I Became the Male Lead’s Adopted Daughter

When her brother took a step closer, his fingers curled like claws, Flomus flinched and recoiled a step.
“She’s the daughter of the Black Beast of the North.”

He whispered as if revealing some unspeakable truth.
“That means she’s a beast too.”
Grrr. Flomus trembled at her brother’s teasing growl.

“Didn’t you hear about Countess Tedros? Ah, wait, she’s not a Tedros anymore. Anyway, you heard what happened to her, right? She got full of herself and crossed the daughter of Duke Voreoti, and ended up driven mad after being pierced by the beast’s fangs.”
“A… A madwoman?”
“She can’t do anything by herself, they say.”

They say she just sits there blankly, like a broken doll.
Without someone to support her, she can’t even eat, go to the bathroom, or change her clothes. The rumor spread so far and wide that even little kids whispered about it behind their parents’ backs.
The flower of high society withered in the most pitiful way.

Yet no one said the rumors were exaggerated.
If anything, most whispered that the truth must be even crueler.
“N-No way…”

Flomus wanted to deny it, but she, too, was a noble child born and raised in the North.
‘Bad children who don’t listen to their parents get taken away by the Duke of Voreoti at night, right?’
‘The fangs of the beast are watching!’

‘If you keep crying, the Black Beast will bite you!’
Now those were just common phrases adults used to scold children—but the House of Voreoti they referenced was real.
And so were the terrifying powers of the beast’s fangs they possessed.

The Black Beast of the North.
The ruler of the North.
Before Duke Voreoti, everything in the North—beasts and monsters alike—lowered themselves.
“W-What do I do…?”

“What do you mean, what do you do? You get eaten!”
“Waaaah!”
Flomus burst into tears from her brother’s merciless teasing.

Still, rather than comfort her, her brother teased her even more. His thoughtless antics only ended when their father, the Viscount, found them while searching for Flomus and scolded him.
“You don’t need to force yourself to be friends.”
The Viscount gently wiped his daughter’s tear-stained face and spoke kindly.

“Just say hello, that’s enough.”
His warm, easygoing smile soothed Flomus’s sniffles.
‘…Alright.’

Though she had sprinted away the moment Ferio appeared at the tea party, Flomus recalled her father’s words and gathered her courage.
Sure, her legs were trembling, but she was ten times braver than her brother who had just cried and run away.
‘He was bawling.’

He even tripped while trying to escape.
Thinking of her tearful brother, Flomus let out a small smile.
That same brother who always called her ugly looked far uglier back then.

Yeah, I’m braver than him.
Besides, she was the daughter of the lady hosting this tea party, Viscountess Kerata.
The hostess’s daughter couldn’t leave a guest unattended.

Right behind Flomus, a huddle of frightened children stood clumped together.
Their parents had urged them to go play, and half against their will, they had been pushed forward—but none could bring themselves to even glance at Leonia.
It was because Ferio kept staring at her.

In his mind, he was just a concerned father watching to see if his daughter could get along with the other children—but the kids, who had no way of understanding his paternal affection, were terrified that the Black Beast might snatch them away.
In that sense, Flomus was doing much better.
She had met him once before, so he didn’t seem quite as scary.

“Um…”
That’s why she mustered up her courage and stepped toward Leonia.
***

Leonia, having been practically shoved into the play area against her will, felt a dull throb in the back of her head.
She glanced back.
Ferio was watching her with wide, unblinking eyes.

In those narrowed, black pupils burned a fiery, useless paternal instinct screaming: ‘I will absolutely watch you play nicely with the other kids.’
But because of that, no children dared approach her.
This was supposed to be a cheerful, friendly tea party.

Now even the little ones were cowering just to survive.
Leonia glanced down at a stray shoe lying at her feet with pity.
‘God… seriously…’

She needed a drink.
Feeling the exhausting gap between her mental and physical age again, Leonia reached into the pouch in her hand—rather than the green bottle she truly missed—and pulled out a candy.
As she rolled it around in her mouth, the sweet, creamy strawberry milk flavor spread with each movement.

Leonia began to contemplate.
‘Toys or kids?’
At this tea party, those were her only two options.

The toys were out of the question right away.
The mansion was littered with them, and she didn’t want to even look at them.
Hadn’t she already agonized dozens of times about the futility of life while riding that damn rocking horse just a few days ago?

A bit more and she’d have reached enlightenment and ascended to another plane.
So, kids then?
That one needed more thought.

Leonia had liked the children at the orphanage.
Back then, she was the one looking after them, and there was no room to feel awkward around younger kids.
In fact, it was thanks to those children who clung to her and relied on her that she’d managed to survive that hell.

But here at the tea party, they were all equals.
She had to play and mingle.
‘Can I actually play with them?’

As the little beast wrestled with the question, squirming in thought—
“Um…”
Flomus approached, hesitating, and greeted her.

She had really gathered her courage, but her voice still quivered ever so slightly.
“Flomus!”
Leonia, who had been ready to break a window and make a run for it, beamed with joy.

Her cheeks puffed out from the wide grin—the candy in her mouth responsible.
“Oh, right, you were here!”
She immediately stepped right up to Flomus and grabbed her hand.

