I Became the Male Lead’s Adopted Daughter-Chapter 257

I Became the Male Lead’s Adopted Daughter-Chapter 257

“Oh my... Duke...”
The Empress was so stunned that she couldn’t even close her mouth properly.
Ferio’s words weren’t just bold and open—they were indecent. She had never imagined that someone as stoic and rational as Ferio could say something so outrageous.
“Hmm...”
But the Empress, who knew just how deeply Ferio adored his daughter, chose her next words carefully.
“So, you’re saying that when the young lady grows up... you’d allow her to date freely?”
In other words—are you really okay with your daughter running wild?
At the question, Ferio’s brow twitched in visible displeasure. After a brief pause, he finally opened his mouth.
“My daughter is meant to reign.”
“To reign...”
“There isn’t a single man in this empire worthy of standing as her equal.”
“Did you hit your head somewhere in the Northern Mountains?”
Like, say... your skull?
The Empress didn’t say it out loud, but she was genuinely concerned for Ferio’s mental state.
“I must’ve kept a tired man too long.”
She gestured that he should go now.
“Give your wife my congratulations as well.”
“Thank you for your concern.”
“You’ve done well, Duke.”
On many levels.
Leaving with the Empress’s sincere parting words, Ferio made his way back to where Varia and Leonia were waiting.
‘...It’s finally over.’
As he walked alone down the corridor, Ferio suddenly came to a stop.
The damned hunt was over.
It had taken longer than expected, brought unexpected turns, and more than a few interruptions.
‘But it’s done.’
As he reaffirmed that fact, Ferio felt the tension in his shoulders ease for the first time in a while. He even found himself with the leisure to notice the sliver of moonlight shining beyond the dark window.
‘I should return to the North.’
He would head back to the estate by tomorrow morning, check Varia’s condition once more, and begin preparations to return to the North promptly.
‘Leonia’s birthday is coming soon.’
He needed to buy her a present and throw a grand party. It was unthinkable to neglect his daughter’s birthday.
‘After that, prepare for the monster hunt...’
He also needed to prepare for the baby’s arrival with Varia—and stop Leonia from forcing her tastes onto the baby.
‘...And the Academy entrance.’
Ferio frowned.
When Leonia turned fifteen, she would have to enter the Capital’s Academy the following spring.
The Academy was a boarding school. Once she enrolled, she would be living there most of the year, except during holidays.
Ferio felt strangely conflicted.
It was odd to realize that Leonia had grown that much—and even stranger to feel anxious about sending her away.
His feet, which had come to a halt, began to move again.
Walking down the quiet corridor alone, Ferio’s heart was heavy.
He thought he had a pretty good handle on parenting now, but there was still so much that was new—and worrisome.
“...”
While lost in thought, Ferio suddenly heard familiar voices. Varia and Leonia.
Thinking they were waiting for him, Ferio unconsciously quickened his steps.
“...Get out right now!”
Leonia’s sudden shout made Ferio freeze.
“Get away from my mom and my sibling! Stop interfering with us—!”
“You really are strange, aren’t you?”
The voice that followed—Varia’s voice—sounded unfamiliar. Unnatural.
“You’re not even the true owner of that body.”
“...What are you saying?”
“You’re not asking because you don’t know.”
The unfamiliar voice continued.
“Why do you act so much like a Voreoti?”
You're not the real one.
The voice rang out loudly, almost as if it wanted someone beyond the door to hear.
***
Leonia was absolutely livid with what the god had just told her.
“So, basically...”
All of this had been orchestrated by the gods, and everything she, her parents, and everyone else had done was just part of some divine chessboard designed to punish Remus?
“Wow. Just... wow.”
Leonia exhaled sharply in disbelief.
She stood and paced frantically, trying to cool the heat rising to her face, fanning herself like mad.
“I don’t get why you’re so upset.”
The god, watching her quietly, tilted its head in confusion.
“You wanted to punish Remus too, didn’t you?”
So they gave him the worst punishment imaginable—what was the problem?
“...You really don’t get it?”
Leonia turned slowly, her eyes full of disbelief and fury twisted together into a chaotic mess.
“That was my job.”
It was a crime committed by a human—and a punishment meant to be delivered by humans.
“How dare a god with no right to interfere steal away Voreoti’s prey?”
“But you were using the Fangs we gave—”
“Voreoti doesn’t need that damn power to be strong!”
Unable to bear it any longer, Leonia shouted.
“The Fangs of the Beast? Please. That power’s only good for hunting monsters!”
“Don’t you remember how you survived in the orphanage thanks to that power?”
The god’s voice sank low.
“You were only able to endure because of it.”
Varia’s dull pink hair swayed gently in the still air of the room.
But Leonia wasn’t afraid.
“So what, should I kneel and thank you?”
Instead of kneeling, she raised her middle finger.
“If you cared so much about Voreoti, you should’ve helped Regina instead!”
