I’m The Male Lead’s Biological Daughter, But I Want To Live With The Second Male Lead! - Chapter 89

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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 89
Watching the three of them stand at an impasse, Ella found herself torn over whether to call for Zigmund.
But today, unusually, Zigmund was sleeping in late.
‘Of all days, it had to be today…….’
Not that she couldn’t wake him, but it would take time for him to come to his senses.
By the time Zigmund arrived, the situation might already be resolved.
‘What should I do~’
The brothers standing beyond the threshold of the Activity Room had gone pale with tension.
Their expressions seemed so rigid that nothing Mabel said would get through to them.
Seeing their faces, Mabel’s own demeanor turned cold instead.
The tears that had been welling up in her eyes—no matter how hard she tried to hold them back—suddenly vanished.
The two of them had never explained why they disliked Winter.
But Mabel thought she understood.
“Fine.”
At Mabel’s answer, the eyes of those who had been frozen in indecision went wide.
It was the same for Aselt and Kellic, who had been forcing the choice upon her.
Anxiety bloomed across the faces of the two men, who had been rigid like strangers meeting for the first time.
It was clear they were anxious that Mabel might actually choose Winter.
But through this, Mabel confirmed something once more.
“I never knew you two were so afraid of Winter.”
Aselt and Kellic didn’t dislike Winter.
They didn’t even want to smell him, and just coming here required tremendous courage—so much so that they had to grip each other’s hands tightly just to keep from running away.
The two of them were truly terrified of Winter!
“If it’s not just dislike but actual fear, then I can’t keep pushing you two to accept Winter—”
“No, that’s not it!”
It was Kellic, who had been pinching his nose this whole time, who cut her off.
His face had flushed redder than ever before.
He seemed embarrassed that the truth of his fear had been revealed before so many people.
But the moment Winter’s gaze turned toward him, his face went ashen as if nothing had happened.
Kellic instinctively took a step back and stammered.
“I-I mean, that’s n-not it, it’s n-not like I’m that scared, that scared……!”
Mumbling in an ant-sized voice, his words had no persuasive power whatsoever.
“Kellic, you idiot.”
Aselt rebuked him quietly.
Even so, he squeezed Kellic’s hand tighter, afraid Kellic would abandon him.
With this, Mabel’s hypothesis that the two men feared Winter was confirmed.
The maids surrounding Mabel were a bit puzzled, but soon understood.
After all, no matter how much of a Basilisk one is, a snake is still a snake.
So it made perfect sense that Aselt and Kellic, who were a snake and a fox, would fear a lion.
But still, even so.
Two beastmen were this terrified of a mere animal?
Of course, Winter seemed to be able to communicate with Mabel, and didn’t appear to be an ordinary beast.
Just as the maids’ confusion was deepening, Aselt let out a sigh.
“Look, Mabel. To be precise, we’re not afraid of that creature……’s this scary.”
Though he really does look terrifying.
He couldn’t even look at Winter properly, much less call out to him.
When Mabel and the maids seemed unconvinced, Aselt squeezed his eyes shut and spoke.
“It’s…… to be exact, what we feel is dread.”
He said it while grimacing, as if unwilling to admit it at all.
Fear and dread were certainly different things.
Dread meant sensing a genuine threat to one’s survival.
“But…… but why on earth?”
Mabel asked, unable to understand.
White Lions were classified as Legendary Species, but only because they were rare.
Though Winter’s ancestors were once Fantasy Species, that was all ancient history.
And most of all, hadn’t Lillian treated Winter with complete indifference?
“That is…….”
Kellic, who had taken a small step back, pulled something from his pocket.
But he could only hold it out in front of him, as if he couldn’t bring himself to come any closer.
“Let me bring it for you~”
Ella rose from her seat and took the paper Kellic handed her.
Perhaps it was because Ella had been standing close to Winter?
Kellic had even begun to hiccup softly now.
“Thank you, Ella.”
After thanking him, Mabel quickly looked at the paper Kellic had given her.
“……?”
But the paper was painted completely black.
Save for one tiny spot, left blank like a single dot.
As Mabel tilted her head in confusion, Kellic spoke, his trembling voice strained with effort.
“That’s the creature we’re looking at right now—hic—that one over there.”
This tiny white dot was Winter?
“Then all this black around it……?”
“Th-that, hic, that creature is p-pouring out, ugh! That’s……!”
Gasp, gasp.
Just how terrified must he have been.
