Dark Dad's Rebirth - Chapter 11. Staggered Times (7)
Chapter 11. Staggered Times (7)
None of the food you eat or the products you use are crafted in vain. Even your morning face wash is infused with precious flowers from the Orient, a rarity that even empresses cannot obtain.
“And what’s your point with that?!”
This is not what she wanted.
“You get to be with that son of a bitch, but not with me?”
It is completely wrong. She doesn’t know where to start fixing it. Aria’s face showed despair, while Caelius’ lips curled into a mocking smile.
However, his emotions were just as complicated. His facial expressions rapidly shifted from anger to confusion to disbelief and back to anger again. It seemed as though he was putting on a show for his benefit.
Aria found the raw emotion uncomfortable, like an impurity. It was easy for her to conclude that the outrageous son of a bitch coming out of his mouth was Leon Berha, so easy that it was almost laughable.
Aria wondered, ‘Is he jealous?’
“Why did you say you didn’t love him? Was it just because you were possessive?”
Aria felt embarrassed and confused. She struggled to control her emotions as she looked at him, relentless in her pursuit. Caelius untied the tie from her mouth and asked.
“Tell me, explain what’s going on with you!”
His hands hold both of Aria’s shoulders, the pressure causing her to emit a small moan of pain.
“You are not a good father; you did not treat me as your child.”
Aria wondered if his emotions had overwhelmed him.
‘Why does he act this way? He doesn’t love me; he doesn’t care if I’m here or not, yet he’s confusing.’
Aria choked back a tear and swallowed hard. Tears streamed down her cheeks, hot and heavy. She wiped them away with a shaky hand, realizing that it wasn’t just an act.
Along with the tears, all the bitterness and betrayal that had been accumulating against him for so long began to spill out of her mouth.
“I am a human being with emotions, not a tool to be used for your gain. Your behavior is unacceptable. I want to be loved and live a normal life like any other child with normal parents.”
As she spoke, her voice grew louder. She was unable to control the flood of emotions that had been unleashed. She was too emotional and couldn’t stop herself from criticizing the man in front of her.
Caelius believed he was a strong and resilient person, able to withstand physical harm without showing any signs of weakness.
Aria’s cry was a scream that caused his expression to crumple. He appeared to be hurt by the words she spoke.
‘She wants a normal parent. She wants a father who’s not like me.’
Meeting his eyes, tinged with despair, made her feel as if she had driven a stake through him. She stealthily averted her gaze. When she did, he hardened his expression and let out a dry laugh, as if in disbelief.
“What kind of father would do this to his daughter?”
She attempted to speak but found it difficult. To suppress her emotions, she bit down on her lower lip, but the unfamiliar sensation was irritating.
“If even Azekrisis can’t do this to my empress, how dare anyone else but I do this to you?”
In the end, all that comes out is a primal yell. Caelius had thick hair bands standing up on his neck from all the screaming he had done earlier.
Yes, perhaps this was a ticking time bomb that would go off at some point, just a little sooner than expected. Aria lowered her eyes at the thought. Her golden lashes fluttered.
“When did I say that I wanted that?”
“What?”
“When did I ask you to lay all the gold and silver treasures of the world before me?”
Aria continued without pausing, muttering under her breath.
“Oh, did you not understand me?”
Aria’s mouth twitched. Her smile mirrored Caelius’ with an identical upturned corner of her mouth as if they had been plucked out of thin air.
Even the smallest habits were identical, from the twitching of the left corner of her mouth when she was unhappy to the twitching of her right eyebrow when she needed time to think.
Why is it that, even though she loves him, she can’t seem to disconnect from her feelings for him?
Their transparent and devoted affection has turned into a love-hate relationship filled with heartache, disappointment, and a sense of betrayal.
“I did not ask for that; I was stupid enough to be so crazy about you that I would have been willing to die for you, even if it meant sharing a stale piece of bread on the cold street instead of in a fancy mansion!”
Caelius looked at her with confusion as she spoke. This was not surprising. He had not said anything that he thought would be understood. She also did not expect to understand when she said those words.
