I Became the Male Lead’s Adopted Daughter

Now, only Leonia and Ferio remained in the garden.
“So embarrassing…”

Leonia sniffled loudly and muttered awkwardly.
It was already the second time she had cried in front of Ferio. She was still embarrassed and ashamed.
But at least her chest felt lighter now.

Ferio pulled out a handkerchief and gently wiped her tear-streaked face himself.
“……”
But because her nose kept running, the handkerchief quickly reached a point of no return.

Ferio even wondered, just for a fleeting moment, if the child’s entire body might be made of mucus.
The snot-soaked handkerchief was burned to ashes using the power of the Fangs of the Beast.
“Why’d you burn it?”

Leonia scowled and asked gruffly, feeling offended just watching it.
“It was filthy.”
“You said you were sorry to me earlier.”

And now that same man burns a handkerchief just because it’s got his daughter’s snot on it? Leonia clutched the back of her neck in frustration, overcome by a new wave of deep-seated rage.
“This is exactly when you’re supposed to show off by putting the snotty handkerchief in your pocket!”
“I’m already cool without doing any of that.”

“I mean, that’s true!”
With nothing else to argue, Leonia smacked Ferio’s lips repeatedly with the stuffed toy in her hand.
It was filled with cotton, so it actually hurt quite a bit.
“So.”

Ferio, who had silently taken the beating, finally pushed the toy aside and asked,
“Are you okay now?”
“What do you mean?”

“Are you done crying?”
It was only then that Leonia realized she wasn’t crying anymore.
The heaviness she had felt, the aching longing that had made her miss him so terribly—both had settled like a lie.

“Dad.”
Suddenly flustered, Leonia fidgeted with the plush paw of her stuffed toy.
“Welcome back…”

With a belated greeting, she threw her arms around Ferio’s neck.
Ferio tightened his hold around her once again.
The lion plush trapped between the two was squashed flat.

“I’m back.”
And with that belated exchange of greetings, the Voreoti father and daughter quietly burst into laughter.
***

“Damn, that’s the Voreoti for you.”
Carnis returned late at night, his face covered in exhaustion.
But he looked lively, like someone who had just seen something incredibly amusing.

“Word spread fast that you arrived in the West.”
He’d been getting endless messages from western nobles throughout the day.
He was already swamped with work, but having to respond to each and every one of those messages drained him even more.

“It’d be weirder if they didn’t react.”
Abipher shook her head as she recalled the carriage Ferio had arrived in.
“What kind of carriage looks like it’s about to devour a person?”

The massive, majestic black carriage was practically a weapon in itself. It was so intimidating it practically crushed you with its presence.
Not to mention, the black horses that pulled the carriage were nothing like ordinary horses.
Even at a glance, their thighs looked like you’d have to fuse two grown men together to match the size.

“When we put them in the stable, our horses were completely spooked.”
“But they settled down quickly, right?”
“That wasn’t settling down—they were overpowered.”

The Voreoti horses let out snorts and clattered their hooves a few times, and the others immediately dropped their gazes and moved off into the corners on their own.
“Do they mix monsters into their horse feed or something?”
“What a delightful guess.”

Startled, Abipher turned around. Ferio stood there, expression flat and clearly unimpressed.
Feeling awkward, Abipher cleared her throat.
“It was a joke.”

“I know.”
“What were you even doing?”
Carnis pointed at the wrinkle in the center of Ferio’s shirt.

Ferio brushed the wrinkled hem of his shirt with his palm, as if it was no big deal.
“I just came from putting Leo to sleep.”
The room Ferio had just come out of was the guestroom where Leonia was staying.

The wrinkles on his shirt were from Leonia clutching it tightly with one hand until she {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} fell asleep.
Now, the tiny hand that had clutched her father’s shirt held the black lion plush instead.
The fact that she slept with it—despite not being the type to hug stuffed animals—meant she really liked it.

“She just fell asleep.”
So keep it down—Ferio pressed a finger to his lips in warning.
“…You do know this is our house, right?”

Carnis looked dumbfounded.
Ferio had told the homeowner to quiet down for fear of waking up his daughter. He was acting like he lived there himself.
“Be understanding. The young lady missed the Duke terribly.”

Abipher covered her mouth and smiled softly.
“She kept asking when the Duke would arrive.”
“She owes you a debt.”

“Oh, please. Talking with her was honestly delightful.”
Dealing with a child who spoke like an old soul was exhausting, but strangely enough, the conversation flowed naturally. There wasn’t a moment of boredom.
It felt just like chatting and playing freely with a friend her own age.

“Are my puppies asleep too?”
Hearing this, Carnis suddenly missed his own children.
“It’s late. Of course they’re asleep.”

“Then I’ll just take a quick peek…”
“…Don’t wake them up with kisses and go get washed already.”
At his wife’s stern order, Carnis drooped like a scolded puppy and trudged off to the bathroom.

Ferio somehow completely understood how Carnis felt.
A sleeping child’s face was a miracle cure that melted away exhaustion in an instant.
Meanwhile, Abipher had instructed a maid to bring out drinks.

