“If «N.o.v.e.l.i.g.h.t» you hadn’t co to see , none of this would’ve happened in the first place.”
Ferio Voreoti knew exactly what Varia was thinking.
He’d always had a knack for reading people, thanks to the Fangs of the Beast—but with Varia, her emotions and expressions ca through especially clear.
“Today.”
In truth, there was one thing Ferio had wanted to say to her the mont he saw her.
“You’re truly beautiful.”
“Th-Thank you...”
Varia dropped her head, unable to hide her flustered expression.
And then—
‘...What the hell is this?’
The little beast cub wedged between the two adults gaped with her mouth wide open.
‘When the hell did those two sneak ahead without telling ...?!’
Leonia looked back and forth between her dad and his potential new wife, both of whom had apparently advanced without her knowledge.
***
After the banquet.
The Voreoti father and daughter collapsed on the living room sofa.
They both sprawled out lazily on the cushions.
Even the almighty Ferio was exhausted from the round trip between the North and the capital within a week, followed imdiately by attending the banquet.
Leonia was just as drained, still worn out from everything that had happened during the event.
Warm sunlight poured over the sofa where the two of them lay. Though the rays coming through the window carried more heat by the day, it wasn’t quite hot enough to draw the curtains.
“Dad, can I lie on your chest?”
Leonia asked in a groggy mumble.
But the little beast’s body was already flopped on her dad’s solid chest.
“Uuugh, muscles...”
The little beast let out a happy moan. Warm, firm yet sohow soft—her dad’s contradictory pecs soothed her banquet-worn body and mind.
“Get off.”
Ferio gave a few pokes to her side.
“C’mon, just five more minutes.”
“You’re heavy.”
“You said I should gain weight.”
“That was five years ago.”
The featherweight beast cub who once only reached his knees had suddenly shot up to his chest.
“My thousand-pound child.”
She ate and grew too well—it was nearly impossible to carry her anymore.
Even letting her lie on his chest for a nap had beco a struggle.
“Get off.”
“I’m actually annoyed right now...!”
The thousand-pound Leonia pushed down hard on Ferio’s stomach with her arms.
A short cough burst from Ferio’s lips. Only then did Leonia feel slightly satisfied.
“...Hey, Dad.”
Sliding down off the sofa, Leonia cautiously asked.
“What was that thing yesterday?”
“What thing?”
“With Varia.”
Leonia asked about the strange tension she had felt between the two of them.
“What was there?”
Ferio asked innocently, as if he didn’t have a clue. His uncharacteristically guileless expression earned a snort from Leonia.
He might be able to fool others, but there was no tricking her—soone seasoned in identifying the perverted from a mile away.
“There were flowers between you two!”
In the eyes of a forr amateur muscle-pervert sketch artist, she could see the taphorical flower field that always blood between protagonists in love.
Even in that dark night, Leonia had seen the petals flutter.
Ferio raised an eyebrow.
“Where were there flowers?”
There were only a few chairs outside the banquet hall balcony where people could rest for a mont.
Any flowerpots had been cleared away, in case soone tried to hide bombs or sneak in spies from the Imperial family.
That sa balcony where the three of them went to get so air had been just as empty.
“Leonia, are your eyes hurting?”
Ferio finally sat up and leaned in to examine her eyes closely.
“No, they’re fine!”
Leonia shouted, swatting his hand away from her face.
“Don’t change the subject! I know what I saw!”
“What are you even talking about?”
“The way you looked at Varia! That wasn’t normal!”
Leonia finally blurted out the question she’d been holding back out of daughterly consideration.
“You two did it, didn’t you?”
Ferio squinted one eye. He was quickly trying to deduce what exactly his daughter ant by “did it.”
“...What exactly do you think we did?”
His response would determine just how severe Leonia’s upcoming lesson was going to be.
“What else can a man and woman do?!”
Leonia laced her right and left hands together, then gently rubbed her thumbs against each other.
“You held hands behind my back, didn’t you?”
Thankfully, her answer was much more innocent than Ferio had expected.
“...You can have the confiscated sketchbook back.”
Ferio offered it up without a word. A reward for his daughter, who—for once—was acting like an actual twelve-year-old.
“Aw yeah!”
Leonia cheered, throwing her fists triumphantly into the air.
‘Truth is, I wanted to ask if they had a steamy makeout session.’
But the clever twelve-year-old had wisely avoided asking anything too explicit. And thanks to that, her confiscated muscle sketchbook was returned to her hands.
“My treasure, were you safe without ~?”
Leonia made kissy sounds and planted a big, juicy smack on the reclaid sketchbook. Ferio briefly considered whether he should confiscate it again.
“I’m off.”
Leonia grabbed her sketchbook and left the living room.
“To your room?”
Ferio, now lying back on the sofa again, called out to her retreating back.
“I’m going to see Varia.”
Leonia had this planned from the start.
There was no point interrogating Ferio. If she wanted real intel, she had long since decided Varia was the one to ask.
“Bye-bye!”
She casually threw out her childhood goodbye as she turned on her heel.
“......”
Ferio’s closed eyes twitched faintly on the sofa.
***
“Waaah, miss, you’re amazing!”
“I knew you’d like it.”
