Adventurer's Guild Café: I Was Wrongfully Exiled by the Saint, So I Will Enjoy My Second Life with My Fluffy Friends - V 2.2 Chapter 7.1

“Ah… at last, we meet.”

Evening light streamed into the guild’s lecture hall.

I stood at the front, waiting at the podium as Father descended the stairs.

The hall, used for lectures on earning adventurer qualifications and the study required for rank-ups, was vast. In the stillness of the room, Father’s footsteps echoed strangely loud.

“It’s been seven days since those guild people hid you away. Do you have any idea how worried I’ve been?”

“……”

Father reached the lecture space where I stood. But then, realizing I wasn’t alone in the hall, he tilted his head.

“You called me here because you wanted me to help you, didn’t you? Why bring those thugs along again?”

…Apparently Father had convinced himself that the adventurers had locked me up somewhere—twisting it into a convenient little story for himself.

I glanced at Simon, who was leaning against the wall nearby. He only gave a helpless shrug, his expression exasperated. Beside him stood Gier, staring hard at Father with a furrowed brow. And it wasn’t just the two of them in the room.

I turned my eyes back to the lecture hall. Rows of long tables and chairs filled the stepped tiers.

Scattered among them, people sat watching our exchange in silence.

Ingrid-san and Lea. And Ares, whom I had summoned with my feather. Of course, Ares was in human form, slouched in his seat looking utterly bored. And one more—a middle-aged man I had never seen before.

He inclined his head politely to me, then fixed his gaze firmly on us at the podium.

Feeling uneasy, I had Lulu and the others stay with me on the podium. The usually noisy Mokomotts were quiet for once. Slime-chan—yes, I’d gone and named the crystal slime—was flopped lazily on top of Lulu’s head. Creating magic crystals drained it badly, so until its strength returned, Lulu and I had decided to take care of it.

“Now then… let’s go home, Kuna.”

He held out his hand to me. Just a few days ago, I would have been trembling in terror at that gesture. But now… my heart was strangely calm, like a still lake.

“…No, Father. The reason I called you here today was to sever ties with you.”

“…Sever ties, you say?”

A crease formed on Father’s brow. Then, with a heavy sigh, he spoke.

“Kuna, don’t be selfish. You still have a family. And I, as the head of that family, am telling you to return. You don’t even have the right to decide otherwise.”

“…Father. Ever since Mother died, you’ve ignored me. You knew what Stepmother and Agnes were doing to me, didn’t you?”

As I said it, a sharp pain shot through my chest. Only after coming to Grantania did I finally realize just how cruel my life had been… how thoroughly I had been disregarded.

“Then why? Why say this now, after all this time? Do you intend to use me as a piece in some political marriage? If so, my reputation has already been dragged through the mud. No one would ever take me as a bride.”

The words spilled out all at once. Father’s face twisted in shock.

“Political marriage? No, of course not! Kuna, you don’t need to marry anyone—you can just stay in the house forever.”

“…”

“ I cut ties with that brat from the Grad family a long time ago. When he found out you were still alive, he had the nerve to say he’d take you back as his fiancée if he felt like it.”

Roy-sama…? He was the one who broke the engagement himself, so why would he say something like that now…?

Their strange behavior—the way Father and Roy both acted—made me frown. I couldn’t understand their motives at all.

“ Ever since you disappeared, everyone finally realized just how important you were. How precious.”

Father fixed his eyes on me and launched into a fervent speech.

“ I loved your mother—Elena. From the bottom of my heart. When she was gone, it felt like my heart had been hollowed out.”

…That part of his excuse, I could believe. Father really had been sunk in grief after Mother’s death.

“ My mind was clouded all the way up until the day you vanished.”

“ So you ignored me because of that?”

“…Kuna, you look far too much like Elena. It’s as if she’s been reborn in you. Every time I saw your face, I was forced to remember the woman I lost. It hurt more than I could bear.”

…That pain was his burden, not mine. It was never a reason to abandon me.

“ I’m sorry for everything until now. I understand your anger. But from here on, let’s start over. Let’s spend time together again, as a family.”

Those eyes. The way he was staring at me—his gaze carried a strange heat that sent a chill crawling down my spine.

Father’s eyes weren’t really looking at me. He was looking through me… seeing Mother in my place.
At last, I understood why Father had become so strangely attached to me.
It wasn’t me he wanted. It was Mother.

As a cold sweat slid down my neck, Gier stepped forward before I even noticed, placing himself between us. His voice was sharp.

“Alright, I get your side of the story. But I’m the one who took this girl in. Back then, she was in a terrible state. Injuries bad enough to suspect abuse.”

“!”

At those words, Father ground his teeth. He had never laid a hand on me directly—but my stepmother had done plenty of cruel things. The scars of those days… even now, they still remain on my body.

“If you’re saying you want Kuna to return to your house, then as I’ve already told you, it’ll only happen after a proper investigation.”

“…And what is it you people hope to accomplish, meddling in another family’s affairs? We’re from Aluda. Our problems are for us to resolve.”

The standoff between Gier and Father tightened, their glares clashing, neither willing to yield.

──We’ll never understand each other.
I had thought maybe, if we spoke, there might be a chance for our paths to cross again. But no—it was always parallel lines. And every word exchanged only dug deeper into my heart.

──Run, Kuna. You’re allowed to run.

That’s what Gier told me. I have comrades who will help me.

If a bond only hurts you, only drags you down into misery… then even if it’s with blood family, it’s okay to cut it.
It’s okay to put my own happiness first.

TL Note: The author lists this as chapter 8 and there is no chapter 7, but I’m going to assume its a mistake and list it as chapter 7 unless I find out otherwise later.