Chapter 2.Caelius von Wittelsbach

Aria spent a week at the Wittelsbach manor. She was determined to cheer Caelius up, but there were few ways to comfort her devastated father in the aftermath of the disaster.

“Hey… dad…….”

“What happened?” he asked with a worried tone.

“Hey, this is something I drew, and I wanted to give it to you, Dad!”

Aria referred to herself as ‘Lily’ and presented a small drawing paper. This behavior is similar to what is seen in parenting videos. During the conversation, Aria’s hands and feet were in agony, though she hid her discomfort.

Caelius and Aria, with their golden hair, stood side by side on the drawing paper, holding hands.

Aria intentionally displayed innocence with a smile. She refused to be used as a traitorous chess pawn.

Caelius’ face briefly showed a hint of emotion, but he quickly regained his composure and smiled. Speaking insincerely, he said, “That’s great, that’s good; the villa seems to have brightened up since your arrival, and that makes me happy.

Caelius moved over to Aria, putting down a pile of papers that looked very important, and gently stroked Aria’s hair.

They made eye contact, and Aria smiled back but felt scared.

Then she took out a small, folded paper flower from her skirt pocket.

Caelius interrupted Aria with a cold look when she said, “Dad, this is for you.

“A flower?”

Aria continued, her tiny shoulders twitching but not showing it.
“Yes! I made it for you Daddy!”

Caelius replied, “Thank you, daughter.”

Caelius accepted what Aria gave him with a smile and displayed it on his office desk.

Aria felt humiliated and chewed her lower lip anxiously as she looked at him.

‘Why?’

‘None of the other tyrant dads in the novels were this good.

They initially treat them poorly, then gradually approach them until they are caught off guard and become foolish. This is essentially what tyrant dad parenting is!

However, Caelius always smiles, no matter what she says or does, so she can’t figure him out.’

The fathers of the fictional tyrant were honest about their feelings.

If they didn’t like their daughters, they were cruel, but if they thought they were cute and deserved to be tolerated, they were coddling and sweet.

In contrast, Caelius always smiled.

Dealing with him was difficult. He always returned with a friendly smile, even though I could see that he was gradually changing in response to my efforts.

‘I guess I’m screwed after all’

Aria was heartbroken. Caelius’ transformation was proving more difficult than she had anticipated.

If anything, her tyrannical fathers during childhood seemed easier to bear than the insane, murdering maniac in front of her.

She knew she couldn’t give up; she didn’t have any other option.

Aria tightened her grip on the hem of her skirt, suppressing her fear.

‘I must approach Caelius closely. I need to get closer to him.’

Undaunted, she tried again. This time, she spoke softly to Caelius, saying, “Hey, Dad…”

Caelius turned his attention to Aria as she called out to him.

She asked, “Do you mind if we take a walk?”

Aria spoke with trepidation, fearing rejection and being despised by him for being so busy with his work.

Aria tightened her grip on herself. But, contrary to her expectations, Caelius was gentler this time.

“Sure there’s nothing I can’t do for my daughter. Come on, let’s go for a walk in the garden; maybe we can have some tea together.”

Nonetheless, he gladly accepted Aria’s offer to go for a walk in the garden and have some tea together, leaving her momentarily speechless. Caelius had a considerable workload, as evidenced by the substantial piles of papers on his desk.

‘Look at this. What kind of tyrannical dad in the world would react like this from the start?’

Aria felt a cold sweat trickle down the back of her neck as Caelius extended a large hand towards her. He looked up with gentleness and offered a smile as if inviting her for an escort.

Caelius’s weathered and callused hands, along with his rugged face, spoke of battles and hardships.

Aria momentarily forgot she was supposed to hold his hand, lost in her thoughts.

‘How many lives have these hands taken? How many people have they killed? How much blood have they spilled? And how can that hand not have my blood on it.?’

As she thought about the possibility of that hand someday taking her life, she instinctively recoiled. Her heart raced with a thump, thump.

Aria tried to steady herself. She took a shaky breath and attempted to calm her stomach. Caelius’s voice drifted over her head.

Caelius called urgently, “Daughter?”

Finally, Aria pulled herself together. She forced the corners of her mouth up and reached for his hand. Her fingertips trembled, which did not betray her emotions.

She said, “I don’t want to die. I will survive.”

Aria followed him, despite her reddening eyes. She had reassured herself many times that she would survive. But the fear of an uncertain future remained.

* * *

Caelius had been a devoted parent.

He tried to accomplish whatever Aria asked of him, and he kept every primitive picture or flower she drew and displayed it in his office.

