I Became the Male Lead’s Adopted Daughter

Leonia recalled everything she knew about Carnis.

A noble from the West, one of the wealthiest families in the Empire, a wife-lover, a doting father, the Duke of Voreoti’s only friend, a reliable ally.
‘And…’
As she remembered the last detail, Leonia turned to look at the training ground, where two blades were clashing with deadly force.

Two real swords, their cold steel gleaming blue, flew mercilessly toward each other.
Count Carnis Rinne.
He was a Sword Master—one of the few who could trade blows with the Duke of Voreoti.

The two longtime friends, sparring after a long time, didn’t hold back.
They searched for any opening to thrust their swords, dodged the other’s killing blows, and quickly struck back when they found an opportunity.
“……”

Ferio, who was expressionless to begin with, bit down on his lips.
“……”
Carnis, who usually wore a warm, friendly smile, had a sharp glint flicker through his eyes.

“Daddy, win! Daddy!”
“Daddy! Daddyyyy!”
Ufikla and Pinu clenched their tiny fists and cheered Carnis on.

The knights didn’t call out any names, but each time the flow of the duel shifted significantly, they shouted in awe.
Leonia was no different.
She had never properly seen Ferio wield a sword, and the duel between the two men struck her like a bolt of fresh lightning.

“A rare sight, isn’t it?”
Abipher smiled as she watched Leonia.
She had thought the girl was always like a little adult, but now, with her eyes wide like a startled rabbit, she looked just like any other child.
“My husband may not look it, but he used to be quite the renowned knight in the West.”

Her voice brimmed with pride.
“He was a knight?”
Leonia blinked. That wasn’t in the original story.

“Not anymore, but before our marriage, he served in the Revoo Knight Order. He had natural talent and even reached the level of a Sword Master.”
“Oooh.”
“In terms of pure swordsmanship, he’s a match for the Duke.”

“Oooh!”
At Leonia’s sincere amazement, Abipher puffed up proudly.
“Though, before the Black Beast’s Fangs, he’d still curl up his tail a thousand times.”

She added humbly, but Leonia began to see Carnis in a new light.
‘Come to think of it, those thighs…’
She really was starting to see him differently.

Then she rushed over to the training ground and squeezed in next to Ufikla and Pinu, who were cheering for Carnis.
“Daddy!”
Leonia bounced on her heels, her little fist pumping through the air with energy.

“Rip the Count’s clothes!”
Show us those muscles!
The training ground, previously buzzing with cheers, fell into an icy silence at Leonia’s shout.

***
“……Did I hear that right just now?”
Did she just tell him to rip whose clothes?

Ask to show what?
Thanks to the dead silence that washed over the training ground like a bucket of cold water, Carnis managed to break away from Ferio and catch his breath. He corrected his stance and looked for a window to counterattack.
But his expression was filled with confusion.

Ferio looked like he was about to lose it.
“What the hell have you been teaching your daughter?”
“I didn’t teach her that.”

Ferio protested, clearly indignant.
“She’s been a pervert since the first time I met her.”
Ferio himself had been harassed by Leonia more times than he could count.

“Did you seriously just call your daughter a pervert?”
“I mean, I didn’t scold her for it or anything.”
From Ferio’s point of view, it was deeply unfair. He had raised and cared for her with the utmost devotion from the ⊛ Nоvеlιght ⊛ (Read the full story) moment he adopted her.

Thanks to his thorough care, the child’s appearance had changed completely.
Now she exuded the aura of a noble daughter wherever she went.
“Come on, it’s not like you lose anything by showing a little.”

Ferio slipped into a gap and swung his sword. His blade narrowly grazed Carnis’s shirt, slicing a tiny hole in it.
“Daddy! Tear lower! Aim lower!”
Leonia stomped on the edge of the training ground and grumbled.

“Forget the abs! Show us those thigh muscles!”
She had seen enough upper body from the Gladiago knights to last a lifetime.
And though you could never get tired of muscles, what Leonia truly yearned for now was the lower body.

Especially those firm thigh muscles.
“The adonis belt is even better!”
Leonia's sharp eyes gleamed like a beast’s as she tried to peer through Carnis’s pants at the muscles hidden beneath.

Ferio obliged her wishes and launched an unrelenting assault on Carnis’s lower half.
“W-Wait!”
Flustered, Carnis staggered back and barely managed to block the strikes.

“……What’s the adonis belt?”
Abipher asked, unfamiliar with the term. Leonia answered without even glancing back.
“The inner thigh, near the groin.”

“Honey, no!!”
Abipher urgently cut in.
“Daddy, don’t lose!”

“Daddy! Daddyyyyyy!”
Not to be outdone, Ufikla and Pinu cheered even louder.
The sword duel grew heated once again.

Thanks to Leonia’s wild encouragement, even the knights began shouting at the top of their lungs.
Now, they weren’t hiding who they were rooting for—everyone openly cheered for someone to win. The deadly distance between the two blades grew ever narrower.
The duel went on much longer than expected.

The tension in the training ground was so thick it made even the onlookers sweat.
Before long, the training ground fell silent.
The loud cheers from moments before vanished as if they’d been a lie.

