I Became the Male Lead's Adopted Daughter-Chapter 80

"Stop joking aroooound!”

Leonia snapped, clearly annoyed. She resented her father for not keeping up with her train of thought.

Only then did Ferio finally let out a small chuckle and give the answer she’d been waiting for.

"You’d take out your watch.”

"But wristwatches don’t need all that!”

Leonia clambered up onto Ferio’s lap on all fours.

Perched on her father’s knee, the baby beast proudly held out a fountain pen.

She was imitating Ferio while he worked.

"So, you’re working like this, and suddenly you wonder what time it is. Then, like this!”

Leonia subtly glanced at her left wrist. There was nothing on her soft, chubby white skin.

But she acted as though a watch were there.

"Hmm, three-thirty.”

She lowered her voice, mimicking Ferio’s tone.

"It’s snack time for adorable and lovely Leo. Come to think of it, I should probably pass down some of my wealth to my daughter.”

Meleis and Lupe shook with suppressed laughter at the clumsy impression.

"Do I really act that frivolous?”

Ferio, on the other hand, could only find his daughter ridiculous. Still, since she was cute, he decided to let it slide.

"And this pose.”

Leonia twisted Ferio’s wrist and gasped in admiration.

"When a handsome man like Daddy moves his wrist like this, everyone’s noses start bleeding and they fall head over heels. A secret watch hidden on a subtly veined wrist! It’s more provocative than underwear!”

"Let’s set aside your pervy taste for a moment.”

Ferio ignored her nonsense from the middle onward.

But it was a genuinely interesting idea.

Ferio tapped his fingers lightly on the desk, lost in thought.

There was something he’d been seriously considering for a while now.

It was a matter he’d put off because Leonia was still young.

She’d only just gotten healthy—he wanted to let her enjoy herself a bit longer.

But now, seeing her, he realized... maybe there was no need to delay.

"Should we start heir training early?”

The average age for nobles to begin heir education was twelve.

Even Ferio had officially started at ten, and people had called that incredibly early.

"...Huh?”

The cheerful smile on Leonia’s face cracked like shattered glass.

"Weren’t you planning to start that a few years later?”

Lupe spoke up.

He’d long been aware of Ferio’s plans to start Leonia’s heir education. They had discussed it before.

"Seeing how Leo is now, I don’t think we need to put it off.”

She already possessed intelligence nearly on par with an adult. It wouldn’t hurt to start her learning early.

Not that he was planning anything too serious.

More like dipping her toes in the water before swimming—just a light start.

"Uuhh..."

Leonia awkwardly backed off of Ferio. Things were taking a weird turn.

‘How did we jump from a watch to heir training? Am I really doing it?’

Just like that?

"...Then what about my youth?”

She asked # Nоvеlight # in a tragic voice.

"You’re a little young to be talking about youth.”

It was so absurd, Ferio couldn’t even laugh.

He lightly tapped the head of his seven-year-old daughter, who had just declared she was losing her youth. Leonia whined and slipped away.

"Can’t I just make a watch?”

"If you’re going to do it, do it big.”

"No. Too much effort.”

"If you hate effort, then stop breathing too.”

Ferio took the blueprint from Leonia’s hands again.

"What if we turn this into a business?”

"I think that’s a good idea.”

"Let’s aim to monopolize the strap design...”

Without giving anyone a chance to stop them, Ferio and Lupe quickly began bouncing ideas off each other.

Their conversation grew more and more concrete.

They decided to first make the product as drawn in the blueprint, and if the response was good, they’d consider launching a full business.

"Or maybe we make this Leo’s first heir training assignment?”

Ferio grinned wickedly.

In stark contrast to the adults’ excitement, Leonia sank into despair.

What had started as a kind gesture—wanting to gift her dad a watch—was now spiraling into something as dreadful as heir training.

Unable to hold back her grief, Leonia flopped over the desk onto the sofa.

She buried her face in her arms and let out a loud wail.

"Somehow I tried too hard!”

They say trouble finds you when you act out of character.

The seven-year-old granny sobbed and hiccupped.

It was all her own doing.

***

"I’m truly ashamed.”

Countess Hieina bowed her head deeply.

"Our daughter has committed a great offense. We’ve warned her many times not to behave that way and even scolded her harshly, yet in the end, this still happened. We’re terribly sorry.”

Both the Countess and her husband repeatedly apologized, insisting they were sincerely remorseful.

It was to the point that Leonia almost felt sorry for them.

"We’re not here just to receive apologies.”

Leonia raised a hand to stop them, saying it was enough.

Truthfully, it wasn’t like she didn’t want an apology.

But she hadn’t expected them to come at her with such excessive humility.

‘Now what?’ With that thought, she glanced at Lupe, who had come with her.

Lupe, assigned as her attendant by Ferio, gave a faint smile and shook his head.

‘It is what it is. You’ll just have to bear it.’

Leonia nodded slightly.

