I’m The Male Lead’s Biological Daughter, But I Want To Live With The Second Male Lead! - Chapter 51

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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 51
“Do not worry yourself. He simply lost consciousness from the shock. Nothing more.”
The physician finished his examination and offered these reassurances.
Yet Zigmund, who had been pacing outside the door, could not seem to relax his expression.
“She has wept herself to exhaustion before, but never has she hyperventilated like that. Are you quite certain she’s well?”
“It is likely due to depleted vital energy. As a precaution, I shall prescribe a tonic beneficial to the lungs.”
With that, the physician again urged him not to worry and took his leave.
Dain and Ella followed in the doctor’s wake, pestering Mabel with questions about what ought to be done for her.
Zigmund, meanwhile, found himself unable to enter Mabel’s room.
“Aren’t you going to look in on her?”
Aselt emerged from his room amid the commotion and asked.
Zigmund merely gazed at the closed door for a long moment before shaking his head.
“She’s been thoroughly frightened because of me. I think it best to let her rest alone today.”
“And yet… were I in her place, I should not wish to wake alone.”
“That’s true, isn’t it?”
Zigmund answered as though he had been waiting for permission.
He abandoned all pretense of composure, his eagerness to see Mabel written plainly across his face.
Aselt found the sight rather amusing and, laughing softly, gave Zigmund a gentle push toward the door.
“Yes. So you should go in and see her at once.”
“You’re right. Thank you for the encouragement.”
Zigmund ruffled Aselt’s hair and hurried into Mabel’s chamber.
The room was dimly lit, the candles kept low to allow the child proper rest.
Breathe-breathe-
Between the shadows came the soft, steady breathing of the sleeping girl.
‘Thank goodness……’
Though he had heard the physician’s report, Zigmund only truly found peace when he saw Mabel’s condition with his own eyes.
‘To think she was frightened enough to hyperventilate……’
Zigmund drew a nearby chair to the bedside and sat, his gaze growing distant and thoughtful.
‘But then, who would not be shaken to learn their mother was in fact a villain?’
And yet Mabel appeared to harbor no particular feeling toward Sophia.
Which was why Zigmund had proceeded with the trial preparations without hesitation, bringing the Subjugation Mark to light.
‘Still, for the child, a mother must hold some place of importance……’
Reaching forward with care, Zigmund brushed aside the hair that fell across her brow.
The delicate strands whispered across his fingertips, and the sensation stirred something tender within him.
Zigmund gazed upon the sleeping child with quiet affection.
Mabel was truly a peculiar girl.
She was undoubtedly the blood daughter of Caesar and Sophia, and yet their features seemed strangely absent from her face.
‘I cannot recall anyone in Asilonia or Elander bearing hair of that purple hue.’
Rather, there was but one family renowned for such a color.
Eschlide.
Zigmund himself bore silver hair, a strong inheritance from his mother, yet the direct line of the Grand Duchy had always possessed hair of this violet shade—generation after generation.
His own father, the previous Grand Duke, bore the very same color as Mabel, did he not?
And her crimson eyes, too, were a hallmark of the Eschlide direct line.
‘So that is why Caesar, who despises me so thoroughly, could never truly love this child.’
It was no secret that Zigmund’s efforts had been instrumental in Caesar’s succession of noble rank.
‘Caesar grinds his teeth and feigns ignorance, but……’
He could not possibly be unaware.
That Sophia had uncovered the corruption of Asilonia’s legitimate heirs, and exposed the scandals of the Duchess—all of it had been through Zigmund’s aid.
‘This mark was born from that time.’
Zigmund’s hand closed gently around the shoulder bearing the Subjugation Mark, and his eyes grew distant, reaching toward the past.
When Sophia had faced the danger of being sold away by her brothers, Caesar had come to her aid.
Thus, though but a child born outside the family, Sophia had become the betrothed of the Asilonian Crown Prince—secure, at least for a time.
It was after this that Zigmund, who had been abroad for his studies, returned home.
Eschlide had long devoted itself to the study of Alchemy, acquiring rare materials through the Elander noble house.
It was only natural that the young scions of two families in such commerce should become acquainted.
Zigmund had wished to aid Sophia, though belated in doing so, but his sentiment had been nothing more than that of a friend.
– You see, I… in truth, I have harbored feelings for you, Zigmund. And so, one day, I wished to become your wife.
Such a confession from Sophia had taken him somewhat aback.
The common account held that Caesar and Sophia had long cherished each other and that their betrothal had only recently been formalized.
