"Clack—"
In the darkness, a crisp scraping sound rang out. A small match flared to life in midair, its flame dancing as it rapidly consumed the remaining wood. Before the fire could burn down to his fingertips, the hand holding it swiftly brought the match to the wick of a kerosene lamp and lit it. Then, with a flick of the wrist, the half-burnt match was extinguished, tossed to the floor, and ground under a hard shoe sole several times. Only after confirming it was completely out did its owner finally turn his attention elsewhere.
The warm yellow glow from the kerosene lamp illuminated Zuojian and Eblana, and with them, this rather spacious basement room.
"What is this place? That ancestral treasure vault you kept muttering about?"
Standing behind Zuojian, Eblana curiously examined her surroundings. Several tables had been neatly arranged against the wall, stacked high with books and handwritten manuscripts, while a wooden shelf nearby held bottles and jars of all shapes and sizes.
"It's surprisingly clean."
Since she no longer felt any need to keep up a pretense around him, she simply stepped forward, pulled one of the books off the pile, and started flipping through it.
But after only two pages, her carefree expression tightened into a frown.
"Uh..."
Clearly, little Eblana couldn't understand the contents. The book was written in Victorian, and it wasn't as if she were illiterate, but for some reason, once those familiar words were put together on the page, they became completely incomprehensible to her.
Before she could say anything, Zuojian reached out, took the book from her hands, and returned it to its place.
"This sort of thing is still far too early for a child. Honestly, not even most adults could understand it."
As he spoke, he pointed at the cover, where the title read:
Modern Medicine: Immunity and Prevention
Then, glancing over the assorted bottles and jars nearby, he said to Eblana,
"This is my workshop. As a doctor, I use this place to prepare medicine, and sometimes I also sort through and analyze my patients' cases here."
That also explained why this area, unlike the rest of the manor, was not buried beneath dust and the traces of time.
"A doctor's workshop?"
Eblana cast another look at the wooden shelf. It was lined with all sorts of labels—some for familiar medicines, some unfamiliar, and some completely unknown to her. That made her believe his words a little more, though her eyes narrowed again as she asked,
"So tell me, do you dislike sunlight? Why keep your workspace in a basement like this? Or could it be that my dear new father is secretly the sort who brews poi—"
Before she could finish, Zuojian simply cupped her face in both hands and kneaded her cheeks thoroughly, smiling as he did so.
"I already told you, stop imagining your adoptive father as some kind of villain all the time. If there really were anything shady down here, why would I have brought you with me?"
"Mmgh..."
Eblana staggered back two steps, wrenching herself free from his hands. Then, once again wearing that gloomy expression, she tilted her head and replied,
"Who knows? Maybe my dear adoptive father recognized that I have a natural talent for evil, and intends to raise me as his successor."
Hearing her casually blurt out another bizarre line, Zuojian sighed and stepped forward, rubbing her head again. This time she didn't resist much at all. It seemed both sisters were relatively tolerant of head pats.
"Unfortunately, I have neither some grand evil scheme for you to inherit, nor do I think you're a child born bad."
He spoke while absentmindedly rubbing her head.
At that, she slightly opened those vertical Draco pupils of hers and looked up at him, letting out a voice tinged with mockery.
"Oh, is that so? Then Father dear, your eyesight and judgment truly are... 'different from ordinary people.'"
Zuojian, of course, had no idea what she was really thinking or from what mindset those words had come, so he merely smiled and took everything she said as a kind of acknowledgment.
"Speaking of which, didn't you say we came down here to solve our financial troubles?"
"That's right. I just didn't expect the entrance marked on the blueprints to lead here."
Remembering he still had serious business to attend to and couldn't waste more time on "friendly exchanges" with Eblana, Zuojian took out the manor plans and held them up in the kerosene light. Pointing at the map, he explained,
"According to the plans, the Lefort family flourished in the days before the Aslan fully consolidated imperial power. Their wealth became so immense that even the vaults above ground could no longer contain it. In order to protect the family's most valuable assets, several heads of the household had a large number of underground storage structures built beneath the manor..."
He was only halfway through speaking when Eblana cut in from the side.
"The way you say that, it almost sounds as though you aren't the Lefort family heir at all. More like a grave robber studying how best to pry open their inheritance."
Now that she had abandoned all pretense, Eblana's sharp eyes and sharper tongue kept producing one cutting remark after another whenever she was around him.
