I Became the Male Lead's Adopted Daughter-Chapter 179
“My future?”
Leonia asked in shock. The corners of the Duchess of Aust’s mouth curved softly.
“And this is the second time.”
“You saw it twice?”
“You’re quite an important person.”
“Uuh...”
At that, Leonia tilted her head in confusion.
Looking back at the time she had spent living here, she hadn’t done anything particularly important.
Being called an important person didn’t feel like it fit.
She was simply Ferio’s daughter. To Leonia, that was the most important thing of all.
“Lady Leonia Voreoti.”
The Duchess of Aust called her name.
“You are a new movement.”
At those words, Leonia reflexively swallowed dryly.
It felt like the Duchess was saying she had completely changed the original flow of the story.
But there was no sense of reproach in her voice.
Rather, it sounded like praise.
“You must live very well.”
“I already am.”
Leonia tilted her head again, and the Duchess smiled at her.
“Then keep being happy. Don’t let anything bind you.”
“Is that the future you saw for me?”
The Duchess nodded.
“But I’m already living however I want.”
Leonia was well aware that she was known as the crazy daughter of Voreoti.
“If I live any more recklessly, I think my dad might actually faint...”
Still, perhaps all of Ferio’s effort in raising her hadn’t been for nothing, because Leonia did show some filial piety.
She was very aware that she lived pretty wildly.
“You’re allowed to live even more recklessly.”
“Are you trying to destroy Voreoti, Duchess Aust?”
At this point, it felt more like a curse than a prophecy.
“Many things have already changed.”
Thanks to you.
The Duchess smiled serenely and closed her eyes.
Yet to Leonia, that elegant, sharp-tongued old woman still seemed to be watching her with her eyes wide open.
“More will change.”
“...What?”
“The future you know.”
The Duchess’s voice, now reaching Leonia’s ears, shifted constantly.
From the tone of a kind grandmother to the bold, booming voice of a general.
“The future that will change—that is what they want.”
Her voice sounded at times like the cry of an unknown, otherworldly being with strange power... and at others, like a whispering breath.
“They?”
The sudden change in atmosphere made Leonia unconsciously clench her fists.
“Beyond the Northern Mountains,”
The Duchess said.
“Those who dwell there.”
Leonia’s throat bobbed. The tension was visible in her slender neck as she swallowed dryly.
“Lady Leonia Voreoti.”
The Duchess spoke the future.
“Take your father’s title.”
And with those words—the future they desired—the Duchess fell silent.
***
The moment the Duchess stopped speaking, the aquamarine doors opened.
“All done, aren’t we?”
As if she had been eavesdropping just behind the door, Salus appeared right on cue and walked briskly over to where Leonia and the Duchess were.
“Grandmother?”
Salus called softly. But there was no reply.
“It’s a side effect of the ability.”
Leonia hadn’t asked anything, but Salus began explaining on her own, as if anticipating the question.
“All powers come with side effects. Voreoti’s Fangs of the Beast are no exception, right?”
“...Headaches and chills.”
Leonia recited the side effects of the Fangs that she had learned as a child.
“Rashes and hives. Muscle pain and general body aches.”
“The South has side effects too.”
With the Southern power of foresight, users experienced eye pain and waves of sleepiness afterward.
Salus explained that the white bandages around the Duchess’s eyes were soaked in medicine to reduce the eye pain.
“Doesn’t it sound just like a drug’s side effects?”
Salus giggled.
“You saw that too?”
Leonia asked.
‘What kind of medicine is this?’
She had said those exact words in a disappointed voice when she first heard the side effects from Ferio while training with the Fangs of the Beast.
Instead of answering, Salus just gave a sly smile. She looked like a puppy caught doing something bad.
“Foresight, unlike other powers, often can’t be controlled intentionally.”
“I don’t mind seeing it.”
“Most people wouldn’t like it though...”
In the past, the Aust family had used foresight to protect and prosper the South. But many also feared and coveted that power.
The Fangs, mana, and ora were powers that could inflict physical damage on others.
But foresight could not. That made it difficult and burdensome in many ways. freewebnσvel.cѳm
“I don’t hate it.”
Leonia knew very well how difficult and exhausting it could be to know the future.
“But I’m a little embarrassed that I whined to my dad earlier.”
Salus smiled again—this time, with visibly less concern.
She helped the Duchess lie down in bed.
Soon after, the five maids waiting outside rushed in and began tending to the sleeping Duchess.
Leonia quietly stepped outside.
“Dad, unni.”
Ferio and Varia, who had been waiting in the front hall, turned around.
Both immediately frowned.
“Leo, what’s wrong with your face?”
“Are you alright, Young Lady?”
As soon as they saw her, they reached out, checking her all over in worry.
