I Became the Male Lead's Adopted Daughter-Chapter 102

Clink.

The sound of a spoon falling against a plate echoed.

“M-Ma—!”

Lupe jumped to his feet, startled, just as he was about to shout—but Ferio hurled a piece of bread directly into his mouth, hitting him squarely.

Struck by the bread, Lupe collapsed backward with a silent scream.

“Oh? Uncle Lupe didn’t know—”

“Leo.”

Shhh. Ferio pressed a finger gently to the child’s lips, signaling her to be quiet. Just then, the servants returned carrying dessert.

“One must be quiet during meals.”

Ferio, as if nothing had happened, calmly sipped the remaining wine in his glass.

He was hardly in a position to lecture others after all his own chatter earlier.

Still, it was clear the mood had shifted—it was time to stay quiet.

Leonia nodded silently and turned her attention to the dessert laid before her.

Tonight’s dessert was a round cheese soaked in honey.

***

The conversation left unfinished at dinner was continued in the parlor.

Given the nature of the topic, Ferio had ordered the servants to stay out.

Leonia sat between the two adults, clutching a black lion plush in her arms.

“It’s like I’ve got two dads.”

The little cub made a flippant joke.

But no reaction came.

Normally, Ferio and Lupe would both groan and tell her to stop spouting such terrifying nonsense, but tonight, neither of them said a word.

Lupe, in particular, still seemed dazed—his mind left behind somewhere back at the dining hall.

It was a far cry from the man who’d been thrilled to welcome a capable new assistant just hours ago.

“......I-Is it really true?”

Finally coming back to his senses, Lupe asked in a trembling voice.

“That Her Highness the Princess is a m— I mean, not a woman, but rather, someone like me—”

“You mean if he’s got one or not?”

Unable to bear it any longer, the little cub supplied the exact words Lupe had been struggling to find.

“Y-yes...”

Lupe reluctantly nodded.

There were surely more polite ways to phrase it, but the young lady’s biologically blunt, pinpointed wording left him unsure where to look.

“How did you figure it out?” Ferio asked.

He, too, was surprised that Leonia had discovered the truth.

“I mean, the bone structure. Just one look, and you can tell it’s a boy.”

Leonia gestured vaguely toward her own body, implying that Princess Scandia’s build had clearly differed from hers.

“You can tell just from that?”

“I’m good at that kind of thing, you know!”

“That’s not something to brag about.”

Even Ferio had to click his tongue this time.

“Leo, you’ve finally...”

“Finally what?”

“...reached enlightenment.”

Ferio offered a kind of backhanded compliment.

He couldn’t help but feel a headache coming on at the thought that his daughter had reached a degenerate level of mastery—being able to determine someone’s gender from appearance alone.

In fact, the secret of the princess mattered less to Ferio than this development.

“Daddy’s been picking a fight with me since dinner.”

Leonia stood up and swung her right arm around wildly.

It was meant as a threat—or maybe a warning not to mess with her—but to Ferio and Lupe, it just looked like a rowdy little cub playing around.

“Did Your Grace know about it?” Lupe asked, surprised that Ferio had known such a significant secret.

“I did.”

Ferio answered plainly.

But he didn’t explain how he’d found out.

Not when he learned it, not whether the Empress was aware, or what their relationship had been like since. ◈ Nоvеlіgһт ◈ (Continue reading) Nothing.

Lupe wanted to ask more, but judged that it wasn’t his place to pry further.

“Will I get hurt if I find out?” Leonia asked instead.

“No, but it’ll be annoying.”

“Ugh, then forget it.”

Leonia waved it off. She hated troublesome things.

And just like that, the conversation came to an end.

Lupe returned to his office for a night of overtime work, and Ferio escorted Leonia to her room. The father and daughter walked slowly down the hallway, hand in hand.

“You’ve grown taller again, haven’t you?”

“Really?”

Leonia beamed with joy.

Ferio realized that the amount he had to bend down to hold her hand had decreased. He could now walk beside her with his back mostly straight.

“......”

A strange mix of emotions stirred in him.

He was happy—but also a little wistful.

It was good that she was growing up healthy and strong.

He only had to recall how gaunt and frail she’d looked at first to feel the urge to tear the limbs off those orphanage bastards rotting in the underground prison.

But now she was growing taller in the blink of an eye—and it stung a little.

He almost wished she would stay small for just a bit longer.

“Then all my winter clothes won’t fit!”

Leonia, blissfully unaware of her father’s swirling emotions, giggled and bounced happily at the thought of her own growth.

A faint smile crept onto Ferio’s lips.

“We’ll have to get them all remade.”

Seeing her that happy made all his thoughts melt away.

As long as she was healthy and safe, that was enough.

Ferio decided that before they returned to the North, he’d call in Baron Theon to order a few new winter outfits.

Northern winters were harsher than anywhere else—it was always better to get them tailored on-site.

“But can’t we tell Uncle Lupe?”

