I’m The Male Lead’s Biological Daughter, But I Want To Live With The Second Male Lead! - Chapter 38

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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 38
Mabel waved her hand through the billowing dust and let out a sharp exclamation.
“That can’t be right?! Achoo!”
The burst of dust sent her into a fit of coughing that lasted several long moments.
“But, but! He just appeared out of nowhere with a—poof!”
“That’s because he came through the Secret Passage.”
“The Secret Passage?”
“Yes. There’s a route that lets you reach this place in one go through a tunnel.”
Mabel went straight to where Kellic lay sprawled and examined the net and ropes binding him.
The ropes were too thick to untie, but the net looked like she could work it loose with her hairpin.
Mabel began sawing furiously at the net with her hairpin as she spoke.
“I’ve been adding to those hay piles bit by bit. I fell directly onto the stone floor once and it hurt terribly.”
Fortunately, the net was cutting through slowly but steadily.
Once it started to tear, the rest came away easily.
“Done!”
“Excellent!”
With just the net gone, Kellic felt so much lighter that he sprang upright in one motion.
In the next instant, he drew out a nail and sliced clean through the thick rope with a single stroke.
The moment Kellic finished straightening himself, he turned his full attention to Mabel.
“But why do I smell blood on you? Are you hurt?”
“Blood? Oh, that’s probably from this.”
Mabel held out the hand she’d pricked with the hairpin.
A dark stain showed through the white cloth wrapped around it.
“You’re bleeding! How did you hurt yourself? Who made you bleed? What kind of—”
Kellic’s voice rose in agitation.
His shout was so loud that the dim Basement Dungeon echoed and rang with it.
“Kellic, shh! Shh!”
Mabel pressed her index finger urgently to her lips, gesturing frantically for him to be quiet.
Kellic belatedly bit down on his own lips and held his breath, listening intently to the space around them.
Fortunately, there seemed to be no one nearby.
“Whew. We almost got caught, really…….”
“Ugh, I’m sorry…….”
Kellic lowered his head sheepishly, hunching his shoulders.
“It’s just… I was so worried about you…….”
“I know, and I’m grateful for that. But this wound—I did it to myself.”
“What? You?”
“Yes. Father gave me a Sleeping Draught. I used it to wake up.”
Mabel spoke of it matter-of-factly, but a dark shadow fell across Kellic’s face.
“I kept hoping it wouldn’t be true, but he really did give you a Sleeping Draught…….”
The image of Caesar’s utterly composed face as he ordered the Sleeping Draught given to Mabel flooded back, and Kellic’s jaw tightened.
Mabel gently steadied him by the shoulder, trying to calm him.
“But that aside—why are you here? How did you even get here?”
Aselt might have managed to slip onto the carriage, but Kellic could never have done such a thing.
When Mabel left the Grand Duchy, Kellic had been sleeping soundly.
Just as Mabel was wondering if perhaps the other adults had come with him, Kellic answered with childlike innocence.
“I ran away from home!”
Mabel felt her mind spinning at those words.
She clutched her suddenly throbbing forehead and squeezed her eyes shut.
“Huh? Mabel, does your head hurt?”
The very person who had caused her headache was now checking her forehead and his own alternately with genuine concern.
“No one was coming to get you anyway, so I had no choice but to come alone. I thought Aselt would be here too, but where did he go?”
“Sigh……. Aselt went back.”
“What? By himself? Why!”
“He said he wouldn’t go back alone, but when he saw you’d been captured, he went back anyway.”
Mabel let out an exasperated sigh as she spoke.
“Now that you’re gone too, the Grand Duchy must be in an uproar. He probably went back to explain what happened.”
“Hmph, well, that does make sense. Leaving you alone in a place like this…… Wait, did he trust me?”
Kellic, who’d been grumbling about Aselt, suddenly widened his eyes in delight.
“He must have thought I could rescue you by myself! And really, whatever else, I’ve never lost a sword match to him.”
With that, Kellic declared his confidence proudly.
Mabel shook her head, finding her thoughts drifting back to the time she’d once slipped out of the Grand Duchy in secret.
