I’m The Male Lead’s Biological Daughter, But I Want To Live With The Second Male Lead! - Chapter 6

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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 6
A moment later.
The plate of sweet and tangy fruit pudding that had sat before Mabel was empty in an instant.
‘For something so small, she certainly knows how to eat.’
Mabel’s cheeks were puffed out like balloons as she happily worked through each bite.
‘I was going to tell her to leave some if it got too much, but…’
Siegmund found himself wondering if she was actually a hamster or a squirrel in disguise.
A reasonable suspicion, it seemed—his eyes narrowed thoughtfully.
“Aah, I’m so full.”
Mabel rubbed her noticeably distended belly and set down her fork.
Seeing this, Siegmund opened the conversation.
“Well, now that you’ve filled your stomach, shall we finish what we started yesterday?”
“Yes? What do you mean?”
“You said you knew where Sophia is.”
Oh, that’s right!
Mabel’s eyes widened like a rabbit’s.
She’d forgotten all about it, her heart having gone soft in the warm atmosphere of the Grand Duchy.
Mabel nodded eagerly.
“Yes! I’m not sure if she’s still there, but… no, wait—she’ll definitely be there!”
“And why exactly are you willing to tell me?”
“Because, si… you like our mother and you’re looking for her, aren’t you?”
As Mabel was about to call him “mister,” she caught Siegmund’s eyebrow twitch, so she hastily corrected herself.
But Siegmund’s face only grew more rigid.
Mabel’s mind raced, wondering if she’d misspoken somehow, before it hit her.
‘That was something Siegmund never admitted to in the novel!’
Which meant that for someone who’d only met him yesterday, knowing this was very strange indeed.
What should she do?
Just as her small mind was working frantically for an excuse, Siegmund spoke with a cold, mocking smile.
“Caesar?”
“…Yes?”
“Your father told you? That I have feelings for your mother?”
“Um… well…”
She didn’t know.
Mabel had rarely seen Caesar in person.
She’d probably seen him more often in portraits.
So of course she had no idea whether Caesar went around saying such things!
But instead of speaking the truth, Mabel nodded.
“Yes, yes! H-he definitely did!”
Though it wasn’t entirely a lie—Caesar was absolutely convinced that Siegmund was Mabel’s biological father.
Those eyes of Siegmund’s, holding such icy mockery.
Those crimson eyes were identical to Mabel’s own.
‘If only he really were my father…’
Then she could live in this warm, cheerful Grand Duchy.
Every single day would surely be full of joy.
But unfortunately, Mabel’s true father was Caesar.
In the novel, Mabel’s possession of all the distinctive traits of the Esclid bloodline had merely served as a plot device.
“I see. So that’s why you’re telling me where Sophia is…”
Listening to Siegmund murmur as if fitting together puzzle pieces, Mabel’s chest ached.
‘Oh no, I just lied to the first person who ever called me by my name…’
She’d sworn she’d never lie again—and yet Siegmund immediately posed an awkward question.
“Is that also why you knew about me?”
“Ah, well…”
She wasn’t trying to lie, but…
One lie truly did beget another—that old saying wasn’t wrong.
“Y-yes, that’s right. Because we have the same eye color, and you were the only one lurking around the house, so…”
“Ha. Well, if I’m a ‘lurker,’ I deserve such gossip.”
Fortunately, Siegmund seemed satisfied with her explanation.
“So then, where were you trying to go when you left the house?”
Ah, thank goodness—this time she didn’t have to lie.
“The Orphanage!”
Mabel answered with a serene smile.
At the same moment, Siegmund’s expression hardened into something rigid and unyielding.
“Well, you see, I’m apparently not Father’s daughter. So I shouldn’t be in that house.”
……
“And then I found out there was a place called an Orphanage, so I was going to go there.”
The more Mabel spoke in that calm, matter-of-fact way, the more Siegmund felt something twist inside his chest.
How could she say it so easily, as though it were nothing?
How many times, how often must she have heard such things……?
“So, um, if you could just tell me where Mother is, couldn’t you take me there and that’s all?”
……
Mabel had begun fidgeting with her hands again, a habit that had crept back.
He worried the servants’ salve might wear away and her hands might bleed again while she slept.
Siegmund told her not to do that as he answered.
“No.”
His voice was firm, at odds with the tenderness of his concern.
Mabel looked bewildered.
“Why?! Aren’t you curious about where Mother is?”
“No. I’m not curious. So I can’t grant your request.”
This makes no sense!
He’s a secondary male lead!
So why isn’t he curious about where the heroine is?!
Too flustered to do anything but gape, Mabel slowly opened her mouth again.
“I see. Then there’s nothing to be done.”
She didn’t want to push him, much as she wished she could.
“So then, could you just let me out-”
“That’s not happening either.”
“What? Um, why?”
