I Became the Daughter of a Disgraced Duke - Chapter 30

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

Episode 29
While the renovation was underway, a thought had occurred to me: I could commute from Genobian’s house to mine instead.
‘Wouldn’t that be better than leaving the child with someone else?’
‘This is why you need to use your head—so your body doesn’t suffer.’
Because I’d been blessed with a strong physique, I’d lived thoughtlessly, cleaning everything before starting the construction.
“At your discretion?”
“At my discretion, yes. I need to go oversee the house renovation, so while I’m away, look after my child properly. If you mistreat him because you don’t like me, then you’re not even human.”
……
“Give my son three nutritious, delicious meals a day. Play dolls with him properly. And if he cries missing me, comfort him well. Understood?”
Cassian entrusted the child to Genobian’s care without so much as a coin, as though it were the most natural thing in the world—and Genobian found himself at a loss for words.
He’d known Cassian was shameless, but he’d never imagined the man was quite this devoid of conscience.
“I’ll be back before dinner, so play nicely with your uncle while I’m gone.”
“Okay! Have a safe trip!”
“I will.”
Cassian, reluctant to tear himself away, gently stroked the child’s cheek.
He could trust the boy to Genobian—no one else, but him.
His twin brother might despise his own sibling, but he had a soft spot for small children like this.
Cassian met Genobian’s eyes as he spoke.
“I trust you.”
For someone like Cassian, who had once lost a child, those words were almost magical in their power.
* * *
“Uncle! Hello!”
“Hello to you, young master.”
After living at the Orphanage, my Empire’s tongue had grown noticeably shorter, and Uncle corrected me.
“Hello to you.”
“Hello.”
“Hello to you.”
……
I tried my best to repeat what he said, but Uncle’s brow furrowed and he turned his head sharply away.
Why would he do that?
The corners of his mouth had gone rigid.
“Uncle, where are Barelmore and Edrian?”
“They’re both away from home right now. Barelmore is at School, and Edrian has gone to the Imperial Palace.”
“Why?”
“Edrian is a friend of the young prince. There aren’t many noble children close to the youngest prince’s age, so it was unavoidable.”
So I wouldn’t see Barelmore and Edrian today?
Somehow sensing my disappointment, Uncle explained.
“They’ll both be back in the afternoon, so you sit quietly and wait.”
“Yes, sir.”
I pulled a Fairy Tale Book from Edrian’s toy room and handed it to Uncle.
Uncle simply stared at the book blankly.
“Please read it.”
“Read it for you?”
“Yes!”
When I’d lived with Mother, I’d been too young to learn letters.
The writing I’d learned at the Orphanage was different from the Empire’s script.
So now I couldn’t read at all.
Bright blue eyes met mine across the empty air.
They were completely different from Father’s golden gaze.
While Father was always confident, Uncle’s blue eyes wavered noticeably.
“Hurry up!”
I crawled up over Uncle and perched on his lap, legs dangling.
Thump!
I opened the Fairy Tale Book and tapped the pages repeatedly.
When I did this with Michael, he’d read to me right away, but Uncle just sat stiff as a board.
I craned my neck to look at him.
Uncle’s arms hung awkwardly at his sides, and his face was utterly lost.
Could it be… he couldn’t read?
I’d heard that some adults couldn’t read—but never did I imagine it would be our beautiful, handsome, golden-haired Uncle.
Moved by pity, I gently patted his hand, and the body beneath me trembled slightly.
“It’s fine, Genobian.”
Shame comes from not wanting to learn, not from not knowing—that’s what she’d said.
‘Once I learn to read, I’ll teach Genobian too.’
I’d become an Iris as clever as the wonderful Marianne, a real teacher.
To steel my resolve, I clenched my fists tight and huffed out two sharp breaths through my nose.
That’s when Genobian began reading from the Fairy Tale Book.
“Once upon a time, from chaos itself, light and darkness were born.”
A betrayal.
‘I thought he couldn’t read like me…….’
“Light became a Goddess bearing life, and darkness became a Demon God bearing destruction…….”
The fairy tale told of two beings born from the same chaos, locked in a savage struggle until only one could survive.
It was a story everyone knew, but everything after the beginning was new to me—I’d never heard this part at the Orphanage.
“When Monsters devoured mankind and war raged across the land, a great Warrior emerged from the carnage. His name was Cassian, and he was a master of the blade.”
“Huh?”
The name was familiar.
Cassian seemed to be a common name in the Empire, actually.
The tale sounded like an exciting adventure, and I found myself drawn deeper into the story.
Each time I swung my legs cheerfully, my heels bumped—tap, tap—against Genobian’s shin.
