‘Daughter’s Fool’ Was the Concept, Wasn’t It, Duke! - Chapter 7

The children went in groups of five to the living room. Each of their faces is determined. Everyone dreams of being adopted by the Duke.

 

But after a while, all the children who came out of the living room were filled with tears.

 

“I was scared…”

 

“What’s the matter? What does he ask?”

 

“He doesn’t ask anything but, uh, I’m afraid of his eyes…”

 

The children who were waiting were nervous as well. Hey, villain duke. Are you here for a pressure interview?

 

After about three groups of kids went to the interview, it was my turn. Whether his feet had recovered enough to walk, Elber also stood up.

 

“Elber, you’re going too?”

 

“I’m going to be with Father anyway.”

 

“…Yeah.”

 

I lightly patted his shoulder. For a brief moment, Elber caressed my hand that wrapped around his shoulder.

 

You’re trying to comfort me even though you’re going back to hell. Please, I hope you can meet the Saintess soon.

 

Soon, five children, including me, stood in front of the Duke. Elber naturally sat down next to him.

 

The Duke looked down at us without giving his son a single glance. His blue eyes were fluttering like waves.

 

A trait that appears to those with the power of the Silver Dragon sleeping in the northern lands. Thanks to that, the Duke of Schlager can handle snow and ice.

 

The children felt the unknown cold and wiggled their feet.

 

“This time as well, it’s the kids.”

 

His voice is also cold.

 

“I won’t ask for your name or age. Just tell me what you can do.”

 

It’s a real pressure interview!

 

The children thought and pondered with those little heads. The child sitting on the far right raised a voice.

 

“I… I eat bread without spilling any bread crumbs!”

 

“I don’t cry even when I’m hungry!”

 

“I know how to read letters!”

 

“I’m good at greeting people!”

 

The child who knew how to read puffed his chest most proudly. It’s a rare ability in this orphanage.

 

He kept glancing at me, wondering if he thought I was his main rival.

 

Don’t worry about it.

 

I’mㅡ

 

“I’m good at burping!”

 

The children’s eyes narrowed. The Duke’s attendant, who had been standing expressionless, touched his forehead for the first time. Still, I didn’t stop.

 

“I can do it anywhere, anytime!”

 

‘What can you do?’

 

This is the question interviewers ask to filter out the bomb. Everyone will say good things, so why bother asking?

 

Of course, the Duke doesn’t want to take a brilliant kid. A decent child who could be used as a scapegoat would suffice.

 

Therefore, in a place like this, it has to be a bomb that makes him feel, “If you get involved with him, you become X!”

 

“…”

 

The Duke looked this way. I raised my little finger to deliver the final blow.

 

“I can pick my nose too.”

 

“Stop.”

 

The attendant stopped me.

 

The Duke turned his gaze with infinitely cold eyes and looked at the ‘child who greets well’ and the ‘child who can read letters’. Both of them are girls.

 

The joy of being out of the candidacy for adoption is short-lived, but thinking about the future of these children makes me a little sad…

 

A life of suffering under the cold-blooded Duke and dying 6 years later. If I send these innocent children away knowing that. Will the future me ever regret it?

 

The moment the Duke finally lifted his finger.

 

“Father.”

 

Suddenly, Elber grabbed the Duke’s hand and movedㅡ

 

He pointed at me

 

Huh? Elber?

 

“Father, this kid, please.”

 

“…Hoo, why?”

 

“Because she was the smartest and healthiest kid in the facility.”

 

The Duke’s gaze turned to me again.

 

Please look at the other kids! Don’t touch the weird kid who proudly says she’s proud of picking her nose!

 

Yet he seemed interested in me.

 

“Name, age.”

 

“…Sol. I don’t really know my age.”

 

“You look a little younger than Elber. It’s good to have you as the youngest in the family.”

 

“Uh, uh, I don’t want to have a brother like him!”

 

I pouted my lips. Come on, get out of here quickly! Leave this selfish girl behind!

 

But what can I do? Elber said with a wounded face next to him.

 

“Sol, when you called me ‘brother’ earlier…”

 

That was because I thought you would be dragged away, so I had no choice but to do it!

 

When I was speechless, the corners of the Duke’s lips rose slightly.

 

“Now, what is that story?”

 

“Ah… T-That.”

 

“Anyone, explain.”

 

The Duke raised his hand in the air again. When the cold air gathered and slowly drew the sword shape, the assistant teacher urgently came forward and explained.

 

“When the Count tried to kidnap the Young Lord, Sol stopped him by hanging onto him.”

 

“Elber, is that real?”

 

“Yes. Sol took the risk and saved me.”

 

“I owe you a great deal. Then, as a father, I must also repay the favor.”

 

The cold air that had gathered together like blades quickly crumbled.

 

As the ice fluttered like cherry blossoms, the silver-haired man got up and bent his back in front of me.

 

The twinkling blue eyes caught my eyes. Like a trench from which once I fall in, I can never get out of it, he condemned my fate.

 

“Sol, from now on, you’re my daughter.”

 

***

 

A girl with black hair and golden brown eyes.

 

The girl I possessed, whom I knew nothing about, was adopted by the Duke of Schlager under the name of ‘Sol’. A check and a piece of paper with personal information went back and forth.

 

“The Director said you were found in the snow. Don’t you know anything else?”

 

“Yes. When I woke up, it was an orphanage.”

 

“If you remember any, tell me. Let’s just go with ten years old.”

