Chapter 63
Chapter 63
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 63
Chapter Title: The Real Daughter Appears
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Anessa snapped irritably.
“Yes, I have no intention of taking her with me. Anyway, what I’m saying is, I could have seduced the kid and made her disappear later!”
“Do you think that would work?”
“She’s just a child. If I gave her some candy…”
“She’s not just any child. Sure, she’s young, but she’s remarkably sharp. She might even be… smarter than you. You can tell just from the fact that she’s running a merchant company that rivals Count Yoter’s.”
“That’s probably because adults are helping her!”
“Even so, Anessa.”
Seeing the princess’s pride wounded, the crown prince patted her shoulder soothingly.
“Our goal is to install the head of the Mirmod family as a puppet and bring him under the palace’s control, though she might not realize that far. So… we need to get rid of her as quickly as possible, child or not.”
Anessa fully agreed with that.
“Sien Mirmod and Matthias Mirmod are thorns in our side, yes. Exactly. And after that…”
“…the future we want will unfold.”
They met each other’s gazes and smiled.
For the crown prince and Anessa’s goals, Sien Mirmod had to be eliminated.
“But, brother. That family seems to cherish Sien Mirmod quite a bit.”
“They do now. But blood is thicker than water.”
“What kind of nonsense is that?”
The crown prince clapped his hands sharply.
At that moment, the attendants waiting outside opened the pure white door, as if on cue.
And then… a small girl hesitantly stepped inside.
She was a child who reeked, as if she’d just crawled out of a sewer.
No longer bothering with her sociable mask, Princess Anessa pinched her nose and asked,
“What the hell is that rotten-smelling thing?”
“It’s the real daughter of Matthias Mirmod, the one I mentioned before.”
Now that she looked closely, the girl’s face was astonishingly similar to Matthias Mirmod’s.
Choppy black hair cut haphazardly, pale eyes. But with a hazy yet chilling gaze and a sharp jawline.
It was completely different from Sien Mirmod’s exotic pink hair and green eyes. Even the hair color matched Matthias’s perfectly.
If she were cleaned up and placed next to him, no one would doubt she was his daughter.
“Yes… the real daughter.”
Anessa nodded, and the crown prince rose and approached the child.
“We’ve already done the paternity test.”
“Oh, really?”
“Yes. Anessa, thanks to this child, our plan will succeed.”
“This child… was sent from the temple?”
The crown prince’s lips curved upward uncontrollably.
“Yes, Melodia sent her.”
“Reliable…”
As Anessa voiced a faint doubt, the crown prince’s expression turned menacing in an instant.
“What nonsense is that? She’s wise and elegant. She couldn’t be wrong. Instead of doubting, focus on acting properly. That’s how you avoid what you don’t want, isn’t it?”
Anessa bowed her head silently as the crown prince rattled off like a machine gun.
“I trust Melodia too.”
“Good. Trust Melodia. Now we have Matthias’s real daughter, made by her, right?”
A satisfied smile spread across the crown prince’s face. He stroked the hair of the five-year-old girl standing blankly beside him and nodded quietly.
“This child will now be at the center of it all.”
The crown prince knew Matthias Mirmod very well.
That’s why he scoffed at the rumors that Matthias loved Sien.
That Matthias Mirmod.
A man like that couldn’t love anyone. He was just using Sien because she was clever. So…
“Our plan is perfect.”
***
…And so, as per the crown prince’s plan, Princess Anessa appeared here.
She entered the Mirmod estate, recalling Melodia’s calculations.
In fact, she had considered sneaking the child over the wall alone.
Matthias Mirmod’s attitude had been unexpectedly firm.
But surprisingly, Matthias let her in. She didn’t know why, but it was good for her. Whether Matthias thought negatively of her now or not, she was about to become the benefactor who brought him his ‘real daughter.’
Finally, in the vast central plaza of the Mirmod estate.
A small girl appeared, led by Princess Anessa’s hand.
She clearly had been well-fed and raised in the palace, yet she looked pitiful enough to evoke sympathy from anyone.
And the little girl with black hair and pale eyes somehow reminded people of someone.
Passersby in the plaza glanced at her once or twice each.
Princess Anessa stopped with Count Yoter, the attendant, and the girl in front of the fountain in the central plaza, where the most people passed.
“W-what’s going on?”
“Isn’t that Her Highness the Princess?”
“Did Her Highness come to participate in the Mirmod family’s [Harvest Festival] too?”
There was a reason she chose today of all days.
Today was the day when numerous nobles came and went inside the reclusive Duke Mirmod’s estate for the event.
It was also a day when Matthias Mirmod stayed at the estate to handle business.
And… it was the day that damn Delphia Mirmod left to tend to her territory.
Recalling Delphia, Princess Anessa ground her teeth and nodded toward the attendant beside her.
It was the signal to stir up trouble quickly, as planned.
