I Became the Male Lead’s Adopted Daughter

Five days had passed since they came down to the West.
Leonia gazed in awe at the large flowering trees in bloom at the Rinne estate.

The deep crimson petals fluttered gently in the wind, announcing the end of spring.
As she watched the rain of flowers, she couldn’t help but recall the snowstorms of the North.
‘The blizzards are definitely harsher.’

The beauty was fleeting.
Before she knew it, Leonia was missing the North again.
More precisely, she missed Ferio, who still hadn’t come to the West.

‘Damn Dad…….’
He sent her off alone without even telling her why.
Leonia brushed the falling petals off her face with a huff.

“Leo onnie!”
In the middle of her grumbling, Ufikla came running up. Pinu trailed close behind her.
“What are you doing, onnie?”

“I was looking at the flowers. They’re really pretty.”
“Don’t you have these at your house?”
Ufikla tilted her head and looked up at the tree with her.

“We do, but I haven’t seen them yet.”
Connie had mentioned that there were flowering trees at the estate too. But it would take at least another month before they bloomed.
Since Leonia became a Voreoti last late autumn, she naturally hadn’t seen the flowers bloom.

‘……I wonder what the flowers at home look like.’
Her flower viewing ended with a lingering sense of longing.
Still, life in the West was good.
Count Carnis and Countess Abipher Rinne were kind, and Ufikla and Pinu constantly clung to her side.

Connie, Mia, and the knights who had come with her from the estate were still with her.
There wasn’t any time to feel lonely.
‘I just… miss Dad, that’s all…….’

She wasn’t exactly sad, but she missed Ferio more than she’d expected.
‘It wasn’t like this last time…….’
During the previous monster hunt, they had been apart for a whole month.

She had missed him back then too, but not enough to feel this drained.
There was just one difference.
‘Back then, he was “Mister.” Now, he’s “Dad.”’

Unlike before, when she unconsciously kept her distance, now he was her one and only precious family.
So of course the emotions she felt now were different.
“Noona.”

Something plump and soft poked at the back of Leonia’s hand.
She had been zoning out and quickly turned her head.
“Leo noona.”

Pinu, with chocolate smeared all over his mouth, looked up at her with shining eyes.
Then, with both his tiny hands stretched out, he wiggled his body.
“Pleaaase.”

“For what?”
Leonia asked knowingly, pretending not to understand.
“Candy!”

Even after finishing a huge chocolate cookie, Pinu was eyeing the strawberry milk-flavored candies Leonia had brought.
Ufikla, who had finished her cookie early, tried to act calm but sneakily held out her hand too.
“No, you may not.”

The nanny behind them firmly put her foot down.
Ufikla and Pinu pouted.
Leonia used the distraction of the maids and nanny clearing away the snack dishes to quickly hand one candy each to the two kids.

The two puppy-like children beamed with joy.
“Candy!”
“Candy!”

“Shh, you’ll get caught!”
Startled, the two quickly popped the candies into their mouths and began munching quietly. Leonia unwrapped one for herself too.
“Oh dear, you shouldn’t be eating those.”

The nanny, realizing too late, gave a helpless chuckle.
The three kids giggled as they enjoyed their candies.
“So here you were.”

Abipher walked over to the children with one cheek adorably puffed out.
The person the Countess had come to see was Leonia.
“Are you doing all right here? Nothing uncomfortable?”

“Not at all. I love it here.”
“If there’s anything lacking, don’t hesitate to tell me.”
“Thank you for your consideration.”

Leonia thought that was the end of the conversation, but she noticed Abipher still looking at her.
It seemed like she had more to say.
“Are you feeling stifled?”

There was clear concern in Abipher’s voice.
Since coming to the West, Leonia hadn’t gone out even once.
That was because Ferio had sent a private letter to the Count and Countess Rinne.

He had requested they refrain from letting Leonia go out until he arrived in the West.
“……”
Leonia could read the genuine worry on Abipher’s face.

It was the same kind of look the servants at the ducal mansion had often given her on her first day there.
There was no real malice in it, so she didn’t dislike it.
“I think it’d be really nice if Madam let me read Life is Revenge…….”

The clever little lady slipped the question in subtly.
This translation is the intellectual property of .
“That’s not allowed.”

Abipher deflected with a smile. Leonia frowned.
Life is Revenge was the sequel to Leonia’s favorite book, Life Is All Futile Anyway.
She hadn’t even known a sequel existed until she accidentally discovered it in Abipher’s library, and she had been eyeing it ever since.

“Madam……”
Leonia clasped her hands together pitifully.
“If I read that, I don’t think I’ll miss my dad anymore……”

“Then I’d rather you miss him.”
Abipher refused without hesitation.
Not giving up, Leonia pressed her palms together like a prayer, her eyes shimmering with moisture.

“Madam, don’t you think I’m pitiful?”
“No.”
The answer came instantly.