Lying in bed, Leonia tucked her lion plush in beside her and asked. A glass jar holding strawberry milk candies sat by her pillow.

“There’s nothing good to be gained from that.”

Ferio pulled the blanket up to her chin.

“It’s hot.”

Leonia protested and kicked it off. The blanket slid uselessly down to her legs.

“Cover up.”

Ferio pulled it back up again, adding a typical dad-grumble about how summer colds were the worst.

“Daddy, I’m all healthy now. I don’t get sick that easily.”

“You never know.”

“Ugh, stop nagging.”

Leonia quietly lowered the blanket back down to her chest. The two of them wordlessly agreed on that as the compromise.

“Daddy... night-night...”

Leonia yawned softly and blinked her eyes sleepily.

This translation is the intellectual property of Novelight.

“Sleep well, Leo.”

“Sweet dreams. You know what I want to dream about, right?”

“I’ve told you before, haven’t I?”

Let’s rest in our dreams, too.

Ferio smiled softly and kissed her cheek. Leonia giggled and planted a kiss on her father’s cheek in return.

It was the kind of bedtime exchange that gently wrapped up a happy day.

After patting her gently a few times and giving her a warm hug while she lay in bed, Ferio finally stepped out of the room.

And yet, as if something still tugged at him, he kept glancing back at Leonia even as the door was closing.

“Daddy, just go already.”

To her father, who still hadn’t moved, Leonia waved the plushie’s paw at him and said goodbye.

“Bye-bye. See you tomorrow.”

“Sleep well.”

“Okay. You too, Daddy.”

As a sign of affection, Leonia pressed her lips to her palm and blew it toward him with a loud smooch.

Ferio let out a soundless chuckle, his shoulders shaking in disbelief.

Then the door closed.

Pitch-black darkness embraced Leonia. Turning from her side to lie flat, she gently patted her plushie and looked up.

Though she couldn’t see it now in the dark, the ornate, dazzling ceiling design of her bed would be right above her when the lights were on.

'The princess is actually a guy...'

Leonia thought of Princess Scandia, whom she’d briefly met that day.

Then she closed her eyes.

She hadn’t figured out the truth about Princess Scandia’s gender just by appearance alone.

'No matter how good my eye is, I’m not that good.'

Her ability to read body structures had developed thanks to ogling the well-built knights, but she hadn’t reached that level of expertise yet.

The truth was, she simply remembered the original story. Her question had been half a guess—she’d just wanted to confirm what she already suspected.

Of course, she also knew why Empress Tigria disguised her second son as a daughter.

But that reason didn’t really matter to her right now.

'There’s no benefit to knowing, he said.'

Leonia considered herself a devoted daughter. Since her dad said there was nothing to gain from dwelling on it, she saw no reason to overthink it now.

'What a good girl I am!'

She praised herself, convinced there wasn’t a more well-behaved child in the world.

That issue wouldn’t even become important until five years later, when the original story officially began.

Until then—

'I wonder what he’ll grow up to be like.'

In the original story, Princess Scandia grew into a silver-haired, muscle-bound heartthrob.

'Heehee, I love it already!'

Leonia grinned, wearing a sly smile as she fantasized. fɾeewebnoveℓ.co๓

'I should stay close with the princess.'

With a satisfied heart, the little beast cub drifted off to sleep.

***

A heavy rain poured down on the capital.

The monsoon season had begun.

“Once the rainy season ends, the real heat will begin.”

Tra spoke as he stood behind Leonia, who was watching the rain from inside.

She sat on a sofa placed beneath the protruding window, quietly watching the downpour.

“Will it be really hot? Like, how hot?”

“Hotter than the North.”

“I’ve never spent summer in the North, so I don’t know.”

Leonia had met Ferio in late autumn of the previous year. By the time she first saw the North with him, it was already blanketed in snow.

“Then you should prepare yourself.”

Tra gave her a gentle warning.

“In the North, it gets hot in the summer, but compared to the capital, it’s still on the cooler side.”

“Wow...”

“The sunlight is intense. You’ll definitely need a hat and a parasol if you go outside.”

“Are there lots of bugs?”

Leonia asked, worry creeping into her voice.

The only summer she knew of in the Empire was what she had experienced at the orphanage.

The heat was bad enough—but the environment made survival an everyday battle.

The orphanage itself was an old wooden building, rotting in places, full of mold and a sickening stench.

One of the windows had been broken for years, letting in swarms of insects every day.

Even that alone would have been a nightmare.

But the so-called “teachers” at the orphanage had squandered all the operation funds on their own pleasures.

Which meant the children—who had done nothing wrong—were the ones who suffered.

Mosquitoes and flies were constant; the food spoiled quickly, and they often ended up with stomachaches.

The only thing Leonia could do was try to stay as clean as possible and kill any bugs she spotted the moment she saw them.

In the sweltering heat, she would light a fire to boil drinking water and secretly steal the higher-quality food the teachers hoarded to share with the other kids.

And when they were caught... they were beaten, every time.