I’m The Male Lead’s Biological Daughter, But I Want To Live With The Second Male Lead! - Chapter 87

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

Episode 87
Lillian raised no objection to Mabel’s terms.
After all, she had agreed to become Mabel’s guardian solely to counterbalance the Empress Consort.
No matter how much authority Zigmund held as Grand Duke, openly defying the Empress Consort’s wishes would be difficult.
But Lillian, as Empress Consort, was not so constrained.
The rivalry between Francesca and Lillian was longstanding and well-founded.
So Lillian had already decided that even if she gained custody of Mabel in the future, she would yield to Zigmund’s wishes.
Of course, if that was what Mabel wanted.
But now that Zigmund had resolved to wade into this troublesome political matter himself, was there any reason to refuse?
“Then let’s settle it this way. Ideally, I’d appoint only the Grand Duke as guardian, but the Imperial House’s Seal can only be countered by another Seal of the Imperial House.”
“Yes, I understand.”
“Thank you!”
At Lillian’s neat resolution, both Zigmund and Mabel broke into broad smiles.
The way they gazed at each other, so pleased with how perfectly it had worked out, was unmistakably that of parent and child.
‘Parent and child… now that I think about it, Miss Mabel possesses all the hallmark traits of the direct Eschlide line.’
Mabel’s crimson eyes—she had assumed she inherited those from her mother, since Sophia’s eyes were a pale red closer to pink.
Yet strangely, Zigmund and Mabel, who were unrelated by blood, shared remarkably similar features.
And so, Mabel gained two guardians: the Empress Consort and the Grand Duke.
* * *
When Lillian returned to the Empress Consort’s Palace, Edward was waiting in her chambers.
“My, didn’t you say you’d be busy today?”
As Lillian removed her Gray Hood, Edward took it from her hands.
The way he attended to his wife seemed entirely natural.
“That’s true, but… well, I missed you.”
“How amusing—whenever you act this way, the head chamberlain comes complaining to me about it.”
“Can’t you just let me be affectionate?”
“And should I?”
Lillian cast a sidelong glance at Edward.
Yet even as she did, a faint smile played at the corners of her mouth—she didn’t altogether dislike his tender teasing.
Edward then combed through Lillian’s hair, which had become tangled from being folded inside the hood.
Swish, swish…
Lillian, seated at her vanity, received his ministrations with a peaceful expression.
Edward, watching his wife’s reflection in the mirror, carefully opened his mouth.
“Did you… see her well?”
Edward knew where she had gone today.
She had needed to move quietly so that Francesca wouldn’t notice, but there was no reason to hide it from her husband.
In fact, Edward had wanted to go to the Grand Duke’s Estate with Lillian today as well.
However, with the royal tour of foreign lands looming, he simply couldn’t find the time.
So he had spent the day waiting restlessly, and the moment he heard Lillian had returned, he hurried to the Empress Consort’s Palace.
He regretted not just going with her, knowing now how little work he could accomplish anyway.
Lillian, who had been receiving the combing with her eyes closed, opened them.
In the mirror, her husband’s face betrayed an unmistakable tension.
It was strange, wasn’t it.
It was Edward himself who had personally buried their stillborn child.
Yet Edward, just like Lillian, believed the child was alive somewhere.
He wasn’t merely pretending for Lillian’s sake—he genuinely believed it with all his heart.
Though when asked why, he couldn’t offer a word.
He simply said it was a father’s intuition.
But Lillian couldn’t bring herself to mock him for it.
After all, she herself had been searching for the child all this time, guided by nothing but a mother’s intuition.
Lillian exhaled a soft sigh and deliberately answered in a brighter tone.
“It wasn’t a Beastman.”
“….”
“I assumed it might be one because the creature seemed capable of conversation.”
“But ordinary animals can’t communicate no matter what, can they? Besides, even that Grand Duke of Eschlide believed it was a Beastman.”
Edward spoke with a touch of urgency.
He thought it impossible that Zigmund, the youngest Aura Manifestor, would entertain such a false assumption.
But Lillian shook her head.
“From what I observed, it doesn’t appear to be a Beastman either. I even attempted to use my ability to invoke Beast Transformation, but it had no effect.”
“….”
Edward’s lips pressed shut.
The white lion Beastman’s ability was the King of Beasts, which allowed him to control the actions of animals within a certain range.
While this didn’t apply significantly to Beastmen, there was one command they would obey: the command to undergo Beast Transformation, or to cease it.