No matter how many times she begged, Abipher wouldn’t budge.
“Right now, I think ✧ NоvеIight ✧ (Original source) the Duke is more pitiful.”
Abipher thought Leonia, mature and clever as she was, wouldn’t be too difficult to raise.

The child was smart, thoughtful, and easy to talk to.
Sometimes, it was even fun chatting with her, like gossiping with a peer.
But from a parent’s perspective, Leonia was an incredibly troublesome child in many different ways.

Eventually, Leonia, exhausted from being rejected, flopped onto the sofa like she was giving up on life.
Suddenly, everything felt bothersome.
“I miss my dad……”

If it were Dad, he would’ve bought her the book without a single word.
Once again, Leonia realized just how precious Ferio was. It was the kind of realization that would’ve left Ferio completely speechless if he ever heard it.
Still, her muttering voice was full of longing.

“Has anything arrived from Dad?”
Leonia asked Abipher.
Over the past five days, she had asked again and again when her dad was coming, and whether anything had happened.

And every time, she’d only gotten the same empty reassurance: nothing’s wrong, don’t worry.
This time was no different.
“He’ll be here soon.”

Abipher gently brushed Leonia’s bangs, which had fallen out of place as she lay down.
Leonia knew. The Count and Countess Rinne spoke that way because they genuinely cared about her.
They cherished and cared for her as if she were their own daughter.

“Madam.”
But that attitude didn’t suit a seven-year-old girl with a thoroughly jaded soul.
So Leonia rephrased her question.

“As far as I know, my dad is currently dealing with a bunch of idiotic bastards who don’t know their place. Could you please tell me honestly how far things have progressed?”
Horizontal or vertical?
“Which direction is he cutting them from?”

***
A night filled with thick clouds.
Even the crescent moonlight was hidden, making everything pitch-black.

Not even a single beast cry could be heard in the suffocating darkness—it was deeply eerie.
But for Baron Hirqus, it was the most ideal condition imaginable.
The baron hurried his steps.

Baron Hirqus was a vassal of the Marquis of Hesperi, the master of the West.
The baron had no land of his own and had always lived within the Hesperi domain.
The current Baron Hirqus detested this kind of family legacy.

He wanted to rule over a territory named after his family, free to do as he pleased.
He was ambitious, forward-looking.
Which was how he got caught in the Swan’s trap.

The Swans who approached Baron Hirqus made him a tremendous offer.
‘It’s when you do what no one else can that you receive the most attention.’
An elegant Swan coaxed him.

If he succeeded in this mission, he would be elevated in title and granted a territory in the South bearing the Hirqus name.
Baron Hirqus accepted immediately.
Illegal monster trafficking.

It was the perfect business to satisfy the vanity and show-off tendencies of arrogant nobles.
The baron was confident.
Coincidentally, the newly crowned Emperor had just announced he would make his mistress the Empress—a ridiculous move.

And many of the major nobles, including the Marquis of Hesperi, had gathered in the capital.
The leaders of the West, North, and East were all absent at the same time.
It was the perfect opportunity.

Baron Hirqus secretly hired mages from the Eastern Mage Tower.
The mages created potions that induced heat in monsters. The effects were excellent, and the monsters birthed many offspring.
Then, using magic, they captured only the young monsters and locked them away in a Western logistics warehouse.

Imperial knights sent by the Swan disguised themselves as mercenaries and thoroughly guarded the surroundings.
It was a perfect trifecta—Baron Hirqus grinned.
The fine hairs of his goatee quivered like brush bristles.

It felt like the heavens themselves were aiding him.
With dreams swelling in his chest, Baron Hirqus finally arrived at the Western logistics warehouse.
It was a place where goods traded between the Northern and Western guilds were stored and exchanged.

The warehouse was located in a remote area near the Western border under the ownership of the Marquis of Hesperi. The North was right on the doorstep.
‘That idiot marquis.’
What a foolish old man.

Baron Hirqus sneered upon arrival.
To his eyes, the marquis was a pompous fool obsessed with knightly formalities.
He was nothing more than a decorative knight, who married off his daughter to such an emperor out of pride and was now belatedly regretting it.

He would never suspect betrayal from someone like Hirqus.
Just imagining it made the baron tremble with delight.
The thought of the man he had always served now dancing in the palm of his hand brought him unspeakable pleasure.

A chilling thrill ran down his spine and cooled his entire body.
“Stop.”
One of the mercenaries guarding the warehouse stepped forward. He had a pleasant face and a noticeable mole under his eye.

The two exchanged a pre-arranged password.
The so-called mercenary, in reality an imperial knight in disguise, politely guided the baron to a certain location.
It was the most secluded of all the storage buildings.

“What about the others?”
As they headed toward the treasure trove that would change his future, the baron asked.
“They arrived just a little while ago.”

Just as the mercenary said, three others were waiting at the warehouse entrance.
Musca Tabanus, the heir of Count Tabanus, Count Mereoqa, and Baron Glis.