 

The Duke solved the matter with me simply.

 

The Count and his attendants were treated as ‘dead while climbing a mountain pass in an avalanche.’ Their bodies will be eaten by beasts and insects.

 

The assistant teacher and the Director received substantial subsidies for keeping silent. Of course, if they tease their mouths in vain, their necks will fly off, so they can’t just laugh.

 

Fortunately, the cupboards were filled with food for the first time in a long time, and the children were excited.

 

The orphanage children came to the door and said their final goodbyes.

 

“Goodbye, Sol.”

 

“Good for you. When you become a lady, make sure to come and bring something delicious!”

 

Will I be able to live until I become a lady? I smiled and waved to the children.

 

We weren’t very friendly, but the kids were kids. Everyone greeted me with candid expressions. The crying child, the envious child, the sad child, etc.

 

Jackson is completely crying out loud. The children who were always temperamental shed tears when they parted.

 

After patting him on the broad back, Elber and I got into the Duke’s carriage.

 

There were two carriages from the duke’s house. One is the carriage with the Duke of Schlager and his attendants, and the other is just me and Elber.

 

After the carriage left, I asked Elber.

 

“Elber, why did you ask him to take me?”

 

“Uh, why? You don’t like it?”

 

“I told you I didn’t want to go for adoption!”

 

“Still, the environment here is so bad. My father may not be a good person, but at least he won’t feed you to a monster!”

 

“…”

 

I shook my head.

 

I know, this little boy did it to help me. I can’t say, “Your father is going to kill me!” in front of him.

 

“Haa…”

 

All that came out was a sigh.

 

Can I really change my destiny? If I look at the possessed romance fantasy, I know the novel’s development and deal with it.

 

But what I possessed is the life of a minor character who was sacrificed in one line to illuminate the evil deeds of the villain. How would I know what he’s been up to in those six years! I don’t think even the author knows, though?

 

Besides, the blue eyes of the person who was only described as the ‘cold-blooded Duke’ in the novel were really… scary…

 

Just thinking about it makes my hands tremble.

 

At that time.

 

“Sol.”

 

He reached out and grabbed my hand, and said,

 

“My father, uh, is a really scary and strange human being.”

 

“…I can see that just by looking at him.”

 

“Still… I! Because I was the one who brought you!”

 

With those blue eyes still as calm as spring water, Elber spoke like an oath.

 

“If I can reassure you, I will be whoever you want.”

 

The oath of a twelve-year-old boy.

 

I stared blankly at Elber’s face.

 

In Korean age, he would be around 6th grade of elementary school or 1st year of middle school now. If I had been Han Seyool of my original age, I would have burst out laughing as soon as I heard it while saying, “Aww, is this little thing trying to take responsibility?”

 

But as I got used to this body, did my mind become younger? Or else…

 

…Was it because I remembered those days when I was at the orphanage, when I couldn’t be childish to anyone? My eyes have turned sour.

 

I hurriedly leaned against the back of the carriage.

 

“Ah, I’ll figure it out. I won’t count on you.”

 

“…Sol, are you crying?”

 

“Why would I cry!”

 

“But now, around your eyes—”

 

“Why are you looking into my eyes? Are they pretty?”

 

When I cry while fighting with the boys in elementary school, these words are straightforward.

 

“‘Are you interested in me?” “Why are you looking at me? Is it because I am pretty?”

 

If anyone hears that, they say, “Ew,” vomit and walk away. Uh, but it doesn’t seem to work for Elber at… all?

 

He rested his chin, looked at me for a while with a worried face, and said,

 

“…Sol. Your eyes look just like a jeweled amber in bright light.”

 

“…”

 

“It’s true that I looked at them because they were prettyㅡ”

 

“No! I did cry! I didn’t want to go for adoption, but I cried because I was sad that I was suddenly adopted!”

 

“W-What’s the matter! Are you going to freeze to death there?”

 

“Do I look like a girl who will freeze to death without any strength? If it were me, I would have set fire to the orphanage before I froze to death!”

 

“At that rate, you’ll be able to live well in my house! You were blatant even in front of Father!”

 

Elber and I raised their voices to our hearts’ content. Apparently, in the few weeks I spent at the orphanage, my mind had turned ten years old. But that doesn’t matter. Whoever sees me now will obviously know I’m ten years old.

 

It’s been a while since I’ve emptied my mind.

 

I fight with a boy who doesn’t even know yet that his unhappy future will be saved by the female lead…

 

After crossing a few mountains, passing through the river, the end of a very long road.

 

As soon as the window outside was dyed blue, Elber got a little excited and patted my shoulder, shouting.

 

“Look outside, this is our land from here!”

 

“Whereㅡ… Wow.”

 

Outside the carriage, there was a green meadow rolling like a wave. After that, the Silver Mountains, where the Silver Dragon is said to be sleeping, trapped the beautiful scenery like a white frame.

 

Here is…

 

Probably the County of Flogel.

 

Latiger Olt Schlager. He has two titles.

 

One is the Duke of Schlager, which descends upon those who wield the power of the Silver Dragon. Another is Count Flogel. His land is the ‘County of Flogel’ under the Silver Mountains.

 

It’s a prejudice that it’s difficult to farm here as it’s cold. From the spring when the ice melts to the short summer, precious special crops grow, and there are several mines owned by the Duke.

 

The carriage passed through the huge wall and stopped after running for a while.