Father, I Won’t Do Anything

“If you release magical power like that, it will be hard on Jaina. Being so unable to discern what’s appropriate…”

“Don’t call this kid’s name.”

“By what right? Jaina asked me to call her that first. Isn’t that right?”

Hilvenzia demonstratively stroked Jaina’s fluffy hair.

Mikael’s eyes darkened at that touch, but he didn’t release magical power like before.

“What you wanted from me was something like this too, wasn’t it? After acting pompous yesterday, saying one must absolutely never leave food uneaten in the Magic Tower.”

At those words, Jaina recalled Hilvenzia looking at her yesterday.

“I definitely took a seat in a corner with no people and used a sound-blocking spell yesterday… You eavesdropped on the whole conversation in secret, claiming it as your territory. Just like a shady old hag.”

“The dining hall is my domain. What can I do if I hear sounds?”

Hilvenzia’s voice was languid, but that didn’t mean her force was weak at all. She wasn’t giving in to Mikael in the slightest.

‘It feels like I butted in where I shouldn’t have.’

Mikael thought Jaina would quickly leave, tired of her indifferent reactions, and Hilvenzia thought she wouldn’t even encounter her since she was in the kitchen… It became bothersome.

‘Well, I guess I don’t need to pay attention to it.’

Jaina recalled that in the novel , although the two had a bad relationship, they didn’t get deeply entangled.

‘It’ll be a momentary clash. Since both of them have things to do in the Magic Tower, they won’t have many occasions to meet in the future either.’

Before long, the relationship between the two would return to how it originally was. Because right now, both of them were just acting like this because their pride was hurt.

Jaina concluded that she should ignore the two and just do her own thing.

“I’m sorry, but I’d like to eat more lunch. Could I step away for a moment?”

It may have been a large amount in other people’s eyes, but it was still far from enough for Jaina.

As Jaina got up from her seat, the suffocatingly stuffy air briefly thinned.

“Ah. Don’t mind me and please continue your conversation.”

Jaina diligently got up and went to get more food.

The menu was the white bread she had eaten to her heart’s content yesterday.

Because she ate a lot, it quickly ran out even if she took a lot. It was annoying to have to go back and forth several times, but it couldn’t be helped with her small build.

“I’m back. Sorry for interrupting.”

As Jaina scooped bread and sat on the chair, the two spoke in a somehow fed-up voice.

“Jaina is really… I felt it earlier too, but she’s a truly rare child. It’s not easy to act so nonchalantly.”

“Is she insensitive, or is she stupid and doesn’t know what fear is? Anyway, it’s a different story from when she’s happily eating bread.”

At their words, Jaina blinked her big eyes. But soon she turned her gaze to the bread on the plate.

No matter what they said, it wasn’t more important than the bread giving off a delicious aroma.

“But why is it the same white bread as yesterday?”

At some point, the taut tension between Mikael and Hilvenzia had fizzled out.

Mikael propped his chin on the table with a bored face. Hilvenzia shrugged and chuckled.

“Right, I’m grateful you eat the bread deliciously too, but there are many other dishes, so how about trying them for once?”

“The food in the dining hall changes every day. Seafood came out today.”

“Why? Do you dislike seafood?”

“That’s not it.”

Jaina quietly looked at where the food was placed and said:

“I don’t know how to eat that dish.”

Yesterday, she was so moved by just the bread that she had no room to think about other foods, but today she wanted to try other foods too.

The seafood giving off all sorts of delicious savory and spicy aromas were cooked in various ways, making her very curious.

However, the seafood was covered with hard shells.

It looked similar to the ones in Korea, but she had never encountered expensive seafood even in her previous life, so she didn’t know how to eat it.

“So that’s why you only ate that white bread yesterday too?”

“That’s part of the reason, but… That bread was enough for me. It was really delicious.”

Yes, that was truly enough.

She had no intention of being greedy at all. If she started being greedy, the things she wanted would keep increasing one by one, and her attachment to life would also grow.

She was in a position with nowhere to go. Now she had been entrusted to the Magic Tower, but she didn’t know when she would be kicked out. And in the midst of this, enjoying ‘luxurious indulgences’? It was nonsense.

What would she do with a palate accustomed to high-end cuisine, and what if she caught Diamid’s attention? Unforeseen incidents could occur. Like encountering Hilvenzia right in front of her eyes.

So, she had to maintain ‘simplicity’ no matter what.

“…”

“…”

Somehow Mikael and Hilvenzia had been silent for a while.

Setting aside Hilvenzia, Mikael had been so eager to talk to her and fall over himself until just now.