Zuojian froze for a moment after she hit the mark so directly, then scratched the back of his head and said helplessly,
"In a way, that's not wrong. By the time it reached me, I was already the very picture of a ruined noble. Family glory, ancestors, all of that—none of it matters more than an empty stomach. And now, a washed-up noble like me has somehow ended up with two adorable daughters. So if I need to borrow a little something from the ancestral storerooms to help them live better, I'm sure the old family heads wouldn't hold it against me."
Zuojian explained all this with complete composure, patching over the logic with his assigned "role" in a way that was annoyingly reasonable.
Reasonable enough that even Eblana couldn't immediately find fault with it.
Of course, her not finding fault with it didn't mean she believed a single word.
Not one.
She didn't even buy his line about "borrowing a little from the ancestors just to survive."
Because he had just exposed a very important piece of information.
He was a doctor.
And not just any doctor, but clearly one with his own clinic. In Victoria, doctors like that were not rare—but without exception, none of them lived in utter poverty.
So how could someone like him possibly go bankrupt just because he took her and Loughshinny out for one meal and bought them a few sets of clothes? How could that logically drive him into pawning off family relics in an underground vault for extra money?
It simply didn't add up.
There had to be another reason he came down here.
Eblana felt she had finally found a crack in him. All she had to do now was wait for him to expose himself further.
Zuojian, meanwhile, paid no attention to the silent Eblana behind him, who seemed lost in her own thoughts. Instead, he stepped up to the wooden shelf, consulting the blueprints in his hands.
"The plans say the real entrance is behind this wall...?"
Realizing something, he stepped forward and tried to push the heavy wooden shelving aside. But despite gritting his teeth and straining with every ounce of strength he had, all he managed was to shift it a few centimeters.
Watching him work up a full sweat, Eblana frowned and asked curiously,
"Is it that heavy?"
"Hah... very heavy... huh?"
Just as Zuojian was wondering how he was supposed to move it, little Eblana stepped up beside him with a curious look and placed her hands on it too.
The result left him dumbfounded.
The shelving unit he'd barely been able to budge on his own suddenly slid aside with ease the moment she added her strength.
Zuojian already knew there was a very real numerical gap between the physique of an ordinary Earth human and a Terran, but Eblana was just a child. Why did she have that kind of strength too?
Why was this kid so strong?
And while Zuojian was staring in astonishment, Eblana found herself looking back at him with equal disbelief.
Why is he so weak?
By all rights, any adult should have been able to push that shelving unit aside. Why had Zuojian looked as though even with all his might, he couldn't make it move?
At the very least, the flushed face and labored breathing he'd shown just now hadn't been an act.
This man...
His physical condition was terrible.
And that frail body actually housed ambitions grand enough to try and seize control of two red dragons? The thought was almost laughable.
When she looked at his sweat-soaked face, a flicker of ridicule rose in her eyes.
"Come on then, Father~"
Taking the kerosene lamp from his hand, Eblana ignored the breathless Zuojian behind her and strode straight into the passageway that had appeared behind the shelf.
The image of him struggling just to shove a bookcase kept replaying in her mind. Seeing him make such a fool of himself improved her mood a little.
Behind her, his hurried breathing and footsteps echoed on as he kept telling her to slow down.
Hearing that, not only did she not slow down, she even let the corner of her mouth rise a little.
Heh. Is that all it takes? As the father of a red dragon, your stamina is honestly rather pathetic.
Mocking her adoptive father in her heart, her tail even began to sway with a faintly cheerful rhythm.
And then, just as she turned, ready to appreciate the sight of his disheveled state in full—
A faint cracking sound came from overhead.
Crack.
In an instant, Draco instinct made alarm bells ring through her body. Eblana snapped her head up, and in the firelight she saw fine fractures racing through the load-bearing structure of the tunnel ceiling. The neglected support beam gave one last mournful groan and split clean in two.
Worse still, one of the broken sections came down sharp-pointed, carrying bricks and earth straight toward her.
Her pupils contracted.
She immediately knew she couldn't get out of the collapse zone in time.
And in that same instant, the cold of death crept up from the soles of her feet and climbed her spine, making her understand with terrifying clarity—
I might die.
But then, the next second, a man's voice rang out by her ear—and with it came a powerful shove.
"Watch out!"
Eblana felt herself suddenly caught up in someone's arms and hurled hard toward the deeper part of the tunnel. Yet the pain she'd expected never came.
Someone had protected her. Using the force of his charge, he had carried her clear of the collapsing section, then shielded her with his own body so she wouldn't slam against the cold stone floor.
In a place like this, there was no question who had done it.
She opened her eyes and looked at Zuojian's face, twisted with pain, and for a moment she didn't know what to do.
