WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Malfoid

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◈ I Don't Need a Family ◈

Episode 7

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That day, Vivette did not appear at dinner in the main residence, just as she had not since her twentieth birthday.

What was stranger was that Harris Ashwilt had suddenly shown up without a word.

‘The boy who never even casts a shadow here unless Father calls for him or Vivette drags him over.’

After placing below expectations on the entrance exam, Gillian had assumed Harris would stay far away from the main residence for a while.

Gillian glanced at him, but Harris only sulkily pushed the beans around on his plate.

Ever since Vivette stopped coming, the dinner table had been unbearably cold.

The atmosphere was already terrible because Harris had come in second, and without Vivette here to carefully read the room and lighten the mood, it was like sitting on a bed of nails.

But Harris had no time to worry about the household atmosphere.

‘She didn’t even praise me or comfort me. It was like she was looking at some stranger’s child.’

His thoughts were a mess.

‘I still wanted to hear her congratulate me for getting in.’

He could only resent the sister whose attitude had changed as though she were a different person.

Sometimes, a person suddenly finds themself desperately in need of affection. For Harris, that moment was now.

But Vivette had been cold, and when he turned to the family in the main residence instead, this was the result.

Clack.

In the silence, the sound of the Duke setting down his spoon rang out particularly loudly.

“Why doesn’t someone say something? Don’t sit there looking glum as though you’ve all been put under a silence spell.”

Apparently, even the Duke found it uncomfortable.

Yet the two young lords only looked at each other, unable to step forward.

For over a decade, they had watched what happened whenever Vivette tried to revive the miserable atmosphere by saying whatever came to mind.

The two young lords merely kept their mouths firmly shut. They truly had nothing to say.

Neither had ever tried to be affectionate to curry favor with the Duke, nor did they enjoy idle chatter.

Vivette was the only one in this house capable of small talk. How had she done it again?

‘I can’t even remember. It’s not as if I ever listened closely when Vivette was talking.’

Gillian laughed at himself inwardly.

By then, the right moment had already passed.

“Hmph. I raised you all, yet my children cannot even keep me company in conversation. What unlovable creatures.”

The Duke gave a chilly smile.

“Still nothing? Fine, then I shall start the conversation.”

Just as the Duke was about to point to one of them, the head chef suddenly emerged from the kitchen.

Though naturally somewhat hot-tempered, the Duke was publicly known as a benevolent lord. He suppressed his irritation and asked,

“Chef, what is it?”

He assumed the chef had come, as usual, to ask whether the meal suited their tastes. Yet the chef only stared at the plates of food.

Given the atmosphere, no one had properly eaten, and the table was almost unchanged from thirty minutes earlier. The chef’s face crumpled.

“D-Does the food not suit your tastes?”

Speaking in place of his inexperienced son and nephew, who did not know how to reassure those beneath them, the Duke said,

“No. We were merely talking, so the meal has been delayed.”

“But even on the day of the banquet...”

The day of the banquet? The Duke searched his memories and recalled it. News had arrived that an imperial princess had been born, so they had left early.

“I heard you left early, but there was hardly any sign that you had eaten. And even Miss Vivette, who loves delicious food, did not say a word about enjoying it.”

It was ordinary for the Duke and young lords not to offer a word of praise, but not Vivette.

She always praised the food so lavishly that the kitchen staff would puff up with pride. If she said nothing, it meant the food had been terrible.

The Duke found himself troubled as he tried to reassure the chef, who was wondering whether it was time to hang up his apron.

“That child has been strange lately. Please be understanding, Chef.”

He had heard that Vivette rose from the table without hesitation as soon as the three of them left. A banquet table dazzling with every kind of fine dish, prepared in celebration of her birthday.

‘A child who could never get enough of good food.’

Unlike the rest of the family, who had no particular preferences about food, Vivette had many favorite dishes.

“Father, try this. Hehe, the sorbet is really good.”

“Stop being so greedy for food and focus on your mana training. You have no results because your mind keeps wandering after distractions.”

It had irritated him to see her fussing about without knowing the bitterness eating away inside him, but her tastes had always been a great help when meals were prepared.

Whenever the chef asked what should be served at a banquet, the Duke only had to name the dishes his daughter liked. The kitchen staff would smile as though they could not help themselves.

