(BL) Rejected by daughter's second male lead-Chapter 48
Soon, the sound of Gillen stomping around inside was heard, and then the door opened. Gillen’s face appeared, a suspiciously bright smile revealing his white teeth.
"Oh, Cecil. What is it?"
"May I come in for a moment? If you don’t have a guest, that is."
"A guest? What are you talking about? I was just working alone. Come in."
Gillen opened the door wide. Cecilia stormed into the study without hesitation. As Gillen had said, there was no one in the study. In that case, had Gillen really been engaging in strange behavior like talking to himself and getting angry all alone?
’I’ve worked so hard to live happily with my dad! How much mental anguish must Dad have suffered because of Yuan to end up like this?’
Cecilia, the regressor, swallowed her bloody tears internally as she sat on the sofa. She put on a calm expression and looked up at Gillen.
"Dad, you sit too. Let’s have some tea together. You have time, right?"
"Of course. Even if I don’t, I have to make time. My daughter wants to have tea. Brian!"
Gillen called for the butler as he sat down across from Cecilia. Brian quickly entered through the open door.
"Yes, Your Grace."
"Bring the lemon tea that our Cecil likes. And bring some snacks too."
"As it happens, the chef said today that he baked the perfect custard pie for the young lady. I will bring it with the lemon tea."
Brian answered swiftly and carefully, as if dealing with a patient, then disappeared like a shadow. Outside, Navard slid the door shut. Their movements were all strongly imbued with the intention of not provoking Gillen.
Cecilia smiled prettily and asked.
"By the way, Dad, have you been very busy lately? I feel sad that I haven’t seen you often."
"I have been busy. I’ve made my daughter sad. I’m sorry, Cecil. It’s because I have a lot to plan regarding the Marian Orphanage."
"It’s because of what Hexi—no, His Highness the Crown Prince said, right? Don’t worry too much. I’ll figure something out."
It was a remark truly befitting the female lead of a romance fantasy novel. And perhaps if left to her own devices, Cecilia really might have found a brilliant solution. After all, she was the protagonist of this world, who did not fear adventure and could become as strong as necessary for the sake of love.
But at the same time, Cecilia was Gillen’s one and only daughter. And so, he hated the fact that Cecilia was the protagonist of the original story, the center of this world. He hadn’t thought much of it at first, but he had grown to dislike it more and more over time.
Because adversity and hardship are bound to befall the protagonist. The protagonist is fated to grow through the process of breaking their bones and rending their flesh to be reborn, to seize a happy ending with their own two hands.
But... why did his beloved child have to go through such things? Why must she jump into a pit of fire? Can’t I be the one to hurt instead? Can’t I be the one to struggle, and just cut out all the good and happy parts of this world and hand them to her like a pie on a pretty plate?
"Cecil, my eternal baby. My brave daughter. Dad is scared to death every time you say you’ll figure something out."
In the original story, Cecilia dies once and regresses. Discord with her father, a lonely childhood, the Gallut Ducal family’s conspiracy, and her family’s ruin after being entangled in treason. Her father died, and before Hexion, her political marriage partner, could even visit Cecilia in prison, she was poisoned by a guard and died.
Cecilia, who regressed to a three-year-old, acts all cute with her father and uses her knowledge of the future to make the family prosper even more, earning the affection and trust of her father, Duke Gillen Blake. Afterward, she systematically obstructs and brings down the Gallut Ducal family, weakening their power.
Instead of a loveless political marriage with Hexion, she builds a close friendship, while occasionally saving the second male leads, taking care of the romance, and searching for the mastermind who poisoned her. In the process of taking revenge, she unexpectedly develops feelings for Hexion.
This was the general plot of the original work, The Adorable Little Lady, and like any other romance fantasy, it was a story about the heroine’s competence, where she accomplishes everything from one to ten all by herself. And Gillen knew that Cecilia was an outstanding person capable of accomplishing not just ten, but even a hundred.
But what could he do if he hated it? What could he do if he was afraid of it? Cecilia had already gone through her regression before Gillen possessed this body. In other words, she had already suffered all those hardships and even been murdered before becoming a three-year-old again. But was she supposed to work herself to the bone all by herself for the rest of her life to change the future?
"You know what Dad always says."
Before Gillen could finish, Cecilia smirked and cut in.
"That all I need to worry about is how I can have a more enjoyable and happy day. I know. I know that you want to do everything for me, Dad."
