Rather Than The Son, I’ll Take The Father
chapter-177

I didn’t pursue the baron right away and let him run away.

Meanwhile, Aedis had put a plate full of food for me to eat regardless of the commotion yet was puzzled.

“Is there something wrong with my body? I thought all five of them would be down by now.”

“I checked every nook and cranny last night, but there’s nothing wrong with Aedis’ body.”

I picked at the strawberries on top of the cake.

The baron let out a sigh of relief from a distance, I followed him and pressed him with my foot.

“I deliberately made a grand wedding in the North so why spread such nonsense? You’d better answer quickly.”

“Kehk!”

[“Hey, Eve? I think you need to put your feet away for him to talk.”]

Perched on my shoulder, Paimon muttered timidly.

I grabbed the baron by the hair and forced him to stand up. The Baron was tall and bulky, but I wasn’t struggling at all.

As I felt proud of my husband’s monstrous grip, the baron was horrified.

“I, I just did what I was told…!”

“Oohh, you just did as you were told?”

My voice resounded ominously.

I thought it was just a lie the baron made to get out of this situation, but the baron almost cried and confessed.

“The Dempina family said they would give me money if we slandered Grand Duchy Kallakis! Whatever the method, it didn’t matter…!”

Hmm?

I remembered the spy who had been brought by Thuban.

According to Thuban’s report, the spy was also ordered by the Dempina family.

“I, I was wrong… save, save…”

The frightened baron finally came to his senses.

I threw the stunned baron aside and tilted my head.

“What is it? Thinking of the reputation of the North and the dignity of the Grand Duke of the North, I kept my temper. But this feeling of catching a clue to the case after acting a bit like a bully?”

[…… A little bit?]

Paimon asked suspiciously.

Aedis followed, scooped up the cake with a fork, and put it in my mouth.

The attitude that shows it would be good if the wife ate something delicious like the Dempina family or something.

I also ate the cake Aedis gave me without much tension.

“The Dempina family.”

The only information I knew about the Dempina family head was that they got divorced last year.

Divorces between nobles were not uncommon, but also not that common, and were often published in the newspapers.

“Why are you so anxious to touch our family? They don’t belong to the northern family, and we’ve never interacted with each other publicly or privately.”

We haven’t interrogated the Dempina yet.

I wonder if the person who sent the spy did anything else. As expected, there was an additional charge.

At that time, cheers were heard as if someone had hit the first target. I pulled the arrow from the baron’s chest.

“First, we’ll resolve the urgent issues. I’ll take care of this guy.”

I had no intention of giving up the game, so I immediately set out to find the target.

And ten minutes later, I was able to easily claim the trophy.

“Uh… Grand Duke…? Even if you win, there won’t be any grandiose prizes…”

The host looked at me and said so.

It looked like he was going to run to the dean right away and argue to abolish the parents’ social gathering.

As he said, the prize was nothing more than a large rabbit stuffed with cotton.

“Nonsense. For me, victory itself is a prize.”

“Ah yes…”

Anyway, I brought the stuffed rabbit as a souvenir. Behind me, four accomplices, excluding the baron, were carried out on stretchers.

“Uhh…”

Covered in toy arrows, the viscount groaned.

Well, I tried to adjust my strength, but he’s exaggerating.

“Su…suddenly, in the shadows, an arrow…”

What about the arrow?

As I glanced at him, the viscount hurriedly changed his words.

“I, I’m not used to it, ugh, I shot myself! I shot someone else too! I just randomly shot it! It’s all my fault!”

The viscount continued his desperate confession until he disappeared as a dot.

“Ppi, ppibbibiik!”

Peep, who had been watching the scene, jumped around as if it was not angry anymore and pointed with its little wing.

When I was looking for the target, I explained why the incident at the bookstore was an act of contempt for me.

Angry at that, Peep greatly increased the power and accuracy of the arrows.

Thanks to that, I was able to obtain both revenge and victory without moving.

I really think I’ll have to play picking up rice grains with Peep sooner or later.

Aedis strolled over to me as I put Peep, who was pecking grass on the floor, on the doll’s head. It was after the baron had been put away somewhere.

“Congratulations on the win, Eve. I also found out something about Dempina.”

Already? I raised my eyebrows.

This is what the baron explained to Aedis while frothing in the mouth.

Now, that the Dempina family head is divorced, his ex-wife lives with her younger sister.

