I’m The Male Lead’s Biological Daughter, But I Want To Live With The Second Male Lead! - Chapter 53

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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 53
At that same moment.
“That’s odd.”
Zigmund was rifling through a stack of documents, searching for something that should have been there.
Then it happened.
Rat-a-tat-tat-tat!
Bang, crash!
The Study door flew open with such force that it slammed against the wall, leaving the frame splintered and broken.
To dare open the Grand Duke’s Study door without so much as permission!
Just as Dain was about to say something, the culprit burst out:
“Sunglasses! Patent! Mabel didn’t file it!”
The intruder was none other than Aselt.
Clutching Mabel’s hand firmly, Aselt cried out again:
“Mabel doesn’t even know what a patent is! Master, what have you been teaching her all this time?!”
At Aselt’s words, Zigmund’s face went rigid.
Not because of the disrespect.
“Mabel, you really didn’t file the patent application?”
Zigmund hurried around his desk, turning toward Mabel with urgent eyes.
His face had gone ashen.
The very document he’d been searching for all this time was Mabel’s patent application for the Sunglasses.
Mabel stood there, utterly bewildered.
‘What—what is this? It feels like I’ve made some catastrophic mistake.’
The inexplicable pressure made her want to run.
But instead of fleeing, she creaked out a nod.
“Y-yes…….”
At that answer, Dain’s spectacles shattered with a sharp crack.
Mabel started to ask if he was alright, but Zigmund was faster.
“Dain! Check the patent filing list immediately!”
“Yes, sir!”
Dain, now wearing fresh spectacles, moved with crisp efficiency.
“If by any chance the Sunglasses shows up on there—”
If it does?
Mabel looked up at Zigmund, his voice having turned distinctly colder.
Aselt quickly covered Mabel’s ears.
Zigmund’s lips moved, but she heard nothing at all.
Yet from the faint shape of his words, it seemed… decidedly unpleasant.
* * *
After the commotion had settled.
Mabel sat down and received a lengthy lecture from Zigmund on the subject of patents.
“Intellectual property rights were important even in the age of magic, but now they’re more crucial than ever. In the past, only a few could craft Artifacts—but that’s no longer the case.”
Patents were the only means by which Alchemists could protect their intellectual property.
“Surely you wouldn’t want someone else to monopolize your ideas as if they were their own, would you?”
As Mabel listened intently to Zigmund’s lecture, her conscience pricked her slightly.
The Sunglasses weren’t actually an innovation of her own invention.
Yet she couldn’t very well admit indifference in front of Zigmund, who’d been robbed of his research materials by Sophia.
‘I’m so sorry, original inventor of Sunglasses!’
Mabel apologized profusely in her heart and nodded carefully.
“Right. So from now on, make sure you file a patent application. Then…….”
Zigmund paused mid-sentence.
He could see that while Mabel was listening, she wasn’t particularly moved by the subject matter.
So he was trying to think of how to capture her genuine interest when—
A perfect solution occurred to him.
“Money will accumulate.”
“……Money?”
There.
Notice how her focus instantly sharpened.
The glimmer returned to Mabel’s eyes—eyes that had been listening but remained somewhat listless until now.
Zigmund suppressed an amused smile and continued:
“That’s right. People interested in your patented products will come with money. They’ll invest, or they might fund further development and improvements. Or perhaps they’ll pay intellectual property royalties to sell it themselves.”
“Ah……!”
Mabel, who had not thought that far ahead until now, arrived at a new understanding.
‘Then I’ll be able to repay the debt I owe to the Grand Duke’s Mansion!’
But her joy was short-lived—there was something she needed to confirm first.
“So if I file a Patent application, what name should I put down?”
“Your name?”
“Yes. I’m still Mabel Asilonia, aren’t I? Wouldn’t that just be Asilonia doing something good?”
That was, of course, exactly true.
An individual’s achievements were the family’s achievements.
Zigmund hesitated as he grasped what Mabel was trying to say.
When Zigmund could not answer readily, Mabel clenched both fists and spoke.
“I don’t want that!”
Just a few days ago, hadn’t she been dragged away on the pretext of developing Alchemy?
