The gypsy lowered her eyes and muttered.

“……Even if I tried to glimpse the future and save many people, what right does a mother who abandoned her child have to speak……”

She laughed dryly and rubbed her face.

“Just seeing them once later would make me happy.”

“Well.”

If it were the original Matthias Mirmod, he would have simply agreed and moved on.

But now, he had gained a precious existence in Sien.

His small, delicate, and lovable daughter.

So he knew painfully well what that woman’s words meant.

The gypsy quietly looked around and bowed her head.

“The knights are moving, so go back right away. I’ll have manipulated the memories.”

The associate he had brought was skilled in memory manipulation.

The gypsy woman quietly raised her head and said.

“You are thorough. Well then, goodbye.”

Matthias stared at her retreating figure.

Capturing the gypsy sorcerer ended more smoothly than expected.

Now it was time to solve the most difficult problem in Matthias’s life, regarding Sien Mirmod.

There had been something constantly bothering him until now.

To be precise, it was this.

Did Sien really bring that child called the ‘Captain’ without knowing anything?

Matthias thought.

Perhaps our daughter…… might be very spiritual, or a genius.

If so, should he test his lovely daughter’s abilities, as he tested others?

At the same time, dawn.

I happily returned from the auction house after buying many items.

Then I snuck into the mansion quietly, and peeked into daddy’s room, but.

‘Huh? Daddy’s not here?’

With the state of emergency declared due to Axel Mirmod, daddy’s absence from home was not a good sign.

I called an emergency countermeasures meeting.

It was a crisis committee consisting of six people: the maid sisters, me, Acid, the Captain, and Ted.

Delphia sister, Grandma Lucella, and Leonhart regrettably couldn’t attend due to distance issues.

“Daddy has disappeared.”

“Hmm, perhaps he went to the Mercy region?”

“Why……”

I asked back with an ominous feeling. Somehow I had an inkling.

As if confirming my suspicion, the maid sister said matter-of-factly.

“Didn’t he go to confront Lord Axel?”

Then the quick-witted Ted spoke up.

“He may have just gone for a walk, so don’t worry too much.”

“……Could he have been kidnapped?”

“That’s definitely not possible. Absolutely not. Never.”

Tremendous worry washed over me like waves at the thought of something happening to daddy.

I tightly grasped the Captain and Acid’s hands, one in each of mine, with a worried expression.

‘What if our daddy gets hurt. I’ll kill Axel!’

I jumped to my feet.

“Let’s go rescue our fool, I mean, daddy!”

When I tried to rush to the Mercy region right away, sisters Dedry and Bench firmly held me back with both arms.

“You can’t go there.”

That night, even with my tiny baby body, I ended up staying awake all night.

Though I nodded off a bit, I barely managed to overcome it with willpower.

Until daddy returned.

Until my eyes became as big as a rabbit’s.

I was so so worried about my foolish daddy not returning while that Axel was running rampant.

And as if my worries reached the heavens.

As I tightly clutched the sugar milk that sister Dedry had brewed for me, the Captain said.

“I think I see our father coming over there?”

“Father?”

“Yes, since he’s your father, he’s my father too.”

I’m not sure why our daddy is the Captain’s father…… but seeing the Captain’s intimate expression, I vaguely nodded.

That’s not what’s important, what matters is that daddy’s back!

I scampered towards the front door of the mansion.

Daddy made a kind expression, as if he hadn’t expected me to come out.

“Daddy, did you go to the Mercy region?”

“Who said that?”

“The maid sister.”

“Ah, yes. I went to make a donation.”

I glared at daddy with dagger eyes.

Then daddy scooped me up in a hug and soothed me.

“Our daughter……, did you stay up all night?”

“……Huh?”

“What were you playing?”

……How should I say this. I couldn’t exactly say, “I went to the auction of darkness, heehee!” If I did, I might really receive the 3-year etiquette academy punishment. That would be an even more terrible disaster than Axel Mirmod.

I rolled my eyes slightly, then opened my mouth wide and said.

“I went to the gift shop earlier at dawn. With the maid sisters, Leon, the Captain, baby Acid, and Ted to buy gifts!”

……But something felt a bit odd.

I thought daddy would say “Well done” or “Good girl”. I wondered why he had such a gloomy expression.

“Then……?”

“Huh?”

“What about daddy’s gift……?”

I frantically rolled my eyes.

‘How do I fix this situation! This is bad!’

Daddy’s eyes looked a bit moist, he might even cry.

If he shed tears, his dignity as heir would crumble, so I absolutely had to prevent that.

But among the leftover items after giving gifts here and there……

‘There’s only the cute yo-yo I bought out of curiosity. I can’t give him this.’

If I gave this to daddy, it would have the opposite effect of returning him to the world of childhood innocence, making him even more kindhearted.

Then there was only one gift I could give.

I quickly looked around.

‘There are a lot of people here though…..’

I bit my lip tightly and surveyed the surroundings again as if exploring.

But daddy was clearly looking at me with teary eyes. With an urgent heart, I mumbled softly.

“Daddy’s gift is…… Well, you see……”

I wiggled my finger towards daddy. Daddy tilted his head curiously. But of course, being the very kind daddy he is, he came right over to me.

“What is it?”

I twisted my body like a pretzel and whispered quietly so only daddy could hear.

