I Became the Male Lead's Adopted Daughter-Chapter 88

“Olor making a move on the North, the Emperor condoning it and even lending support... and now their cunning attempt to subtly pin the blame on the Empress and the West.”

None of them could have pulled this off in the past.

“Indeed...”

Lupe thought for a moment before nodding.

The Subiteo Emperor and House Olor, as he remembered them, had never been this bold.

“At least not before...”

Lupe trailed off, hesitating just before saying the date. His face visibly paled.

“Yes. Those three years.”

Ferio finished for him.

“The years I was bound to the capital.”

Things had been strange since then.

Neither the Imperial family nor House Olor had ever had the guts to cause such large-scale events.

And even before that, they hadn’t had the brains to plan them.

Then who?

Who had changed the two?

A face surfaced in Ferio’s mind.

The only green feather among the Red Swans—one who had raised a lowborn house into nobility overnight. The one intersection between the Imperial family and House Olor.

“Consort Usia.”

The name slipped from his lips—and even Ferio found it chilling.

“She’s no ordinary woman.”

A flicker of something sharp and eerie flashed across the black beast’s gaze as he stared into space.

***

When Leonia opened her eyes, the sun was already beginning to set.

“Did I sleep too long?”

“The banquet starts late. And stop talking.”

Ferio gently wiped her face with a cool, damp towel.

Leonia had wanted to complain about how leisurely everything felt, but her words came out muffled from the towel squishing her cheek.

“Let’s eat now.”

Ferio carried her down to the dining room.

“Daddy.”

“Yeah?”

“We’re still going to the banquet today, right?”

For an event like this, things felt far too relaxed.

Even if it was held at night, the atmosphere was oddly calm.

“We’re eating before we go.”

Ferio explained that she wouldn’t have much to eat once they arrived.

Food served at night banquets was usually alcohol-based, with little Leonia could enjoy.

“Better to eat now than get an upset stomach later.”

Ferio grumbled that this was exactly why he hated her going to banquets.

“Oooh...”

Leonia looked at him in fascination. Then she grinned.

“You’re really acting like a dad now.”

“Was I ever not your dad?”

“I mean you’ve become a real pro at parenting.”

Her laughter burst out like a gift.

Ferio didn’t reply. He simply gave her back a small pat.

Leonia’s giggles grew, and eventually, Ferio couldn’t help but smile too.

His frustration lifted.

Annoyance had piled up from all the complications lately, but her laughter swept it all away in an instant.

“You’re something else.”

“Huh? What’d you say?”

Leonia tilted her head.

Ferio brushed it off with a nonchalant “Nothing.”

Dinner was made up of simple, soothing foods that would still provide lasting energy—entirely tailored to Leonia’s needs.

After happily eating ❀ Nоvеlігht ❀ (Don’t copy, read here) the meal that had been prepared with such care, Leonia spent about an hour reading books and strolling around the estate to rest.

Only then did she begin getting ready for the banquet.

First, she bathed in warm water, applied moisturizing lotion all over her body, and dried her wet hair thoroughly before combing it out with hair oil.

‘Wait a sec.’

Then it struck her.

“This is just like any other day!”

It was the same routine she went through before bed.

Even if Ferio called Imperial banquets “nonsense” and always downplayed them, this level of nonchalance in getting ready was unprecedented.

Even outings to the public square were more elaborate than this.

“Isn’t this too casual?”

Leonia asked Mia, who was brushing her hair from behind.

Just then, Connie gently laid the dress for the banquet on the bed.

Only then did Leonia feel like she was actually preparing for something formal.

“If it were up to us...”

Mia clenched her fist in frustration.

“We’d be dressing you in every gown we could get our hands on!”

“And trying different hairstyles to see what suits you best!”

“Shoes, accessories—everything!”

Connie had joined in now.

But their shoulders soon slumped. A shadow of fear lingered on their faces.

“But Master said... if this ‘pathetic banquet’ wore you out, he’d throw a blood banquet with our lives...”

“He meant it,” Connie whimpered. “He really meant it. I almost fainted.”

“He said that?”

Leonia spun around, wide-eyed.

She couldn’t believe it.

Ferio didn’t seem like the kind of person to threaten the staff like that.

But the pale, terrified expressions on Mia and Connie’s faces were proof enough.

“How could Daddy say something so scary!”

Leonia vowed to scold him later, shaking her little fist into the air.

“Right? But honestly, don’t you want to try on more dresses?”

“Don’t you want to wear all kinds of shoes and jewelry?”

Their eyes sparkled with desperate hope.

“Uhh...”

Leonia shook her head.

“No.”

She rejected them firmly.

Backing them up now would be dangerous.

