"......Well, that’s true."
Ferio slightly adjusted the arms holding Leonia and curved his lips into a subtle smile.
"You’re not the type to lose."
No way his daughter would be soone who gives up easily.
"Your temper really is sothing else..."
"How many tis do I have to say it’s not like that?"
Ahem. Ferio turned his head and let out a few awkward coughs.
"That girl..."
Then he shrugged and said,
"She likes her dad a lot."
"What?"
"Dad’s face just... works in a lot of ways."
"......."
Leonia stared at him, absolutely dumbfounded.
It seed the dad whose face supposedly “works in a lot of ways” had completely forgotten how the re sight of him had made kids burst into tears back at the orphanage and the tea party.
‘...Huh?’
Leonia blinked, her expression as blank and wrinkled as a salt-pickled cabbage.
‘What the heck?’
She couldn't believe what she was hearing.
No matter what, the Ferio Voreoti of all people—the Black Beast of the North who could make even a smiling child faint—was actually bragging to his daughter about being popular?
Leonia genuinely thought she’d misheard.
But no... right now, her father was sneakily glancing at her out of the corner of his eye.
Just like a big predator hoping to be praised.
‘...Seriously?’
Leonia’s mouth fell open into a perfect “O.”
‘Does he seriously want to get jealous?’
Good grief. Leonia was genuinely stunned.
Ever since the last Fang training, Ferio had been subtly waiting for Leonia to complint him, to look at him with sparkly eyes full of admiration.
It was, among all the emotions he'd ever experienced, one of the warst and happiest.
But with Ferio’s personality, he could never admit that outright.
And yet, he didn’t want to give up on it either.
So now that a friend’s daughter—soone who had always adored him—was visiting, he figured it wouldn’t be too bad to provoke just a bit of jealousy from Leonia.
Even if her ntal age was like that of a world-weary fifty-year-old, Ferio was sure of one thing—his daughter loved him.
‘Oh-ho, look at this dad.’
Leonia grinned mischievously.
Ferio smiled too.
Father and daughter, minds perfectly in sync, knew what the other was thinking just by eting eyes.
"So don’t lose."
"Will you be disappointed if I do?"
"A little?"
"Then just watch what I do."
But Leonia’s competitive spirit was already blazing inside her.
‘I’ll protect my dad!’
So six-year-old brat who just rolled in from who-knows-where didn’t even count as a real opponent.
Leonia was already confident—her ntal age alone gave her the upper hand.
"Dad."
Leonia rubbed her face all over Ferio’s shoulder like she was praying for victory.
Ferio’s large hand gently patted her back.
‘Ahh.’
‘My goodness.’
‘Even in this household... such a warm scene...’
‘A miracle has happened...’
The nearby servants, who had been silently standing by, dared to cast warm gazes at the beastly father and daughter.
Leonia, rubbing her face against Ferio’s shoulder like a spoiled child, looked just like a baby beast snuggled up in the warm, wide embrace of her predator parent.
You could almost hear a soft rumbling purr in the air.
"...Sniff."
Even Kara had taken off his glasses to wipe away a tear.
In the always-cold Voreoti mansion, a gentle breeze of spring had finally begun to blow.
With her chin resting on Ferio’s shoulder, Leonia glanced downward.
‘...His trapezius muscles are solid too.’
As expected of my dad.
Unfortunately, that warm spring breeze now sweeping through the Voreoti mansion carried along the sowhat perverse private preferences of a certain young lady.
***
"...It kinda looks like a dog."
One of the Voreoti servants muttered under his breath while pointing at the crest painted on the Rinne family’s carriage.
"It is a dog."
"Huh? Really?"
The startled servant looked again at the Rinne family crest.
The side profile of a dog—one that looked like it’d eagerly follow anyone and love them unconditionally—was so cute and friendly that it made you want to throw a stick or ball just to see it play.
"That’s why it’s the Rinne (Dog) Count."
"Ahh..."
"Now quit yapping and move those boxes."
The senior servant gave his chatty junior a hard smack on the back of the head.
While the Voreoti servants unloaded the Rinne family’s luggage and got to know their servants, the butler Kara went ahead to greet the guests.
"It’s been a while, Kara."
Carnis threw his arms open and pulled Kara into a hug.
"Welco, Count."
Kara respectfully asked if the journey had been difficult.
The genuine concern in his voice was clear, especially since the dark circles under Carnis’s eyes were visibly deep.
"So, Ferio..."
Carnis hesitated before cautiously asking,
"...He brought the child, didn’t he?"
Tsk. Unable to watch anymore, Abipher grabbed her husband’s arm and pulled him to her side.
The way she looked at her husband was full of silent reprimand—get a hold of yourself.
"The master is waiting for you."
As a competent butler, Kara didn’t presu to explain anything. Instead, he led them toward the mansion so they could see for themselves.
Calm down.
Carnis swallowed dryly.
"Wowww! It’s huge!"
"It’s big! So big!"
Ufikla and Pinu shouted as they gazed up at the towering mansion.
Their excited, high-pitched voices and Abipher’s scolding about behaving properly were all completely lost on Carnis.
The black roof against the stark white snow, and the walls faded with ti...
