Help, I'm in Another World and All the Men Are Are So Dangerous! [BL]-Chapter 166: Rocco’s Crybaby Appeal Strategy

...Now that he thought about it, what had happened to his mother?

So many things had happened that it slipped his mind, but he needed to make sure to investigate that situation too.

"Rocco? What’s wrong? You’ve suddenly gone silent," Laxus asked.

"Huh!? N-no, it’s nothing... nothing at all!" Rocco responded, startled.

Laxus gently pinched his cheek, which snapping Rocco back to reality.

He shook his head vigorously and smiled, reassuring Laxus that everything was fine.

However, deep down, the more he thought about it, the more his mother lingered in his mind.

He never expected his mother’s fate to end so suddenly.

Wait, could this even be called a tragic end for her?

From what he heard, it seemed like his mother had committed suicide, but that wasn’t how it was supposed to happen in the original story.

Clearly, the story had started to deviate, but in the end, his mother’s tragic fate seemed to have been fulfilled, even if the details had changed.

But that still didn’t explain his father’s current predicament.

In the original story, his father never faced such a crisis, yet here they were.

He couldn’t just dismiss it, thinking everything would be fine in the end.

If he stayed too optimistic, things might spiral out of control and end in an irreversible way.

"Oh, looks like Sylas’s back," Laxus said.

Rocco’s thoughts were interrupted when he suddenly heard Laxus’s voice.

Looking up, he met Sylas’s gaze as he entered the guest room.

"...Rocco, move away from that bastard and sit somewhere else."

Sylas grimaced in obvious discomfort.

Rocco quickly hopped off the chair next to Laxus and sat down on a nearby one instead.

Laxus looked displeased, but there was no helping it.

Sylas was a little more sensitive today, so hr had to be careful not to agitate him.

Sigh...

Sylas walked over with heavy steps and, upon sitting down on the sofa, let out a long, deep sigh.

It was rare to see Sylas show signs of fatigue, and both Rocco and Laxus blinked in surprise at the sight.

"You look tired. Is the situation really that bad?" Laxus asked while furrowing his brows as he silently handed Sylas a cup of drink.

Sylas took the cup without a word and drank it down, letting out another sigh in response to Laxus’s question.

"...Yeah. It seems that there’s a rat mixed in with the underground members."

"A rat?" Rocco blinked in confusion, but Laxus, however, narrowed his eyes as if he had understood everything instantly.

"Could it be one of the assassins that you recently brought in?"

"No... Georgio wouldn’t have let any rat slip through. Most likely, one of the people we recently hired among the members is working for the Duke’s side. I’ve just ordered Philip to investigate the members’ backgrounds."

Rocco nodded his head while eating some chocolate cookies, although he listening to their conversation, he didn’t fully understand what they were talking about.

"Anyway, for now, it’s best if we avoid taking some action as Di Malvento. Fabricating evidence against us is easy, so honestly, the real problem isn’t with your father, but with you, Rocco."

"Hmm? Me?"

Rocco continued munching on his cookies, keeping quiet so as not to interrupt their serious conversation with his unnecessary comments.

Suddenly, Laxus mentioned his name and began to hum thoughtfully.

Rocco blinked his eyes in surprise and glanced up, noticing that both Laxus and Sylas furrowed their brows in a way that indicated they were deeply troubled by something that involved him.

"...Right, the situation with Father can be handled. But Rocco... If the Duke, being a blood relative, asserts his parental rights, there’s not much we can do..."

"Right now, with his mother deceased and his father, the head of the family, making Sylas the acting head, the higher-ups are likely to prioritize the Duke’s parental rights."

Rocco could sort of understand the gist of what they were saying.

He raised his hand and both Laxus and Sylas looked at him while tilting their heads in confusion.

"In that case, wouldn’t it be enough if I just say I want to stay with Father?"

Parental rights, he thought—he’d heard before that the child’s wishes were usually prioritized.

From the conversation, it seemed like they were discussing his own parental rights, so he assumed all he had to do was speak up, and the matter would be settled.

However, when he asked the question, both Laxus and Sylas gave him a slightly exasperated smile.

"Well... Rocco, you’re probably not familiar with this. When it comes to parental rights, a child’s wishes aren’t really taken into account. The wishes of the adults who assert the parental rights are what matter." freeωebnovēl.c૦m

"...Huh?"

What?

What was that?

That didn’t make any sense!

If that was the case, did it mean the child’s wishes were completely ignored?

Rocco puffed up his cheeks in frustration after knowing the truth.

"Maybe children should have the right to reject unwanted relatives...?"

Laxus and Sylas exchanged a glanced.

"... That’s true. I never really thought about it that way, but now that you mention it, it’s correct."

To calm his frustrated heart, Rocco kept eating his cookies while Laxus and Sylas, seemingly struck by an idea, began discussing the strategy with renewed vigor.

...

As Sylas and Laxus began discussing a complicated topic and making it even harder to understand, Rocco quietly grabbed a few cookies and slipped out of the room.

It felt awkward to stay with them and pretend to listen to something that he doesn’t understand, and more importantly, he didn’t want to interrupt their conversation.

So, he left them as quietly as possible.

As soon as he stepped out the room, he noticed Ragar has been waiting by the door.

"Ragar, you were here?"

"Yes. I’ve been here the whole time."

Ragar who is taller than him immediately crouched down to meet his gaze.

It was small gestures like this that always warmed Rocco’s heart.

Feeling a sudden wave of gratitude, he held out one of the cookies.