I Ran Away And The Reverse Harem Started Chapter 132

Viscount Bullosen……

He was my real father, the one I had lost. I almost didn’t recognize him because he looked so different from the portrait.

He was clearly a man with a strong build and broad shoulders, just like any grown man. In the portrait, he had a warm gaze, holding his daughter tightly as he laughed heartily.

But the person in front of me seemed like someone completely different.

As if the long years of hardship had slowly eaten away at his vitality.

“I’m sorry. When he heard you had returned, Father insisted on seeing your face.”

Yvette quickly came up to me and whispered.

Now I understood. When Deborah said she was going to meet me, he too had wanted to see my face, and despite his family’s attempts to stop him, he had come all the way here.

I had already felt guilty for not being able to greet the viscount before going down to Holis……

I hesitated, then slowly began walking toward the two of them. That night in front of the café, I had acted too distant toward Lady Bullosen, and it had weighed on my heart. I wanted to at least not seem so stiff this time.

The closer I got, the more emotions flickered across the viscount’s—no, my father’s—face.

Joy and relief. Longing. Love.

And following those, an unfathomable sorrow.

His face twisted in pain, as though the cruelty of the world was too much to bear.

“My dear…….”

He pushed away my mother’s support and limped toward me. Even though his body was clearly weakened and moving was hard for him, he kept walking slowly in my direction.

When less than two meters remained between us, his body faltered. He clutched his chest with a grimace, as though pain had struck him again.

“Ugh!”

“My dear!”

Lady Bullosen, who had been behind him, rushed forward in panic. But before he collapsed from the chest pain, I caught him first.

“Are you alright?”

His weight was heavy, but not unbearable. Instead of collapsing onto the ground, he leaned against my shoulder, as though falling into me. I thought I could hear the slow beat of his heart.

I tried hard to support him and help him up.  At that moment, his rough hand pulled me into a tight embrace.

In just that short time, my shoulder had already grown damp. A broken, soaked voice whispered at my ear.

“Irene…… It’s really Irene…….”

“……”

“I searched for you all this time…….”

My father buried his face into my shoulder and wept. Salty drops fell one by one onto my blouse, soaking it through.

Clinging to me, he sobbed bitterly.

“I spent countless nights praying, begging at least for your life to be spared…….”

“Sir…….”

The word Viscount scratched against my lips. I almost called him that again without thinking.

But if I did, it would surely break him completely.

“My daughter……”

The arms holding me trembled faintly, as if he might collapse at any moment. I suddenly felt a surge of fear, terrified that he might crumble right then and there.

“Ah……”

My initial confusion quickly gave way to pain that was impossible to bear. Tears blurred my vision.

Unlike him, who leaned into me desperately, afraid I might disappear again, my hand hovered awkwardly at his back, not quite touching.

Over his shoulder, I saw my mother. Her cheeks were drenched with tears as well.

Carefully, I moved my hand. Then I wrapped my arms around his thin back. When I buried my face against his shoulder, his unfamiliar scent washed over me.

I held tightly onto his trembling body. And with trembling lips, I finally spoke.

“F… Father……”

“……”

“Father……”

After such a long time, I had at last found my real father.

And my real family.

At last, I spoke the word “father” for the very first time in my life.

My family. My father and mother. And my sister.

All this time, I had boasted that real family didn’t matter, but maybe that was just me pretending to be strong. Otherwise, why would this simple, ordinary word make my eyes brim with tears?

A warmth I had never felt before surged through me like a wave. The word father filled my heart as if by magic.

 

 

 

*****

 

 

 

 

After a long embrace with Father, I also shared hugs with Lady Bullosen—my real mother—and my sister.

When I reached out first, Mother’s eyes grew wet, and she held me tightly for a long time.

Her fingers slowly brushed through my loosened hair. The gentle, tender touch against my scalp made me feel as though some distant, long-forgotten memory had returned.

Yvette hesitated for a while before finally hugging me. A refined scent of perfume tickled my nose.

Though it seemed she would let go right away, Yvette held me in silence for quite some time, occasionally patting my back as if to tell me I’d done well. The way one would treat a toddler. It made me laugh.

But we couldn’t remain in the garden forever. For now, the reporters had left because of the scorching sun, but there was no telling when they might return, and we couldn’t allow Father to stay standing in the heat with his condition.

So Father, with Jenny’s help, boarded the carriage first and returned to the Bullosen estate. He and I promised to meet again in court two days later.

Mother, Yvette, and Deborah stayed behind.

I guided the three of them into the first-floor parlor of Roan’s townhouse—a building that by now felt as familiar as my own home.

As we headed into the parlor, I happened to spot Daniel, Colin, and Lucas coming down the stairs. We all gathered together in the room.

Once the unsettled atmosphere had quieted a little, Yvette handed over some documents she had prepared.