Even Beastmen like Kellic, who couldn’t undergo Beast Transformation on their own, could be forced into it by the King of Beasts.
But Winter had refused to transform even under Lillian’s ability.
This was proof that Winter was nothing more than an ordinary animal.
“……I see.”
Edward’s quietly muttered words carried a hollow tone.
If he claimed he hadn’t harbored hope, that would be a lie.
White lions were so rare that even among Beastmen, they were scarcely encountered.
And a young Beastman who had lost both parents—how could anyone not hope?
Yet this too had come to nothing.
Yes, nothing…….
For some reason, Edward found he couldn’t silence his own rambling tongue.
“But there are cases where your ability simply doesn’t work, aren’t there?”
He didn’t want to torment Lillian, who must be disappointed far more than he was.
He didn’t wish to burden her, yet he found himself reluctant to let go.
Unlike other times, a strange stubbornness gripped him.
“If that child were a Fantastical Being, then they would need to drink the blood of their parents or a companion who has formally exchanged the Subjugation Mark—”
“Darling.”
So Edward began to voice the last remaining possibility, but Lillian cut him off.
Lillian, who had been sitting quietly, turned her body to look up at Edward.
“Please stop.”
“…….”
“It wasn’t so this time either. That’s all there is to it.”
Despite his insistence, Lillian smiled at him with such tenderness that Edward crumbled.
“I just…… I only…….”
He drew her into his arms and released a hot, trembling breath.
Lillian embraced him in return, her hand soothing his back.
“You know as well as I do. The probability of a Fantastical Being being born between a human like you and me is virtually zero. And especially now, without magic. A Fantastical Being cannot be born.”
The last recorded birth of a Fantastical Being had been more than a hundred years ago.
In the end, with every possibility exhausted, Edward’s resolve shattered.
He buried his face against Lillian’s leg and held back his scalding tears.
“I’m sorry…… I’m so sorry…….”
I have no right to weep.
When Francesca was about to mark Lillian with the Subjugation Mark, he had not been there.
He had failed to protect his beloved wife and child.
“Don’t say that. It wasn’t your fault.”
Yet Lillian harbored no true resentment toward Edward.
At the time, Edward had been hovering at death’s door from poisoning.
There was no evidence, but the culprit was obvious.
The Empress Consort, Francesca.
She had judged that if Lillian bore a child, the Crown Prince’s position would be endangered, and so she had committed this terrible deed.
That tragedy had left Lillian unable to bear children ever again.
Moreover, Edward had been forced to mark Lillian’s own thigh with the Subjugation Mark to protect her.
Perhaps the very reason Francesca had commercialized the Subjugation Mark after Lillian became pregnant was for this moment.
Edward, despite Lillian’s pleas, could not bring himself to mark her for fear of causing her harm.
That hesitation had brought her unspeakable pain and sorrow—not once, but twice.
“Forgive me…… for being such a weak man, such a useless fool.”
What good was being an emperor with absolute power?
He was merely a wretched criminal who could not even protect a single beloved woman amid the machinations of politics.
Yet Lillian gently stroked his hair.
“Don’t you dare disparage the man I chose. You took time out of your busy schedule to come see me. Don’t say such things. Say something else instead.”
“I love you.”
Edward answered without a moment’s hesitation.
“I love you. I love you, Lillian.”
As he lifted his head with reddened eyes, Lillian smiled gently at him.
“So do I. Very much.”
Lillian, cradling her husband’s cheek, lowered her head and pressed a brief kiss to his lips.

In that gentle forgiveness, Edward found himself, if only for a moment, transformed from a condemned man back into someone worthy of being loved.
Lillian gazed at those violet eyes that fixed upon him alone with obvious affection.
It was those eyes that had made her love the color purple in the first place.
And today, she had found one more reason to cherish it.
Recalling the gentle child she had seen at the Grand Duke’s Estate, Lillian smiled softly and opened her mouth to speak.
“Darling, would you like to hear how happy I was today?”
Hearing this story would surely make Edward happy as well.
And perhaps ease, even a little, the weight he carried in his heart.
As she herself had been eased.
“You see, something wonderful happened at the Grand Duke’s Estate.”
Lillian began her tale with a soft, delighted laugh.

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————