I Became the Male Lead's Adopted Daughter-Chapter 193
Ferio granted the prince’s request and provided them separate rooms.
The guest rooms were quickly prepared by the servants.
Both rooms were quite splendid and exceptional. They were no less than the guest room Varia had once stayed in before sharing a room. The view outside the window was equally breathtaking.
And just as the prince had requested, the two rooms weren’t far apart.
With only a wall in between, there was a door connecting them from the inside.
“What is this, seriously?!”
The prince, having discovered the secret door, grabbed his sibling.
“They know about you!”
“Yes, they do.”
Princess Scandia’s expression twisted as both her arms were seized. It was due to her brother’s strong grip.
“Then why did you speak like that earlier?”
Leonia, in particular, had caught his attention.
No matter how he looked at it, her attitude had been hostile and wary. The girl had bared invisible fangs toward the boys who’d come to the North, threatening them.
“I almost pissed myself.”
The prince confessed honestly.
He had been so terrified that he would’ve rather wet himself and run away.
“Please don’t confess to me that you nearly soiled yourself while holding onto me.”
The princess grimaced.
“And you’re hurting me. Let go.”
“She said we were lovers!”
Prince Crisetos was appalled, but still let go of her as she’d asked.
“I’m a prince!”
Even if he wasn’t favored by the emperor, he was still a proper prince of the Empire.
On top of that, he still had every chance of becoming the crown prince.
“Anyone can tell I was raised well. People may have gossiped about me behind my back, but no one ever said anything to my face!”
For such a prince, being teased so brazenly by the beastly father and daughter had been a serious blow.
“And did you see the Duchess?”
Still dumbfounded, Crisetos paced around the room.
“Do you know how she looked at us just now?”
“I saw.”
Princess Scandia muttered.
“She looked at us longingly.”
Her face darkened as she spoke.
Varia, who had no idea that Princess Scandia was actually a boy, had pitied the two siblings—no, lovers—and even shown a bit of curiosity.
“I’m having the worst experience of my life here.”
“And you call that the worst?”
“Scandia, what’s with your tone...”
Crisetos, about to grumble at her manner of speech, suddenly jumped in surprise.
“L-Lady Voreoti!”
He shouted.
“Ugh, you’re loud.”
Leonia covered her ears with both hands, annoyed.
“Screaming as soon as you see someone’s face—how rude.”
“How can I not be shocked?!”
“You were acting so shameless earlier.”
“Now of course I’m shocked!”
Crisetos pointed at himself and Princess Scandia.
“There was only the two of us in this room!”
“Your sibling? Not your lover?”
“Lady Voreoti, you know everything!”
“Later, try acting like lovers in front of my mom.”
Leonia said with a sly grin, mentioning how her mom had been secretly curious.
It was wonderful to gain an ally—especially within the family.
“Why do you keep °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° tormenting us?”
“Do I look like I wouldn’t?”
Leonia growled.
“You interrupted our precious family time!”
“We didn’t interrupt!”
“I was going to play more with my mom and couldn’t!”
“How old are you that you still want to play with your mother?”
“Twelve!”
And I'm about to turn thirteen, Leonia shouted, full of fury far beyond her age.
Overwhelmed by her intensity, Prince Crisetos took a timid step back.
“How did you get in here?”
Princess Scandia asked.
“This.”
Leonia held up a ring of keys in her hand.
“This is our house.”
“Right... Lady Voreoti’s house...”
Princess Scandia muttered in a defeated voice.
“Th-Then why did you come?”
Using the softened atmosphere, the prince carefully asked.
Leonia scanned the prince and princess once each.
Blond and silver hair, a gentle impression and a blunt one—there wasn’t much resemblance between the two siblings.
‘But their eyes...’
Both resembled Empress Tigria.
“Dad told me to ask you something.”
“The Duke?”
Crisetos asked, finally calming his pounding heart.
“Why didn’t he ask earlier?”
“There was someone there who shouldn’t know yet.”
“...The Duchess?”
The only people present back then were the two travelers and the Voreoti family of three.
So the only one naturally excluded was Varia.
“It’s Dad’s consideration.”
Ferio didn’t want Varia to hear the question just yet.
‘He strangled me and stabbed his own stomach with a knife. The smile I saw then resembled Consort Usia’s.’
And Leonia agreed.
There was no need to bring up the matter of Consort Usia, who resembled Remus Olor.
“By the way, you two.”
Leonia asked.
“Do you know anything about Consort Usia?”
***
“Your Highness.”
The aquamarine eyes gazing out the window trembled.
‘How annoying.’
Prince Alis frowned slightly.
Then, turning toward the source of the sound, he saw a red-haired man with a friendly smile.
It was Remus Olor.
“Are you alright?”
