I’m The Male Lead’s Biological Daughter, But I Want To Live With The Second Male Lead! - Chapter 62

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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 62
The public opinion campaign fell apart, exactly as Zigmund and Mabel had anticipated.
The atmosphere in the banquet hall froze for a moment when the nobles noticed the Empress’s displeasure, but soon they approached Zigmund one by one.
“Grand Duke, it’s been a long time since we last met.”
“Has it? I suppose so.”
“I read the paper you published last time. Ha, you’re truly remarkable.”
Zigmund wasn’t one for much socializing with the nobility.
Part of it was because his house had to maintain neutrality, but mostly it was because Zigmund himself was absorbed entirely in alchemy.
So the nobles who had no chance to establish a connection with him outside of events like this were desperate.
“Would it be possible for us to have a word with you, if you don’t mind?”
“Well… if there’s something to discuss, we can.”
“Ah, it’s just that the matter might not be entirely appropriate for a young lady to hear…”
It was the moment he glanced at Mabel, signaling her to excuse herself.
Zigmund’s expression hardened at once, though he’d been responding with dry courtesy until just then.
“Then it seems even less appropriate to discuss it at a banquet where the young Crown Prince is the guest of honor.”
“No, that’s not what we meant…”
“Yes, yes. We apologize for the misunderstanding. That wasn’t our intention at all.”
“I see. But I suspect whatever you meant to discuss isn’t particularly pleasant either.”
It was a decisive dismissal.
Without giving the men a chance to defend themselves, they were forced to retreat in disappointment or hastily change the subject to something more appropriate.
Watching the crowd shuffle away with lowered spirits, Mabel rolled only her eyes upward to glance at Zigmund.
“…!”
The moment their eyes met with his gaze looking down at her, she quickly lowered her head.
Observing her small, adorable crown of hair, Zigmund realized the child was reading his intentions.
‘So I shouldn’t have even opened my mouth from the start.’
Clicking his tongue inwardly, he bent one knee and knelt down.
“Mabel, Mabel.”
“Yes, yes?”
“Thank you. Thanks to you, I didn’t have to listen to tedious talk.”
At his playful whisper near her ear, Mabel’s eyes sparkled with delight.
That meant she had been helpful to Zigmund!
Mabel’s lips curled up in a smile.
“But if you’re bored, you can go rest if you’d like.”
“No! I like being next to you.”
There was no good that could come from wandering around alone at an event like this anyway.
Ella had also warned her repeatedly to stay close to the Grand Duke.
“Very well, then.”
Zigmund smiled and gently poked Mabel’s soft cheek with his finger, when…
“Good evening, Grand Duke.”
A new group of faces approached.
While the previous group had focused their attention on Zigmund alone, this man’s gaze was fixed on Mabel.
“Count Griche.”
“I’ve heard rumors about her. So this is the young lady in question.”
At Griche’s words, Zigmund’s eyes sharpened.
“I’d prefer not to discuss family matters at a place like this.”
In truth, the location wasn’t really the issue.
The problem was Mabel herself.
Count Griche was one of the elder families.
As such, he took considerable interest in Mabel, who had recently become entangled with Zigmund.
There were whispers in certain circles that she might be Zigmund’s illegitimate daughter.
Moreover, not long ago, Zigmund had not only brought the child to the capital but had also opened a trial that resulted in Caesar Asilonia losing custody.
Those watching Zigmund’s moves couldn’t help but wonder.
Was he planning to take Mabel as his successor?
According to what Griche knew, some impatient elders had subtly probed Zigmund’s intentions.
Of course, they received no answer from him.
But watching Zigmund protect the child right before their eyes, many of them seemed convinced their suspicions were correct.
“I see. I was presumptuous. My apologies.”
Thinking about the considerable presence this small child carried, Count Griche bowed slightly at the waist.
Between the two adults, Mabel caught a subtle current for just a moment.
But when Griche changed the subject, she couldn’t pursue the thought any further.
“Poachers have been acting up again, and it’s become quite the headache for us.”
“I see…….”
Poachers? What poachers was she talking about?
Mabel’s confusion, marked by a tilted head, was answered by a conversation from another group nearby.
“We saw it coming from the moment they lifted the regulations on the Mark of Servitude. We never thought they’d turn a blind eye to the black market and then to poaching as well…….”
Beastman poachers, then!
“Who wouldn’t? Anyway, you have to acknowledge the Empress’s aversion to beastmen.”
As the nobles spoke in hushed tones, Mabel recalled something she had learned recently.
How a beastman had ever become empress in the Greenhurst Empire.
In fact, the person designated to become empress was not Empress Francesca.
Emperor Edward had a lover elsewhere.
In the past, when Edward was still Crown Prince, he was ambushed.
Wounded, Edward fled deep into the mountains and received aid from a woman.
She was Empress Lillian.