The little beast sneered. There was no trace of reverence left in her heart.
“You gods only added a spoon to the table we set.”
“We made that table possible with our pow—”
“‘Our power’?”
Leonia scoffed.
The god’s once smug face was no longer amused.
“The Fangs of the Beast? Aust’s prophecy?”
Neither had been useful when it truly mattered.
“...Fine. Let’s say the Fangs helped. I’ll give you that.”
Leonia made a show of her so-called generosity.
Though frankly, she barely used them except for monster hunts. And when it came to catching Remus, the gods interfered so much they didn’t even work properly.
“But Aust’s prophecy? That only came true because you stirred up Mom and provoked the knights’ pride!”
“You’re starting to get on my nerves.”
The god’s voice hardened.
“Then be annoyed.”
Leonia snorted.
“Because I’ll keep hating you.”
Then she growled.
“Give him back. Now.”
“Remus?”
“We’ll be the ones to punish him.”
“Then what about Regina’s grudge?”
“She got her closure.”
The lioness that pushed Remus into the Gate had returned to the black plains. That meant Regina had found peace.
“Remus is still alive, so he belongs to us—the living.”
“Why are you so arrogant? Don’t you have any respect for gods?”
“I gave that up a long time ago.”
From the moment she opened her eyes in the orphanage.
Leonia had prayed in every painful, desperate moment—but all she received was more cruelty and suffering.
The gods had given her nothing but despair.
“So get out!”
She grabbed Varia’s sleeve and growled.
“Leave my mom and my sibling alone! Don’t you dare interfere with us again—!”
“You really are strange.”
The god leaned in, voice suddenly twisted.
“You’re not even the real owner of that body.”
Why are you so angry?
Leonia’s hand, clutching her mother’s sleeve, trembled. But she forced herself to keep her voice calm.
“...What do you mean?”
“You’re not asking because you don’t know.”
The god snickered.
“Why do you act so much like a Voreoti?”
In that moment, Leonia’s mind went completely blank. Her fingers lost strength, and the fabric slipped from her hand.
The god tapped Varia’s loosened clothing.
“Do you know how I brought you here?”
Before the third attempt, the god had searched for a soul that might fit into this world.
To do that, it left traces in various places.
“Like books, maybe?”
But few humans who encountered those traces fit the god’s criteria.
Until it found just one.
“You were a soul that had just died.”
“What?!”
Leonia screeched. The god squinted and gestured vaguely in the air, miming what it had seen.
“Some kind of machine... drawing pictures on it...”
“Gasp...!”
“There were two muscular men, completely na—”
“OKAY! That’s enough!”
Panicking, Leonia clamped a hand over the god’s mouth just in time.
Still, the shock that she had originally died in the other world hit her like a freight train.
While... drawing that stuff...?
“Looked like a heart attack.”
The god muttered. Said it looked like she’d drawn one too many steamy scenes and just died from exhaustion.
But Leonia didn’t even hear that part.
The computer files...!
The scripts and materials inside—just imagining her old family seeing them made her want to die all over again.
“Anyway, your soul didn’t settle properly.”
The god continued.
She hadn’t sensed the presence of the Fangs, nor noticed Saura’s hostility.
Even the motion sickness during Gate travel was because of that unstable fusion.
“But now, you’re a perfect Voreoti.”
To the god standing before her, Leonia seemed no different than any other Voreoti. It tilted its head curiously.
“Why? How?”
It genuinely didn’t understand.
But that very confusion began to soothe Leonia’s frustration and humiliation over her past.
“...You dumb bastard of a god.”
She cursed from the heart. The god frowned in displeasure.
But that face only made the little beast feel more at ease.
“That’s because ❀ Nоvеlігht ❀ (Don’t copy, read here) someone greater than any god saved me.”
“Who?”
The god asked sharply.
Leonia grinned.
“My dad.”
***
Is this how I’ll live and die?
The orphan once called “Nia”—a name taken from a prostitute in a novel the director read—used to think that every time she looked up at the blue sky.
The sudden twist in her life had been a living hell, and time only deepened the suffering.
She used to think dying might be better.
At least then, the nightmare might become a dream.
But death was also terrifying—and unfair.
They’re the ones who did wrong.
She fiddled with her thin, dry arm, poking out from sleeves more ragged than rags.
Those damn teachers who left bruises and hidden scars beneath her clothes—they were the ones at fault. She couldn’t just die and let them win.
It was a cycle of despair and rage.
Then, exactly two days later—
The orphanage director bowed for the first time in her life and called out the name of a visitor.
A noble’s black carriage bearing a lion crest.
The orphan realized—this was the world of that novel she’d once read.
Mister!
She’d blocked the protagonist’s path, prepared to work as a cleaning maid if that’s what it took.
Leonia Voreoti.
The protagonist of the novel called her by her true name.
And that’s how “Leonia” was born.

.
!
Chapter 257