I’m The Male Lead’s Biological Daughter, But I Want To Live With The Second Male Lead! - Chapter 40

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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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Chapter 40
“Ah, so that’s what it was.”
A soft whisper of steel.
An ornately carved blade pressed against Lander’s throat—the moment he lost his grip on his sword.
“I wondered why neither Mayebel nor you seemed to be showing yourselves.”
“M-Master…”
The one who had flicked away Lander’s blade was none other than Kessar.
“This is precisely why one doesn’t raise dark-haired beasts.”
Kessar’s hand trembled against the hilt—trembled with betrayal and fury.
“Master, I—I—!”
Lander tried to protest, but Kessar would not wait to hear it.
A sharp, wet slice.
Without a moment’s hesitation, he had driven his blade clean through Lander’s chest.
“Khh…”
Blood welled up in Lander’s throat as he toppled sideways.
The pool beneath him spread steadily wider, dark and viscous.
“Hah…!”
“Gah…!”
Mayebel clapped her hand over her mouth, horrified and stunned.
Kelrik swallowed a trembling cry—he too was shaken to the core.
His legs shook beneath him, but he forced himself to stand firm, to shield Mayebel.
“Sigh…”
Kessar wiped his blade clean with a soft exhalation, his face utterly unmoved.
One might not flinch half so calmly at crushing an insect.
Mayebel shuddered once more at the coldness in him.
“How strange.”
Kessar sheathed his sword and turned his gaze upon the children.
“I was told you had consumed all the medicine I gave you.”
There was no trace of the tenderness he had worn—false though it was—in his blue eyes as he studied Mayebel now.
Only irritation at some unforeseen complication, plain and bitter.
“That maid woman would never have lied to me.”
His gaze swept slowly over Mayebel as she cowered behind Kelrik—and froze upon one detail.
A cloth wrapped around her hand, stained dark with seeping blood.
“Ha.”
A cold laugh escaped Kessar’s lips as understanding dawned.
“Clever little schemer. You’ve inherited your mother’s cunning right down to the bone.”
In the original story, Sophia had escaped Achilonia Castle in precisely this manner—by outwitting him.
“But at least you won’t weep for your own misery the way she did.”
As thoughts of Sophia surfaced, Kessar’s mouth twisted into a bitter smile.
His father, who had once cherished him, was dead; his half-brothers were moving to sell Sophia into servitude. Kessar had seized this beautiful manor to save her.
If a legitimate heir inherited the title, then he, the bastard, would become a commoner.
Then he could never keep Sophia safe.
So Kessar had debased himself, pandering to the legitimates’ whims, unearthing their scandals and secrets.
He had even poisoned his own father when the family patriarch stood in his way.
That season had been the darkest hour of Kessar’s life.
Yet still he endured.
All for Sophia’s sake.
And what did Sophia do?
She betrayed him—and bore another man’s child.
Then she spoke of it without hesitation, without shame, calling it the fruit of love, spinning lies so brazen they stung.
It was unforgivable.
What husband alive could forgive his wife’s infidelity?
But because he still loved Sophia, he had spoken to her with gentleness at first.
Erase it, he had said.
Do this, and I will let the matter pass as though it never was.
But Sophia had only grown angry at his forbearance.
She did not understand—did not know—that this tenderness was the last thread of patience he could wring from himself in that agony of betrayal.
From that day forward, Kessar had closed the door to Sophia.
After that, she wept every night, lamenting her station.
Kessar could not fathom why.
She was the victim, yet here she was, acting as though she were the wronged party. What had she possibly done right?
“In the end, you’ll betray me anyway.”
Kessar’s gaze settled quietly on Mayebel, who cowered behind Kelrik.
“How much more do I have to do for you?”
Kessar muttered the words as he advanced.
“D-don’t come any closer!”
Kelrik’s form shifted halfway toward his fox-self, fangs bared, but Kessar didn’t so much as flinch.
“I apologized, didn’t I? I said it wouldn’t happen again.”
“I told you not to come near me!”
As Kessar continued forward, Kelrik lunged at him.
But Kessar didn’t blink—he simply kicked Kelrik aside with brutal efficiency.
Kelrik threw both arms up to shield himself, but it was useless.
“Yelp!”
The force behind that kick was on an entirely different scale from anything Lander had ever delivered.
“Hgh… ughh…”
Kelrik crashed to the ground, clutching his abdomen and gasping.
It wasn’t that Lander had been going easy on him.
Kessar’s abilities far surpassed both Lander and Kelrik combined.
