I Became the Abandoned Daughter of an Underworld Boss

However, Yuriana inherited Asil’s shamelessness and appearance.

Instead of complaining to her dad, she said nicely.

“You said you’ve been busy these days.”

“Did I?”

“They said it would be a nuisance if I went.”

“…”

‘Levina must have hinted at it.’

Asil instinctively knew why Yuriana had been so quiet lately.

At the same time, he couldn’t shake the thought that he was treating this little girl too much like an adult.

A fragile child, running away, scared of just one slave hunter.

Yet, there was something strange about her when you listened to her speak and watched how she talked.

Smuggling…? Had she already caught onto smuggling?

‘No, I must have misheard. Kids at this age just mumble random things.’

Yuriana’s sparkling eyes were staring straight at him.

“Is it okay to go now?”

Look at that, she was not just speaking randomly; she was saying things based on the situation.

“Yes. It’s fine. But let me ask you something.”

“Yes?”

Yuriana heard something unbelievable.

“Do you know how to read a map?”

The adorable six-year-old girl stood still for about three seconds before asking.

“A map?”

“A map.”

“What is a map?”

Conscious of her age, Yuriana pretended not to understand what he said.

‘Whoa, that was close. If I’d said, , wouldn’t I have been subjected to some exorcism ritual?’

Even though this was another world, there were limits to what could be expected of a child.

A six-year-old who could read a map! Even I would suspect demonic possession!

Asil put his hands under his daughter’s armpits and lifted her up.

Warm. And wiggly.

“I’ll show you.”

“Okay… yes.”

He didn’t take her to the main house.

Instead, he put her down on the ground covered with pebbles among some topiaries in a corner.

Seeing the orderly array of pebbles, Yuriana finally realized.

‘Whoa…! I never noticed before. I must have walked past this many times. And these colors seem recently added?’

The black, white, and gray pebbles weren’t just scattered around. Even rare colored pebbles were newly landscaped.

This was definitely a simple map showing the kingdom’s borders and surrounding terrain!

Of course, Yuriana pretended not to be surprised, staring blankly at the red flowers blooming in the bushes instead of the pebbles.

‘Dark Town really is different in every way.’

Asil pointed to an area filled with pebbles.

“Do you see? These black stones. You know what black is, right?”

“Yes. This.”

“Everything inside these black stones’ boundary is our Nea Kingdom, and the gray area. This area marked with these stones is Dark Town.”

Depicting Dark Town in gray.

… it suited it.

The real darkness of the kingdom wasn’t in Dark Town but in the palace at the heart of the capital.

Asil continued his explanation, whether his young daughter understood or not.

“As I said earlier, this is the kingdom, and all the way down here and extending to the side in yellow is the Reef Empire.”

“Can I take this?”

Yuriana reached for the yellow pebble she’d never seen before.

At this point, he could just chalk it up to a child’s troublesome habit.

As her small body leaned over, Asil stopped her.

“Stay still. I’ll pick one for you.”

“Okay…”

He reached out and selected the roundest and prettiest yellow pebble representing the empire.

From a distance, they all looked the same, but picking one for his daughter wasn’t easy.

“Here.”

“Whoa! It’s pretty.”

“Wait.”

A tiny grain of sand stuck to the pebble in Yuriana’s palm.

Asil brushed it off, as if it were a harmful germ, and handed it back to her.

His daughter giggled, showing the top of her silver head. She was very happy.

“Hehehe!”

“…..”

He let Yuriana enjoy her moment of happiness before speaking again.

“Done playing with it?”

“Yes… yes!”

Despite her words, Yuriana held onto the yellow pebble tightly.

“Then let’s talk again. Yuriana, the empire is this big. The kingdom is this small, and our Dark Town within it is even smaller. Anyway, guests from the empire are scheduled to arrive.”

“Uuuuh… okay.”

Yuriana’s tone lacked any enthusiasm.

Trying not to be suspected of being a demon, Yuriana was fully acting like a naive six-year-old.

Asil’s eyebrow twitched.

“Do you know what a guest is?”

‘Why are you so suspicious today? Did you drink some kind of intelligence potion, Asil?’

Saying she knew the word was a bit much…

It would be troublesome if Asil got tired of explaining things and just left.

Fortunately, as Yuriana remained silent, he continued speaking.

“In short, someone you haven’t seen before is coming to Dark House.”