Flomus jolted like a fish yanked out of water.
“It’s been a while, huh?”
This translation is the intellectual property of .

Then, Leonia slung an arm around Flomus’s shoulder, who still looked utterly bewildered.
Even though they were the same age, the height difference forced Leonia to stand on tiptoe while Flomus hunched down awkwardly.
“…This is a weird position.”

Leonia herself realized it didn’t feel quite right, so she released her arm and instead held Flomus’s hand firmly.
Flomus was dumbfounded by how casually Leonia touched her.
‘The Voreoti heiress touched me!’

She didn’t dislike it—just didn’t know how to react to something so sudden.
But she quickly gathered herself, and her little fist clenched with determination.
“Hello, Lady Voreoti.”

Flomus had a duty to help her mother look after the invited children at the tea party.
“Welcome to our tea party.”
She made sure to offer a proper greeting. Since it was embarrassingly late, Flomus poured extra effort into her words.

“Thanks for inviting me.”
It wasn’t like she actually felt thankful, but the little girl standing before her wasn’t guilty of anything, so Leonia smiled politely as she replied.
Thanks to that, Flomus’s expression brightened. She felt a flicker of pride in her own courage.

“Is there anything you're uncomfortable with?”
Leonia shrugged.
“I mean, we have all sorts of delicious snacks and sweet juices prepared for today’s tea party. If there’s anything you want, you can ask one of the maids over there. And later, we’re going to see the reindeer too.”

Flomus explained eagerly.
She had secretly watched her parents work hard to prepare this tea party, so she wanted to make sure the Voreoti heiress enjoyed it.
“Reindeer? Like Rudolph?”

Leonia’s eyes sparkled.
“Rudolph?”
“The one with the red nose.”

“Is that one of Lady Voreoti’s reindeer?”
“Not really. It’s a reindeer who got bullied by the others for having a red nose, but then ended up leading ❖ Nоvеl𝚒ght ❖ (Exclusive on Nоvеl𝚒ght) the herd and making it big because of that red nose.”
“Uhh…”

Flomus tilted her head, not really understanding half of what Leonia had just said, but still offered what she knew about reindeer.
“Reindeer’s noses turn a little red in cold weather.”
“Oh, really?”

Seeing Leonia’s eyes widen in genuine surprise filled Flomus’s shoulders with pride.
“But in the summer, parasites lay eggs inside, and they burrow out through the nose!”
But she got too confident and started sharing facts no one really needed to hear.

Leonia, who’d already visualized it, scrunched her nose in disgust.
She felt her already-depleted sense of childhood wonder dry up even more.
“…You really know your reindeer, huh?”

“I love reindeer!”
But when the kid’s eyes sparkled like that, it was hard to say “Okay, that’s enough.”
For some reason, it reminded her of the children she used to take care of back at the orphanage.

‘She’s not so bad, actually.’
This wasn’t as terrible as she’d feared. She felt a bit embarrassed for being so tense and dramatic on her own.
As Leonia started to relax and feel more at ease at the tea party, the other kids noticed this shift and began approaching one by one to greet her.

Some of them stayed to listen to Flomus’s reindeer explanation.
As the number of listeners increased, Flomus got even more enthusiastic.
“Reindeer are gentle and beautiful creatures. Their eye color changes with the seasons. Oh, and one time my grandpa was—when he was neutering a reindeer, he bit down on a hot boiled eg—”

“—Hey! Hey hey hey!!”
Don’t cross that line!
Leonia, who had actually been enjoying the conversation, jumped in, alarmed.

Flomus, who had been about to describe the unfortunate incident with a steaming egg, and the kids who had just settled in enough to start playing, and even the adults watching from the sidelines—all turned to look at Leonia.
“Uhh, no, I mean…”
Suddenly finding herself the center of attention, Leonia started to sweat nervously.

“C-Candy!”
Luckily, her emergency stash—the pouch her father had given her—was still on hand.
“W-Wanna eat some?”

Fortunately, candy worked wonders.
***
“Sir Gaber.”

Ferio spoke, eyes still fixed on Leonia as she shared candy with the children.
“How does Leonia appear to you right now?”
“She looks like a kind child, attentive to her friends.”

Paavo was impressed to see Leonia mingling well with kids her age.
Since she always acted like an old soul, both Paavo and the other knights often worried about her.
There were even times they forgot her real age.

Especially that one time when the knights were going out for drinks and she muttered she wanted to join them too—how shocked they’d all been.
“Then that’s good.”
Ferio took a sip of his tea.

‘Still too small.’
It was good that his daughter was getting along with kids her age.
But perhaps because of that, her small figure looked even more delicate and pitiful.

Thinking that all the meals over the past few months had only helped her grow that much made him sigh involuntarily.
Ferio lowered his teacup with a long breath.
“…My lord.”

Paavo whispered cautiously.
His eyes, now sharp, fixated on something with a cold edge.
He spoke in a hushed tone.

“Step back.”
With that, Paavo took a step to the side.
The beast slowly moved his gaze.

“Duke Voreoti.”
Marquis Pardus approached with a familiar voice and greeted him.