The Common Sense of a Duke’s Daughter – Chapter 164 – Tears

After I had an informal meeting with the prince from the Acacia Kingdom, I immediately began to plan out my trip to the Imperial City.

I was much earlier than expected. Luckily, the things that needed my authorization were already wrapping up. The most important thing now is that our family gathers all the influential people who have experienced several battles.

The officials of the Territory and the Chamber of Commerce also sent me out without a single care.

Only Madame Klager had tears in her eyes.

Of course, they failed to deliver the custom-made dresses on time and could only promise that they would provide them later.

I asked Tanya to tell her that the trip to the Imperial City was made ahead of schedule, so that she needn’t worry. Tears still welled in her eyes as she held my wrist tightly, “I will send you the dress, and you have to wear it.”

Since I asked for quite a bit of customization, my understanding of the project thus far is nothing more than saying “Oh, so I did order this…” On the bright side, that meant I didn’t have to worry myself much with the details.

…however, the lady’s enthusiasm scared Tanya as well – she started clinging to my wrist with intense speed and strength, and I couldn’t even move. As I couldn’t say anything blunt, I could only pry myself away from her.

We quickly rushed to the imperial city and immediately entered the House of Duke upon arrival.

“Father…!”

I was led to father’s bedroom.

‘Iris…”

When Father saw me, I was shocked.

“……!”

It seemed that he wanted to sit up, but he frowned because of the pain.

My mother, who was sitting next to him, hurriedly supported Father, guiding him to lie down slowly.

“How are you, Father?”

“It’s not a serious injury. Everyone around me is just overreacting.”

“You’ve been stabbed so deeply that there’s internal bleeding, and you said it’s no big deal…?”

I heard mother’s soft voice.

It was shocking to see how severely my father was injured, but honestly, my mother’s continued enthusiasm surprised me equally.

“I was so scared that my heart was about to stop. When I arrived, you were completely bloodied. Even your breathing became so weak. But even when you were so weak, you could only talk about going back to work once you were conscious again…please, I beg you of you, you must take care of yourself!”

“Merry, I am so sorry to let you worry so much. I feel bad too, but I had to go. At the moment, I am the last defense of the bureaucrats in the palace. If I’m not there and the Duke Maelia’s family becomes the general administrator of the kingdom through Queen Ellia, the government will crumble. ”

“In critical moments like that, you are both hope and protector to so many people. If they lose you to an injury like this, they’ll lose the whole world. And it’s no different for me…if I lose you, then I don’t want to live either…!”

“Merry…”

“My dear…”

I felt like I could not stay long in this sweet atmosphere.

Well…I guess that it’s a good thing that they love each other.

“Uh, about that…Mother…”

Although I didn’t want to interrupt, I needed to interject anyways

“How are Father’s injuries doing?”

I wouldn’t get an honest answer from Father even if I asked him, so I could only ask Mother.

“Oh…sorry, Iris, your father needs time to heal. His wounds might get torn again if he tries to move too much.”

“I see…”

“Did you come because you were worried?…Thank you, Iris.”

After my father thanked me, I suddenly felt warmth in my chest.

I wanted to reply, but tears started to fill my eyes.

I thought that at least I could be able to shake my head.

After all, I wanted to ask Father something.

…before I came, that’s what I had been thinking about this whole time.

But I could not utter a word now. Fear was choking me off.

“…Iris, there’s no need to worry. This isn’t your fault.”

“…my father got attacked, and it’s not because of me?”

Father could hear my hesitation, and he was trying his best to reassure me.

“But…father, didn’t you say before that we have to pay attention to Marquis? Didn’t they start hatching plans to attack you because of me?”

“We don’t know yet who planned all this, don’t we?”

“About that…it’s my fault. After seeing your father covered in blood, I had to do something. My first reaction was to punish the enemy responsible for this instead of identifying their purpose. As for the others who were present…they ended up being less important anyways, since we couldn’t get any information from them.”

My mother said this somewhat apologetically. Father gave her a sweet smile.

“If you didn’t come to save me, I didn’t even know if I could survive. I really cannot thank you enough. Why would I blame you? What I wanted to say is, Iris, we don’t know our true enemy yet. There is no reason for you to place all the blame on yourself.”

“But…”

“Even the real enemy is Duke Maelia’s family, this is by no means your fault. Only with your presence in the territory could I dedicate myself fully to the politics. Also, I have had my fair share of confrontations with Duke Maelia myself, so it’s not all your responsibility.”

“My father…”

“Iris, you are the one suffering the most right now. Am I not right?”

My father waved to me.

I moved closer to him, and he started to gently stroke my head.

When was the last time he did this?

“Things are not difficult to me…comparing to what happened to Father…”

“Hey, you both, that’s nothing to be proud of. There’s no point competing in who suffers more. Both of you suffered and encountered more than enough unfortunate events. And, my dear, now that you know that Iris is worried about you, you should rest now. Aren’t you tired?”

“There’s no way to win this discussion…” Father said with a hopeless smile.

“Father, I will come and see you again. And we’ll chat more.”

From what I saw, Father just looked the same as usual.

If Mother didn’t mention his injury, I might have even forgotten about it.

Just based on his appearance, nothing was different at all.

Still, I couldn’t tell him what’s been happening.

In order not to disrupt his rest, I left the bedroom.

…fortunately, Father’s condition stabilized even further, and he ended up being able to meet me the next day.

It was only then that I told him everything, including the Boltique family in the East, the conspiracy of Van toward Dawson, the disaster policy, and the newly introduced insurance system.

Although a report has been submitted to him, this was an excellent opportunity to have a direct conversation.

Aside for this, I also told him about the recent meeting with the Acacia Kingdom and the proposal from the Prince.

After I handed the document to father, he took a deep breath.

I couldn’t help but wonder for myself. Why am I always involved in all this trouble, one incident after another? This time it has reached a national level, none withstanding the difficulties of the marriage proposal.

As a prime minister… As the head of the Armenia household, what do you think? That was my question. After I asked my father, he started to think deeply.

“As a response to a prime minister, I think this is a splendid situation. However, as the head of the Duke of Armenia household… It is a pity to give away talented people like you to other countries…but as a father, I hope that you can pick an option that’s the most favorable to you, and I sincerely hope for your happiness.”

All kinds of thoughts flowed in my head, such as “is it ok to think like that as a noble?” or “what am I supposed to do in the end?”

But now, I could have as many thoughts as I wanted.

My father said that he sincerely hoped for my happiness. And when I found out what that truly meant…

Tears began to stream from my eyes.