At her command, Count Yoter and the attendant who had entered with Princess Anessa shouted sharply.
“Here is Lord Matthias’s real daughter!”
“Sien Mirmod is not the real daughter!”
“Look closely. Doesn’t she resemble him? And they’ve even completed the paternity test!”
Finally, the gathered family members began to murmur.
“What’s going on?”
Servants and maids from other families, and some nobles, also voiced their confusion.
“…She does look like him.”
“It’s the real princess. She wouldn’t lie.”
“What’s happening? Does that mean the current Sien girl is a fake daughter?”
As planned, the rumors spread like wildfire.
The princess smiled with satisfaction.
And finally… Matthias Mirmod appeared in the plaza.
‘…He’s wearing a sword.’
For some reason, he had a sword at his side and an air of killing intent, but seeing a child who looked just like him, Matthias would feel some strange emotion too.
Right behind Matthias Mirmod’s appearance, Sien Mirmod emerged as well.
At that moment, Princess Anessa smirked triumphantly.
Everything was going according to her will.
***
The news of Princess Anessa’s arrival spread quickly through the maids. I decided to go meet her faster than anyone, and differently from the others.
The maid sisters carried me on their backs and strode toward the central plaza where the princess was.
And the sight before my eyes was…
Dad, who had arrived at the plaza a step ahead of me.
And…
“Father…”
…a child claiming to be Dad’s real daughter.
“I’ve brought your daughter.”
It was Princess Anessa and Count Yoter.
Princess Anessa, with a faint smile, nodded toward Count Yoter beside her. The temple priest’s expression hardened slightly at the gesture.
The priest knelt on one knee and whispered carefully.
“I inform the heir of the Mirmod family. The test confirms she is of the Mirmod bloodline.”
“Precisely, Lord Matthias’s child.”
The child hesitantly approached the stern-faced Dad.
“Um, excuse me. I’ve missed you, Father…”
I took a step toward Dad.
Sensitive to presence as always, Dad turned to me. His eyes looking at me were clearly warm, but his expression toward them was icy.
I didn’t think Dad would abandon me.
But given Dad’s fragile nature, I knew he’d worry if his real daughter showed up!
Yet Dad…
“That’s ridiculous.”
He whispered coldly, as if she weren’t his daughter at all, and turned his gaze away from the child.
The child stepped back on the ground, looking frightened.
“D-Dad…!”
But Dad didn’t even glance at the little girl who claimed to be his real daughter. With an indifferent expression, he said,
“Who’s your father?”
“…B-but. I said I’m your daughter—”
“I don’t recall ever acknowledging you as my daughter.”
“…What?”
The child, who had entered clutching the princess’s hand, looked bewildered. Dad coldly ignored the girl who looked just like him and pulled me into a tight embrace.
“Sien, my daughter, let’s go.”
Whispering, ‘No need to hear that filth.’
But I glanced at the child claiming to be Dad’s daughter.
I figured I should verify it properly.
But Dad…
…even though his supposed daughter had come, looking exactly like him in features, eye color, and hair.
“Sien.”
He looked only at me and said sternly.
“Don’t look. Dad will handle it.”
Dad scooped me up and said to Princess Anessa,
“Princess Anessa, is this what you had to say?”
Princess Anessa bit her lip hard. I cautiously opened my mouth toward Dad.
“Dad…”
Unexpectedly, Dad dropped his cold demeanor and smiled at me.
“Sien, should Dad make you something delicious?”
His embrace felt warm.
I glanced downward. I could see the princess and the ‘real daughter.’
Noticing my gaze, Dad murmured softly.
“No matter what anyone says, you’re Dad’s daughter.”
Dad said it as if it were the most obvious thing, but honestly, that child looked too much like him.
I didn’t seriously think I was really the fake daughter, but stray thoughts started tangling a bit.
As if reading my mind,
“Don’t believe weird things. Dad will…”
Dad whispered, hugging me tight.
“…punish them.”
…I didn’t quite believe it, but somehow, it felt like they really would get a scolding.
At that moment, Princess Anessa, seeming to snap out of it, shouted loudly.
“No, Your Highness. The Mirmod family’s council of elders has already said they will verify paternity or not using the professional test kit made by Count Yoter.”
The princess pulled out the council’s token.
The council was currently the faction supporting Axel Mirmod and the center of the family’s power. They were opposed to our dad.
No wonder she was so bold; she must have already made a deal with the council.
Dad, who had only just become duke thanks to Axel Mirmod’s unexpected long battle near the demon realm, couldn’t outright refuse both the imperial family and the council alone.
Dad’s position wasn’t solid enough to ignore the council and palace.
At that moment, Dad’s arms around me trembled slightly.
Worried that his soft-hearted dad might be hurt, my heart pounded.
“Sien.”
“Yeah?”
“…Want to go inside? Dad will resolve this as quickly as possible.”