“A stranger?”

“… yeah. You understood the word , right? Just like there is a king and queen in our kingdom, there is an emperor in the empire. That emperor is coming to Dark Town.”

“What?”

“To meet the emperor, the queen from this side will also come to Dark House. For your information, you will never have to face the queen.”

His voice almost trembled when he mentioned Alice. It was harder than one thought to align determination and true intentions.

“Whoa, okay.”

So, the emperor of the Reef Empire was coming to Dark Town.

I see…

‘Wait, what? The emperor? If it’s the emperor of the Leaf Empire, it’s Harun! Harun is coming here again?!’

Surely, he wasn’t coming to invade the Nea Kingdom, right? He said he was a guest!

Yuriana bit her lip to keep her anxious eyes from being noticed. She had to, or she couldn’t bear it.

She was nervous.

Even after a truly happy ending, this wasn’t a scenario where Alice became the empress of the Reef Empire.

Harun was the young and vigorous emperor of a powerful nation. He himself was a robust man in his twenties.

He was definitely someone to be wary of!

‘I hate war.’

Alice came on Asil’s birthday, and after that, I was told not to go to the main house, and now suddenly Harun was coming…

‘… could Alice have requested Harun’s visit? If she had, he would have gone to the capital, not Dark Town. What’s going on?’

Strictly speaking, Dark Town wasn’t separate from the kingdom.

Asil’s low voice fell in his daughter’s ear.

“Yuriana.”

“Yes?”

“You said you were happy to come here, right?”

“Yes! Of course.”

“If you were happy, you need to do something in return.”

Her! With the emperor’s visit approaching?!

This was ominous. What could he possibly need that he would ask his young daughter for help?

Asil picked up a gray pebble symbolizing Dark Town and flicked it as he continued.

“It’s not certain yet, so just keep this in mind.”

“Yes?”

“The emperor might bring a friend around your age. I don’t know if you’ll meet this boy, but if you do, be nice to him. That’s what I wanted to tell you.”

“A friend?”

She was curious about the unexpected words.

Asil’s expression was complex as he looked at his daughter who was questioning him.

A friend… a guest… the emperor… his daughter who knew little about any of these.

Yes, she probably hadn’t played with friends much. Just like him in his childhood.

Though Yuriana was young, she lacked significantly in experiences and encounters.

Asil, who had been quite indifferent, started to think about what Yuriana needed. It wasn’t just because of Levina’s advice.

“Yes, a friend. Hmm… think of how you treat Levina. Treat him about that well. But not like your maids or cats.”

“Yes.”

“… do you understand what that means? How exactly will you do it?”

Asil’s questions were particularly sharp today.

Yuriana racked her little brain as hard as she could. And without any help from multiple choices, she found a brilliant answer.

Sparkle, sparkle.

The eyes of the six-year-old girl shone.

“There’s something that Levina likes when I do it! I’ll do that for the guest.”

Asil asked with a leisurely smile.

“What is it?”

“Hehe, this.”

“… huh?”

Yuriana climbed onto Asil’s lap as he sat looking at a pebble map.

Asil just watched intently as his daughter climbed up him.

Yuriana didn’t stop climbing.

With her tiny hands, she grabbed her father’s shoulders and, feeling his eyes follow her, kissed his cheek.

Smooch.

The tiny lips, no bigger than a single cherry, made a small popping sound as they parted.

Was this how it felt when a small white rabbit licked your skin?

“…”

Asil didn’t respond. There was no reaction.

Feeling awkward, Yuriana climbed back down, grabbing his firm thigh for support, and returned to her original spot.

‘… was that too bold? Maybe I shouldn’t have done it.’

It hadn’t been a big deal to kiss Levina, another woman, but…

She had never done that to her maid, Benny.

This was Yuriana’s world. It couldn’t be okay to act the same way she did when she was Yuri.

Though Benny hadn’t done anything wrong, if she became arrogant and started climbing up, it would…

That would make Yuriana unhappy. And perhaps brought trouble for Benny too.

But… doing that to her own father, Asil, so casually might have been a mistake.

It seemed her bad premonition was right.

“Let’s stop this.”

“… yes?”

Suddenly, Asil, who had been silent, spoke strangely.

“Yuriana, on second thought, there’s no need for you to deal with the guests from the empire. Even if you’re with me… no, that won’t be necessary.”