Who Did You Say My Father Is? - Chapter 61

“Cecile.”

“Look at this. You know my name, right?”

Cecile’s confident expression. I heard it with my own ears, but I couldn’t believe it.

“It seems like she called you Cecile…Since you take care of her every day, she must have remembered it. But no matter what, how could she already distinguish people at this age?”

“I’m telling you, that’s not it. Liv, come over here.”

Cecile called out to Liv, who was passing by nearby. When Liv rushed over, asking what was going on, Valerie made a sound like ‘Li, Leev, Boov’ and Cecile’s expression grew more and more confident.

At this point, I started to think, ‘Huh?’ I called over a few more maids nearby to show Valerie, and surprisingly, Valerie called each of them slightly differently. The pronunciations that I thought were just babbling at first glance were subtly changing to distinguish people.

“Oh…it’s really true?”

“That’s what I’ve been saying!”

Come to think of it, there was a memorable episode. Didn’t Valerie say ‘Poo, Poo’ when she saw Lady Pulcheria, who came to warn me not to get involved with my precious niece?

Seeing that, Lady Pulcheria was moved, saying the child was as brilliant as Carl. I thought it was simply the birth of a new hedgehog when she had tears in her eyes, asking if the child recognized her great-aunt, but now I’m starting to think it might not be the case.

Even then, I thought it was just a coincidence that she made a sound similar to ‘Pul’ while babbling, but the saying that if a coincidence happens three times, it’s no longer a coincidence came to mind. I gradually started to have doubts.

Valerie also surprised Carl by calling him ‘Papa’ when she first saw him. I thought she was just making sounds like ‘boo’ and ‘poo’ while babbling, but looking at it now, another possibility reared its head.

This wasn’t a matter of being a genius or anything like that. Valerie wasn’t remembering people’s names after hearing them once.

It was as if she already knew the other person’s name from the beginning, calling Carl ‘Dad’ before anyone told her, and calling Lady Pulcheria ‘Poo’.

“Valerie.”

“Byaa. Bappa. Maam, ma.”

Whether the adults were having a serious conversation or not, Valerie smiled brightly, rubbing her face against my chest.

It was a day with scorching sunlight.

The mansion, built like a fortress to prevent people from entering freely, flaunted its solid walls as if it would not allow any sunlight, rain, or anything else from outside.

If it didn’t even allow nature, how could it possibly accept people? The structure was armed with several armored knights guarding the entrance. Moreover, even if someone were lucky enough to set foot inside, they would soon lose their way in the maze-like interior of the mansion.

Anyone who saw this mansion would think, ‘What are they trying to hide so tightly that they built the house like this?’ It was that kind of suspicious place. This was Marina’s residence.

Muttering words that couldn’t be understood, Marina repeatedly bowed and straightened her bent back, still hiding in the darkness.

In the darkness without any light, she bowed and chanted incantations, not even acknowledging Garcia who had come to see her. She was solely focused on her own ritual.

“Marina.”

It should be time to end this by now. Garcia checked the time and carefully approached Marina, placing his hand on her shoulder.

As something touched her body, Marina was startled. But lacking the agility to avoid that touch, Marina had to give her shoulder to him even as she trembled in surprise.

“How many hours have you been doing this?”

“It’s still far from over, don’t disturb me.”

She was panting just from saying a few words. Garcia’s brow furrowed.

“Stop it.”

“I told you not to disturb me and to leave.”

What meaning could that possibly have?

It had been a very long time since Marina started relying on black magic and sorcery. Garcia sighed, feeling sorry for her who now relied on black magic for her daily life.

After finishing her words, Marina focused on chanting incantations again. Knowing well that he couldn’t dissuade her, Garcia had to withdraw his hand.

How long had they been like that? As if her solitary ritual had ended, Marina sat down on the spot, staggering. Garcia was startled and quickly supported her.

“Ugh…”

At some point, Marina started feeling pain whenever anything touched her body. Even now, when Garcia grabbed her arm out of fear that she might fall, she grimaced and groaned as much as she could.

It wasn’t an exaggerated reaction. Marina had reached a level where she felt pain like a knife being cut into her skin even from a breeze brushing past her. It meant her body had deteriorated to the extreme.

“What’s the point of doing this every day? It’s just tiring for your body, so stop it.”

“If you’re going to say things like that, get lost. Don’t come. I don’t want to hear it.”

She said that she was sacrificing herself like this, chanting incantations, all for her son.

Her only son, Franz. Marina had committed all sorts of acts to make that son the emperor. It had been a very long time since she crossed the line that should not be crossed.

They say the first time is difficult, but repetition is easy. The greed to make her son the best eventually led to this terrible state, but Marina only repeated that she didn’t care if she was ruined.

She showed a frightening obsession, saying that if she could just see Franz sit on the throne, she wouldn’t mind if her body became even more crooked and bent than it was now.

A frightening obsession. Yes, Marina’s desire was no longer a pure wish or hope, but an obsession with only evil remaining.

Garcia sighed deeply again. Then, as if he had made a resolution, he strode to the window and pulled open the thick curtain that separated the outside from the inside.

“What are you doing…!”

As the curtain opened, light poured through the gap. Marina covered her eyes with both hands, struggling with the sudden onslaught of sunlight.

A terrible appearance that was always hidden in the darkness and couldn’t be seen. Marina’s appearance revealed under the sunlight was so terrible and miserable that if someone saw it, they might even scream.

Although she was clearly standing, her bent back made her eye level lower than if she were sitting. Her back was hunched like a camel’s hump, protruding where it should be straight.

Moreover, all the joints in her shoulders, arms, back, waist, and legs had shifted from their original positions, jutting out here and there. At a glance, it seemed like a human face had been attached to a spider’s body.

Her face was also abnormal. With only her beauty as her asset, her renowned face that had even enticed the emperor and brought her to this position was now hideous.

Her eyebrow bones protruded, her cheekbones were distorted, and her sunken nose made it difficult to find any trace of her former appearance, as if she resembled a monster from a legend.

Between her teeth that had fallen out as her gums deteriorated, a black tongue could be seen. Black blood kept welling up from her throat, and her mouth was soon filled with black blood clots.

Her eyes were hazy and cloudy, making it impossible to discern their original color.

Where had the beautiful Marina gone, leaving only this hideous monster behind? Garcia let out a deep sigh of despair.

“Close the curtain, Garcia.”

Marina seemed quite angry that Garcia had pulled the curtain, exposing her appearance under the sunlight. Her rough, heaving shoulders were not at all ladylike or human-like, unfortunately.

“Look at yourself, Marina. What state you’re in!”

“If you say one more word, I’ll make sure you can never set foot here again. Shut up…”

Her face contorted again at the grating voice.

“If you use any more sorcery, you’ll become even more hideous than you are now.”

People said that she had fled the capital because the emperor who had turned a blind eye to her actions and adored her had passed away, using her beautiful appearance as a weapon to wield undue power.

Of course, when Emperor Alexander, who had overlooked and cherished her no matter what she did, passed away, Marina did lose a solid shield to protect her.

But that wasn’t enough to be the reason she left the capital as if she were running away.

The pretext was that she was leaving for recuperation, but in reality, it was to avoid showing this appearance to anyone, as she was now.

“I don’t care. My child, my lovely baby. Franz, as long as I can see that child ascend to the throne.”

Marina, blinded by power. She had truly become a monster now.