The atmosphere froze at the casual bomb declaration. After about 3 seconds of silence, the close aides quickly began to chatter.

“S-so!”

“Surely it’s a joke. Haha, really. Young Lord, your sense of humor!”

“Is excellent! Hahaha!”

They were laughing like people forced to laugh at their boss’s jokes, but inside they were burning black.

Although they commit evil deeds, and even though Matthias Mirmod is said to be an unprecedented genius in the world of evil deeds, the opponents were the temple and the imperial palace.

Trying to eliminate both at once could lead to death like a shrimp caught between whales.

However, the attempt to pass it off as a joke quickly failed.

“Sense of humor?”

Matthias gazed at the men before him with a cold expression. The man as massive as three strong men combined widened his eyes and asked back.

“S-so. Are you serious?”

The relatively small man with tattoos all over his body, who was standing beside reporting to Matthias, elbowed the large man in the side.

“Haha, you! That’s nonsense! Don’t take a joke as…”

He trailed off, looking at Matthias. There wasn’t a hint of humor in Matthias’s eyes.

‘What’s this feeling of goosebumps rising from my back!’

The relatively small-built aide looked at Matthias and said,

“Y-you’re joking, right? Surely you’re not really going to oppose the temple and imperial palace!”

“Why. Is that not allowed?”

Matthias’s head tilted crookedly. It was an expression he often made when displeased. When he made such an expression, at least one castle would be completely destroyed.

The aides trembled in fear and chanted in unison.

“I-it is allowed!”

As soon as all the aides quickly answered and bowed their heads, Matthias abruptly said,

“I must have seemed to be talking nonsense.”

Without saying more, Matthias stood up. The clicking sound of shoes gradually grew closer. The large man’s body trembled slightly, then froze at the sight of the smooth shoe tip before him.

It was Matthias’s.

The fact that he moved personally meant… he was ‘very’ displeased.

“S-so. Lord Matthias?”

Seeing his aide chattering his teeth like a woodpecker, Matthias smiled gently and lifted his chin.

“Not right now. Now that we’ve diverted Sien’s attention, we need to clean up the trash in the family first. Let’s start with…”

Matthias moved his feet lightly a few times. But sweat still ran down the aides’ backs. Whenever Matthias’s voice seemed excited, a bloodbath always followed.

The aide, unable to lift his head, mumbled hesitantly.

“Wh-what do you mean by start…”

Matthias, who had been gazing at them with a cold look, soon gracefully slipped out. The aides left in the office looked at each other with gloomy expressions.

“I didn’t expect we’d be cleaning up the family trash so soon.”

“…It’s nice to be able to stretch our bodies after a while, but it looks like we’ll be working overtime for a while, huh?”

Until now, they had been obsessed with not letting Sien discover their wickedness.

They had been doing good deeds that didn’t suit their nature on Matthias’s orders. Volunteering for children’s organizations, donating a tenth of their salary to orphanages, and so on…

Although they may have seemed dull doing good deeds they weren’t used to, they were still villains befitting Matthias Mirmod’s closest aides.

“…No, why, why has he changed so drastically like a demon?”

“He usually doesn’t look that displeased, right?”

“Is there something bothering him?”

“…He’d usually smile while talking about eliminating the family’s close aides.”

At that moment, a startling thought occurred to one of the aides.

“Sien went to the academy for the first time today, right…”

“…Huh?”

“Then, c-could it be?”

Suddenly struck by a lightning realization, the aide’s mouth fell open. Then the man next to him shook his head and said,

“Come to think of it, didn’t he say ‘I miss Sien’ as he left earlier?”

They shuddered as they saw that Sien’s photo that had been in the reception room was gone, gradually narrowing down their deductions.

“Then, is he really upset?”

“Is this a parent’s heart?”

“Is he worried that Sien might not adjust well to the academy…?”

“…N-no way Lord Matthias would be like that. Stop such disrespectful thoughts!”

The image of Matthias hugging Sien and pretending to be a doting father floated hazily in their minds before disappearing.

“B-but it seems right…”

At that very moment, as the aides had guessed, Matthias Mirmod’s mind was filled only with Sien. Although eliminating the impure elements in the family for his daughter’s growth was important, Sien’s safety was the most crucial.

So it wasn’t unreasonable for him to select bodyguards to protect Sien as she headed to the academy.

‘The crown prince will likely lay low for now, but safety comes first.’

So Sien is a little…

‘Appa! XXX!’

Good at cursing, no, no. Cheerful and mischievous…

‘Sien is managing the trading company well despite being only five years old.’

Genius…

‘Even now at ten years old, she has truly tremendous growth potential. She’ll do well at the academy too.’

She was certainly smarter than anyone else. Should I say she seems mature like an adult rather than a peer?

‘As expected, my daughter is cute.’

He tried to hide his proud feelings as he opened the door.

Beyond the door sat Leonhart and Axel, who had been summoned in advance, clearly showing tension.

“You probably know why I called you here today.”

