I Became the Male Lead’s Adopted Daughter

The next day.
Leonia sat in front of the vanity with a grave expression.

“Connie, tie it up so it won’t fall apart no matter how much I move!”
“Leave it to me!”
Connie, just as fired up, brushed her hair with everything she had.

“Mia, get me the sturdiest training outfit you can find!”
“I’ll have it ready!”
Mia also did her best picking it out.

“I’ll tie your hair the way it’s trending in the East these days.”
Connie introduced today’s hairstyle.
She parted Leonia’s black hair into two and twisted it into neat, round buns, then covered them with a pure white cloth.

After that, she tightly wrapped the cloth with strings.
“This is the round, round hair that’s trending in the East!”
“Round, round!”

“People who do physical work over there tie their hair like this!”
“I want to see that someday!”
Soon after, with Mia’s help, Leonia changed into her training clothes.

“These are the training clothes trending in the East too!”
“Training clothes!”
“They call it a ‘dobok’ in Shina, beyond the East!”

“Dobok!”
With her hair tied up and her clothes changed, Leonia twirled on the spot.
“All set!”
Then she spread her arms wide.

“Starting today, I’m going to be a new Leonia Voreoti!”
Connie and Mia cheered.
“What kind of new Voreoti are you going to be?”

“Strong and awesome, muscles bursting!”
“If it’s you, Miss, of course you can do it!”
Meleis, who had been waiting outside the door, watched the three of them with a worried look.

‘…Doesn’t her throat hurt?’
She knew those three got along well, but this wasn’t exactly the kind of conversation you needed to shout at the top of your lungs.
Even just watching them made her throat hurt for no reason.

Her ears were already suffering enough.
And as expected—
“Cough! Haaaack!”

Leonia, who had been shouting with everything she had, started choking and coughed for a while.
It wasn’t until she gulped down a glass of water and even made a trip to the bathroom that she finally headed to the training ground.
“I’m going to train really hard!”

The little beast declared with brave steps.
To Meleis, she looked just like a nutcracker soldier.
In her arms was a basket full of cookies meant for the knights.

“I’ll carry that.”
Meleis reached out her hand.
“This is something I have to do myself.”

Grateful, but politely refusing, Leonia answered humbly.
Meleis found the young lady pretending to be so proper absolutely hilarious.
“I’m going to be a new Voreoti starting today.”

“You already said that, but what kind of Voreoti exactly?”
‘She still wants to be all muscles, huh.’
Meleis imagined Leonia’s body packed with muscle.

It wasn’t hard.
All she had to do was stick Leonia’s face onto Ferio’s body and it was perfect. The two of them looked freakishly alike anyway.
“…Pfft!”

Meleis barely stifled her laughter.
Honestly, it didn’t suit her at all. And it was way too funny.
“I’m going to become strong.”

At that moment, Leonia spoke.
Her arms, holding the basket close, tensed with determination.
“I’m going to become so strong that no one will ever look down on the North or the Voreoti again.”

Meleis flinched.
Leonia’s serious resolve weighed much heavier than the loud cries she’d heard just a moment ago.
“I’m going to become the Duke of Voreoti.”

There wasn’t a hint of hesitation in the child’s voice.
Her eyes, looking straight ahead, were just as unwavering.
“I’ll become someone as strong and amazing as my dad, and protect this place that I love.”

She’d always said that being an heir was a pain, that it should go to a child born from a proper marriage with a duchess, picking her nose as she said it.
Leonia didn’t want to take responsibility, and she couldn’t be bothered to put in the effort.
Up until now, she’d done things mostly because she had to, for Ferio’s sake.

But not anymore.
“I need to become strong.”
Leonia looked down at her small palm.

Always, constantly.
She felt awkward and uncomfortable in her body. Even after becoming a Voreoti, she often dreamt of returning to her adult body.
‘Not anymore.’

Her chubby little hand clenched into a fist.
‘My world is here now.’
Leonia had finally accepted this small body as her own.

She still walked slowly, and could barely carry a basket of cookies with both arms.
But even so, she had to become a Voreoti with this body.
‘The blood flowing in this body…’

Leonia frowned.
Even though the blood of the Olor family flowed through her veins, it was precisely because of that blood that she had to become the perfect Voreoti.
Only then would she never be a burden to her dad.

“……”
Meleis looked at Leonia with eyes full of pride and sadness.
‘She’s holding her shoulders way too stiff.’

It was a seriousness that didn’t belong on a child.
A cruel reality had been placed on her small, tense shoulders, forcing her to become an adult in an instant.
Meleis couldn’t even bring herself to comfort her, to tell her it was okay.

If it were her in that position, she would’ve struggled the same way, trying ❖ Nоvеl𝚒ght ❖ (Exclusive on Nоvеl𝚒ght) her best to endure and overcome.
And Leonia, for all her childishness, had a dignified personality. She might whine and complain, but not once had she run away.
That only made it even heavier for her.

‘That’s why the Duke…’
Meleis thought of the training ground they were about to reach.
There, Ferio had prepared a small gift for his daughter.

Well, calling it a gift might be a stretch, but it was something that matched Leonia’s tastes perfectly.
Still, she worried whether something like that would work on a girl being this serious.
‘What if it backfires?’