As if it were done on purpose.

“My daughter seems to enjoy paper crafts.”

Caelius grumbled as he looked at Aria’s new paper flowers.

“Maybe I should get you an art teacher or a papercraft teacher.”

Aria paused at the mention of a teacher. She wasn’t interested in Origami in the first place and had only weakly mimicked the movements of the other Lopan mistresses to impress Caelius.

This was the outcome of her efforts.

“It doesn’t matter; it won’t change anything since it’s all fake laughter.”

Aria took a deep breath, trying to calm the lump in her throat.

She said, “It’s okay; I just made it for you, Dad.”

Aria smiled awkwardly as he looked at her paintings and paper flowers, which had already taken up a whole bookcase.

She asked, “Can I put these here too?”

He replied, “No, bring them here.” I should leave my daughter’s labor of love on my desk for the rest of the day.”

Aria wondered what kind of tyrant father would do such a thing.

She struggled with her decision, feeling uneasy about the threatening undertone of his smiling face, and the lack of obvious change only added to her anxiety.

She carefully placed the paper flower on his desk with shaky hands, and his enigmatic smile remained unchanged.

“Daughter.”

“Yes?”

Caelius asked Aria if he could introduce her at the Imperial Fall Banquet next month.

Aria paused and averted her eyes at the unexpected offer, but she couldn’t refuse Caelius’ offer.

Aria hesitated but finally agreed.

“I’m all for it!” she said.

“Really?”

“Yeah! Hehe, I love anything with you.”

Caelius smiled and hugged Aria in response to her answer.

“I like everything I do with my daughter too.”

A lie. A blatant lie.

He invited her to go dress shopping for his daughter’s debutante ball.

Caelius kissed her back. He had invited her to go shopping.
Even though I had read the original story, I was still confused by his presence before me. I can only imagine how confusing it would have been if I hadn’t read the original.

‘I will stop thinking about it.’

Goosebumps!

His smiling face was a solid mask with no visible cracks. Aria could only clench her hands and curl the corners of her mouth.

* * *

Caelius was great; to be more specific, he was just kind to Aria.

He was kind to everyone who helped him, but he was especially kind to Aria, treating her as if she were the most important person of all.

That was still true now.

“I think my daughter will look good in this golden dress.”

‘My father is such a tyrant,’ Aria thought as she watched Caelius carefully choose each piece of dress.

She simply agreed when he selected the dress.

A gown for someone who has been living in the Marquise’s attic in a tiny slip she thinks Aeryn wore.

Aria was unsure of the situation, so she relied on the clerk and Caelius. Shopping for a dress proved to be more time-consuming and overwhelming than she had anticipated.

“Daughter, are you feeling uncomfortable?”

Caelius asked. He was worried because he had noticed her discomfort.

“I’m fine; it’s just that I’ve never done anything like this before, so it’s a little awkward.”

Aria, never refusing to pass up an opportunity, shrugged her shoulders pitifully.

“I mean, I didn’t go dress shopping when I was at the Marquis’s, so it feels a bit odd.”

Aria stared up at Caelius with as much sullenness as she could summon, knowing it wasn’t precisely a lie.

She knew it wasn’t entirely untrue when she said, “Normally, I’d expect a man to sympathize with this sort of thing.”

Caelius remained the same, soothing her with fake sympathy while hiding his true intentions behind a hard mask.

He said, “I’m sorry I wasn’t a more attentive father.”

She replied with a simple “Ah”.

“Don’t worry. We’ll make up for it by spending more time with you in the future.”

Aria got goosebumps. He patted her shoulder.

Aria expressed her gratitude with a simple “Thank you.

His mask remained strong. He softly smiled and comforted her, but his dark eyes showed no love or affection.

Caelius took her to a popular restaurant and dessert cafe for young people before returning to the mansion later that day.

Aria found all of them uncomfortable, even melt-in-your-mouth cake or sparkling jewelry that hurt her eyes. It felt like a trap that was sapping her breath away.

Daughter, you have had a long day. This is our first outing together, and I wanted to make it memorable. I did a lot of research, and I hope you like it.

Upon returning from the outing, Aria found a bouquet of dozens of roses waiting for her. She stared at the flowers in front of her.

“I’ll try to spend more time with you next time,” Caelius said in a soothing voice. Aria narrowed her eyes, her expression as uncontrollable as an idiot.

It took a while for Aria to look up at him. When she did, their eyes met. His eyes were deep black, and he was staring intently at Aria.

Suddenly, Aria’s heart skipped a beat. It wasn’t a feeling of happiness, admiration,  excitement, or anything else.