“Pardon?”

“W-we don’t know. Besides, why are you smiling so eerily?”

Matthias slightly furrowed his brow at Leonhart’s words.

He hadn’t intended to smile eerily, but it must have looked ominous to Leonhart.

‘Sien liked it when I smiled like a sucker.’

He tried to smooth out his furrowed expression as he gazed at Leonhart and Axel. At least today, he was here to ask a favor of Sien’s friends, not to intimidate anyone.

Axel and Leonhart looked at each other with even more puzzled expressions. Matthias looked at the two youngsters and abruptly began.

“I’m going to give you a good opportunity.”

“…Pardon?”

Leonhart’s face instantly turned pale.

Although he was said to wear a mask showing no emotional changes in any situation, he seemed powerless before Matthias’s notoriety. Rather, Axel, who had simply bowed his head quietly, seemed less flustered.

‘Unexpected.’

Matthias leaned back against the sofa and looked down at them as he spoke.

“I have something to tell you two.”

“S…o.”

“What is it…”

Matthias looked at the little beasts before him and smiled beautifully, raising the corners of his mouth.

“You two are also going to the children’s academy.”

“Children’s academy?”

They continued to look surprised as if hearing it for the first time. Matthias nodded and replied.

“Yes, the children’s academy.”

“That…”

Then Axel cautiously opened his mouth.

“Is Sien going too?”

“Seems you haven’t been informed yet. You’re going as Sien’s bodyguards.”

As soon as he finished speaking, Axel and Leonhart’s eyes lit up simultaneously. Axel nodded with his hands clasped together, while Leonhart exclaimed “Yes, I’ll go!” while fidgeting.

‘Look at this.’

What kind of existence was his little daughter to these children? Both Leonhart and Axel were boys with dark pasts. It felt strangely good yet bad that they were naturally drawn to Sien’s sunny human charm.

He was displeased that Sien wasn’t precious only to him, yet slightly happy about the positive influence his little daughter had on others’ lives.

‘My baby is developing relationships with people other than me.’

He frowned as if blinded by sunlight and whispered.

“You have one job to do there. Protect Sien.”

“We can do it!”

“Cooperate so Sien can have an enjoyable life.”

Axel nodded.

“Of course we’ll cooperate.”

“But there’s a small problem. The academy holds entrance exams in February.”

Leonhart counted the months on his fingers and swallowed briefly.

“Ah, we’ve long passed the enrollment period now!”

“Right.”

“Then how are we going to enter the academy?”

Matthias raised the corners of his mouth. With just his lips slightly raised, his expression looked more like an ordinary, overly anxious father than the notorious villain he was known to be.

As Leonhart was still fidgeting, unable to get used to this sight no matter how many times he saw it,

Matthias reached into his breast pocket and pulled out a document.

Uncharacteristically, in his hand was a neat parchment listing the academy’s admission documents, schedules, and class hours.

“Mid-term admission.”

“What’s mid-term admission?”

Leonhart and Axel tilted their heads, not knowing about the academy’s mid-term admission. Matthias smiled cynically and said,

“It’s exactly what it sounds like. Instead of formally entering the academy, you enter midway through donations.”

“So it’s like a donation admission concept.”

“Right. I hear mid-term admissions face severe hazing.”

“…”

“I’m thinking of sending you three to the academy through contribution admission.”

“Then…”

The snow-white documents in his hand fluttered and scattered.

“Cooperate so Sien can play happily at the academy.”

While Sien made friends and played happily like a child, Matthias would eliminate all the family’s minions for Sien’s happy times.

“Ah, and you have one more job to do there.”

“…Yes.”

Leonhart and Axel gazed at Matthias with extremely tense expressions.

“No one must tell Sien about my notoriety.”

At that moment, Axel, who had been quiet, suddenly spoke up.

“Are we… protecting Sien’s innocence?”

At the word innocence, the corners of Matthias’s mouth rose beautifully.

“Yes, innocence.”

“Whew! Dad again!”

The next morning, inside the carriage.

Sitting snugly in the plush carriage, I let out a deep sigh.

“…Uh, yes?”

The muscular maid sister gave a bitter smile. I spoke boldly, holding a magic tool in my hand.

“He contacted again! We haven’t even left in the carriage for the academy yet!”

It wasn’t like I was attending a boarding school at the academy, just commuting to and from school.

Yet seeing dad acting like an overzealous parent already made me worried.

‘Is our dad going to become a helicopter parent later?’

The thought that it might really happen gave me chills for a moment.

“That…”

“…What’s wrong, sister? You look like you’ve wet yourself!”

Indeed, she looked like she was trembling in fear. I stared at Sister Deadly, tilting my head. Then she whimpered,

“I haven’t wet myself yet…”

Wrapping her arm around Sister Deadly’s shoulders, Sister Bench shook her head. Seeing them break out in cold sweat just from me saying “Dad keeps contacting! He’s such a worrier!”, it was clear something was up.

‘They always act like this when dad is mentioned.’