I Became the Male Lead's Adopted Daughter-Chapter 101

A cold gaze pierced the young Lady of House Hieina.

Her hands, which had been tightly clenched near her navel, had turned stark white. She had no words to offer, burdened by guilt.

“What would you do if we chose not to hire you because of what happened back then?”

“There’s no excuse.”

After a brief hesitation, Lady Hieina confessed honestly.

“Actually... this interview was originally the suggestion of Lady Voreoti. She asked me if I’d like to give it a try.”

Ferio had already figured as much.

For someone who had once stalked the infamous Voreoti, Lady Hieina seemed to have remarkably low self-esteem and lacked conviction in herself.

“To be honest, I know full well that I’m not skilled enough to pass. But I came here, swallowing my pride, thinking this would be my last chance.”

“What do you mean, ‘last chance’?”

“I’ve decided to stop admiring you, Your Grace.”

When she slowly lifted her head, her face looked visibly lighter than before.

“I’m sorry, Your Grace.”

Lady Hieina apologized once more.

“I’ll start trying—little by little—beginning today.”

“What exactly will you try to do?”

“Lady Leonia told me... that I’m not worthless.”

So, she decided the first thing she should do was stop thinking of herself as worthless.

“To others, I may still seem lacking...”

“......”

“And I want to apologize to Lady Ufikla as well.”

“That’s a good decision.”

“Then... goodbye.”

With an awkward smile and a word of thanks, Lady Hieina left the estate.

“......Leo.”

Leonia, who had been quietly watching all along, grabbed her father’s hand tightly.

“Yes, Daddy.”

“If we receive word that Lady Hieina has apologized to Ufikla...”

Ferio said as he patted the child’s head.

“Tell her to come back here.”

The interview had passed successfully.

“Daddy!”

Leonia threw herself around Ferio’s leg in a joyful hug.

“But her salary will be deducted from your allowance.”

“......Huh?”

Leonia, who had been celebrating as if it were her own success, froze.

“......But I don’t have any money?”

Leonia didn’t receive an allowance.

Whenever she wanted something, she simply told Ferio, and it would appear before her eyes—so she never really saw the need.

“And besides, that big sister is being hired as a Voreoti employee.”

So, obviously, it was the Duke of Voreoti who should be handling her salary.

“You’re the one who said it, Leo.”

That Lady Hieina was her subordinate.

“And it’s the boss’s job to take care of their subordinates.”

“Le–Leo... doesn’t have any money, though?”

Sensing his father’s wicked scheme, Leonia launched into emergency-level cuteness mode.

She wiggled her hips side to side, placed a finger on her lips, and acted as innocent and clueless as possible.

She even referred to herself in third person.

Ferio smiled with a benevolent expression.

“Once the wristwatch business starts, all the profits will be yours.”

He added that since she would officially be an employee, her salary would come out of the Voreoti estate for now, but once profits came in, she'd have to repay the amount.

Leonia’s nose flared in shock.

“Just fire that big sister!”

“Are you serious?”

“...No, hire her...”

Leonia pouted her lips.

“I feel like I got scammed...”

Irritated for no real reason, she began pressing her father’s calf with her tiny fingers.

***

“......You seriously hired her?”

A few days later.

As soon as Lupe saw the newly introduced staff member—Lady Hieina—he froze in place.

And then immediately went to find Ferio.

“You kept saying how busy you were, and yet—”

Ferio, in the middle of sorting through documents, glared at the intruder.

“I hired the employee you wanted so badly. Now get to work.”

“But that person is...!”

“But what?”

Ferio stopped mid-document, narrowed his eyes, and looked directly at him.

Lupe was dumbfounded. Ferio was acting like he’d completely forgotten that both he and his daughter had once been stalked by this very woman.

“She stalked both you and Lady Leonia!”

“Hate the sin, not the sinner.”

Ferio said as he stamped the document. His words sounded like ❀ Nоvеlігht ❀ (Don’t copy, read here) some profound quote from an enlightened sage.

“Then would you forgive the Emperor too?”

“There are always exceptions.”

Ferio quickly changed his stance, saying there were cases where the sin and the person were one and the same.

As he picked up the next document, he cast a slightly annoyed glance at Lupe.

“Just give her a try.”

“No, but still...!”

“If you’re going to say ‘but still,’ then give me Leo back.”

“To... Lady Leonia?”

Lupe looked utterly confused, asking what he meant.

“Leo brought her in, saying she was going to be her subordinate. She’s good at her job, so I’m borrowing her.”

“Are you serious?”

“To a degree.”

Ferio added that he could personally vouch for her skills.

Only then did Lupe begin to wonder if he was being serious.

Still, Lady Hieina hadn’t even been accepted into the Academy, had a past of stalking the Duke and his daughter, and was still a minor.

When he listed off those disqualifying factors one by one, Ferio pressed his lips together in frustration.

“Lupe Ricoss, Viscount.”

And then he said,

“What do you expect to gain from being so narrow-minded and closed off?”

He repeated the exact same words he’d heard from Leonia the day before.

“Lady Hieina has enough skill to assist you with your duties. It would be absurd for House Voreoti to reject talent over something so trivial.”

“Trivial, you say...”

To Lupe, who lived by common sense, this was anything but trivial.

“And as of yesterday, Lady Hieina became a legal adult.”

She had reflected deeply on her past actions, so all that was left was to watch and see how she did.

“So get going.”

He was too busy to deal with pointless arguments.

At Ferio’s clear dismissal, Lupe had no choice but to return to his office.

“...What are you doing?”

The first thing he noticed was that Lady Hieina was still standing in the exact same spot from when he’d rushed out earlier.