The memories of being used like a doll by the maids flashed through her mind.

Thanks to her sharpened instincts—courtesy of the Fangs—Leonia barely dodged a crisis.

“My dream is to be a one-dress lady.”

Leonia had realized the depth of her father’s intentions.

Ferio hadn’t forgotten how overwhelmed she’d been when the maids treated her like a doll.

So he had warned them in advance.

Leonia, newly awakened to true paternal love, choked up.

And she vowed to tease his muscles just a little less from now on.

Meanwhile, Connie and Mia looked utterly deflated.

“But you’re just so adorable...”

This translation is the intellectual property of Novelight.

“We want to dress you up in all kinds of pretty things...”

“And that’ll get you killed.”

Leonia warned that her father wasn’t bluffing—and that a blood banquet had already been fully envisioned in his mind.

Only then did the two maids fall silent. Though the regret on their faces remained.

Leonia sighed lightly, as if she had no choice.

“I’ll let you do it on my fitting day.”

She smiled like a parent promising a trip to a flower field next weekend.

Connie and Mia lit up with joy.

“Now, it’s time to get dressed.”

With the maids’ help, Leonia slipped into her gown.

“Wow...”

She stood before the mirror and lifted her skirt delicately with both hands.

Then she turned this way and that, gazing at herself in awe.

“I’m so pretty!”

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“You’ve always been beautiful, Young Miss.”

“You’re not just realizing it now, are you?”

“Don’t take it so seriously...”

Leonia glanced sideways at the two maids praising her with such solemn devotion—but her lips were already stretched into a beaming smile.

“I was talking about the dress, not myself.”

The gown crafted by Baron Theon looked like it was made to steal attention. It was impossible to look away.

‘Honestly...’

Leonia felt guilty.

She hadn’t expected much.

After all, how pretty could a toddler’s dress really be?

When she’d placed the order with Baron Theon and Abipher, she had anticipated something dull.

She’d just hoped the shoulders wouldn’t be stuffed with giant pads.

But the completed dress had smacked the snark right out of her.

Its design was deceptively simple.

Sleeveless, with a dropped waistline that extended just past the hips—nothing dramatic.

But Baron Theon’s magical craftsmanship had turned it into a masterpiece.

Below the waistline, soft fabric flared like morning glories, layered with dense, snow-white feathers.

When Leonia moved, the feathered skirt fluttered like wings.

And not a single feather came loose.

“Connie, Mia! Look!”

Leonia, enchanted by the feathered skirt, pointed to her waist.

Gleaming black lace overlay rested gently atop the skirt’s upper edge, right where the feathers began to fan out.

It subtly balanced out what might have looked like an overly long torso—but Leonia was fixated on the lace.

“There are gems in the lace.”

She finally realized why it sparkled so much—tiny jewels were sewn in.

They were black diamonds, mined exclusively from the Voreoti estate’s quarry.

The exact same stones as her lion plushie’s eyes.

Even the feathered skirt shimmered, as small gemstones peeked out between the plumes.

“Baron Theon must’ve sold his soul to a devil for this dress!”

“You mean that in a good way, right?”

Connie asked, trying to keep up.

But Leonia’s expression wasn’t an exaggeration.

Nothing short of a pact with a devil could’ve produced something so beautiful.

The harmony of black and white was flawless.

Baron Theon had said he’d based it on the northern snowfields—and there wasn’t a single lie in that.

This dress could only be worn by someone bearing the black of House Voreoti.

It belonged to Leonia—and Leonia alone.

“...Shall we do your hair now?”

Connie, finally regaining her senses, picked up a brush.

“I was thinking a round bun with a tiara. How about it?”

“Can’t we do pigtails?”

Leonia asked.

“But that’s your usual style.”

Since it was a special occasion, Mia suggested trying something different.

All the accessories she’d brought were oversized and gem-studded.

“Pigtails make me look younger.”

That way, they’d let their guard down—and Leonia could strike.

“You’re already quite young, Young Miss.”

Connie said gently.

“You’ll be eight after this fall. That’s still very young, isn’t it?”

“Oh, right.”

Momentarily forgetting her age, Leonia surrendered her hair to Connie.

“But make me look really harmless.”

“You already do.”

“Do I look like an easy target?”

“No, I didn’t mean it that way...”

She just meant that Leonia’s cheeks had filled out recently, making her look more like a baby animal than usual.

“Who exactly are you planning to ‘strike,’ Young Miss?”

Mia asked as she laid out the accessories.

“Hmm.”

Leonia scratched the edge of her nostril and gave a vague answer.

“Just... the Emperor.”

In the mirror, Connie and Mia’s faces contorted into sheer horror.