How to Be a Dark Hero’s Daughter

* * *

I wonder when the Duke will come?

I touched my rifle a few times, lost in thought.

‘If I take them out in one shot, I’ll be praised.’

I hope you appreciate all the shooting training so far.

Every dark evening, Siebel dressed comfortably, donning a long robe, and drank wine on the balcony.

I loved sitting beside Siebel at those times. He would often stroke my head.

“I want to get to know you, Doctor.”

I mumbled, looking at Siebel.

“What do you mean?”

Siebel paused. Suddenly his gaze grew cold, and I flinched.

“I am your student. I want to absorb your thoughts, patterns, knowledge, everything. To become as exceptional as you, I need to understand you… that’s why I want to know.”

“Why do you want to understand me?”

“Because you’re lonely. Exceptional people are lonely. If it’s me… I can understand you.”

Siebel’s expression softened.

“Ah, that’s what you meant. I’m sorry for getting angry. Was I scary?”

Siebel lifted my chin.

He comforted me, and I rolled my eyes to look at him.

“So, what exactly do you want to know?”

“You taught us in criminology class the other day, remember? You said the easiest way to understand a criminal is…?”

“So, are you treating me as a criminal?”

“No, why?”

“Don’t treat me as a bad person.”

“It’s okay if you’re bad.”

I grinned.

“Isn’t that more important? Being outstanding and bad is better than just being good, right?”

Siebel paused.

“Leticia, you’re truly captivating. Sometimes I’m scared to think I created you.”

“That’s the best compliment.”

“You exceed expectations. Every moment, each one. Anyway, tell me why I became like this.”

Siebel took a sip of wine.

“Anyway, as I said. To understand a criminal…”

“…you have to understand their motives.”

I caught onto Siebel’s words.

“Right, where should I start?”

The story of Siebel’s past was shocking.

“I grew up in the mountains as a child. In a very small… village established by the surviving white wizards. In reality, only two or three families lived there.”

I listened intently to Siebel’s words.

“One day, the royal army stormed in. They killed everyone in the village, leaving only one child.”

“Were you the child who was taken?”

“Yes. It’s been decades.”

“What?”

If what Siebel said about the incident was true, he should have been an old man starting to age. But…

“You look barely twenty.”

Siebel chuckled.

The following story was shocking.

“You were… experimented on in the tower?”

“Yes. As a result, I became someone who neither dies nor ages.”

I frowned and focused on Siebel’s story.

“They called it the S Project. An experiment conducted by the tower, the Duke’s family, and the royal family to test my body and uncover all the secrets of the white wizards. I could tolerate being experimented on, but I couldn’t stand them trying to steal the knowledge we had painstakingly accumulated. So I resisted to the end.”

According to Siebel, the white wizards weren’t powerful. Therefore, they researched magical tools and studied plants and magical energy intensively.

There were many herbs and plants that only Siebel could handle, and this was the reason.

“I remember seeing the red trumpet flower… the narcotic flower. That was also the knowledge of the white wizards, right?”

“Yes. It’s a plant that only the extinct white wizards could grow. I restored the method to cultivate it. I take great pride in it.”

“Are there other magical plants like that?”

For a moment, Siebel’s eyes narrowed.

‘Does he sometimes look at me like this because he still doesn’t trust me?’

Ah, that would be problematic. I just smirked and looked straight at Siebel.