I’m The Male Lead’s Biological Daughter, But I Want To Live With The Second Male Lead! - Chapter 19

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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 19
What was surprising, however, was that the people did not resist.
“Goodness, Hishin, that voice of his is something…….”
“Anyone watching would think we were trying to devour the young lady.”
“What, we’re not even allowed to look now?”
Rather than fear or anger, the people spoke to the large man with familiarity.
Somehow the scene felt terribly familiar.
Still deaf to Ella by her own doing, Mabel could only stand bewildered.
‘The people at the Grand Duke’s Castle are like that too……. Do they all not fear their superiors?’
The image of Jack telling Siegmund to bring him food directly overlapped with the sight of the domain people who did not fear the knight.
It was fortunate that the oppressive weight of everyone’s stares had finally lifted.
Once the situation seemed somewhat settled, Hishin turned to face Mabel and Ella.
“I have cleared the area.”
“That’s wonderful~”
Ella, removing her hand from Mabel’s ear, also found this Hishin fellow oddly familiar.
She then introduced the man, pointing to him.
“Allow me to introduce you, young lady~ This fine gentleman is a knight who will be escorting us for the day~”
Hishin, whose head rose a full two heads above Ella’s, immediately bowed before Mabel.
No matter how he hunched his shoulders, he remained far larger than Mabel, who appeared to be only six or seven years old.
He introduced himself in a stiff, measured tone.
“It is an honor to make your acquaintance, young lady. I am Hishin, your escort for the day.”
She had met many maidservants at the Grand Duke’s Castle, but this was her first encounter with a knight.
The man with his neatly trimmed brown hair and narrow, lidless eyes appeared youthful, but his stern expression made Mabel tense.
‘But first impressions are important!’
“Hello!”
The hesitant Mabel quickly bowed her waist in greeting.
In doing so, the Rabbit Doll Bag strapped to her back slid down the back of her head.
Ella’s lips, curled upward at the sight, showed no sign of falling.
But Hishin’s expression did not shift even slightly.
“Please rise.”
“Yes? Oh, yes.”
As Mabel straightened her back, Ella tidied the rabbit ears for her.
“There’s no need to be so formal~”
“B-but he’s a knight, after all……!”
“It’s fine~ Hishin is still a trainee knight, you see~”
“A trainee knight……?”
Mabel glanced at Hishin sideways.
He looked like a formidable bear……no, a seasoned veteran.
‘And he looks so serious about it…….’
Yet Hishin remained silent, whether Ella’s words were true or not.
“Young lady~ Do you remember the story I told you before~? About subduing the Mercenary Band and joining the Knight Order~”
“Yes? Oh, yes.”
It had been an utterly absurd tale, but Ella’s storytelling was so skillful that it had been entertaining.
But why bring that up suddenly?
As Mabel tilted her head slightly, Ella stifled her laughter and pointed to Hishin.
“Hishin was the youngest member of the Mercenary Band that I subdued at that time~ That’s why he’s still in training~”
“……What?!”
Mabel was so startled that she jumped to her feet.
The rabbit doll’s ears shot up straight, making Mabel look like a startled rabbit herself.
“S-so it was all true?!”
“My, my~? Did you think I was lying to you, young lady~?”
“Oh, no, I didn’t……!”
Ella was tall, but possessed a very slender frame.
Moreover, her soft expression, gentle manner of speech, and graceful bearing made her seem like a model of refined elegance.
That Ella, who looked incapable of any violence whatsoever, had climbed trees at three, defeated a bear at five, and what else was there?
She simply could not fathom that she had accomplished such feats.
As Mabel seemed unable to shake her shock, Ella gave Hishin a sharp jab to the ribs with her elbow.
The hitherto silent Hishin suddenly stiffened and spoke.
“You are correct, Ella. When Ella was fifteen at the time, she began by delivering a Flying Kick that caved in the Mercenary Captain’s face…….”
Jab, jab, jab!
Ella jabbed Hishin’s ribs more forcefully than before, as if to tell him to stop talking nonsense.
“Ugh. In any case, Ella did not lie to you, Miss.”
“Ah, yes…….”
The exchange was so stiff that Mabel could manage nothing more than that.
Sensing the awkwardness, Ella broke into a bright smile and clapped her hands together. “Clap!”
“Well then, shall we begin our pleasant outing~?”
To think that such a warm and gentle maid was a master in disguise.
“Let’s go!”
Mabel seized their hands—Ella’s in one palm, Hishin’s in the other—and answered with genuine delight.
