
Because He Has a Time Limit, He Becomes the Villain's Son-in-law - Chapter 23
Translator and Editor: Skye and the Prophet
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Chapter 23
Carlaudin was in a hurry at the office.
He tried not only to rule the duchy, but also to move the entire political landscape of the Empire. Although he was still a little weak now, if he was a little stronger, no one would dare to stop him in five years.
Aristocracy will disappear.
The problem was the Imperial family, but he could not think of a way to restrain and release them other than marriage.
'That is the importance of Elanie, as the head of the Imperial family.'
The emperor was young, so he was not the front-runner at the moment, but everyone expected him to grow into an influential figure.
Then, he heard a knock.
"Dad, it's Laria."
"Come in."
The door crept open, and Laria entered.
“Thank you for the gift, Father.” Laria smiled and bowed her body.
"I'm wearing my dad's dress, hair accessories, and necklace!"
Carlaudin had no fashion sense with women's clothing, so she simply nodded bluntly.
Not much different from what he was wearing yesterday.
Laria had a harmless and cute impression no matter what she was wearing. Twisted his eyes and often wandered around as if he were a squirrel.
Maybe because he's sick, but I think he's shorter than his age.
Compared to Evan, who was a year younger, he was rather small. No matter how tall Evan was, there was a huge difference in their physique.
“So, I was thinking about what I should do to express my gratitude.”
With Laria's words, Carlaudin grinned and said.
"Enough. You can tell the chef, not me. ”
"…What?"
"You said thank you."
"Aah!"
She seemed to forget for a moment and then laughed.
“Ahhhhhhh! Dad, that's so funny. Ha ha ha ha!"
Laria, who had been laughing for a long time, stretched out a piece of paper to him, who was rather proud.
“It's not shabby, but I prepared this for you.”
Laria stuck out a piece of paper at him, who was daydreaming. At first, Carlaudin did not recognize him at all, but now he can somewhat.
"Dad, thank you so much."
It doesn't look like him at all, but three people ...
"Is this me?"
“...No, that's Evan.”
“Then, it's me?”
“Oh..
Laria lowered her shoulders. "I drew it because I thought dad liked it."
From the first time he saw her, he thought it was good because she was a weak and insignificant girl, who seemed to have no ability, but strangely she was cute.
'If you think about. I went with Evan for the first time, thanks to Laria. I haven't been in contact with Evan since.'
Evan is a complex creature that he doesn't want to think too deeply about.
At first, she was not in a state where she could pay attention to her son after losing Matilda. Then, they become awkward to get along with her son, who grows up so suddenly. However, that doesn't mean Evan isn't valuable enough for her.
Evan, of course, was the reason why he worked so hard to make up for all of this.
Though, after Matilda left, she never thought of a harmonious family or anything.
A warm and sunny family, as he thought, could not have happened without Matilda. But surprisingly, very surprisingly, the daughter-in-law was able to make it happen…
"Dad."
Laria directed her gaze towards him.
"You know what? Come to think of it, the three of us haven't been together since the race track.”
“...I can't spend time with Evan.”
"But we're family."
That one word solved everything. Laria tilted her head and said. "That's gonna be fine."
“We each spend so much time alone that we don't even feel the need to get along with each other.”
“It would be nice if we could encourage each other, even in our own time!”
Laria clapped her hands as if she had a good idea and asked excitedly.
“Evan works very hard in sword practice. I think he's fine. Do you want to go watch it with me? ”
"Enough." Carlaudin immediately cut out his sentence.
He knew that Evan was training swordsmanship in Knights, but he did not pay much attention.
He just thought that Evan was going through the same growth process because he also liked swords as a child.
Carlaudin heard he won first place in whatever competition he participated in, and if Evan was his son, he would have missed that compliment because he thought it might be embarrassing to hear. But after all, he was a child who looked like him in many ways.
“But I was eager to meet him. After Evan met with the Knight Commander General, he came late and came out at dawn. I can't even see his face properly.”.
“Then just look at him because I'm busy. No time to see a child swinging a sword.”
"Evan is not a child!"
"He was thirteen and always in love with everything."
“We are a family with three..”
“…”
“When I was at the Earl of Rostry, my family didn't get along well. But I really want to hang out here, so the three of us can make a lot of good memories together.”
“…”
“I didn't even see Evan last time drinking tea. How sad... Cough, Cough, Cough!”
His voice, which was becoming increasingly powerless, was finally buried by his loud cough. Laria covered her mouth with a handkerchief for a while and coughed like crazy.
