I Became the Male Lead’s Adopted Daughter

Leonia didn’t really have any particular intention to change the original story at this point.
She had already altered the original quite a bit, and she had no desire to spout nonsense about needing to “correct the course” of the plot.

That would be no different from denying her own existence.
With a rich, powerful, handsome, and muscular father, she was living a great life—and frankly, the original storyline didn’t matter much to Leonia.
Still, since she now lived in the world of the novel, she needed to at least be aware of it.

The problem was, there weren’t many ways to confirm things.
To start with, the original novel didn’t really mention the protagonists’ ages.
All it said was that the male lead was older than the female lead, that both were extremely capable for their age, and that they aged well even as they grew older.

Like typical rofan protagonists, their exact ages were never specified.
For them, age was just a number.
'Except for one person.'

Even Ferio and the Marquis of Pardus—who otherwise never got along—were united in their distaste for this individual.
It was none other than the First Prince.
The novel [The Black Beast’s Barrier] began on the day of the First Prince’s 16th birthday banquet, a child born of the Empress.

So the reason Leonia was asking Ferio his age now was to lay the groundwork for asking about the First Prince.
It would look strange if a newly adopted illegitimate daughter suddenly started asking questions about the prince or the imperial family.
Honestly, she was curious.

'And besides...'
The biggest reason Leonia was going to this trouble was because of the Marquis of Pardus, who kept watching the father and daughter with curious eyes.
Leonia didn’t want to give the Marquis of Pardus any reason to be suspicious.

Even now, she felt uncomfortable under his piercing gaze. So she shot him a faintly annoyed look in return.
And yet that sly old snake had the nerve to grin back.
'Annoying.'
Sure, in the novel he was described as charming and capable, but meeting him in person? He was nothing more than a creepy old man—not quite a grandfather, but definitely worse than your average uncle.

And with Ferio making no effort to hide his clear dislike for the man, there was no way Leonia, as his daughter, would see the Marquis in a good light either.
'The enemy of my dad is my enemy!'
Her little head nodded firmly.

There was another thing that made her feel uneasy. If he really wanted to, the Marquis could easily find out that Leonia was Regina’s daughter.
But to avoid provoking the wrath of the Black Beast, he didn’t investigate anything related to House Voreoti without the Duke’s permission.
Because of that, the Marquis was now just staring intently at the young girl who had suddenly appeared bearing the name Leonia Voreoti.

Trying to figure out whatever he could with just his own eyes.
“You’re asking quite early.”
Leonia, still locked in a silent battle of stares with the Marquis, finally shifted her gaze.

Ferio’s look, on the other hand, seemed to ask why she hadn’t asked sooner.
And at the same time, there was a faint sense of approval in his expression, as if he was pleased that she was showing interest in him. The subtle lift of his lips was proof enough.
“That’s why I’m asking now.”

She gave a silly grin, and Ferio lightly patted her back.
One way or another, the cunning daughter knew very well that Ferio was a softie when it came to her.
And when she smiled again, Ferio finally spoke.

“Twenty-seven.”
Hearing his age, Leonia’s jaw dropped.
Then she let out a thunderous scream.

“What!”
Her loud outburst startled everyone nearby, including Ferio. Especially Ferio, who had been closest—his ears rang from the shock.
She must’ve swallowed her food down the wrong pipe, straight into her vocal cords.

“Really? Are you serious?”
Leonia flailed her hands dramatically.
“Dad, you’re lying, right?”

“What, are you that shocked I’m so old?”
Ferio, fully aware of how handsome he was, responded as if it were no big deal.
Compliments from others were just noise in his ears, but being acknowledged as good-looking by his daughter was actually quite pleasant.

Leonia raised her hand.
“I thought you were at least thirty!”
Then she shook her head up and down.

The monotone way he spoke, his lifeless tone, the aura of someone who’d already lived three lives—everything about Ferio Voreoti had screamed “over thirty” to her.
“How is this a twenty-seven-year-old face?”
She couldn’t hide her astonishment, her fingers fluttering playfully over her own face as if he might’ve forgotten how to count his own age.

“……”
Ferio stayed silent.
And that silence hit harder than any roar.

Even though he hadn’t bared the fangs of a beast, a sharp and icy wind swept across the Kerata estate’s garden where the father and daughter stood.
Everyone except Leonia bowed their heads in fear.
Paavo was drenched in cold sweat, praying desperately for the young lady to please shut her mouth. The Marquis of Pardus pulled his frightened grandson behind him and tried to comfort him.

And yet the Marquis alone was suppressing a laugh with surprising composure.
“Oh, oh dear...!”
He was on the verge of sobbing from holding it in.

“This old man’s gonna die, die I tell you...!”
“Waaaaah! Grandpa, don’t die!”
Only when the Marquis’s grandson burst into loud tears did the mood finally begin to settle down.

“Yowch!”
At that moment, Ferio’s fist landed with a light bonk on top of Leonia’s head.
It was Leonia’s first-ever smack.

***
Back at the Voreoti duchy, Leonia showed her bump to Kara.
“Grandma Kara! Look at this!”

The tiny beast cub tiptoed on her heels, whining.
“Heavens! What is this lump?”
“Dad hit me.”

She tattled, her expression full of sorrow.
“You deserved it.”
Ferio, now standing behind Leonia, snorted and looked down at his daughter, who was ratting him out.

Upset by her first-ever smack, Leonia clenched her fists and voiced her complaint.
“What kind of dad hits his daughter? Especially one twice as strong as anyone else!”
“You’ve been getting mouthy lately.”

“I’ve always been mouthy!”
“If only you couldn’t talk…”
Swallowing the last bit—I might not find you so irritating—he sat her down on the sofa beside him.

