I Think My Daughter Has Regressed (7 Chapters Left to Complete) - Chapter 6
“…May I ask why you thought so?”
“Haha. Now it’s time for you, Duke, to take up a central role yourself. Quite a number of people follow you, after all. And your contributions in the war—well, they’re certainly not few and far between. Truth be told, there was no real need for you to go personally to suppress the rebellion…”
As Charles continued speaking, Ariel’s smile gradually turned bitter, prompting him to stop mid-sentence.
“I seem to have spoken out of turn.”
“Not at all. It was because of him stepping forward that even you, Sir Charles, joined as well.”
“No, no—I naturally had to follow along. Duchess, you’ll surely be much busier from now on as well.”
“Though it may sound disrespectful, that actually puts my mind at ease.”
Ariel gave a faint nod.
If Sir Charles himself spoke so openly, it seemed unlikely that past disappointments would repeat themselves.
He would no longer go off to war, which meant he’d be entirely free from the peril of life and death.
Since they’d see each other often now, her relationship with Lucy would surely improve—and without a doubt, their family would be filled only with happy days.
“Hahahaha! Who could possibly object to such sentiments?”
At Charles’ laughter, Ariel this time genuinely smiled, her expression bright and heartfelt.
“Ariel-sama.”
Just then,
Bruno, Damian’s half-brother, called out to her.
“Oh—It’s been a while since we last met.”
“Wow… You’re as stunning as ever, Ariel-sama.”
Despite Bruno’s flustered compliment, Ariel remained composed, offering a smile befitting a Duchess.
For her part, Ariel always found her conversations with Bruno astonishing.
Even accounting for them being half-brothers, could two people really be so vastly different in mindset?
It was understandable that their hair color and appearances differed—but they’d both grown up in Genova and received the same education… yet their personalities could still diverge this drastically? That truly was surprising.
From how they interacted with people to how they guided conversations, the two brothers stood at complete opposites.
Where Damian was unwavering in principles and discipline, Bruno was free-spirited and… well, if one had to define him, cheerful.
“I was just speaking with my elder brother. Sir Charles—it’s been quite a while since I last saw you as well. …Both of you, please come this way. We can’t be having a conversation without the ceremony’s honoree, can we?”
At Bruno’s warm gesture and friendly smile, both Ariel and Charles nodded together.
“Everyone, this is Ariel-sama—the unparalleled beauty of our age! Haha! Since my brother was away at war for so long, it’s been hard to even catch a glimpse of her. Ah, I remember once I visited, but I was told you’d gone out with Lucy. It seems you often go out together.”
With a broad grin, Bruno suddenly grabbed Ariel’s hand.
Startled, Ariel looked flustered—prompting Damian, who’d been watching nearby, to swiftly pull Bruno’s hand away.
“You?”
Damian tilted his head slightly as he looked at Bruno.
His sentence had omitted so much that even Ariel couldn’t decipher what her husband meant.
Sensing slight aggression, she subtly took hold of Damian’s hand.
“Damian?”
Glancing at Ariel looking up at him, Damian frowned.
“Haha—It seems my elder brother has only just returned from war, so his nerves are a bit frayed.”
“…That’s right. After being away for so long, I suppose he’s forgotten how familiar you usually are, Lord Bruno. Still, grabbing my hand so suddenly did startle me as well.”
With a gentle smile, Ariel softly reproached Bruno, her eyes crinkling kindly.
“Hahaha—Ah, I see! That does make sense. Had you not pointed that out, Ariel-sama, I might’ve misunderstood too… Elder brother really—next time I’ll be more careful.”
Bruno laughed with his usual easygoing chuckle, prompting several nearby men to laugh along with him.
“Well, that’s understandable—Bruno’s always been so approachable.”
“It’s just that he’s too fond of people! Hahaha!”
The only ones not laughing were Damian and Sir Charles, who stood beside him looking visibly uneasy.
“By the way, Damian.”
Ariel called out to him, looking up into his eyes.
Everyone present here belonged to Bruno’s circle—
Or to put it differently, many of them were men who hadn’t participated in the war.
As both a Duke and a knight who had fought in battle, Damian stood far above them all.
Thus, they wouldn’t side with him—
Because taking his side would require them to lower themselves.
Even if her husband, who’d spent his life progressing from officer school to the battlefield, had learned social graces as a Duke, he still couldn’t match Bruno, who’d spent his entire life maneuvering through these circles.
It would be best to send Damian away before Bruno subtly belittled his taciturn elder brother again.
There was no need for Damian to stay and listen to a group that offered him no benefit anyway.
“Lucy is strolling through the garden with Her Imperial Majesty the Empress. Just in case, perhaps you should fetch her at the appropriate time.”
When Ariel spoke to Damian, one of the men nearby let out a derisive snort.
“Is the Duke personally going to retrieve the Duke’s Daughter? For such a trivial matter, My Lord Duke moves himself? That hardly suits your dignity—shouldn’t the Duchess go instead?”
At the man’s mocking expression, Ariel offered a faint, knowing smile.
She understood perfectly what he meant.
And normally, Damian wouldn’t indulge such troublesome requests from others.
But Ariel knew her husband would take her side in this matter—
Especially because the more they mocked her words, the more determined he’d be to support her.
“I’m terribly fond of my daughter. Then, Ariel—I’ll go and bring her back.”
After kissing the back of Ariel’s hand, Damian turned to leave. Sir Charles bowed slightly and followed behind him.