“Did something happen?”
Ferio asked.
“Uh...”
Only then did Leonia remember what the Duchess had told her.
Take your father’s title.
It was so shocking—and so far-fetched—that ✧ NоvеIight ✧ (Original source) she’d forgotten to ask questions in the moment.
“It’s just...”
But she couldn’t bring herself to tell Ferio.
Take your father’s title?
The Duchess had clearly told her to steal Ferio’s title.
That was the future she claimed to have seen, and the advice she gave—yet it left Leonia deeply unsettled.
Her dream was to become a duke as cool as Ferio.
But she had always wanted to inherit the title with her own strength, not snatch it away like some ungrateful wretch from the Red Swans.
She had no intention of doing that—now or ever. Leonia was certain, even if it cost her life.
“You know...”
Just as Leonia was about to tell them what she’d heard, having resolved herself—
“The carriage is ready.”
Salus suddenly appeared again, smiling sweetly as she offered to see them off.
Already overwhelmed from the Duchess’s prophecy, Leonia grew even more confused by Salus’s smile—that still reminded her of someone.
“Thank you so much for accepting our invitation this late at night.”
It was a polite farewell, not quite a dismissal.
And the three of them didn’t take it as one.
Indeed, outside the mansion, it had grown even darker than when they arrived.
Now, even the moon was hidden by clouds. You couldn’t see an inch ahead.
It was truly time to leave.
“The moonlight’s gone...”
Varia looked to her side, where all she could hear was the sound of waves crashing against the cliff.
She had looked down there with Leonia before entering the Aust mansion.
But if she tried that now, it likely wouldn’t end as a harmless glance.
“Look there.”
Ferio pointed to something, and Varia followed his finger, relying on the light spilling from the Aust mansion.
Thankfully, lanterns were placed at regular intervals along the road the carriage would travel.
But they were installed low—just enough to light the path for the horses.
“Everything’s hidden.”
Leonia said.
And those lights, guiding just that narrow path—reminded her of House Aust.
Even in the original novel, House Aust was never fully revealed.
And now, having met them, she knew they were more mysterious and secretive than even Voreoti.
Yet clearly, they had protected the South—just like those faint, quiet lanterns.
And they still did.
And they would continue to do so.
“Dad.”
Leonia called.
Ferio, just about to help Varia into the carriage and call Leonia over, looked at her curiously.
“You know, earlier...”
She was just about to tell him what the Duchess had said when—
“Lady Leonia Voreoti.”
Salus stepped between them and gently cut in, blocking Leonia’s view of her father.
“You’re doing this on purpose, aren’t you?”
Just like before.
You get spoiled and now you’re walking all over me, huh?
They were both heirs, but Leonia started to think maybe she needed to put this girl in her place.
Her irritation was obvious, and she opened her mouth to say something.
But didn’t get the chance.
Because Salus was smiling.
As if she knew exactly what Leonia was thinking—and agreed.
“...You’re really doing this on purpose?”
At last, Salus nodded.
“It’s better if you don’t talk about that.”
“Why not?”
“Because it’s not as bad as you think.”
“Taking my dad’s title isn’t bad?”
Leonia growled.
To her, her father was someone she deeply loved—a man she admired with all her heart.
That was why the Duchess’s prophecy had been bothering her so much.
“I’m not going to take it.”
“The Aust’s foresight has never been wrong.”
“Then I’ll be the first exception.”
Leonia’s expression was exactly like Ferio’s whenever he had to deal with petty things—arrogant and full of confidence.
“You know the gift I gave you earlier?”
And then Salus spoke on her own.
Leonia couldn’t help but think Southerners really were weird.
Then again, Varia was from the South too. Leonia was once again reminded that people are just weird in general.
“The round case with the candy.”
“What about it?”
“Take a good look at it later.”
It’ll help you someday.
With those words, Salus stepped back.
“Take care on your way.”
And then she made one last request.
“If you see me again someday, tell me I was doing well.”
Leonia stopped just before getting in the carriage.
“...Tell who?”
But no reply came.
Salus was already walking back into the mansion.
The knight from House Meridio, who had been at her side, bowed deeply to the Voreoti family one last time.
“...Ha!”
Leonia let out an exasperated laugh.
A whole dramatic play written by some playwright flashed through her mind.
It had been a night like a midsummer night’s dream.
***
But why did Dad want to meet the Duchess of Aust in the first place?
It wasn’t until their last day at the Southern villa, after returning from the Aust estate, that Leonia finally thought of that question. Then she rushed to find Ferio.
“Dad.”
Ferio, relaxing with his eyes closed under the shade of the garden balcony, flicked his finger.
A signal that he was listening.
Leonia plopped down beside him.
“Why did we come to the South?”
Then she asked.
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