Leonia, now in Varia’s room, proudly showed off her muscle sketchbook.
As expected, Varia was overjoyed. She all but had her nose buried in the pages, and an excited Leonia explained each drawing.
The newest sketchbook featured Ferio and several of the Gladiago Knights’ muscles.
“Who’s this one? I don’t think I’ve seen him before.”
“That’s Uncle Mono, the vice-commander. He’s the one keeping the North safe while Dad’s away.”
“He looks so cool.”
“Still, no one beats my dad!”
Leonia’s comntary on the knights always ended with a round of Ferio-praising.
Varia found that absolutely adorable.
Usually, Leonia acted so mature and charismatic—but the mont Ferio was brought up, her eyes sparkled, and she couldn’t stop bragging.
“You must really love the Duke, huh?”
“Well, he is my dad...”
But when asked directly, she blushed and looked away in embarrassnt.
That cuteness finally broke Varia’s composure—she burst out laughing.
“Eek, don’t laugh!”
“But you’re too cute.”
“Of course I’m cute.”
“Of course you are.”
Varia tucked a loose strand of hair behind Leonia’s ear with a warm smile.
“There’s no one in the world as wonderful as our little lady.”
“Mm, you’ve got good taste.”
Pleased with the complint, Leonia humd a little tune. She figured it might be fun to teach Varia so of the songs she’d rewritten later.
“Which chest muscles do you think look the best?”
Leonia asked as she pointed to different drawings.
“Obviously, the Duke’s.”
Varia said firmly.
“I’m sorry to everyone else, but I’ve never seen muscles as perfect as his.”
The first muscles she’d seen had set the bar so high, the rest of the sketches didn’t even register.
“Especially the front...”
With an awed gasp, she ran her hand slowly over her chest and down to her stomach, mimicking the area.
The muscles that had impressed Varia the most were Ferio’s pecs and rectus abdominis.
She’d felt his chest firsthand through his clothes at the banquet.
As for his abs—Ferio had guided her hand himself.
“......”
A faint pink flush spread across Varia’s cheeks. The mories of the banquet ca flooding back the mont she thought about Ferio’s muscles.
She’d been too overwheld and distracted to really process it at the ti—but now, after a night’s rest and in a much calr setting, the embarrassnt ca rushing in.
‘It’s just the sumr heat...’
Varia tried to bla the delayed heat in her body on the approaching sumr.
But the truth was, every mont from that night was still etched vividly into her mind.
“The Duke is really amazing.”
She flipped back to the beginning of the sketchbook and started over.
“Really...”
Her fingers slowed to a stop.
“How is he so...”
Her eyes, slightly glazed over, locked onto one drawing of Ferio.
Though the sketch was rough and hastily drawn, to Varia it was the most beautiful, striking image she’d ever seen.
The picture of Ferio checking his watch with an outstretched arm perfectly overlapped with the mont at the banquet when he’d smiled and wrapped his arm around her waist.
Using sumr as an excuse, the flustered pup sat in a daze for quite a while.
“...Unni, are you asleep?”
Leonia couldn’t take it anymore and waved a hand in front of Varia’s face.
Only then did Varia finally snap out of it and close the sketchbook.
“A-Anyway, yes, that’s how I feel!”
She sat up straight as if nothing had happened, but Leonia’s eyes narrowed.
“B-Because he’s just really cool!”
A guilty Varia shouted.
“I didn’t say anything.”
Leonia grinned.
“It was just thinking out loud...!”
“Who even talks to themselves like that?”
Sharp-witted twelve-year-old Leonia had a solid hunch now.
She figured this was a good ti to prod a little. Even the Fangs of the Beast inside her growled that this was the perfect mont for mischief.
“You did sothing with my dad, didn’t you?”
She asked bluntly. But Varia didn’t understand the implication.
“What do you an by sothing...?”
“This.”
Leonia twisted her right and left hands into a chaotic tangle.
“Left is your tongue, right is Dad’s tongue.”
In short, she was mimicking a deep, sloppy kiss.
“T-T-Tongues?!”
Varia sputtered in shock. Leonia’s hand motion was that disturbing. It looked like two snakes intertwining into a knot.
“Then what about a lip kiss?”
Leonia pressed her palms together.
“Th-That didn’t happen!”
Varia shouted back in panic, her face now burning red.
“Then what did happen?”
“Nothing!”
“What the—are you telling my dad’s actually a eunuch?!”
Leonia was the one shocked this ti by Varia’s adamant denial.
Apparently, her father was so consud with raising her that he forgot how to use his face, body, and every other advantage he had.
His daughter was flabbergasted.
“Aaaargh...”
She sighed deeply and ran a hand down her face in frustration.
If the two of them had still been all business, like they were before the banquet prep, it wouldn’t have been this annoying.
But what she’d seen yesterday was different.
She could feel the pink fuzz of romance blooming.
She’d seen it—the taphorical flower field that always burst into bloom behind lovers.
‘There’s no way I imagined it.’
Even in the carriage ride ho, their vibe had been off.
Ferio stared at Varia as if he couldn’t look away, and Varia, clearly flustered, kept glancing at the floor... then stealing shy glances back.
When their eyes t, they quickly turned away.
The childishness continued all the way to the mansion.
‘This is the start of love!’
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