“Shall we start with the trial?”

“Yes, let’s.”

“During the five days you four were away in Holis, Baron Louis’s estate was searched and interrogations were conducted. These are the related documents.”

“What did the baron say?”

“Of course, he claimed he hadn’t done anything.”

That didn’t surprise me. I never expected him to admit to his crimes so easily.

“But there’s nothing to worry about. Our evidence is solid. We’ve secured Rumiz’s testimony, and the letters found in the baron’s possession have been confirmed as written in her hand. And the search uncovered more letters beyond those.”

Yvette explained everything they had learned, organizing the details clearly.

“Besides the letter Deborah first discovered, several more were found describing the crime. It seems Rumiz even stopped briefly at her own home in the capital after the abduction.”

“Why?”

“She said she was worried about her children. When speaking with us, she didn’t seem to remember. After all, it’s a memory from twenty years ago—it’s understandable.”

At those words, I instinctively frowned. Yvette summarized the contents of the letters submitted as evidence.

“‘I left Irene Bullosen in the carriage while I checked on my children. Since the debt collectors had just visited, I felt uneasy. I confirmed the children’s safety, and planned to take Irene Bullosen somewhere secluded to dispose of her,’ the letter said. It was essentially a way of asking Kazan Louis for understanding.”

But as we all knew, Rumiz had failed to kill me and instead abandoned me at a small orphanage in the west of the kingdom. She had lied to Kazan.

Just as I quietly nodded, Lucas burst out angrily.

“So what, her own children mattered more than anyone else’s?”

“Lucas……”

“She kidnapped someone else’s child, abandoned her, and yet went to check on her own kids first? What a touching display of motherly love.”

Lucas’s face hardened. Colin quietly tried to calm him.

“Lucas, I know you’re angry, but Miss Yvette and Lady Bullosen must feel just as furious.”

“I’m fine,” Yvette said with a long sigh, rubbing her forehead before continuing with the report.

“At the time of the crime, Rumiz had a ten-year-old daughter and a seven-year-old son. Now they’re thirty and twenty-seven. They only recently learned of their mother’s crimes. Both married and cut off almost all contact with her years ago, so they only just received the news.”

“……Will they be attending the trial too?”

“Perhaps. They may even write a petition asking for leniency.”

Lucas protested.

“Why should she get a lighter sentence for that? Because of her precious children, Rosieta had to spend twenty years separated from her own family!”

I squeezed Lucas’s hand firmly to calm him down, and Yvette glanced at him briefly.

“That’s why we’ve already discussed this with the prosecutor. A petition or a belated confession could reduce Rumiz’s sentence, so we intend to push for the maximum from the start.”

Her gaze shifted to me. She patted my hand gently, reassuring me, then handed over another document.

Speaking softly, she said,

“Running a trading company, I’ve dealt with many legal disputes. Something like this is no burden to me, so don’t worry. I’ve also consulted a trusted lawyer several times. There’s a well-known attorney in Wacing Town.”

“Ah, I see.”

I flipped through a few pages, scanning the records of both the prosecutor and Baron Louis’s lawyer.

“Either way, the baron won’t escape. Our evidence is overwhelming, and the search uncovered even more letters. Rumiz hasn’t retracted her testimony during interrogation either. That’s good—there was always the chance she’d change her story. The baron will be sentenced to life imprisonment.”

“I really can’t understand Rumiz. If she’s this cooperative, why didn’t she come to us sooner? Twenty years later, she finally takes our side—did she expect gratitude for that?”

I muttered bitterly.

If she was going to cooperate this obediently, she could have confessed long ago. Then we wouldn’t have wasted twenty years.

Of course, her testimony was making things easier now, but I couldn’t help feeling resentful.

When I lifted my eyes from the documents, I turned toward Deborah, who sat across from me.

Come to think of it, hadn’t she said she had something to tell us about the five days we’d been away? It was the reason we had gathered, yet she had stayed silent until now.

Just as I was about to call on her, Deborah spoke in a heavy voice.

“……Rumiz won’t be the one asking for leniency.”

“What do you mean?”

“There’s something I need to tell you. About Rumiz.”

Everyone in the parlor turned their eyes to Deborah.

“During the five days you were in Holis, I spoke with her. I asked why she was only cooperating with us now.”

“And?”

Deborah’s eyes swept across us. She looked even paler than she had in the garden.

“……She said she wants to cleanse her sins, so she can close her eyes in peace. That’s why she’s cooperating, and that she’ll accept whatever sentence she’s given.”

Deborah’s face was drained of color as she spoke.

“I agonized over how to tell you. Whether to wait until Rosieta returned, or at least to tell the Bullosen family first.”

“……”

“……Rumiz is terminally ill. No matter how many years she’s sentenced to, she won’t live long before escaping through death.”