Chapter 197: Don’t touch My Daughter

“Hehe, I was just joking.”

Artasha spoke lightly, but no response came back.

She waited.

Waited for her daughter to raise her head and meet her eyes on her own.

The silence stretched on, but Artasha didn’t rush.

She simply, patiently, endlessly waited.

“…Why did you come here?”

As if in response to that patience, Tina slowly lifted her face from where it had been buried in her knees.

Cracked and swollen lips. The area around her eyes was bruised dark blue, and dried blood clung to torn wounds on her cheeks.

Artasha clenched her fists at the sight of that face, still bearing the raw marks of merciless violence. So tightly that her nails dug deep into her flesh.

What she wanted more than anything was to run over and embrace that small child right away. But Tina, in her current state, would likely find even that overwhelming.

So Artasha smiled.

A smile that meant, “I won’t hurt you.”

“I came to take my daughter home.”

Artasha quietly knelt on one knee. She met Tina’s eyes and gently reached out her hand.

“…I’m not your daughter.”

Only a cold voice came back.

“Take your real daughter and go back.”

Tina spoke firmly and pushed Artasha away. But with a voice trembling so weakly, there was no way Artasha would retreat.

“My real daughter… I won’t be seeing her again.”

Tina’s eyes widened, and she gasped.

For the first time, a clear emotion spread across her previously blank face.

“…What do you mean?”

“I made a promise to the goddess. That child will stay here to reflect on her mistakes and be reborn under better parents than me.”

A faint, sorrowful smile lingered at the corners of Artasha’s lips.

“Th-That’s…”

Tina’s voice trembled. Worry was clearly visible in her eyes.

She knew well how much Artasha had loved her biological daughter.

“Who’s worrying about whom in this situation…”

Artasha took a step closer, wearing a pained smile.

Flinch-

Tina’s body trembled slightly.

She scooted back, putting distance between herself and Artasha.

“…I already have a mother.”

“You mean the one who locked you in this room?”

Tina bit her lip and lowered her head.

Her shoulders shook violently. Her frail body looked as though it might burst into tears at any moment.

“…She’s all I have.”

Like a turtle hiding in its hard shell, Tina once again buried her face between her knees, concealing her crying face.

“She’s all you have?”

“In my past life, and even now… in the end, I always end up in her arms.”

A mix of fear and revulsion, emotions caught somewhere in between.

Tina’s voice grew fainter and fainter.

“Saying she’s all you have… that hurts a little. Neither I, nor the saintess, nor the noble girl… none of us mean anything to you?”

“Th-That’s not true…!”

Tina shook her head vigorously.

“B-But… I can’t escape from Mother’s arms.”

“…It doesn’t feel very good to hear my daughter call someone else ‘Mother.’”

Artasha carefully stepped closer once more.

Now she was close enough to touch her if she reached out.

“Will you not call me Mother anymore?”

She slowly raised her hand and placed it on top of Tina’s head.

Coarse white hair flowed between her slender fingers.

“I… I…”

“Will I lose both of my daughters today…?”

Artasha’s sunken voice quietly flowed out.

Tina’s chest tightened.

She didn’t want Artasha to be sad. Whatever else happened, she truly, wholeheartedly didn’t want that.

That’s why she lifted her head again, which she had buried, and looked at Artasha.

“I, I—”

But unfortunately, Tina couldn’t finish her sentence.

Clink—

The sound of metal clashing.

Then, the sound of a doorknob turning.

Tina’s body began to tremble. Her breathing faltered, and her heart pounded violently.

At last, the door opened. From beyond the darkened threshold, a figure quietly stepped into the room.

“Fuck.”

The first thing the woman spat out was a harsh curse.

“So you’re that bitch. The thief trying to take someone else’s child.”

The woman was undeniably beautiful.

Even with her deeply furrowed brow and sharply twisted expression, there was something perfectly composed about her beauty.

It became immediately clear who Tina had inherited her lovely appearance from.

“Is it you? Are you the one who gave birth to Tina?”

Artasha slowly brushed off her knees and stood.

“No, please…! You’ll be punished…!”

Tina knew.

She knew that no matter how she dared to stand up to that woman, the only thing that would come in return was merciless violence.

So, instinctively, Tina grabbed Artasha’s fingertips.

“Daughter, whose side are you on right now?”

The words, sharp as needles, stabbed into Tina.

