I Became the Male Lead’s Adopted Daughter
Chapter 142

"...Huh!"

Startled, Varia quickly turned back the way she had come.

But no matter where she looked, the boy she had come with was nowhere to be seen.

She even went back to the dessert café they had stopped at earlier, but the Marquis’s son wasn’t there either.

"T-The carriage!"

Suddenly remembering the carriage, Varia hurried to the spot where the Pardus family’s carriage had been waiting.

But the boy wasn’t there either.

The carriage was gone.

Varia froze on the spot. A cold shiver ran through her chest.

And then—

"Ugh!"

Someone grabbed her wrist and yanked her hard. Varia, still out of it from searching for the boy, stumbled along.

But she quickly snapped back to her senses and wrenched her arm free.

Then she turned to glare at whoever had dared to lay hands on her.

"...Lota?"

It was her younger sister.

"What the hell are you doing here?"

Even though it had been a while since they’d last seen each other, Lota skipped any kind of greeting and jumped straight into demanding answers.

"Do you have any idea how worried Father is? Mother’s taken to bed again because of you! Where have you even been?!"

"And what the hell are you doing?"

Varia finally noticed the lingering pain in her wrist and frowned.

She glanced down and saw it was red and swollen. There was even a small scratch—Lota’s nail mark.

"You still haven’t grown out of that habit of clawing at people when you get pissed?"

"Unnie!"

Lota shouted without thinking.

People around them started to stare at the Erbanu sisters.

Uncomfortable under their gaze, Lota grabbed Varia’s wrist again and dragged her into a quieter alley.

Varia hated drawing attention too, so she followed without a word.

Only once they were alone did Lota start again.

"Would you just grow up already?! Why are you always so selfish?"

"So I’m supposed to let our parents control me at my age?"

Varia shot back coldly.

"I’m independent now, and I don’t give a damn about some worthless count’s title."

"Unnie!"

"Mind your own business."

Varia’s eyes went ice-cold as she glared at her sister. Lota, who had been full of righteous fury, flinched.

It was always like this.

Whenever her sister got angry, Lota felt like she was standing in front of a wild beast, completely defenseless.

Especially when Varia’s voice dropped to that unnervingly calm tone—it didn’t just break a person’s spirit, it nailed it to the floor.

Lota felt it now, too.

And it made her cheeks burn with shame.

"...And yet Miss Perfect."

Lota’s eyes narrowed.

"You’re the one screwing up the family’s great plan?"

"That’s what Father’s calling it now, a ‘great plan’?"

"What else would you call it?!"

Lota sighed deeply.

"Think, will you?"

She tapped her finger against Varia’s head, as if to knock some sense into her.

"If this works out, both Erbanu and Olor will rise. Especially Olor—they’re in the Emperor’s good graces right now. They could push Pardus aside and become a Marquis house!"

Her face lit up with a smile.

She even said the Olors might become the new duke house ruling the South.

Her pride as a woman married into the Olor family, her superiority over her sister who was just some lowly government official—it all surged inside her.

"And you’d benefit from that too."

"I don’t need that kind of ‘benefit.’"

Varia waved her hand like she was done with this.

She didn’t have time to waste on this nonsense. She needed to find the Marquis’s son and figure out where the hell the carriage went.

"I’m busy, so let’s just—"

"You always think you’re better!"

Lota grabbed her again, just as Varia turned to leave.

"You’ve always been like this!"

Acting like you’re the only one who’s good, the only one who’s right!

Varia’s eyes narrowed. Lota’s grip on her wrist tightened.

"...You think you’re so great now, but you’re beneath me."

Lota, after all her shouting, suddenly smirked.

"I’m the wife of Viscount Olor’s heir."

Do you even get what that means?

Lota scoffed.

"I’m the sister-in-law of Her Majesty the Consort. The one the Emperor adores. That makes me higher than her. Maybe even higher than the Empress!"

"Watch your mouth."

Varia warned.

But Lota wasn’t listening. She just seemed to enjoy it more.

"Honestly, who cares about titles these days? Even that great ~Nоvеl𝕚ght~ North is nothing special!"

And then Lota crossed the line.

"What do you think some bastard-born little brat can do? She’s just a kid."

"Oh, she can do plenty."

Leonia answered for herself.

And just like that, the color drained from Lota’s face. Her wide, green eyes slowly turned to look behind her in terror.

Varia was frozen too.

"I help my dad with work, and I went monster hunting this winter too."

Leonia stood at the entrance of the alley, casually folding down one finger at a time.

She wore a loose black shirt tucked into stark white pants that came up to her waist.

Her long black hair was tied up high in a single knot.

"I sing a little."

In her other hand, she held a gelato.

"And I’m pretty good at drawing too."

She finished her little list of talents and lifted her head.

Her mouth was smiling.

"Aren’t I doing well for a bastard?"

But her pitch-black eyes weren’t smiling at all.

***

As soon as Leonia reached the plaza, she went straight to the dessert café Ferio had told her about.

It really was popular—the place was packed. Leonia decided to get her gelato to-go and eat it while walking.

She had covered her black hair with a hat, but she still didn’t want to risk disturbing the shop’s business.

The strawberry gelato she ordered came served in a crispy cone.

"Meleis, do you want one too?"

Leonia offered.

But Meleis politely declined.

"I’m on duty."

"I feel bad eating alone..."

