I’m The Male Lead’s Biological Daughter, But I Want To Live With The Second Male Lead! - Chapter 23

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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 23
“What on earth is this?”
Aselt was holding the eyeglasses by the frame, turning them this way and that to examine them, when the door outside opened.
“Young Master Aselt, Young Master Kellik. Miss Maybel has come to see you.”
“Oh! No, I— I just wanted to make sure you were all right……!”
The maid’s voice and Maybel’s drifted through from beyond the threshold.
Kellik’s face darkened at once.
“Tch. Didn’t I tell you to get lost?”
“What? You told her to get lost?”
“Yeah, always lurking outside your room like that. Take those with you.”
Kellik jabbed his chin toward the eyeglasses Aselt was holding.
“That’s why I told her to scram. You’re the reason I got hurt. Why would I want to see your face?”
Kellik spoke with unmistakable pride, his cheeks still streaked with tears.
So eager for praise for his righteous deed that he failed to notice Aselt’s expression growing cold.
“That’s what she said—to just pass these along. Then she swore she wouldn’t come back. But then she changed her mind. Of course she did. After all, she’s that woman Sophia’s daugh—”
“Kellik, watch your words.”
“Huh?”
“Before she’s that woman’s daughter, she’s the Master’s assistant now.”
“Wha—?”
Aselt spoke curtly to the bewildered Kellik, then raised his voice toward the door.
“Come in, Maybel.”
“Brother……?”
Kellik blinked his amber eyes, staring at Aselt.
‘Wasn’t he disgusted by her just moments ago?’
And wasn’t it because of that girl he got hurt this badly in the first place?
Kellik racked his none-too-sharp mind for an answer, but nothing came.
Soon the door opened, and Maybel stood there, uncertain what to do.
When she spotted Kellik, she waved her bandaged hand frantically, stammering an explanation.
“I—I didn’t ignore your orders, Young Master Kellik! I just—”
“Didn’t ignore them? I said don’t come! Because of you, my brother got—”
Kellik bared his teeth, about to lash out at Maybel.
“Kellik.”
If Aselt hadn’t reached out and grabbed him, he might have lunged at her.
“Why—!”
Kellik cried out in frustration at being held back.
But his fury soon crumbled.
“That’s enough. You—get out.”
Aselt’s face was stern, his anger simmering quietly.
Kellik couldn’t make sense of any of this.
‘Why……?’
She’s the one in the wrong.
She’s the one who messed up, and that’s why my brother’s hurt like this!
So why do I have to leave instead of her?
Why is he throwing me out?
He had much he wanted to argue, but facing Aselt’s anger, the words caught in his throat.
Finally, Kellik’s eyes reddened with hurt. He glared at Aselt, then stomped out of the room.
Thud!
He even shoved Maybel with his shoulder on the way.
Fortunately, it wasn’t hard enough to knock her down.
“Kellik!”
But when Maybel stumbled, Aselt jerked the blanket aside and cried out in alarm.
Kellik didn’t stop, though.
If anything, his wounded feelings only grew. He bolted down the Corridor as if fleeing.
“You’re an idiot, brother!”
His shout echoed through the hallway.
“That…….”
Aselt breathed heavily, his back aching from the sudden movement, and swallowed his anger.
Then, watching Maybel stand there fidgeting awkwardly, he let out a sigh and his expression softened.
“Did I scare you? Come here.”
“Um, well…….”
When Maybel glanced back over her shoulder, Aselt waved his hand.
“It’s fine, don’t worry about it. I’ll smooth things over later.”
“Y-yes…….”
Maybel hesitated for a moment before stepping closer to Aselt.
Following his gesture, she settled carefully into the chair beside the bed and asked, “How are you feeling?”
“Hmm? Oh, not badly. My back aches a bit, but my eyes are fine.”
“That’s a relief, at least.”
Maybel, who had apparently been worried for some time, pressed a hand to her chest and exhaled.
“You lost so much blood — I was really concerned.”
“Thank you. But are you all right?”
Aselt’s gaze drifted to Maybel’s bandaged hand.
“Oh, yes! I’m hardly hurt at all. It’s all thanks to you, sir. Thank you so much.”
“Think nothing of it. I’m just glad you weren’t seriously injured.”
Aselt smiled gently as he spoke.
“Hmm…….”
Unfamiliar with such genuine kindness, Maybel found herself fidgeting with her fingertips.
