Lin Ze looked at the father and daughter before him.
One wore a stern expression, the other a pout. They faced off across the dining table, neither willing to give an inch.
He suddenly found the scene terribly familiar.
Wasn't this a standard scene from those family dramas he used to watch with his mother before transmigrating?
The father-in-law would slam the table and say, "You're not good enough for my daughter," while the daughter cried her heart out, "I won't marry anyone but him!" Then the male lead would rise with a tragic expression and deliver a declaration of love that moved heaven and earth, accompanied by tear-jerking background music. The end.
But he had never imagined that he, Lin Ze, would one day become the male lead of such a clichéd plot.
And honestly, he had absolutely no urge to make a declaration of love right now.
He just wanted to slap himself in the face-Serves you right for being greedy, for lusting after their daughter's beauty!
Happy now?
One dinner had turned into a major life decision.
"Dad, you can't do this!" Olivia's eyes reddened, and she looked ready to burst into tears at any moment.
"Didn't we agree we were just coming to have dinner with Lin Ze? You never mentioned anything like this before!"
"If I'd told you beforehand, would you still have come?" Mr Delacour raised his wineglass unhurriedly.
"You..."
"All right, all right." Lin Ze finally spoke.
He rose from his chair, walked over to Olivia, and patted her gently on the shoulder.
"Stop arguing with your dad. Let me handle this."
Olivia looked up at him, her eyes filled with hurt and anticipation.
Lin Ze turned to face Mr Delacour and took a deep breath.
"Mr Delacour, you just gave me two choices."
"First, resign and go to France. Second, stay in Britain but break up."
"Correct." Mr Delacour nodded slightly, leaning back in his chair with a composed expression.
Lin Ze nodded, then gave him an utterly brilliant smile.
"Then I choose the third."
"The third?" Mr Delacour frowned. "I didn't give you a third choice."
"So I intend to fight for one myself." Lin Ze pulled over a chair, sat down beside the dining table, and crossed his legs, looking as relaxed as an old friend dropping by for a chat.
"First of all, sir, you said I should resign and go to France because France is safe, while Britain is in turmoil and Auror casualties are high. Those figures are correct, I admit."
"But-"
He deliberately drew out the word, tilted his head, and regarded Mr Delacour with a half-smile. "Come to think of it, sir, as a senior official at the French Ministry of Magic, surely you know better than anyone whether France really is safe right now?"
Mr Delacour's hand paused almost imperceptibly around his wineglass.
Lin Ze keenly caught that detail.
The smile on his lips deepened.
"You see, although Voldemort's forces are mainly concentrated in Britain, the Death Eaters also have secret bases of operations in France. This July, there was a vicious attack in the magical district of Paris. Three Aurors were injured."
"In August, a shipment of illegally smuggled magical weapons was intercepted at the port of Marseille, with its source pointing directly to the Death Eaters. In September, just last month, the French Ministry of Magic even caught a mole within its ranks who was supplying Voldemort with intelligence."
"You should know more about all of this than I do, shouldn't you?"
With each incident he listed, Mr Delacour's expression lost a little more of its composure.
"You... how do you know all this? These are all internal cases at the French Ministry of Magic. British newspapers couldn't possibly have reported them." Delacour narrowed his eyes.
"Well..." Lin Ze raised his wineglass and took a large gulp.
"Don't forget, I work at the Auror Office."
"Hmph." Mr Delacour gave a cold laugh.
"Even if you know all that, what does it prove?"
"That France isn't much safer than Britain right now." Lin Ze set down his wineglass and spread his hands, putting on an expression that said there was nothing he could do about it either.
"You're asking me to abandon everything I've built up here in Britain and start over in a country that's also infiltrated by Death Eaters and just as unstable. Do you think that's protecting Olivia, or pushing me out of one fire pit into another?"
"At least I can protect you both in France."
"No, you can't. You don't understand the Dark Lord. He never cares how powerful your family is. All he cares about is whether you're loyal to him. In his world, there are only two kinds of people: servants and enemies."
Mr Delacour fell silent.
Lin Ze pressed his advantage, leaning forward slightly as his tone grew earnest.
"Sir, I know you're worried about your daughter. I completely understand your concerns as a father."
"But have you considered what kind of man I would become in Olivia's eyes if I really resigned and went to France to save my own skin?"
"A coward who backs down at the first sign of danger?"
"Someone who would abandon his principles just to scrape by in safety?"
"A craven who turns and runs when it's time to stand up?"
He paused, then spoke each word distinctly.
"Even if I really do establish myself in France someday and become an official, what happens when someone from another country asks, 'Hey, I heard you used to be an Auror in Britain. What made you up and move to France?'"
"Would you want me to answer, 'Because it was too dangerous there, and I was afraid of dying, so I ran away'?"
Olivia suddenly covered her mouth.
Mr Delacour said nothing.
He raised his wineglass and slowly took a sip.
Lin Ze continued, "Sir, I won't deny that going to France has its advantages. I'd be able to see Olivia often, and work might be less stressful. But-"
"If Olivia had to spend every day with a boyfriend outsiders mocked as a coward, with people pointing at her and saying, 'Look, her boyfriend's a coward who fled to France for refuge,' do you think she'd be happy living like that?"
Mr Delacour suddenly set down his wineglass and looked at his daughter.
Olivia stood to one side, her eyes red, but her chin slightly raised as she nodded firmly at her father.
Mr Delacour fell silent.
After a long while, he turned to Olivia.
"This boy's not bad. He has my approval."
Then Mr Delacour turned his gaze back to Lin Ze.
"However, boy, those classified French intelligence reports you just mentioned probably aren't something you could obtain through the Auror Office's intelligence-sharing channels alone."
He leaned back in his chair, tapping the tabletop lightly with his fingers as a meaningful smile curved his lips.
"Are you also... in contact with people from other departments?"
The smile on Lin Ze's face stiffened slightly.
That old fox. Why did he have to be so particular?
But Mr Delacour did not press him. Instead, he waved a hand.
"That's your private business here in Britain. I won't pry."
He drained the remaining wine in his glass and stood.
"I have some things to attend to. You young people enjoy your chat."
With that, he turned and headed toward the study.
After three steps, he stopped again and spoke without looking back.
"Olivia, remember to give him that box of French soap your mother sent."
Olivia's eyes widened. "Oh... all... all right."
Mr Delacour did not turn around. He merely waved and disappeared through the study doorway.
A subtle atmosphere settled over the dining room.
Lin Ze turned and looked at Olivia.
Olivia looked back at him, tear tracks still wet on her cheeks.
"So..." Lin Ze began. "Does this mean your dad agreed?"
"I don't know. I've never seen him like this." Olivia shook her head.
"Before we came, he clearly said he'd scold you until you broke up with me yourself..." Suddenly realizing what she had said, she clapped a hand over her mouth.
But it was already too late.
Lin Ze narrowed his eyes like a cat that had finally caught a mouse.
"Oh-"
He drew the word out, then stood, folded his arms, and looked down at Olivia.
"So your dad told you before coming that he was going to scold me?"
"N-no..." Olivia shrank back guiltily.
"So you two planned this together? One playing good cop, the other bad cop, giving me a choice between two deadly options to see which I'd pick?"
"It wasn't like that... I..." Olivia's face flushed scarlet.
"I thought you came to see me because you missed me. Turns out you were here to set me up?" Holding back a laugh, Lin Ze turned the tables on her.
"N-no, that's not it..." Olivia protested urgently.