I’m The Male Lead’s Biological Daughter, But I Want To Live With The Second Male Lead! - Chapter 102

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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 102
But that wasn’t the case at all.
The Cat Tower, Cat Pole, and Cat Hide House—items Mabel had thought utterly useless—had turned out to be extraordinarily profitable for her.
“……Huh?”
When Mabel received the ledger from Zigmund for the first time in ages, she could hardly believe her eyes.
Ones, tens, hundreds, thousands, ten thousands, hundred thousands, millions, ten millions…… wait?
She rubbed her eyes once, twice, three times, and looked again. The numbers didn’t change.
After pressing her nose to the ledger, then holding it at arm’s length, fidgeting all the while, Mabel finally spoke.
“Master, I…… this seems…… a bit strange, doesn’t it……?”
“Which part?”
Mabel’s voice trembled uncontrollably.
Yet Zigmund’s reply came in an ordinary tone.
Well, almost ordinary.
Almost—because he was clearly fighting to suppress his laughter.
Dain, too, was pursing his lips tightly in what looked like a challenge to keep from laughing.
But Mabel found no humor in the situation.
“Six…… zero…… nine, wait? What? Huh?!”
The adults burst out laughing at the sight of Mabel’s eyes quivering in disbelief.
That was it.
The Scratcher, Cat Tower, Cat Pole, and Cat Hide House that Mabel had designed had been a massive hit!
What’s more, aside from the Scratcher, she’d only filed for patents on the others—and hadn’t even registered the trademarks yet?!
She wondered if she’d misread it, so she checked again. The numbers were the same.
This wasn’t inflated affection or pride or cuteness bonus—these were real sales figures!
“Stop laughing and explain this to me, please!”
Mabel pressed the still-chuckling adults for answers.
“All right, all right. Here’s what happened…….”
Zigmund was laughing so hard that tears had formed at the corners of his eyes.
When Mabel glared at him, he quickly began his explanation.
“You heard before, didn’t you? That His Majesty the Emperor and Her Majesty the Empress Consort went abroad on a state visit.”
“Yes? Oh, yes. And they returned not long ago, I heard?”
As it turned out, Lilian had purchased Scratchers in bulk the moment she returned.
“Right. But that country had a unique culture, apparently.”
“A unique culture?”
“They keep cats in their homes.”
“What? Truly?”
That country had house cats?!
When Mabel asked again in disbelief, Zigmund stroked his chin and continued.
“Curious, isn’t it? In our empire, cats are merely animals that catch rats or live on the streets.”
Forcing them into homes and confining them was good for neither party.
After all, cats aren’t naturally domesticated creatures.
However, if one lavished particular affection on them, bells or collars were tied around their necks.
Such cats would roam freely on walks and return home to eat.
“In any case, it seems Her Majesty the Empress Consort promoted the Scratcher to them.”
“Oh…….”
“And after returning home and purchasing Scratchers in bulk, she came across the Cat Tower and Cat Pole.”
“Then those also……?”
“Yes. She wrote about it in her first exchange letter after returning. As a result, the orders exploded like this.”
“Wow……!”
Mabel bounced up from her seat.
To think those items she’d thought would gather dust in the warehouse because Winter didn’t use them had become such a sensation!
The Empress Consort herself had promoted them.
This was truly an unexpected marketing and advertising strategy—one she’d never even dreamed of.
‘The Empress Consort really is such a wonderful person!’
Furthermore, she apparently hadn’t asked for money or demanded any settlement.
She’d simply shared information as a fellow cat keeper, that was all.
“So everyone now thinks that after His Grace the Duke adopted a white lion, he’s become a cat enthusiast. Winter’s become incredibly popular too,” Dain added with a proud smile on his face.
He’d been listening to the explanation with that satisfied expression.
“The patents and trademark registrations are all filed under His Grace the Duke’s name, just as the young lady requested.”
“Ah, right.”
That way, not a single coin would go to Asilonia.
As a result, all the various papers and inventions Mabel had created in this world—including Sunglasses—were known to belong to Zigmund.
