I Became the Male Lead’s Adopted Daughter - Chapter 10

When the father and daughter entered the living room, they sat side by side on a sofa near the fireplace, where firewood burnt.

“How about we read a book of fairy tales?”

Felio asked Leonier as he received the book from the maid. The title of the book was ‘Life is useless.”

Obviously, he purchased a full copy of the most popular children’s fairy tale book and placed it in her room, but Leonier protested that it was boring.

“It’s childish.”

“That’s what kids of your age should read.”

“I’ve read it all anyway.”

Leonier whined and opened the book.

Felio raised one of his brows in astonishment. It was difficult to believe she had read all of that considering her age and her background as an orphan, yet Leonier seemed to be able to do it with ease.

“…Where did you get that book?”

“Uncle’s study room. You told me I could read it.”

“Why did you take this book?”

“Based on my experience, life was a waste.”

‘Even though you live hard, if you sprain at some time, all is finished,’ the child sighed like a wise old man.

“…Do you miss your biological parents?”

Felio misunderstood the sigh and asked warily. Leonier blinked her round eyes at the sudden query as she turned her head away from the book.

“Uncle.”

It wasn’t long before she made an unexpected response.

“I have no idea who my biological parents are.”

Felio’s eyes had been languidly relaxed until he heard her reply-they widened and contracted at tense.

“I don’t remember anything before I went to the orphanage.”

Felio, feeling the heaviness of his body due to the depressing subject, leaned on the sofa. He took a careful glance at Leonier’sface.

The skinny child’s face gained weight each day, and it was much healthier than the first time he saw it, so it looked good.

“Then do you want to see your parents?”

“No.”

The child refused without hesitation.

“My parent is uncle now.”

“And..”

Leonier’s lips shut tightly in contemplation. She had no memory of her real parents, who gave birth to her ‘body.’

It was cruel to the original body owner’s birth parents, but the current her felt no love or pity for them.

One, she missed her “parents” so much that Leonier decided to keep it “secret.”,

But she could never tell Felio because it was her secret that she would never see them again. And she felt sorry for Felio in many ways.

As they both fell into the haywire of their own complicated thoughts, the unintentional yet melancholic silence has been dragged.

“…Should I remember?”

Leonier took a quick look at Felio’s expression. She saw that the latter was staring at her with eager eyes, as he always did.

“It’s not a big deal if you can’t.”

Felio put Leonier on his lap because he thought the child was nervous.

He then took candy from his pocket and placed it in her mouth. The candy mingled with her little lips.

“But you musn’t forget that I’m your parent now.”

Leonier was busy munching on candy for quite some time and raised her head.

Felio’s mind was plagued by the child’s ‘and’ what was behind her. However, he decided not to dwell on it too much and just let nature take its course.

What matters now is that Leonier’s guardian is himself, in name and in fact, and that the two have a reasonably harmonious father-daughter relationship

“I thought I would die without hearing you call me ‘Father.’ And soon forget that I am.”

“l-it hasn’t yet stuck to my mind, so…”

“You have so many excuses.”

“Oh, another quarrel!”

Ugh. Leonier was angry and swung her short arm. Of course, Leonier’s fist didn’t reach her target as it couldn’t even touch the hem of Felio’s clothes.

It was as petty as a cotton bat and a futile attempt for Felio- The Duke of Voreotti and commander of the Gladigo Knights.

“Leonier.”

Leonier squinted her eyes, frustrated having failed to land a single hit.

“Do you want me to bite your chest if you pick a fight again?”

“Let me take a look at your eyes.”

“…Eyes?”

Leonier, taken aback by the suddenness, shrugged lightly and placed the book beside her.

‘Don’t avoid them,’ Felio said, staring at the child’s black eyes.

“Please remove your hands from my chest.”

Meanwhile, he grabbed the child’s hand, which was resting lightly on his chest.

“Why are you so brazen?”

“I don’t think you’ll reveal it if someone sees Uncle.”,

“Don’t open your mouth-it smells like meat.”

“It was Uncle who fed me!”

The father and daughter continued their childish argument, but she didn’t shy away from the former, who was earnestly staring at her orbs.

Leonier thought of it as an eye contact fight and before she realized it, her eyes were beaming, seemingly full of energy

Felio assumed the growl in his ear was a trick of the light.

He hadn’t looked her in the eyes in a long time, until now.

“…What exactly are you doing?”

Leonier, who seemed to be noticing what was going on, was frowning on her brows.

Felio’s black eyes started to turn red.

The red that looked like a fine dot, began to grow, and soon it covered half the black iris.

Leonier looked at it as if he was possessed. But strangely, it wasn’t frightening at all.

“Ah

The child’s round eyes burned as if they had been dyed red at the time.

Felio moved away slowly as the startled Leonier sniffed.

The red in his black eyes had faded.

“W-what…

Leonier pressed the back of her hand against her eyes. The stinging pain that had hit her eyes a few moments ago had vanished like a lie.

When she carefully pressed the back of her hand around her eyes, all she felt was a little pressure,

“Uncle.”

The child looked bewildered as she gazed at Felio for the answer.

“Everyone, get out.”