Though [N O V E L I G H T] the Voreoti mansion was a familiar place he’d visited many tis before, today it felt strange—and terrifying.
Carnis found himself breathless under the mansion’s overwhelming presence.
It’ll be fine.
Hoo. Carnis exhaled slowly.
The sharp northern air filled his lungs, cooling him from the inside.
Compared to being inside the carriage, it helped him calm down quite a bit.
This translation is the intellectual property of Novelight.
‘Ferio, you must have your own circumstances too.’
The fact that his ticulous, self-disciplined friend had an illegitimate child was still a shock—but now that Carnis was standing face to face with Ferio, he felt strangely calm.
‘You must have been just as flustered.’
Carnis thought back to when Ufikla was first born.
He had waited so long for the mont he’d et his first child, and yet, he had been a clumsy, awkward father.
Even after nearly ten months of ntal preparation, he had struggled—so how much worse must it have been for his friend, who suddenly beca a father overnight?
Did Ferio even have the presence of mind to explain himself? Carnis was ashad of how he'd felt hurt and betrayed instead of trying to help first.
And toward the child, too.
‘I need to show her what a cool uncle looks like.’
Carnis made up his mind to be a dependable uncle to his niece—whom he hadn’t even seen yet.
***
That resolve lasted less than a minute.
“Waaaahhhh! Waaaahhh!”
The instant Carnis saw Ferio coming out to greet his family with a child in his arms, he broke into loud, ssy sobs.
“Waaaaaa!”
Startled by his dad’s sudden outburst, Pinu also burst into tears.
“How could you! How could you!”
Carnis wailed, pounding the ground with his fists, then clutched his crying son tightly in his arms as he wept with abandon.
His eldest daughter Ufikla quietly scuttled over to Abipher’s side and pretended not to know them.
“What on earth is wrong with you?!”
Abipher scolded him, her face red with embarrassnt. Crying like that in soone else’s house—what a scene. Even if she loved her husband dearly, she wasn’t about to stand there and coddle him while he made a fool of himself on soone else’s doorstep.
“I trusted you! I believed in you!”
“Then don’t cry!”
“Then why did you—”
Carnis blinked his tear-soaked green eyes.
Those sorrowful, ssy eyes turned toward Leonia in Ferio’s arms.
“Waaaaaaaah!”
Carnis bawled even louder.
“Eek!”
Terrified, Leonia wrapped her arms around Ferio’s neck and buried her face against him.
“You didn’t tell your friend was this crazy—I an, weird!”
At least she refrained from swearing, since it was her dad’s friend.
“......”
Ferio said nothing.
In truth, no one here was more stunned than Ferio himself.
That idiot was his only friend, and he hadn’t seen him in a while—how was he supposed to know he’d turned into this?
If he’d known, he never would’ve let Leonia et him.
He was already worried about how prematurely mature she was—this kind of influence could be catastrophic.
He felt a headache coming on for the first ti in his life.
Just then—
“Duke Voreoti.”
A little girl had quietly approached, now standing right in front of them.
“Ufikla.”
Ferio lowered himself slightly. Leonia’s gaze dropped with his.
The girl with neatly combed, light brown hair blinked her green eyes.
It was Ufikla Rinne, the eldest daughter of Carnis and Abipher.
With the prim little face of a baby fox, Ufikla offered a perfectly mannered greeting.
“My na is Ufikla Rinne. Thank you for inviting us to House Voreoti. We’ll be in your care for the next few days.”
“...You must be tired from the long journey, young lady.”
While her parents were making a spectacle of themselves, the well-trained eldest daughter had the sense to greet the lord of the house.
Ferio felt just a bit of relief.
Leonia was impressed.
“Wow, you’re really well-trained.”
Look at that solid etiquette. Leonia complinted her, clearly impressed.
“......”
Ufikla stared intently at Leonia.
“......”
Leonia stared right back.
The two girls found themselves locked in each other’s gazes.
They were just kids staring at one another—but sohow, the air around them began to shift strangely.
Even Ferio was taken aback, and Leonia herself was visibly flustered.
‘What... what is this?’
Those green eyes that seed to be sizing her up were completely without openings.
Leonia wasn’t avoiding the stare—there was no reason to—but she couldn’t for the life of her figure out why this girl she was eting for the first ti was looking at her like that.
The entrance hall fell silent.
Like the stillness just before a blizzard.
Even Carnis, who had been sobbing like a fool monts ago, had stopped crying.
“...Is she really your daughter, Your Grace?”
Ufikla was the first to speak.
“...What about it?”
The tone grated on Leonia’s ears, and she found herself responding with a snark she hadn’t ant to show.
“I plan to marry His Grace when I grow up.”
Ufikla boldly dropped a bombshell.
“So that ans I’ll be your mom!”
Leonia’s jaw dropped wide open.
“So you better be nice to !”
Ufikla added, like she was doing Leonia a favor by offering to beco her mother.
“What the hell is this nut—!”
“...Our guests must be tired from the long journey.”
Please escort them to their rooms.
Ferio swiftly cut off Leonia before she could blurt out sothing worse, stepping in as the proper host.
It was the most miserable welco imaginable, devoid of hope or dreams.
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