I’m The Male Lead’s Biological Daughter, But I Want To Live With The Second Male Lead! - Chapter 64

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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 64
Caesar and Sophia left without offering any response at all.
Of course, Mabel hadn’t expected them to answer either.
Still, having stated it so pointedly before so many witnesses, she’d need to watch for their reaction for some time.
That alone was already a significant victory.
“……We should take our leave as well.”
Among the guests who couldn’t easily find their voices, Zigmund was the first to break the silence.
“Something troubling has come up, and I’m worried about the child.”
As he said this, drawing Mabel close to his side, Zigmund’s voice was clipped and taut.
‘Is he…… angry?’
The firmness of his hand clasping hers felt as though he’d support her no matter what she’d done.
So she’d just gone ahead and said it anyway…… had it really been a mistake?
Mabel looked up to read Zigmund’s mood, but it was no use.
The light from the chandeliers stretched across the ceiling was too brilliant, obscuring his expression.
“Very well, do go.”
Francesca replied in a voice drained of its usual strength.
She bore the expression of someone who’d been betrayed by a trusted ally.
So the Empress truly did believe in Sophia.
Whatever Caesar had said to convince her, Mabel couldn’t fathom it—and that made her all the more incredulous.
A moment’s thought would have sufficed.
If Sophia were truly a devoted mother, she would never have abandoned Mabel all this time.
Even if she’d fled to escape Caesar, she should have sought Mabel out at least once.
Or at the very least, she should have appeared at the trial and testified against her husband for the child’s sake.
‘Or if not that, she could have attempted to contact me while I was in the Grand Duchy.’
But Sophia had been silent all this while, only to make a grand entrance at the Crown Prince’s birthday celebration.
That was evidence enough that Sophia didn’t cherish Mabel as a daughter—she meant to use her.
How had Francesca failed to see it?
In the end, only the Crown Prince suffered the misfortune of his birthday being spoiled.
His birthday celebration had been ruined by the complicated circumstances of the adults.
But setting that aside……
A glance.
Mabel studied Zigmund’s mood as he walked in silence, still gripping her hand firmly.
Now that they’d left beneath the chandeliers, the corridor was dark, and his expression was invisible.
But his stride remained as narrow and unhurried as always, considerate of Mabel’s pace.
Unable to bear the awkward silence any longer, Mabel ventured cautiously to speak.
“Um—”
“That sort of talk—”
And their words interlocked.
“You speak first.”
“No, you go first, Father.”
“I said you first.”
After a brief exchange of deference, Zigmund finally agreed to go first.
He took a moment to gather himself, then spoke.
“What you said just now wasn’t something you needed to say yourself.”
Was this a reproach? Or a rebuke?
‘Perhaps I’ve caused him worry again……’
A cool breeze met Mabel as they emerged from the building that housed the Banquet Hall.
Spring flowers were still far off in the Grand Duchy, yet the Imperial Palace Garden was fragrant with blossoms.
The sky, dimmed to early dusk, was truly beautiful.
Zigmund moved ahead of Mabel, who walked looking straight before her in silence.
He still held her hand as he descended to kneel on the step below.
The moment their eyes met at last, Zigmund spoke.
“But you were magnificent just now.”
To her surprise, Zigmund was smiling gently.
He wasn’t worried about her, nor was he angry at himself for driving her to say such things.
His eyes were filled only with pride in her and genuine admiration.
So Mabel found her courage, just as she had in the Banquet Hall.
“You said I didn’t need to say what I did, Father, but I believe it was something I had to say.”
Zigmund smiled and waited quietly for Mabel to continue.
After a moment’s hesitation, Mabel spoke honestly and laid bare her heart.
“I hated it that much. People… seeing anything good in Dad and Mom.”
Recalling the time when she was the Ghost Princess no longer hurt as much.
Perhaps it was thanks to Zigmund calling her by name.
But remembering those days with Sophia was still difficult.
Though she’d been neglected whether Mother was there or not, Mabel’s memories from that time were always punctuated by Sophia’s harsh words.
So Mabel spoke with all the force she could muster, each word precise and deliberate.
That Sophia was truly a terrible person, someone who made her suffer like this.
That she was neither good nor a good mother. Never.
“And I wanted to tell people. That I don’t consider those two my parents.”
Mabel added that she would no longer call Caesar and Sophia Dad and Mom.
Understanding her meaning, Zigmund drew the child close in his arms.
“You’re right. I was wrong about this. This was something you had to say, something only you could say.”
Zigmund stroked Mabel’s back, praising her for her courage.
He continued, over and over, until the trembling in her body that she herself seemed unaware of finally ceased.
* * *
Meanwhile, in the carriage, Caesar and Sophia were raising their voices at each other.
“What kind of woman are you?! What in heaven’s name did you do to that child as a mother?!”
“Would I have done such things to her without reason? Think back to my circumstances then!”
“Is it my fault again? Is it because I doubted you? I’ve apologized for all of that. How much longer do you intend to hold it over my head?”
Caesar’s exhaustion was evident as he responded to Sophia’s protest.
Sophia’s eyes grew hot at the sight of his cold, weary face.
“You made me unhappy. I made you happy, but you—!”
“Who made whom happy? You? Me? How dare you say such nonsense with that mouth of yours?!”
Crash!
Caesar, fury rising to the very crown of his head, couldn’t hold back and lashed out with his foot.
“Aargh!”
He kicked the chair Sophia was sitting in, pouring out his burning rage.
“Do you think I don’t know? Why you pushed me to become a Duke! It was all because of Zigmund!”
“That… what are you saying…?”
At the sudden mention of his name, Sophia, who had been trembling with her head in her hands, looked up in confusion.
The expression on her face—eyes wide with apparent ignorance—was only sickening to him.
“You loved that bastard, didn’t you? The Grand Duke’s son! But you had no choice but to become engaged to me to survive, isn’t that right?!”
“That’s… what are you talking about, darling? Why would I—!”
Sophia’s face went ashen at his vicious words.
But Caesar gave her no chance to defend herself.
“Playing dumb to the end! Yes, you’ve always been this way. Even with overwhelming evidence before your eyes, you feigned ignorance, desperately trying to shut out my sight and hearing.”
“Darling, that’s a real misunderstanding. I love you!”
“Do I? Is the fruit of that love bearing another man’s child, only to hand that child over to me as well?”
The conversation had circled back to the beginning, and Sophia fell silent.
She had thought all the misunderstandings had finally been resolved, but nothing had changed.
Caesar still doubted her chastity, and he remained convinced that Zigmund was the father.
‘How… how can this be….’
Sophia’s tears welled up unbearably.
Through her blurring vision, Caesar’s face remained cold, as if he were regarding a traitor.
Sophia buried her face in her palms and wept.
Her heart felt as though it was being torn asunder.
She wanted to throw herself from the carriage.
That she still loved Caesar even now, even after all this—she found herself pitiful, hateful, deserving of pity!
‘If only I’d known this would happen, I never would have returned….’
Even knowing that nothing had changed, why had she taken his hand?
That hand he had desperately reached out to her that winter—why had she…why?
Sophia clenched her teeth within her trembling palms and recalled what had happened months ago.

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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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