Chapter 68 : Grandma And Grandpa (1)
by fnovelpia
A quiet countryside.
A woman smiled contentedly as she looked over the vast, sprawling fields.
“Phew… This is great!”
Wiping the sweat off her forehead with a satisfied expression, the woman beamed warmly.
Her name was Dia Odria.
She was the mother of Erses, the queen of this country.
At the same time, she was also the grandmother of Minho.
Dia was working hard in the fields, harvesting sweet potatoes.
“My granddaughter is coming today. This should be enough, so we won’t run out of sweet potatoes.”
Stretching with a grunt, Dia checked the container filled with ten sweet potatoes, her face glowing with pride.
“I’ve heard our granddaughter is incredibly cute… Maybe I should’ve brought my husband along.”
“It would’ve been nice to see our daughter after so long, too.”
Muttering to herself, Dia picked up twenty containers filled with sweet potatoes.
“This should be enough for snacks, right?”
She was preparing food with great enthusiasm for her granddaughter—no, for her granddaughters.
The food she prepared included…
- 50 steamed sweet potatoes
- 50 roasted sweet potatoes
- 20 servings of sweet potato fries
- 25 steaks
- 34 bowls of rice
- 10 servings of roasted turkey
- 10 servings of carrot salad
- 20 potato pancakes
- 5 servings of cabbage wraps
A truly enormous amount of food.
“The kids will love it, right?”
“Or… is it not enough? Will it be okay?”
Looking at the overwhelming amount of food—enough to intimidate even a dragon—she turned to her husband with a worried expression.
Her husband, Hyman Odria, smirked and asked,
“…Have you lost your mind?”
“What?!”
Dia looked utterly shocked.
Seeing her reaction, Hyman quickly tried to take back his words.
“Oh, I’m sorry, honey. That came out wrong.”
“No, but seriously! ‘Lost my mind’? Are you the one who’s lost it?!”
“…Ahem.”
Looking uncomfortable, Hyman glanced at the towering piles of food with concern.
‘Aren’t the kids going to be overwhelmed eating all this?’
‘This is the same person who complains about how tiring it is to set the table every day… Isn’t this going overboard?’
Just as these thoughts raced through Hyman’s mind—
“Mom! Dad!”
In the distance, their daughter, the queen of the country, was waving at them with excitement.
“Oh! My daughter!”
“You’re here.”
“Honey! If you bully my husband again, I swear—”
“But it’s fun, isn’t it?”
Hyman chuckled as his wife playfully smacked his back.
Still, he didn’t stop talking, as if he was truly enjoying himself.
“The way he always looks so nervous… It’s so ridiculous that I can’t help but tease him.”
“He’s a grown man, the king of this country. Should he really be like that?”
Despite his words, Minho’s grandfather truly cherished his son-in-law.
“There are more people than usual today.”
“Well, they did adopt more children.”
“Our daughter is working so hard.”
“All the kids are so well-behaved and adorable. She must be so happy with them.”
Smiling, Dia made the remark, and Hyman’s expression softened as he whispered in agreement.
“Still, raising kids isn’t easy.”
“If they take after our daughter, it’ll be tough, but if they take after our son-in-law, it should be fine. He’s level-headed.”
“…That guy? Even worse. Did you forget?”
“Oh.”
The reason why Albinus was still extremely cautious around his in-laws and remained incredibly humble even now.
“He was a reckless troublemaker in his youth.”
“Hey! You can’t say that about the king!”
“Well, he admitted it himself. What else can he do but apologize?”
In his younger days, he let his emotions get the better of him and ended up tormenting Erses.
Because of that past, Albinus still couldn’t lift his head in front of his in-laws and continued to atone.
Even though Erses, Dia, and Hyman had all long forgiven him and begged him to stop apologizing, he kept doing it.
Dia was still flustered by the situation, while Hyman had moved on from being annoyed to outright enjoying tormenting Albinus.
“Anyway, thanks to all this, our quiet countryside is going to be noisy for a while.”
“Seems like it.”
The two chuckled as they prepared to welcome their granddaughters.
Inside the carriage, a deep sigh could be heard.
“Haa…”
“Albi, stop sighing.”
“…Sorry, El. But my heart still feels heavy.”
“I told you, it’s fine now.”
Erses shook her head, exasperated, as her husband kept sighing with a dark expression.
“Mom, why is Dad like that?”
“Because he owes me a debt.”
“What kind of debt?”
Erses tilted her head, thinking for a moment, then looked at her daughter.
“Minho, do you respect your dad?”
What kind of question is that? Of course, I respect him a lot.
After all, my dad is the coolest dragon in the world.
At first, I thought he was weaker than me because his stats seemed lower, but…
Now I see that no one is as wise and noble as he is.
Intelligence in stats represents one’s ability to accept magic, so in hindsight, it made sense.
To be honest, when I first met him, I thought he was dumber than me.
‘I mean, seriously… Who names their child “Minho” just because they misheard “Minho”?’
