I Became the Male Lead’s Adopted Daughter

Because of this, Leonia's meals always had meat.

After making sure that Leonia ate enough for her stomach to pop out a little and burp uncontrollably, Paul headed for the Dukedom.

"I'm ful……."

Leonia lied down in the carriage seat in exhaustion from eating. Small burps continued to come out of her mouth.

"What if I throw up?"

"That's fine."

Paul answered uninterestedly while looking over documents.

"The carriage is expensive. It would be a waste. The people who clean it will have a hard time as well."

"Why are you worrying about that?"

Paul was genuinely curious. Leonia lifted her upper body.

Her red dress and cape, and the red ribbon that was used to tie her hair suited her so well that they all looked as if they belonged to Leonia from the start.

'There are a lot of things I need to buy.'

Nothing that a child needed was in the Voreoti Dukedom.

The only things were Paul's things from when he as a child, but those were all dusty from being left in the storage all this time, so you couldn't exactly use them.

And Paul didn't want to give something like that to his child.

"……."

Paul let go of the files in his hands as he recalled unwanted memories.

The child was still looking at Paul.

"You are a lady of the Voreoti Dukedom now."

Paul spoke, gazing back at the child.

"Don't be afraid to let some carriage go to waste. Even as you breathe, I'm making enough money to buy another carriage for you, so just do anything you want."

Woah! Leonia made an exaggerated gasp.

"Old man, you're kind of cool, aren't you?"

Leonia giggled, remarking that money was the best after all.

Paul felt as if some cheapskate was sitting in front of him.

He wondered if she liked money so much because she was a commoner, but if you thought of her age, that didn't seem to be it either.

She actually acted like an adult who had gone through all the ups and downs of life.

The child wasn't childlike at all.

This irritated Paul as if it were a rash on his finger.

"Even so, I don't want to throw up."

Looking out the window, Leonia muttered that it would hurt if she did.

Paul's gaze followed Leonia' out the window.

The trees were colorful, as it was the end of autumn.

"And people need to have rich hearts, not rich in money."

"That's a load of crap."

"You're right, it is."

Leonia added that it was something poor people said to make themselves feel better.

"You sure know your stuff, old man."

The 1 day old father and daughter were really connected, in many different ways.

Paul was extremely satisfied with the family he had formed out of his sudden change of mind.

Moments later, a knight knocked on the carriage window. When Paul looked out, Meles told him that they had almost arrived at their destination.

Leonia smiled brightly and waved her hand when she saw the familiar face.

"Meles!"

Leonia greeted her. Meles greeted her back with a smile and a nod.

"I like her."

"Meles is a good knight."

Paul realized that he would need knights to guard his daughter as well.

He not only needed to buy materialistic things, but also needed to find people. He needed teachers, a maid, and knights.

And Meles over there had just made the list of the lady's personal guards.

"Right, Leonia."

Paul asked after he had sorted out the things he needed to do once he returned home.

"Have you ever ridden a gate?"

* * *

"Uwaaaack!"

Leonia threw up while holding onto a thin tree.

Instead of the autumn leaves they had seen a moment ago, a huge pile of snow had taken its place.

But Leonia was suffering from nausea after using the gate to come over to the Voreoti land directly.

"Lady, are you okay?"

Meles tapped her small back.

"How weak."

Paul clicked his tongue.

When the knights informed him that they had arrived near the gate, Leonia had widened her eyes asked what it was.

Paul explained that it allowed you to travel a long distance in an instance, and people riding it for the first time may experience nausea, although it wasn't common.

'Must be like a tunnel.'

Leonia nodded after muttering something Paul couldn't understand.

'I've never been on it, but I think it'll be fine.'

But the results were terrible. Leonia happened to be one of the rare cases where she experienced extreme nausea after going on the gate for the first time.

"I'm going to die……."

Leonia looked like a dying weed in Meles' arms.

"I've never seen anyone die from nausea."

Paul became irritated when he saw the child.

The child was already extremely thin, but now she looked even more ill because she was out of energy.

But it was different from the irritation he usually felt. It was the same type of feeling as when he found the bruise on the child's arm.

"Old man, you're mean……."

