I Became the Daughter of a Disgraced Duke - Chapter 21

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 20
Damn it.
I didn’t have a single Gold to my name, yet I’d just blown an absurd sum.
My whole life was spent scraping by to pay the interest—where was I supposed to find the principal now?
But I couldn’t help it when I saw the girl’s spirit break.
For a moment there, the fury was so intense—even my heart, which had stayed steady when Zenovion sent Assassins after me, felt like it might burst from my chest.
Thanks to charging the White One-Piece Dress the girl arrived in with her mother, all that was left for Cassian was a torrent of curses from the child’s mother and a wallet emptied to the bone.
“(But like, the shop delivers clothes? I’ve never seen that before.)”
“What? Spit out that candy and try again.”
“(You bought so many clothes they deliver them, right?)”
“Speak the imperial tongue. I don’t understand you otherwise.”
Iris had stuffed two pieces of candy into her mouth, so her speech was slurred throughout.
She’d deployed the strategy of “give me everything from here to there,” which delighted the clerk so much that he’d gifted the girl an armful of candy.
“(Uh-uh, it’s nothing like that.)”
“What, is that a sigh?”
“Yes.”
“You’re something else. Even when I buy you nice things.”
I gave her cheek a light pinch, and Iris sucked on her candy while breaking into a grin.
“Do you like the new dress?”
“Yes!”
Dressed in the White One-Piece that looked almost intimidating on her, Iris was so delighted she bounced up from where she sat, then spun herself around with a twirl.
As her skirt fluttered outward, she let out a delighted giggle.
Looking at her, I found myself smiling without meaning to.
That’s when it hit me.
‘Stalker, stalker! I’m just a sponsor, that’s all! There’s no need to go this far!’
Sure, our names were similar, our faces resembled each other, and our allergies matched—but this broken instinct kept making me see Iris as my dead daughter, which meant every time I saw the girl, I became someone else entirely.
‘She’s not even my kid! Has my brain rotted from drinking every day!’
As I held my head and groaned, Iris gestured for me to bend down.
My mind screamed that this was stalker syndrome, that I needed to get a grip—but my body moved exactly as the girl wanted.
The moment I crouched down, Iris wrapped her arms tightly around my neck.
“(Thank you anyway for buying me clothes! I really, really love this dress! I feel like a princess!)”
My golden eyes trembled visibly in the empty air.
The child’s excitement traveled clearly through her tight grip around my neck.
A thin, delicate laugh reached my ears. Hee-hee-hee.
The sound was impossibly small and fragile.
The child’s warm body heat, her bouncing footsteps full of joy, the feeling of her small hands—
it all settled deep in my chest.
Bubbles rose up and burst—pop, pop—on the surface.
And so I understood: whether I had money or not, whether it was Sponsorship or anything else, if this girl was happy, that was all that mattered.
“……You little thing.”
Tugging at a person’s heartstrings like that. How could parents abandon such a daughter and still sleep at night, still eat?
“Yes?”
“Don’t thank me. It’s natural for a guardian to buy his ward clothes.”
“(But still. My teacher Annmarie says so. When you meet an adult, you greet them, and even if you receive just one piece of candy, you have to say thank you.)”
“Your teacher at least teaches proper manners—”
I stopped mid-sentence, realizing something.
What she’d just said was clearly a foreign language, yet somehow I understood every word.
The strange part was how naturally I’d conversed with her, barely noticing it was foreign at all.
This had happened several times now, and each time it amazed me.
“You, you…….”
Iris just giggled, innocent of my confusion, hee-hee-hee.
I furrowed my brow, trying to make sense of it.
At first I’d thought Adrian was dimly remembering the foreign language, but it turned out the girl’s words were simply audible to certain people.
‘Is it magic?’
My head was still spinning when Iris asked me something.
“(But like, where are we going?)”
This time, I didn’t understand a single word.
Was I dreaming, or was I enchanted?
I pinched the back of my own hand hard, then grabbed Iris’s hand and moved with purpose.
