I Became the Male Lead’s Adopted Daughter

Ferio himself hadn’t expected that, despite not even seriously considering marriage yet, he would end up cherishing an impulsively adopted child so deeply, raising her with such sincerity and devotion.
Words could never fully express how lovable the child was.

Ferio found immense satisfaction in the way things were now.
However, he had no intention of showing those sincere feelings to the child.
After all, Ferio himself wasn’t exactly the most emotionally mature person.

Though he’d never admit it, he was, in his own way, a little shy.
“You didn’t sexually harass Sir Ibex, did you?”
So, as always, he expressed his affection with a teasing joke.

“…Seriously, you never give me a moment to be sincere.”
Leonia, who felt just a tiny pang of guilt, grumbled and swung her cottony little fist at Ferio.
***

The date of Ferio and Leonia’s departure to the capital had been set.
Before leaving the western region, Leonia went on a major shopping spree in the plaza.
Each item she chose herself, intending to send them as gifts to her acquaintances in the North.

“This one’s for Grandpa Kara, this one’s for Felica…”
From the people at the Voreoti estate to her only baby friend Flomus and the noble ladies of the Oasis tea gatherings—no one was left out.
‘Did I miss anyone?’

Leonia double- and triple-checked the gift list she’d written down in her notebook.
“You’re better than me.”
From behind, Carnis nudged Ferio in the ribs with his elbow.

“You don’t have that kind of attention to detail.”
“You don’t either.”
From the sofa across the room, Abipher gave a dry chuckle at her husband’s hypocrisy.
“Darling, couldn’t you take my side just once?”

“Both of you, just look at the young lady.”
To Abipher, Leonia was far more admirable and mature than either of them.
Ferio, shamelessly sprawled out on someone else’s couch, glanced sideways at Leonia.

Watching her manage things, instructing the servants on what was missing, it was indeed impressive.
“The Voreoti young lady is already taking the lady-of-the-house role seriously.”
Carnis, too, found Leonia astonishing. She was only a year older than Ufikla, yet the difference between them felt enormous.

“She’s like that because she takes after me.”
Ferio quietly sat up and looked toward where Leonia was.
“Unnie, look at this!”

“Pinu too! Pinu too!”
On closer look, Leonia was not only organizing the gifts but also looking after the Rinne siblings beside her.
Ufikla and Pinu were playing a writing game, scribbling letters into their notebooks alongside Leonia.

“Wow, you’ve got a lot of friends…”
Leonia looked over the names Ufikla had written in her notebook with admiration.
“I do have a lot of friends!”

Ufikla proudly read each large-letter name she had written.
Following his sister’s lead, Pinu also shouted out his own scribbled gibberish with enthusiasm.
“Pinu, you’re too loud.”

Ufikla sighed and grumbled, annoyed by her younger brother’s ear-splitting volume.
“He’s just little, that’s all.”
Leonia patted them both gently, urging Ufikla to be patient.

“…Are you sure your daughter’s really seven?”
Carnis whispered to Ferio. He’d lost count of how many times he’d asked that question.
The way she soothed the younger children made her look like a seasoned nanny.

Ferio shoved his friend away without interest, telling him to get his face out of his sight.
“I have friends in the West and the capital.”
Ufikla was quite popular in her own way.

Her fox-like, adorable features helped, but the real reason was her position as heir to House Rinne, which owned the empire’s largest trade port and merchant guild.
“Dad says you have to choose your friends wisely.”
“He’s not wrong.”

“And Mom says, don’t make it obvious when you do.”
“Hmmm…”
Leonia glanced at the group of adults sitting on the sofa.

The Count and Countess of Rinne, who had been eavesdropping on the children's conversation, waved back with sheepish smiles.
‘Yep. Definitely Dad’s friends…’
They were not ordinary folks.

“So this one isn’t my friend anymore.”
While proudly listing her friends, Ufikla suddenly crossed out one name with a red crayon.
“Why? Who is it?”

“Hedy.”
Hedy was the young heir of the Hieina family.
Yet Ufikla used to say she liked Hedy a lot—he often brought tasty snacks to share.

“Hedy hyung!”
Even Pinu beamed brightly and called out his name with familiarity.
“Then why not be friends anymore?”

“Hedy is nice and I like him. But I don’t like his sister.”
“Why?”
Ufikla pouted and didn’t bother to hide her displeasure. She looked like she’d remembered something unpleasant.

“Remember how I used to like the Duke…”
“Used to…”
“Used to…”

Carnis and Abipher had to stifle their laughter at their precocious daughter’s choice of words.
When a six-year-old says “used to,” it probably means a few weeks ago at most.
Even Ferio, watching her, couldn’t help but crack a small smile.

