Reincarnated Into An Otome Game? Who Cares! I'm Too Busy Mastering Magic! Chapter 5

T/N: This chapter is dedicated to Lili. I'm sorry to hear that you are going through hard times. If at all possible, I hope your family can experience a miraculous recovery as well!

Miraculous Recovery

I am Siegmund Stephan Archelaus.

I have a wife and daughter and I am a Marquis as well as the head of the Archelaus family. I am constantly working for the sake of the people living in my territory and for the sake of my country, but I had always intended to protect my wife and daughter.

That is intended…. past tense.

I tried all possible means to prevent my home from becoming such a cold, estranged place. I struggled to try every solution I could think of. And yet, nothing I did prevented my wife's and daughter's depression from worsening day by day. Furthermore, despite loving my wife, Eleanor, dearly, I stopped knowing how to connect and interact with her properly. I tried and tried for two full years and still it all came to naught.

In the end, Eleanor's brother, Oedipus, came and p.r.o.nounced that he was taking Eleanor and Alice home with him and I had no choice but to accept this outcome. However, no matter how much they have changed, I still love them so much. I begged him to at least wait for a little while longer before taking them, merely to postpone the date. I pleaded that if Alice, who has been in bed, unconscious, for so long were to suddenly wake up in a completely different place, she might actually die.

Hearing this, Oedipus's expression turned anguished and complicated. He, after all, is another person who still loves Alice a lot. He eventually agreed though, and returned home.

And, just as that awful day was approaching, when I was sitting in my library struggling at my wits' end, a maid, Conny, came rus.h.i.+ng without even knocking.

“Master! Young Mistress is!!”

“What-, What's wrong with Alice?!”

No. It can't be.

I was absolutely overwhelmed with my fears for the worst. But Conny actually had on a happy face and was crying as she said, “The Young Mistress has woken up! And she has even sat up in bed….!!”

As soon as I heard this, I was already rus.h.i.+ng out of the library. Our butler, Alphonse, also followed directly behind me.

According to the promise I made with Oedipus, the day that Alice recovers is the day that I will have to part with my wife and daughter. Even so, after hearing that my daughter had recovered enough to actually sit up, before I knew it, I was running.

When I arrived at my daughter's room, I was first surprised by her appearance. Recently, every time I have seen her, she has looked extremely pale and on her face was always a stiff, frightened expression. But when I entered her room this time, she had a calm, gentle expression, and her cheeks had a childish, rosy hue about them.

“Alice….!”

I rushed over to where she was laying and tenderly grasped her hand. Her palm was frail, but warm.

“I thought you might never wake up again…..!”

These last few days had been particularly bad for her. She had been bedridden and although she did wake up from time to time, whenever I tried to talk to her she didn't even react. Her face remained blank and she just stared off into empty s.p.a.ce. Her presence had become extremely weak. It had seemed like she could end up dying at any time.

For this reason, I was utterly surprised. My daughter had not only purposely turned her face towards me, but had even met my eyes.

“!”

Seeing this, I wondered if I had even forgotten what my daughter's eyes looked like. That is how much she had changed. Her eyes looked completely different. They had always been a lovely golden color, but now they held such a kindness and intelligence, almost like a rich honey, and there was a captivating light hidden in their depths.

Seeing them, I felt so moved that I started trembling. And then an even more surprising thing happened. She faced me and smiled like an angel. It almost felt like she was trying to give me some peace of mind. Her expression was frail and yet filled with warmth.　

At this point, I couldn't stop myself from breaking down and crying. Behind me, even Alphonse had started sniffling. And yet, the G.o.ds' blessing didn't stop there.

“Fath…..er”

I was startled to hear a feeble, soprano voice, making me turn to face my daughter. Just now, did she speak?

“Alice….? Just now…. did you….?”

She gave a small nod of her head.

“I have a request…. need to fire some people…. and tell the maid, Conny, not to spread word about my current condition….. promise secrecy…..”

I couldn't even be surprised anymore, hearing this, I was just so happy that my only wish had been granted, she had finally recovered. I could sense that this was a very important conversation though.

“Alphonse, I'll leave it to you!”

“Understood!”

Just like my brother-in-law, Alphonse also cares for Alice a lot, so he was probably considereably shaken as well, but after hearing my voice, he returned to himself and quickly got to work.

“Alice….. Oh, my Alice. You really have recovered.”　

Making sure that the door was completely closed, I returned to my daughter's side. I gently stroked her face as I called out to her. Without being surprised or rejecting the physical contact, she smiled and allowed me this touch. It has been two years since she last allowed me to do even just this. I can feel my heart swelling with happiness.

“Father, I'm so sorry…. Because of me, you and Mother have been suffering…..”

Surprisingly, my daughter had grasped, at least to some extent, the current state our estate. Even so, none of what had happened had been her fault. It had been my responsibility to help her get better and to maintain this family, but I could do nothing.

“No-, Of course not, Alice…..! Nothing matters as long as you can make a full recovery. Just staying with us is enough!”

Seeing this truly miraculous recovery, the tears wouldn't stop flowing from my eyes. Even though I had basically never cried in front of anyone else before, I seemed to have forgotten how to stop, even as my face became drenched in tears.

“Thank you so much, Father….. But please don't tell Mother about any of this yet……”

I'm a.s.suming this is because we still have some people that need to fire. But why can't we tell Eleanor?

“But why? Your mother has been worrying over your sickness more than anyone else, you know? We have to tell her as soon as possible.”

After I posed this question, she started telling me all about the hair-raisingly repulsive truth of what had occurred.

T/N: I think many of us were hoping to see some of these plans going into action, but this view into Alice-chan's father's mind was just so beautiful, that I didn't mind at all. This chapter really made me feel the warmth of fatherly love ❤