Caelius could not comprehend this kind of devoted love, as it was beyond his limit.
Because he didn’t.
“Yeah, I made a mistake; you shouldn’t expect that from your dad.”
He is not so different from me.
“I have experienced a lot, including a difficult relationship with my father and serving in a war.”
As a young and deprived man, Caelius had only the battlefield to rely on. And, false or true? out to him, whether with pity or affection, and he was left to determine the truth for himself.
Aria continued speaking without hesitation, fully aware that her words would cause more pain than anything else.
“They say sons take after their fathers.”
She purposefully left an immense wound.
“If I look at you, Dad, I can see what my grandfather was like.” She prodded and poked ruthlessly as if compensating for all the heartache.
They appear to be identical. Aria felt no guilt, or, to be more precise, she couldn’t afford to feel guilty. At the moment, Aria couldn’t concern herself with Caelius’s feelings.
Aria marked Caelius with a profound, dark scar in pursuit of fleeting satisfaction for her heart. She justified her actions by asserting that her wounds were more painful.
* * *
[You two are so alike].
The thin voice, always hungry for affection, turned to Caelius, each syllable distinctly bitter. The moment the words left Aria’s mouth, Caelius felt a sickening sensation in his stomach, like his heart was about to drop.
“Something was wrong with this.”
“But where?”
Caelius found himself in a state of confusion. His heart beat loudly, and a strange sensation enveloped him. A mysterious warning echoed in his mind, signaling that he shouldn’t proceed down this path.
Self-doubt and self-destruction.
These emotions were foreign to Caelius, threatening to overpower him. He had never considered himself a good father, harboring at least that much self-awareness. However, he didn’t believe he had treated Aria poorly. He had been unusually generous and patronizing towards her, contrary to his usual behavior.
What kind of man was he to treat a woman in such a way?
He questioned whether Aria could sense it—that he was making her feel special, treating her differently from everyone else. He believed she couldn’t possibly know…
Caelius found himself amid confusion, unsure when the change had begun. Aria’s once fearful eyes now carried a hint of affection, a detail he had chosen to ignore. The realization left him with a profound question. He struggled to find an answer.
‘What have I become?’
The nature of his feelings eluded him. Pathetically, he couldn’t identify what he felt for Aria. Was it possessiveness or genuine love? And if it was love, was it romantic or paternal? Caelius was at a loss for words, consumed by shock and disillusionment as he faced the sweet gaze, the recipient of which was all too clear.
Aria retreated under the blankets, seeking refuge from further conversation, while Caelius stood frozen for a long moment. The shifting of the blankets indicated her tearful sobs. Her crying continued for some time.
Eventually, the movements ceased, and the room fell into a profound silence. Caelius, still seated, felt no peculiar relief despite shedding old emotions. Instead, an unsettling, murky sensation lingered.
‘Can this entangled relationship be repaired? Can retracing my steps reveal where I went wrong?’
He realized the futility of pondering the questions. Neither he nor Aria had the strength to mend the frayed connection. Aria had let go, and Caelius found himself entangled in an irreparable situation.
“…….”
The night grew darker, and Caelius’s room filled with the strong smell of hallucinogens. Aria clung to him, sobbing into his neck like a frightened mouse. She seemed unwilling to let go, as if releasing her hold would drain all the moisture from her body. She preferred to collapse from exhaustion rather than confront the torment.
Aria yearned for a cleansing amid her tears, in the hope that the tears would wash away the bitterness of her first love. She wished to wake up free of the feverish emotions that stole her breath and erase every trace.
She loved him from the moment she saw him in the attic until his final breath. He was like her in many ways, but also so different—a noble and brilliant figure, like the sun in the sky. How could she not love him?
However, Caelius has faded away, leaving behind a man haunted by the weight of the past and intoxicated with arrogance. Aria may have yearned to catch a glimpse of him one final time, to witness the man from her memories once more—the one who had offered flowers with eyes drenched in affection.
Whether those emotions were genuine or not, they held no significance anymore.