I’m The Male Lead’s Biological Daughter, But I Want To Live With The Second Male Lead! - Chapter 91

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

Episode 91
At that same moment, Winter, having just finished treatment, was straining hard to pull off the Neck Collar the doctor had fitted onto her.
But with her bandaged paw, she could barely work the thing loose.
This cursed Neck Collar was Mabel’s handiwork too.
She’d fashioned it from stiffened cloth paste and added fan-like stays to the structure.
Just in case Winter got hurt someday and they’d need it, she’d said.
“Ow-ow-owww! Grrr-ruff!”
“That’s what you get for yanking out your own claws raw. What were you thinking?”
The doctor, tidying up her house-call bag, laughed and teased Winter.
She winced a moment later, touching the scratches Winter had left on her cheek. “Ow, ow, ow…”
“The treatment is complete. The claws will grow back in time. You’ll just need to disinfect the wounds daily so they don’t become infected.”
“Thank you so much for coming on such short notice~ But you’re hurt now—what can we do~?”
Ella, who had come along, bowed her head apologetically.
Galerina waved a hand to dismiss the concern.
“Not at all. I was meaning to check Winter’s overall condition again anyway. And wounds like these heal quickly with some ointment.”
Galerina had been part of the medical team that accompanied Zigmund when Mabel was kidnapped.
Everyone had only treated Beastmen and humans back then, so no one had experience examining animals.
It was Galerina who’d stepped forward then, offering to try.
‘I never imagined that one time would make me Winter’s personal physician.’
Since Zigmund had decided to adopt Winter, he’d concluded that a specialist was necessary.
So he’d offered Galerina, the first doctor to examine Winter, the position of personal physician.
Along with a fee far too generous to refuse.
Mabel had been the one who’d insisted on keeping Winter, but in the end, all the real work fell to Zigmund.
Not unlike any other parent, really.
But Zigmund had another reason for insisting on a personal physician.
Galerina found herself thinking of his request as she watched Winter still wrestling with the Neck Collar.
— I have one more thing I’d like to ask. Could you measure the rate at which Winter’s wounds heal?
It was clear that the strange light Mabel had mentioned was nagging at Zigmund.
And Galerina herself had found it remarkable—wounds that were obviously recent seemed to have healed completely.
So she’d been thinking that if the opportunity arose, she’d like to observe it more carefully.
‘I was at a loss with just needle-prick wounds, so small they’d hardly show anything. But… is it all right to call it fortunate, given there’s a patient involved?’
Her conscience as a doctor stung a little.
But what could she do? A physician was a scholar of medicine, and curiosity was a scholar’s nature.
‘I’m sorry, Winter. Next time I’ll bring dried meat!’
That was when Galerina, having finished her apologies to Winter, gathered her house-call bag and prepared to leave.
“Oh? Doctor!”
Mabel arrived at precisely that moment.
“Is Winter’s treatment all finished?”
Mabel hurried over and asked with concern.
Something about the slight furrow between her brows made Galerina pause without meaning to.
‘Really… they look so alike.’
Recently, Galerina had heard an interesting rumor.
That Mabel was an illegitimate child of Zigmund’s.
Supposedly, that’s why the people of the Grand Duchy, who already adored children, were utterly smitten with her.
In truth, those who knew had long whispered it, but Galerina hadn’t given it much thought.
‘I’d dismissed all such rumors before, thinking that gossip couldn’t be trusted…’
But here was the thing.
What did illegitimacy matter?
The more Galerina looked at Zigmund and Mabel together, the more they seemed stamped from the same mold.
“This is practically as if she’d been born to him alone…”
“Pardon?”
Mabel tilted her head curiously at Galerina’s murmur.
Galerina quickly collected herself and changed the subject.
“Yes, I’ve just finished the treatment. That Neck Collar you designed has been fitted nicely too. My word, that’s quite an ingenious thing.”
“Really?”
“Indeed. With it on, treating the wounds became much easier. Since she can’t lick at them, they should heal faster too.”
“But still… your cheek…”
