I Became the Male Lead’s Adopted Daughter

Carnis had a kind and gentle impression, but he too was the head of a noble house and the master of a powerful trading guild.

If it meant securing profit or achieving a goal, he would act without hesitation.
“The reindeer leather produced by House Kerata is of exceptional quality. And the tea sets from House Bosgruni are just so charming. Northern goods really are of such high quality—they’re the breadwinners of our guild.”
Abipher showered praise on the specialty products made in the North, one by one.

Her approach solidified the contractual ties between the guild and the various noble houses.
Carnis was the whip, and Abipher was the carrot.
Some might find this dynamic surprising, but to Ferio, who knew both of them well, the division of roles was perfectly natural.

“...If you’ll excuse me for a moment.”
Ferio stepped away, leaving the Count and Countess Rinne to converse comfortably with others.
Then, he walked toward the sly old snake who had surely been waiting for him the entire tea party.

“Marquis of Pardus.”
“Duke!”
The Marquis of Pardus greeted him with rare excitement in his voice.

It was quite a friendly tone for someone who always pretended to be hostile toward Voreoti in front of others.
Ferio had to press his lips tightly together to stop them from twitching.
It seemed spending time with those people was especially exhausting today.

Sure enough—
“Thank you all for attending.”
Even though Ferio delivered the greeting as kindly as he could—by his standards, anyway—their faces turned pale as corpses.

Count Mereoqa, who had sent his recently divorced daughter to recuperate at a western villa; Baron Glis, who had climbed from the youngest daughter of a minor merchant family all the way to baroness—these were the people who had spread malicious rumors about Leonia.
And behind it all, they were implicated in the illegal trade of monsters. Soon, they would die under the fangs of the Black Beast.
'Did I not warn them enough back then?'
He was pretty sure he’d gone so far as to bring up the Fangs of the Beast ◈ Nоvеlіgһт ◈ (Continue reading) to scare them into understanding that death was the next step.

Ferio began to wonder if he’d grown too soft.
Thinking about it, he had started acting more gently ever since he began raising Leonia.
“...A face I don’t recognize.”

That was when he noticed a young man.
Unlike the two older nobles, who looked visibly shaken, the young man stubbornly held eye contact with Ferio.
He was scared, sure, but the way he was pushing through it with sheer pride was almost admirable.

“He’s the eldest son of Count Tabanus,” said the Marquis of Pardus, stepping up beside the youth and lightly patting his shoulder. “A fine, dependable young man, isn’t he?”
“Now that you mention it, he does resemble the Count.”
Which, of course, meant that he looked neither dependable nor fine at all.

“I’m here in my father’s stead. My name is Musca Tabanus.”
“Welcome to the tea party.”
The two men, meeting for the first time, exchanged a handshake naturally.

'He’s younger than I expected.'
Musca Tabanus tightened his grip slightly as he sneered inwardly.
While his father, Count Tabanus, had remained in the Imperial capital for the past three years, Musca had governed the family’s northern territory and expanded its network of allies.

The young Tabanus was an ambitious man, brimming with desire.
Then, by chance, he caught the attention of the Olor family.
'The family of the imperial consort, no less!'

Everyone knew how much the Emperor adored the Empress from House Olor.
No matter how powerful the Voreoti Duke was, no matter how he ruled the North and wielded strange powers like the Fangs of the Beast, in the end, he was just another servant of the Imperial Family.
'If this plan works out…'

Musca Tabanus had full confidence.
He was talking about selling baby monsters from the North.
If these fearsome and brutal beasts could be tamed from a young age and kept like pets, they would more than satisfy the vanity of the nobles.

It was, without question, a perfect business venture.
His father might have been too scared of the Duke of Voreoti to even return to the North, but to Musca Tabanus, this was the opportunity of a lifetime.
He was genuinely glad to have come here.

A gathering of Northern nobles, all too cowed by the Duke of Voreoti to even raise their heads.
They were no match for him.
And on top of that, he’d already gained the approval of the Marquis of Pardus.

If he could keep climbing like this, he might even win the Emperor’s favor through the Olor family.
With all that confidence swelling inside him, Musca Tabanus tightened his grip again.
It was a childish show of defiance toward the Voreoti Duke, who wasn’t much older than him.

“……”
Ferio noticed immediately and was dumbfounded.
'What is this pathetic little strength I’m feeling in my hand?'

If this was supposed to be a power struggle, it was laughably sad.
Even the fierce gaze Leonia had given him when they first met at the orphanage far surpassed this.
'Flies, all of them.'

Buzzing around annoyingly.
Ferio, feeling generous, decided to give him something in return—and squeezed.
“...Guh!”

The monstrous pressure made Musca Tabanus let out a short scream, as if his hand bones were about to shatter.
Pretending not to notice, Ferio released the handshake and held back the urge to immediately wipe his hand with a handkerchief. Instead, he looked over at the Marquis of Pardus.
And just like that, the meaningless power struggle ended.

