I Became the Male Lead’s Adopted Daughter

Leonia was one of the rare few who experienced severe motion sickness the first time passing through a Gate.

Annoyed, she pouted her lips.
“But usually you only get sick the first time. After that, it’s fine.”
Mia tried to comfort her.

“Then why did Dad make me take motion sickness medicine last time?”
“Master just… prepared it, just in case.”
Leonia had thrown up everything inside her during the first time, so Ferio had gotten a powerful anti-nausea potion while Marquis Ortio was staying in the North.

There was no need to explain how expensive a potion made by the empire’s top magician must have been.
“Dad…!”
Leonia, moved, ran toward Ferio, who was in the middle of a discussion with his knights.

Ferio, who had been receiving the final inspection report for the carriage, stared in surprise at Leonia, who suddenly clung to him.
The knights around him were just as bewildered.
“……”

As he looked over her, wondering if something had happened, he noticed her ears were flushed bright red.
And the way she hid her face against his leg—clearly, something had made her happy and shy.
“It seems the young lady was feeling lonely.”

One of the knights looked at the pair with a warm smile.
The others nodded in agreement.
To them, she just looked like an adorable child throwing a fit because she didn’t want to be apart from her father.

“Honestly.”
Ferio shook his head as if tired.
“You should’ve just waited quietly.”
He scolded her for lacking patience, but at the same time, he subtly lowered one arm to gently pat her shoulder.

The knights struggled to keep their grins in check.
If they laughed now, it wouldn’t be the capital on the other side of the Gate—they’d be headed straight for hell.
“Let’s depart, then.”

Ferio climbed into the carriage as if nothing had happened.
Soon, everyone else returned to their positions. The knights mounted their horses and re-formed the formation.
“……Wow, did you see that? Did you?”

“I never thought our lord would change like this.”
“Well, it’s a good change, right?”
The knights were still struck with awe whenever they witnessed this paternal side of Ferio.

“It’s kind of… ticklish, though.”
One of them mimed scratching himself, and the rest suppressed their laughter.
To the Gladiago Knights, Ferio had always been the terrifying, strong Black Beast. Seeing him as a father was still unfamiliar.

But it was definitely a good change.
The Gate passage went smoothly.
Between two massive, twisted pillars—distorted as if gripped by some enormous hand—lay the entrance. Just behind them, the lush green scenery was projected as if on a screen, and the carriage passed through it.

‘Ah.’
As the carriage moved through the Gate, Leonia felt a stirring sensation within her body.
It was the same feeling she’d experienced the first time.

Just as she reflexively lowered her head, Ferio’s large hand slowly stroked her back.
It was his way of saying that it was okay if she needed to throw up.
A flicker of concern passed through the eyes of the father watching over his child.

Fortunately, Leonia was fine.
Thanks to the meticulous preparations, neither the carriage nor the horses were harmed.
Having safely passed through the Gate, Leonia beamed proudly.

“I didn’t throw up!”
“Good.”
The hand stroking her back fell away as if it had never been there.

Ferio turned to look out the window, acting as if nothing had happened. Leonia stared at him with a goofy grin.
“Daddy really, really loves me!”
“Don’t start singing weird songs.”

“It’s true!”
“Enough. Look over there.”
Ferio lightly flicked her forehead, annoyed by the noise.

Even though she got smacked for fooling around, Leonia smiled brightly and turned to the window.
“Waaah!”
The scenery outside had changed in an instant, like magic.

The dense forest had vanished, and a wide field dotted with a few small buildings stretched before them.
Just then, a breeze rolled across the field, and the grass and flowers rippled like waves.
“This is so cool. We really moved somewhere else in an instant.”

“It’s not your first time experiencing it.”
Telling her to behave now, Ferio seated her properly.
“When we went to the North? I was out of it from all the vomiting. I seriously drank that dew…”

The precocious child began to recall, ready to vividly describe how she’d chugged down three bottles of green dew and suffered a hangover the next morning—but she clammed up just in time.
Then slyly shifted her eyes.
“Dew?”

Thankfully, Ferio only caught the word “dew.”
“……I-I felt dizzy, like a fairy who could only drink three drops of dew.”
“Where the hell did you leave your conscience?”

Ferio belatedly realized he needed to worry about her morals more than her innocence.
“What now? You love me so much!”
“You’re getting way too full of yourself ‘cause I let things slide.”

“But in your eyes, I’m a fairy, right?”
That cute, right?
Leonia wiggled her shoulders and fluttered her sparkling black eyes.

