I Became the Tyrant’s Translator

“… M-Mother.”

Leticia stammered.

Tears filled her eyes again. She could feel something hot coming up her throat.

She couldn’t think straight. She was paralyzed.

She felt a pang in her chest.

“What’s wrong, Leticia?”

Her mother spoke in a worried tone, but Leticia could hardly answer.

“Are you angry at your mother because she sided with your grandmother and brother?”

She was even more speechless. That was so far from the truth.

Her mother sighed whether she mistook Leticia’s silence as a confirmation.

“I thought our Leticia was all grown up, but I guess she has a long way to go.”

“I know.”

Her father helped her up.

“Go ahead and apologize, especially to Paddington. Should I tell you what you have done wrong?”

“Leticia, you have been acting immaturely. If you don’t stop acting stubborn, you’ll regret it.”

She could not feel any affection from her parents. Only doubts and irritation were caused by her rebellion.

Eventually, Leticia burst into tears. Embarrassment flashed across her face, but the torrent of emotions did not stop.

“Don’t think that crying will solve everything.”

Her stomach churned. This time, it was not just injustice. Ever since she was five or six years old, Leticia had never gotten anything out of crying.

Even children who lived in even worse conditions than Leticia’s families got to wander around and hold dolls during the holidays.

But Leticia was all about digging up severan from the mountains and watching the bustling crowd with an envious gaze.

After working all day, how many times did she ever get what she wanted, whether it was through crying or any other way.

Her father would be unaware of that fact.

Sensing the unusual atmosphere, her mother tried to soothe Leticia again.

“Leticia, I know enough about hardships. Don’t I always brag about you to my friends? My daughter, there are no other kids as good as you…”

“…”

“But we’re all going through hardships. Paddington, your grandmother, your father, and I are also having a hard time. I’m suffering a lot more for you. Just for you.”

Leticia felt something snap in her mind.

It was the sound of something that had locked Leticia in the mold of a good child disappearing.

“You’re suffering more than me?”

Leticia asked in a quivering voice.

Even in her new memories, Leticia could not know exactly what her parents were doing. Maybe they really were working a lot harder than Leticia.

But it was clearly wrong that Paddington and her grandmother were also suffering more than Leticia.

Let’s say they have their own hardships. If that were the case, then they would’ve been tortured to no end in Hell.

‘Yes, I wish all of this had ended.’

Rather, she may be able to withstand the unfair treatment if she had a limit.

Leticia loved her family to the point where she could bear some of the sacrifices. She even loved Paddington and her grandmother to some extent.

However, her new memories showed her a painful future.

Her grandmother lived longer than Leticia. Paddington pocketed the money Leticia earned, even after passing the Academy of Civil Servants.

Her parents didn’t even think about Leticia’s future at all.

“Then let Paddington do my job and I will study like Paddington!”

“Leticia Woods!”

Her father shouted angrily.

“Where did you get the habit of saying that?”

Her mother took Leticia’s hand and softly said.

“Leticia, your father is angry now. Go ahead and apologize.”

The blood that had been boiling slowly cooled down. Leticia no longer shed tears.

“You’re struggling for me? Not the other way around?”

“Well, that’s not…”

“Who the hell in this house struggles for me?”

When she thought about it, there was no one.

Leticia prepared breakfast and dinner every morning, as well as lunches for her family to eat while she went to the mountains to dig up severans.

It was also up to Leticia to do chores such as laundry and cleaning.

When she grew to a certain height, her parents dressed her in her mother’s old clothes and Paddington’s small ones instead of buying her new clothes.

Paddington received his favorite food and school supplies on his birthday every year, but a kiss of love on Leticia’s birthday. That was the end of her celebration.

Leticia waited and waited. But the answer to the question never came back. Instead, only her father’s cold facade fell.

“I thought Paddington was exaggerating… I see it now. Leticia, I don’t know where all of this came from, but you’re grounded for the time being.”

