I Got a Fake Job at the Academy
Chapter 482: Father and Daughter (2)

Chapter 482: Father and Daughter (2)

Sedina's lips trembled.

Perhaps because her feelings were complicated, it was difficult to decide what to say.

She felt touched by Walter's sincere apology, but also felt resentment about why he was saying such things now.

She felt unexpected gratitude at the fact that Walter had invested so much for her sake, but also felt hurt by his actions of abandoning her despite loving her mother.

Emotions were truly complex and contradictory.

It wasn't as simple as being happy or sad.

She was happy yet sad.

She liked it yet was angry.

Sedina pulled Rudger along as she passed by Walter.

In the end, what Sedina chose was to postpone making a decision rather than reaching a conclusion right away.

Walter didn't raise his head, which had been bowed, until Sedina passed by him.

Perhaps he had internally accepted that things would turn out this way.

Hans and Alex kept their mouths tightly shut and quietly followed behind Rudger as they witnessed the suffocating scene between father and daughter.

They had thoroughly realized that unnecessarily interfering here would only cause trouble for themselves.

"Um, is it okay to leave things like this?"

Only Bellaruna, who uniquely lacked any sense of reading the atmosphere, blurted out such words.

"Shh. Be quiet."

"Why, why?"

"I said be quiet!"

Hans firmly silenced Bellaruna while forcibly dragging her away.

The one who comforted Walter, who was left behind, was Robert, the captain of the airship.

"Chairman, stay strong. It's difficult for everything that happened to be resolved with just one apology."

"...I suppose so. Perhaps I should be grateful that she didn't get angry."

"Hmm. Well, maybe? Don't worry. Everything will work out."

Robert tried to comfort Walter with a forced smile.

After all, since he was the only one who could empathize as a father, he felt he should at least offer some comfort.

Of course, one couldn't say there wasn't also some social calculation involved in trying to look good to his employer.

* * *

Sedina wasn't in a very good mood.

To be precise, one could say she felt displeased.

The reason was obvious.

It was because of her father Walter Roschen's attitude.

Even while walking down the corridor of the Roschen mansion, Sedina's emotions wouldn't easily settle.

And so, Sedina didn't say anything until she returned to her room.

'Why am I here?'

Meanwhile, Rudger, who had naturally been led inside, didn't understand why he was there.

Hans, Alex, and Bellaruna were gone.

The three of them had quickly fled midway after realizing this matter had nothing to do with them.

What advice could they possibly give about long-held emotions between a father and daughter?

Rather, fighting the elf nobles again would have been much more comfortable.

Of course, the three of them still cared about Sedina, the youngest of the Owens, so they didn't forget to leave a message each with Rudger.

-Brother. Stay strong. She's still the youngest, so you need to take care of her, right?

-Leader. You know you have to handle this well, right? A woman's heart is like a glass cup, very easily hurt.

-He, hehe. If things work out later, could you ask if we can try accessing the World Tree again?

"......"

These guys really weren't helpful when it mattered.

Rudger let out a small sigh and quietly observed Sedina.

Sitting on the sofa, Sedina seemed complicated in many ways.

She would get angry, then start to calm down, then get irritated again, then start to understand Walter's actions.

As these emotions kept showing on her face, Rudger was worried enough to wonder if Sedina had developed bipolar disorder.

'I guess there's no choice.'

The reason Sedina specifically brought him along must be because he was the only one she could rely on and lean on emotionally.

At times like this, he felt he should give advice as both a teacher and a senior in life.

"How do you feel?"

Though it was an abrupt question, Sedina answered immediately as if she had been waiting for such a question.

"It's complicated. At first, I thought I could express everything well in words. But when I actually faced him, I got angry and started to hate him, so I didn't want to speak."

Rudger nodded as if he understood.

"That makes sense. What you think and what you actually face in reality are different after all."

"That's part of it, but I'm not just blindly angry. I also feel grateful, and intellectually I understand father's actions. But still...my heart just can't accept it."

A wounded heart, no matter how much one coaxes and soothes it, it couldn't be easily resolved.

Rudger thought about it.

At times like this, based on his experience, it seemed necessary to give life advice.

"But you don't hate him to death, do you?"

"...I did have such feelings, but it's true that they've subsided a lot now."