By the time Carnis returned from washing up, a bottle of whiskey and some light snacks had been laid out.
The three adults began to drink together.
Naturally, the topic turned to the recent failed illegal monster trafficking incident they had dealt with.

“Well, at least the immediate danger’s been handled.”
Carnis muttered in relief, pouring himself a glass of whiskey.
“It was thanks to your wife.”

“I didn’t do anything.”
This translation is the intellectual property of .
At Ferio’s praise, Abipher waved her hands dismissively, feigning humility.

“All I did was lend a warehouse owned by my family.”
The only reason Carnis and the Revoo Knights had been able to launch a surprise attack so swiftly was because they had used a logistics warehouse registered under Abipher’s family name to hide and observe the situation.
Baron Hirqus had only been wary of prestigious Western houses like Hesperi or families deeply tied to the North, such as the Rinne.

So the thought that a lesser noble house like Abipher’s birth family would cooperate with those forces never even crossed his mind.
That just proved how narrow-minded the baron was, always looking only toward those at the top.
“Anyway, I’ve been busy cleaning up the aftermath.”

The raid itself had been easy—Carnis made a slashing motion with one hand, mimicking swinging a sword.
The reason he’d come home so late was because he’d been busy cleaning up Baron Hirqus’ atrocities.
And since it was spring—the busiest time for merchant guilds—his fatigue was doubled.

Still, it was true that clearing out that filth left him feeling refreshed.
“Marquis of Hesperi sent word. He’d like to meet with you.”
“I’ll reach out to him separately.”

“If you do that, I’d be grateful.”
Carnis rotated his shoulders to loosen up his stiff muscles.
“So, everything’s been taken care of? Did you kill them?”

He was referring to the prey they had driven up to the North.
“Voreoti estate prison.”
“You didn’t kill them?”

“I did.”
Carnis mumbled in surprise—he’d killed his own targets without hesitation.
“I already confiscated their assets and ordered their expulsion from the North.”

“You’re quick with the draw…”
Abipher murmured without much surprise.
The truth was, Ferio’s preparations for the hunt had been meticulous.

He showed no mercy—he stripped the criminals of everything and drove them out. Their entire estates were seized, and their families were banished from the North.
It was thanks to Lupe, who had worked through sleepless nights, relying solely on his paycheck.
‘He’s never been the merciful type.’

Abipher, sipping lightly from her glass, looked at Ferio with a neutral expression.
He was glaring at one of the shrimp on the platter like it had personally offended him.
From between his slightly parted lips came a murmur that sounded just a bit foolish: “Leonia likes shrimp…”

‘Now he’s completely turned into a doting dad.’
Abipher pretended not to hear.
At any rate, the Black Beast had always been equally merciless to everyone.

“And.”
Ferio quietly added,
“There’s still one left.”

Count Tabanus.
“Ah, that fly?”
Carnis let out a bitter laugh.

Three years ago, after the previous emperor’s death, when the new emperor raised a commotion trying to elevate his concubine to empress, Ferio had firmly opposed him. Meanwhile, Count Tabanus had shamelessly sided with the emperor and the concubine.
None of them could forget his voice—buzzing and incessant like a fly.
For three whole years, he had screeched from the opposite side of Ferio, only to watch the imperial family and the noble council eventually reach a compromise by elevating the concubine to imperial consort.

Since then, Count Tabanus had hidden away in his capital estate.
There was one simple reason he never came to the North.
He was afraid of Ferio.

So it was his eldest son, Musca Tabanus, who managed their affairs in the North in his absence.
“I always wondered where he got the guts.”
Carnis clenched his jaw audibly between his scoffing words.

“That damn swan brat…”
Crack! A walnut was crushed beneath his palm as he slammed it onto the table.
“…And he dares touch the West?”

Seething with rage, Carnis was still huffing.
His usual amiable smile—so well-liked by all—was nowhere to be seen. What remained was a mad dog with its prey in sight.
He didn’t even feel the shards of walnut embedded in his palm.

But that wasn’t the only matter they had to address.
Abipher brought up the Imperial Knights who had been caught at the scene.
“What will you do about the Imperial side?”

“Those bastards are still up North, right? Have you learned anything from them?”
Ferio shook his head.
The Imperial Knights had yielded nothing.

They claimed there was nothing to confess, insisting this was all their own doing—a disgusting display of misplaced loyalty.
A few had even tried to bite off their tongues to kill themselves.
And when Ferio tried to interrogate them in earnest, his overwhelming presence caused some to faint on the spot.

“There’s no doubt the Imperial family was involved…”
But who exactly had pulled the strings?
Ferio raised three fingers, then immediately folded one down.

“The only one who can move the Imperial Knights is the Emperor. So Empress Tigria is ruled out. With her upright nature, there’s no way she’d orchestrate something this filthy.”
Another finger folded down.
“The Emperor has envied the North more times than I can count, but he’s not bold enough to risk something like this…”

Only one finger remained.
A person without the direct authority to command the Imperial Knights—but who could make it happen nonetheless.
“Usia Olor.”

Former consort of the Crown Prince. Now the Emperor’s concubine, and the one who claimed the title of imperial consort.
The Red Swan.