I Became the Male Lead’s Adopted Daughter

A few days later.
Regina Voreoti came home.

She returned to her homeland, resting quietly in her father’s arms.
“You’re home now.”
The Count whispered to his daughter, his voice heavy with sorrow.

Wrapped tenderly in her father’s coat, Regina’s ashes seemed as small and fragile as a newborn child.
They fit easily into one arm, light as if she weighed nothing at all.
The funeral was held simply.

Regina was buried in the Urmariti estate.
She was laid to rest in a prepared spot, and one by one, those invited to the funeral scattered a handful of soil over her, leaving their farewells.
The Count and Countess of Urmariti were the first to scatter the earth.

The Count, who had wept so fiercely upon hearing the news, now faced his daughter with a composed expression for this final goodbye.
But his thick eyebrows, gone stark white, twitched as if struggling to hold back his grief.
“My lady…”

The Countess of Urmariti sprinkled soil with a single tear.
She had once served the previous Countess as a maid and still remembered Regina well.
‘It must be complicated for her.’

Leonia, watching the trembling Countess, lowered her eyes.
No one could speak carelessly of what kind of relationship Regina and the Countess had.
But from what she’d heard, the Countess had worried deeply about Regina.

So Leonia hoped, at least, that her tears weren’t false.
She didn’t want her birth mother to suffer humiliation even in death.
After the Urmariti couple stepped aside, it was time for the Duke of Voreoti and his daughter.
Ferio and Leonia stood side by side in front of the grave, dressed in plain black clothes without a single decoration.

“Regina.”
Ferio spoke as he scattered earth.
“Don’t worry.”

Short and to the point. A farewell—and a vow.
A vow that he would cherish Leonia, the daughter Regina had left behind, as his own, and that he would destroy those who had shamed the North and left her in that state.
Ferio stepped back, and Leonia took his place in front of the grave.

“Aunt.”
She called out to Regina.
Though they were mother and daughter, their public relationship was that of aunt and niece.

The truth of their blood was something that had to be buried with this grave.
“Hello.”
She bowed deeply, her hair unusually half-tied.

It was Kara who had done her hair that way, styled as Regina had once liked it.
In her hair was a ribbon, black, made of cloth.
“Nice to meet you.”

It wasn’t really their first meeting, but to the current Leonia, it was. And their first meeting just happened to be here, at a funeral—what a strange thing.
“I’m Leonia.”
She introduced herself with the name her father had given her, then slowly scattered the soil.

‘What do I even say?’
Other than a greeting, she couldn’t think of anything.
She felt pity, sympathy, but there was still no yearning for her mother.

After a brief pause, Leonia waved her dirt-covered hand slightly.
“…Bye-bye.”
It was a farewell she gave to people she liked, hoping to see them again next time.

Next time she came, she’d probably be with Count Urmariti.
Imagining herself visiting Regina’s grave with the Count, Leonia gave a small shrug.
Still, it didn’t feel too bad, meeting the one who had given birth to her.

Returning to her place, Leonia sat quietly beside Ferio.
She watched as the others paid their respects.
Lupe left a sorrowful smile as he said his goodbye, while Kara endlessly wiped away her tears with a handkerchief.

Mono and Meleis stood silently, praying for peace.
Soon, the funeral was drawing to a close.
Count Urmariti was the last to bid farewell.

“Rest well, my daughter…”
At that, the Count finally let his tears fall. Leonia couldn’t bear to watch and turned her head quickly.
It hurt too much to see.

With his wife’s support, the Count stepped away, and Ferio, Lupe, and Mono picked up shovels.
They began to cover the grave.
Since the funeral was being held in secret, no workers had been hired for the task.

So the three men, all tied to Regina in some way, took it upon themselves.
They worked in silence.
Leonia, staring blankly at them, suddenly lifted her head.

After days of nothing but snow, the cloudy sky had finally cleared—brilliant blue stretched overhead.
And just like that, Regina slept.
***

A few days after the funeral.
The people who had attended gathered once again at the Voreoti estate.
Everyone except Leonia.

“Why!”
Leonia, left out, was furious.
“You said I’m part of this too!”

After telling her so much, now suddenly excluding her felt way too unfair. She pouted, lips sticking out in protest.
But this time, Ferio wouldn’t budge.
“I’ll tell you everything later.”

What the adults were about to discuss wasn’t something a child should hear—it was far too harsh, too much.
And above all, Ferio didn’t want to see Leonia cry again.
“…Fine.”

Leonia finally backed down. Ferio was more serious than she’d ever seen him, and she didn’t dare push him now.
Instead, Meleis stayed with Leonia.
Kara, too, stayed behind to look after the estate. As an experienced butler, he knew when to step in and when to stay out.

Relieved, Ferio didn’t head to the drawing room until he’d seen Leonia sitting peacefully in the living room, reading a book.
“Did you get anything?”
As soon as he sat, Ferio asked Count Urmariti.

“Thanks to the gift you prepared, he did talk… but nothing useful came of it.”
The Count bowed apologetically.
The “gift” Ferio had prepared was Saura’s head.

Right before Regina’s remains returned to the North, Ferio had finally killed Saura with his own hands.
The black diamond he’d hidden in her clothes was for that purpose.
Just in case Leonia accidentally lost control and killed her first.

Ferio wanted to kill her himself.
And he personally cut off her head and gave it to the Count.
It seemed like the best way to get the Western noble the Count had brought with him to talk—someone he might recognize.