Harboring a deep inferiority complex toward Siegmund, Kessar had awakened his Aura late—but he had become a Grand Master nonetheless.
“Brother!”
Mayebel rushed toward Kelrik, but the blade pressed to her throat stopped her cold.
“You should have just obeyed me.”
The tip of Kessar’s sword dug into the soft flesh of Mayebel’s neck.
Blood trickled down in hot, stinging rivulets.
“We could have been such a loving father and daughter.”
Yet Kessar’s face held not a shred of mercy.
‘I really might die.’
Fear of death closing in seized Mayebel, her pupils trembling violently.
What could she do?
Mayebel clenched her fists, her mind racing, and swallowed hard.
She had nothing left to lose. This was all or nothing.
“You’d… you’d be the one losing out, wouldn’t you?!”
“…What?”
“I know everything! It’s because of Alchemy, isn’t it? That’s why you brought me back.”
Mayebel steadied her trembling breath, fear still gripping her, and looked Kessar straight in the eye.
“You need me, don’t you?”
The weight of the blade at her throat seemed to lighten just slightly.
‘Good, I’ve caught his interest!’
Mayebel forced strength into her quivering legs and raised her voice higher still.
“I was at the Grand Duke’s Mansion. I’ve even been inside the Grand Duke’s laboratory.”
“…And?”
“Proper Alchemy requires study, but I’m telling you—I learned things at the Grand Duke’s Mansion.”
“So?”
“What I mean is, you can’t kill me.
To appease Kessar, Mayebel forced the word ‘father’ out through gritted teeth.
“You need me.”
By the last word, her legs had nearly given out beneath her, and she swayed.
Just as she thought the blade would sink deeper, Kessar withdrew it with impeccable timing, and she remained unharmed.
“Let Kelrik go. Then I… I’ll keep obeying you… father.”
“What are you saying, Mayebel!”
Kelrik, who had been sprawled on the ground, cried out as he struggled to his feet.
But Mayebel didn’t turn to look at him.
Her fists, slick with sweat, clenched tighter still as she kept her gaze fixed solely on Kessar.
“I’ll work hard at Alchemy! And when needed, I’ll be the perfect handmaiden for you!”
“Hmph.”
“I’ll do everything you want, exactly as you command! So please—let Kelrik go.”
Mayebel bowed her head deeply, pleading.
The child’s small frame trembled visibly.
‘I ran away so I could strike back at the protagonists, hit them hard…’
But Kelrik’s life mattered more than any of those plans.
The people of the Grand Duke’s Mansion—those who had hoped to preserve peace by stopping the protagonists’ happy ending—included Kelrik among them.
She couldn’t let Kelrik die because of her.
Kessar looked down at Mayebel, who trembled but still kept her head bowed before him.
A flicker of interest crossed his cold blue eyes—faint, but unmistakable.
“……Very well. Let it be so.”
“Truly?”
At his reply, Mayebel’s head snapped up, a flush of relief and joy spreading across her face.
In that moment, as she exhaled the breath she’d been holding—a mixture of relief and elation that Kelrik would live—
“But I can’t simply let him go.”
Kessar’s tone shifted abruptly. He approached Kelrik, who had only just managed to stand.
“It appears that creature is your weakness, after all.”
“Wait—what are you—!”
What Kessar withdrew from his breast was nothing other than a Seal.
At its end gleamed a faintly glowing stone, and Mayebel’s eyes widened at the sight.
‘Could it be……?’
Kelrik, who stood barely upright with one hand clutched to his abdomen, felt the same shock of recognition.
The moment Kelrik tried to bolt, Kessar seized him by the scruff of his neck and hoisted him up.
“Ugh, let me go—!”
Kessar subdued the struggling Kelrik with ease and raised the Seal high.
“I should imprint a Subordination Mark on you. That way, this weakness of yours won’t be able to run away.”
“No!”
Mayebel rushed forward and threw all her weight against Kessar’s arm, clinging desperately.
But the weight of a child who hadn’t grown properly was hardly a threat.
“Get off me!”
“Shriek!”
Kessar shoved Mayebel aside with one arm and barked out his annoyance.
“Run, brother!”
Mayebel’s cry rang out, but Kelrik was already trapped in Kessar’s grip—unable to move, unable to escape.
Kessar sneered at Kelrik’s futile struggling, then pressed the Seal down upon him.
“Brother—!”
Brilliant light exploded outward.
As the Magic Stone of the Seal made contact with Kelrik’s demi-human form, radiance blazed forth in a blinding flash.

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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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