When the Female Lead Went Off-Script, the Main Male Lead Became the Tyrant's Empress - Chapter 8.2
“I will become your godfather.”
Haster spoke as he handed her a handkerchief.
At the abrupt statement, Clary hiccupped while wiping her tear-streaked face with it.
“If you are willing.”
“…I’ll be an adult next month.”
“That does not matter. What you truly need is not a guardian, but the support of a Grand Duke.”
Her long blond hair fluttered in the wind blowing from behind her.
Haster removed the strands clinging to the tracks of Clary’s tears and explained calmly.
“You are an imperial grandchild, but you have yet to be officially recognized. There are few who oppose you now, but once your popularity fades, the situation will turn against you. They claim it violates the law, but laws like that can simply be amended or abolished. The most important question is whether you are useful.”
“…….”
“Yse may be a grand duchy in the far north, but its size and value surpass those of the men in the capital. Furthermore, the Emperor wishes to draw the north closer to the central government. Just as there are those who oppose you, there are also those who do not welcome my coming south.”
His even, low voice continued.
“If your guardian is a Grand Duke, your value will rise, and those who oppose you will be forced to watch themselves. The imperial family will support it instead. They can use the fact that I am your godfather to demonstrate that relations with the North are strong and keep the nobles under control.”
The Emperor had summoned him under the pretext of building friendly relations and increasing trade, but his true objective had been to use Haster to correct the imbalance among the noble factions.
It was irritating, but it wasn’t a bad thing for Haster either.
Politics was like that anyway.
“I will help you, so I would like you to help me as well.”
Was this a dream?
Clary blinked her blue eyes and carefully studied the man standing before her.
The Grand Duke in the original story would never have used the words ‘help me,’ even as an act.
He was someone who could help others, not someone who asked for help.
The world submitting to him was only natural, so why would he ever need to ask?
“……I’ll think about it.”
The confusing night passed, and morning came.
A considerable amount of time passed, but the questions that kept surfacing prevented her from organizing her thoughts.
He may only have touched Clary after she became an adult, but he had been steadily conditioning her mentally since she was a minor.
Yet his words and actions the previous night had been far too much like those of a guardian.
He had even offered to officially become her guardian.
It was something the original Clary had desperately wanted but had never once possessed.
“…It doesn’t sound bad.”
It was too gentle an offer.
That was precisely why it was difficult to accept it immediately.
Haster didn’t force or coax Clary into agreeing. He simply waited for her.
On the day Arden made her the same offer, she reached a decision.
Although both men had tried to persuade her with the same reasoning, choosing the Grand Duke, who had shown even a little empathy and revealed his own vulnerability, would be far more beneficial.
Clary immediately ran to Haster.
She flung open the door without knocking and shouted at once.
“I’ll accept the offer you made back then. But you have to keep your promise!”
Haster, who had been reviewing documents sent from his territory, didn’t reprimand her for her rude behavior.
He merely nodded and answered in a solemn tone.
“I will not disappoint you.”
“Good.”
The two immediately performed the rite establishing a spiritual familial bond before a priest and signed the written oath.
“With this, in the name of God, the two of you have gained the rights of godparent and godchild.”
Clary received her copy of the oath and nodded.
‘If you stab me in the back after all this, the North is getting castrated that very day.’
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The council once again held a discussion on whether Clary should be recognized as an imperial grandchild.
But this time was different.
Haster’s forceful expression of support silenced the opposing opinions.
At last, Clary’s name was formally entered into the imperial register as the Emperor’s granddaughter.
Time flowed like running water.
The day came when Clary reached adulthood and received her baptism.
That was the day the genre changed.
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