“Oh, don’t worry about that. Ella held Winter down right away, so I didn’t get scratched as badly as all that.”
Galerina smiled warmly as she spoke.
For someone who’d resolved to become an animal doctor, scars like these were nothing but badges of honor.
“Even so. I know you’re a doctor, but you still need to get treated!”
Yet Mabel fretted over Galerina, who had been hurt because of Winter, until the very end.
Galerina thanked her several times over before taking her leave.
Mabel thought, as she watched her go, that this tender care for those below her—this gentleness—resembled Zigmund.
While Mabel waved goodbye to Galerina, Winter was still wrestling with the Neck Collar.
“Nyah, nyah-wanna go. Nyah-wanna go.”
Winter had finally found his voice, and Mabel bit her lower lip to keep from laughing.
She’d made a promise never to laugh again after Winter had sulked terribly that one time and crawled under the bed—a vow she intended to keep.
‘Begone, laughter demon…….’
Mabel approached, her lips pressed firmly together to stifle her mirth.
At that, Winter began meowing and yowling indignantly, his tail swishing back and forth.
[Take.]
[It off.]
[Now.]
Then he meowed and yowled all over again.
It was clear he was cursing—he simply didn’t know enough vulgar words to do it properly.
“Don’t be like that. You’ll heal faster if you wear it.”
Mabel’s gentle coaxing from beside him made no difference.
[For. Me. Mabel.]
[But then.]
[Mabel. Give. Me.]
[Garbage.]
“No, it’s not garbage! I made this for you!”
But Winter’s rage showed no signs of subsiding.
[Garbage.]
[The price of love.]
[Garbage.]
“It’s not…… really, this is something good…….”
Above Winter’s head, the word ‘garbage’ lingered in the air for a long while.
Just as Mabel was about to be buried under an avalanche of garbage-thoughts, Ella discovered something.
“My goodness~? Young lady, what’s that in your pocket~?”
“Oh.”
Mabel then remembered the paper she’d received from Aselt.
She fumbled in her pocket and pulled out the paper before answering.
“When I went to see Aselt earlier. He gave it to me. He said it might be helpful, maybe.”
She was supposed to check it once she got back to her room—but had completely forgotten.
“My~? The young master tore up a book~?”
Ella tilted her head in surprise, clearly taken aback.
Since Aselt had always treasured books, Mabel found it strange too.
Still, since it was Aselt, there must be a reason.
Mabel read the text written on the torn scrap of paper.
“…… instinctively shows consideration. The characteristic is that claws can be controlled freely, as if hidden, and according to will…… huh?”
But the content made no sense whatsoever.
The subject and object were completely missing, so she couldn’t tell what it was even talking about.
She flipped it over, wondering if she’d misread it, but the back was blank.
“What is this?”
“Hmm~? I really wonder what it could be~?”
Mabel and Ella exchanged baffled glances, both tilting their heads in confusion.
“Esthetics…….”
But Winter was different.
He had abandoned his struggle with the Neck Collar and was now listening intently to their conversation.
As if something about it rang a bell.
* * *
The next day.
Kellic’s eyes snapped open, and he glanced hastily around the room.
The curtains were drawn dimly, and the room looked no different from usual.
‘But…….’
Kellic shifted his body this way and that while still seated, then immediately shook Aselt awake.
The two had continued sharing the same room ever since Winter arrived, saying he frightened them.
“Mm, why…….”
But Aselt struggled to rise.
Ever since he’d passed along those passages from the book to Mabel the day before, he’d been summoned straight to Zigmund.
When Zigmund asked for the book on Fantastical Creatures back, Aselt had played dumb for now.
He’d need to get the torn pages back from Mabel later and tape them together anyway.
Of course, Zigmund hadn’t taken his words at face value.
But he hadn’t punished him either.
He’d simply asked him to help find the book.
It was clear this was a pretext to make him search, while actually giving him free rein to read through all the old texts related to Fantastical Creatures.
‘Maybe Master’s thinking the same way I am.’
After reading late into the night, Aselt found sleep wouldn’t come easily.
But at Kellic’s next words, Aselt’s eyes snapped open of their own accord.
“Wake up! That terrible aura—it’s gone!”

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