I Became the Daughter of a Disgraced Duke - Chapter 5

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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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Episode 4
The monster of a man took me to an orphanage.
The Sunlight Orphanage where I’d been living was bright as a temple, with a massive playground.
It even had a lovely garden where birds sang and a brook babbled through.
But the orphanage this man had brought me to had nothing but a barren stretch of dirt in place of a playground, and barely any sunlight reached the place—it looked terribly bleak.
‘Is this really supposed to be an orphanage?’
If I had to stay in a place like this, I’d miss Mother and Anne Marie, the caretaker at my old orphanage, so much that I’d end up crying every day—hardly befitting a dignified ten-year-old.
The caretaker here wore pointy glasses that shot up toward the sky, and she looked like she’d scold me harshly at the slightest misbehavior.
‘Sc-scary.’
Without thinking, I hid behind the man and gripped his coat hem tightly.
The caretaker who came out asked the man a question.
“What brings you here?”
“This child. I didn’t know her, but she was abandoned in front of my house a few days ago.”
“Did you report it to the authorities?”
“Report… they wouldn’t take it.”
The caretaker’s eyes narrowed as she spotted me hiding behind the man.
“Are your circumstances quite difficult? If it’s a financial issue, the state can provide some assistance depending on the situation.”
“We eat well and live well enough?”
“You have an occupation as well?”
“Y-yes. Well, something like that.”
“Then why do you reek of alcohol this early in the morning…?”
The caretaker’s eyes shot upward like the frames of her glasses. Whoosh!
“Ahem. Well. Would it be possible for me to speak with the child alone for a moment?”
“Of course.”
The caretaker smiled brightly and led me somewhere the monster man couldn’t see.
“Dear, the teacher just wants to ask you one thing. Did your father ever hurt you?”
Our real father didn’t look anything like that awful man.
And the monster man hadn’t hurt me either.
I shook my head, and the caretaker asked again.
“Did your father ever hit you or say mean things?”
Was there really such a wicked person in the world who’d hit a child?
I shook my head vigorously. Whoosh! Whoosh!
The caretaker studied me carefully over her glasses, then nodded.
She approached the monster man and spoke to him sharply, in a voice thick with reproach.
“Listen here, sir. No matter how difficult raising a child is, there are things in this world that can be done and things that absolutely cannot. How could you abandon your own daughter?”
The man’s eyes widened in shock at her words.
“But I’m single.”
“You’re obviously her father! How can you let your own daughter grow up in an orphanage when you’re alive and well?”
Whoosh. Whoosh.
The caretaker’s eyes scanned up and down the man.
Her gaze was filled with contempt.
The monster man, so overwhelmed by the injustice of it all, pressed his palm firmly to his chest and took a deep breath.
“No, how am I supposed to look like her father…… I can’t possibly have a child! I told you, she was abandoned in front of my house a few days ago. It sounds like a complete lie when I say it like this, but it’s the truth.”
“That’s what they all say.”
“I’m telling you the truth.”
“Sir.”
Whoosh.
This time the caretaker exhaled so forcefully that her bangs lifted into the air.
Then she tried to reason with him earnestly.
“I understand things went poorly with the child’s mother. But abandoning your child because you don’t want to be an unmarried father violates the law. Go talk things through properly with the child’s mother, and if you truly can’t raise her, come back with the necessary legal documents. Understood?”
As her words went on, her tone grew fiercer, and since I hadn’t heard the Imperial Language in so long, I didn’t quite understand what she was saying properly.
So surely I was just imagining that the man was getting scolded?
Bang!
The caretaker planted us outside the gate and went back inside.
The stretch of dirt where pebbles rolled was hidden behind the iron door.
I looked up at the monster man.
My lip jutted out in fear that I’d have to live in a place with no playground and no garden.
Please don’t leave me here…… I quietly clutched at his coat hem.
Our eyes met. Sharp, piercing golden eyes glared down at me.
Frightened by that gaze, my shoulders shrank.
‘I miss teacher so much…….’
Anne Marie was the kindest, gentlest person I knew after my own mother.
