PROLOGUE

The piggy bank I had filled by squeezing every last penny out of Dad’s pockets had grown quite plump.

Without hesitation, I dropped it.

Thud!

If it had been an ordinary glass piggy bank, it would have shattered the moment it hit the ground. But the piggy bank Dad had bought me was different.

Since it was made for children, it had been coated with a magical potion that prevented it from breaking when dropped. But I wasn’t an ordinary child.

Hmph! This is nothing!

I took a pair of scissors out of my cat-embroidered bag.

These weren’t ordinary scissors, either. They were magical scissors that only worked when the user genuinely intended to cut something. Dad had won them at a gambling den, along with some money to buy snacks.

I plunged the scissors into the piggy bank’s belly. Its stomach split open, and all the coins I had saved came tumbling out.

Most of them were copper coins, but there were a few silver ones mixed in, too.

This should be enough for me to go see Mom!

Three years.

It had been a whole three years.

For those three long years, I had taken care of my foolish dad.

And that wasn’t all. Even though Mom lived somewhere beneath the same imperial sky, I couldn’t visit her because my legs were too short and my pockets were too empty.

But I couldn’t ask Dad for help, either.

If I told him that although I was his daughter, Iris, I was actually my mother’s daughter, too, Dad would only get upset again. He might even start treating other people terribly.

Even though my uncle called him a stupid idiot and a piece of trash every day, Dad had once been an incredibly powerful man who saved this country from destruction eight years ago.

He was a legendary swordsman whom nobody could defeat. If someone like him became genuinely furious, the entire country could fall. And if that happened, the world might be destroyed, too, meaning I would never get to see Mom again.

But that was all going to change today.

I’m going to be indepen—independent!

I had already carefully placed my Declaration of Independence on the desk for Dad to find.

I was eight years old now. I was practically all grown up.

Of course, compared to my actual age of ten, I was still a baby. But I wasn’t an ordinary eight-year-old, so Dad would understand.

He might even be proud of me. His clever little daughter was already becoming independent!

Heh.

After giving my nose a quick wipe, I stuffed so much money into my coin purse that it nearly burst, then firmly zipped up my bag.

Biscuits? Check! I even packed a whole box of chocolate-covered ones!

Water? Check! I brought my favorite milk, along with some cocoa powder!

Wallet? Heh! Nice and plump!

Everything was ready.

I carefully opened my bedroom door, making sure it didn’t make any creaking noises.

Then I tiptoed down the hallway, keeping my footsteps as quiet as possible.

Normally, Dad would be sprawled across the living room sofa, yawning away. But this morning, I had deliberately asked him to make something that required a lot of effort. So he was probably busy struggling with all the ingredient preparation in the kitchen right now.

As I passed through the living room, I didn’t forget to grab the bunny doll hanging on the drying rack.

Gasp! I almost forgot my Som-som!

Hugging Som-som tightly, I opened the front door.

Click.

The doorknob made a sound, but there wasn’t a peep from inside the house. Apparently, Dad hadn’t heard it.

Phew. Thank goodness.

I was just about to take a step outside when—

“Sweetheart. Where are you going?”

Gasp!

I was so startled that my entire body froze.

Creeeeak.

My neck made a creaking sound as I slowly turned to look behind me.

Only then did I realize that a dark shadow had fallen over me.

Dad was standing right behind me.

I didn’t hear his footsteps at all! Is this what it means to be the hero who saved the country?!

“Why are you suddenly carrying a bag? Going to the playground? Or are you going to visit Lia?”

“D-Daaad…”

“Yeah? What is it?”

Dad was so tall that I had to crane my neck just to look at him. Perhaps he thought I was having a hard time, because he quickly crouched down to meet my eyes.

That was when I got a proper look at his face.

He had dark, sun-kissed skin and messy, naturally wavy hair that he barely bothered to maintain. The older girls who followed Dad around, swooning over him, always said he was so seksi—or was it sexy?

There were pitch-black circles beneath his eyes, and when combined with his deeply sunken eye sockets and piercing golden eyes, they made him look as terrifying as a carnivorous beast.

Despite his intimidating appearance, my dad was kind of an idiot.

He had once boiled my white dress together with a red ribbon and turned it pink. And when he saw the very expensive liquor someone had given him as a gift, he sighed over and over before pouring every last drop down the sink.

He said something about how he couldn’t live the way he used to anymore.

Even now, instead of a newspaper, Dad was holding a ladle in his hand.