She’d believed Kellic then too, yet they’d still been caught.
“Mabel, you don’t trust your brother?”
Kellic gripped a hairpin like a sword and leapt to his feet, eager to prove his skill on the spot.
“Watch this, Mabel! This is the Nightly Sword Form 1, and this is——”
“Fine, fine, I believe you! Just please, stay still——!”
Mabel lunged and clung to his waist before he could cause real trouble.
“Whoosh, whoosh! See? Your brother’s impressive, right?”
But Kellic, captured by enemies and now being helped by the very sister he was meant to protect, showed no sign of stopping.
“Truly!”
It was then that Mabel raised her voice, pleading for him to simply hold still.
Thud. Thud. Thud.
Heavy footsteps echoed down the stairs that led up to the ground level.
Kellic’s arm, extended forward to cut through the air, froze mid-motion.
Mabel, too, with both hands braced at her waist ready to lunge at him, went rigid.
Both instinctively held their breath, their wide eyes locked on each other.
The heavy footsteps descended toward the Basement Dungeon.
Who on earth was it?
As Mabel’s pupils trembled with fear, Kellic swallowed hard and whispered.
“Don’t worry, Mabel. Your brother will protect you.”
Mabel wanted to say she’d heard that before, but seeing Kellic step forward to shield her, she clamped her mouth shut.
Kellic, striking a stance every bit as perfect as a knight’s, bore no resemblance to the reckless troublemaker he’d been mere moments ago.
Reassured by that solid silhouette, Mabel found herself instinctively pressing close behind him.
Kellic felt her draw near and turned his full attention toward the stairwell.
‘Whoever it is doesn’t matter. I’m keeping Mabel safe.’
Presently, a pair of black shoes appeared around the corner where the stairs began.
In that moment, Mabel’s eyes—tense and fixed on the stairs beside Kellic—widened in surprise.
* * *
At that same moment, in Caesar’s Office.
“Still haven’t found her?”
Caesar snapped irritably.
“I-I’m terribly sorry. But no matter how thoroughly we search the entire Mansion, there’s no sign of her. Perhaps she’s already escaped——”
“That’s impossible!”
Crash—shatter!
A glass tumbler flew past the servant’s face and shattered against the wall.
“She’s still in this Mansion, I’m telling you she’s here!”
“Y-yes! I’ll search more carefully at once!”
The ashen-faced servant fled Caesar’s Office like a man running for his life.
But Caesar himself could hardly regain his composure.
The thought of that hideous, revolting snake loose somewhere in his beautiful Mansion set his blood boiling.
‘If that wretch has learned anything, and if he’s passed it to Mabel……’
Mabel still hadn’t opened her heart to Caesar.
He couldn’t fathom how much longer he’d need to work at this.
But if she learned of his plans now, she would never trust him again.
She might even attempt to flee once more.
The Golden Egg-Laying Goose—that would humble Esclid’s pride!
“Damn it!”
Unable to contain his anxiety and rage, Caesar swept everything off his desk.
Still unsatisfied, he gripped the edge of the desk and breathed heavily for some time.
Once Caesar had barely calmed himself, he swept back his disheveled hair and tried to think rationally.
‘Mabel is asleep now, so even if that snake has discovered something, he won’t have an easy time passing it along.’
But he couldn’t simply keep her sedated indefinitely.
She needed instruction in Alchemy.
And beyond Alchemy, there were numerous other things he had to teach her.
She would soon be presented in countless settings as Asilonia’s Princess, so Mabel had to be flawless in every respect.
“There’s so much to consider, my head’s pounding. Is raising a child really this exhausting?”
Caesar murmured to himself, then sighed and called out to Lander, who should have been waiting outside.
But unlike usual, Lander didn’t enter the room promptly.
“Lander! Lander!”
A servant carefully opened the door and answered Caesar’s summons.
“I apologize, sir. Lander is away from his post at the moment.”
“What? Do you know where he went?”
“I’m afraid I cannot say for certain, but it appears he went down to the Basement Dungeon.”

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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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