Rather Than The Son, I’ll Take The Father

Translator and Editor: Effe and Elnie

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Chapter 80

How rich are you?!

You can even neglect the gold and silver treasures in there like this!

Aedis was being a little cheeky.

I, as a vicious stepmother who knows that my life is precious but the life of my first adoptive son isn’t, quietly retreated.

“Gilbert, come in front.”

Gilbert’s face wrinkled when I told him to become a human shield.

But what can I do? I have Aedis.

Shaula giggled at Gilbert, who glared at me as if he wanted to tear me apart.

“Your Grace, do you two have a bad relationship?”

Fortunately, there were no traps that endangered Gilbert’s life, although there were several forks on the road along the way.

I don’t know if I should be sad about this.

The inside of the cave that we arrived at was full of gems and gold coins that had been thrown away without even the slightest classification.

Ugh, that’s just like throwing it away.

It hurt my heart to see the gems being treated like stones rolling along the roadside.

The gems shine throughout the cave like the stars in the night sky. Yet, they aren’t being treated well?

I quickly put a gorgeous crown made of platinum and diamonds on my head, and held a black pearl necklace in my hand. Aedis looked at me having fun and introduced a condition.

“Only as much as you can carry.”

I should have bought a thousand more sacks.

I can’t even sweep up half of the gems.

Feeling deeply regretful, I ordered the two troublemakers. “Sweep it quickly.”

The work is difficult, so I have to put a few in my pocket, mainly expensive jewelry.

It was time to focus on filling my pockets for a while.

Suddenly, I felt as if someone was watching me.

Huh? What?

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It was a strange thing.

I could feel someone’s gaze, but no one was watching me.

But as soon as I looked around, my attention was drawn away.

I frowned for some reason.

I was going to go to Aedis’s side, but Gilbert approached me and put a sack full of gold coins in front of me.

Of course, after that, he did not step down.

“Do you feel joy from treating me like a servant?”

If I want to feel joy because of you… It’s too cruel to say.

“I thought about it. Why are you being so cocky? It must be because you received my attack in the capital that day. It was a coincidence, and it will never happen again. I don’t know how you stopped my attack but it won’t work twice.”

Shaula was far away.

Aedis, it doesn’t matter if you hear something like this.

I dragged Gilbert into the shade, where even the light of the jewels couldn’t reach him, and pushed him in.

“What do you want, Gilbert? I’m tired of hearing you beat around the bush. Just tell me. Do you want to kill me? Do you want to make me feel defeated? Exactly what and how? What do you want?”

“……”

As soon as I took Gilbert where I wanted to go, he removed my hand that had been holding him by the arm. He remained rigid and did not lower his chin.

I looked straight into his red eyes, getting a glimpse through his long bangs.

“Aedis won’t give the throne to the Grand Duchess. You know better than anyone else, so why are you still here? Wouldn’t it be better to go back to the capital and reestablish your position somehow?” Gilbert said in a cold voice.

“You know that I’m being watched. Wasn’t it you who made it that way?”(tl/n: gilbert is the one saying this. Basically, he’s referring to when maevia asked for tolyman elliot to watch gilbert.)

It was a weak answer with little strength. It made me smile.

“With your skills, you can subdue people and leave if you want. Aedis won’t actively hold onto you because there’s Regen, you know.”

“This is my home. There’s no reason for me to leave.”

Perhaps it was an excuse that didn’t even make sense to him. Gilbert avoided my gaze, but he sighed and soon looked at me again.

There was a lingering regret in his blood-colored eyes.

“Gilbert.”

“……”

“Do you want to be the Grand Duke or the Emperor or…”

“……”

“Do you still have any regrets towards me?”

Wow, really. Even as I say it, it’s interesting.

“You’ve wasted your time on this pointless conversation.”

Gilbert denied with firm words and walked past me, his face cold.

It wasn’t his eyes that were cold.

***

After returning to the castle, Sarah and I organized the things I had brought from my husband’s treasury.

Sarah’s eyes widened every time gold coins or jewels were poured out of the sack.

“You can take a bath with gold coins, Your Grace.”

“I didn’t even bring a tenth of it. Isn’t it surprising? Aedis hid so many treasures and completely forgot about it until now.”

“Wow… I can’t even imagine how rich the Grand Duke is. What was he doing before he took over the throne? Did he ever get paid to be a hero? Like the hero Evie.”

“…How do you know about Evie?”

“Haha,” Sarah laughed.

“The Lord told me. It’s famous among us. The butler knows, the maid knows, and Mrs. Theresa knows.”

Aaacckk! Regen!

I was confused by the sudden creation of my dark history.

Sarah worked hard to comfort me, who struggled with shame.

“It’s okay! It was a really fun and informative fairy tale! I was particularly impressed with the part where Hero Evie caught the dragon when she was one year younger than Sir Procyon… Argh, Your Grace! Don’t poke your ear so hard!”

Did I even talk about that?

I wanted to bang my head against the wall because poking my ears with my fingers wasn’t enough, but Sarah blocked it, so I couldn’t.

I barely came to my senses when Sarah squeezed the diamond into my hand.

“Your Grace, this is a jewel! The pretty children are shining like this for you to use, so you can’t die now! You can’t take any of them to the afterlife!”

There was a point.

I stopped and looked down at the diamond Sarah had given me as if possessed.

The unique red diamond was a rare gem even in the Capital, where millions of jewels were bought and sold every day.

“That… that’s right. I can’t die because I’m upset. I have to use them all.”

“Yes. Come on, let’s stop talking about this hero and put it all together. The jewels look pitiful.”

“Uh huh.”

For fear that I would lose my mind again, Sarah changed the topic of the conversation altogether.

“What kind of person do you think the former Knight Commander is? Is she someone you can trust?”

“No. Not at all. If you believe her, you’re in trouble.” When I answered with a straight and stern face, Sarah was expressionless.

“Uh… Is she that dangerous? It seems like she’s very interested in Your Grace.”

“Did she seem interested?”

“We chatted for a while this morning. She said she’s been warming up since dawn. She asked me if I was the maid of Your Grace the Grand Duchess.”

I reacted skeptically. “There’s no way she knows the word ‘maid’.”

“Ahaha, actually, she didn’t call me a maid…”

Just by looking at Sarah’s shy attitude, I can imagine how bad Shaula must have been with her words.

At best, she must have used words like subordinate, servant, or something like that.

It was midnight when all the jewels were sorted.

I left the room with Sarah and headed to Aedis’s bedroom.

It was the moment when I reached the end of the hallway.

Someone grabbed me and pushed me against the wall.

“Your Grace!”

Why are you having a fit like this? Because of the conversation we had earlier?

I glanced at Sarah.

“Go first, Sarah.”

Sarah closed her mouth with an angry face and stepped back.

If I was a little late, she would have had the intention to tell Aedis right away.

As Sarah’s shadow disappeared, Gilbert muttered an ominous remark.

“I will never change my intention to kill you with my own hands, but before that.”

“……”

“You are not mine now, so I must get you back somehow.”

I remembered the thugs I had met at the bar when Shaula suddenly left me outside the castle.

With appropriate omission techniques, I told them about the Grand Duke’s family affair like it was a glitzy drama plot. Gilbert, however, was trying to make it a reality.

“Aedis didn’t take me away from you.”

“He stole you.” Gilbert growled in a low voice.

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