Father, I Won’t Do Anything

"...For all that, Miss Jaina handled it quite calmly and well."

"I'm glad if it looked that way."

"By the way, overwhelmed..."

Rosian repeated what Jaina had just said.

"Until now, I've only been told to take those gazes even more seriously and feel a sense of responsibility."

Princess Elia is a good person, but quite different from her son Rosian.

She is calm and straightforward, while Rosian is quite sensitive and spontaneous.

He didn't mean any harm.

That's why he was able to intervene when Jaina was troubled, and notice even subtle changes in her.

The amount of information they process is different.

'For Rosian, it might have been better to tell him not to feel too burdened... Though that's just my guess.'

The light stretching out from the banquet hall cast shadows on Rosian's face.

For a moment, Rosian smiled cheerfully.

"Well, I pretended not to hear such nagging! If they told me to work hard, it made me want to rebel more, so I ran away and such. Well."

At that moment, Jaina noticed.

The scar mark that was hidden by his sleeve, which had momentarily dropped as he smiled at her.

"Rosian... what's this?"

"Huh?"

Rosian awkwardly diverted the conversation.

"It's nothing."

"If it's nothing, then tell me."

"Hmm~ Would you be upset if I said it's a secret?"

"Yes."

Their peaceful time gazing at the moonlit night sky was brief.

Rosian let out a sigh with an embarrassed smile.

It seemed that smoothly avoiding the topic wouldn't work.

After seeing Rosian's scar, Jaina's expression had hardened.

Others might say there wasn't much change in her expression, but Rosian, who had been watching her all along, knew.

"This doesn't look like it was scratched by a sword."

"Haha..."

"Was it cut by magic? Did Father again..."

Even though she seemed to have expressed her will clearly, how could he control and suppress her like this?

As Jaina looked like she might go confront Diamid right away, Rosian, who had been avoiding answering, hastily said:

"If I had been wronged, I'd say so of course. But... this time I did something wrong!"

Rosian's story went like this.

Ahead of the New Year's Ball, he had intended to ask Jaina to be his partner.

So he arrived at the Magic Tower...

"I met the Tower Lord."

Diamid interrogated Rosian about why he had come.

Rosian boldly said he had come to ask to be Jaina's partner, and was met with Diamid's sneer.

-I will be her partner that day.

-How about entrusting it to me instead? Wouldn't Jaina have more fun with a peer like me than with you, sir?

Unconsciously... he got a bit cheeky.

-She'll get married someday, how do you plan to send her off then?

-Her partner won't be you.

"..."

"Haha. Since I went with such determination to ask to be her partner. I accidentally crossed the line?"

After that, Rosian was scolded by Diamid for only thinking about playing around at that level.

The security level of the gate from the capital to the Magic Tower endlessly increased.

To come without Diamid's permission, one would have to break through that barrier...

"There's still a bit of the barrier left."

"...Are you okay?"

"As long as I don't turn into a piglet, it's bearable. It's kind of training in its own way."

Rosian just doesn't get discouraged.

"Still... Father using magic was too much."

Jaina was worried that Diamid might harm Rosian again.

Although Rosian said he was fine...

"I'll talk to Father again. For now, don't come to the Magic Tower for a while. I'll come visit you."

"No, actually, it was my mother who sent me directly."

"Princess Elia?"

And a fact learned later.

Princess Elia's urging that 'from a woman's perspective, it's better to go ask to be her partner in person'...

Thinking about it now, it seemed like she might have sent Rosian to get roughed up a bit under Diamid.

"I think she sent me on purpose. She told me I must go to the Magic Tower and ask in person to be your partner."

Considering how satisfied she looked each time, saying the level increased a step every time I met Diamid, it's a reasonable guess.

Rosian added.

"She looked pleased when she saw the wounds. Said I got hurt less than expected..."

Pretending to be pitiful over trivial things.

But hiding when truly badly hurt.

He seemed to really dislike Jaina having negative feelings towards her father because of him.

"Haah..."

"Isn't being alone with his beloved daughter like this the best revenge?"

Rosian smiled brightly at Jaina, who was sighing.

Not letting him ask to be her partner, and not letting him escort Jaina as she got out of the carriage was a bit infuriating, but...

