I’m The Male Lead’s Biological Daughter, But I Want To Live With The Second Male Lead! - Chapter 35

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

Episode 35
A moment ago, when Mabel had glanced casually at the terrace, she’d thought she was about to faint.
A pitch-black snake was draped across the tree like a vine, staring into the room with such intensity it felt like it might burn through the walls!
It was only because she’d noticed the snake’s eyes were white that she managed not to hand Aselt over to Caesar on the spot.
Aselt, who had slipped through the window gap Mabel opened, transformed into human shape in the blink of an eye.
“How long has this been going on?”
“Since the day you arrived here.”
At that answer, Mabel’s mouth fell open in shock.
From Escilid to Asilonia was more than half a day’s journey by carriage.
Which meant…… could he have been on the carriage with her from the very beginning?
As if reading Mabel’s thoughts, Aselt gave a small nod.
“I didn’t think it was right to let you go alone.”
“No, that’s not—”
Her mind was in complete chaos over where to even begin, but Mabel’s mouth moved of its own accord.
“You said you were coming with the head of the clan!”
“Aren’t you glad I was here anyway?”
Just as an indignant Mabel was about to protest, Aselt tilted his head with a slight grin and asked the question.
That was when Mabel’s mouth snapped shut.
After glaring at Aselt for a moment, Mabel let out a long sigh.
“The rice porridge you gave me…… that was you, wasn’t it?”
At Mabel’s question, Aselt’s expression shifted to one of surprise behind his sunglasses.
“You knew?”
“While I was sleeping, there were moments when I felt something cool. And…”
Recalling that time, Mabel lowered her head and murmured.
“I thought it was a dream, but I guess it wasn’t.”
Watching Mabel’s round crown of hair, Aselt asked carefully.
“Were you…… disappointed?”
“What?”
“That it wasn’t your father.”
His voice was so deflated that when Mabel looked up, Aselt continued.
“I heard you call him Father.”
“Ah……”
“If perhaps your heart has changed and you want to live here where you have real family—”
“Absolutely not!”
Mabel cut him off and cried out.
She was far more furious than she had been moments before.
“Real family? What are you talking about! My family is you!”
Her small fist, clenched tight, trembled slightly.
“You said it yourself. Where your real family is, that’s home.”
The words Aselt had spoken the day they left the Grand Duke’s Castle still echoed clearly in her ears.
And yet he was saying this now!
Her nose stung, and hurt flooded through her along with the anger.
“And even if I did call him Father, that was because—”
Mabel, who had been speaking clearly, suddenly fell silent.
Because the Father she had wanted to call that day wasn’t Caesar—it was Siegmund.
But she couldn’t tell Aselt something like that.
Hesitating, Mabel bit her lower lip hard and shook her head firmly.
“Anyway, it’s not like that. And even if the head of the clan couldn’t come, I had no intention of staying here.”
“What?”
Aselt, shocked by this unexpected revelation, echoed the question back.
“I’m serious. That was always my plan.”
Caesar probably had no idea, even in his dreams.
That she wasn’t the only one deceiving him.
Of course, there were moments when her heart wavered slightly as she watched Caesar seemingly repent his wrongs with genuine sincerity.
Because the male lead seemed to have truly changed.
Because he seemed to truly worry about her.
But it was all a lie.
While climbing the hill, Caesar hadn’t asked Mabel once if she was all right.
And even Dain, who had been wary of her at first, had matched his pace to hers—yet Caesar strode ahead without hesitation.
She wasn’t asking for unconditional consideration.
Yet from Caesar’s back as he walked forward without looking aside, there emanated only one sentiment: a desire to be done with this tedious business as quickly as possible.
It was nothing like what he’d claimed—that he’d personally prepared Rice Porridge for Mabel.
“He says he loves this Estate. Says it’s beautiful.”
The Estate that Mabel had looked down upon was anything but beautiful.
In the time she’d spent here, Mabel had been utterly, thoroughly alone.
No one acknowledged her; everyone was bent on erasing the person called Mabel.
So for Mabel, this Estate could never be beautiful.
How could a place where she’d had to draw her own blood just to feel alive ever be beautiful?
