I’m The Male Lead’s Biological Daughter, But I Want To Live With The Second Male Lead! - Chapter 12

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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 12
Starting today, Mabel was scheduled to study with Siegmund for two hours every day.
As professor and assistant, that was only natural—but the problem was that Mabel couldn’t read.
And so Mabel found herself beginning with letter study, alchemy and everything else set aside.
“In our Greenhurst Empire, we use twenty-one consonants and five vowels, for a total of twenty-six letters…….”
Seated at her desk, Mabel nodded earnestly, hanging on every word of Siegmund’s lecture.
“Now then, try writing them here.”
“Yes!”
Mabel answered brightly and awkwardly gripped the pen.
She filled the lined paper—meant to make learning easier—with letters that wandered this way and that across the page.
The Letter Study Paper had been made by Dain.
“If you need anything, please don’t hesitate to ask, miss!”
And Dain was still now on the floor, drawing line after line across the paper.
The reason he was on the floor was that the desk Mabel was sitting at belonged to him.
Siegmund’s office didn’t yet have a desk and chair for Mabel.
But neither could they have a growing child studying on an uncomfortable sofa.
And so they’d settled on having Dain work from the floor.
It would have been much the same anyway—eye level being what it was, they’d simply piled cushions on a chair instead.
“No, no, it’s fine! So please don’t overexert yourself…….”
Mabel, filling the paper with what could have been writing or could have been drawing for all the sense it made, glanced sideways with concern.
The adult who’d given up his seat for her was on the floor, and it gnawed at her.
Siegmund blocked her view with what looked like a thick file folder.
“As I said before, Mabel—what is it you need to focus on?”
“L-learning the letters quickly!”
“Right. So don’t worry about Dain and get back to copying the letters.”
“Yes…….”
Mabel returned her attention to learning the letters.
‘If I memorize them fast, then Dain can get back up!’ she thought.
Though she felt oddly like she was holding Dain hostage, if the results were good, that was what mattered.
And indeed, in just one hour, Mabel had memorized all twenty-six letters used in the Greenhurst Empire.
“Let me see…… Hmm, exactly one hour?”
Siegmund checked the time after grading her Quiz Paper.
Dain, who’d spent that whole hour lying on the floor making Letter Study Paper, suddenly lifted his head.
“Precisely thirty minutes, sir. Ten minutes of studying, ten minutes of rest, ten minutes of studying, ten minutes of rest, and so on!”
Mabel was only eight years old—there was no way she could study for a solid hour.
Having lived only in a small room, her stamina couldn’t possibly keep pace either.
“Goodness, to master all the letters in just thirty minutes! You’re truly remarkable, miss!”
Dain clapped his hands in applause and praise.
“The other two took a full two hours, and you’re no genius?”
Dain’s Glasses gleamed brightly as he spoke to Siegmund.
‘The glasses are shining—not even her eyes, just the glasses……?’
Mabel tilted her head slightly at the stray thought.
‘But two other people?’
She suddenly remembered the two empty seats at the dinner table every day.
But Mabel’s thoughts didn’t linger long.
While Mabel was trapped in Dain’s prison of praise, Siegmund had stepped outside and returned with something.
“Here—your reward for a perfect score.”
It was none other than a crispy, fluffy choux pastry!
“Wow……!”
Mabel’s face lit up at the sight of the choux.
She’d eaten one last night for dessert, and it was delicious.
Though yesterday’s choux had been about the size of her face, so eating it had been a bit of a struggle.
Cream had gotten everywhere, and the filling kept dripping.
“A tiny one!”
But the one Siegmund handed her now was shaped to be easy for her to eat.
Excited, Mabel clenched her tiny fists and her eyes sparkled.
“That’s right—tiny, just like you.”
“No, no, it’s not that tiny!”
Even as she protested with a side-eye, Mabel quickly took the choux.
For someone so small, she certainly had plenty to say.
Siegmund chuckled and brought milk as well, saying his throat felt parched.
“Jack says keep your strength up. The way you devoured yours yesterday—and mine too—was impressive.”
Mabel flinched as she reached for the topmost choux on her plate.
“I didn’t steal it! You gave it to me without asking!”
Watching Mabel eat happily despite the crumbs scattered everywhere and dribbling down her chin, Siegmund pushed his own dessert plate toward her.
Mabel protested it was fine, but Siegmund insisted she eat it anyway.
“Right, and you were already drooling, so I figured I might as well.”
Indeed, spittle glistened at the corner of Mabel’s mouth.
With no comeback to offer, Mabel grew flustered and pouted her lower lip instead.
Then, gripping the choux she’d been about to eat, she slid down from her chair with a whump.
“Wait, that’s dangerous!”
Alarmed, Siegmund rushed over and caught her.
The chair was already tall—meant for adults—and cushions had been stacked high so she could reach the table’s height.
But Mabel, who’d slid down using the cushions like a slide to protect her rear, opened her eyes wide.
“Oh—I thought sliding down this way wouldn’t hurt at all…….”
“It’s still dangerous. If you’d asked for help, I would’ve lowered you. Why didn’t you?”
Siegmund chided her gently.
When she thought about it, he was right.
Siegmund had helped her up, so if she’d asked for help, he surely would’ve helped her down too.
But Mabel wasn’t used to asking for help.
She’d never said those words once while living at the Duke’s Residence.
So even when climbing onto the high cushion on the chair, she’d tried to wiggle herself up alone, grunting and squirming.
“Um…….”
As Mabel hesitated, Siegmund swallowed a sigh.
He recalled how unfamiliar the phrase “ask for help” must be to her.
“From now on, call for an adult when you need something. It’s dangerous.”
“Yes…….”
But what if they found it bothersome? Was it really all right to do that?
From the top of Mabel’s downturned head, Siegmund could read her obvious worry.
He let out a deliberate cough.
“And that’s for the adults.”
“For the adults?”
“Yes. Everyone here only wants to help you.”
Setting Mabel down on the floor, Siegmund met her eyes and asked.
“Will you listen to what the adults want?”
“……Yes!”
For whatever reason, if that was the case, then so be it!
Mabel nodded.
And once on the floor, Mabel turned toward none other than Dain.
“Have this and keep going, please!”
She wanted to give the choux to Dain, who had made space for her and drawn lines on paper for her while sitting on the floor.
“Eh? You’re……speaking to me?”
Dain, who’d been watching Siegmund and Mabel with warmth from his seat on the floor, was startled.
So startled that he jumped from where he sat, causing his glasses to wobble noticeably.
“Gasp……!”
Dain kept opening and closing his trembling hands in disbelief.
What was he doing?
“Do you not like choux?” Mabel asked worriedly, tilting her head.
With eyebrows that curved slightly downward, round eyes blinking rapidly, and that head tilt—
“Ack.”
Crack.
Mabel was so adorable that Dain’s glasses cracked right through.
“Oh! Your glasses!”
A few shards of glass flew, but fortunately Mabel was safe.
Thanks to Siegmund, who’d rushed over and pulled her back at once.
“Change your glasses. Quickly. The child might get hurt.”
“Ah, yes!”
Dain hastily pulled out a fresh pair and put them on.
Watching him, Mabel grew concerned.

