I Became the Male Lead's Adopted Daughter-Chapter 206
“I have no intention of being rude in front of His Majesty the Emperor.”
Ferio gave his word.
At that, Emperor Subiteo’s lips curled faintly upward. He was a man who greatly enjoyed the deference of nobles who showed him proper respect.
Relieved, Remus carefully asked,
“Forgive me, but... may I ask where the Duke found the young lady?”
“...I brought her from an orphanage,”
Ferio replied, recalling that time—with a touch of fabrication.
“There was a love I couldn’t fulfill. She disappeared without telling me she was pregnant.”
Later, he heard news that she had died and left behind a child.
“So I went to visit an imperial orphanage.”
Ferio added that it was somewhere in the western region, and he gently brushed Leonia’s cheek with his finger.
Leonia, who had been frozen stiff, visibly relaxed. Father and daughter shared a quiet smile as their eyes met.
“And why do you ask?”
Varia asked sharply, her voice tinged with warning.
Remus, who had been staring blankly at the tender scene between Ferio and Leonia, finally opened his mouth.
“I truly apologize to you both, but...”
He acted as if he were about to confess something difficult, hesitating again. But then, as if making a firm decision, Remus clasped his hands tightly on his knees.
And he spoke.
“I believe she is my daughter.”
At last, Remus Olor voiced the cruel truth himself.
*** fгeewebnovёl.com
Naturally—
The atmosphere in the reception room became indescribably chaotic.
‘This guy... really is insane.’
Leonia was at a loss for words.
It was true things were going just as she had planned. But she hadn’t expected Remus Olor to be this unhinged.
He even went so far as to gaze at Leonia with misty, sentimental eyes.
Then—
“Oh, please.”
Ferio, who had remained silent through Remus’s confession, let out a bitter chuckle. He leaned comfortably against the sofa backrest.
In an instant, the Emperor’s reception room became Ferio’s private domain. His presence made even the Emperor and the Olors tense up.
“This is just absurd.”
Ferio brought a hand to his forehead and shook with restrained laughter.
“What must I look like to you people...”
A faint sigh escaped, as if he couldn’t believe what he was hearing.
“For vermin like you to crawl up like this.”
His laughter vanished. Ferio glared coldly at the Red Swans in front of him.
“You dare lay a hand on my daughter?”
He looked ready to snap the necks of the Red Swans right then and there.
The hand not pressed to his forehead curled and twitched, making a scraping noise—
as if he were actually tightening his grip around a bird’s throat.
But despite that killing aura, the Olor father and son, for some absurd reason, couldn’t take their eyes off Leonia.
“...Your Majesty.”
Ferio, barely restraining his rage, addressed the Emperor.
“What is going on here?”
Finally, the equally flustered Emperor Subiteo managed to speak.
“According to Viscount Olor’s son... the young lady of House Voreoti was seen wearing the swan emblem of House Olor.”
“That is undoubtedly mine.”
Remus declared firmly.
“I gave it to her.”
“To her?”
Varia barely managed to keep her trembling voice under control.
“The Duke has no sisters. She’s an only child.”
“But there was a cousin, was there not?”
Remus said it as though revealing a secret known only to himself.
‘What do I do...?’
Leonia, who had been silently watching the scene unfold, trembled slightly.
‘...What if Dad can’t hold back and kills him?’
Right now, the most terrifying person in the room to Leonia was Ferio himself.
He remained silent, watching the Olors’ behavior, but the killing intent radiating from him was overwhelming.
Leonia gripped his hand tightly. She also held onto Varia’s hand.
It made her look like a frightened, anxious child struggling to process the situation.
“Regina and I were in love.”
“Viscount Olor.”
Ferio spoke at last. His low voice, barely repressed, scratched along the floor like a drawn blade.
“I suggest you stop talking.”
“But it’s the truth!”
“And what truth is that, exactly?”
Ferio’s patience was nearing its limit. He couldn’t allow even another second of this bastard’s absurd nonsense.
“However you came to know Regina—do you dare speak such blasphemy against the dead?”
Ferio growled.
“My cousin passed away from illness at an early age.”
“Viscount Olor’s son,”
Emperor Subiteo asked in a surprised tone.
He hadn’t heard from Remus earlier that Regina had died.
“What is the meaning of this?”
“That’s what I’m wondering as well.”
Remus gazed at Leonia with nostalgic affection. Leonia scowled deeply.
But Remus even smiled at that expression, as if he found it endearing.
Leonia genuinely felt sick. She had to forcibly suppress the emergence of the Beast’s Fangs.
“Why is the Duke lying?”
“What lie?”
“Regina didn’t die of illness. And the story about your ‘first love’ being a commoner is false too, isn’t it?”
Remus dared to stare Ferio down with a grim, determined expression.
“I’m ashamed to say this as a married man... but I once eloped with Regina.”
