I Became the Male Lead’s Adopted Daughter-Chapter 241

I Became the Male Lead’s Adopted Daughter-Chapter 241

“What is going on...?!”
The young knight, newly recruited to the Imperial Guard, was already exhausted just from blocking the blades swung without hesitation by the mysterious assailants.
After finally managing to bring down one of them, he frantically scanned his surroundings.
‘Where did they come from?’
No matter how he looked, there was nowhere to hide. The Imperial Palace was specifically designed so that assassins could not conceal themselves easily.
So where had these attackers come from?
In fact, was there even any gap through which they could have entered the palace?
The palace was in utter chaos. The attackers were striking down knights indiscriminately, and the courtiers had scattered in panic.
The ambushed guards and imperial knights fought desperately to stop the intruders.
“Hold the line! Now!”
The fighting grew more intense when it became clear that the attackers were heading toward the royal quarters.
“Aaaargh!”
A scream rang out from far off.
Everyone instinctively turned to look. It wasn’t the sound of someone merely falling—it was the panicked, primal shriek of fear.
“Olor has staged a rebellion!”
“Stop the rebels!”
“Subdue the rebel forces!”
The cries that followed revealed the attackers’ identities and boldly named the one leading them.
Figures dressed in black and white uniforms appeared and began attacking the intruders.
“A rebellion...?”
“Olor...?”
Even though it seemed allies had arrived, the knights couldn’t feel reassured.
Many in the Imperial Guard had secured their positions through Olor’s influence.
Especially those who had been unjustly promoted because of that influence—cold sweat broke out on their backs as anxiety overtook them.
“We are Voreoti and the Revoo Knights!”
Leonia shouted toward the Imperial Guard.
“We’ve come to capture Olor, who murdered His Majesty and led this rebellion!”
“Y-You’re saying His Majesty is dead?!”
The young knight who had spoken to her asked. He had once been tasked with finding the Emperor in secret, and the news hit him hard.
“That’s impossible!”
The Imperial Guard captain shoved the young knight aside and glared furiously at Leonia.
“Olor, a traitor?! That can’t be true!”
“Ugh, what a stink.”
Did he eat shit or something?
Leonia scrunched her nose and mimed gagging.
The captain’s face flushed red with humiliation.
Beside him, Paavo struggled to suppress the laughter bubbling inside him, both out of pity and because the scene was too ridiculous.
Irritated, the captain’s fingers twitched around the hilt of his sword.
“Captain!”
One of his subordinates rushed over and delivered shocking news.
“We’ve received confirmation—Remus Olor murdered His Majesty!”
“What?!”
“And he threatened hostages to force the Duchess through the northern Gate...”
“Do you even know what that means?”
Leonia interrupted, tapping the captain’s chin with the flat of her sword.
The bloodstained blade smeared the messy stubble on his jaw.
The grotesque, threatening gesture made the captain’s lips tremble. Several strands of his beard fell away, sliced clean.
“It means you’re ➤ NоvеⅠight ➤ (Read more on our source) finished too.”
The captain froze, as if turned to stone.
Failing to protect the Emperor was already a grave sin, but on top of that, he had a history of accepting bribes from Olor.
Leonia left him standing there and strode forward.
“Surrender, and your life will be spared!”
“D-Duke!”
The young knight who’d been shoved earlier approached cautiously.
“...What is it?”
Leonia twitched the corner of her eye. She didn’t even have the time to correct him to ‘Duke.’
“What would you have us do?”
The young knight bowed his head, requesting orders.
Only then did Leonia realize several knights were gathered behind him.
“They’ve all been treated unfairly,” Meles explained.
These were knights who had joined the Imperial Guard with great dreams but had been denied proper treatment due to the influence of Olor and certain other noble families.
“My lady, please give us our orders,” said Manus.
“The intruders are after Her Majesty the Empress and the Second Prince!”
Leonia’s cloak flared as she turned. The fluttering sound made the knights’ eyes shine like glass shards catching the sun.
“They’re Olor’s private soldiers! If any of them surrender, bind them and spare their lives. If not, kill them!”
Then she gave her most important order.
“...Don’t die.”
With that final command, Leonia walked off, leaving behind a dazzling smile.
The remaining knights stared blankly at her retreating figure.
“Damn, I look pretty cool!”
Feeling their gazes, Leonia smirked.
The prideful little beast was just a step away from basking in her own self-admiration. She barely held herself back, given the situation.
“You were already cool, my lady.”
“Thanks, unnie!”
Leonia grinned at Meles.
“...Still, you and oppa are probably going to be half-killed by Dad later.”
“You didn’t have to say it out loud...”
“Want to write our wills in advance?”
“If I die, please cremate my muscle sketches with me.”
The escort knights had already resigned themselves to the grim future that awaited them.
***
House Meridio had originally been vassals of Aust.