“Are you all right?”
“Ah, I’m fine. I have several spare pairs of glasses, you see. What concerns me more is whether the young lady was hurt when the glass shattered.”
He wasn’t worried about the glasses—he was worried about her eyes.
Dain, who had just spent the last several minutes fretting over nothing but Mabel’s wellbeing, cleared his throat with a small cough.
“But are you truly certain I may accept this?”
“Choux? Of course!”
Mabel laughed brightly, urging him to take it.
Even the slight glimpse of her front teeth was as endearing as a rabbit’s.
“Sniff, th-thank you so much…… I shall treasure this…… for all my days…… oh…… so precious…….”
With a soft sound, Dain accepted the small choux bun in both hands, fighting back tears.
What had sat full in Mabel’s palm now looked as small as a mandarin orange in Dain’s grasp.
“Isn’t it? Such a adorable little choux!”
“No, not the choux, but rather——oh, this heartache——”
That she remained unaware of her own charm only made it more unbearable.
Dain resolved to preserve the choux bun with preservative, keeping it with him for life.
And then.
“Mabel.”
“Yes?”
It was at the moment when Mabel, who had given a choux bun to Dain, took a seat with Siegmund’s assistance and began eating one herself.
Siegmund spoke.
“What about me?”
His face fallen with the deepest disappointment.

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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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