"You..."
The latter half of the question—Are you okay?—never made it out.
Because several drops of warm liquid splashed against her face and stopped her cold.
She looked up.
A sharp wooden splinter hung only a few centimeters from her neck—close enough that it would have pierced her throat if it had fallen any differently.
At its tip, blood was gathering drop by drop, then falling onto her cheek, bringing with it the smell of iron and a warm wetness.
Zuojian had saved her.
But his body was too weak to guarantee both of them would come out unharmed. So, in that instant, he had made a choice.
Like a real father shielding his child, he had put her in front of himself and used his own frail body to take what should have been a fatal blow—letting the wooden spike drive straight through his shoulder.
"...Are you okay...? Hurt anywhere...?"
Even with his shoulder pierced clean through, Zuojian forced his eyes open against the pain. His lips had gone pale, but the first thing he asked was whether the girl in his arms was injured.
"You... why...?"
Eblana stared at him with wide, uncomprehending eyes.
His body was this weak. Why would he still put himself in front of her? Because of ambition? Because she was useful?
But all of that required one thing above all else—you had to stay alive yourself.
If you died, then wouldn't all of it be meaningless?
Unable to understand his choice, unable to understand why he wouldn't even stop to weigh the pros and cons, Eblana watched as Zuojian bared his teeth in a crooked, painful smile.
"Why... ha... because... you called me 'father.'"
-------
My : pat*eon*com/RuneA
I, Herta's Fiancé, the Universe's Number One Male Fist (114 Chapter (Simulpub-Full) )
Zenless Zone Zero: I'm a Succubus in Sixth Street (400 Chapter)
Reborn in Type-Moon, My Sister is Aoko Aozaki (254 Chapter)
MyGO!! A Story Voiced by Me (140 Chapter)
BLEACH: Blade of Purification (158 Chapter)
Konoha: Starting the Game as Yoriichi (400 Chapter)
My Real Job is Spying on Konoha, but I'm Also its Hokage (140 Chapter)
The Pinnacle of the Navy! Starting from Being Captured by Garp (172 Chapter)
Watching Yu-Gi-Oh! short videos is making the veteran players lose...(80 Chapter)
Uma Musume : The Trainer Who Just Wants to Live (200 Chapter)
Zenless Zone Zero The Random Kamen Rider (200 Chapter)
Genshin Impact: It All Began With Me Being Stepped On by Arlecchino (120 Chapter)
Naruto: I Can Synthesize Summoning Beasts (96 Chapter)
Demon Slayer: The Great Swordsman's System, Disciple of Yoriichi (140 Chapter)
My Wife is a General, but I'm an Emanator of Abundance! (160 Chapter)
Type-Moon: My Nine-Fold Path (140 Chapter)
Uma Musume: They're Peeking at My Diary, and All of Tracen is Panickin (Ending)
The Wild History of Type-Moon world (70 Chapter)
Reborn in Conan, But I Refuse to Be the Bad Guy (80 Chapter)
Ruan Mei is begging me to go back? But there's no going back anymore (140 Chapter)
Just a Slacker at Tracen Academy (165 Chapter)
Survival in Blue Archive (70 Chapter)
Kimetsu no Yaiba: Doma Wasn't Hated Today, Either (100 Chapter)
The Vibe of This Chat Group is a Little Off (100 Chapter)
Heartbreak Simulator: I Broke Them and Made Them Cry (80 Chapter)
The Talentless Trainer Doesn't Want to Restart (80 Chapter)
A Journey Starting as a Quincy (80 Chapter)
Uma Musume: The Master of Romance Obstruction (80 Chapter)
Uma Musume: You Can't Be a Hero Without a Little Chemical Enhancement (40 Chapter)
Honkai Impact 3rd Your Boyfriend is Really Amazing (40 Chapter)
Warhammer 40K: My Fiancée, Fulgrim (180 Chapter)
Classroom of the Elite: Trying to Capture Me! (120 Chapter)
Genshin Impact My Named Senji Muramas (150 Chapter)
A Chef, the Vice-Captain of the Rocks Pirates? (160 Chapter)
Naruto : My Uchiha Girlfriend is Too Tsundere (130 Chapter)
Type-Moon: Reincarnated in a Lostbelt, I Became the Alien God (90 Chapter)
The Way These Horse Girls Look at Me Is Terrifying! (160 Chapter)
Naruto: Tsunade's Deskmate (130 Chapter)
I Just Want to Live a Normal (50 Chapter).