Anyway, the dragon I respect the most is my dad.
From his last speech to how he saved Bell’s family—he was just too cool.
Without hesitation, I looked at Mom and answered.
“Yes! Dad is kind, helps the weak, is gentle, and never bullies anyone! He’s a good dragon!”
“Of course I respect him!”
Hearing my answer, Mom hugged me tightly.
“Right? That’s why I fell for him too.”
“But, he wasn’t as full of justice as you might think.”
Mom giggled while Dad clutched his chest as if he had been stabbed in the heart.
Watching them, Mom let out a small laugh, stroked my head, and then asked me,
“Minho, would you say your dad is a hero?”
“Of course!”
“Hehe, then I can’t tell you why he’s acting like that.”
“…Huh?”
“I need to protect your innocence.”
As soon as Mom said that, my older sister, Emila, shot Dad a sharp look, as if she already knew the truth.
“…Yeah, Minho, it’s better if you don’t know.”
“Wait, Emila… Weren’t you away from home back then?”
“I overheard something before I left.”
Dad looked at Emila with a shocked expression.
“…I… I wasn’t that much of a scumbag…”
“Yeah, I know… You were the only one who took care of me back then. Thanks, Dad.”
Emila rested her head on Dad’s shoulder as she said that.
It really seemed like she had fully accepted Mom and Dad as her new parents now.
Seeing that, I couldn’t help but smile.
‘I hope my sister can live a new, happy life, just like I did.’
Still… What did Dad do in the past?
Seeing how much fun Mom was having, it didn’t seem like he had done something too terrible.
“Wait… Did you do something awful to the girl you liked?”
“…Hmm… The only thing I remember is—Oh! I pushed her into a pond!”
…What.
He pushed the girl he liked into a pond?
Is he insane?
My image of Dad just cracked a little.
“…D…Dad? Is that true…?”
“…N-No, that was an accident…”
“Oh, I know. Of course, it was an accident… But still, I was really cold back then…”
Wait. He did that to Mom?!
Mom, who was just saying she wanted to protect my innocence, must have completely forgotten her own words in the excitement of teasing Dad.
Dad shrank further and further into himself.
Seeing this, my sister Yuri, the ultimate romantic at heart, mumbled under her breath.
“…Wow… What a total piece of trash…”
“I’m sorry… to El, to you girls… to everyone…”
Dad finally broke down and apologized to all of us.
“…I believed in you.”
But even with his apology, my heart, betrayed, could not be mended.
“Dad… I believed in you…!!”
Of course, I had once ghosted a girl who liked me, but at least I never resorted to physical violence.
‘What on earth did Mom see in this garbage man to marry him?’
I hugged Mom tightly.
“…Poor Mom.”
“Pffft? Really?”
“Yeah…”
“You have no idea how much your dad loves me, do you?”
Mom chuckled as she turned to look at Dad.
“Albi, can I tell them about how you confessed to me?”
“…No.”
“Eh? Why not?”
“…For the sake of my dignity.”
Dad pleaded with Mom, a desperate look on his face.
“Please, don’t embarrass me more in front of the girls. I beg you.”
“Pfft…!”
Mom burst into laughter and patted my head.
“Yeah, I guess it is a little too intense.”
“…Honey… please…”
“It’s not exactly appropriate for pure little kids to hear, you know?”
Mom laughed softly, her voice full of mischief.
Then, she leaned in and whispered something to Dad.
“…Even now, just thinking about it makes my heart race.”
“…!!”
I have good hearing, so I caught everything.
These two… they’re just a hopelessly in-love couple.
Even if Dad was a trashy person back then, if Mom still loves him, I guess that’s all that matters.
Fine. I’ll give him a suspended sentence.
The carriage continued its journey.
Since it was moving so slowly, I couldn’t help but ask Dad why we didn’t just fly there.
“…If we flew, it would be too exhausting for me… Sorry, sweetie. And not everyone in our family can fly, right?”
Dad, looking absolutely defeated, answered in a dull voice.
‘…Yeah, no way he could fly in that state.’
With no choice but to endure the slow ride, I turned my attention to the changing scenery, enjoying it like a child.
“Woooow…”
“Minho, is this your first time traveling to the countryside like this?”
“Yes!”
“Aren’t you curious about what your grandparents are like?”
“Yes, I am!”
Mom smiled and pulled me into a warm hug.
“They’re very kind and wonderful people.”
“I’m sure they’ll love you, Minho.”
Hearing Mom’s reassuring words, I started to relax a little.
And then… we arrived at the countryside.
“Yuri… get a hold of yourself…”
“Minho… I’m dying…”
“…Emila, I’m counting on you to take care of Minho… Ugh…”
It was in that moment that I realized—
Mom had lied to me.
‘…This is torture…!!’
Even worse than our dragons’ skewer rush attack…
“Here, have some more~”
“P-Please, stop…”
I had fallen victim to Grandma’s Food Torture.
“…Save me…”
0 Comments