"Said Lisa, cough! He didn't even see Evan in Knights, Cough! I told him not to look for it, coughing! So, snooze! I can't go alone..”.
Holding a handkerchief to her mouth in haste, the corner of her dress looked blood-stained again.
“I'm sick, and I often lie down, so I want to make a lot of good memories, especially when I can move.”
Carlaudin took the painting from Laria's hand and looked at it.
After he put the paper on his desk in the office, sighed and nodded his head.
"COUGH! COUGH UP! COUGH UP! COUGH UP! I... I said, Evan and Dad... COUGH!”.
Laria now coughed violently, almost falling down again.
She remembered when she decided to let Laria enter as her daughter-in-law.
"Matilda, I came because I was having trouble."
He went to Matilda's tomb, there was a woman who came before him. He was crying and muttering. That was Countess Rossi.
“My husband is very busy having an affair, the son who opposed him has been expelled to the East, and you, my best friend, have died so soon.”
He called Matilda his close friend.
He knew it right away.
“And my daughter, Laria can also die soon. He had many complications with his ulcerative lung disease. Even if he was long-lived, he would only survive until he was in his early twenties. I can't tell anyone because I'm so scared.”
He hid his words and waited quietly for his wife's friend to say everything he wanted to say.
“What we will do with Laria. My heart breaks every time she coughs blood.”.
Countess Rossi died suddenly in a train accident with her husband. Upon hearing the news, Carlaudin immediately took Laria and married her to Evan. Laria had nowhere to go, and instead of wandering from place to place and dying miserably, Carlaudin took her instead.
He thought it would be better.
Evan is at the Academy, and there can't be a proper marriage, and he just handed over the marriage documents.
First of all, he thought it would be perfect if he could die right then and there.
"All right come on."
He was a child who would die young, even though he could not turn a blind eye to such a request. These days, whenever he saw Laria's face, he felt guilty. No, maybe it's not guilt, but…
“Come make those very beautiful memories.”
Laria's cough slowly stopped as if it was a lie.
He looked at Laria's sparkling eyes and muttered as if he was talking to himself.
"I don't want to do it."
The plan was to make Elanie the Empress.
Without the cooperation of the Empire, his long-cherished secret wish would not have been achieved. He could not let his mind weaken now.
Carlaudin never thought of seeing his son's sword training. He thought Evan would do well because he was the same son as him.
“Yes, Dad! Let's go!"
With only half her waist, Laria excitedly grabbed her arm. He took her away pretending she couldn't win it.
Lena took him to the strange side.
“Laria? Not like that.”
Naturally, she frowned, but Laria shook her head with her eyes wide open.
“No, they said Evan took solo lessons. It's from Ludva!”
"…How is this?"
"Yes. I'm sure it's behind the rose garden.” She smiled as if she knew nothing.
Carlaudin had to follow him with reluctance.
'The rose garden was a place Matilda cared for and had not been touched since she died.'
It was because he felt sad to see the rose that had lost its caring owner.
'And if it's Ludva ...'
He was originally the one who looked at Matilda with an unhappy look.
When Matilda said she was about to leave the city, three people escorted her but two of them suddenly left out of nowhere.
So, Ludva and Matilda went together, and she felt bad about it. This was because he thought Ludva, who had seen Matilda, had deliberately set her up.
If Matilda did not stop him, she would immediately prevent him from leaving with Ludva.
Of course, everyone complained that it was his obsession, not Ludva's fault. Carlaudin was obsessed with Matilda, so…
Later, after Matilda died, she had no interest in Ludva at all.
And when the knights recommended Ludva as the next knight commander before retiring, he agreed without much thought.
Since then, Ludva has not caused any problems. Besides, he did nothing to her. Although, it was the first time he had heard that he was teaching Evan individually.
The Duke and Duchess knew Carlaudin was not particularly interested in Evan, so they only talked a little about him. He has many more important problems than Evan, in the duke's work mountains.
But he felt bad because it was a private lesson with Ludva.
It was around the time when he heard that Evan was going to a smoke field, Carlaudin thought he should have asked more details than passed him nonchalantly.
"Dad." whispered Laria.
“Don't let them know we're here, just look silently. I want to see if Evan is really good. If he knows we're here, it could interfere with his training.”
He didn't come because he wanted to. So, she did not answer anything after Laria pleaded with her, so she nodded her head gently.
Indeed, from afar, Ludva and Evan are seen wielding swords.
They even lowered their steps and slipped slowly. A few steps back, Lisa and Serena are seen following, while fighting outside the duke's office. Although they noticed what Laria and Carlaudin had done, and both kept their mouths shut.