This sister is said to have once made her fame as a genius composer. Of course, she also was quite wealthy.

With the full support of her sister, the ex-wife opened her own café. Word of mouth spread quickly, and business seemed to be doing pretty well.

The problem arose after that.

The Dempina wanted his ex-wife to be unhappy with life’s hardships and decided to use his own hands when things didn’t go the way he wanted.

He ordered thugs to the cafe and tarnished the sister’s reputation.

It was working to some extent, but suddenly the Grand Duchy intervened and the situation was reversed.

“… So you’re trying to commission a praise song for Maevia from that sister? It seems that Dempina’s family head intercepted the correspondence several times in the middle?”

“This time, Agena went directly, so the negotiation will go smoothly. Tollyman thought that he was being ignored because the request fee was small, so he kept increasing the 0s. Turns out there was another reason.”

I was dumbfounded.

“So he thought that If he sent thugs and damaged the reputation, you would have forgotten about the praise song considering that?”

He doesn’t know my husband too well.

Aside from the fact that the spy was caught before he could do anything right, in the end he only did good for his ex-wife and sister.

The Grand Duchy would have offered a considerable fee from the start, but there were several zeros added to it. Three generations can play and eat for the rest of their lives.

“Well, it’s good that Sir Agena went. He’ll be sure to clean it up afterward.”

Agena always had a smile on his face, but he had the personality to step on and throw away comrades if necessary. He was surely the younger brother of Tollyman Eliot.

Paimon chimed in.

[“Shall I go and scold him, too?”]

“No. You need to stay with me.”

Paimon would have had a new accident if he went, so I turned him down immediately.

But Paimon laughed out loud.

[“Is that so? I need to stay with Eve? Ehehe.]

“….”

Looking at Paimon, who was caught in a great delusion, Aedis shook his head.

I won the game and got my revenge. We got into the carriage and set off to the townhouse refreshed.

I keep an eye on the rapidly passing scenery. I leaned on Aedis’ shoulder.

“Is Regen getting ready to go to sleep by now? Did he have a lot of dinner? What if Regen heard what we heard at the bookstore? I should have just put an arrow through the head…”

“If you’re worried about Regen, are you going to see him?”

I hugged the rabbit doll.

“No. I’ll bear with it.”

Regen went with such a dignified attitude that I couldn’t lose my resolve.

Paimon patted my arm.

[“Regen will adapt well. Even dogs have a bit of a scary side to them.”]

Did he misuse ‘cute’ with ‘dogs’?

[“And who is worrying about who? You need to get back to your original body soon! That way, Regen will be relieved!”]

I replied bluntly.

“We’re going back to the north tomorrow anyway? During the day, I’ll deal with the Dempina’s family head, visit the capital with you, and ask the cats in the evening.”

Paimon cleared his throat.

[“Eve, if you want to play with me that much, I can’t help it.”]

… You are flapping your wings excitedly.

Upon arriving at the capital’s townhouse, Paimon went to bed with the promise of tomorrow.

I also entered the bedroom, leaving the unfamiliar handmaids behind.

The handmaids of Cyclamen Castle, including Sarah, intentionally did not accompany us.

If Sarah had seen us, she would have noticed we changed our bodies easily.

Lying down and staring at the ceiling, I opened my mouth.

“Aedis, I love you.”

Aedis paused as he took off his coat, then gently curved his eyes and smiled.

“I love the wife, too, but you need to change clothes and go to bed.”

“It’s annoying… I realized after Aedis and my body changed. I guess I’m just a lazy person.”

Usually, Aedis had no attendants at all, so when I was imitating him, I couldn’t help but say that it was a bother.

As I grumbled, Aedis sighed and laughed.

“Can I help?”

Aedis came up to me and bowed his head.

The pink hair ran down my cheeks.

When I tried to reach out without missing this opportunity.

[“Ssiing, I hate you for not coming to see me! I hate you so much! I won’t play this anymore!”]

Huh? Who?

I didn’t even have time to respond to the unique voice that passed through my head.

The world turned upside down for a moment.

When I came to my senses, the pink hair was mine, and I saw Aedis’ face in front of me.

“What?”

I groped slowly. I could feel the long hair and soft skin intact.

“Are we now… back to normal?”

No! Why at this timing!

“I can’t believe it! I haven’t been able to do XX and XX with Aedis yet!”

You gave it to me and took it away!

Aedis comforted me even as he narrowed his eyes.

“…We can still do that, so calm down.”