The Mind-Reading Mate: Why Is the Lycan King So Obsessed With Me?!-Chapter 486: A Father’s Gentle Love (I)

Inside the fragment of memories, Primrose felt as if she were truly living in that time again. Everything felt so real. If Leofric hadn’t appeared in front of her from time to time, she might have forgotten that she was no longer in the past.

"Your father is really something, Your Majesty," Leofric said when he saw Lazarus receiving money from a rich noble after handing over a few bottles of expensive wine. "He only met you today, yet he already wants to buy you some pretty dresses."

Primrose stood quietly beside the horse, waiting patiently for Lazarus to return. Soon, he came back with several noisy pouches filled with gold coins and a few diamonds. He was smiling so widely that he couldn’t hide his happiness. In this life, it seemed that he hadn’t been born into a rich noble family, so every bit of fortune meant a lot to him.

"Honestly, it would be more profitable for him to sell a pretty girl like you as a slave instead of selling those bottles of wine," Leofric said casually. "I guess some bandits still have a sense of right and wrong."

Primrose didn’t reply to Leofric’s words, because she kept watching her father, or rather, a different version of Lazarus that she had never seen before.

He acted so carefree, without any of the noble rules that bound him. Actually, even in her present life, Lazarus didn’t care much about noble rules. That was why he could marry Iriana, a woman from a simple background.

Still, Primrose had never imagined that he could be this free and carefree.

"I forgot to ask you... what’s your name?" Lazarus asked as he stood in front of her. He bent down a little so his eyes were level with Primrose’s.

"M-My father calls me... Rose," Primrose answered softly, without even realizing she had said it.

"Rose?" Lazarus smiled warmly. "That’s a beautiful name."

Then he gently lifted her into his arms. It felt strange, because her body was still dirty and messy. People nearby even often looked at her with odd eyes, as if she were nothing more than something unclean.

"How about we clean you up first at the inn?" Lazarus said kindly. "I already prepared some clothes for you. I’m not sure if you’ll like them, but if you don’t, we can buy new ones."

Primrose didn’t say anything. She only stared at him with her big, round eyes. She couldn’t understand why a stranger was suddenly being so kind to her, when her biological father had left her to rot in a dark cell.

She didn’t even know who her biological father was in this life. She also didn’t understand why she had suddenly been born as Lazarus’s biological daughter in another lifetime.

"We can also buy some sweets," Lazarus added as he helped her sit on the horse before climbing up himself. "Do you like cookies?"

Primrose nodded lightly, even though she didn’t really know what cookies were at that moment.

===

The moment Primrose stepped into the wooden bathtub filled with various cleaning products, all the dirt on her body washed away. Lazarus even washed her hair several times, making sure there wasn’t a single bit of dirt left.

She sniffed her body a few times, feeling quite happy because her skin now smelled like flowers.

"Did you never bathe in that place?" Lazarus asked gently.

Primrose shook her head. "They only let me bathe once a month," she said softly. "They said... I was wasting their water."

Even though she didn’t know much about that place, Primrose could guess that it belonged to the Cardinal.

So... was she his daughter?

But Lazarus clearly hated the Cardinal. He even spoke about him with anger and harsh words.

Well, if the Cardinal really was her biological father in this life, then he seemed like a bad person, someone who let his daughter rot in a prison cell because she was unwanted.

If she was truly unwanted, then why had the man pretending to be Averon said that Lazarus had stolen her away from him?

To Primrose, it didn’t feel like she had been taken. It felt like she had been saved.

Still... this was only the beginning. What if Lazarus wasn’t as kind as she thought?

The moment that thought appeared, Primrose felt ashamed. She even wanted to scold herself because how could she doubt the man who had treated her so gently for so long?

Not far away, Leofric said nothing. He only leaned against the doorframe and watched Primrose quietly.

Wouldn’t it be better if he told Primrose how this fragment of memories would end?

"Those people are jerks!" Lazarus suddenly blurted out. Then he quickly covered his mouth. "S-Sorry. I mean... those people are bad," he corrected himself because he didn’t want to use rude words in front of the little girl.

"Don’t worry," Lazarus said as he gently held her wet cheeks. "When you live in my house, you can use as much water as you want. You can even bathe twice a day!"

Primrose looked at him in confusion. "But... won’t your water run out?"

"If it runs out, I’ll just get more from the well," Lazarus replied with a light laugh. "It’s not a big deal." 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝙚𝔀𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝒐𝒎

Just as Leofric had said before, Primrose could feel every emotion and every bit of pain inside this body. It was all so real, as if it truly belonged to her.

At that moment, her heart felt light and warm. For the first time since she was born into this life, someone had shown her even a small piece of kindness, someone had treated her like she mattered.

That simple kindness made her feel safe, even if only for a moment.

But deep down, there was still a small part of her that couldn’t fully trust Lazarus.

Maybe it was because of the mysterious man who had confused her mind, or maybe it was because this body had been hurt again and again by the people around her, until it no longer knew how to believe in others.

After being wounded for so long, learning to trust again was never easy.

But it turned out that trusting Lazarus was not difficult at all.

After staying one night at the inn, he brought her to a small house hidden deep in the forest.

The house was far away from any village or people. It was a quiet place, well hidden, where bandits would have a hard time finding them.

Even so, the small house felt warm and safe.

It didn’t feel lonely, but it felt like a home.

For a few days, Lazarus let her rest on the bed, while he slept in the living room, on a hard wooden chair. He never complained about it, even though his back often felt sore in the morning.

He also bought her several new dresses that looked pretty and sweet on her. Each time he handed them to her, he would watch her quietly, as if he were afraid she might not like them.

"Do you like it?" he would ask carefully.