After spending that much Gold today, it was time to go earn some back.
* * *
Cassian watched as Iris held a chicken leg in one hand and tore into it.
Her face was absolutely smeared with grease.
‘I must have been out of my mind to think about sending her to an orphanage.’
He pulled out a tissue and scrubbed her face and hands clean.
“Nooo!”
“Hold still. Do you know what you look like right now? Your new dress is going to end up looking like a rag.”
Once Cassian had wiped away every speck of mashed potato from her face, he cut the meat into small pieces with his fork and knife.
The tavern owner, watching from behind the counter, began to chuckle.
“Well, I’ve seen it all now. You playing parent.”
“What are you talking about? It’s not parenting—it’s sponsorship. Just sponsorship.”
“Right. Anyone can see she’s your daughter. What nonsense.”
Cassian brought a piece of meat cut small with his fork up to the child’s lips, then turned a sharp look on the owner.
Cursing at a customer—the man was insane.
“(But I can feed myself. I use a fork real good.)”
“You can use a fork? Well, look at you. All grown up.”
Tiny as she was, he’d thought she’d only be good for snatching up a candy or two, but here she was, wielding a fork like a person.
Cassian brought another piece of freshly cut meat to her lips.
Gulp!
Watching her accept each piece dutifully and chew it contentedly, he felt his own stomach growing fuller.
‘They should be arriving soon.’
He hadn’t come to the tavern early evening with Iris for any other reason.
This was his usual haunt, and so the odds of them showing up were high.
And if you asked who they were, the answer was simple:
“Cassian Calipso. Last time you got me good, but today will be different.”
Assassins. And they even delivered such a clichéd line.
Cassian grinned so hard his face split and jumped to his feet.
“Hey, you bastards! I’ve been waiting for you!”
Money was going out fast anyway.
Iris’s room needed renovating, and his food expenses were about to double.
Truth be told, just today he’d spent several months’ living expenses on her dress.
Times like these were perfect for making a windfall—namely, saving assassins (from himself) and getting paid for it.
“You thugs extorted 100 million Gold from me last time, remember? Cough up the other 100 million Gold, now.”
“You’re crazy. If you think we’re going down like pathetic amateurs again, you’re mistaken. You’d better prepare yourself!”
Cassian popped a spoonful of mashed potato into Iris’s mouth as he answered.
“Fine, come on. I think I need to give you a harder lesson this time.”
They should’ve been grateful that he’d sent them back with all their limbs intact, yet they dared extort him?
There was no punk quite like this kind of punk.
The assassins rushed at Cassian all at once.
Cassian placed a fork in the child’s hand, stood up, and handled them barehanded.
As he was enthusiastically teaching them a lesson, eager for the 100 million Gold he hadn’t managed to extract yet, Iris sat in her chair using her Fork Technique and kicked her legs, inserting herself into the fray.
“(Mister! You’re supposed to be nice to friends!)”
“These guys aren’t my friends. They’re bad people, so it’s okay if they get hit.”
“(But violence is bad! Michael said you’re supposed to be nice to friends!)”
Her words came out fragmented, but he understood her well enough.
Scary, wants her mother, stop hitting them—something like that.
“These men stole my money. You go outside and dig a hole—see if 100 million Gold comes up. When you grow up, you’ll understand how I feel.”
100 million Gold was serious money.
In a world where people lived or died over a single Gold, 100 million Gold was something to guard carefully.
Cassian handed the approaching Iris off to the tavern owner and rummaged through the assassins’ pockets.
This new recruit had some money in his wallet.
Cassian flicked the wallet at the owner.
“This is today’s tab! Keep the change!”
The fresh assassin glared daggers at him, and Cassian smacked the back of his head.
“What are you looking at? You should be thanking me that I’m not killing you and just taking a settlement fee instead. You should’ve just handed over the money when I asked.”
These new arrivals had deliberately come empty-handed.
After getting shaken down once before, they’d shown up with nothing in their pockets. That’s why you can’t beat experience.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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