Yet now this same Sophia claimed she had been harboring affection for Zigmund all along?
When Zigmund fell silent, Sophia let out a soft laugh.
“Of course, that was when I didn’t understand love. I thought that was what it was, but it wasn’t.”
“Ah…….”
“I understood after meeting Caesar. Oh, so this is love. People can be this good to each other. Love is a feeling that can never be confused with friendship.”
As Sophia spoke, her face glowed with the beauty of a girl intoxicated by first love.
“Looking back, that’s how it was. My wanting to become your wife—all of it was my father’s will. He loved me dearly. That’s why he kept saying I should become a Grand Duchess to be worthy of myself.”
“He would have said exactly that.”
“But loving Caesar, I realized something. Wealth and power, titles—none of it matters. If I’m with the person I love, that place is paradise.”
Sophia’s eyes shone with dreamlike rapture, and her voice as she spoke of her love for Caesar dripped like honey.
That was why he let his guard down.
The tea that Sophia had poured for him with her own hands, after so long, contained poison.
As Zigmund staggered and fell to one side, betrayal flooded his eyes.
And the face of Sophia reflected in those eyes was…… utterly cold.
It was not the face of an innocent girl in love.
“I’m sorry, Zigmund. But reality is harsh. I’ve learned that love alone isn’t enough.”
It was the face of an adult shattered against the cruel wall of reality.
Sophia rose from her seat and approached the fallen Zigmund.
Zigmund bit the inside of his mouth, desperately trying to stay conscious, but it was no use.
It was because Sophia, gripping his jaw, poured an even larger dose of the drug down his throat.
“Still, you’ll support my happiness, won’t you? You’re my childhood friend, after all.”
She said such terrible things while doing it.
Though he had much he wanted to say, his body would barely obey him.
As his mind grew increasingly hazy, Zigmund finally closed his eyes and lost consciousness.
With the naive thought that nothing worse than this could possibly happen.
“How could you do this to me? How?!”
Right after regaining consciousness.
When Zigmund learned the cause of the burning pain radiating from his shoulder, fury consumed him.
But in the end, he could not lay a finger on Sophia.
It was because of a modified Seal that Sophia had created—she had talent in Alchemy, though not nearly as much as Zigmund.
Using the millions of Mana Stones accumulated in the Eschlide Grand Duchy as nourishment, Sophia had succeeded in turning Zigmund into a slave.
“Caesar and I are your friends, aren’t we? You can wish for your friends’ happiness, can’t you?”
“What?!”
“Why are you so angry? You’ve been riding a smooth path without a single worry as the Grand Duke’s son. So just think of this as me giving you a privilege, why don’t you?”
Sophia’s attitude was shameless beyond measure.
Fortunately, even Sophia couldn’t go around boasting that she had become Zigmund’s master.
Branding a person was a serious crime.
But that was the only luck granted to Zigmund.
After that, Zigmund had to act on Sophia’s orders.
He dug up corruption among the Asilonian nobles using the power of the Eschlide Grand Duchy.
In the name of the Grand Duke’s son, he gathered evidence of the Duchess’s scandal.
With her pockets swollen from Zigmund’s efforts, Sophia obtained Poison Herbs and succeeded in replacing the Duke of Asilonia himself.
So in a sense, Caesar’s elevation was as good as Zigmund giving it to him.
At the time, Zigmund had suspected that Caesar, who served Sophia so blindly, might also be marked with the Subjugation Mark.
So he had approached carefully, but what he received in return was fierce rejection.
From the beginning, neither of them had ever considered Zigmund a true friend.
This too was a ‘truth’ of this world that Mabel did not know.
“Mmm…….”
At the sound of Mabel stirring, Zigmund snapped back to reality.
The child, who had been thrashing about on the blanket as if swimming, soon settled into heavy breathing and fell back asleep.
‘I’ve heard from Ella that she has bad sleeping habits, but it really is true.’
He’d almost taken a kick to the chin from Mabel.
Carefully straightening Mabel’s position, Zigmund tidied the child’s disheveled hair and lost himself in thought.
‘At least, since Sophia fled, I’m no longer enslaved by the Mark.’
Because of that, he could meet Mabel and embrace the child.
Zigmund, who had been gently playing with the child’s hair for some time, slowly lowered his head.
‘So Mabel, sleep well without worry. I’ll protect you from Sophia’s grasp no matter what.’
Zigmund’s forehead touched Mabel’s gently.
It was a tender, warm moment, as if they were truly parent and child.

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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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