Her face instantly went pale, and she pulled her hand back. She stepped backward, as if to flee.

“I-I’m sorry… Mom…”

Tsk–

The woman clicked her tongue briefly, then picked up something lying in the corner of the room.

A 7-iron golf club, the end of which was marked with a clear red stain.

The heavy, blunt piece of metal was slowly lifted toward Artasha.

“Get lost before I kill you. Stay away from someone else’s child.”

“…Child?”

Artasha replied in a low, calm voice.

“Do you really think you have the right to call Tina your child?”

Artasha’s composure only seemed to further agitate the woman.

“What a shameless bitch.”

The woman tapped Artasha’s shoulder with the metal club.

“You think you can preach when you can’t even take care of your own daughter?”

Her lips twisted in a sneer.

“Answer me. Your daughter said she wished you were dead—didn’t she?”

Artasha simply looked at her in silence.

Maybe that made it even more infuriating.

The woman let out a mocking snort and spun the club once in her hand.

“At least my child doesn’t harbor that kind of ungrateful feeling toward her parents.”

Artasha quietly reached out and grabbed the end of the golf club.

“You’re right. My daughter and I were deeply estranged.”

The woman tried to yank the club back, but it didn’t budge in Artasha’s firm grip.

“That’s why I’m going to do even better for her.”

Artasha turned to Tina and smiled gently.

Tina, staring blankly at that smile, slightly parted her lips.

“You crazy bitch. You’re still calling my property your daughter?!”

A red vein bulged on the woman’s temple.

Consumed by rage, she flung the golf club away and raised her hand high.

She was about to slap Artasha across the face.

But before the hand could land, Artasha swiftly ducked and slipped into the woman’s space.

In one fluid motion, Artasha reached out and grabbed the woman’s arm.

In an instant, she twisted her body and, with the woman on her back, dropped her knees and rotated her waist.

The off-balance woman’s body was lifted into the air—then slammed straight into the ground.

Thud!

A dull, heavy impact as her face crashed into the floor echoed through the space, followed by the woman’s scream.

“Aaaagh…! My face!!”

Artasha looked down coldly at the woman, who was curled up and groaning in pain.

In her tightly pressed lips and the icy blue glow of her eyes, there was fury and bloodlust that had long been suppressed.

“Don’t you ever think of laying a hand on my daughter’s face again.”

With those chilling words, Artasha added one more line:

“You fucking bitch.”

Hearing Artasha’s coarse profanity for the first time in her life, Tina stared at her in stunned silence.

With eyes sharp as blades, Artasha stepped toward Tina.

“Daughter, do you really think everything you’ve endured until now was a parent’s discipline?”

Without any warning, she slipped an arm under Tina’s armpits and lifted her up with ease.

“H-Huh?!”

Tina let out a surprised scream as she was hoisted into the air.

But Artasha, supporting her firmly with strong arms, sat down on the floor cross-legged.

Then, naturally, she positioned Tina’s stomach across her lap.

Smack—!

A sudden sharp sting.

Tina’s eyes flew wide open in shock.

Artasha had given her bottom a light spank with her palm.

Smack!

“Eek!?”

The soft shock rippled through her tender skin like a wave.

A high-pitched cry slipped from Tina’s mouth before she could stop it.

“Tina Blanc, stop giving your mother grief and come home with me already.”

A cold voice.

But following that came a smile warmer than anything else.

“This is what a parent’s discipline looks like, my daughter.”

In her serious gaze was overflowing affection.

Tina’s heart pounded violently. It wouldn’t stop.

“You fucking bitch! Did I say you could touch my property?!”

A viciously twisted voice.

The woman, who had been slammed to the floor, was now back on her feet.

A golf club gripped tightly in both hands.

Her proud nose was slightly broken, and blood was running down. She no longer looked beautiful.

“And you! Fucking moaning like that for another bitch?! You’d better be ready!”

The woman’s murderous gaze turned toward Tina.

Faced with those terrifying eyes, Tina began to drop to her knees in fear—

But she didn’t fall.

Not until Artasha gently reached out and stroked her head.

“Don’t worry.”

Mouthing the words silently, Artasha stood up.

“Turns out, protecting a crumbling household sometimes requires a bit of force.”

“W-What are you saying?!”

“Just thinking… I really was the right choice to become the head of the family.”

Artasha’s lips curled into a deep smile.

And slowly, she beckoned to the woman with two fingers.

As if daring her to come closer.