Father, I Won’t Do Anything

Jaina recognized her at a glance.

'Marilyn.'

Jaina's friend who had also visited the Magic Tower.

She must have been surprised to learn that Jaina was the Tower Lord's daughter.

"Ahem..."

For a moment, she hesitated as attention turned to her.

But when her eyes met Jaina's, she walked over bravely as if encouraged.

"If you all speak to her from all directions like that, she won't be able to remember anything. Are you really expecting answers to your questions?"

"Well..."

"Jaina has little experience with balls, so please be more considerate."

Only then did the young ladies realize their rudeness and retreated with forced coughs.

Thanks to this, Jaina could catch her breath.

"Marilyn, thank you for helping."

"I was surprised when you suddenly appeared with the Tower Lord in that carriage."

"I'm sorry I couldn't tell you. There were circumstances back then."

Marilyn let out a soft sigh.

She was so surprised to see Jaina, whom she hadn't seen for a while, make such a grand entrance.

"It was strange from the moment you said you lived in the Magic Tower. Princess Elia also said you were the daughter of an old colleague. But I hadn't heard that the Tower Lord had a daughter..."

Marilyn had noticed more than expected.

If she was the Tower Lord's daughter, why hadn't she received the same treatment when visiting the Magic Tower before?

Others seemed to think that Diamid was just being eccentric like a magician because he adored Jaina so much.

But Marilyn, who had visited the Magic Tower herself, could sense the subtle atmosphere.

Apart from seeming familiar with the Magic Tower.

There was no sign that she considered it a real 'home'.

'Even if she was raised in secret, shouldn't the Tower Lord's daughter have been able to act more freely...?'

Marilyn realized that the dragon Bezrice hadn't betrayed the Tower Lord.

It wasn't that a misunderstanding had been cleared up and she was now recognized as his daughter after thinking she had been betrayed all this time.

But Marilyn didn't press the issue further.

She only asked carefully.

"Are you happy now?"

Rather than asking about being the Tower Lord's daughter, she was simply inquiring about Jaina's feelings.

She must have been very surprised too.

"Yes."

Jaina smiled at that sensitive consideration.

"Couldn't be better."

"I'm glad."

Marilyn replied with a bright smile.

As the two continued their conversation, friends who had visited the Magic Tower before gathered courage and approached one by one.

"Jaina, it's been a while... right?"

"You can speak comfortably."

"Really? Great!"

And there were those watching this scene from afar.

"It's been resolved well. That's a relief."

"..."

Diamid and Mikael remained silent at Rosian's words.

It was Rosian who had stopped them when they were about to step in after seeing Jaina flustered.

"It wouldn't look good for a father to intervene among young ladies."

"Whose appearance are you talking about?"

"Both Miss Jaina's and the Tower Lord's. Both of them."

Although younger than Diamid, in that sense, Mikael and Rosian were also disqualified.

From her entrance until now, Jaina had strongly given the impression of a daughter cherished by her father.

In such a situation, if she were to be protected by her cousin or the imperial grandson again?

It would be difficult for her to mingle with peers her own age.

-Brother Mikael. Is that young lady acquainted with Miss Jaina?

-Hmm... One of those who came to the Magic Tower before?

That's why he had asked Marilyn, who was hesitating to approach Jaina, to help.

To help Jaina who looked troubled.

"Jaina needs friends too."

It was Princess Elia who had approached at some point.

"It seems you caused quite a commotion for your daughter. Coming to the Imperial Palace in a carriage led by celestial horses..."

"...It was necessary."

As Diamid fell into deep thought at the following words.

Rosian's eyes, which had been watching for an opportunity, sparkled.

'Miss Jaina is less noticeable among the young ladies, and there's some distance from this side...'

Rosian smoothly slipped away from the group.

And when Jaina's conversation had somewhat died down, he seized the moment...

"Miss Jaina, I have something to say for a moment."

And made his proposal.

Diamid noticed belatedly, but once Jaina had already accepted, he couldn't take it back.

Otherwise, she would coldly ask if he was trying to ignore her will again like last time.

'I won this time, Tower Lord.'

Rosian's strategy had succeeded.

* * *

Despite approaching with a meticulously planned strategy, Rosian smiled purely.

"I thought Miss Jaina might need a moment to catch her breath."

"Ah..."

Talking with familiar young ladies was enjoyable, but as the conversation lengthened, even unfamiliar people began to approach stealthily.

Of course, they didn't approach rudely, given what they had heard earlier.

But at some point, even others joined in, saying they were acquaintances of those young ladies...

"When I came to my senses, there were too many people I didn't know."

"Negatively speaking, it's flies gathering, but positively speaking, it means Miss Jaina is an attractive connection."

The difference from the previous ball was that it was now known she was the Tower Lord's daughter.

Unlike the familiar young ladies, strangers were about to ask direct questions about the Tower Lord, so Rosian's intervention to break the flow of conversation came at an exquisitely perfect timing.

...Which meant, as expected.

"Were you... waiting for me? I didn't think to look for Rosian. I'm sorry."

"No, it's understandable you'd be flustered. Even I've never seen the nobles this excited before."

Rosian's cool smile.

Jaina, who had been staring at it blankly, asked.

"Are you used to this kind of thing?"

"I suppose so."

Offering champagne asking if she was thirsty, leading her through a path with no people to get some fresh air.

Rosian seemed like a person who lived in this world.

Everything looked familiar to him.

'A wastrel...'

Jaina recalled Rosian from the original novel.

The boy who did nothing but laze around, unwilling to do anything until his mother died at the hands of the Tower Lord.

She felt like she understood his feelings a bit.

Living with manners and dignity on his lips normally, yet that gaze that stared intently at people.

An attitude that didn't hide his interest.

The corners of his mouth that smirked while pretending to be uninterested in her stories.

Besides the fact that the Tower Lord's daughter was a good connection.

Among the gazes focused on Jaina today, many were askew.

'I know exactly what they were thinking.'

Although she didn't open her mouth to speak for fear it might reach Diamid's ears.

She could read it clearly in their eyes.

-She's not human. A dragon clan, the Tower Lord has strange tastes.

-If she was raised in hiding until now, it must be because she has flaws?

-I wonder if she resembles the Tower Lord in other aspects as much as her appearance.

She was used to hostility and wariness.

But even for Jaina, it was the first time in her life to receive attention from so many people.

The feeling of not knowing where an attack might come from, while being exposed on all sides...

"You've been through a lot."

Rosian's face, speaking calmly, lacked its usual playfulness.

Perhaps even the Rosian from the original novel, portrayed as an irredeemable wastrel... had his own hardships.

After all, the novel is shown from the protagonist's perspective.

There's no way one's self-evaluation would be objective.

That Rosian might not have been the trash he called himself.

"I felt... a bit overwhelmed."

"Huh?"

"I thought Rosian was amazing for living while enduring such gazes."

"..."

Jaina spoke simply, without embellishment.

His mother being a princess, and a renowned knight with high martial prowess at that.

Others might just envy it, but well.

'It might not be that he's doing nothing, but that he can't do anything.'

A life of constantly being compared to his mother.

Of course, if you were to compare it to worse lives, you could list many...

But where there's light, there's also shadow.

There's no such thing as a perfect life in every aspect.