Kellic’s breathing came in rough, ragged gasps.
“Especially when that creature swings its front paws like this—Wait?! What are you doing right now!!!”
Kellic, who had been pointing at Winter, suddenly cried out.
“Winter!”
Mabel, startled, quickly scooped Winter up into her arms.
Then Winter spat something out with a soft sound.
Claws.
Winter’s front paw turned red in an instant.
“Oh my, what do I do!”
“I’ll fetch the physician!”
The maids rushed out of the Activity Room in alarm.
“Ah… ah…….”
“This is…….”
Aselt and Kellic, bewildered by this unexpected action, both went pale for entirely different reasons.
Meanwhile, Mabel read the words that appeared above Winter’s head.
[Sad.]
[Mabel.]
[Wrong. My claws.]
[Hurt you. Mabel.]
[In the cave. Here too.]
[Precious. Those children.]
[To Mabel.]
[So I removed them. My claws.]
[Not anymore. Fear. Never again.]
Then, wrinkling the bridge of his nose, Winter smiled at Mabel.
“There now~”
So don’t be sad anymore.
It will be alright now.
As if to prove it, Winter brought his paw to his mouth again, seeming ready to pull out another claw.
“No, don’t!”
Mabel hastily covered Winter’s mouth with her hand.
Winter, who had almost bitten Mabel’s hand, startled and opened his mouth wide.
Then, just to be safe, he gently licked her hand, worried he might have hurt her.
The rough cat’s tongue stung, but what hurt more was her heart.
“Don’t do that. What is this. Why did you do it.”
Mabel scolded Winter in a hollow voice.
Winter, confused about why he was being reprimanded, tilted his head in bewilderment.
It had been Mabel who forcibly brought Winter to the Activity Room, still sulking that she had upset him.
‘I never even properly soothed his feelings…….’
Though there was little she could have done about that anyway.
Yet Winter, despite his lingering pout, had removed his claws without hesitation.
Simply hoping that Mabel would not grieve.
And that was what wounded Mabel.
That it seemed so natural for him to wound himself like that…….
‘Ah…… so that’s why the Duke wore such an expression.’
Mabel recalled Zigmund’s face from the day she’d run away—the one she’d seen in the carriage on the way to the Grand Duke’s Castle.
‘So that’s why my brothers made that expression.’
The day Aselt went berserk, when glass shards had lodged in her palm and she’d acted as though nothing were amiss.
And when she’d pierced herself with a sharp pin to reach Kellic trapped in the Underground Dungeon.
Now she understood why Zigmund and her brothers had looked so distressed, so pained by it all.
Mabel had finally grasped it.
As Mabel said nothing and simply held Winter close, Kellic began stammering, his words halting and uncertain.
“M-Mabel. I mean… w-we… we didn’t w-want her to hurt either. You know that, right…?”
“Yeah. Kellic’s right. We just……”
Aselt continued Kellic’s words, speaking hesitantly.
Mabel, who had been silent, shook her head.
“I know. You didn’t tell her to do it. But… Winter said that if she pulled out all her claws, you wouldn’t be afraid of her anymore. That things would be okay going forward.”
“That……”
“I didn’t understand why before, so I just stayed quiet. But Winter tried so hard to get along with you all, and this is how she showed it……”
Mabel buried her face atop Winter’s head.
Among the children, silence fell.
In that time, the physician arrived, and Winter left the Activity Room for treatment.
But Aselt, Kellic, and Mabel remained in the Activity Room still.
They maintained their distance as though locked in a standoff.
Seeing Mabel still with her head bowed, Aselt finally opened his mouth.
“Let’s… find a way.”
“Brother?”
Kellic looked up at Aselt in surprise.
Aselt gripped Kellic’s hand firmly and gazed at Mabel.
“There must be a reason why we’re afraid of that girl—Winter. I don’t know what it is yet, but……”
“Brother……”
Mabel slowly lifted her head.
Aselt let out a small laugh, as though he’d finally conceded defeat, as though he had no choice.
“Our beloved sister is this upset, and that girl even pulled out her claws for Mabel’s sake. How could I call myself a brother if I let fear defeat me?”
“Brother…!”
Moved, Mabel started to rush toward Aselt.
But his face, already so pale, turned deathly white.
“Wait… could you stay over there for now…?”
With those words, he lost consciousness, still wearing a smile.
“Brother!”
“Aselt!”
The road ahead was still long and treacherous.

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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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