I’m The Male Lead’s Biological Daughter, But I Want To Live With The Second Male Lead! - Chapter 101

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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 101
“A… Cat Tower?”
“Yes! Cats love climbing up trees and high places to play, right? So I’m making something like that for them.”
As Mabel continued her explanation, Dorothy’s confusion only deepened.
‘Why?’
There were plenty of trees around—so why go to the trouble of building something like this?
Whether Dorothy was skeptical or not, Mabel simply grinned from ear to ear.
‘Winter will definitely cheer up with this!’
She believed in it without a shred of doubt.
But there was one thing Mabel had overlooked.
And that was—
[Not really.]
[High places.]
That a lion was an animal of the Grassland.
Showing the Cat Tower to Winter meant nothing—she would hardly leap up eagerly to use it.
With a dismissive snort, Winter turned away, and cold words materialized above her head.
[You know nothing.]
[About me.]
[Nothing at all.]
She had only succeeded in offending Winter further.
But Mabel refused to give up.
She took on another task at once.
This one she called the Hiding House!
True enough, Winter had always been quick to slip inside the Laundry Basket whenever she got the chance.
Beyond that, she’d often made use of the Kitchen Strainer and Boxes used for hauling things.
Ella and Shila had even scrounged up several extras for her.
Even if Winter wouldn’t climb to high places, she clearly possessed feline instincts.
‘So this is definitely going to win her over!’
Mabel was confident, but the result was the same.
“Ugh.”
The Hiding House caught her attention for a moment, but only that.
Winter turned away, and even made a motion of covering it with sand.
“Aw, Winter… you…”
Since she’d truly believed this would work, Mabel’s spirits sank.
She sprawled face-down on the bed, burying her face in the blankets and muttering.
“It wasn’t even me who got angry at you in the first place.”
Out of nowhere, it was Zigmund who’d grabbed Winter by the collar and shaken her, and Aselt who’d turned Winter to stone.
Yet she’d forgiven them both, and now Winter was acting like this toward her alone.
“That’s not fair. Really.”
Mabel lifted her head slightly and studied Winter.
Winter, for her part, kept her back turned to Mabel still.
“I wouldn’t have minded even if you really had placed the Bond of Servitude on me…”
Mabel yawned quietly as she muttered.
She’d stayed up late last night designing the Hiding House, so drowsiness was catching up with her.
“Even if you’d known everything all along, I’d have asked you to place it on me anyway. If only that were true—by now you’d be able to use Humanoid Transformation too, and it would’ve been so much better…”
Still mumbling, Mabel drifted off to sleep.
“…….”
Winter, who had been sitting by the window, suddenly bounded onto the bed.
She padded carefully across the soft blankets and came to settle near Mabel’s pillow.
For a moment, she gazed down at Mabel, who slept heavily, then lowered her head.
Tap.
Winter’s soft forehead brushed gently against Mabel’s.
Above Winter’s head, words began to form.
[It’s not that.]
[I’m a cat.]
* * *
In her dream, Mabel lay on a soft grass meadow.
‘Wow… it’s a dream…’
Strangely enough, Mabel was aware that she was dreaming.
Was this what they called a lucid dream?
She reached her hand toward the blue sky that Mabel had been gazing up at.
‘What?’
The hand she saw was far larger than her own.
Smaller than Aselt’s but bigger than Kellic’s, it seemed to belong to a girl of about fifteen or sixteen.
That was when it happened.
Thump.
Suddenly, a hand larger than Mabel’s interlaced with hers from beside her.
But Mabel wasn’t startled.
Rather, as if she’d known it all along—as if it were familiar—she turned her head.
An unfamiliar boy was sitting beside her.
He looked to be about fifteen or sixteen.
Even in his white shirt, black trousers, and bare feet, there was an ineffable grace about him.
Breeze.
A refreshing wind swept in, gently brushing through the boy’s white hair.
Between his downturned white lashes, pale sky-blue eyes were visible.
Those light, piercing blue eyes—like fragments of frozen ice—felt strangely familiar.
‘Where have I seen this kid before?’
She racked her mind, but nothing came to her.
A face this handsome—surely she would have remembered him after just one glance.
The boy, looking down at Mabel with an expression like his feelings had been hurt, opened his mouth.
“It’s not.”
His voice even sounded like it was pouting, and it was gorgeous.
How could a voice even be handsome?
It made no sense, and yet this boy’s voice was genuinely beautiful.
She was thinking how much she wanted to hear it again when the boy spoke.
