Chapter 45

Chapter 45

✠

Mom and Grandpa indulged my request. They set up camp inside the ruins of the temple and nursed me back to health over the course of two days.

“Do you know how worried I was?!”

The first thing I saw once the Holy Fever penalty was over was my mother’s eyes, which were swollen from crying too much. Mom embraced me and sobbed for a bit until I told her I was choking. As she continued to sniffle, Grandpa handed her a handkerchief. She meekly accepted it, blew her nose, and returned it back to him. They seemed strangely... on good terms? The two appeared to be quite intimate now.

“My baby’s awake! How are you feeling?”

“I’m fine. Sorry for making you worry.”

Grandpa seemed to have explained my ability, [Divine Advent], in detail to my mother while I was asleep. Thanks to that, I didn’t have to reiterate how I was able to undo the petrification curse on her, or why I had Holy Fever. However, my mom had a slight grievance regarding the whole situation.

“If the cost of using Advent means you have to endure such pain, you should have just requested the Vatican to reverse it.”

“But I wanted to see you as soon as possible.”

Just as Mom began to tear up again, Grandpa stepped in. “Ahem! Have some breakfast, now that you’re awake. Let’s eat and head out.”

The sun in the dungeon was at its peak, while it was still much before daybreak outside. But nevertheless, Grandpa referred to the meal as breakfast since I had just woken up. He set the table with duck meatballs on a skewer, herb salad, honeyed rolls, and fig jam. Though, of course, all he did was take the food out of my satchel.

“Why, my granddaughter is an excellent cook!”

“She takes after her father,” Mom retorted as she bit into the honeyed roll. Staying true to her strict nobility training, she seemed as elegant as ever, even while chewing.

As with any meal shared between family members, we chatted and joked while we ate.

“Allie, your dad didn’t two-time me and find another woman, did he?”

The butter knife she was using to spread jam glinted. I think that might’ve been her aura.

“Dad was very honorable this whole time. He’s only longed after you.”

“Really?”

“Yes. We wouldn’t even be having this conversation had he not longed after you so much that he wanted to come reminisce about you at our old home for our first family vacation.”

“Oh my, oh my! He’s a real lovebird. I’ll need to give him a reward when I see him. Something special.”

Watching my mom blush and giggle like a young girl made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. She was very curious to hear about how we were faring at Gilette Castle. I left out the details of Ailette’s life before transmigrating because I didn’t have much knowledge about it, to begin with. Besides, it was incredibly dull. I mainly focused on what happened after I transmigrated.

Mom’s eyes twinkled as she listened to my stories. I think her earnest attitude came from desperately wanting to know what had happened during her hiatus.
On the other hand, there was another person amongst us who was absent for thirteen whole years of his child’s life. Grandpa wanted to be filled in on the seven years his daughter had spent without him. He wanted to hear every last detail about what she did after running away until the moment she became a salt statue.

Mom grudgingly opened up and began her story. “There’s really not much to talk about. As soon as I left that house, I was so filled with anger and bitterness that I blindly invaded an SS-class dungeon alone.”

“Huh! Y-you did what?!”

“But after getting wreck— I mean, after the boss monster taught me a lesson, my mind began to clear up. Fortunately, the dungeon wasn’t closed and the boss itself was a low-intelligence, demonic beast-type, so I was able to stay hidden for a few days before escaping.”

“Phew...”

“After escaping the dungeon, I needed to get my wounds checked out fast, so I tried to warp to the nearest city. But the teleportation stone must’ve been damaged during the battle because it sent me to some random forest. My husband found me collapsed in the middle of the woods and healed me. One thing led to another and next thing you know, we were living together and fell in love.”

The duke cleared his throat uncomfortably. “We struggled to make ends meet. The only thing I could do to make up for living off of him was hunting down game. I considered concealing my identity and working as a mercenary, but I got pregnant before I could even start. My morning sickness was pretty intense, so I couldn’t do much. After that, I was busy taking care of the kids.”

“I-I see...”

I could only imagine what hearing about one’s daughter’s carefree, premarital cohabitation stories felt like as a parent. I wasn’t too sure, but I thought I should offer Grandpa some more herb salad. Herbs are good for the mind and body.

“Without dressing, please.”

“Okay.”

Now it was Grandpa’s turn to answer our questions. I actually had something I’d been meaning to ask him.

“Grandpa, you said you were nobility. What family are you from?”

“Ahem! Your old gramps is—”

“He’s no big deal. He just plays king over some tiny plot of land.”