‘Disgusting bastard...’
Suppressing the instinctive revulsion, Prince Alis blinked slowly.
He was currently on a brief retreat in the South for rest.
He had been staying quietly alone in a villa, but Viscount Olor, having heard of his presence, had come uninvited.
Once there, he insisted on having a meal together, and now, having finished eating, they were on their way to the Olor estate.
“Are you uncomfortable anywhere?”
Remus asked kindly.
“What’s there to be uncomfortable about?”
But the one who answered Remus’s question was Viscount Olor, seated across from him.
“We’re riding one of the Empire’s top-tier carriages.”
His tone was full of confidence.
And shamelessness.
“Even the Duke of Voreoti probably hasn’t ridden in one of these.”
“Have you?”
Prince Alis asked.
“Ridden in the Duke of Voreoti’s carriage?”
“Aren’t all carriages more or less the same?”
Viscount Olor replied, implying there wasn’t much difference no matter how fancy.
“I think so too.”
Prince Alis returned the same words the viscount had just used.
“A carriage is a carriage.”
The viscount’s face flushed red and blue, caught in his own words.
“So, I’m not particularly uncomfortable.”
So stop talking to me.
With that unspoken meaning, Prince Alis gave a sideways glare at his grandfather and uncle before turning back to the window.
His green hair, tousled like lush foliage, was gently pressed against the glass.
Soon, the cries of seagulls echoed nearby. Something white broke apart between the buildings.
“...It’s the sea.”
Prince Alis murmured.
“Would you like to go see it?”
Remus asked.
“Stop the carriage.”
At his words, the carriage came to a halt.
“Your Highness! Where are you going?!”
Viscount Olor shouted at Prince Alis, who was getting out alone.
“Lower your voice.”
Already outside, Prince Alis showed clear displeasure.
“Don’t be so vulgar. Are you trying to broadcast my identity in the middle of a plaza?”
Prince Alis didn’t hold back even with his maternal grandfather.
The viscount’s face twisted with anger.
“Then let me accompany you.”
Remus stepped in to calm his father and made a suggestion.
“No. You two return to the estate.”
“Then what about Your Highness?”
“I’ll return to my villa.”
“We’ll serve you properly at the estate.”
Viscount Olor, face still flushed, offered again, this time in a more subdued tone.
“...What could a viscount’s estate possibly offer?”
What could you possibly do?
“At the very least, it takes a duchy to satisfy me.”
Prince Alis sneered and slammed the carriage door shut. Then he disappeared into the crowd.
His green hair vanished in an instant.
“...That lowborn little wretch!”
As the carriage started moving again—
Viscount Olor began cursing.
“He became a prince thanks to me!”
“Father, please calm down.”
“If it weren’t for me, he’d have lived as a bastard’s son, a widow’s child!”
That arrogant brat doesn’t even know his place, Viscount Olor spat endlessly about his grandson.
Naturally, Consort Usia, who had given birth to Prince Alis, came up as well.
“That damn woman didn’t raise him right!”
The curses continued, too harsh to be uttered in a sane mind. Anyone hearing it would think he was speaking of a lifelong enemy.
But all his venom was directed at his daughter, for failing to raise her son properly.
“Father is right.”
Remus made no attempt to stop him. He let it pass like water under a bridge.
“Calling me uneducated? That Usia, who gave birth to me, was the truly ignorant, lowborn one!”
“Still, Usia is grateful to you, Father.”
Remus consoled him without a hint of annoyance.
“Well, that’s true.”
Only then did the viscount stop cursing.
“Still, is it alright to let His Highness go alone?”
Remus asked with concern.
“Public safety in the South hasn’t been good lately.”
“Come to think of it, weren’t you hurt recently too?”
The viscount narrowed his eyes.
It was less out of concern and more disdain that his son had gotten himself injured over something so minor.
“It was just a nick, but it healed quickly.”
Remus raised his right arm.
Under his clothes, hidden on his arm, was a dagger wound now bandaged.
“...Take care of yourself first.”
Don’t worry too much about the prince, Viscount Olor dismissed.
“The knight trailing him will protect him.”
Prince Alis had brought one knight with him on this trip south.
That knight had been following their carriage and would surely watch over him.
“By the way, when do you plan to have children?”
The viscount asked Remus.
“Soon, I suppose.”
“When exactly is that ‘soon’?”
Though it had been several years since Remus and Lota married, they had yet to bear a child.
The viscount was displeased.
“Children aren’t something you can will into existence.”
“Is there something wrong with the daughter-in-law?”
The viscount suspected Lota.
Remus just smiled silently.
“Tch.”
Seeing that smile, the viscount crossed his legs and turned to look out the window.
This content is taken from (f)reewe(b)novel.𝗰𝗼𝐦