"Then there's hope. Unlike with me."

"Ah."

Sedina belatedly remembered Rudger's situation and gaped.

Come to think of it, hadn't Rudger fled because his family tried to kill him?

'Oh? Then did I choose the wrong person to get comfort from?'

If we're talking about misfortune, isn't Rudger overwhelmingly worse off?

She hadn't realized it because Rudger's behavior was usually so calm.

Rudger was the one who needed comforting.

"Ah, no, that...I don't know what to say......"

Sedina flustered after realizing her mistake.

This side was just feeling angry, but Rudger had a family that truly wanted to kill him.

"Don't worry about it. What's important now is the matter concerning you, isn't it?"

'How can I not worry...?'

Sedina lamented internally.

Rather, the atmosphere had become awkward, making her feel like she was sitting on pins and needles.

At that moment, someone knocked on the door.

Just as she was wondering who it could be, Rudger wore a faint smile.

"Not very gentlemanly."

"What? What do you mean......?"

Just as Sedina was about to say something after noticing something, the door opened and Walter came in.

Sedina, who hadn't expected Walter to follow her, trembled her lips.

"Sedina. I have something to say."

Sedina turned her head away, avoiding Walter's gaze.

Though it was a wordless action showing she didn't even want to face him, Walter didn't back down.

He had an intuition that if not now, there would never be another chance, that this moment was the only opportunity to restore their twisted relationship.

Of course, he couldn't deny that this too was his own selfishness.

After all, he was the one who chose to cut ties, yet here he was demanding reconnection.

There was a limit to being shameless but Walter decided to be shameless.

From the day he failed to fulfill his role as a father, he was already beyond salvation.

Adding a bit more shamelessness wouldn't change the fact that he was a base human being.

First, they would talk.

After that, it didn't matter how Sedina treated him.

Perhaps reading that desperate will, Sedina curled up even more.

Like a hedgehog covered in spines, Sedina tried to forcibly remove Walter from her awareness.

One side endlessly knocking while the other side locking the door until the end.

As it seemed the standoff would never end, Rudger finally decided to step in.

'Though I don't really like this kind of thing.'

Though it didn't suit his personality to arbitrarily interfere in others' family matters, it would also be ridiculous to maintain the role of a bystander while treating Sedina as a stranger.

"It seems your daughter still doesn't want to talk."

When Rudger broke the ice, Walter's gaze turned to him.

"Why don't you just withdraw and cut off contact like usual?"

As he said this while looking at Walter, his gaze seemed to ask 'That's what you've done before, right?'

A pointed criticism digging into past mistakes.

Walter answered without changing his expression.

"I cannot do that."

"My. It seems my words sounded like just a convenient suggestion. Then let me say it again. Withdraw. And never appear before Sedina again."

Sedina was startled, her round eyes fixed on Rudger as if she hadn't expected him to go that far.

"I cannot do that."

"Then, we could set this as the compensation for the request. Withdraw from here and never approach again."

"...Even if you tell me to hand over the entire company, I don't mind, but this I cannot do."

"Is it because of guilt that hit you belatedly?"

Rudger glared at Walter with a cynical smile.

"You said you'd give me anything. If that's really true, can you give your life here?"

As Rudger said this, he raised his magical power.

The densely spread magical power constricted Walter's body.

Walter, who had no resistance to this kind of thing, let out a groan.

If Rudger wanted to, he could squeeze Walter to death right there.

Indeed, looking at Rudger's ominous aura, he seemed full of intent to kill Walter right away.

"S-Stop!"

The one who stopped it was Sedina.

Sedina seemed unsure why she had stepped forward, even to herself but there was one thing she knew for certain, that she absolutely had to stop Rudger from harming Walter.

"Sedina. Perhaps ending it here like this would be the right way."

"N-No. No matter what, this is..."

"Then what will you do?"

Sedina hesitated to answer Rudger's direct question.

Knowing he shouldn't give room here, Rudger left no margin.

"If you hesitate like that, I'll handle it with my own hands."

"No."

In the end, Sedina had to make a choice.

"I'll, I'll do it."

Rudger silently looked at Sedina for a while before releasing the magical power binding Walter's body.

