I’m The Male Lead’s Biological Daughter, But I Want To Live With The Second Male Lead! - Chapter 113

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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 113
“Ugh, you’re absolutely impossible.”
Though in truth, Mabel had never harbored any real hope of bending Zigmund’s stubbornness.
When Mabel cautiously lifted her gaze, she saw Zigmund’s face, softened by a gentle smile.
Zigmund simply looked at her, his eyes tracing every detail.
The hair she’d taken such care to style lay disheveled now, and the tears had streaked her cheeks in wet trails across the rouge she’d applied that morning.
And yet to Zigmund, she was nothing but beautiful.
He reached out and tucked a strand of fallen hair behind her ear with deliberate tenderness, then spoke.
“You’re beautiful, my daughter.”
The gentle curve of his eyes, the soft smile playing at his lips, even the careful way his hand touched each strand of her hair—
there was not a single gesture unmarked by affection.
Heat bloomed in her chest, tight and almost painful.
How had she not seen it before? How could she have been so blind?
Zigmund had already come to treasure her this deeply.
Mabel’s eyes reddened again.
But this time, Zigmund did not falter.
“So let me say it again, here and now, Mabel.”
He spread his arms wide toward her and asked.
“Imperfect as I am… would you still let me be Mabel’s father?”
Even knowing the answer already, tension flickered across Zigmund’s eyes.
Mabel’s lips trembled.
Is it really all right? Can I truly become Your Grace’s daughter? You’re certain it won’t trouble you?
There were a thousand questions she wanted to ask, yet Mabel spoke none of them.
She did not want to hesitate any longer.
She did not want to make him wait.
Mabel threw herself into Zigmund’s embrace and cried out—
“Yes, Father!”
Her voice ringing with more joy than it ever had before.
* * *
Meanwhile, in the Corridor that Zigmund and Mabel had just left,
“……Sigh.”
Aselt turned away from the direction in which Zigmund had disappeared.
He then approached Dain, who remained firmly in Ella’s grip.
Kellic, equally furious, followed close behind Aselt.
Dain, who had been watching the spot where Zigmund vanished just as Aselt had done, flinched.
“I have quite a lot I’d like to say……”
His voice, colder than expected, made Dain’s body stiffen like wood.
After a moment of careful deliberation, Aselt opened his mouth.
“Let me start with this one thing.”
He’s going to question me?
Dain’s eyes darted wildly.
This understanding was not his alone.
“Go right ahead~”
Ella, who had Dain securely bound, tilted his head back so that his throat lay exposed.
Aselt glanced at the pair with some bewilderment before waving his hand to clarify.
“I mean I’m going to ask questions. Besides, there’s no venom in my Fangs anyway.”
“Oh~”
Ella released Dain’s head with visible disappointment, letting him straighten it again.
But this only terrified Dain further.
So if they had venom, he’d just bite him? Was that it……?
And though Aselt’s Fangs held no poison, his eyes could turn a man to stone without mercy.
Dain blinked rapidly, trembling with fear, as Aselt leaned closer and posed his question.
“Tell me… do you truly have no sense of tact?”
“……”
It was the cruelest thing he had ever heard.
He would have preferred a bite from poisoned Fangs or to be turned to stone entirely.
Dain’s head dropped low.
Yes. He had no sense of tact.
That was why he’d failed to realize that Mabel’s heart already aligned with Zigmund’s.
That was why he hadn’t stopped mid-sentence, even when her response began to shift in ways that should have warned him.
Mabel’s tearful outburst was entirely Dain’s fault—the man possessed absolutely no social perceptiveness.
‘I’m…… I’m completely unsuited to be a counselor…….’
Dain, left speechless by Ella, whimpered miserably.
Aselt was about to withdraw, having never intended to reduce an adult to tears.
“Aselt, Kellic!”
Mabel’s voice rang out.
When he turned, he saw Mabel nestled in Zigmund’s arms.
The girl who had been weeping so bitterly moments before was now smiling broadly.
Zigmund’s face, which had been grave when he’d stepped away, now looked peaceful.
Evidently their conversation had ended well.
Everyone wore expressions of relief at the sight of the two, everyone except Dain.
‘I’ve inflicted a terrible wound upon the young lady.’
So whatever punishment Mabel might impose, he would accept it willingly.
Even if it meant she never wished to see Dain again.
Dain tensed, his eyes fixed on Mabel.