“Cat.”
Huh? Cat?
As Mabel tilted her head in confusion, the boy lowered his to hers.
‘Whoa.’
Mabel froze without thinking.
That handsome face was right in front of her nose.
His beauty was so surreal she nearly forgot she was dreaming.
Zigmund, Aselt, and Kellic were all strikingly handsome too, but next to this boy, they would happily take second place.
No—this boy was exactly her type.
Mabel forgot to even blink, too busy scrutinizing every feature of his face.
Who says a beautiful man has to be fed? I’ll be the one to feed him.
A desire to support someone she didn’t even know she had was bubbling up when the boy let out a short laugh.
“Actually, with you, Mabel, it doesn’t matter how you treat me.”
That poutish, hurt-looking face was already perfect, but his smile made it even better!
Those eyes that had seemed slightly cold softened into crescents, and they became so pure and innocent!
Oh my goodness! A masterpiece, truly!
As Mabel smiled back, following along with the boy’s smile, which was fresher even than the breeze that was blowing—
“Thank you for accepting me even after learning the truth about me.”
……Huh?
“So, I’m sorry?”
Bump.
Lowering his body further, the boy pressed his forehead against hers.
They were so close that her vision blurred and she couldn’t see his face clearly anymore.
But even blurred, a beautiful person is still beautiful.
Mabel held her breath, terrified he might hear the wild hammering of her heart.
“For sulking.”
“……?”
“Forgive me.”
The boy, facing her at such close range, closed his eyes.
Then, as if playfully coquettish, he rubbed his forehead gently against hers.
At that point, Mabel forgot about hearing her own heartbeat or anything else—she was practically begging for her life.
Lord, what do I do!
He’s so beautiful I might actually die!
“I was anxious.”
To Mabel, whose head was now burning hot and whose eyes were spinning, the boy whispered softly.
“I was meant to be yours from birth—that’s how it’s always been. But you rejected me.”
Me? Are you saying I did?
You?
Why would I have done that?
Mabel was barely thinking straight anymore.
“I was trying to hold back, but I kept wondering if I was the only one who felt this way for you…….”
Still pressing his forehead against hers, the boy whispered something she couldn’t quite make out.
But Mabel’s mind was already so overloaded that his words simply wouldn’t register.
“I love you too much—it terrifies me. So please, quickly, let me know you feel the same…….”
Gradually, the boy’s voice grew distant and faint.
No—not just his voice. His entire form was slipping away.
No, wait.
I want to see him just a little longer……!
Desperately reaching toward the boy, Mabel stretched out her hand—
Soft.
“Uh, ah……?”
Something fluffy brushed against her fingertips.
The moment it did, Mabel’s eyes snapped open.
The fresh meadow was gone. The cool breeze beneath that crystalline sky had vanished.
All that filled her vision now was the soft duvet of her bed.
And the hand she’d reached out toward the boy—
“……Oh.”
It had found Winter instead, who lay beside her with his forehead pressed gently against hers, fast asleep.
The small white lion cub’s belly rose and fell with each steady breath.
Oh, how adorable.
The moment Mabel smiled without thinking, Winter’s white eyelashes trembled slightly.
Soon his eyes opened, gazing directly at her.
Eyes of pale, crystalline blue—like shards of frozen ice…….
Somehow they reminded her of the boy from her dream.
“Heh…….”
As Mabel foolishly grinned at the memory of that handsome boy’s face, Winter tilted his head curiously.
“You know, Winter? I just had the most wonderful dream.”
[A dream?]
“Yeah. This incredibly handsome man appeared in it.”
Mabel, forgetting she’d been upset with Winter, propped herself up on her belly and began chattering away excitedly.
Winter listened quietly to her account before asking a question.
[Your type? He was Mabel’s type?]
If Winter’s expression seemed somewhat tense at that moment, was it mere coincidence?
After a moment’s thought, Mabel leaned close and whispered so only Winter could hear.
“Yeah. Totally my ideal man.”
“……!”
Winter, whose round ears had been twitching from the ticklish sensation, suddenly puffed up with pride.
He lifted his chin slightly and bobbed his head as if showing himself off.
Wait, what?
I said the guy in my dream was handsome—so why is he suddenly acting so smug?
Winter’s rumbling purr grew quite loud.
‘I don’t really understand what’s going on…….’
Still, at least Winter seemed to have gotten over his earlier mood, and that was a relief.
Even if none of her masterpieces—the Cat Tower, the Cat Pole, the Hiding House, and so on—had actually helped.

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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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