“With tremendous strength, the Warrior tore through the Monsters. He ripped apart the wraiths, he ripped apart the Dark Knights. Like a bear, he was. Perhaps the Warrior was descended from bears themselves.”
“Wow!”
“The Warrior cut down the shadow of the Demon God that had descended upon the earth. And so the Demon God lost its power and fled back into chaos. In that moment, peace returned to the land.”
That was where the Fairy Tale Book ended.
I stared intently at a picture drawn in the margin of the page.
It showed the back of a Warrior, a great sword held in both hands.
“……The Cassian spoken of here is your father.”
“Why? Father’s always sniffle-sniffling.”
A coward who’d probably whimper at the sight of a common Monster, let alone a Demon God—that was my father? A hero?
He’d be very wrong if he thought I’d fall for such a lie just because I’m still small.
I’m already a proper child, after all!
“The war is far from over. The Demon God has merely lost its strength and is gathering itself. It has not been destroyed. Even today, reports came in of activity in the Grey Zone.”
“The Grey… Zone?”
“The Grey Zone. It’s where the great war between the Demon God and the knights took place long ago. There, in that place, darkness lingers—frozen in stillness ever since the Demon God’s shadow was cut down.”
I knew about the Demon God too.
I’d learned about it at the Orphanage.
It was absolute evil, they said—craving the Goddess’s throne, seeking to dye the world in death.
That’s why there had been a tremendous war just a few years ago.
It was why Michael bore that terrible scar across his face.
And many of my friends had become orphans that day, arriving at the Orphanage because of it.
The thought that such a Demon God still lived, even now, made my body shiver with dread.
“I’m scared.”
I spun around and threw my arms around Genobian in a tight embrace.
This time too, Genobian stiffened like a wooden plank, raising both hands up near his ears.
“You’re scared.”
“I’m scared.”
“I’m scared.”
So I rubbed my face against his chest, asking wordlessly for comfort, and Genobian let out a long, deep sigh—haaa—from somewhere in his core.
A moment later, he awkwardly wrapped his arms around me and lifted me up.
Holding me against his chest, he patted my back in an ungainly way.
“My daughter…… is not very sturdy. Far too small and fragile.”
“I’m strong!”
“You are?”
“Yes!”
Even if I was a bit timid, I wasn’t weak enough to be called fragile.
“I eat spinach.”
I clenched my fists tight and nodded my head firmly, and Genobian burst out in a genuine laugh.
“I eat spicy chicken too. You’re small, that’s true. But weak? No, you’re not weak.”
Genobian’s laughter grew even louder.
Did I say something wrong again?
‘Formal speech is still so difficult for me.’
Frustrated, I squeezed both of Genobian’s cheeks between my palms.
His good looks remained intact even when his lips were pressed tight together.
He was handsome, yet infuriating when he smiled; infuriating, yet handsome nonetheless—my cheeks were already puffing up.
“Father. I’m home from school—”
Click.
The door swung open, and Barelmore appeared—the man who supposedly only came home in the evenings.
The moment Barelmore noticed me playing with Genobian’s face, his eyes turned cold and hard.
It seemed he didn’t like how I treated him like my real father even though he was my actual one, so I quietly withdrew my hand from Genobian’s face.
“Barel! I’ve been waiting for you!”
“You came early.”
“Summer break starts today. Father, you were… with Iris?”
“Your uncle left her in my care. Iris, go play with Barelmore now.”
Genobian grabbed me under the arms and hoisted me up, then set me down again.
I wanted to run over to Barelmore and ask him to play, but his expression seemed so dark that I hesitated to approach.
As I lingered and followed him out into the study, Barelmore spoke.
“Iris. Go play in Edrian’s room. I’m a bit tired and need to rest.”
Barelmore’s shoulders drooped wearily as he walked down the hallway alone.
* * *
“Iris!”
Edrian, back from seeing the young prince, started fiddling with my cheeks and chattering away.
“Like I thought. Your cheeks are softer than his.”
“Stop it. Don’t.”
He stretched my cheeks up and down as if they were dough, not actual skin.
“Valentine’s cheeks don’t stay soft even when you touch them. It’s no fun.”
“Valentine’s the annoying one.”
“He’s a prince, and I’m his playmate. But something’s weird about him.”
“What?”
“He says he keeps having dreams where someone named Rishi dies. But he doesn’t know who Rishi is. He’s never even seen her face, yet every time he visits, he whines about wanting to meet her.”
“Rishi?”
Rishi was my nickname—the one Luana and Teacher Anne-Marie used to call me.

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