“……”
Ferio was momentarily at a loss for words.
“…Why am I the one feeling ashamed?”

All the embarrassment was his alone.
She was so shameless that even Ferio’s toes curled inside his boots without him realizing it.
Self-proclaimed fairy Leonia snorted proudly and turned back to the window.

Still, Ferio didn’t deny it.
And for Leonia, that was more than enough.
This translation is the intellectual property of .

***
The place they arrived at through the Western Gate was near the entrance checkpoint to the Imperial Capital.
As soon as the black carriage bearing the roaring lion insignia appeared, the checkpoint staff and guards scrambled into action.

Leonia curiously watched the chaos unfolding outside the window.
“What’s with them? Are they all new recruits?”
“Seems like it.”

In reality, they were just tense because of the arrival of the Duke of Voreoti—but Ferio didn’t care much.
More precisely, he wasn’t interested in what was happening outside at all.
“It’d be convenient if the Gate was inside the capital.”

“There is one inside.”
While they waited, Ferio gave her a brief explanation about the Gates.
“There are four Gates linked to each region.”

“Four each?”
Leonia held up her four chubby fingers. Ferio folded them down one by one as he spoke.
“For example, we just passed through the Western one—so one of those is connected to the capital.”

Then the Eastern Gate, the Southern Gate, and the Northern Gate.
Each region had four like this.
“And the North has five.”

“Five?”
“The other four are the same as the rest, but the fifth one…”
Ferio paused, glancing at his curious young daughter.

“…is in the Northern Mountains.”
He told her where it was but didn’t say where that Gate connected to.
He said he’d tell her once she was a little older.

“Aw, I won’t be able to sleep ‘cause I’m curious!”
“You fall asleep the moment your head hits the pillow.”
“Excuse me? I’m actually a very delicate lady.”

Leonia flipped one of her braided pigtails over her shoulder and gave a prim little huff.
“You’re barely the size of a bean.”
Amused by her precocious act, Ferio lightly tapped her head.

Irritated, Leonia let out a loud huff and gave his hand a few smacks of her own.
While they were busy bickering, the checkpoint completed its inspection. The carriage set off again.
Soon, the towering walls surrounding the capital came into view.

The brick wall, with each # Nоvеlight # stone as tall as a person, stretched so far it seemed endless.
“But earlier you said there’s a Gate inside the capital too.”
Leonia asked where that one connected to.

“The North.”
“So we’ll be able to get home faster?”
“If that were possible, I’d never have met you.”

Ferio gave a smug smile and crossed his legs with ease.
But Leonia unhooked them again, saying it was bending her spine.
Most of the Gates connecting each region to the capital were located on the outskirts of the Imperial City.

But the one connecting to the North was inside the capital itself—inside the Imperial Palace, no less.
Because of that, the Imperial Family had banned the North from using the capital Gate.
“They’re scared.”

Fearing that the beasts with the Fangs of the Black Beast might one day turn on them, the law banning its use was enacted centuries ago.
“Total cowards.”
Leonia sneered.

Still, thanks to that, she was able to meet Ferio—so it wasn’t such a bad thing.
Maybe Ferio thought the same, because he poked her round cheek with his finger.
“Then the orphanage I was in?”

Leonia suddenly wondered which region the orphanage—the place where she first awoke as her current self—had been located in.
Until now, she hadn’t had the time to think about it.
“You were…”

Ferio began to speak.
Knock knock.
Someone rapped on the carriage door.

“Identification, please.”
A knight stationed at the capital’s entrance approached the carriage.
‘Voreoti…’

The young knight’s face was tense.
He shrank under the pressure radiating from the carriage.
The black lion engraved on the carriage door looked like it might leap out and devour him.

He glanced behind him—his fellow knights were keeping a cautious distance.
“…You’re working hard.”
With a soft clack, the carriage window opened and Ferio revealed himself.

He, too, wanted to get this tedious formality over with.
His sharp gaze was a silent command: take a good look and let us through.
But the unfortunate knight froze like a statue, overwhelmed by the terrible pressure emanating from the Duke of Voreoti.

“Dad.”
At that moment—
Two oversized ribbons popped into view.

The knight’s eyes widened visibly. His frozen body slackened in surprise.
“All done?”
“How should I know?”

Ferio replied with a much gentler tone, then gestured with his chin at the knight, telling her to ask him.
“Mister Knight.”
Leonia beamed. The knight, who had been zoning out, flinched in shock.

“Hello? I’m Leonia Voreoti.”
The daughter of Duke Voreoti—rumored about but never seen—was now right in front of him.