back in anger and shouted.

"You will not! You said you would be my son until I die, did you not?! A man's word should be like steel!!"

Dorfen's mother and brother, who had accompanied the Marquis to see his grandchildren, stared wide-eyed at the bickering father and son and exchanged surprised glances.

People are creatures that can change.

The new relationship of the Marquis father and son, who it was unclear whether they had evolved or devolved, enlivened people's living rooms for a long time.

In the shadows, Little One grinned.

Doing her utmost for the happiness of the two people she cared for, she is doing great today♪