Still, Jaina looked happy by Diamid's side.

Although they couldn't meet as comfortably as before.

Jaina's happiness was more important than that.

Jaina being recognized as the Tower Lord's daughter is something to be congratulated without reservation.

"You've gained a family."

"..."

"They say the Tower Lord changed, and the Magic Tower changed. Everyone's become gentler."

"..."

"Mother says she's glad to see me meeting you too. She asked me to tell you thanks, that a lot has changed since meeting you."

'So much has changed because of just me?'

She reflected anew.

This world that didn't unfold like the original novel.

'...I wonder if my existence is a bit useful.'

As Jaina was staring blankly at that sight, suddenly Rosian furrowed his handsome brow and muttered,

"...It seems the Tower Lord is coming. Faster than expected."

Despite being a pure human, Rosian quickly noticed Diamid coming.

Even though it was at a level hard to detect without concentrating even for Jaina, who was of the dragon clan, unless he was particularly trying to hide it.

"It would have been nice to stay together a bit longer... right?"

Compared to when he was trying to kill Diamid as his mother's enemy, the relationship between Diamid and Rosian isn't good, but...

Fighting over the partner position at the ball is child's play in comparison.

'There are annoying and troublesome things, but...'

It's annoying when people make a fuss about her being the Tower Lord's daughter.

How tiresome would it be if it became known she was dating Rosian?

There were dangers in the Magic Tower too, but back then it was Jaina's fight alone.

Now if Jaina falls, it becomes a burden to Diamid and Rosian too.

-I want to live alone! You're lucky you have no one, right?

She recalled what her cousin Taylor had said after fighting with her aunt.

Back then, she thought those words were immature...

But now?

'It's still something only a child would say.'

Yet her thoughts hadn't changed.

Jaina pondered deeply about the reason.

'Why did I choose to mingle with these people?'

Now there's no threat from dragons, and she's not a young child who needs someone's protection anymore.

She could live alone just fine...

'Alone...'

When living with the dragons.

Because everyone disliked her, there was a time they left Jaina in an important place.

Of course, they didn't tell her directly.

She just woke up and found herself alone.

A desolate, quiet village.

With nothing...

'Back then, I thought it was better because there was no one to bully me.'

So when coming to the Magic Tower too, she hoped to be alone while enjoying small luxuries.

But...

'Actually, it seems that wasn't entirely okay.'

It was fine while among the dragon clan who said her very existence was shameful.

But after coming to the Magic Tower, she came to know what loneliness was.

'Even if I don't like every aspect.'

Since recognizing Jaina as his daughter, Diamid had aspects of trying to control her, separate from cherishing her greatly.

Mikael and Hilvenzia had cruel sides towards people other than Jaina.

Rosian was good at leading conversations comfortably with Jaina, but there were times when he didn't say the necessary words.

'There will be uncomfortable points someday. Arguments will arise endlessly even if we resolve them well after talking and fighting.'

But...

'If I'm alone, it might be peaceful, but I won't know the happiness of being with someone.'

Not all blood relations are family.

Hilvenzia, who worked hard to help before this ball.

Izren, who silently supported her.

Despite not being related by blood, they worried about and cared for Jaina attending today's New Year's Ball.

"How long are you going to stay outside?"

Diamid appeared with a stiff expression.

Seeing that, she couldn't help but smile.

"...Childish."

"What did you say?"

But... she didn't dislike it.

Jaina recalled what Diamid had done for her before today's ball.

Even though she said it was enough.

Even though she said there was nothing more she wanted.

Diamid had tried hard to show that Jaina was a beloved daughter in a splendid way.

'I think I understand a little.'

The reason why Diamid kept trying to do something for Jaina over and over again.

Some things can't be known unless expressed visibly.

The reason Jaina could accept Diamid as her father was because he fought the dragons with everything at stake.

'Even if it's in a somewhat childish and gaudy way.'

Perhaps that's what love is.

Continuously trying to prove it even if the other person already knows enough.

'Now I can't be alone anymore.'

There are people who make her feel that she's not alone. That she's loved.

After a long journey, Jaina finally has a family too.

(Special Side Story: THE END)