Due to the Duke of Aust’s ability to see the future, he had endured many hardships and gradually withdrew from public life.
In his place, Meridio accepted a marquisate and began acting as the de facto rulers of the South.
Believing their lord needed proper protection, they requested imperial permission multiple times to establish a southern knight order.
But they were rejected every time.
The North and West operated their own knight orders, and the East employed mages under the Mage Tower.
But the South had nothing.
Fearful, Aust and Meridio secretly formed a knight order.
It was managed by Meridio, and over time, they became indistinguishable—Meridio was the knights of Aust.
Then, the Crown Prince and a merchant noble committed an unforgivable crime against Aust. That event was enough to unleash the long-held fury against the Empire.
“There’s the Empress!”
“Kill her!”
The Meridio knights discovered the Empress with only a maid beside her.
Their targets were the Empress and the Second Prince. Their mission: to retake control of the Bellius Empire by force.
“Stand back.”
At the Empress’s words, the maid stepped behind her.
“If you surrender, I’ll spare your—”
Before she could finish, the Meridio knights drew their swords. The Empress watched them charge with regret.
“Click.”
A soft sound of her tongue—and she moved lightly.
The Empress, glowing with blue ora, passed through the knights in a blink.
Her feet touched down gently. Her sword was already drenched in blood.
She flicked it lightly to shake off the blood, and at the same time, the charging knights collapsed, coughing blood, unable to even scream.
“Young ones should value their lives more.”
Out of respect for the brief friendship she’d had with the Consort, the Empress had restrained herself as much as possible. She offered a quiet prayer for the dead.
“You are still magnificent,” said the maid, bowing with respect.
“So are you,” the Empress replied with a faint smile, pulling a dagger from one of the fallen knights’ backs.
“You’re still exceptional.”
“Even if I hadn’t stepped in, Your Majesty would have acted first.”
“Perhaps, though I’m not as spry as I used to be.”
Even if she had noticed earlier, she might not have been able to react, she joked lightly.
It wasn’t the sort of conversation one would expect beside a pile of corpses, but the Empress and her maid looked like two girls out on a spring picnic.
“What about the others who went ahead?”
“They went to the prince’s quarters.”
The maids accompanying them were actually Revoo Knights secretly sent by the Marquis of Hesperi.
They had been carefully selected to protect Prince Chrisetos.
“Then we should hurry, too.”
Empress Tigria hastened her steps, saying she couldn’t bear to be late to the noble council.
“This way!”
That’s when it happened.
“Her Majesty is here! I sensed her ora!”
The Empress and maid hid quickly, eyes fixed on the direction of the shout.
There, a small child with dark blue hair was luring the Meridio knights in the opposite direction.
“That child...”
The maid tilted her head. She wore the uniform of a palace servant, but such young children were never hired in the palace.
“The little kitten has arrived.”
But Empress Tigria smiled fondly, clearly recognizing the child.
“She’s the daughter of Marquis Ortio.”
“Oh my, how adorable.”
“Looks like the Marquis brought his daughter too. They must be very strict with succession education these days.”
The Empress watched Unicia’s movements with curiosity.
Unicia had led the knights to a dead end.
Staring at the blank white wall, the knights quickly realized they’d been tricked.
“Apologies for the deception.”
Unicia bowed her head.
“But you are obstacles.”
With that, she vanished in an instant.
Her clothes were left behind, but she was gone.
The startled knights instinctively looked down.
Pii.
The clothes wriggled.
A tiny spotted kitten poked its head out.
“Pii, pii.”
The kitten mewled softly, wagging its plump tail. The knights, confused and deflated, stared at the creature.
The tiny kitten kept crying.
“Piiii, piiii...”
Then—rrrip.
Its small mouth split into four jagged sections, and thick, grotesque tentacles burst out from its throat.
Dozens of sharp fangs lined the torn lips, and the dripping saliva burned holes in the floor as it hissed and smoked.
“W-What is that...?!”
“A monster!”
“Aaaah!”
The Meridio knights screamed, backing away. But the tentacles shot out from the kitten’s mouth and coiled around their bodies.
They struggled, hacking at the tentacles with their swords—but the blades bounced off, unable to cut them.
Rip, rip, rip.
The four-mouthed head of the kitten opened wide like a blooming flower and expanded to the size of a bedsheet.
It lunged at the knights at terrifying speed.
“Gaaaah!”
With one final scream, the Meridio knights fell.
The grotesque creature quickly reverted to its cute kitten form—then back into a human child.
“Ugh, seriously.”
Unicia muttered as she hurriedly pulled her clothes back on.
“I’m still not good enough.”
She scolded herself for not being able to transform with her clothes on like her mother could, and for her illusion magic still being a bit sloppy.

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Chapter 241