“!”
How long had I had been staring at him?
I remembered his fingers going back and forth four or five times. I didn’t keep count after that so I wasn’t sure, but an appalled sound came out of me.
“If you have business with me, say it. What do you have a mouth for?” he asked dispassionately.
“…………”
The words he said were very reasonable. But it really ticked me off.
Asshole. Mentally bunching my hands into fists, I pasted a smile on my face.
“Excuse me. I wanted to read a book on history,” I said, implicitly telling him to move, but my father didn’t look like he could be bothered.
It seemed like he had no intention of yielding his spot. He looked at me and the shelves, and after a short while he opened his mouth.
“Which era?”
“……?”
“I’m telling you to state the subject you wish to research.”
Why was he asking about that?
I was puzzled. When I didn’t answer him, he expressionlessly asked, Are you slow?
ARGHHHHH! I’M SOOOOOO PISSED OFF!!!
“The Dark Lord!”
The moment I shouted at him in irritation, my father stopped moving for a moment.
Those unique eyes with its color like thin ice reflected my image. His emotions couldn’t be read, and I faltered under his stare.
“Do you want a fairy tale?”
“…no.”
His low voice was as flat as ever. Anger and delight were absent; no fragment of emotion could be detected.
But for some reason, I was terrified. As if a blade was being pushed against the back of my neck, and my heart cowered in fear.
Perhaps I’d unwittingly brought the dragon’s wrath upon myself.
Still, I couldn’t help but negate him.
“The Dark Lord is not a character inside a story. He does not exist as a fable to lull a child keeping late hours to sleep.”
“You wish to say he was real? Something that is no more, and remains only in the descriptions of ancient texts?”
“Documents were the living proof of our ancestors. Several hundred years’ worth of time have passed, but even after the memories of people have faded, the gift our ancestors have left behind are the methods we can use to struggle against the dark.”
Unintentionally, I began to get worked up as talked back to him.
I couldn’t back down precisely because I knew the Dark Lord existed in this world.
How much horror did the people who fought against the Dark Lord face? How much did they suffer?
They were witness to a strength that defied knowledge, that single-handedly laid waste to all. But even when they continuously lost their homes, were killed, and trampled underfoot, they struggled without giving up hope. I couldn’t help but hold awe and respect for those people.
For their military success, for the proof of a miracle. For the way of life they continued to go against.
A descendant from the kingdom that sealed the Dark Lord, the ruler of that kingdom, was not allowed to ridicule it as a fairy tale.
“I said I wanted to read a history book. Please, do not misunderstand.”
From below I glared at him like I was facing off with him.
Clamping down on my panic, I somehow put on a brave face, but my father was neither angry nor surprised.
All he said was, “I see.”
………huh? That was it?
Even tricks have a limit. Earlier, you seemed angry enough to instantly execute me if I made a single wrong comment.
The intimidating air vanished. After a while, nothing remained and I even thought it had been an illusion.
Closing the book in his hand and returning it to the shelf, my father passed by me.
Really, what just happened!
“If that is the case, you should stop by my chambers later.”
“Huh…?”
I had a delayed response to the words his dropped as left, before rounding my eyes in shock.
Confused, I turned around. Feet moving without pause, my father continued like we were trading gossip.
“Books relating to the Dark Lord are in my control. If you wish, I will show you.”
I merely stood still, unable say a single word in response to his parting back.