“Sir Musca Tabanus worked diligently as acting head of the family in the North while his father was occupied in the capital these past three years. He’s young, but he’s got a very bright future,” said the Marquis of Pardus with a soft smile.
“Isn’t that the truth,” Ferio replied, suppressing the smirk threatening to escape his lips.
'That damned old man sure knows how to twist the knife.'

***
“So cute! Look at the baby horse!”
“There’s even a ribbon on its mane!”

“Me too! Big sis, I want one toooo!”
Tired of being cooped up inside the room, the children had made their way to the riding arena.
Tiny ponies, their stubby legs prancing over the snow-covered ground, looked absolutely adorable.

The children burst into peals of laughter, each of them mounted on a pony, enjoying their ride.
Next to each child stood a member of the Gladiago Knights, holding the reins and guiding the pony slowly and carefully.
“How are you doing, young miss?”

Probo, holding the reins of Leonia’s pony, spoke gently.
He was one of the knights who had been present on the day she was adopted by Ferio.
“Is the horse going too fast for you? If you feel scared at all, just let me know.”

This translation is the intellectual property of .
Probo was rather slender for a knight.
He came from a noble family in the East and had hair the hazy purple color of snow-covered fields.

And he was extremely cautious.
“I’m not scared at all.”
Leonia, finally unable to bear it, spoke up.

The pony’s pace was so slow she felt like her food might come back up.
“Can’t we go a little faster?”
“If you got hurt, what would I do?”

“But everyone’s already ahead of me.”
Leonia pointed at the children who had already passed her.
Probo, worried that she might get injured while riding, had slowed the pony’s pace to a crawl—carefully and delicately.

Thanks to that, only Leonia was left behind, bubbling with frustration.
At this rate, even the pony must be frustrated.
“You want to run too, don’t you?”

Leonia stroked the pony, slipping in a subtle request toward Probo.
But he didn’t budge.
“If you get hurt, I’ll lose my head to my lord.”

And yes, he meant it in the literal sense. Probo declined firmly.
“You’re a magic swordsman, aren’t you? You could block Dad’s sword with magic.”
Being from the East, Probo was a magic swordsman who used mana in place of ora, integrating it into his swordsmanship.

Even within the Gladiago Knights, he was considered one of the rare, elite forces.
“Even so, it’s all meaningless before the Fangs of the Beast.”
Even elite forces were no more than child’s play before the Fangs of the Beast.

“Still, you’re enjoying riding, aren’t you?”
“Well...”
“Taking it slow like this has its own charm, don’t you think?”

“Yeah, charming my—”
Leonia clenched her jaw to hold back the snide remark threatening to escape.
But it really was a picturesque scene.

The pure white snow, the children leisurely riding their ponies across it.
Behind them, the safest place in the world—the Voreoti estate—stood open, and inside, countless people cared for and tended to Leonia with heartfelt sincerity.
‘And Dad is there too.’

That was the reason the cold air swirling with breath didn’t feel cold at all.
To Leonia, all of this still felt like a dream.
Like a lie.

But she knew now, for certain, that it was real.
‘What’s Dad doing right now?’
Leonia glanced over her shoulder at the estate behind her.

This tea party was both a preparation for the hunt and an early memorial.
A hunt meant to purge the chaos-bringers who had stirred unrest in the North, and a memorial for those soon to be skewered by Ferio’s fangs.
‘What kind of incident is going to happen?’

Perched on her pony, Leonia slipped into thought.
The original story didn’t start until five years from now.
Knowing even a portion of the future was both comforting and anxiety-inducing.

Leonia was always aware that her very existence had already altered the course of the original plot.
Because of that, she often worried how she might affect people like Ferio and the others.
To them, she should’ve been nothing more than a character written on a page.

But now… they were precious to her.
Especially Ferio—he was the family who had warmly supported her when she had nowhere else to stand.
‘...It’ll be okay, right?’

Yes, it’ll be okay.
Leonia shook off her anxiety.
People of the North were strong. They weren’t the kind of people to be swept away by a changed fate just because one child had joined the mix.

Especially Ferio—he was the strongest man in the world.
The only ones who could possibly defeat him were herself, his daughter… or the female lead, Baria, whom she was supposed to meet someday.
Leonia, who hadn’t thought of the original in a while, tilted her head slightly.

‘I wonder how Baria is doing right now.’
Baria was a character who had returned to the past after being betrayed and killed by her own family.
Leonia was certain that she would meet Baria someday.

Ferio and Baria were both main characters—so their encounter was inevitable.
Then what would Baria be like at that time?
‘Has she returned yet?’

Just as she was mulling over these thoughts—
“...!”
Leonia suddenly snapped her head around.

“...Oppa.”
Then she quietly called the knight holding her pony’s reins.
“Probo oppa.”

“Yes, young miss.”
“Get the kids out of here. Now.”