I Became the Male Lead’s Adopted Daughter

"Y-You want my hand?"
"Just give it here for now."

Ferio clicked his tongue lightly.
Varia flinched, then hesitated for a long time before finally, cautiously, extending her hand.
A much smaller hand rested atop a larger one. A sharp shiver ran through Varia's whole body.

Ferio's hand was large and thick.
"You have big hands," Varia said without thinking. Her own hand felt like a baby’s in comparison.
Curious, Varia moved her fingers slightly.

The palm that brushed her fingertips was solid and rough. The calluses she’d seen on Leonia’s hand were nothing in comparison.
But it was also very warm.
"But… why my hand…?"

Just as Varia was about to ask why he’d requested her hand in the first place, she looked up.
And stopped mid-sentence.
"……"

Ferio was staring at her hand with a very careful gaze.
He looked as fascinated as a child seeing a puppy for the first time.
He even lightly brushed the back of her hand with his thumb.

Startled, Varia opened her mouth to say something—but Ferio went ahead and grabbed her hand outright.
He folded all her fingers except for her index finger.
"Starting here, one."

He brought her hand toward his torso.
"Two, three…"
Ferio guided Varia’s finger along the ridges of his abs, counting each one.
The finger traveled slowly down from just below his chest, one by one, until it stopped at "eight."

Right near his pelvis.
"The rectus abdominis is the name of the muscle," he explained politely, as if he were giving a very kind lecture. "It refers to the segmented muscles you see here in the abdomen."
"Any more than this…"

If Ferio were to point out a ninth one, it would be below the waistband.
"…wouldn’t be a good idea, right?"
After teaching her everything, Ferio asked in a gentlemanly tone.

But his thoughts were anything but gentlemanly.
‘Am I insane…?’
Had he lost his mind?

Ferio couldn't understand why he’d done something so ridiculous.
He was honestly stunned at himself. Uncharacteristically, his face betrayed his embarrassment.
Just the fact that he asked Varia for her hand in the first place was absurd.

He could have just pointed to his stomach himself—or explained it with words, at the very least.
But when he saw Varia’s completely wrong assumption, some strange playful impulse had surged within him.
‘I’m not even Leonia.’

To be doing this kind of perverted crap.
Ferio, who liked to think of himself as something of a gentleman, was hit with a wave of guilt.
"Miss Varia."

He opened his mouth to apologize, then hesitated.
"……"
Varia was still staring at his stomach, her hand caught in his.

Her green eyes, as if piercing through his shirt, didn’t blink once.
"Miss Varia?"
"Huh? Oh—yes!"

Snapping out of it, Varia lifted her head. A faint flush spread across her clear cheeks.
"R-right. So, the muscle! That’s what the name was for!"
"Did you find it unpleasant?"

"Excuse me? Me?"
Varia looked genuinely confused.
"…Are you serious?"

At this point, Ferio was honestly baffled.
"I just guided your hand across my abs."
"But that’s all it was."

Of course, Varia had been startled at first.
Anyone would be surprised if their hand was suddenly grabbed and dragged along like that.
Especially when the person in question was the famously handsome Duke of the North himself.

Varia was still human, after all.
Having such a dashing man right in front of her had definitely made her cheeks warm.
Her heart had pounded especially hard when he explained that "rectus abdominis" was the name of an actual muscle in the stomach.

But truly, that was it.
"Your Grace is very handsome, so I did feel a little flutter."
Varia admitted her nervousness honestly, smiling brightly.

Ferio’s expression briefly softened. Even though it was something obvious, hearing it pleased him for some reason.
"But don’t worry," Varia continued.
"I absolutely did not fall for you!"

In that moment, Ferio was suddenly overwhelmed with a very unpleasant feeling.
"Not at all?"
"Not at all!"

"Are you sure?"
"I’m very clear about keeping work and personal matters separate!"
Varia replied with full confidence, proudly explaining that she had worked in the Treasury without a single scandal.

"You can trust me completely!"
Her confident face radiated sincerity.
Ferio silently stared at that utterly proud face.

His narrow black eyes held just a flicker of disappointment. He himself didn’t know why.
Maybe his pride was slightly wounded.
‘I must really be going mad.’

It was almost like… he’d expected something.
"Then that's that."
Still unable to shake off the weird feeling, Ferio turned around with a sharp motion.

"If I may offer a word of advice."
He walked behind his desk and pulled out two notebooks from a drawer.
"Our Leonia is very fond of muscles."

"She seems to be," Varia agreed.
"You’re not denying it?"
"But she does like them."

One of the things that had shocked Varia most upon arriving at the estate was Leonia’s intense love for muscles.
It was a well-kept secret of the Voreoti duchess.
"I heard her hobby was drawing."

"That hobby came about just so she could draw muscles."
Ferio revealed the hidden truth.
"She calls herself a ‘creative pervert,’ apparently."

"A—a creative pervert?!"
Varia’s eyes widened.
She was stunned by the term, something she’d never even imagined existed.