Hishin flinched, then quietly withdrew his hand.
Oh, had she been impolite?
Embarrassed, Mabel let her arm fall.
A vague sense of loss tugged at her, though it didn’t truly matter.
Ella was still holding her hand firmly, after all.
Mabel continued forward, clutching only Ella’s fingers.
* * *
The Market that opened within the Inner City held treasures beyond counting.
Spices towered in mountains; wooden crates overflowed with bright fruit; dried goods cascaded down vendor posts like waterfalls, and basins brimmed with fish that thrashed and gleamed!
Such rare wonders instantly captivated Mabel entirely.
Between the stalls wafted the sweet perfume of desserts.
“Are those candies……? Caramel……?”
When Mabel’s eyes caught on a peculiar candy twisted around a stick in long spirals and she could not look away, Hishin promptly visited the vendor.
“Red, blue, lime green, and yellow—each has a different flavor.”
Mabel was genuinely moved by Hishin’s taciturn gift.
But she could not eat all four.
“Just one before supper, please~”
Even for something so charming, discipline must be observed—such was Ella’s philosophy of instruction.
“Hmm…….”
When Mabel hesitated to choose, Hishin shot Ella a sharp glare—”Glare!”—and retrieved a stick from somewhere.
He then cut all four candies into small pieces and wound them carefully onto the stick.
“This way you have one sweet, but can taste all four flavors.”
“Wonderful!”
Mabel’s face lit up as she looked back toward Ella.
Though the portion had grown slightly, Ella found it acceptable and nodded with a smile.
Thus Mabel was able to sample all four flavors while exploring the Market.
Hishin gave the remaining candy to the other children.
After browsing the Market for some time, Mabel sat resting by the Fountain when she suddenly remembered today’s true purpose.
“Oh, we need to go to the Workshop District now!”
The reason Mabel had come to the Inner City today was precisely to visit the Workshops.
A good idea had struck her yesterday while discussing Aselth with Ella.
Aselth, being a Basilisk Demi-human, could perceive objects through his sense of smell.
However, no matter how keen one’s sense of smell, it cannot read text, so Siegmund had fashioned a Blindfold from tightly woven fabric, she’d been told.
‘Even if it’s soft, there are limits to anything woven on a loom.’
So Mabel had decided to visit a textile maker today and make a certain request.
‘If I can find a fabric that’s soft and allows sight, I know exactly what it should be.’
That was Nylon!
The fiber used to make stockings.
‘But to make Nylon 66 fiber, I’d need to synthesize hexamethylene diamine and adipic acid first.’
Still, it seemed she would soon succeed in synthesizing ammonia in large quantities…….
As Mabel thought thus, she gave a sudden start without meaning to.
“Miss?”
Ella, who had sensed even that slight hesitation, stopped and called to her.
“Oh, it’s nothing at all.”
Mabel shook her head and resumed walking.
Yet her expression had darkened somewhat from before.
And for good reason.
‘How do I know this?’
Even if memories from the modern world had surfaced, how could she rattle off such chemical compounds so easily?
‘Could I possibly be the reincarnation of Marie Curie or Theodore Richards?’
With that thought, Mabel let out a quiet, suppressed laugh inside.
‘That can’t be right.’
It would make far more sense to call her the patron saint of alchemy.
Having sorted through her thoughts, Mabel squeezed Ella’s hand firmly and made her way toward the Workshop District.
Whoosh—whoosh—whoosh!
A man stood before a brilliantly scarlet furnace, sweat pouring down his face as he tended the flames.
The heat radiating from what was plainly a roaring forge shimmered the air itself above the workshop, distorting everything like a desert mirage.
“Ah, it’s hot—!”
The air was so parched that merely passing nearby felt as though one’s skin might simply bake.
Hishin quickly stepped between Mabel and the worst of the heat, explaining as he did.
“This is the Glass Workshop.”
Now that he mentioned it, she could see small shards of broken glass scattered about.
“The artisans here at the Grand Duke’s Castle are renowned for their skill—why, even the Cathedral in the capital has commissioned stained glass from them.”
Ella spoke with unmistakable pride in her voice.
“Stained glass…?”
“Yes, we have it in our chapel as well—it’s the most beautiful colored glass, all aglow with vibrant hues.”
Stained glass… colored glass….
In that instant, a brilliant idea flashed through Mabel’s mind.
‘That’s it!’
She had just thought of a far better way to make Aselth a new blindfold!

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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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