“Your Grace truly cares deeply for your daughter. Miss Vivette only needs to understand her father’s heart a little more.”

Being praised as a warm-hearted master who loved his daughter was not entirely unpleasant. It also pleased the Duke to see his daughter eat happily.

Of course, what Vivette had loved was not delicious food, but having the entire family gathered around the table. The Duke had no way of knowing that.

After the chef left, the Duke murmured before the still-silent dinner table,

“Vivette has been strange lately.”

She was certainly his daughter, yet she no longer felt like the daughter he had watched for twenty years. The Duke let his sense of loss show.

But the two young lords were not surprised. They felt the same way.

“Yes, I think so as well...”

“My sister has changed.”

Harris dared to interrupt his frightening older brother Gillian and began to ramble.

“She doesn’t smile at me or call me by a nickname anymore. She’s completely cold. Like you, Gillian.”

Gillian frowned, but Harris had forgotten how to be afraid.

He was anxious. He had lost something, and it felt as though he had to get it back immediately.

“Enough! All of you, stop. There’s no need for this. It seems her feelings were hurt because we did not celebrate her birthday, but this is not the first time she has acted this way.”

Didn’t a child who smiled easily also get angry easily? Vivette had fought bitterly with her family several times when she was younger, then shut herself in her room.

There was one difference, though. Back then, she had glared at them with tearful eyes full of complicated emotions. Now, she seemed to feel nothing for them at all.

The Duke felt uneasy, but smothered that unease with past experience.

“If we treat her well, her mood will improve soon. Just as it always has.”

“Your Grace!”

Then a commotion sounded from the distant entrance, and the head butler came rushing in, almost tumbling over himself.

“What is it this time?”

“M-Miss Vivette has... submitted a withdrawal application to the Academy!”

“What?”

“The Academy contacted us. They said her withdrawal was processed without any issue.”

Feeling his blood pressure rise to more than double its usual level, the Duke was left speechless.

* * *

“She withdrew from the Academy?”

The Duke’s eyes were bloodshot as he summoned Vivette to his office.

When Father reached that state, no one could stop him. Gillian quietly sighed, making himself as unobtrusive as possible.

“Is it true?”

“Yes.”

At her calm answer, the Duke’s fist tightened.

“Hah! You made such a major decision on your own without even asking for my permission as your father? Have you lost your mind?”

His sharp voice rang through the corridor.

Yet even while being scolded, his daughter did not seem particularly afraid. If anything, she looked at him as though he were strange.

“It doesn’t matter to you anyway.”

“What?”

“You have always been indifferent to my affairs. And to my feelings.”

Feelings? Feelings?

The Duke scoffed. What he found most pathetic were people thrown into confusion by their petty emotions.

His daughter was easily swayed by her emotions, and because Vivette was like that, Harris also sometimes became helpless before a storm of emotion.

So whenever that happened, the Duke had only criticized them sternly to set them straight, or ignored them altogether.

It was infuriating that his daughter was acting as though he had done something wrong.

“So you did something so drastic because your feelings were hurt? Over some trifling emotion?”

“That isn’t it. Father, do you really think I can make a living by using magic as my specialty? With this body that doesn’t have a speck of mana?”

The Duke’s shoulders flinched. Her words pierced to the heart of the matter while being utterly cruel.

The Duke drew a breath and fell silent, only staring at Vivette for a long time.

“I heard you also stopped the treatment you were receiving at the Mage Tower. So you have truly given up on magic.”

“Yes. It is impossible, so giving up is the right thing to do.”

“Then what is your value in this house?”

“What?”

The Duke no longer shouted. Anger that could not be resolved with raised voices and intimidation slowly crept out.

People called it killing intent, a flow of mana deadly in its very existence.

‘Kgh!’

Gillian suddenly held his breath.

The more mana was condensed and purified, the stronger its destructive force became. Right now, merely sharing a room with the Duke’s mana was difficult to endure.

‘Why is she completely unaffected?’

Was it because she could not sense mana? No. Even people without abilities were harmed by dangerous mana.

Vivette’s resistance to magic was simply absurdly high.

Even higher than Gillian Ashwilt, heir of House Ashwilt.

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