‘Crazy. This is all a lie.’
Yes, it was fear. A small shiver ran down Aria’s spine. Despite her resistance, it was an instinctive fear that caused her vision to blur.

‘Why the hell is he doing this? The words he whispered in my ear, the kindness he has shown me today, the gentle smile on his face, none of it is real. How can someone be so fake?’

‘I don’t understand. No, I’ll never understand.’

Aria struggled to understand, feeling as if the ground was crumbling beneath her feet. She did not dare to break through the seemingly impenetrable disguise of Caelius. Each confrontation left her feeling more dejected as if she were losing ground each time she faced him.

Her throat felt constricted. She had to swallow repeatedly, fighting back tears, until she finally calmed down and was able to open her mouth.

“Thank you. Dad.”

Her fingers trembled as she took the bouquet. At the time, she was so frightened that she dropped the bouquet on the floor.

The red roses fell with a loud crash, their shredded petals looking like blood on the ground.

“Ah…….”

The flowers between Caelius and Aria looked like a tangled mess.

I apologize, Dad. I didn’t do it intentionally.

Aria picked up the broken bouquet quickly, afraid of upsetting Caelius.

“Oh no!”

He was likely surprised by the suddenness of it.

But Caelius was quicker to respond.

“Don’t worry, it’s just a rose, and I can buy another one.”

“But…”

It is all right; there is no “but.”

“I apologize for my mistake.”

Aria’s voice broke, resembling that of a frightened child.

“I’ll take care of that.”

Aria reached for the hastily ruined bouquet, but Caelius shook his head as if he genuinely didn’t mind.

“If you don’t mind, I’ll send a new one to your room in the morning.”

Caelius smiled and signaled for the attendants around him to assist Aria with bathing and massage, considering her likely exhaustion.

“I wish you a good night. I’ll see you tomorrow morning, daughter.”

Aria watched Caelius’ back as he walked away, carrying the ruined bouquet. His walk was as steady as ever. Although he had likely moved out of sight, Aria remained rooted to the spot.

The maid’s announcement about the availability of warm water finally prompted her to move. Uncertain how long she would have stood there, she followed the maid to the bathroom, breaking the spell cast by Caelius’ departure.

* * *

Aria felt she had no choice but to continue working each day to win his favor, despite her fear or hesitation.

Aria felt more and more uncomfortable as the gap between her and Caelius seemed to grow.

“It’s okay; there’s still plenty of time.”

Despite her best efforts to reassure herself, the approaching deadline still weighed heavily on her, and no amount of reassurance could ease the uneasiness that settled inside her.

Aria ceased reading her notes on the original story and slumped helplessly on the bed. The warmth of the sun beating down on her body felt unnecessary.

The truth was that the gravity of treason and the guillotine had not yet fully sunk in. On difficult days, she entertained thoughts like, “Maybe I’ll make it through this; maybe I’ll make it through that. She longed to believe in the possibility of survival.”

The most important thing was that she wanted to live. Aria raised her limp arm and reread her notes.

“Yeah, hanging on like this isn’t going to change anything.”

She found herself in Caelius’ office, where she intended to draw.

Aria stood up and walked towards her destination.

“Daddy……!”

“I came here to draw!”

Caelius greeted her with a smile, and Aria laid out her sketchbook and colored pencils.

A young woman arrived at her father’s office to sketch. Her behavior seemed childish and out of touch with her peers.

Caelius still had a smile on his face, tugging at the corners of his mouth. He also requested that his servants bring her orange juice and cookies.

The writer’s attention to detail was impressive. She questioned whether this was the real Caelius or if the original Caelius was fiction.

She wished the first story was fake.

She wishes that Caelius had not lied in all of his actions. She hoped the original was just a fantasy. She certainly hopes so.

A scene from the original flashed over Aria’s head. It seemed as if the gods were punishing her for thinking such ridiculous thoughts.

Aria slumped in the dungeon, soaked in blood after a long interrogation. The Imperial Knights were violently dragging Caelius from behind bars, leaving a terrible trail of red blood wherever they dragged him. It was unbelievable how much torture he had endured, especially considering he was once the crown prince.

“Ah, Dad!”

Aria cried out in panic when she saw the badly injured Caelius. He was dragged away, but before he disappeared, he lifted his head and stared at her with his emotionless eyes. He used to shine like the sun, but now he looked broken, and Aria couldn’t stop the tears from streaming down her cheeks.

She wondered how this had happened. Aria was overwhelmed by the change in someone who once looked so much like her.