As she puzzled over what to say next, Aselt broke the silence first.
“I was wrong last time.”
“Sir?”
“The way I spoke to you — I was harsh.”
“Oh, I… yes.”
Maybel was taken aback; she’d never expected Aselt to apologize first.
Aselt smiled quietly, then scratched at a scrape on his cheek with an awkward motion.
“The truth is, I overheard a conversation between you and Ella. It made me angry — you’d touched a nerve.”
“A nerve, sir?”
“Yes. You were right, Maybel. I hated it when people feared me. I hated being treated like a monster. That’s why I’ve been wearing the bandage.”
“Ah…….”
“But except for my master and Kellik, no one ever understood. And you were the first to notice. I… I didn’t like that.”
Aselt’s gaze fell downward.
After staring at the quilt for a moment, he lowered his head toward Maybel.
“I’m sorry. I was cruel to you.”
Maybel quickly shook her head from side to side.
“No, no! You were never cruel to me, sir!”
“I was. I deliberately removed the bandage in front of you. I wanted people to think you were being hypocritical, pretending to understand me.”
Aselt slowly began to speak of the emotions he’d felt on the day everything happened.
His misunderstanding of Maybel had begun from that first moment when she froze upon seeing him.
He confessed that he’d believed her reaction stemmed not from learning his secret, but from finding him ugly.
At this, Maybel, who had been listening quietly, let out an astonished cry and nearly jumped from her seat.
“With a face as beautiful as yours?! Don’t you have a mirror in your room?!”
She declared it the most absurd thing she’d ever heard, and launched into a detailed account of exactly what made his face so handsome.
Aselt felt a little embarrassed — and a great deal pleased.
Until now, he’d never removed the bandage in front of anyone, much less received compliments on his appearance.
This was his first time hearing an objective assessment of his own looks.
“That’s enough, that’s enough. Stop now.”
“No? I’ve barely started. You don’t realize it, but in this world there are people with beautiful hair—”
The problem was simply that she’d learned excessive flattery from spending so much time with Ella.
“All right, all right! I’m not ugly. I understand now!”
Finally, unable to bear it any longer, Aselt cut her off, his face flushed crimson.
“If you understand, then that’s enough.”
Maybel smiled with satisfaction, letting out a small giggle, then waited for Aselt to continue his story.
Clearing his throat with a soft cough, Aselt spoke again.
“In any case, you and Sophia are different people, yet I was trying to hate you because of her.”
He apologized again, acknowledging that it had clearly been wrong.
At his words, Maybel urged him to lift his head, stammering slightly.
But when Aselt continued to keep his head lowered, Maybel hesitantly began to share her own thoughts.
“No, it wasn’t like that. I did the same thing — I froze because someone else came to mind, not you.”
She couldn’t bring herself to say that Aselt was a villain from a novel, so she softened her words.
“I remembered someone terrible…… but that person isn’t you.”
Since Sophia wouldn’t allow the Archduke Family to fall, Aselt would never become the villain.

But in that moment, Aselt’s sudden appearance had been so shocking that I hadn’t had time to remember this fact.
“I’m sorry.”
Just as Aselt had done, Maybel lowered her head in a bow.
Aselt, watching Maybel’s round head of hair, suddenly burst into laughter.
“So we both made the same mistake, then.”
“Pardon? Oh, um, is that how it works?”
“Yes. So… shall we forgive each other?”
As Maybel lifted her head slightly, Aselt extended his hand toward her.
He had asked for a handshake when they first met as well, but the emotion behind his hand was different this time.
“I’d like that!”
Unlike before, Maybel smiled brightly and grasped Aselt’s hand firmly.
She gripped it so tightly that his wound was pressed, causing him to flinch slightly.
“Does it hurt? Let me see.”
Maybel, who had declined and asked Aselt—who had hastily released her hand to examine his wound—to let her look at it instead, questioned him.
“By the way, have you seen the Sunglasses?”
“Sunglasses?”

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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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