Grandma Mary once told me that people became smarter by reading a lot.

“W-Weren’t you making lasagna?”

“Yeah. I was already cooking it.”

That was strange. I was pretty sure lasagna was supposed to be a complicated dish that required a lot of effort.

“You were sneaking around so quietly that I figured you were up to something again. I thought you might crack your forehead open like last time, so I came out to check.”

“T-That was because I tried to surprise you, failed, and hurt myself while running away!”

“Oh, really? And here I thought you’d gotten hit by a ball that bounced the wrong way, fallen flat on your back, and smashed your head against a flowerpot.”

Grrrr! You’re supposed to pretend you didn’t see things like that!

I pressed my lips together, trying not to show how sulky I was. Just then, Dad suddenly snatched Som-som out of my arms.

I could see tattoos covering every knuckle of his fingers as he held my doll.

Apparently, before I came along, Dad had been a complete mess.

How much of a mess?

My uncle had once described him with a single word.

“Useless.”

A useless person was someone who had once been a war hero but had drunk and smoked so much that his liver and lungs were practically rotten, leaving him barely able to fight.

Someone who was a duke but constantly gambled and borrowed money from loan sharks until he had squandered his entire fortune.

Someone who dated so many women at once that he was practically an octopus, a piece of trash who took full advantage of his good looks.

That was what the word meant.

“If it weren’t for you, your dad would’ve kicked the bucket a long time ago. You’re the one who turned that bastard into a decent human being.”

Everyone had assumed Dad would die young at the rate he was going. But then I appeared at just the right moment and saved him.

Honestly, the reason I had kept putting off the day I would visit Mom was that I was worried about Dad.

I protected Dad and maintained world peace at the same time!

Still, he had gone from being a complete idiot to a slightly less idiotic one. Surely, he could manage just fine without me now?

“That’s my doll! Give her backkkkk!”

As I stamped my feet and threw a tantrum, Dad tossed Som-som far away from me.

Thump.

Som-som landed limply on the drying rack.

“She’s not completely dry yet. She needs more time. Otherwise, mold will grow inside her. Do you know what mold is? It’s really bad for you. It’ll make you go ouchie-ouchie.”

“I’m not a baby! I don’t use words like ‘ouchie’!”

“Sure, sure. You can’t even comb your own hair yet, so you’re definitely not a baby.”

“Grrrr…”

I had only forgotten to comb my hair because I was so excited about going to see Mom.

My chest burned with frustration over circumstances I couldn’t explain.

Dad clicked his tongue as he ran his fingers through my hair, combing it for me.

“Sweetheart, if you go out looking like that, the neighborhood ladies will badmouth me. They’ll say I’m a terrible father who can’t even comb his own daughter’s hair. And what are you wearing? That skirt is out of season. The colors don’t even match… Tsk. No matter how I look at it, our daughter just doesn’t have any artistic talent.”

“That’s not true! I have lots of talent! Didn’t you see the picture I drew of you last time? My teacher recognized you right away!”

“You drew me holding a ladle while we were cooking together, but your teacher thought I was chugging liquor straight from a bottle. She even asked me to come in for a parent-teacher conference.”

“…”

I puffed out my cheeks and glared at Dad, but he didn’t look the least bit intimidated.

I supposed you had to be someone like him to slice through demons, slay monsters, and save the world.

Huff! Huff!

“Anyway, let’s go inside and change your clothes first.”

Dad started to scoop me up into his arms, but I suddenly snapped back to my senses.

“Not now!”

“Why not? Not in the mood? I’ve lived long enough to know that you can’t go through life doing whatever you feel like.”

“That’s not it! I-I’m going to become independent now! I left a letter and my Declaration of Independence in my room, so go read them!”

“We agreed you’d become independent when you turned twenty-nine.”

“B-But that was…”

That was then, and this was now!

He was already a thirty-one-year-old man, yet he expected me to keep my promises!

I couldn’t just stay here and let Dad comb my hair.

If we started combing each other’s hair, we would probably end up playing dress-up and putting makeup on each other. By the time we finished, it would be time to eat. And after eating, I would inevitably get sleepy and fall fast asleep.

Then, just like every other day, my chance to see Mom would be ruined.

So I quickly dashed through the doorway and shouted at the top of my lungs.

“Waaaaah! I’m sorry, Daaaaad! Starting today, I’m no longer your daughter, so don’t come looking for me!”

I loved Dad, too, but I missed Mom so, so much!

Honestly, nothing in life ever went the way I wanted it to.