“A kiss……”

Daddy’s eyes widened.

“You’re going to give me a kiss?”

Seeing him make an expression as if he was very pleased, it seems my diversionary tactic worked.

I saw Acid, the Captain, and the muscular maids open their eyes wide too.

‘Whew, my image as an evil captain is taking a bit of a hit!’

Not knowing my thoughts, daddy smiled victoriously and hugged me tight.

“You’ll only give it to daddy, right?”

“Yep!”

Smooch!

I pressed my lips against daddy’s cheek.

Daddy laughed contentedly and hugged me close.

“My daughter.”

He looked very happy.

As expected of our daddy…… the type to fall for just a kiss.

“But…… You went out at dawn. Where did you go to buy gifts? Are there gift shops open at dawn?”

I puffed out my cheeks and shook my head.

“That’s……”

……Daddy will find out in a week anyway, but I couldn’t confess with my own mouth that I went to the auction of darkness.

If I did, our already soft-hearted daddy might cry for three days and nights until he fainted.

At times like this, there’s only one way.

“It’s a grown-up secret.”

When I was little, daddy once said very maturely, ‘I understand if you have secrets from daddy. Daddy doesn’t think he should be your entire world either.’

So I told him that!

“A secret that everyone knows except daddy……?”

Daddy seemed even more shocked.

I looked at daddy steadily and said sternly.

“Daddy.”

“Yes.”

“Sieni is a grown-up now too. So, she can have secrets, right?”

Then daddy whispered in a somewhat resentful tone.

“But…… even the maids know. Even that…… Captain who’s only known our daughter for a few days knows the secret.”

“Sigh.”

“Daddy’s sad……”

Seeing daddy’s whining makes me shake my head.

‘Really, with a heart this weak. How will you face villains like Axel with this frailty!’

I stretched daddy’s cheeks and whispered.

“Daddy, let’s eat!”

I heard the maid sisters whispering nearby. Their voices were very gloomy and dark.

“Hee, eek.”

“I can’t watch this……”

“……Ah, I can’t get used to this situation.”

“Me neither……”

Actually, their voices were so low that I couldn’t hear clearly what they were saying.

And listening to them was less important than this kind-eyed daddy before me.

It was one difficulty after another.

After dealing with that Axel Mirmod fellow, I’d have to face Melodia too, so I felt I had no choice but to hold onto daddy more firmly from now on and give him mental training.

‘I almost gave up before because even indirect mental training didn’t work well, but you never know.’

Holding onto a small spark of hope, I looked at daddy and asked.

“Daddy. What are you doing tomorrow?”

“Hm? Tomorrow?”

“Yeah! Let’s do something fun! Alley tour!”

Fun things of course meant getting rid of the thugs and villains in the alleys.

Come to think of it, there were a few small-time villains in those back alleys who used to bully Melodia. I was thinking of assigning the role of getting rid of those guys.

But as soon as I had that thought, daddy’s expression darkened.

“I’m not sure, Sien. I think daddy might go on a short vacation.”

I firmly grasped daddy’s hand and shook my head hard.

“……Where are you going?”

As if he hadn’t expected me to grab him, daddy tilted his head slightly and said.

“Daddy…… is going to receive etiquette education.”

“Gasp. Have a good trip.”

I quickly dropped my hand that was holding daddy’s arm.

As I bit my lip tightly, an amused smile played on daddy’s lips.

“I’ll be back soon, so have fun playing with the maid sisters while I’m gone. And……”

“Huh?”

“When daddy’s here, daddy will protect you. But when I’m not here, don’t do anything dangerous. Okay? Promise.”

I boldly said to daddy.

“But last time I crushed those Pat and Matt guys!”

I puffed out my belly hugely too, like I was doing baby exercises. Seeing my bear-like belly that I’d puffed out so much, daddy burst out laughing.

“Yes, Pat and Matt……”

“Yeah! Do you remember?”

“I…… remember.”

Talking about them made daddy’s expression turn slightly unpleasant.

With the feeling that I would scold them if they had bullied our kind daddy, I clenched my fists.

“By the way daddy, did you beat those guys up well?”

Actually, even as I asked, I didn’t really believe it.

“……Yeah.”

Daddy averted his gaze.

I let out a deep sigh.

“I’ll show you later.”

When I waved my fist, daddy made a terrified expression.

“O……kay.”

After wrapping up that topic, I proudly said to daddy.

“How long will your vacation be?”

“After the training, I’m going to volunteer to build houses in the Mercy region…… probably about a week.”

A week wasn’t long until that evil Axel Mirmod fellow returned.

My small and cute daddy…… might be better off not being here.

“I see. Have a good trip. I’ll be the head of the family while you’re gone.”

‘Actually, I’m already the head of the family anyway……’

I swallowed those words.

No matter how much of an adult I am, I didn’t want to shatter daddy’s innocent beliefs.

I patted daddy’s shoulder as if cheering him on and whispered secretly.

“There’ll be something that’ll totally surprise you in a week.”

I looked at daddy with both fists clenched tightly.

Daddy held my hand gently and asked back.

“Really?”

“Yep!”

While stroking my head, daddy said meaningfully.

“Daddy will buy a gift for our daughter when I return too. You’ll be surprised.”

I nodded vigorously with a big smile.

Until my pink cotton candy-like hair fluttered in the breeze.

For a long time!