MFAWW 03

Chapter 03

“What’s taking so long to change clothes?”

I was blankly staring at the dazzling chandelier hanging from the ceiling, waiting for the self-proclaimed father, when suddenly a commotion erupted outside. What’s going on? As the footsteps grew closer and I turned my head, the door burst open violently.

*BANG—!*

“……?!”

Good heavens, I thought it was a wild boar.

Startled by the loud noise, I jumped to my feet and saw a man with white hair tinged with blue standing there with a stern face. He had a robust build that made it hard to guess his age—if not for his completely white hair.

The man, who seemed to have just entered his elderly years, scowled the moment our eyes met.

“You…….”

Who is this? I swallowed dryly as I watched the man approach with an angry face. With every step he took, the marble floor thumped heavily. It was like a white bear lumbering toward me.

A grandfather?

I guessed his identity without much difficulty. Up close, despite his burly body, his sleek face resembled the self-proclaimed father’s.

“Hello…… there……?”

I figured I should at least greet him, so I awkwardly curled the corners of my lips. But the man, presumed to be my grandfather, only hardened his gaze at my smile. Then, in a fierce voice like a beast growling, he said:

“……After tarnishing the family name and running away with your tail between your legs, you dare crawl back?”

Here we go again. I’m not even surprised anymore.

Judging by the way he spoke, he hadn’t heard about me yet. He must have heard from someone that the Bright Young Lady had returned and rushed over immediately.

“Crawl back? I never ran away in the first place.”

Normally, I’d stomp on anyone who came picking a fight out of nowhere, but out of respect for my elders, I corrected the false part. Though I couldn’t help my tone coming out a bit prickly. From my perspective, I was the one being attacked unprovoked.

“Still have that habit of talking back, I see.”

What do you mean ‘still’? We’ve never met.

Well, maybe we met when I was a baby. Either way, I don’t remember, so let’s just call this our first meeting.

Watching the man’s thick eyebrows twitch, I calmly opened my mouth.

“It seems there’s been a misunderstanding, I…….”

“Misunderstanding, my foot!”

Wow, his voice is really loud. Nearly burst my eardrums. The beast-like roar echoed through the reception room.

“If you were going to come back, you should have come quietly! Instead you caused a commotion outside and got dragged to the guard again, I hear!”

Again? So the Bright Young Lady had been caught by the guard before too. Now I understood a little better why the guard had been so curt with me.

“How long are you going to keep causing trouble!”

“Please calm down.”

He’d end up with high blood pressure and collapse at this rate. I spoke slowly to the huffing man, intending to calm him down a little since he didn’t seem open to reason. But it backfired. He only got angrier.

“How dare you talk back! Because of you, our family’s honor has fallen to the ground!”

“Honor or not, that has nothing to do with me.”

Did he eat a pot of fire for breakfast? How can his voice be that loud?

I tried to be polite since it seemed to be a misunderstanding, but I’d had enough. I’m no saint—I can’t possibly have a favorable opinion of someone who yells at me the moment we meet.

“Nothing to do with you! This is all…….”

“I am not the Bright Young Lady.”

“What?”

“I said I’m not the Bright Young Lady.”

I might become the Bright Young Lady later, but for now, I’m the Subrina Young Lady.

That was my intent, but the man seemed to take it differently. He let out a scoff, looking incredulous.

“You’re not the Bright Young Lady?”

“Yes. I’m Subrina…….”

“Now you’re even denying your own family?!”

Please, for once, let me finish speaking! It seems people in the capital have a habit of not listening to the end of a sentence. Or they interpret things however they please. There’s no other explanation for this.

“How dare…… you dare say such a thing……!”

Killing intent? As the man’s face flushed red and he erupted in anger, a sudden chill ran down my spine. Sure enough, his fierce blue eyes, fixed on me, were laced with murderous aura.

“Ha!”

I couldn’t believe it, but it was real. A hollow laugh escaped me at the sheer absurdity.

Releasing killing intent is a technique used to subdue an enemy without drawing a sword. Unless one had reached a certain level of mastery, an ordinary person couldn’t withstand a knight’s killing intent.

If I had been the real Bright Young Lady and not me, my legs would have given out and I’d have collapsed. But I was different. This level of killing intent meant nothing to me.

What a nasty old geezer. I’d had enough. Grandfather or not, from now on, you’re my enemy.

An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, a sword for a sword.

Without holding back, I raised my own fighting spirit.

“Hm?”