“Well then, I shall take my leave first as well.”
“Please go ahead—both of you.”
Her prediction was accurate.
As long as Ariel was Duchess of Genova, Damian would never belittle her in public.
Doing so would harm Genova’s standing.
Even if he might say something once they returned home, it was unthinkable that he’d fail to support her in front of others.
Because the dignity of the Duchess of Genova ranked far above these men’s petty jealousy and mockery.
Ariel gave a slight nod to Bruno’s group as a farewell.
It simply wouldn’t be proper for her to remain alone among men without her husband present.
Accepting her stiffly courteous farewell with forced smiles, they bowed their heads respectfully.
Not just Madam Jessica—but Bruno himself was rather short-sighted.
Moreover, given his tendency to be easily swayed by those around him… she hoped he wouldn’t be corrupted.
Suppressing a worried sigh inwardly, Ariel turned away.
As she walked off, she thought again of the man who’d just spoken of the Duke’s dignity—and pressed her lips tightly together.
…Did that man truly believe something so trivial could tarnish Damian’s honor?
If he really believed that, then he was gravely mistaken.
For Damian, who carried a lifetime’s sense of duty and responsibility as a Duke, fetching his daughter was merely an inconvenient chore—not a dishonor.
Damian, who never hesitated to risk even his own life for the Empire, was, after all, the very embodiment of the Duke of Genova himself.
…Though that was also precisely why Ariel found it so difficult to speak freely to him as his wife.
She couldn’t ask her husband—who always placed the Empire and the ducal house above all else—to do something purely for their family.
Because the path Damian walked was never about such trivial personal matters, as those men claimed.
Blinking several times, Ariel quickly composed her expression once more.
It saddened her—but she had no time now to waste on such emotions.
“Vierga, Gariji… and lastly, Westga, was it?”
Recalling the three houses standing beside Bruno, Ariel counted them off on her fingers.
All were families in decline—none posed a serious threat even if Damian openly opposed them.
As Charles had said, with the great war now over, Damian would soon step into politics.
To support him properly in that unseen struggle, Ariel herself would need to stand firmly behind him.
The time had come for her, as Duchess, to reclaim her place in high society—after having neglected it for a while.
How many nobles like Bruno’s circle were there, hiding daggers behind honeyed words?
Once Damian fully entered politics, even greater arrows would surely be aimed at him.
…What concerned her right now was public opinion.
The people’s hearts leaned heavily toward Damian—but that was a double-edged sword.
Alongside admiration came suspicion: might this loyalty one day turn into a blade pointed toward the Emperor?
And that was precisely the only weapon jealous nobles, eager to disparage Damian, could easily wield.
Thus, she had to make absolutely clear that this blade remained firmly sheathed in the Emperor’s scabbard.
“Hello, Duchess.”
Just then, Marchioness Orsini greeted Ariel.
“Hello, Marchioness.”
Meeting the Marchioness’s gaze, Ariel’s eyes softened gently.
The Empress’s fondness for Lucy could serve as a small foothold.
She didn’t want Lucy entangled in such schemes or have her future tied to this palace—a place where one could neither laugh nor weep freely—but seeing how naturally Lucy had taken the Empress’s hand, some careful maneuvering seemed necessary.
And in that regard, Marchioness Orsini, who skillfully navigated high society, would be an extremely valuable ally.
“For Duke of Genova to once again quell a rebellion and earn such merit—truly impressive.”
Beginning with praise, the Marchioness subtly lowered her fan.
“…In truth, ladies rarely attend investiture ceremonies, but when I heard Duchess would be coming today, I immediately informed my Marquis.”
The Marchioness gave Ariel a meaningful, knowing look.
It seemed they’d found each other at precisely the right moment—each needing what the other could offer.
When yandere male lead believes she loves him — but she never did
“How dare you!”
“How dare you make me love you, only to cast me aside as nothing more than a friend?!?
“I will never accept that.”
“I will never let you return to him.”
“Even if I have to burn myself to ashes.”
“Even if I must shatter my purity, my dignity, my very soul.”
“I will never let you escape me!”
This was the first novel that introduced me to the matriarchal genre. I’ve read it three times already!
At first, the male lead despised the female lead. Later, he misunderstood that she liked him, so he condescendingly and reluctantly reciprocated her feelings.
Then, he suddenly discovered that she was kind to everyone in the same way, and there was already someone she cherished in her heart, and that person was not him.
The male lead couldn’t believe it, he became angry and crazy. He was determined to capture her body and heart by any means necessary.
Synopsis:
Want to see how a green tea bitch male lead falls in love with the female lead?
Want to see how he flirtatiously pursues the female lead?
Want to see how he gets slapped in the face repeatedly?
The male lead is a green tea bitch, a poisonous lotus, jealous, ruthless, unscrupulous, with a venomous heart, and he’s also a delusional maniac.
The female lead is righteous, positive energy-filled, kind, a holy mother.
Let’s see how two people with extreme personalities come together~
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I see that Lucy is guiding her tutor to discover the truth and realize that he is being manipulated.
Poor Ariel, I know her daughter Lucy would have ways to resolve that situation peacefully, but she went to extremes 😅 Poor mother, I imagine the next episode will show the anguish she’s carrying in that situation, especially since Lucy is under Ariel’s care.
What a fascinating novel! The title suggests that Lucy might be a regressor, but from my point of view, she behaves like a gifted child. How curious!