“You’re not sitting?”

“No one told me I could...”

“So you’ve been standing this whole time?”

Startled, Lupe hurried to seat her. Then he awkwardly brewed some tea.

He felt guilty for having left her alone.

“Miss, first of all...”

“I’d prefer if you didn’t call me ‘miss.’”

Lady Hieina cut in quickly and, with courage, expressed her request.

“The truth is, I ran away from home to come to the mansion.”

“R-Ran away...?”

Lupe choked on his tea, startled, and began coughing. His lips were drenched in tea.

“I told them I wanted to start a new life and left with nothing but a bag of my belongings.”

“Then where are you staying?”

“The annex where the staff live.”

In both the capital and the North, the Voreoti estates had separate annexes designated for staff accommodations.

This was different from the servants’ quarters.

“Isn’t it uncomfortable?”

After all, she had lived as a count’s daughter until now. It was bound to be uncomfortable staying in communal housing.

“It’s incredibly comfortable and makes me happy.”

But her expression showed not even a trace of dishonesty.

Seeing it, Lupe couldn’t help but recall the faces of the Count and Countess of Hieina.

Compared to that household where she had to constantly walk on eggshells, this place must’ve felt like peace.

“...Then, Inseréa.”

“Yes!”

This translation is the intellectual property of Novelight.

Lady Hieina—Inseréa—answered with a visibly tense expression.

“To be honest, I still find it difficult to trust you.”

“Yes, of course.”

Inseréa nodded. She had expected as much.

“But since both His Grace and the young lady recommended you, I’ll observe you for the next few days.”

“I’ll do my best!”

“I’d prefer you strive to do things perfectly rather than just ‘your best.’”

“I-I’ll do my utmost with everything I have!”

Inseréa declared her resolve, her voice trembling slightly.

“Well then...”

Lupe proceeded to explain the tasks the new employee would be handling.

***

“How did someone with that level of skill not make it into the Academy?”

That evening.

Lupe, now having joined them for dinner, launched into an impassioned speech to Ferio about how absurd it was.

“I’ve never seen someone write so fast and so precisely!”

“Who talks that much during dinner?”

“Uncle Lupe, please be quiet.”

Both Ferio and Leonia scowled, clearly annoyed by the noise.

And understandably so—Lupe hadn’t shut up all evening, constantly bragging about Inseréa, the new hire working under him.

They were on the verge of bleeding from the ears.

Inseréa had proven her abilities with full force.

She remembered every document Lupe needed and delivered the information on the spot. She also drafted letters and paperwork to be sent out with incredible speed.

And since she had stalked Ferio in the past, she already had a decent understanding of the Voreoti household’s schedule—meaning there was surprisingly little left to teach her.

“Honestly, you’d have to be that skilled to stalk His Grace in the first place.”

Lupe’s praise didn’t stop.

“It’s good that she’s competent.”

Ferio spoke while tearing off a piece of bread.

He’d had some reservations, but seeing Lupe praise her like a lunatic on repeat made it clear—at least her skill was the real deal.

“She’s a talent I discovered!”

Leonia boasted, mid-chew on a piece of meat.

“Both of you should be grateful to me!”

“Thank you, young lady.”

Lupe sincerely expressed his gratitude for finding someone so capable.

For the first time in a while, a genuine smile spread across his face.

“I’ll buy you an anatomy sketchbook for muscle studies as a gift next time.”

“Uncle Lupe...”

Leonia, touched, looked as if she were about to cry.

“You shallow man.”

Ferio muttered as he wiped her mouth with a napkin, brushing away the sauce and crumbs.

“But still... I did feel bad for her.”

Lupe recalled the Count and Countess of Hieina and furrowed one eyebrow.

“She has so much talent and yet received no recognition.”

“Worthless parents.”

“Just unlucky to have them.”

“Aaahm...”

Leonia took a huge bite of salad and mumbled with her mouth full.

The fresh crunch of vegetables mingled with the tangy dressing.

“Sure, parents can plan to have children, but children don’t get to choose their parents. That big sister Inseréa probably had a rough time.”

Sigh, Leonia let out a heavy breath.

“This world’s gone to hell...”

She clicked her tongue, saying that terrible parents existed everywhere.

“Just because the child resents the parent, it’s considered immoral? That’s immoral too.”

Then she added bitterly that parents who act like that deserve to be abandoned by their kids.

“......”

“......”

Ferio and Lupe silently watched Leonia grumble.

“It’s like there’s a seventy-year-old grandpa living inside you.”

“We promised not to pick fights during meals.”

Leonia asked why it always had to be a grandpa.

“Because when you get all giddy over muscles, you remind me of one of those pervy old men who spend their remaining years trying to flirt with young women.”

“Wow. This just proves you’re not my biological father.”

Leonia shook her head.

“If we were blood-related, you’d never say something like that.”

“And the way you make cruel remarks without thinking of how others might feel—that’s also grandpa-like.”

Ferio chuckled.

“What if someone else overheard?”

Luckily, the servants had stepped away to fetch dessert.

“I’ve never seen anyone who cares so little about the circumstances of their own birth.”

Truly a rare kind of creature.

“What am I supposed to say to that?”

Lupe, who knew all the details, just felt increasingly awkward.

“Just accept it as is.”

“Right. It’s not like this is the first time Dad and I have talked like this.”

“Then let’s switch to another topic.” freёnovelkiss.com

It was too heavy a subject for dinner conversation anyway.

“Hmm, then...”

Leonia dipped her bread in the leftover sauce on her plate and asked,

“Why is His Highness the Princess wearing a dress if he’s a man?”