At that time, the white lion, descendant of a Mythical Beast, was hunted by many alchemists and lived hidden in the mountains.
After falling in love with Lillian, Edward made great efforts to change the Empire’s perception of beastmen, which had been one of oppression.
But no matter how much power a Crown Prince wielded, he could not control the self-serving interests of the political arena.
Duke Jicoren, who had led the business of harvesting beastmen for alchemy materials, fiercely opposed it.
Similarly, the elder nobles who had grown wealthy and powerful through exploiting beastmen sided with Duke Jicoren, turning the political scene into chaos.
The Former Emperor, who ruled at that time, made a bold move to pacify them.
He arranged a marriage between Edward and Francesca, the Duke’s daughter.
“I understand why His Imperial Majesty keeps his distance from the Empress even more.”
“I agree entirely. Just look at what she does under the guise of checking the favored Empress. She inherited the intentions of the house that commercialized the Mark of Servitude, lifted the regulations, and now she’s actively promoting it, isn’t she?”
“That’s exactly what I mean. And yet a beastman sits brazenly on the throne as Empress.”
As the nobles whispered among themselves with lowered voices, Mabel’s ears perked up all the more.
It was House Jicoren that had commercialized the horrific Mark of Servitude in the first place.
And not only did he end up marrying a daughter of such a house, but the Empress herself was desperate to tear down the Empress—it was almost absurd.
No wonder the relationship between the Emperor and the Empress was poor.
“Would things have been different if the Empress had an heir? The beastman trade, fashion business…… it’s complete monopoly, isn’t it?”
Someone lamented that it was a pointless hypothetical, but still frustrating.
“I’m not sure…… but wouldn’t that be precisely why the Empress tried to mark the Empress with the Mark of Servitude? She feared for the Crown Prince’s position.”
“Hush. That’s only rumor.”
Though people hurried to shush one another, Mabel, who had been listening intently, had already heard it all.
‘This is huge, huge, huge!’
Mabel felt a jolt of excitement hearing such sensational news that no one had told her.
Only then did Mabel understand why the seat beside the Empress was empty.
No matter how busy, surely not.
She had already thought it strange that the Emperor hadn’t shown his face at the Crown Prince’s birthday banquet at all.
‘If it really happened like that…… I wouldn’t have wanted to come either.’
At the same time, Mabel finally understood why the Empress had tried so hard to match her with the Crown Prince.
‘Every time I asked Father and Uncle Dain, they only apologized for getting me caught up in the complicated affairs of adults.’
Such a story would indeed be difficult to explain to a child.
But precisely because of this, it was all the more absurd to Mabel.
‘I understand the situation. But why did she have to single me out?’
I only wanted to take revenge on House Asilonia and live well!
No matter how she thought about it, being used like this rubbed her the wrong way.
‘And what on earth was Caesar thinking, jumping so readily into the Empress’s scheme?’
There must have been some deal struck between them, but what could it have been?
Mabel was lost in thought about Caesar, her eyes growing darker, when—
“Duke Caesar Asilonia enters!”
Mabel snapped her gaze toward the entrance.
A sharp tension filled the air, and she swallowed hard.
“He’s finally here.”
The same tension hung in Zigmund’s murmured words.
Just as Mabel unconsciously gripped Zigmund’s hand tight, a voice that followed froze her in place.
“Duchess Sophia Asilonia enters!”
Not only Mabel, but everyone turned toward the entrance with expressions of disbelief.
At the recent trial, Sophia had accused Caesar of domestic abuse.
And now the two of them were here together?
“Come here, Sophia.”
Caesar’s voice rang out through the banquet hall, now fallen silent as every guest hung on his words.
He spoke with such tenderness, extending his hand toward the entrance beyond the doorway.
From the shadows of the darkened corridor, the hem of a pale blue dress came into view.
“No…”
Mabel’s eyes went wide; she nearly fainted on the spot.
“It can’t be…”
“Is that really the Duchess of Asilonia…?”
There stood Sophia—the woman who had abandoned Mabel and vanished so long ago.
She wore an elegant pale blue gown, her hand resting in Caesar’s as he escorted her, gracing him with a gentle smile.
Yet neither of them bore the slightest mark of the horrific crimes—the child abuse, the domestic violence—that had tormented those they’d left behind.
The guests’ attention scattered like startled birds, turning swiftly elsewhere.
Toward Mabel, who stood beside Zigmund with her hand clasped in his.
Mabel stared blankly at the pair before her—beautiful as novel cover lovers, impossibly perfect.
“Are you all right?”
Zigmund tightened his grip on her hand and asked quietly.
His voice pulled her back to herself.
She’d already known Sophia might appear. She’d prepared for this.
There was no reason to be shocked now, no cause for panic.
“Yes. I’m fine.”
Mabel answered, squeezing Zigmund’s hand in return.
Then, the moment Sophia turned her gaze forward, their eyes met—mother and daughter across the empty air between them.

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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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