I’m The Male Lead’s Biological Daughter, But I Want To Live With The Second Male Lead! - Chapter 84

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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 84
The Empress’s informal visit today had one purpose: to ask Mabel to serve as her guardian.
She could have requested an official meeting, but there was good reason for moving with such urgency.
“Soon His Majesty the Emperor and I will embark on a diplomatic journey to the Sacred Empire to attend an international conference regarding the Beastman Rights Convention.”
No one needed to be told why the Empress Consort, not the Empress, was going alongside him.
Francesca belonged to House Jicoren, the very family that had undermined beastman rights.
But this also meant the Emperor had decided to remain at odds with the Empress’s family for the foreseeable future.
“Which is precisely why Her Majesty the Empress will certainly attempt something in the interim—for instance, publicly announcing the betrothal between the Crown Prince and the young lady.”
The announcement they had failed to make at the Crown Prince’s birthday celebration.
“I hear the young lady was kidnapped on the very day she was to meet with the Duchess of Asilonia. You’ve endured much, haven’t you? A harrowing ordeal indeed.”
Lillian offered her consolation with genuine warmth.
Yet her expression darkened almost immediately.
“And the two of them are making an issue of it.”
Lillian knew the situation in far more detail than one might expect.
For a moment, a faint tremor crossed Zigmund’s eyes.
He had received the notice bearing the Empress’s seal only today.
Zigmund had made a trip to the Imperial Palace specifically to receive this very notice.
Yet Lillian already knew what Zigmund himself had only learned today.
Her intelligence network was evidently more formidable than he had supposed.
“But there are plenty of opportunities for a counterattack. The guardian system is precisely one such avenue.”
“I follow your reasoning, but under imperial law, as long as parental rights remain with the biological parents, an additional guardian cannot be appointed.”
Zigmund, who had been listening quietly to Lillian’s explanation, finally spoke.
This was precisely why Zigmund himself had only become Mabel’s temporary guardian, never a formal one.
Even though Sophia had personally requested his protection of Mabel during the legal proceedings.
Yet a smile still lingered on Lillian’s lips.
“The Duke speaks truly. But what if I were to employ a Naeji?”
“……!”
“Gasp…….”
Zigmund and Dain caught their breath at Lillian’s confident tone.
‘What is it? Why are they reacting so strongly to the word Naeji?’
Unlike the others, Mabel remained bewildered.
Lillian, noticing her confusion, explained with kindness.
“A Naeji is a type of Gyoji—a document containing an imperial edict or decree. The Empress and the Empress Consort use the term Naeji. To put it simply, it means an absolute authority that only the imperial family can wield.”
Mabel didn’t fully grasp the more complex terms, but she understood well enough what “absolute authority” meant.
In essence, Lillian was saying she would use an absolute authority available only to the imperial family to circumvent the law.
“Is… is that even possible……?”
“Of course it is. It’s absolute authority, after all. Though naturally, it requires the young lady’s consent.”
If Lillian used a Naeji to become Mabel’s guardian, she would then possess guardianship rights over Mabel’s upbringing.
This would mean she could stand as an equal against Sophia, who held parental rights.
Zigmund pressed her urgently.
“But Your Highness, surely there is a limit to the number of times a Naeji can be used.”
Unlike the Empress, the Empress Consort faced considerable restrictions.
The most notable of these was the limit of merely three uses.
‘She intends to use one of those precious three for Mabel?’
This was far more than simply repaying a debt of gratitude.
Without understanding Lillian’s true intentions, Zigmund had no choice but to proceed with caution.
He could not allow Mabel to be used as a political pawn.
Perhaps sensing Zigmund’s wariness surfacing,
Lillian spoke with candor.
“Of course, there are conditions.”
As expected.
Nothing in this world came without a price.
At her gesture, an attendant brought forth a bamboo container.
“Read it.”
“Y-yes, Your Highness.”
When Mabel opened the bamboo container that Lillian offered, it made a soft pop.
Zigmund leaned in close to Mabel’s side, his expression tense with anticipation.
What emerged from the container was a single sheet of paper tied with a crimson velvet ribbon.
As she unrolled it, the Naeji that Lillian had already prepared came into view.
The conditions were remarkably simple, yet entirely unprecedented.
[I will never allow the Empress to have her way.]
“Good heavens…….”
“Mm…….”
Zigmund and Mabel both let out an involuntary groan as they read the terms.