Even Leonia, who had been yelling for Carnis to show off his muscles, swallowed dryly as she watched the two men.
The sound of feet rapidly moving across the sparring ground.
Clang! Clang!, swords colliding.

The rough, heavy breathing of two men.
‘……They sound kinda hot.’
While she was deep in thought, fully absorbed in the duel—

“Ah!”
With a knight’s startled cry, a sword slipped and hit the ground with a dull thunk.
All eyes turned to the center of the training ground.

“Oh my god…”
Leonia’s head whipped around.
That last exclamation hadn’t come from her.

This translation is the intellectual property of .
Meleis, standing among the group of knights across from them, let out a choked, reality-denying whisper, her face pale as a sheet.
Leonia fully understood her denial.

The one who had dropped his sword… was Ferio.
“Yay! Daddy won!”
“Daddy! Daddy!”

Ufikla and Pinu threw their arms around each other in joy.
The victor of the duel was Carnis.
***

That night, as they sat around the chessboard—
‘We need the West’s cooperation.’
Ferio, intent on sweeping away the eyesore scum in his way, had discussed many matters with Carnis and Abipher.

The Count and Countess Rinne had readily promised their support.
‘…Hey.’
Just as they were wrapping up and about to head out—

Carnis paused for a moment, then abruptly sat back down on the sofa.
Abipher, who had already stood up, blinked in surprise. Ferio, who had also risen to leave, mirrored her reaction.
‘Mind if I ask a small favor?’

‘What kind of favor?’
In Ferio’s mind, the entire wealth inventory of House Voreoti flashed by in a blur.
From mines overflowing with rare gems to covert trade goods operated behind the Empire’s back.

He began sifting through what might be acceptable to offer Carnis as a gift.
‘Not money or property.’
Carnis, reading his thoughts, quickly clarified.

Ferio had been just about to suggest one of the gold mines for duty-free trade for a year.
But Carnis’s request turned out to be shockingly modest.
‘During a sparring match… let me win. Just once.’

‘…What?’
‘Wait, are you serious right now…’
Ferio and Abipher exchanged startled looks at the absurd request.

‘It’s just… for the kids…’
Carnis scratched the back of his neck awkwardly.
‘I just wanted to show them something cool.’

***
Though the duel had been staged, Carnis was thoroughly satisfied.
His kids, clueless about everything, hopped around him with endless praise.

“Daddy won!”
“Yay! Daddy, Daddy!”
Ufikla and Pinu clung to Carnis’s legs, cheering loudly as he returned victorious.

“Daddy’s stronger than the Duke! You were super strong!”
“Daddy, you’re so cool!”
“Of course! Now you know how strong your dad really is, right? Pretty impressive, huh?”

Carnis tilted his chin high with pride, his nose practically sharp enough to pierce the ceiling of the training hall like a roaring black lion.
Abipher, standing beside him, shook her head.
Fortunately—or unfortunately—the Gladiago Knights had quickly caught on to the fact that Ferio had lost on purpose.

Unlike Carnis, who was visibly exhausted, the Black Beast of the North hadn’t even broken a sweat beyond a few droplets.
However, Ferio’s face was full of dissatisfaction.
He couldn’t stand the way Carnis was basking in praise from his kids.

‘Should’ve just beat him…’
He glanced over at the count and his excited little brats and imagined them as himself and Leonia.
As he wiped his sweat half-heartedly with a towel offered by a knight, a twinge of regret crept in.

If he’d won, maybe Leonia would have come running to hug him.
Maybe the duty-free gold mine would’ve been the better option after all.
“Dad.”

Leonia had appeared at his side before he noticed, looking up at him.
Ferio wondered if she was disappointed in him.
“Why’d you lose?”

But instead of disappointment, Leonia just asked for the reason.
“Why’d you let him win?”
“…You noticed?”

“How could I not?”
Ferio, rarely flustered, blinked as Leonia scoffed and crossed her arms.
“Dad’s the strongest person in the whole world.”

No matter how impressive Carnis was as one of the Empire’s top Sword Masters, there was no way anyone could defeat the Black Beast of the North, who reigned supreme in their world.
That’s why Leonia had known something was off the moment the duel ended.
“Why are you so smart?”

Ferio ruffled her hair.
Leonia’s little head bobbed this way and that under his large hand.
“I’m just amazing.”

“You’re right. I let him win.”
Ferio crouched down to meet her gaze.
“Daddy’s going to be busy starting now.”

“……”
“That match was part of the price.”
“Price?”

Leonia hesitated, then lowered her voice and glanced behind them.
“…Is it about the Marquis of Pardus?”
A slow unease crept in.

She’d been distracted by the whole “reindeer-and-Ferio-are-the-same-age” shock during the tea party, and by the fact that her biological mother had gotten pregnant as a teenager.
But in the original story, whenever something serious and important happened, the Marquis of Pardus always showed up and dropped key hints.
And Leonia had already met the Marquis not once, but twice.

“There is something, isn’t there?”
Something serious. Something important.