What on earth for?
Mabel blinked rapidly, her words cut short, and asked again.
‘Surely he doesn’t actually mean to keep me locked up here……?’
Horror was rising in Mabel’s face when Siegmund spoke.
“You’re still a child, Mabel. A child shouldn’t wander outside without a guardian—it’s dangerous.”
“But I get around just fine on my own?”
“That may be. But have you forgotten? Mabel, you were kidnapped by me.”
Siegmund gave a dry chuckle, a corner of his mouth lifting.
‘A lie! Or was it real? Was it real?!’
She’d believed him all this time……!
Mabel was about to voice her disappointment when——
Knock, knock.
Dain entered the dining room with the knock.
“Forgive the interruption; your meal isn’t finished.”
“No, it’s fine. Give it here.”
Mabel glared with a flushed face at Siegmund as he took the documents Dain brought in.
“Oh, Dain.”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
“Bring Mabel something cold, would you? Sherbet, perhaps.”
Sherbet, not a way out!
Mabel wanted to say it, but Siegmund seemed to focus intently on the documents, so she could only clamp her mouth shut.
Still, she couldn’t quite soften the glare she was directing at him.
“What. Is that something you’re curious about?”
Eyes on the back of his head or not, Siegmund asked without lifting his gaze from the papers.
“No, not at all.”
“It’s Alchemy. The part I’m researching now. A new formula for locating the Horn Spirit…….”
Not curious, I said!
Mabel let his words go in one ear and out the other, catching none of it, even as she continued to glare at him.
Among the sprawling handwriting, the only things that looked remotely familiar were the elemental symbols, identical to those in modern chemistry.
So Mabel answered defiantly, without much interest.
“Mm-hm, oh, uh, yes, wow.”
But in that moment, Dain’s eyes—watching the two of them—sharpened.
Mabel didn’t notice.
* * *
A short while later.
Mabel returned to her room and finished dressing with Ella’s help.
“I’m so disappointed that Dain offered to show you around the Grand Duchy! I could have given you the tour myself!”
The maids lamented their misfortune, each worrying at their handkerchief.
But since Siegmund had ordered it directly, they had no choice but to accept.
“Do be careful, Miss.”
“Of course.”
Mabel waved goodbye to the maids as she left the room, already thinking ahead.
‘No matter what it takes, I’m going to escape this place!’
A shadow fell across Mabel’s head as her determination burned bright.
“You’ve arrived at precisely the right moment.”
It was Dain.
The Dain who had left the dining hall with a soft smile, telling Siegmund he’d see him later—that same Dain now stood before her with a fastidious expression, adjusting his glasses with a snap.
But the one Mabel faced now wore a stern look as he pushed his spectacles up sharply.
“I see you mean to lower my guard with this punctuality, but I’ve already seen through your scheme!”
He was quite happily drumming away in his own world again.
“Hmph, though I’ve been ordered by His Highness to explain the various parts of the Grand Duchy, if you’re thinking of seeking out secret passages or preparing an escape route, I’d advise you to abandon such notions. You’ll only find yourself despairing at the airtight security.”
Damn. So much for that plan.
Regardless, this docent certainly did love to talk.
Fearing his monologue would only grow longer if they kept standing there, Mabel stepped closer to Dain and grasped his hand firmly.
In that instant, Dain’s entire body went rigid.
“W-w-what are you doing…?”
Yesterday, Ella had explained it to Mabel.
Once everything was ready, she was simply to take his hand.
So she’d grabbed it as a signal to hurry along—but…
‘Did I misunderstand?’
As Mabel tilted her head in confusion, her adorably braided hair moved with her.
“Did you think I’m so childish that I couldn’t push away a hand? You’re from Asilonia. No matter how cute you may be, I couldn’t possibly push you away, I couldn’t… urgh!”
Dain’s eyes behind his spectacles trembled violently, and his voice shook just as badly. Mabel released his hand.
“Oh…”
At that, Dain’s expression turned forlorn.
‘What’s wrong with this person?’
Dain repeatedly clenched and unclenched the hand that had held Mabel’s, mumbling something under his breath.
“Soft… warm…”
His voice was too faint for Mabel to hear.
Mabel blinked her red eyes and asked.
“Aren’t we going?”
“Blast it, you’ve completely unraveled me and yet you stand there so composedly. How terribly cruel…!”
Dain uttered more incomprehensible words before, as if in frustration, he slapped both his cheeks sharply, producing a loud crack.
“There, now I won’t be shaken by you again. No matter what you do!”
Dain, with clear handprints blooming across both cheeks, strode ahead with long steps.
‘He barely had any screen time in the novel, yet his character is genuinely unique.’
Surely there was no one in the Grand Duchy quite as amusing as this man.
Mabel followed behind him with quick, short steps, amused by the thought.

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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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