To act in complete opposition to the Empress’s will—it was nearly an order to commit treason.
The moment both their faces went rigid, Lillian spoke in an amused voice.
“Don’t worry so much. Do read the fine print below the condition as well.”
Now that she mentioned it, there was indeed something written in tiny letters beneath the terms.
[However, only if Mabel wishes it.]
Zigmund and Mabel’s eyes flew wide open at the same instant.
Lillian was laughing at the sight of their matching expressions of shock.
It was Zigmund who spoke first.
“Then, in the end…….”
“There’s no condition at all, is there?”
Mabel finished his thought.
It was remarkable how alike they were in face and manner—and apparently in mind as well.
Lillian found the pair even more delightful.
“That’s right. One cannot place conditions on repaying a debt of gratitude, after all.”
“But you said just now that there was a condition…….”
“Heehee, yes, I did.”
Mabel stammered her question, and Lillian laughed like she was teasing a child.
“I thought that if I simply said I would help without any condition, you might not believe me. So I decided to attach a condition: that there be no condition.”
Lillian’s shoulders trembled with laughter at her own words.
The way she laughed made her look like a mischievous girl.
Mabel had assumed that an Empress of an entire nation would be impossibly formal and distant.
But she found Lillian’s gentle, approachable nature charming.
“But is it truly all right to accept such help? The assistance I provided was so trivial…….”
“Of course. But if the young lady’s heart is truly uneasy about it, I wouldn’t mind attaching a new condition.”
Oh, but she wasn’t uneasy enough to warrant a new condition!
Mabel was beginning to regret her words when Lillian smiled warmly.
“I noticed the garden on my way here was quite beautiful. It would be lovely to have tea together in the garden—what do you think?”
Mabel’s somewhat uncertain expression brightened at once.
Pleased with such an easy condition, Mabel looked up at Zigmund.
“Is that all right?”
“Mm? Ah…… now that you mention it, it should be snack time soon.”
Zigmund, who had been examining the Royal Decree, added as though he’d just remembered.
“Come to think of it, if we’re to have tea in the garden—”
Zigmund stroked the child’s round head as he spoke, as though addressing Mabel.
“Why don’t you bring Winter along? A walk would do her good.”
Yet even as his hands moved, his eyes were quietly observing Lillian’s reaction.
Lillian’s warm smile never wavered.
On the surface, there seemed to be no change at all.
But one could not deceive the eyes of a Grand Master.
Zigmund saw it.
The faint flush that rose in Lillian’s cheeks.
‘As I suspected.’
Lillian’s true purpose was undoubtedly Winter.
* * *
“Strrretch……”
Winter extended herself in a long, luxurious stretch.
The soft breeze that drifted through felt pleasant.
“Is that so?”
Mabel’s bright, tinkling laughter was lovely to hear as well.
A glimpse told Winter that the white lion Beastman was sitting beside Mabel.
At first she’d thought it was a stranger, but after catching her scent, she recognized the Beastman who had helped them before.
Since she was seeing the white lion Beastman for the first time, Winter had been circling around her.
“It seems Winter has taken a liking to Her Majesty! Could it be because she’s a white lion too?”
It was strange, considering Winter rarely approached Aselt or Kellic.
Though to be fair, Aselt and Kellic also kept their distance from Winter.
“I’m not so sure. Not all Beastmen prefer their own kind.”
Lillian had been worried about the same thing, or so he’d heard.
Whether Winter would take a dislike to her.
But contrary to her fears, Winter curled up at her feet and drifted peacefully to sleep.
Lillian gazed at the serene creature with tender affection before speaking.
“If I may ask, young lady—there’s something I’m curious about.”
“Of course. Please, speak freely.”
Mabel drew the lemonade she hadn’t finished in the reception room through her straw and spoke with composure.
It was hardly unusual for noble children to carry themselves with maturity beyond their years.
So why did Mabel’s composed bearing strike him as so endearing?
Lillian wondered at his own reaction, though in truth he already knew the answer.
It was the warmth that rose in him because Mabel was protecting Winter.
“You mentioned before that Winter is a beastman, but according to the Duke’s account, they haven’t found any evidence of it yet?”
He hadn’t wanted to probe like this, but he couldn’t help himself.
A mother’s heart, no matter how much she tried to master it, remained anxious and selfish.
Fortunately, Mabel didn’t seem to mind much.
“Well, actually…….”
Instead, something else appeared to trouble her, and she hesitated before continuing.

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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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