Remus bared his dirty past in an attempt to prove Leonia was his daughter.
“But it wasn’t meant to be. Regina told me we had to part ways, and I left—heartbroken.”
“And—I have proof.”
Viscount Olor, who had remained silent, pulled a delicate necklace from within his robe.
“Do you recognize this?”
A swan-shaped pendant hung from the chain.
“This is something everyone in our family possesses as a mark of lineage.”
“There are testimonies claiming that the Duke’s daughter wore the exact same ornament at a tea party.”
Leonia looked at the necklace they presented.
“...It’s true. I wore it.”
She lowered her head slightly as she spoke.
Remus smiled.
“But that was a keepsake left behind by my late aunt!”
“She wasn’t your aunt—she gave birth to you.”
Remus lowered himself slightly to meet Leonia’s gaze. He was now speaking to her informally, as if she were already his daughter.
Ferio and Varia glared at him, too stunned to speak.
Looking at Leonia as if resigned to what couldn’t be helped, Remus turned to the Emperor.
“Your Majesty, I have a request.”
“What is it?”
Emperor Subiteo, who had been watching with interest, asked.
“In the name of the Bellius Empire, I stake my honor.”
Remus said solemnly.
“I wish to have the Duke’s daughter confirmed as my biological child.”
***
“Viscount Olor’s son!”
Not long after exiting the reception room, someone stopped Remus in his tracks.
“Lady Varia.”
It was Varia.
Remus glanced behind her.
Farther back, Ferio was holding Leonia and whispering something to her.
Remus assumed it was an attempt to comfort a child shaken by what had just happened.
And it certainly looked like a warm family scene.
“Do you even understand what you’ve just done?”
Varia’s voice turned his attention back.
“Of course. I’ve just found the daughter I never knew existed.”
Remus gave a sorrowful smile.
“But I don’t presume to try and take her away.”
His quiet voice continued, claiming he knew he wouldn’t be able to raise her properly.
“I just... want recognition. That I, too, am her father.”
“Recognition?”
“I’d like to meet with her from time to time... to become close.”
Varia’s expression hardened subtly.
“...Is she really your ➤ NоvеⅠight ➤ (Read more on our source) daughter?”
Varia asked.
“Then does that mean Ferio...”
She covered her mouth mid-sentence, muttering half to herself.
But that brief flicker of uncertainty gave Remus confidence.
‘She really is Regina’s daughter.’
When he first declared he wanted a paternity test, he’d had some doubt and fear. But Varia’s reaction confirmed it.
Her distress and worry in the reception room had only strengthened his certainty.
“......Then.”
Varia covered her face with both hands and let out a deep breath, her chest heaving.
“What about Lota?”
She asked about her younger sister.
“Does Lota know about this?”
“I told her recently.”
“Wasn’t she shocked?”
“I did something unforgivable.”
He admitted it had happened before their engagement, and said she accepted it with a broad heart once he vowed to take responsibility.
“Lota said she’d treat the young lady like her own daughter.”
“As if that’s something she can do so easily?”
Varia didn’t believe a word of it.
She knew Lota better than anyone else. That selfish, spiteful woman wouldn’t treat Leonia like a daughter—not even close.
Even if you diluted it a thousand times, it still wouldn’t exist.
“This is a momentous and joyous matter for both our houses.”
Remus let out a sigh and spoke in a patronizing tone, as if Varia were simply too foolish to understand.
“A union of the Emperor’s faction and the noble faction.”
“U-Union?!”
“The representative houses of both sides are becoming one.”
“One my ass! Leo will be Duke Voreoti!”
Varia shouted.
“But she still carries Olor blood.”
Remus smiled faintly.
“Even if she becomes the Duke... her children will be Olors.”
“Then what about Lota? What about the child she’ll bear with you?”
“There are sacrifices one must make for the greater good.”
“......”
“You may not understand something that grand...”
But Remus couldn’t finish that sentence.
Varia couldn’t bear to hear another word from that disgusting mouth—and kicked him hard in the shin.
“Ugh!”
Remus cried out in pain, unable to endure the blow.
But it didn’t end there.
As he stumbled forward, Varia grabbed him by the collar and yanked him back. Thanks to her recent training, she lifted him easily.
Then she punched him square in the face.
“M-Mom!”
Leonia shouted from behind.
“Guh...!”
Remus crumpled pathetically to the ground after the blow.
But even that didn’t cool Varia’s fury. She huffed and tried to go after him again.
“Mom, calm down! He’s filthy trash!”
“Varia, take a deep breath.”
Leonia and Ferio quickly held her back.
In truth, they had been watching secretly from behind. Only after seeing Varia land that satisfying punch did they stroll over to intervene.
“You disgusting pedophile!”
Varia screamed at Remus, sprawled on the floor.
