Dad Came Back from a Deserted Island Chapter 28

Anne was the first to notice that Vivian was missing.

When snack time came, she went looking for her young lady, but no matter how many times she called, Vivian did not appear.

“Did she fall asleep somewhere?”

Even Anne had not fully adjusted to the spacious new mansion yet, so it was understandable that little Vivian hadn’t either. She often wandered around with Kiki and ended up dozing off somewhere.

At first, Anne didn’t think much of it.

“Excuse me, have any of you seen My lady?”

“My lady…? I saw her lying flat in the bushes in the garden earlier. I didn’t think I should disturb her, so I pretended not to see her and walked past.”

“Oh, I saw her too! She was covering her eyes behind the pillar outside the game room.”

“She got her arm stuck in one of the billiard table pockets earlier. I was startled and quickly helped her out.”

“My goodness, that could have been dangerous! When I checked on her a little while ago, she was knocking chess pieces over with billiard balls. She was so focused that she didn’t even notice me coming.”

Anne’s expression grew increasingly serious.

She stopped every servant she encountered and asked if they had seen Vivian, but no one knew where she was.

Jean, who had been looking over documents in his study before coming out for a snack and some time with Vivian to unwind, noticed the commotion.

“What’s going on?”

“Lord Lambert! It’s just my lady…”

“Did something happen to Vivi?”

The moment Vivian’s name was mentioned, Jean’s expression hardened.

After hearing what had happened, Jean immediately checked the garden. Fortunately, the gate was firmly closed, so it seemed unlikely that Vivian had gone outside.

“Who was the last person to see Vivian?”

“M-Me. I saw her in the game room, but… I didn’t see her come out.”

At those words, everyone began searching the eastern wing of the mansion from top to bottom.

“How could this happen? Even when she’s playing hide-and-seek, she answers whenever we call her name.”

Jean abandoned his work and joined the search. There was no way he could concentrate on work when his little girl had disappeared inside the house in broad daylight.

“Vivian!”

“My lady! His Divine Beastship! Where are you?”

“There’s sweet cake waiting for you, My lady!”

Hours passed as they frantically searched for Vivian.

When Jean saw the sunlight outside the window turning orange with the setting sun, his legs suddenly gave out and he staggered.

“Lord Lambert!”

“I-I’m fine. More importantly, Vivi… Where could she possibly have gone?”

“Sh-Should we report it to the guards? We thought she was somewhere inside the house, but she’s been missing this whole time. What if someone sneaked into the mansion and kidnapped her—”

The maid’s words drained the color from Jean’s face.

The possibility that Vivian had been kidnapped—

The horrifying thought sent a murmur through the servants.

If that were truly the case, none of them could escape responsibility for failing to protect the mansion.

They feared punishment, but even more than that, they could not bear the thought of their sweet and kind young lady being in danger.

Jean slowly straightened with a pale face.

“I’ll report it to the guards.”

“We’ll go, Lord Lambert.”

“No. It’ll be faster if I ride there myself. Keep searching for Vivian while I’m gone.”

No servant dared oppose the firmness in his voice.

Jean hurried up the stairs two or three steps at a time and headed for his room. He intended to bring a portrait of Vivian with him. Having a picture would make it much easier to search for her.

What is this?

The door to the dressing room was open. He was certain he had closed it after changing clothes that morning.

Did someone go inside?

There was even a possibility that a thief had entered the mansion and abducted Vivian before taking her away. Jean grabbed the fireplace poker and quietly opened the dressing-room door.

There was no one inside.

Instead, the wall leading to the secret room was slightly open.

“……”

A thief?

Whoever it was, Jean certainly had no intention of welcoming someone who had broken into a secret room.

And if the person who had kidnapped Vivian was hiding in there—

With his face turning cold, Jean pushed the wall open.

Inside—

Vivian and Kiki were fast asleep, tangled up together with necklaces and bracelets draped all over them.

They looked so peaceful that Jean nearly lost all strength from relief.

But the moment he let out a sigh of relief, his expression hardened.

“Vivian de Lambert!”

“……!”

Startled by the voice calling her name, Vivian opened her eyes.

“Uuugh… Daddy?”

Still blinking sleepily, Vivian stretched before finally noticing Jean staring down at her with a frightening expression she had never seen before.

Only then did she realize that something was seriously wrong.

“Not only did you rummage through Daddy’s room without permission, you even fell asleep somewhere like this? Everyone has been looking everywhere for you!”

“D-Daddy, it’s just—”

“We’ve been searching for hours! Do you have any idea how worried Daddy was that you might have been kidnapped? I was on my way to report you missing to the guards just now! And yet you—!”

It was the first time Jean had ever scolded her like this.

Vivian shrank back at the unfamiliar sight of her father and couldn’t even think of a response.

“And on top of that, you touched things that weren’t yours. I’m really disappointed in you.”

At those words, Vivian’s lowered head shot up.

Disappointed?

Jean had never even said something like that to her as a joke.

Only Kiki bristled beside her.

[Did you just say you were disappointed? You never even told us there was a place we weren’t allowed to enter!]

“His Divine Beastship is hardly blameless either.”

Kiki’s mouth fell open.

Did that human just… say something to me?

Tears welled up in Vivian’s eyes.

Even as she pouted her lips and tried desperately not to cry, Jean did not soften his expression. He was genuinely angry, and before comforting her, there was something he needed to hear from her first.

“I-I’m sorry…”

Yes. This was what he had been waiting for.

For Vivian to acknowledge her mistake and apologize on her own.

“Sniff… I-I just… Kiki and I were playing, and it was strange how the wall moved. Then there were things inside that I’d never seen before, so I went in and—”

“There’s no such thing as ‘just.’ Vivian, tell me properly. Do you understand what you did wrong?”

Vivian sniffled as tears rolled down her cheeks. Her little shoulders trembled as she struggled to hold back her sobs.

“I-I went into Daddy’s room without permission… I-I rummaged through your things, and I-I didn’t tell anyone, so everyone was worried…”

“Did you do something wrong or not?”

“I did wroooong…”

Vivian finally burst into tears, and Jean lifted her into his arms.

She must have been asleep there for quite some time. Her hair was completely disheveled and tangled around the necklaces.

“Shh.”

“Waaaaah…”

Once someone starts comforting you while you cry, the tears only seem to come harder.

Vivian sobbed miserably until her throat grew hoarse, then finally managed to calm down with a few lingering hiccups.

Jean gently wiped his daughter’s flushed, overheated face with his large hand.

“Do you know how frightened Daddy was? When we go outside, you need to apologize to everyone, too. They spent hours searching for you. Understand?”

“Mhm.”

“Sigh… What were you doing that made you fall asleep here? There isn’t even much to see in such a small room.”

“Kiki… Kiki and I were wondering who the owner of this ring was… sniff. And then I got sleepy.”

Jean fell silent at Vivian’s words.

The ring on her thumb was very familiar.

And it wasn’t just the ring. The necklace and bracelet were familiar, too.

Seeing Vivian’s swollen face covered in glittering jewelry was enough to make anyone laugh, but Jean couldn’t.

Of all things, she had picked the very ones he had deliberately placed in a box and never opened again.

Jean slowly untangled Vivian’s hair from the necklace and spoke in a quiet voice.

“…They belonged to Vivi’s mother.”

“Huh? They were Mommy’s?”

“Yes.”

Vivian’s eyes widened in surprise, and another tear that Jean had missed rolled down her cheek.