Refrain from Obsession - Chapter 3

Aer, hearing that her father had woken up and was currently in his office, changed into a neat dress and headed there.

“Why did you want to see me?”

That was the first thing she heard as soon as she entered the office. Not a single word of greeting or concern for his daughter who had just woken up after suffering from a high fever.

Aer examined her father’s face, which she hadn’t seen often but was still familiar with as if he were a stranger.

Calix de Bestia.

The name of the Shit Car male lead from the novel “Moonflower Under the Moonlight” and her biological father.

Although he looked a bit older, his appearance was not different from how he was described in the original work, to the point of being jaw-dropping.

Slightly upturned eyes, a high nose bridge, deep sea-blue hair, and golden eyes that shone like gold.

He still had the extremely handsome appearance befitting the regretful male lead who couldn’t let go of his lingering feelings for the original female lead.

“If you’re going to regret it this much, why were you so cruel to the female lead?”

“What did you say?”

For a moment, it seemed her inner thoughts had burst out of her mouth without her realizing it.

Aer was flustered, but trying not to show it, she reached the desk with confident steps.

“I came because I have something to say.”

Calix put down the pen he was holding, noticing his daughter’s behavior that was different, very different from usual.

At breakfast, when the butler had relayed the message with a stern expression, he had doubted it, but facing her now, it was true.

Feeling a slight curiosity, he rested his elbows on the desk and interlocked his fingers.

“I can guess what you’re going to say, but let’s hear it anyway.”

Honestly, he had no interest in his daughter at all. Since he had no affection for his wife, who was a political marriage partner, to begin with, there was no way he would develop affection for the child she bore.

But thinking she might have been shocked about the divorce, he properly faced his daughter, unlike usual.

If she were to express resentment, he was willing to listen to that much. If she wanted, he was even thinking of helping her go with her mother.

However, what came out of Aer’s mouth was completely different from what he had in mind.

“You know I’ll be entering the academy soon, right? Even if you’re not interested in me, I think you must know the obligations of a 17-year-old noble.”

“…Yes, I know.”

“So, I’d like to ask you to give me the activity funds for the academy all at once.”

“You mean for all three years?”

“Yes, and if you have a conscience, I’d like you to give me more as compensation for my feelings all this time.”

“Huh……”

At these audacious words, Calix was dumbfounded, as if he’d been hit on the back of the head.

His usually expressionless face slackened in bewilderment.

Aer looked with displeasure at her former father, now Shit Car, who she disliked both in the novel and in reality.

Thinking that she wouldn’t see him anymore in the future, just like her mother, she smoothly delivered the words she had prepared before coming here.

“I know you’re displeased that I was born. But you know what, Father? You’re mistaken about something. I didn’t want to be born as your daughter either.”

“……”

“Just giving birth to a child isn’t everything. You need to give attention and love. But even that has its time.”

Just like how you missed your chance with the female lead because you couldn’t get the timing right.

Aer felt relieved. No, to be honest, she wasn’t completely relieved.

If she had to pick someone she disliked more than her mother, it would obviously be her father. The resentment and bitterness wouldn’t disappear with just this much. But she had no intention of craving affection either.

Now, she planned to reject the affection of family first.

Calix rested his chin on the back of his hand and fell into thought for a moment. Even though he hadn’t seen her often, he wasn’t unaware of his daughter’s personality.

She had never thrown tantrums, and on the rare occasions they dined together, she was so timid she couldn’t even meet his eyes.

As he looked at the child in front of him now, as if to confirm if this was really his daughter, Aer spoke again.

“Please open an account in my name at the Basium Empire Bank. And deposit as much as you want into that account.”

‘I hope you’ll put in a lot if you have a conscience.’

“…So, in other words, you’re asking me to give you in gold coins the love you haven’t received all this time?”

“Yes.”

Aer responded shamelessly. She thought, what does it matter anyway since this family is doomed to fail?

If it’s money that’s going to disappear when they fall, shouldn’t she put as much as possible into her account?

Of course, she planned to withdraw it all later and store it elsewhere. If the family itself became a problem, she might not be safe either.

Since there was still time, she intended to properly create seed money while at the academy, planning to find a way.

This seed money would grow abundantly and become a precious resource to save her life.

“Huh, alright.”

Calix nodded, unable to hide his bewilderment. Aer also couldn’t hide her surprised expression at the quicker-than-expected answer.

