Chapter 86: A meal with the father (1)
It was already late evening and Prides gathered for a meal.
Although two humans and a blue undead might not be enough to deserve being called a gathering, they sure had more than enough pride made up for their lacking numbers.
Yes, it was just those three, Cranberry, lord Blackberry, and Zombie.
Of course, Zombie wasn't eating.
He was simply sitting on Cranberry's left side and watching her curiously with a faint smile.
Sometimes, the blue undead would refill his master's glass or put another serving of food on her plate the moment Cranberry took an interest in a particular dish.
"..."
Lord Blackberry was doing his best not to stare at his daughter and her eternal servant but it was a rather tough task...
Even though they weren't talking at all, they had this intimate aura surrounding them that was making the head of the Pride family feel like he was a third wheel, disturbing newlyweds with his unwanted presence.
Poor lord Blackberry was feeling like an intruder in his own dining room!
"...haa..."
He breathed out lightly and used his skill to make a bottle of wine fly to his shining hand.
As a father, he felt that he shouldn't admit that he feels lonely and wants to talk with his daughter. His pride was telling him that it's not how a man of his status should be acting.
He pulled out the cork and smelled it.
"Tsk..."
He clicked his tongue noticing that the wine isn't of the high quality that he got used to, but considering the financial situation that Prides were facing, the only thing he could do was to bear with it.
"...how did I ever let that happen..."
A single regretful thought slipped through his defenses and left his mouth as a remorseful sigh.
"Father...?"
Cranberry's fork stopped midway to her mouth and she looked at lord Blackberry, tilting her head.
"Oh, no, it's nothing, really."
Lord Blackberry made a cheerful expression not wanting his daughter to realize that something was amiss.
"During these three years you had to go through a lot, father, I've been thinking..."
The red-haired girl put down the cutlery and wiped her hands in a napkin offered by the blue undead.
"Sweetie, you really have nothing to worry about, instead, could you tell me how your training is going? Should I call for an appraiser to check on your progress? Or do you wish me to request for the best adventurers to help you practice your skills?"
The bespectacled man hurriedly changed the subject giving his best not to burden his only daughter with the sad fate that was waiting for their family name.
"Graough... (Yeah, about that, master's father...) Graough... (The adventurers don't seem to like us very much...)"
Zombie twitched and started fidgeting nervously while growling in a low voice.
"...ha..."
On the other hand, Cranberry furrowed her brows.
It seemed like her father wasn't aware of what she and her eternal servant did at the capital as of yet.
Truth to be told, not many people knew.
After all the death of five promising adventurers and by the hand of only a single girl and her corpse puppet, was far too shameful thing to not be covered up by the adventurers guild.
But that didn't mean it was something that shouldn't be known to the head of one of the main noble families.
In Cranberry's memory, various groups were literally fighting over who could be the one to deliver the best intel to her father, but now...
Lord Blackberry being left in the dark was the best example of how low the Prides' have fallen.
And it was honestly making Cranberry's blood boil.
"Ah, say, sweetie, since when did you get so close with your corpse puppet? I always thought that you didn't like him at all!"
Seeing his daughter's reaction, lord Blackberry misunderstood her intentions and hurriedly changed the subject again.
"...groaugh...! (...nothing changed...!)"
Zombie was the first to react.
He got all defensive and hunched down, trying to hide behind his master while glaring at lord Blackberry.
"Pfft... ehkem..."
Cranberry noticed her undead's act and barely held back the laughter.
She coughed to hid it and straightened her back.
"Not at all, father, at the beginning, I was horrible to him, but how could anyone continue being mean to that cute rotten brain?"
She smirked and reached back to pat Zombie's head.
"Graough! (Thank you, master, I also think that you're very cute!)"
The blue undead responded happily, without even the slightest doubt or hesitation in his empty head.
Cranberry flinched and blushed, but wasn't facing her servant, to begin with, so she didn't try to hide it.
"I... see..."
Lord Blackberry furrowed his brow looking rather worried.
Maybe even he had a slight doubt about the relationship the two had...
...Maybe that's why she doesn't want to marry the prince anymore...
Such a thought appeared in the father's mind while looking at his daughter's blushing face.
"Father, you've said that you want me to keep training, right?"
Cranberry asked, pulling her father from the depths of suspicion.
"Well, yes essentially... but of course I'm not going to force you if you don't really want to..."
Lord Blackberry explained, giving his best to guess the mood of his daughter.
"Father, I want to take some time off from the social life..."
Cranberry declared suddenly causing her father to jump from shock.
"Y-you want to take a break from parties?"
It seemed that in his memories, Cranberry was a social butterfly that never missed any chance to interact with others.
Honestly, it made Cranberry a little sad, the girl in her father's memories seemed a lot happier than she herself was in the past.
"..."
For a second, the red-haired girl wanted to try asking about her mother, to learn how she was according to the rewritten memories, but she bit her tongue just in time to stop herself.
The dead stayed dead, and the empty-headed social butterfly who threw a tantrum whenever something wasn't going her way, never actually existed in the first place.