Meleis was genuinely worried.
This translation is the intellectual property of .
***

Thankfully, the worry turned out to be just that—worry.
The moment Leonia arrived at the training ground, she let out a shriek filled with excitement.
“Wooooah!”

Her face flushed bright red, and she darted straight toward the sparring field.
The basket of cookies she was supposed to hand out to the knights? She practically threw it at Meleis.
“Kyahhh! Aaaah!”

Her cheers weren’t just spirited—they were downright theatrical, bursting out nonstop.
Then she tripped and fell flat on the ground, but instead of staying down, she rolled into a somersault and used the momentum to spring herself forward.
“……”

Meleis, now holding the basket, stared at her future lord with a feeling that words couldn’t even begin to describe.
‘Did I just see a mirage…?’
She wondered if that serious little beast, the one who’d been steeling her resolve just moments ago, had been nothing but a fleeting illusion.

It wasn’t even summer, but it felt like a midsummer night’s dream.
At the same time, she was now fully convinced that the next Duke of Voreoti would be infamous for stirring up the wildest scandals in history.
‘As expected of my lord.’

Meleis couldn’t help but admire Ferio all over again.
The Black Beast knew exactly what would lift his little beast’s spirits. He truly was a father through and through.
“Oh my god! What is this?!”

Leonia, who had sprinted all the way up to the edge of the sparring ground, panted heavily.
Although, for someone catching her breath, there was way too much personal greed mixed in there.
“Hiyaaah!”

Even though there were stairs right next to her, Leonia just jumped straight up onto the sparring platform.
Her battle cry had more energy than ever.
“You’ll catch a cold!”

Her words sounded worried, but her round black eyes were darting all over the place.
“What the hell are they wearing?!”
Her trembling hand pointed at the knights’ training outfits.

“Why is everyone shirtless?!”
“We’re not.”
Ferio, finally fed up, grabbed her and lifted her high into the air, giving her a good few swings back and forth.

“Waaah!”
Letting out a bizarre noise as she flew through the air, Leonia somehow managed to get a grip and come back to her senses.
But the excitement wouldn’t go down that easily.

“Wh-what is all this?”
With eyes full of awe, she looked back at the knights again.
Normally, they trained in comfortable tunics, easy to move in.

The Gladiago Knights didn’t have a specific uniform for training, but that was the usual look.
Today, however, every single one of them was dressed exactly the same.
Thin, form-fitting fabric that clung to their bodies, revealing everything.

And sleeveless, of course.
“D-dad, you too?”
Even Ferio was wearing the same thing.

Thanks to his broad chest, the tight fabric stretched across his solid muscles, showing off every detail.
But what truly captivated Leonia’s eyes was the set of abs just below his chest.
“There’s ten of them!”

As Ferio inhaled lightly, the muscles over his pelvis flexed, making the ten sharply-defined abs stand out even more through the fabric.
Meleis, who had brought Leonia to the training ground, had also changed into the same outfit and was now standing on the sparring platform.
“Feeling a bit more motivated now?”

Ferio crouched down and flicked Leonia’s tiny nose with his finger as he asked.
“Yes, Father!”
Leonia’s black eyes shimmered with tears.

“Did you really do all this for me…?”
Overwhelmed, she covered her mouth with both hands. Choking on her emotions, she gasped and tears spilled over.
“…I love you, Dad!”

And with that, she threw herself into Ferio’s arms.
“My little one. My little pervert.”
Ferio patted his daughter’s back as she clung to him.

“I’ll train r-really hard now! I’ll study even more! I’ll do everything well!”
Leonia sniffled as she promised.
“I’m going to become an amazing Voreoti!”

“You’re already an amazing Voreoti, Leo.”
“I’ll become an even cooler, stronger beast!”
Leonia wiped her nose and shouted with all her might.

“I’m going to become a Voreoti way cooler than you, Dad!”
Her loud declaration echoed through the training ground.
The knights broke into applause, cheering.

They shouted that she could do it, that they’d all get through this together, filling the space with their support.
And among them, someone even shed tears along with her.
“…This actually worked?”

Paavo, clapping along, let out a hollow laugh.
When they first got those new training outfits and heard the plan, he thought no way—no way this ridiculous idea would actually work.
But it seemed the little lady’s perviness was far beyond anything they’d imagined.

“Isn’t this technically workplace sexual harassment though?”
Probo, standing next to him, muttered while fidgeting with his new uniform.
The tight fabric hugging his body felt way more revealing than simply taking off his shirt.

“Whose idea was it to wear this crap just to cheer her up?”
“It was the lord’s order.”
Paavo told him to go take it up with Ferio himself if he had any complaints.

“Well… now that I think about it, it’s genius.”
Probo quickly changed his tune.
Paavo shot his fellow knight a pitying look.

But he also had to admit he wasn’t much better.
He still wasn’t used to the feel of this new outfit.
“Still, I mean…”

At that moment, Manus boldly voiced his complaint.
As the knight with the largest build in the Gladiago Order, his new training outfit was stretched to the point of nearly ripping.
“We’re only supposed to wear this while the young lady’s training.”

“Yeah, just bear with it for a bit.”
Paavo and Probo tried to calm Manus down. They figured, of all people, he probably had the biggest right to complain.
But Manus wasn’t backing down.

“This color doesn’t suit my skin.”
He grumbled in his deep voice, saying it made his face look too dull.