But her mind seemed to be fine, since she was talking back.

"Look, you're not dead yet."

Paul took off his cape and carefully wrapped Leonia in it as he took her from Meles.

Some thick piece of blob was created in a matter of moments.

"Whew……."

Leonia let out a breath comfortably. Paul stared at her for a moment, and patted her back awkwardly.

"Ughhh, don't pat me……."

Paul quickly stopped when Leonia said she felt like puking again.

"You sure talk a lot."

Paul told her to stop talking if she was feeling so unwell.

Leonia just made noises now, because she was out of energy.

"Can I throw up on your clothes……?"

"Am I just a joke to you?"

Paul frowned. But his hands were still careful as he patted her.

Soon, Paul heard a soft breathing. Leonia had fallen asleep in Paul's arms.

"……How ugly."

Paul remarked as he looked at the child's sleeping face.

But his usually indifferent lips had formed a curved.

Paul quietly ordered for the knights to prepare for departure, and the knights waited until Paul and Leonia had entered the carriage before preparing.

The knights were horrified at what Paul had just done.

"……Did you see that?"

"Yeah, I did."

"I thought I was seeing things."

"He must've hurt his head……."

"It must really be his real daughter that he's kept hidden."

Everyone from the Voreoti family was famous for being cold and indifferent towards people, and Paul Voreoti was the worst of them all.

But he was now pouring all his attention towards a child he had brought from the orphanage yesterday.

He even lowered his voice so the child would not wake up.

This brought more fear to Paul's knights than the monsters in the Northern mountains.

"The lady isn't normal either."

Meles, who had looked after Leonia at the hotel, added.

Meles was already thinking of Leonia as the lady of the Voreoti Dukedom, and was treating her with respect.

Since Paul had said Leonia would be his daughter, his loyal knights had to follow without question.

"She even pretended to kick the Duke when he wasn't looking yesterday."

"Woah!"

"How brave of her!"

The knights turned pale, as if they'd seen a ghost.

Meles, who was explaining, was also pale.

"He said 'You're still ugly even after washing' to her when she came out of the shower. Then the lady talked back, asking if he did anything to contribute to her looks, and pretended to kick him."

The knights all rubbed their ears. They all believed they were hearing things.

But after seeing Meles' serious expression, they were in awe.

There were two reasons as to why they were surprised.

The first reason was Leonia's courage.

Another was the fact that Paul had made a joke to the child.

"……She must be his real child."

There was no way the small child could act such a way if this wasn't the case.

The knights all decided that it was only possible because she was related to him by blood.

A knight was usually not allowed to speak like this about their master, whom they swore their loyalty to.

But this time, everyone was talking about the strange father-daughter relationship they had seen, and people began to strongly believe that Leonia was Paul's real child.

* * *

The Voreoti Dukedom.

There was only one name for the harsh Northern continent, but it had several nicknames.

Monster's den, land of perpetual snow, and home to the black beasts.

The black beasts referred to the Voreoti Dukedom family that ruled over the land.

The family, whose strength exceeded that of normal humans, had black hair, which was unusual in the empire, and the nickname was formed by those who respected and feared them.

The black lion on the family crest was also derived from the nickname.

"You're lucky."

Paul told Leonia, who had woken up.

The child stared at her father and made chewing movements with her mouth, still half asleep.

"Since you have the color black on you, like me."

"Hmm."

Leonia looked out the window, still wrapped up in Paul's cape and arms.

The sun was high up in the sky.

"There's a lot of snow."

"It snows until spring in the Voreoti Dukedom."

"Is it super cold?"

"It's fine once you get used to it."

"I like the cold, too."

Leonia smiled. Paul also loosened his lips.

"Is it your first time seeing snow?"

"Nope."

Leonia shook her head.

Her eyes held longing, which didn't suit her age.

Paul quietly observed his daughter.

He had felt it since they first met, but the child was excessively mature.

He thought of the personal information document from the orphanage, which estimated her to be seven.

Her physical appearance could not be seen as any more than five.

But even if she really was seven, the difficult words that didn't suit her age and her calm face expressions surprised Paul.

'She may not be a commoner.'

His black eyes gazed at Leonia.

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