“Mm…….”
As Zigmund remained silent, Mabel, gauging his mood, fidgeted with her fingers.
“Could you not…… do it under your name……?”
“What?”
“The Patent application…… could you not file it under your name……?”
Of course not.
The Sunglasses were entirely Mabel’s idea.
So it was right to publish them under her name.
But.
“If I put it out under my name, then Father’s will is done anyway. So whether I’m in the Grand Duke’s Castle or the mansion, it’s all the same…… .”
Mabel’s argument, as she looked up at him pleadingly with wide, luminous eyes, held its own merit.
Zigmund, lost in thought, bent his torso toward Mabel and asked.
“What would you do if I stole your money?”
Mabel’s eyes widened as if she had heard something she never expected.
Her blinking crimson eyes soon curved like a crescent moon.
“I wouldn’t mind!”
“What?”
“I’m already spending the Grand Duke’s Mansion’s money anyway.”
Mabel continued, toying with the hem of the dress she wore.
“This dress, the bed in my room, the rice I ate this morning, even Ella’s salary. So I don’t mind! You can spend it all, sir!”
Mabel spoke with innocent cheer.
Zigmund, who had spoken half in jest and half in concern, felt something warm bloom in his chest.
‘So she’d been worrying about all that…….’
It was written into the employment contract, true enough, but he had always thought of it as mere formality.
After all, he had added a clause granting Mabel a Performance Bonus.
‘But…….’
The face of Mabel looking up at him and smiling now was genuine.
Though she seemed well-integrated into the Grand Duke’s Castle, she still maintained such a careful boundary—and it ached something in Zigmund’s heart.
“It’s a shame…….”
“Sir?”
Zigmund had muttered something, but it was too quiet for Mabel to hear.
When Mabel asked what he’d said, he shook his head and spoke.
“You trust me that much—I cannot betray your faith. I’ll keep a separate ledger for you.”
“What? No, really, you don’t have to do that!”
“I must. Have you forgotten, Mabel? You’re my assistant.”
As Mabel tried to stop him, Zigmund wrinkled the bridge of his nose and smiled.
“Surely you don’t want to make me out as some incompetent professor who steals his assistant’s achievements?”
“That’s not it, but…….”
“Then let’s leave it at that. Ah, and I’ll note down a Performance Bonus for having made such a remarkable invention.”
“What? A remarkable…… eh?”
“Your first invention turned out to be practical—how delightful. I’ll add a Delight Bonus.”
“Wait! What in the world is a Delight Bonus?!”
Mabel rushed at him to protest, but Zigmund paid her no mind.
“You made it without proper blueprints, so I’ll add a Genius Bonus as well. And since you think of the Grand Duke’s Mansion so fondly, I’ll add a Pride Bonus too.”
“Honestly!”
At his continued teasing, Mabel glared at Zigmund like a sulking pufferfish.
Her puffed cheeks were so adorable that Zigmund burst into laughter without meaning to.
It was only natural that Mabel grew even more indignant.
But even as Mabel glared at Zigmund, the corners of her mouth twitched with suppressed delight.
She didn’t enjoy being teased by him, but she knew his mockery was brimming with affection.
Zigmund had stared at her stonily for a long moment before, but now he gazed at Mabel, who was grinning broadly in response to his own smile.
“So then, you’re truly filing the application under my name?”
“Yes!”
She answered brightly, as though everything had unfolded exactly as she’d hoped.
Lovely.
A sudden urge seized Zigmund—to smother Mabel with kisses—and he was startled by his own impulse.
He didn’t lack love for Aselt and Kellic, but he’d never felt such a thing before.
“Well then, you’re free to go now.”
“Yes~!”
Mabel sprang from the sofa and hurried toward the worn door.
Just as Zigmund found himself unexpectedly disappointed by the complete absence of reluctance in her departing figure—
—Mabel, her small arm stretched to grasp the doorknob, turned back to look at him.
“I didn’t like being teased much, but… I’m still glad I got to talk with you, sir! Can I come even when it’s not class time?”
Zigmund, caught off guard by words he hadn’t anticipated, soon let out a low chuckle before answering.
“Of course. Anytime at all.”

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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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