“Dad, are you okay? What can I do? Your face is bleeding.”

The knights tried to stop him from speaking by pulling him away, but he refused, saying, “This is the last time. Can’t you at least allow me to talk to my daughter one last time?”

Aria gritted her teeth and cried softly, understanding the burden of that last word. She refused to lose the memory of Caelius, the once-dashing figure in her eyes, even though he might have lost his glorious blonde hair and golden eyes.

Although he may have lost his glorious blonde hair and golden eyes, he is still an emperor to her. Caelius was always the dashing one in her eyes. She couldn’t believe it. She was the last of his kind.

“Ah, Daddy, Daddy…”

Aria could no longer speak, only crying, and a slow sigh escaped Caelius’s lips as he watched her.

“Haah…”

It was a sigh tinged with slight irritation.

“Aria”

At his call, Aria nodded, wiping the tears from her eyes. The chains that bound her clanked with every movement.

“You’ve done a good job. Hmm?”

Aria wiped her tears away. Her face was bewildered as she turned to face Caelius. He looked down at her with a harsh and cold gaze. He pushed past her with a swift click of his tongue, just as she was ready to speak. Aria stared blankly at the place where he had disappeared.

“I’m sorry. Dad, I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’ve done wrong.”

In a tearful tone, she begged, but Caelius seemed oblivious to the echoes of her cries.

Aria shivered as she remembered the original. She wondered why it continued to bother her.

She would never want to be like the original.

However, Caelius’s mask remained invisible, leaving her powerless. The situation felt like a total disaster.

“Daughter, what did you draw?” He put down his papers and smiled, a smile that sent a shiver down Aria’s spine.

“Uh, I was just drawing your face!” Aria forced a smile. Caelius returned the smile with one of his own. A large hand gently stroked her hair.

“I drew it well.”

“Really?”

“Yes. I have a talent for drawing.”

He smiled and picked up a cookie from the tray brought by the maids. He handed it to Aria, who accepted it hesitantly.

“Is it good?”

“Yes! Everything you give me is delicious.”

Caelius laughed. She carefully brushed the cookie crumbs from the corner of her mouth. Aria rolled her eyes. The meticulous care made her feel like she was something precious being handled with caution.

“Eat up, daughter,” he said, leaning closer to her.

She flinched, startled by his sudden closeness. Caelius touched her wrist nonchalantly and said, “You’re too thin.”

“Ah….”

His black hair rustled in front of her, leaving his distinct body scent at the tip of her nose. He tugged on her wrist again and smiled, then turned to look at Aria.

“If you don’t gain weight, I’ll have to feed you lots of delicious food in the future.”

Aria’s eyes were filled with tears and widened. His smile was so perfectly crafted that she felt her heart skip a beat when she met his eyes.

“Aria?”

Caelius’s hand went to Aria’s cheek when she didn’t speak. His callused palm gently caressed her cheek, a proof of years spent wielding a sword.

“Aria, what are you thinking?”

“Eh, ah……?”

She made a stuttering sound when he was suddenly touched. Aria was stunned and rubbed the spot where his hand had been.

“Just a moment. Wow, I’m surprised, Thank you, Dad.”

Flustered, she stammered, not entirely sure what she was talking about, and this made her blush bright red.

Caelius laughed out loud, finding amusement in the situation.

“You’re cute.”

“I’m… huh?”

“My daughter is cute.”

The slightest movement and their lips would be touching. Aria stiffened with tension. For a moment, it felt like they’d switched genres from survival to romance. Aria squeezed her eyes shut, trying to calm the pounding in her heart that could be heard even by Caelius.

Caelius continued to pursue Aria relentlessly. They sat in awkward silence until he finally spoke.

“This is so cute…”

“…….”

“Sometimes I feel you look at me strangely as if you were afraid,” Caelius said.

“No, I’m not.”

Aria’s eyes widened momentarily, and she was confused about why he had suddenly said this. A moment passed, which felt like an hour.

Aria swallowed and broke out in a cold sweat. After a brief pause, he looked away. She finally regained her breath and spoke.

Aria tried to hide her fear but failed, raising the corner of her mouth awkwardly.

She tried desperately to hide her fear, but it didn’t seem to be working, and she reassured her father, saying, “You’re my favorite dad in the world.

Her voice trembled. She showed clear signs of fear. She tried to hold back a hiccup by biting down on the soft flesh in her mouth. Finally, she managed to speak. Caelius responded with a bewitching smile.

He said, “You’re my favorite daughter in the world too.”

The way he whispered it, his voice held a predatory tone, reminiscent of a predator taunting its prey.