So Leonia ended up eating her gelato by herself, when suddenly she spotted a familiar face.

"...Isn’t that Ter?"

It was none other than the Marquis of Pardus’s grandson.

She’d heard that the Marquis’s eldest son’s family had come to the capital, but she never expected to bump into him like this.

She was about to greet him, happy to see a familiar face, when she stopped in her tracks.

Ter wasn’t alone.

There was a woman with him.

Leonia stared, wide-eyed, at the dusty pink hair of that woman before quickly turning away, dragging Meleis with her.

Her heart was pounding.

Varia!

It was Varia.

Shocked, Leonia couldn’t calm down. Concerned, Meleis asked if she was alright, looking her over. Leonia forced a bright smile and said she was fine.

But inside, she was anything but.

Is this okay?

In the original story, Varia and Ferio first met at an Imperial banquet.

But I’m not my dad, so...

It wasn’t that strange to run into her like this. Varia had been in the capital all along.

Still, Leonia hadn’t been prepared to meet her like this, and it left her shaken.

"Lady Leonia."

Just then, Ter approached.

"Holy shit, you scared me!"

"Have you been well?"

"Would it kill you to make some noise when you walk?!"

“You’re turning more and more into the Marquis of Pardus!”

Leonia growled at Ter, who smiled back at her with that annoyingly friendly face.

When he was younger, he used to bawl his eyes out whenever his grandfather stifled a laugh, afraid the old man would die. Now, with all his baby fat gone, his smooth jawline was starting to show.

Not that it mattered—Leonia still saw him as nothing more than a little pest.

“A message from my father.”

“The Marquis’s son?”

“He asked me to tell the Duke.”

He then pointed toward the crowd.

There, Varia was returning to the café, clearly looking for the missing Ter—the son of the Marquis’s heir.

“He said to let him know, ‘I looked after her just as you asked.’”

“...Dad asked him to?”

Leonia’s eyes nearly popped out of her head.

“I don’t know much more than that.”

Ter shrugged.

“But she must be an important guest to the Duke.”

“...”

“Well, I’ll be going now.”

Ter, having said what he needed to, hopped into his carriage and left.

A little while later, Varia came out of the café and headed toward the spot where Ter’s carriage had been. Of course, it was already gone.

...You’ve got to be kidding me!

Leonia, hiding nearby, screamed internally.

Dad knew about Varia?

And not only that—he’d gone so far as to have the Pardus family keep her under watch?

Leonia squeezed her eyes shut.

This was all Dad’s plan!

Ferio letting her go out so easily, him randomly mentioning some famous dessert shop—it all made sense now.

Leonia got chills.

Originally, Ferio and Varia were supposed to meet for the first time at the birthday banquet for the First Prince.

That meeting was part of Varia’s own plan. But this time, it wasn’t.

This time, Ferio was the one making the move to meet Varia.

The world wasn’t following the script she remembered anymore.

“Wow...”

A cold shiver ran down her spine.

Leonia couldn’t help but wonder if she, too, had just been played by Ferio.

Honestly? Yeah, I totally was.

But that was her mistake, thinking she understood this world just because she’d read about it.

Ferio was simply trying to entrust an important guest to the one person he trusted most—his daughter.

Varia Erbanu.

The true protagonist of the original story.

Leonia had meant to approach her.

But that got ruined by the sudden appearance of some pink-haired woman. Varia had called her “Lota.”

“Sister!”

And that Lota woman had called Varia “sister.” That’s when Leonia remembered another character from the novel.

Lota Olor.

The second daughter of the Erbanu family, married to Viscount Remus Olor, and Varia’s younger sister.

Leonia followed them both, keeping hidden.

That’s when she’d overheard Lota’s insane ramblings.

Lota, who thought even Empress Tigria was beneath her, had the nerve to mention Leonia too.

Calling her a bastard child.

When she heard that, Meleis silently placed her hand on her sword’s hilt.

That’s when Leonia stepped into the sisters’ little fight.

Truthfully, the girl was furious.

“Go on, keep talking.”

Leonia looked straight at Lota.

But of course, Lota couldn’t say a thing.

Her eyes trembled, unable to meet the black beast’s gaze, staring only at the ground.

“I-I mean...”

“But here’s what I’m wondering.”

Leonia cut her off before she could even begin to explain.

“Who the hell are you?”

Leonia tilted her head curiously.

“You go around saying you’re greater than Her Majesty the Empress, the mother of this Empire.”

Step by step, Leonia slowly walked forward.

“And you call me, the heir of House Voreoti, a bastard?”

Before she knew it, Leonia was right next to Lota, leaning in close to whisper in her ear.

“Must mean you’re someone real important, huh?”

“...”

“You think you’re better than me?”

When I don’t even know who the hell you are?

Lota’s face burned with shame.

Leonia stared at her coldly. Then, like she couldn’t even stand being near her, she stepped back and casually moved toward Varia.

Varia, too, seemed shocked by Leonia’s sudden appearance.

But unlike her sister, she wasn’t trembling.

“Va...”

Leonia started to call out Varia’s name but paused.

Should I be casual? Formal? How do I even address her?

Sure, Leonia knew a lot about Varia, but to Varia, they were total strangers.

After a brief moment of hesitation, Leonia blurted out the first thing that came to mind.

“...Mom?”

“...What?”

Now Varia froze too.

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