Feeling his gaze, Mabel called to him.
“Master Dain!”
Just then, Ella released him.
“Miss, I’m truly—”
I’m so sorry!
Dain cried out, dropping his head toward the floor.
“Thank you!”
“……What?”
An unexpected reply stopped him cold.
Dain, who had been bowing, looked up in shock at Mabel.
“Because of you, I was able to, um, well.”
Mabel hesitated briefly, then squeezed her eyes shut.
“I…… I spoke well with Father……!”
Ugh, it came out easily enough when we were alone!
But with all these people watching, her nerves betrayed her—the words kept stuttering on her tongue.
And she felt a twinge of worry besides.
The matter of parental rights hadn’t truly been settled yet—was it too soon to speak of it in front of everyone?
Mabel cracked one eye open, stealing a glance at Zigmund.
When he lifted his head, his fingers gripped the bridge of his nose.
And from him came a small…….
“……Sniffle.”
A sound of tears.
The single word “Father” had overwhelmed him—he was moved beyond measure.
“Ah…….”
Zigmund held the bridge of his nose for a moment, then drew a steadying breath and composed himself.
Though his eyes remained flushed.
Zigmund regarded Dain, who knelt awkwardly before him.
“Dain. You understand the gravity of what you’ve done, don’t you?”
“Yes, yes!”
Dain snapped to attention, bowing his head urgently.
Though Mabel had thanked him, Zigmund’s judgment might be quite different.
“I will accept whatever punishment you see fit to impose. Please, I beg your pardon!”
Dain’s head had nearly touched the floor as he spoke.
His voice carried the firmness of one already braced for judgment.
‘Punishment?’
Mabel’s eyes widened in alarm as she looked back at Zigmund.
His profile was rigid, almost frightening.
‘Surely he’s not going to dismiss Master Dain or something drastic like that?’
No, that couldn’t be.
Dain hadn’t done anything warranting such a severe response.
The whole trouble had stemmed from her own failure to tell Zigmund earlier that she was happy.
‘I wish I’d followed Winter’s advice from the start.’
She hadn’t realized how pale and frightened she must have looked standing before him.
She’d simply been too nervous and flustered to think straight.
But she’d clarified his misunderstanding on the way out, so whatever punishment he might threaten was sure to be nothing serious.
Mabel waited for Zigmund to speak, expecting him to voice just such a thought.
But then.
“As of this moment, you’re dismissed.”
“What?!”
Mabel was so startled that she pushed against Zigmund’s shoulder, straightening her upper body.
Yet unlike the shocked Mabel, Dain appeared to have anticipated this already, his demeanor perfectly composed.
“Yes, I understand.”
“What?!”
At those words, Mabel gasped in surprise once more.
“Wait, wait just a moment! Surely this is too harsh!”
Mabel cried out, her voice crackling as she glanced between the two men.
“You’ll fall if you keep squirming like that.”
Zigmund, speaking in a low reprimand, steadied Mabel’s back once more.
Mabel, now leaning against Zigmund, straightened herself again and shot him a look of indignation.
“Is that really what matters right now?”
“Of course it matters.”
Yet Zigmund’s expression remained untroubled.
How could he possibly be so calm about this!
“No, this just isn’t right. Father, Dain has done nothing wrong.”
“Nothing wrong? He nearly left a scar on your heart.”
Mabel spoke as if reasoning with a child, but Zigmund remained stubborn.
“Of course, Mabel—I’ve been eyeing your father’s place for ages, but what if that weren’t the case? What if your thoughts and mine had diverged completely?”
“What do you mean?”
“If we’d remained at odds to the very end?”
“That would be…”
Mabel’s gaze fell, hollow and morose.
Even during that brief misunderstanding, she had felt an emptiness so profound, a longing so acute she could barely bear it.
The thought that she’d let herself grow so giddy over her own delusion made her despise herself, made her feel utterly foolish and pathetic.
‘If that hadn’t been just a moment, but had continued on…’
As Zigmund had said, it would have festered into a bitter wound indeed.
Yet Mabel could not retreat now.
“But even so, this feels far too severe.”
After all, Dain was precious to her—a true member of the Duke’s Household.
She couldn’t imagine the household without him.
“If Dain is dismissed like this now, I fear another wound will open in my heart.”
So please, she gazed at Zigmund with desperate earnestness, begging for his mercy.

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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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