It served a practical purpose too: covering Mabel’s expenses for food, clothing, and lodging at Duke’s Castle.
Mabel stared at the ledger in disbelief.
“With this money…….”
She murmured something under her breath.
No doubt she was recalling all the things she’d wanted to have.
Through trade, she’d laid hands on sums incomparably larger than anything the Sunglasses venture had yielded.
But what Mabel said next caught Zigmund entirely off guard.
“With this money, couldn’t I repay the kindness you and everyone at Duke’s Castle have shown me?!”
“What?”
The soft smile that had been forming on Zigmund’s face froze solid in an instant.
Dain, who had been gazing at Mabel with unbounded admiration, wore the same expression.
Yet Mabel, counting on her fingers as she spoke, failed to notice.
“When I was kidnapped, the Knight Order mobilized on my behalf. And Garedina becoming Winter’s personal physician. There’s that too.”
Beyond that, she’d had new clothes tailored for the coming summer, and refreshed the bedding and curtains in her room.
All the mischief Winter had caused weighed on her mind, as did the injuries Zigmund had sustained because of her.
By the time she’d enumerated everything, all ten of her fingers were folded down.
She’d been worrying the whole time that money was slipping away just from breathing, and now such fortune had come knocking!
Mabel spoke cheerfully, a weight lifted from her shoulders.
“I was already anxious about how large those expenses might be.”
Only then did Mabel look up to see the adults’ faces.
‘Huh?’
Both of them were grimacing as though they’d bitten into something terribly bitter.
Zigmund clenched his teeth so hard his jaw bulged, and he rubbed his face with a dry hand.
“You’re still worrying about such things…….”
Zigmund’s voice came low and muffled, as though squeezed through a tight throat, and he gestured.
“Come here, Mabel.”
“Yes? Okay.”
Mabel set down the ledger on her desk and pattered toward Zigmund.
She then spread her arms habitually, waiting for him to lift her up.
At this, Zigmund’s chest tightened painfully.
Even as they’d grown accustomed to each other, a clear line still divided the child and him.
Zigmund bit the inside of his cheek briefly, then hoisted Mabel up into his arms.
“Mabel, things are different now.”
“Yes?”
Seated on Zigmund’s thigh, Mabel tilted her head curiously.
“I’m no longer merely your tutor. I’m now your legally recognized Guardian.”
“Yes, that’s right, isn’t it?”
“So you don’t need to worry about such things. Everything I do for you, as your Guardian, is simply what’s natural.”
“Natural……?”
“Yes. So…….”
Perhaps what he was about to say was premature.
But he could no longer hold it back.
“The way a father does everything for his child without question.”
“……!”
Mabel’s body went rigid in an instant.
Father? Father……?
A single man flashed through Mabel’s mind.
Caesar Asilonia.
Her biological father.
The cruel man who had deceived her to the end and sought to brand her with the Mark of Servitude.
At the thought of him, Mabel instinctively recoiled backward.
Noticing this, Zigmund’s expression clouded with pain.
‘Perhaps it was too sudden after all.’
Yet Zigmund harbored no regrets.
If Mabel was still thinking about expenses, she needed to hear this once and for all.
“So from now on, don’t entertain such thoughts. Everything written in that ledger—what you want—”
Zigmund was in the middle of continuing, rather than retracting his words, when it happened.
Knock, knock, knock.
“Your Grace, an urgent message.”
Lundwell knocked.
“It’s from Her Majesty the Empress Consort.”
“From Her Majesty?”
Dain, who had removed his sunglasses and pressed his nose bridge hard as he fought back tears, suddenly snapped to attention.
Dain quickly took the letter Lundwell handed him.
Mabel held Zigmund’s neck tightly and read the letter alongside him.
The hastily scrawled handwriting bore the unmistakable mark of urgency, each stroke trembling with desperation.
And the contents were every bit as shocking.
“All the cats have been murdered……?”
At Zigmund’s murmur, Mabel drew in a sharp breath.
Her eyes remained fixed on the next sentence.
In the Capital City, where summer had already begun its encroachment, Francesca had unveiled a coat made from cat fur.

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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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