Walter had no time to feel relief at regaining his physical freedom because Sedina, who had been constantly avoiding his gaze until now, was looking at him.

The moment of resolution had come.

Sedina thought the same thing.

She couldn't keep running away forever.

So rather, here, everything needed to end.

"Sedina. I..."

"Don't speak and listen."

Sedina cut off Walter's words with a cold voice.

It was so harsh that even Sedina herself was surprised at what she had uttered.

Separate from her surprise, her mouth fluently spoke the thoughts in her heart.

"I hate father. No. Beyond hate, I despise you. I thought it would be good if Roschen as a whole just collapsed, including father. To be honest, even calling you father like this is just me showing the minimum courtesy I can manage."

Walter quietly accepted those words.

This was the voice that had been pooled in his daughter's heart for years after being hurt.

Having to quietly listen to it was entirely the original sin he had to repay.

"I thought about it many times. Why did I had to go through this? Why was I treated like an abandoned child by the family when I was already in grief from losing my mother. It felt like everything in the world was betraying me. No one loved me, and the loss of the only person who had loved me hit me very hard."

"......"

"You probably already know, but I deliberately joined a secret society to try to ruin the family. Because that was the only path left for me. Maybe I was trying to find someone who could sympathize with my situation there."

But Sedina was an outsider even in the Black Dawn Society.

The name Roschen that she so despised became a stumbling block even there.

Everything just got in her way, and the label of Roschen kept following her.

When she was becoming exhausted with life like that, she met him.

John Doe.

No, Rudger Chelici.

"Teacher is a more amazing person than father. Even though he went through much harder things than father, he doesn't act selfishly, and always lives doing his best. I learned a lot watching teacher."

Rudger scratched his cheek at those words.

The sudden praise of himself was quite unexpected, but Sedina's voice remained consistently serious.

"Just when things were starting to get better as I met new people, it happened. I was taken to the Elf Kingdom and went through so many things. And I learned truths I never knew. That father acted that way deliberately because he was worried about me."

"That's..."

"But I was still angry. Because you were worried. Because you loved me. Does that mean you can just do whatever you want? Can you hurt others so easily under the pretext of doing it for someone?"

Walter would have no words even if he had a hundred mouths.

That was right.

Even though he always regretted internally that this wasn't right, in the end he was the one who pushed through with that method until the end.

"But when I think about it, I realize I'm not innocent enough to criticize others like this either."

Sedina dropped her shoulders and smiled self-mockingly.

"Because I did the exact same thing to my precious friend that father did to me."

Sedina distanced herself from Julia thinking of her but Julia didn't give up and kept trying to approach Sedina.

Sedina had also been thinking about reconciling with her old friend deep down, but couldn't bring herself to speak because of that guilt.

"In the end, I guess blood will tell."

Ironically, the moment she recognized this fact, Sedina ended up understanding Walter's position.

"If I don't accept father's apology here and live as a stranger for life...I'll end up becoming someone just like father."

Sedina clenched her fist.

All these words were both words to Walter and at the same time, they were self-reproach to herself.

"I don't want to become like that."

Finally, Sedina, having made up her mind, stared straight into Walter's eyes.

Walter unconsciously held his breath at that sight.

In the image of Sedina looking at him with an upright gaze, he saw a glimpse of his deceased wife whom he could no longer see.

Walter felt something welling up inside him.

Emotions.

The emotions that had been suppressed and locked away burst forth violently like waves hitting a storm.

I couldn't do anything.

I couldn't do anything as a father.

Yet your child has grown up so strong.

-She's your child too, isn't she?

He heard her voice, which could no longer possibly be heard.

At the same time, memories of the past flashed before his eyes.

The time when he first met Ella Plante and fell in love at first sight.

After endlessly courting her, he finally received her acceptance for marriage.

He was happy.

Behind the expressionless face he tried hard to maintain, he always carried joy.

He couldn't forget that happiness.

That moment when he held the baby, the fruit of their love, in his trembling hands.

The sensation when that baby reached out with tiny hands and touched his cheek.

-Drop.

Tears rolled down Walter's cheeks.

"I'm sorry."

The iron-blooded businessman who was known to have never shed a drop of blood or tear since birth fell to his knees and wept.

"I'm truly sorry."