Chapter 128.1

Those words made Harris and I shut up from the unexpected words.

The same was true for Sylvie, who was next to her, perhaps for surveillance or for some other reason.

Sylvie’s serious expression turned strange, but everyone’s faces looked the same.

Dad continued to speak, as if it didn’t matter.

“You’re just a child but I pushed you too much. I didn’t look at you properly. I didn’t realize it until now, but I now know what I did.”

“Ah…”

Is he acting? This kind of acting always appeared whenever the Emperor asked Mom for something. Is that what Dad is doing? He wanted to hear something from Harris?

But the dad next to me didn’t feel that way at all. It was clear that he was speaking to Harris from the bottom of his heart.

It wasn’t fake. It wasn’t acting. It was sincere.

Dad’s trembling voice, which was unusually anxious, spoke for him.

“If I had faced you properly even once, would it have been like this? Maybe that was where everything went wrong.”

“Well, who wants to say that? That’s why I…!”

“I am not saying this to persuade you to tell the truth. I’m just saying that as an adult who had to take care of you, I was also neglecting you.”

Harris’s dry eyes became somewhat moist.

“That’s… that’s… that’s all… this is about? You know…”

“You don’t have to say anything. In fact, it’s good to know what you’ve been through and who made you suffer. But it’s also okay if you don’t know. I just want to know what kind of life you lived.”

“I won’t!”

“Yes, it’s okay. It’s my fault for not asking you earlier. I just thought you needed some nice clothes and nice things. I thought that if you do that much for a child, they will grow up well on their own. But look at me. If you did, you wouldn’t have to tell a lie and this wouldn’t have happened.”

Dad got in front of Harris before he knew it. My father, who was hugging me, stroked Harris’s head with the opposite hand. It was a very careful and friendly touch, as if touching a fragile object.

“It’s alright.”

As if I were not the only one who felt it, Harris spoke in a much softer voice than before.

“It’s like… nothing changes.”

“Yes, nothing changes. But at least I don’t want you to suffer anymore. It’s okay not to say anything. Even if you don’t tell me, it’s enough for me to find out. I won’t let you have a hard time… so live freely. You are also my daughter.”

Thick tears fell from Harris’s eyes, like a child hearing this for the first time.

The amount of tears that flowed from the child’s eyes gradually increased to the point she couldn’t handle wiping it with her hands.

The sound of sniffling filled the room.

Harris swallowed, as if she was swallowing down her own sadness.

“That’s right, I… I…”

A child like me.

Although our beginnings of meeting each other weren’t that good, we both had a past where we weren’t happy. It was not possible to understand everything and get along well, but there was a little part that I was interested in.

I was interested in Harris, who cried bitterly and Dad’s words.

“You’re not wrong. It’s just the situation that made you like this. As a child, you have the right to grow up like a child but I couldn’t protect you… so I’ll protect you…”

These were the things I wanted to say to the adults who neglected us. We were always raised as tools.

If it wasn’t for my mother protecting me, I would have been the same. I wouldn’t have been any different from Harris.

“I will protect you now.”

When those words finally came out, Harris slowly slipped off the chair and fell to the floor.

“I…”

What can you say? Dad’s words made me feel like I was comforted. I wanted an adult to apologize for the past, no matter who it was.

We wanted to hear that we weren’t in the wrong.

Harris shed tears for a long time. The crying sounded so sad that it was impossible to soothe or talk anymore.

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