Genshin Impact: A Hundred Confessions? It's Just a System Task (70 Chapter)
OnePiece : Starting as a Veteran of the Roger Pirates (60 Chapter)
Uma Musume : I Have Special Horse Taming Techniques (190 Chapter)
Uma Musume : My other self is a Horse Girl (130 Chapter)
Jujutsu Kaisen : All Affection Stats Maxed Out (200 Chapter)
Satou Kazuma's Decision to Live by Swindling, Starting from Re:Zero (60 Chapter)
Bleach : Ichigo! Take Over the Soul Society (89 Chapter)
Crossover Anime: The Master of Plagiarism with a 'Love Obstacle (140 Chapter)
Arknights Succubus Nurturing System, But I'm a Quiet Office Worker (90 Chapter)
Genshin Impact: Using My Personas to Break the Hearts of Players (50 Chapter)
One Punch Man : i am King? (150 Chapter)
Genshin: My Stats Are Irresistible (70 Chapter)
Naruto: Master of Dream Fulfillment! (70 Chapter)
Why Are All My Chat Group Friends Spin-Off Characters? (130 Chapter)
Arknights : Batman System (30 Chapter)
Chat Group: Swapping Bodies with the Bad-Ending Herta from the Start (80 Chapter)
DanMachi: Why Did My Dungeon Turn Into a Soulslike Game? (130 Chapter)
Losing Money on Uma Musume...What Do You Mean You Actually Won? (120 Chapter)
I'm Gotou Hitori—Who Are You? (40 Chapter)
Were You Ever Even a Uma Musume? Stop Making Things Up! (78 Chapter)
Moon Project: A Full-Time Love Adventure for the Lobotomy Corporation (75 Chapter)
The Leisurely Days of the Hyuga Main House (65 Chapter)
Arknights : A Draco Surviving in a Matriarchal Terra (189 Chapter)
Arknights: What if My Luck Is Too Good? (135 Chapter)
Honkai: The Romance System Only Shows Up After I Marry Mei (55 Chapter)
Arknights: Who Are You Calling Repressed, X?! (145 Chapter)
The Chat Group Only Arrived After I'd Cleared the Game (102 Chapter)
Gojo Satoru Flat-Out Refuses to Admit He's a Supporting Character (40 Chapter)
Chat Group Isn't Supposed to Be Like This! (30 Chapter)
If You're Moriarty…then Who Am I? (140 Chapter)
Uma Musume: Since I "Can't See," They Take Turns Stealing My Underwear (50 Chapter)
Arknights: Why Are All My "Brothers" Girls? (54 Chapter)
Danmachi: Start Training Haki (59 Chapter)
Emiya Shirou's Rebirth (30 Chapter)
I Can Get Stronger Just by AFK'ing—So I Joined a Chat Group (50 Chapter)
Endfield: I Can Always Pull Out One Yuan (65 Chapter)
Limbus Company : I Started a Company in Project Moon (50 Chapter)
Lobotomy: Do Cooks of Alley 23 Dream of Bloodfiend Knights? (50 Chapter)
DanMachi: Freya Familia's "One-Blade Shura" (60 Chapter)
DanMachi: Emiya, the Great Hero Becomes the Protagonist (90 Chapter)
TYPE-MOON: One Special Instance Every Week (40 Chapter)
From Danmachi: The Abundance Apothecary (70 Chapter)
Lord Shadow Descends on DanMachi (90 Chapter)
Fuse with Me, Exusiai! (41 Chapter)
Honkai: Star Rail — After I Die, I Forge Their Madness (60 Chapter)
DanMachi: The Last Zeus Familia (75 Chapter)
Endfield: Arknights Heroic Spirit Summoning (75 Chapter)
Toyokawa Family Finances (105 Chapter)
Starting From DanMachi to Become Stronger (80 Chapter)
DanMachi: My Familia Is Made Up Entirely of Heroines from Every World! (65 Chapter)
Arknights: My Intel Refreshes Daily (90 Chapter)
Digimon : I Never Meant to Do Evil, Even Though I Wasn't Chosen (40 Chapter)
Miss Holmes Could Never Be the Losing Heroine! (40 Chapter)
Takayama Gamu at Tracen Academy (40 Chapter)
Legendary Trainer Takes on MYGO (40 Chapter)
Arknights : Yandere Game: The Operators Have Come Knocking (70 Chapter)
Arknights: This Dating Sim Is Seriously Wrong! (70 Chapter)
If there's a particular novel you're enjoying on Patron, please give it a 'like' so I know to focus on it