“Ugh. I barely looked at you and you’re shaking like that? Seriously, you’re going to drive me insane.”
The monster of a man with wild hair heaved a heavy sigh and swung me up—thump!—onto his shoulder.
Smack!
I hung there like a sack of flour draped across his shoulder.
“Is that guy some kind of quack? No. Stop thinking crazy thoughts. A kid? That makes no sense at all.”
The entire ride home, the yellow-eyed monster kept muttering to himself.
* * *
‘I want to go back to the orphanage…….’
Dangling limply from the man’s grip, I dropped face-first onto the sofa and started sniffling.
I was one second away from tears.
So I quickly clasped my hands together and prayed to the goddess.
“(Goddesth! I wanna go back to the Ourfanage! I think Daddy is someone who doesn’t like me!)”
Now that I was five years old again, my speech had become childish and lisping.
I used to be such a cool ten-year-old girl…….
It was heartbreaking. And I didn’t want to go back to that orphanage I’d visited with the man earlier.
There was no garden there, no swing, no flowers, and it didn’t look like they’d give me candy.
“(I wanna go back to the Ourfanage real fast! Waaah! I don’t like it here! And this isn’t that thing, is it? That thing, that…….)”
What was it called again?
It was something from one of the novels my friend’s older sister was always reading—a setting where time went backward.
“(T-Time Regression! It’s Time Regression, isn’t it?! If it was, then Mommy should be right next to me…….)”
Now that I thought about it, there was another incredibly cruel and terrifying setting in those stories.
A ghost entering a person’s body——
― That’s Possession.
Huh?
At the sound of a woman’s voice coming from nowhere, I turned my head and looked around.
Then the voice came again.
― I’m a hundred out of a hundred.
What? Huh? Eh? Wait!
The voice was definitely coming from inside my head.
When I opened my mouth wide, laughter rang out from somewhere.
It was a very strange voice—I couldn’t tell if it belonged to a woman or a man, or if the person was young or old.
G-Goddess?
Is it really you, goddess?
Could it actually be the goddess?!
But no answer came to my questions.
I’d wanted a daddy, not to be abandoned at this strange monster’s house like this—the goddess could rot, she was worse than a crab, a minnow, pig eyelashes, and horse hooves.
As I lay sobbing on the dingy sofa, my body suddenly lifted again.
It was the monster again.
“Mmm.”
I gaped stupidly at his face.
To be honest, even though this man was more like a destitute uncle, he was incredibly handsome.
Much, much, much more handsome than the youngest uncle I knew, who was the most handsome person I’d ever met.
But unlike that uncle, he looked terrifying.
Especially his eyes.
They were as frightening as the eyes of a muscular, sharp-toothed carnivore from a storybook.
His skin was already dark, but deep shadows hung under his eyes all the way to his nose, making him look like someone who did bad things every night.
The moment he saw me, his face twisted into a scowl—snap!
“Eek!”
Fear made tears spring to my eyes instantly.
I’m a good child, so why does he look like he’s scolding me…….
“Where’s your mom?”
When his fierce eyes narrowed and wrinkles formed between his brows, he looked as scary as the under-the-bed monster ready to snap up a child—chomp!
“(I usually live at the Sunlight Orphanage…….)”
“I asked where your mother is. What’s your mom’s name? Do you know your home address?”
“(Suddenly my eyes opened and I’m here! Can you please find our teacher? Boo-hoo-hoo!)”
“This is driving me crazy. What language is that even? But one thing’s for sure—you’re definitely not my kid. I don’t go with foreigners, you know. Sure, grown-up interactions don’t need words, but I’m still a person, right? We have to be able to communicate.”
His face grew even more menacing.
My shoulders began to tremble with fear.
“Hic!”
A hiccup escaped me.
My brow furrowed deeply, golden eyes fixed on me with an intensity that pierced straight through.
“Hic! Hick! Hic!”
I clenched my fists and thought hard.
I’m a brave child! I say hello nicely to Michael, and I’m so clever I remember Mother’s name correctly, and also…….
‘Aha!’
In that moment, a brilliant realization struck me.

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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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