‘Are they like this because of who I am?’

Because I’m a Voreoti?

But the more she looked, the more it didn’t seem like that was all.

The Count and Countess both wore deeply troubled expressions.

It seemed they were genuinely struggling because of their daughter.

This translation is the intellectual property of Novelight.

Leonia recalled how the young Lady Hieina had secretly watched her.

"..."

She could understand the Count and Countess, at least a little.

Though they had finally calmed down, they still kept glancing at Leonia nervously.

‘I didn’t come here with pure intentions either,’ she thought.

After all, she had hoped to use the young lady’s behavior as a reason to secure a watch strap.

But things weren’t turning out as easily as expected, and she started to feel a little awkward.

New n𝙤vel chapters are published on freeweɓnøvel.com.

The mood wasn’t easing as smoothly as she’d hoped. With Leonia only offering a stiff smile, the Count and Countess grew even more uneasy.

"Um..."

Just as Leonia was about to steer the conversation toward the main topic—

"Our daughter’s always been a little lacking.”

Count Hieina, shoulders hunched like a guilty man, criticized his own child again.

"She’s always been slower and duller than other children.”

"She doesn’t have any outstanding talents either..."

Leonia’s eyebrow twitched slightly.

‘...Why am I getting irritated?’

This wasn’t supposed to be upsetting.

Yet Leonia felt oddly disgruntled.

It’s natural for parents to scold a child who’s done something wrong. But something about the way these two were going about it felt fundamentally off.

Sure, overprotective parenting was a problem—but this felt like the opposite extreme.

It felt... cruel.

‘Is it just me?’

She glanced at Lupe for confirmation.

Lupe’s expression was unreadable. Which meant—

He was just as displeased.

‘Is this emotional manipulation?’

Was all this part of a plan? Trying to evoke pity by making their daughter look pitiful, to excuse everything that had happened?

"She always chooses the most pitiful things to do.”

The Count sighed heavily like he was complaining.

‘I remember... she laughed at me before.’

Suddenly, Ufikla’s words echoed in Leonia’s mind.

Back when little Ufikla had a crush on Ferio, the much older Lady Hieina had laughed at her.

‘She said I was pitiful.’

Leonia’s expression turned pale.

"Don’t tell me...”

With a face full of disbelief, she asked the Count and Countess:

"...Did you really say that to your daughter too? That she was ‘pitiful’?”

Just then, Leonia heard urgent footsteps.

No one else noticed, but thanks to the heightened senses granted by the Fangs of the Beast, she picked up on it clearly.

And for a brief moment, she saw it with her own eyes.

A flicker of silver hair soaked in shadow.

Just like last time, the young Lady Hieina had hidden herself in her own home, secretly listening to everything.

And when Leonia reproached her parents, she vanished, as if fleeing.

***

"Uughh...”

Back at the estate, Leonia collapsed face-first onto her bed.

Exhaustion crashed over her like a wave.

And she passed out.

By the time she opened her eyes again, she was dressed in something far more comfortable than what she’d worn earlier.

Her hair was down, her body clean and refreshed.

The maids must have changed her and cleaned her up while she slept.

Normally, she would have gone to thank the maids, but today, she had no energy for it.

Even after a nap, she still couldn’t pull herself together.

It was still bright outside.

But the clock on her desk showed that the small hand had already made two full circles.

"Sigh...”

Leonia slowly pushed herself up and stretched out her arms.

Then flopped back down on the bed again.

Above her, the canopy displayed its intricate patterns proudly.

It had been a fruitless visit.

‘No—if it were just fruitless, it would've been fine.’

It was the worst possible visit.

The Hieina family was far more miserable than she’d expected.

The parents blamed everything on their daughter, acting like nothing about her was right.

It was just as sickening as parents who believed their child could do no wrong.

‘They don’t even know what they did wrong.’

She couldn’t forget the expressions they made when she asked whether they’d called their daughter ‘pitiful.’

It was like they didn’t even realize what was wrong.

It made her stomach turn.

‘But Ufikla used to hang out with their son.’

If he was friends with Ufikla, then he must’ve been a decent guy—probably the ‘good’ child of the family, unlike the daughter.

The one who met expectations.

And the one who didn’t.

"Ugh, damn it.”

Leonia sat up abruptly, annoyance bubbling up. She scratched her loose hair until it was a tangled mess.

She hated when adults bullied children.

Especially because she had suffered verbal and physical abuse from the adults at the orphanage for two whole years.

Just remembering it made her body tremble.

Even now, though she lived safely with Ferio, she couldn’t forget those days. She probably never would.

Unjust violence from powerful adults leaves lifelong scars on powerless children.

Now that she had seen the ugly truth about the Count's household, Leonia couldn’t ignore it.

These were parents who abused their own daughter.

‘Maybe the reason Lady Hieina acts like a stalker is...’

A lack of affection. That thought suddenly struck her.