Felio, who returned with his usual black eyes, commanded the people around him. The staff left the living room and shut the door, killing the footsteps.

“Leonier.”

Felio said.

“I hate to beat around the bush.”

“Huh?”

“Saying things that way is the same as trying to pretend that there are things that don’t come after.”

“Uhm…”

“Do you have a bad habit of repeating yourself?”

Leonier looked at Felio with a strange expression. Felio continued, brushing his daughter’s hair slowly with his fingers.

“Let me be straightforward.”

His fingers, which had been tidying up her hair for a long time, touched the yellow hairband on her head.

“I’m afraid you’re my niece.”

Leonier’s jaw dropped down there.

******

Leonier couldn’t think of anything in the midst of the turmoil of her feelings.

‘Does he have a niece?’

‘What, no, wait!

Felio was observing the child’s expression, waiting for Leonier quietly and thoughtfully.

Thanks to his consideration, Leonier hurriedly recalled the plot she remembered.

‘The Varia of the Black Beast.’

It was a novel that Leonier enjoyed reading in her former world.

The book’s title has been finalized.

The novel was about Duke Voreotti, the North’s master, and his eternal companion, Count Varia Erbanu. It was interesting to read despite being categorized as Cliché.

The words of the duke’s family carved into the large carriage that arrived at the orphanage made Leonier realize that the new world she transmigrated into was the same as the setting in the novel.

The novel’s book cover depicted the Voreotti family coat, which had a black lion engraved on its arms.

‘At first, I wanted to be a maid!

When she awoke one day, she was an orphan, gambling with her life to escape the sickly orphanage that abused her, and luckily became the Voreotti family’s adopted daughter.

‘But I’m your niece?’

No matter how much she tried to recall the contents of the novel, there was no mention of Felio having a niece,

“No, before that,

She can’t believe he revealed such an important birth secret to her after breakfast.

‘Don’t people usually tell me such serious matters after an ample amount of consideration?’

It’s been less than a month since she was adopted, and she can’t believe he unveiled the secret of her birth so soon.

Leonie was even more shocked by Felio, who didn’t consider these things.

Of course, she was not an ordinary seven-year-old kid, so she wouldn’t brawl her eyes out after knowing such secrets.

“I was raised as an orphan. You also brought me from the orphanage.”

She, on the other hand, was resistant to the fact that the Duke of Voreotti’s blood was flowing to her.

“But you have Voreotti’s symbol in your body.”

“Perhaps it’s just a coincidence.”

“Black is a trait that can only be inherited from the Voreotti family.”,

“T-that’s…”

Leonier knew that better than anyone else.

“At first.”

Felio smoothed his hair, swept the child’s gaze away from his own.

“I thought you were a wizard.”

“…Uh?”

‘What are you looking at?”

The first meeting between the two, as Leonier recalls, could not have been said in vain.

The unprovoked pressure terrified a wretched orphan who stopped the precious Duke.

“In the orphanage, your eyes gleam at me.”

For a brief moment, Leonie’s eyes sparkled on Felio’s red fangs, which had been deliberately triggered to scare him.

Felio then mistook the child’s sparkling eyes for the flow of mana.

Poorly educated young wizards frequently released Mana from their bodies to protect themselves, and Felio assumed Leonier was one of them.

But that wasn’t the case.

“You understand what fangs are, don’t you?”

“It’s just for the Voreotti.”

When a predator’s fangs are activated, the black eyes mix unique colors, according to the description she read in the book.

So Leonier was taken aback a few moments ago when Felio’s black eyes turned red.

Why did he suddenly bare his fangs to her?

And why, unlike when she saw him in an orphanage, didn’t she feel the pressure of excitement this time?

“The gleam in your eyes resonates with my fangs.”

The phenomenon in which Leonier’s eyes sparkled, which Felio witnessed in the orphanage, was not the release of Mana, but rather the fangs Leonier possessed that were revealed in a dainty way.

She followed Felio in response to his red fangs.

“That’s why I, uh, did the resonance thing?”

“Fangs react to fangs.”

The beast’s fangs are the only abilities that lead to blood ties, and each person has a similar wave, as opposed to mana or aura, which varies from person to person.

As a result, he is frequently drawn to and invokes other people’s fangs.

A little while ago, what Felio did to Leonier was resonance. That’s why she didn’t feel threatened.

Because the red fangs revealed this time were intended to resonate, not to imperil her.

“So I’m really Voreotti”

Stuttering, a small hand pinched the cheeks that had just begun to gain weight

‘It hurts.

It was all like a dream.

She awoke one day to be an orphan without parents, to be unjustly abused in that hellish orphanage, to meet Felio and realize that this is a world from a novel, and to be a family who truly has a blood tie with her.

“Then…”

But, no matter how idyllic the scene, there was something she couldn’t understand.

“Who gave birth to me?”

She couldn’t possibly miss this important detail, considering she had read the book.

Felio was the only member of the Voreotti family and was the case in the novel’s usual setting,

His parents died early and he didn’t even have a brother.

Then, the irritation flashed across Felio’s face.

“….My cousin.”

Felio added that her mother was the daughter of his aunt-his piqued expression was a sight to behold.

“She was the most annoying woman in the world.”