How could anyone possibly love such a place?
“He says it’s precious to him. Says it will become precious to me too.”
Even in retrospect, it was so absurd that a hollow laugh escaped her.
Caesar had negated Mabel’s entire life.
In an instant, he’d made her pain and wounds seem like nothing.
She wasn’t saying one should wallow endlessly in regret and self-reproach.
But if he was going to say such things, he should have waited until more time had passed.
Her very existence had been trauma; he should have given her time to overcome it, to adapt.
At the very least, he should have waited until she could learn to care for this Estate.
Watching Caesar gaze down at the Estate with such genuine pride, Mabel finally understood.
“There was a reason he came to get me now. He brought me here to protect this Estate that means so much to him.”
The words poured out of her like bile, and she gasped for breath.
Her fist, clenched so hard her knuckles had gone white, throbbed with pain.
When she carefully flexed her fingers, she saw crescent marks where her nails had bitten into her palm.
Aselt, who had drawn near, took her hand.
“Then let’s just leave right now.”
If by some chance her parents had truly changed, if Mabel could be happy here, he’d been prepared to leave alone.
But this place was every bit as awful as he’d feared, and Mabel seemed to have no attachment to it whatsoever.
In that case, there was no reason to linger in this suffocating place.
“But I’m not going to the Grand Duke’s Castle.”
Mabel pulled her hand free as she spoke.
“If I go there now, I don’t know what he’ll do.”
If she followed Aselt to the Grand Duke’s Castle now, Asilonia would certainly lodge an official protest.
Mabel’s own wishes didn’t matter.
After all, it would look like the Escilid Grand Duke Clan had interfered in their family affairs.
“Maybe…… maybe he’ll claim that your father kidnapped me.”
This was not a matter that could end in the sort of light banter that had passed between Siegmund and Mabel before.
There would certainly be serious consequences for the Grand Duke Clan.
‘And that would lead to the secondary male lead’s exit, just like the original story.’
She couldn’t let that happen.
“Anyway, don’t worry. I can run away just fine on my own!”
Mabel laughed dismissively as she said not to worry, but for Aselt, worry was impossible to suppress.
“So you’re telling me to just leave you here?”
It had only been days.
She’d spent mere days in this place, yet during the month she’d stayed at the Grand Duke’s Castle without falling ill, here at the Estate Mabel was hovering on the brink of death.
So had someone been caring for her devotedly?
That was not the case.
And so Aselt could not back down.
“How exactly do you plan to escape?”
Aselt spoke earnestly, begging her to think just once more.
“That man has already changed the locations of all the Secret Passages in the house and completely replaced every servant. He’s terrified you might run away!”
Which meant that all the weaknesses Mabel had gathered during her time as the Ghost Princess had become useless.
‘So that’s why he replaced the servants.’
All those claims that he disrespected Mabel had been nothing but lies.
“There must be some way. If I just play the dutiful daughter—”
That was when it happened.
“Caught it!”
“It’s here, it’s here!”
“Bring the Net at once!”
Suddenly, the garden erupted into chaos.
Startled, Mabel immediately moved toward the window.
Aselt pressed himself flat against the wall, peering out from the blind spot to see what was happening below.
“What did you catch?”
Mabel was on her toes, bouncing slightly to peer over the tall windowsill.
“……All right, I understand.”
Aselt, who had been watching outside, stepped back from the window.
“If you’re really set on it, Mabel, I’ll head back alone.”
When Mabel glanced to the side, Aselt was exhaling a sigh of resignation.
Though just moments before, his expression had been urgent.
Curiosity flickered only briefly before Aselt pointed out the window.
When Mabel turned her head toward the glass, following Aselt’s gesture without thinking, he spoke in a voice tinged with amusement.
“But I’m not so sure that creature down there shares your sentiment.”
“That creature?”
In that moment, a loud cry rang out from beyond the window.
“The Grand Duke Clan’s Red Fox is definitely out there!”
……Why is Kellik out there?

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————