“Does it hurt?”
“Yeah.”
“It doesn’t hurt for me.”

“Dad, seriously…”
Leonia scowled and muttered that it hurt so bad, she thought her forehead had split in two.
This translation is the intellectual property of .

Ferio’s mouth tasted bitter.
The fact that he had struck this tiny child left Ferio deeply unsettled.
A red bump on that pale, round forehead.

She had acted up and talked back to him more times than he could count, yet he couldn’t endure it just once and ended up raising his hand? He felt utterly disgusted with himself.
Ferio gently caressed his daughter’s forehead with a cautious hand.
What part of this little girl’s body did he think was okay to hit?

“Why is your face aging badly and somehow that’s my fault?”
Thankfully, his sweet and devoted daughter blew away those guilty thoughts like a feather.
In return for her kindness, Ferio pressed down hard on the bump. A soft, thin whimper escaped from Leonia’s lips.

Ignoring his daughter’s whining about the pain, Ferio ordered Kara to bring some ointment.
Then, he personally applied the medicine to the swollen spot.
“Ughhh, the smell…!”

Leonia’s eyebrows practically collided at the pungent herbal stench.
Finding that sight oddly amusing, Ferio brought his ointment-covered fingers right up to her nostrils.
Leonia made a twisted expression as she felt her father’s loving intent—‘smell the herbs and heal fast, my child.’

Her upper lip curled all the way to her nose, and Ferio couldn’t help but tremble with a soft laugh.
“……!”
The nearby servants were silently shocked.

The mighty Duke of Voreoti, smiling like that? They all thought they must’ve been hallucinating.
“Why are you laughing again!”
But Leonia’s sharp retort reminded them that what they saw had been real.

And Leonia acted as if seeing Ferio laugh was nothing new to her.
Instead, she swung a harmless, watery punch through the air, telling him not to mock her.
“Says the one who was being cheeky.”

“It’s called youthful spirit, okay!”
“Don’t weaponize your childhood.”
After finishing the ointment, Ferio wiped his hands with a damp cloth he’d brought.

Seeing the faint greenish stain left on the towel, Leonia’s lips pouted like a duck’s beak.
So that’s why it smelled so ❖ Nоvеl𝚒ght ❖ (Exclusive on Nоvеl𝚒ght) bad. It finally dawned on her that her own forehead must look just as gross now.
Ferio dismissed the servants and leaned back lazily on the sofa.

Leonia stared at him, then slowly began to move.
She pressed her back against his chest and pulled his solid arm around her waist.
This was another one of Leonia’s preferred spots.

“Still, I can’t believe you’re twenty-seven…”
With peace and quiet settling in, the aftershock of the earlier revelation resurfaced, poking its head out again.
Ferio, looking down at the back of his daughter’s head that trembled in disbelief, was full of dissatisfaction.

Even so, he thought her hair looked especially nicely tied up today.
“My daughter’s really good at asking to get smacked.”
“Nooo, it’s just ‘cause you’re too handsome!”

Leonia quickly added that excuse.
“You’re so handsome and cool, I figured you had to be over thirty! If you already look like that at your age, how much better will you get later? You’ll just wipe out monsters with your face. And since I take after you, maybe I’ll get really cool-looking too when I grow up.”
She even added a nasal whine and babyish lilt that she normally wouldn’t dare use, all to soften her dad’s mood.

The exaggerated tone made it obvious she was trying to gloss over what she’d said earlier.
Fortunately, most of what she said was true, which gave her words just enough sincerity to pass.
“Ridiculous nonsense.”

“Then why’d you put candy in my mouth?”
Apparently her sweetness had worked, as Leonia was already chewing on a piece of candy.
“……Hm?”

Just as she was starting to savor the rich strawberry milk flavor—
A sudden thought struck her swollen forehead like a hammer.
“Dad!”

“What now?”
Ferio asked, not even remotely startled.
“Then what about the person who gave birth to me?”

“What?”
“Your cousin! My biological mother. How old was she when she ran away from home?”
There were only the two of them in the living room, but just in case, Leonia whispered the question quietly.

“……”
Ferio slowly straightened up. His once-lazy black eyes were now shadowed by discomfort.
Leonia, who had tipped backward with the movement, pulled herself up and stared right at him.

“……Sixteen.”
Ferio mumbled, recalling the last age he remembered Regina being. He finally did the math on the years that had passed.
Regina had run off with some wandering knight or whatever, eloping out of love at the age of sixteen. That was ten years ago.

Leonia was now seven years old.
“……Shit.”
The calculation was instant.

Ferio, who usually chose his words carefully in front of the child, cursed out loud for the first time.
Regina had gotten pregnant at eighteen and given birth to Leonia.
That overly romantic cousin of his had once again clawed at his nerves in this ridiculous way.

“Wow…”
Having done the math herself, Leonia came to a similar conclusion.
Well, not quite the same.

“Dad.”
She called to Ferio.
“That person, you said she was full of dreams and hope.”

“…Yeah, she was.”
“Guess she was full of youthful innocence too.”
Wrinkles etched deep into Ferio’s brow. Leonia seized the opportunity and pushed forward.

“I guess it’s time for me to—”
“Don’t.”
Ferio cut her off without hesitation.

“That kind of crap doesn’t help you in life.”
He was hardly one to talk, after constantly telling her to embrace her inner child. But right now, that wasn’t the point for Ferio.
Leonia felt the same.

“I’m never gonna let you get pregnant at eighteen.”
Before that ever happened, he was planning to grind the boy into dust and feed him to the monsters.
Leonia gave a solemn nod.

With her hand hidden behind her back, she clenched her fist in silent victory—finally, freedom.
For the first time in her life, she was grateful to the mother who gave birth to her.