He faltered when I didn’t collapse to the floor but instead emitted my own aura. It was only natural he’d be surprised—not only did I withstand his killing intent, I was counterattacking.

“You, you’re……!”

“Father!!”

Just as the man stammered in confusion, an urgent voice came from behind him. The sound of a foal galloping approached, and the self-proclaimed father burst into the reception room, breathlessly stepping in front of me to shield me.

“What is the meaning of this!”

The self-proclaimed father trembled but spread his arms wide to protect me. At his action, the man frowned.

“Move aside. I have words with that child…….”

“Father, you need to calm down! This child isn’t Archel—she’s Iris!”

The self-proclaimed father shrieked.

“……What?”

The man blinked as if he’d heard something unbelievable.

“What are you saying?”

His momentum deflated, and he asked back, looking dazed.

“It’s not Archel who returned—it’s Iris who came to the capital. This child is Iris, Father.”

“Iris?”

At the self-proclaimed father’s words, he looked at me with a flustered face. The blue eyes that had been blazing moments ago now wavered like reeds in the wind.

“That child is?”

See? If only you’d listened to me earlier. I smiled brightly at the man who had turned as still as a statue.

“Hello, it’s nice to meet you. I’m Iris Subrina.”

The man let out a gasp, realizing his mistake. As I watched his flushed face turn deathly pale, I deliberately bowed politely, adhering to formal etiquette.

“It seems there’s been a misunderstanding. I am not the Bright Young Lady, but the Subrina Young Lady.”

You understand now, you ill-tempered old man?”I’m truly sorry.”

The self-proclaimed father bowed his head with a devastated expression. The nasty old geezer, upon learning I was Iris, didn’t know what to do with himself and was eventually chased out by the self-proclaimed father. The two of us left in the reception room sat facing each other, sipping the tea the butler had brought.

“Father, well, your grandfather is a man with a fiery temper…….”

“That much was obvious.”

I nodded while sipping my tea, and the self-proclaimed father let out a groan.

“He spent his entire life on the battlefield, so he acts with his body before his head. And he was already furious about the commotion Archel caused a few months ago.”

“That’s none of my concern.”

As I set my cup down on the table with a cold remark, the self-proclaimed father’s head drooped like ripe rice. But I didn’t feel like comforting him. After all, just a few hours ago, I didn’t even know I had a father.

If a stranger comes up to you and says, “Actually, I’m your father!” you can’t just say, “Oh, I see!”—that would be ridiculous.

I’d be more likely to suspect a scam. Honestly, I felt no particular emotion yet. Above all, having been mistaken for someone else and subjected to all sorts of ordeals since arriving in the capital had left me in a foul mood.

“I’d rather hear about my mother now.”

“Ah, right. Where should I begin? Hmm, do you really not remember anything?”

“Not at all.”

At my answer, a deep disappointment spread across the self-proclaimed father’s face. Seeing him look so dejected made me feel a little sorry for him, but it couldn’t be helped.

“I don’t have many memories from when I was young.”

How many people in the world clearly remember their early childhood? Besides that, I barely remembered anything from when I was little.

*’When the Young Miss was about eight, she fell and hit her head on a rock while playing in the valley. After that…… well, the world calls it amnesia.’*

The butler had said my inability to remember much before age eight was due to that head injury. There was actually a small scar on my forehead. Perhaps that was why, whenever I tried to recall old memories, my mind would be foggy as if shrouded in mist.

Just in case, I quickly searched my memory, but as expected, nothing came to mind.

“Well…… Wendy left a divorce paper and ran away when you were about two, so it’s understandable you wouldn’t remember.”

The self-proclaimed father muttered bitterly. He paused to choose his words, then carefully began his story.

“Your mother, Wendy, was a woman like the wind. We met on the battlefield. At the time, I was your grandfather, the Duke of Bright’s, aide-de-camp…… and Wendy, then the Viscount Subrina’s daughter, was hiding her identity and working as a mercenary.”

“Ah.”

At his words, an exclamation escaped me. I already knew from the butler and the nanny that my mother had wandered the continent as a mercenary in her youth. That hadn’t changed. Even now, my mother, who had a wandering spirit, never stayed in the territory for long.

“Wendy was truly strong. In swordsmanship, she was a magnificent swordswoman, acknowledged even by your grandfather, who was more particular than anyone. And I fell for her at first sight.”

The self-proclaimed father’s face grew wistful as he recalled the past.

“Wendy miraculously accepted my earnest courtship. But Father opposed our relationship.”

“Why?”

“Father wanted Wendy to become a general, not a marchioness.”