Grandpa sputtered indignantly. “Tiny! It’s only small compared to my title! It’s not that tiny!”

Faced with conflicting statements, I had no choice but to make the call myself. “So what’s the name of the family?”

“You’re going to be surprised when you hear what it is!”

“No, I’m not!” I faced my grandfather, who had proudly pumped out his chest and copied his boastful pose.

“It’s Heathfenrir,” he declared.

“What?”

What? Huh? Hmm? I thought I’d misheard, but Grandpa repeated himself.

“We’re the Heathfenrir family. Believe it or not, your old gramps is none other than the legendary Aaron-Jake Heathfenrir!

“Wow.”

I was, in fact, very familiar with that name. Aaron-Jake Heathfenrir always topped the power rankings, at least until the protagonist went through about forty rebirths. Was it really him? I glanced over at my mom to make sure I wasn’t hearing things. Mom just gnawed away at her meatball skewer as if she wasn’t at all interested in the conversation.

I had no choice but to ask, “Mom... Were you a royal princess...?”

I took her silence as confirmation. My pendant shivered, and I heard Agnes mutter, “No wonder that old man was getting on my nerves.”

Aaron-Jake Heathfenrir and Agnes Azlette were classmates, as well as fierce rivals, during their time together at the knight academy.

Meanwhile, Grandpa saw this as a great opportunity to promote his family’s prestige. He looked at me and joyfully confirmed, “Aww, our little baby girl is so smart! You’re very right! Mommy is a royal princess! Then can you guess what happens when she succeeds me as the duke? Our little Allie will become a royal princess herself!”

Wow. What did I just hear? A royal princess! The secret of my birth, revealed! A rise in status! T-the standard procedure for a child-care fantasy...!

⟬The Critic for Balance disapprovingly clicks their tongue and asks if you still haven’t given up on the genre change.⟭

Only because you guys keep dangling it in front of me like this! But all my hopes were in vain.

“I have no intention of returning.” My mother’s voice was adamant.

Both Grandpa and I slumped our shoulders simultaneously.

⟬The Scale that Judges Souls tempts you with the chance to change genres to a rated R, reverse-harem romantic fantasy.⟭

Looks like Lord Scale has added yet another element to their weird fantasy.

⟬The Eye Overseeing All Chaos exclaims that you have Bianca waiting for you back home.⟭

Oh, will you two stop that? I noticed Grandpa was giving me a sideways glance. He checked to see what my mom was doing before approaching me.

“A-Allie, you seemed to want to come to the duchy...”

Oh, he’s going to play the granddaughter card? That won’t do. “Grandpa.”

“Hm?”

“I really, really want to be the royal princess, but I respect Mom’s decision. If Mom doesn’t like it, then I don’t like it. And if Mom says no, then it’s a no from me as well.”

I felt a little sorry for Grandpa, but I had to draw the line. Mom had been deeply hurt by his mistakes and she was still healing. Her heart hadn’t forgiven him all the way. I’d harshly condemned the duke when he told me the story of his runaway daughter even when I didn’t know that she was my mom.

I couldn’t just suddenly change my values, blinded by shallow, superficial things like a royal princess position. Although it did sound nice. Bloodline matters needed to be set straight. There could only be a link between Grandpa and me through my mom. That’s why I wanted to do what was best for her and follow her lead when it came to her side of the family.

“S-such a firm rejection...” My mom snickered as Grandpa struggled to get himself together after two consecutive rejections. “I can’t tell who’s the kid and who’s the adult here. You should be ashamed of yourself. Plotting to take advantage of your granddaughter like that.”

“I-I’m sorry. I am ashamed.” Grandpa’s face turned bright red as he hung his head low.

Meanwhile, Mom pulled me in close and rubbed her face against mine. “Oh, you sweet child. You’re mine and Leo’s all right.”

I smiled in delight. I didn’t need to bust my back trying to rise in social status.

My family is right here. What more could I want? I was perfectly happy with what I had right now. I also enjoyed living at Gilette Castle where Bianca was, and our family’s financial problems were gradually getting better thanks to the potion sales. So, I didn’t really need to become a royal princess.

⟬The Critic for Balance says that’s some good rationalization since you can’t leave Gilette Castle during the tutorial anyhow.⟭

⟬The Scale that Judges Souls cackles and says maybe you’re just not meant to be placed in child-care fantasies.⟭

⟬The Eye Overseeing All Chaos is content to see that you won’t be leaving Bianca’s side any time soon.⟭

Is there any way to mute this thing?