She quickly racked her brain and added more words.

“Also… I’ll need to purchase items for use at the academy. Please help me prepare for that as well.”

“Okay.”

Flustered by the smooth-flowing answers, Aer stuttered like a broken machine before deeply bowing her waist.

“Thank you.”

“Sure…”

She left the office, moving her arms and legs together. Honestly, it would be a lie to say she wasn’t nervous.

Aer, who had come out into the corridor, let out a deep sigh before moving her halted steps.

“It feels a bit anticlimactic…”

Worried that he might refuse with a shout, she had even prepared other plans.

However, as it ended so smoothly that it felt empty, Aer, feeling somewhat uneasy, returned to her room, hugged a cushion, and muttered.

“Don’t forget the end of the Shit Car family. Never forget that this is just a side story that will end with poetic justice.”

She thought that the unfortunate treatment she had received for 16 years was rather fortunate.

Since she had no affection for her family members, she only thought about surviving, no matter what happened to them.

“Once I leave the mansion, I can just think that I’ve become an orphan again.”

It was just becoming alone again, like in her previous life, so she wasn’t afraid. Aer took the medicine the doctor had prepared for her, then lay down, carefully covering herself with the blanket.

She intended to properly recover her strength first.

✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦

Spring, the time to enter the academy, came quickly.

Thanks to shopping freely using the family name, she had a lot of luggage, which made preparations difficult, but it made her feel more secure.

Standing in front of the carriage loaded with luggage, Aer looked up at the mansion where she had lived.

It was a mansion with such a splendid exterior that one could hardly imagine it would soon be on the path to ruin.

With mixed feelings, Aer swept her gaze over the entire garden and then turned her attention to the doctor, butler, and head maid who had come to see her off.

The doctor handed her something he was holding and said,

“It’s not much, but these are some emergency medicines just in case. This is for indigestion, this is for headaches, and this ointment is for abrasions, and this…”

The box she received after the long explanation was quite heavy. Aer had a servant nearby load the emergency medicines into the carriage.

“Thank you, Derek. I’ll use them well.”

“I believe you will do well, young miss, as you are wise. Then, I’ll see you during the holidays.”

“Sure.”

Of course, Aer had no intention of returning even during the holidays.

If everything goes according to plan, she will never return home again.

As the doctor stepped back, the butler came forward. After all, the young lady of the mansion was leaving for a far place, so he should at least greet her out of courtesy.

“Young miss, have a safe journey.”

It was a very polite but emotionless comment. Instead of answering, Aer stared intently at the head maid standing nearby.

The head maid, as if she had been waiting, also delivered a brief greeting like the butler.

“I pray that you return as an elegant and mature lady.”

Aer looked at the two for a moment before opening her mouth.

“The treatment I’ve received so far hasn’t been mature, so how could I become an elegant lady just by going to the academy?”

The butler and headmaid couldn’t hide their surprised expressions, as Aer had only lived quietly until she departed for the academy.

Aer, finding their completely unmanaged, dumbfounded expressions funny, snorted and continued speaking.

“I hope you two, not me, will perform your duties properly with a mature attitude. Don’t dare deceive your master.”

The butler and head maid couldn’t give any answer to Aer, who finished speaking in a low voice.

They had heard from the maids that the young miss was acting a bit strange, but they thought it was just a temporary whim due to the sorrow of her mother leaving the mansion.

But it wasn’t.

The young miss they had been serving had changed, as the maids had said. Her pink eyes, which had always looked delicate, now shone coldly, raising goosebumps on their arms.

Aer had no intention of forgiving them for what they had done all this time, so she didn’t wait for an answer and got into the carriage with the coachman’s help.

Aer briefly glanced towards the office where her father, who didn’t come out even though he was in the mansion, was expected to be, then lightly tapped on the door connected to the coachman.

In the carriage that soon departed, Aer shook off the last bit of affection she had for her father.

She no longer felt resentful towards her father, who seemed to have not a speck of affection for her until the very end.

He just felt like a stranger.

“May the Shit Car family fall.”

So she left a malicious comment as a reader.

Aer stared at her receding home from the fast-moving carriage, and when it was no longer visible, she turned her head to face forward.

The academy she was heading to was no easy place either, so she steeled her heart.

“Still, the academy is my only hope.”

After all, it’s there that she would be able to plan for her future survival.