“What about the severan? You told me that if I don’t dig up ten roots every day, my grandmother will die. Was that a lie too?”

Slap!

A loud sound everywhere as soon as Leticia finished speaking. At the same time, her eyes flashed as her left cheek burned.

It was only a moment before she could grasp the situation. So far, her parents had never raised a hand at Leticia.

Every house was different and most of the time, the sound of someone being beaten was commonly heard, but Leticia was quite proud of the fact that her family had never beaten her.

However, the tingling in her cheek after being hit by her father revealed the absence of violence was not because her parents were considerate.

There was simply no reason to impose corporal punishment. Leticia Woods had been a good daughter who voluntarily obeyed and followed any demands.

But their daughter, who rebelled against them with doubts, was nothing but a child they had to punish.

Leticia was hurt so badly that both her body and mind were burning, but she did not back down.

“If it wasn’t a lie, then please tell me. Why is it that I don’t need to dig up severan anymore? If I didn’t have to dig that hard this whole time, does that mean it was a lie to say that Grandma was going to die?”

“You have a sharp tongue. Who the hell said that?”

Funnily enough, the moment she heard it, Leticia realized that her father had admitted that her doubts were correct.

It meant it was a lie that was obvious to outsiders.

Leticia decided to provoke her father a bit more.

“Someone… I can’t tell you.”

“A mountaineer or a hunter? I’m not gonna let…!”

Her father, who was bursting with anger, managed to come to his senses only after her mother had noticed. It seemed that he had reaffirmed Leticia’s theory with words.

Her father coughed several times, then glanced at Leticia’s room coldly. It was a room as good as a warehouse with no small windows.

“Don’t even think of stepping out of this room until you reflect on it.”

It was the first time they had slammed the door shut.

Leticia gasped and collapsed onto the floor.

Her new memories told her about the future, but it did not tell her how harsh the present was.

So far, Leticia had held onto a foolish sliver of hope. If she talked sincerely, her beloved parents would understand her.

But based on the conversation just now, Leticia had just realized how stupid she had been.

‘You’re a complete idiot…’

Her eyes reddened.

Her eyes were red from tears.

It was because some new memories suddenly came to mind.

It was the memory of her previous life.

In her previous life, she also grew up with parents similar to Leticia’s.

No, they were even worse. Since she was five or six years old, they had been using violence to relieve their anger.

But in that life, she made the opposite choice to Leticia.

As soon as she graduated from high school, she became independent and completely cut out contact with her home.

‘I have to do the same.’

But Leticia couldn’t wait to become an adult like in her previous life.

She didn’t want her parents to turn into the violent ones in her past life.

Every second she had to live under her family felt like poison.

‘Run away…’

Leticia swallowed dry saliva. She’d never received any pocket money before, so she didn’t have a penny.

For years, only Paddington had received pocket money because he was three years older than her. It was always the words of her mother apologizing and that she would give some to Leticia if they could afford it.

She could get a job if she left the village far enough that her parents couldn’t follow her. There would be many houses looking for young maids who are good at housework.

If she didn’t have to dig up severan, Leticia would have entered a rich household as a maid.

The question was how to leave town.

If she left without much preparation, she would have been bitten by an animal while wandering in the mountains hungry. The problem was even more serious because Leticia had no money.

Leticia spent a long time pacing around the room.

In fact, there was one solution that quickly came to mind. Because Leticia cleaned the whole house, she knew where Paddington kept his pocket money.

If she went out, apologized, and went back to her usual self to clean the house, it would be easy to secretly steal Paddington’s money.

But Leticia felt really reluctant to steal, even if the money was what Leticia would have earned from selling the severan she brought back every day.

Leticia wondered for a long time.

‘…!’

Leticia jumped out of her seat and opened the door.

A clever idea came to mind.

She would not steal, nor would she go hungry without a penny, but would wander through an unfamiliar province.