And it worked well enough.
The Western noble, shaking like a leaf, spilled everything he knew.
‘I-I was just following orders!’

But most of it was no different from what Saura had confessed under the drug.
And with nothing more to give, the noble died, his neck twisted in a single turn by the Count’s massive hand.
“Still, it seems even he didn’t know about Regina’s existence.”

“Now that you mention it… that woman too…”
Ferio remembered what Saura had screamed, high on the drug.
‘It was me! I tricked him into getting you pregnant! I tricked him when you were born too!’

Her voice, shrill with rage, echoed in his mind again, stirring up a deep disgust. Maybe he’d killed her too quickly.
But the important part was that word she’d repeated—“tricked.”
“Ricoss.”

Ferio turned to Lupe and asked.
This translation is the intellectual property of .
“Since the banquet, have there been any suspicious movements from Olor?”

“None.”
Lupe answered promptly.
“During the banquet, they did look at the young lady, but it was no different from the curiosity other nobles had.”

Meaning they were just interested in the rumored Duke’s daughter, like everyone else.
“In fact, they showed more interest in the new wristwatch business. They said they wanted to invest.”
“Fucking lunatics.”

Ferio couldn’t hold back a curse. There had to be a limit to shamelessness.
But then again, they didn’t know Leonia was his daughter.
Saura’s twisted betrayal had, unexpectedly, turned into a useful shield. Plus, Leonia’s striking resemblance to Ferio had thrown them off even more.

That was incredibly fortunate—and crucial.
At least they wouldn’t dare make any bold moves to claim parental rights, not right now.
“I’ve got no face left for my ancestors.”

Even so, Ferio was appalled.
The fact that scum like them could dare look down on Voreoti was, ultimately, his failure as head of the house. He rarely voiced regret, but this was one of those times.
No one could say a word in response. None of them could forgive what the Olor family had done in the North.

“But.”
Mono, struggling to keep his irritation in check, raised a fundamental question.
“Why did that Olor bastard sneak into the North?”

“There was nothing unusual recorded at the time in Voreoti or any other territories,” Lupe agreed.
They’d dug through records focusing on the Mereoqa, Glis, and Tabanus families—houses tied to Olor. But nothing had come up.
“However.”

Marquis of Pardus had passed on an important fact through Lupe.
“We’ve confirmed that Olor’s heir was part of the Imperial Knights at the time.”
Ferio’s brow furrowed.

“The Imperial family was involved?”
“There’s no hard evidence, but there’s plenty of reason to suspect.”
If they’d been planning to poach monsters even back then, it had been a pointless effort.

It made far more sense that the three Northern families who’d collaborated with them had slowly leaked information, leading to the plan.
There was even proof that things had progressed that way.
‘Imperial involvement…’

Tap, tap, tap—Ferio’s fingers moved faster.
‘No lowly knight could have moved on his own.’
Whether the Olor heir gave a damn about the honor of being a knight was unknown.

But one thing was clear: a knight of the Imperial Order couldn’t leave his assigned region without the Emperor’s explicit orders.
‘Who could it be?’
The current Emperor, who had been the Crown Prince at the time?

Or the previous Emperor, now dead?
When Olor’s heir had infiltrated the North, the late Emperor was still alive. That meant they had to suspect not only the current Emperor but the one before him too.
It was all infuriating, disgusting.

Ferio thought he might as well just overthrow the damn Empire.
All this headache could be solved with a good old-fashioned bloody purge.
‘But Leo said no.’

She didn’t want to be royalty, so that was off the table.
“…And.”
Ferio pulled something from inside his coat.

A folded handkerchief.
Something glittered between the slightly parted fabric.
He tilted his hand, and something slipped out.

“It was found with Regina’s remains.”
It was the necklace he’d shown to Saura. A thin chain, with a swan charm, slipped from the handkerchief.
“Remus Olor’s necklace.”

Ferio tossed it onto the table like trash.
“They say it was found while recovering her remains—she must’ve swallowed it before she died.”
How exactly Regina had been murdered by Saura was still a mystery.

But one thing was clear: Regina had, in the end, regained her senses.
And she’d left behind a clue, wanting revenge on the man who ruined her.
This necklace was now crucial evidence, something that could tighten the noose around the Olor family.

“I’m sorry to say this, Count, but the cause of Regina’s death doesn’t matter.”
Ferio glanced at Count Urmariti, asking for understanding.
“I agree.”

The Count nodded, biting his lip.
“As her father, I grieve, but right now, what matters more is that a Red Swan bastard infiltrated the North.”
“If we break him, we’ll learn plenty about how she was killed.”

At those words, a heavy, tense atmosphere settled over the room like a sharp blade.
Ferio sat back, eyes closed, looking exhausted.
“I admit I was negligent.”

His voice was slow, fingers rubbing between his brows.
“Because of that, the North’s been treated like shit.”
Ferio exhaled a long, dangerous breath.

He’d ignored ❀ Nоvеlігht ❀ (Don’t copy, read here) all the whispers, the rumors, the slander against the North and Voreoti, because it was annoying, and now it had led to this mess.
“I’ll teach them myself.”
It was a declaration—one that reeked of blood, like a war cry.

At last, the black beast that had lain silent was ready to bare its fangs at the Empire.
The beasts of the North who followed him steeled themselves.
“This will be a long, slow hunt.”

Taking down the Red Swans in one blow wasn’t enough. The Black Beast was filled with rage far deeper than that.
Ferio was determined to teach them exactly what must never be touched in this Empire.