As Jaina was reflecting on whether there was anything strange in her answer, Mikael spoke in a serious voice.

“Hey. Still, once you get through this, things will get better. The Tower Lord couldn’t possibly keep you like this forever, could he.”

For some reason, Mikael’s voice was a bit softer than before.

“Really. It must be hard now, but it’ll be brief.”

Was it just her feeling? It sounded like consolation.

There was no way Mikael, who had been constantly picking fights with her since coming to the Magic Tower, would console her.

From the side, Hilvenzia also quietly followed Mikael’s words.

“Right. The TOwer Lord couldn’t possibly have you live like this for the rest of your life…”

Mikael and Hilvenzia didn’t clearly say what was what. But Jaina could tell.

‘The two of them think Diamid will change.’

However, she who had read the novel knew.

That Diamid never acknowledges Jaina as his daughter until the end.

That despite having the power to protect her, he cruelly turns a blind eye to her and eventually lets her die.

But even so, Jaina couldn’t continue speaking for a moment because it seemed like the two were worried about her.

‘It also feels like one corner of my heart is somehow ticklish.’

She had thought after coming to the Magic Tower.

Since she was a being turned away even by her father, she probably couldn’t form deep relationships with anyone.

But then there also wouldn’t be as many bothersome matters, so it would be convenient.

A quiet life not caring about anyone and not needing to care about anyone.

‘I thought that way of life was the most reasonable for me, but why suddenly…’

The moment she was briefly lost in thought passed, and Jaina inwardly smiled wryly.

It seemed she was being too serious right now.

To Mikael and Hilvenzia, she would be a meaningless existence.

‘They think of me as a toy or an ingredient anyway.’

She shouldn’t trust other people.

Whenever she wanted to rely on someone, whenever she wanted to act like a child, Jaina used to remind herself.

‘The only one who can protect me is myself.’

Jaina firmly clenched her small hand with determination.

She was thoroughly alone.

She absolutely mustn’t forget that.

* * *

And so time passed.

Jaina thought life in the Magic Tower would be quiet and calm.

The small luxuries she desired didn’t include the assumption of ‘being with someone’. In her imagination, she was always alone.

However-

“Hey. You didn’t get scared or cry in front of me, so don’t do that in front of others either. I always have to be first. Got it?”

“As you, Hilvenzia, said last time, didn’t you want to torment her?”

“Ah, shut up. I changed my mind, so what can you do.”

Mikael often appeared in front of Jaina and picked fights with her for no other reason.

It was truly a childish mindset. Since he couldn’t tease her, others shouldn’t either.

If he was Diamid’s disciple, he should be very busy, but he was leaving his spot to say these things.

‘He’s really an incomprehensible person. I don’t particularly want to understand him either.’

And Hilvenzia also sought out Jaina from time to time.

She said that although she was known for tormenting people who left her food, that was actually just requesting research cooperation, and she wasn’t such a bad person.

It would obviously be hurtful if food she made with sincerity was left uneaten, so the price had to be paid for that.

“So I’m saying, Jaina, you have no intention of leaving food uneaten?”

“The food Lady Hilvenzia makes is always delicious.”

Hilvenzia said ‘That’s quite unfortunate’ and pretended to sob, but to Jaina, she didn’t look that sad.

Like that, while Jaina received the full attention of Mikael and Hilvenzia, she became a famous figure inside the Magic Tower.

At first, she drew gazes because she was a young child rarely seen in the Magic Tower, but now she could feel people staring wherever she went.

And among them was Moben, who had offered to help her in the library.

“…”

After the incident in the library, he didn’t speak to Jaina, but he would stare at her thickly from afar before disappearing.

‘Is it over with that person now?’

When asked about her relationship with Mikael, she had answered he was her big brother, and even after that, she unintentionally kept showing them together.

If he was truly worried about her, he should be relieved to see her with Mikael.

Jaina erased thoughts of Moben and looked around.

The research paper submission period was approaching any day now. It was a time when all the magicians of the Magic Tower would be busy.

Mikael, the disciple of the Tower Lord, and Hilvenzia, the Magic Tower’s top alchemist, also looked frazzled with various tasks.

‘But I have nothing to do.’

Jaina, who had done household chores since an extremely young age, found this leisure very awkward.

In her previous life when she drifted between relatives before being entrusted to her biological father, and in her current life living as a freeloader in the dragon village, she had a habit of worrying about what to do every morning.

But now there was nothing she had to do. No one ordering her to do anything.

‘Should I clean my room?’