That little girl who used to run to him with her ten small fingers spread wide. Where had those round, rosy cheeks that jiggled whenever she laughed and ran gone?
Before he knew it, Cecilia had lost all her baby fat and become a lady with a slender face and a long, beautiful neckline. She had grown into a femme fatale ’#capablefemalelead’ who had never lost a sword fight against most armed men, who skillfully ran an information guild, and who secretly manipulated the political scene from behind the scenes.
However, the paternal love Gillen felt for the first time in his life strangely showed no signs of ending. No, in fact, as time went on, he only felt more regretful and sad.
The thought that this child would one day get married and leave his embrace. The thought that she would have the surname ’Moore’ after her name instead of ’Blake.’ The thought that her life would gradually be filled with friends, a lover... and soon, a husband and children, rather than her father. Such things constantly made Gillen anxious.
"Yes, Cecil. So please, let this father do what he can. That is my joy."
"...Sigh, really. Do you know that people gossip behind your back, calling you an incredible doting fool for a father?"
"Why is that gossip? To me, it’s the greatest medal of honor."
"You’re impossible. So I don’t have to worry, right? The way you scared us in the study for several days, that was all to solve the problem, right?"
Cecilia asked coyly. Only then did Gillen seem to understand why Cecilia had come all the way in here and suddenly started prodding at her father’s heart. Just in time, Brian knocked on the door and entered with a tray of teacups and snacks.
"Navard must be outside too."
Gillen chuckled and shook his head. Brian smiled faintly.
"Everyone has been very worried about Your Grace for the past few days. You must take breaks from your work as well. Especially since you wouldn’t want to cause the young lady any distress."
"Yes, I was wrong. Ha! Ha! Ha! My goodness, I’ll have to make sure to take my breaks because of my daughter and you all!"
He laughed heartily. He felt a gentle warmth spread through his chest, which for the past few days had felt like it would explode from fiery frustration and itchy irritation.
And... beyond the communication device shoved under the study desk, a man was rolling his eyes, forced to listen to this entire situation.
Yuan’s expression turned strange as he was unintentionally made to listen to the affectionate conversation of them worrying about and caring for each other with cheerful laughter.
’Cecil is here! Be quiet! No, no, hang up!’
Gillen had left only those words before tossing the communication device under the desk like trash and dashing out. But a magical communication device didn’t work that way. The person who initiated the call had to say the termination spell to end it.
For that reason, from the moment he was shoved under the study desk, Yuan ended up eavesdropping (?) on the Blake family’s happy moment while staring at the chair legs and the wall.
At first, Yuan, who had been rolling his eyes and looking up in exasperation, muttering, ’What a scene they’re making,’ gradually hardened his expression. Just from the distant sounds, he could feel how much Gillen and Cecilia had relied on each other throughout their lives. He could also tell how sincerely the old butler cared for Gillen, and how loyal the aide was to his master.
They were like a happy family out of a children’s fairy tale. A family like a shining bubble, which Yuan had never had and never believed could be real, was right here, beyond this desk.
’That all I need to worry about is how I can have a more enjoyable and happy day. I know. I know that you want to do everything for me, Dad.’
If someone had said such a thing to Yuan even just once, would his life have been a little different? He recalled the adults he had met.
Parents like slave traders, a crazy and perverted high priest, nobles like demons... The old master of the magic tower, who at least acknowledged Yuan’s magical skills and dumped all his work on him, was the only adult who hadn’t tormented him. Or was he wrong? It feels like he was tormented too.
Anyway, even after that, there were enemies who tried to kill Yuan, allies who tried to use Yuan, the emperor who wanted to possess and show off Yuan, and so on. It seemed as though humans existed to disappoint Yuan. That’s why he had surrounded himself with robots instead of humans. 𝑓𝘳𝘦𝑒𝑤𝑒𝘣𝘯ℴ𝘷𝘦𝓁.𝑐𝑜𝑚
’I’m jealous of Cecil.’
For the first time, Yuan had such a thought. He didn’t realize it himself, but this was the first time he had ever felt jealous of someone. He wasn’t even sure what he was jealous of. For growing up with a father like Gillen? For being born into a family full of love and trust? For having trustworthy people around her?
It was at that moment. The sound of footsteps, thud, thud, was heard, then a chair leg scraped, screech, and two large hands suddenly reached down. Presently, a person’s face was reflected in the communication device.
"What, you still haven’t hung up?"
It was Gillen.