"She said since there was no well to drink from, she’d just dig one herself."
"She’s digging a well?"
Varia’s jaw dropped.

"Not literally."
Ferio frowned slightly.
For some reason, he started seeing Leonia’s image overlapping with Varia’s.

He couldn’t understand why all the women around him insisted on flipping his insides out like this.
‘No… wait.’
Ferio paused mid-thought.

With Leonia, it made sense—she was his daughter. But Varia was just a contractual hire.
‘Must be all the work making me tired.’
Ferio decided that was why he was acting so strangely today.

He hadn’t had a proper break since arriving in the capital. That was why even something as trivial as this had left his mind so unsettled.
"In any case, it would do you good to learn about muscles."
It was actually quite a helpful piece of advice.

Varia nodded.
"So I’ll lend you this."
Like he was bestowing a great favor, Ferio handed her one of the two notebooks he’d taken out.

It was a birthday gift he'd been forced to accept from Leonia on his twenty-ninth birthday, when she was nine.
The one left on the desk was a croquis sketchbook he’d recently confiscated from her.
"What is this?" Varia asked as she took it.

"A picture dictionary Leonia drew."
"Oh my!"
A smile bloomed at the thought of such sweet filial affection.

"It features my muscles."
"Oh… my…"
The smile faded at the horrifying level of devotion.

Peeking inside, Varia saw countless images of Ferio in various poses—working at his desk, holding a fork and knife elegantly, reclining on the sofa, training with a sword.
The art style was absurdly detailed. It looked as if Ferio himself had been transplanted onto the page.
It almost felt like the drawings might move if you waited long enough.

For a moment, Varia forgot that Leonia was the one who had drawn them.
"You’ll see that the muscle names are written next to my arm here."
Ferio came closer and explained how to read the picture dictionary.

"My daily routine is drawn in chronological order. The muscle names go from top to bottom, so study them carefully."
"Are you sure I can?"
Varia asked.

"Miss Leonia gave it to you as a gift…"
"So what."
It’s mine anyway.

Ferio shrugged and gave a joking warning.
"Just don’t fall for me while you’re at it."
"You make jokes too, Your Grace?"

Varia smiled faintly as she turned to leave the sitting room.
"…So it seems."
Even Ferio looked {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} surprised by his own words.

"Looks like I caught it from Leonia."
***
"…Shit."

Leonia suddenly cursed.
"What’s wrong, sis?"
Ufikla tilted her head, puzzled as she came out to greet her.

"Nothing. I just got in a bad mood."
"Are you sick?"
"My ear itched."

At the sudden comment, Ufikla looked even more confused.
"It feels like someone’s talking behind my back."
There was a superstition in the Empire, too—that if your ear itched, someone was gossiping about you.

‘It’s probably Dad…’
The Fangs of the Beast inside her whined like a sulking child.
Whenever Ferio nagged her or called her a pervert behind her back, this always happened.

‘He’s the one I should be cursing right now.’
Ever since she left the estate, Leonia’s anxiety had kept climbing, like the Northern Mountains.
She was worried Ferio and Varia’s relationship was too dry and emotionless.

The two protagonists who were supposedly supposed to end up doing bed workouts just by making eye contact… had instead bonded over educating a twelve-year-old girl.
The twelve-year-old girl was on the verge of losing her mind.
‘Should I step in?’

But Leonia quickly gave up.
Love wasn’t something that blossomed just because someone helped plot it out.
In the end, it was up to the people involved.

‘If all else fails, I’ll just cry.’
In the worst-case scenario, Leonia was fully prepared to throw herself on the ground and bawl until they got married.
"A lot of people probably talk behind your back, you know?" Ufikla said suddenly, snapping Leonia out of her thoughts.

"Because you’re a Voreoti."
Leonia, as the heir to House Voreoti, was becoming more well-known by the day.
Especially because of her striking resemblance to Ferio and her bold, shameless attitude—traits that earned both praise and criticism.

Of course, none of that bothered Leonia in the slightest.
"If they can’t say it to my face, at least let them whisper behind my back."
"Oooh, so cool!"

Ufikla giggled.
"By the way, you’ve grown again, haven’t you?"
Leonia said as she finally stopped rubbing her ear.

"I’m still shorter than you, though."
Ufikla pouted.
"I used to be taller."

Count Rinne’s daughter, Ufikla, who was turning eleven this year, grumbled. Leonia smirked as if she found it all amusing.
"You’re still tall."
"I want to be even taller!"

"No, really. You are tall."
There was barely a knuckle’s difference between Leonia and Ufikla.
Considering Leonia was already well above average height for a twelve-year-old, Ufikla was definitely going through her own major growth spurt.

"You two have always been big since you were little."
Even her little brother Pinu, who had gone to visit a friend today, was growing rapidly.
Then suddenly, Leonia remembered the first time she’d met the Rinne siblings.

"Ufi, do you remember?"
"Remember what?"
"When you first came to the North, and you tried so hard to make a good impression on me…"

"Aaaaah! Noooo!"
Ufikla let out a shriek, unwilling to recall her own cringe-inducing history.