“Well, his sister likes the Duke too, right? And she laughed at me before.”
“What did she say?”
“She said I was pathetic.”

Carnis, who had been watching, shot to his feet.
His face, which had been blooming with smiles, now twisted into something menacing.
Abipher, equally outraged, didn’t try hard to stop the Revoo Mad Dog from going berserk this time.

“Sit down.”
Ferio threw his friend back onto the sofa, telling him not to interfere with the kids’ drama.
Leonia, who had been listening, snorted.

“What a stupid thing to get worked up over.”
She patted Pinu’s head and asked, “Right?”
Pinu nodded along cluelessly and clapped his hands.

His giggle was just a bonus.
“How old is she?”
“I don’t know. Not an adult.”

“Then she’s just a kid like you.”
Leonia advised that if that girl picked a fight again, Ufikla should just punch her.
“It’s always the least important ones that stir up the most trouble.”

The little ones, seriously.
After checking the final gift list, Leonia handed it over to the maids.
The Count Rinne maids bit their lips as they hurriedly carried the packages—barely holding back laughter from the earlier conversation.

“But…”
Ufikla mumbled.
“Mom says you shouldn’t hit people without a good reason…”

This translation is the intellectual property of .
“Hit them in secret.”
Leonia deliberately used complicated words, as if justifying that kids getting into scuffles was an unspoken part of growing up.

Sure enough, Ufikla’s eyes sparkled as she nodded eagerly.
“But make it a {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} proper duel, okay? One on one, fair fight.”
“Yes!”

“Good. You really are my best pupil.”
Leonia beamed proudly and held out her fist.
Ufikla, remembering what she’d learned before, extended her own little fist and bumped it against Leonia’s with a soft thump.

“Me toooo!”
Pinu flailed his arms excitedly, squeezing himself between his sister and Leonia.
Before long, the children chattered something unintelligible and ran off, declaring they were heading out to play in the garden.

“…Well then.”
Ferio raised his chin with shameless confidence as both Carnis and Abipher glared daggers at him.
“Did my kid say anything wrong?”

Honestly, Ferio found himself completely agreeing with the philosophy Leonia had just shared.
There were definitely people in the world who only understood a beating.
“I beat everyone—except kids.”

“Wow, such a gentlemanly thug.”
“Your Grace, still, don’t you think we should preserve their innocence…”
Though Abipher always enjoyed chatting with Leonia like a friend, there were times when she genuinely worried that the girl lacked any childlike innocence.

“Don’t worry too much.”
As if Ferio hadn’t wrestled with the same concern himself.
He had tried many things, made all sorts of efforts to nurture Leonia’s innocence.

After countless attempts, the conclusion Ferio came to was: laissez-faire.
The more he tried to force anything, the stronger Leonia pushed back.
On the contrary, doing absolutely nothing yielded the best results.

“At this point, she’s overflowing with it.”
Compared to when they first met, Leonia was plenty like a child now.
“Overflowing? More like a drought.”

Carnis scoffed, saying she was practically parched.
“She just seems that way because she’s too smart and competent.”
“Wow, you…”

Carnis finally became convinced that Ferio had crossed over to the land of doting fathers.
He felt more kinship with his old friend than ever before.
Just then, the laughter of children drifted in through the window.

“And also…”
Ferio thought of Regina.
His cousin, who had tricked everyone and eloped, leaving behind Leonia and then passing away.

“Not all childhood innocence is a good thing.”
Thinking about what kind of suffering the girl had endured alone, Ferio couldn’t help being skeptical of ‘childlike innocence.’
“And besides…”

He muttered softly, almost inaudibly, and absentmindedly tapped the armrest of the sofa with his fingers.
A furrow formed between his brows as his thoughts grew deeper.
That wandering knight.

The root of all this.
A man whose very identity as a knight was questionable.
Ferio had been holding onto thoughts of that man for a long time—the one presumed to be Leonia’s biological father.

***
A few days later.
The day had arrived for the Voreoti father and daughter to depart for the capital.

Yaaaaawn…
Leonia, who had woken up early that morning, let out a jaw-splitting yawn.
Next to her, Ferio lightly patted her back, telling her to wake up.

“Leo.”
“Mm?”
“You look just like that.”

Ferio pointed at the carriage.
On the massive black carriage door, the Voreoti family crest had been engraved. The lion inside the crest had its jaws wide open in a roar—as if unwilling to be outdone by Leonia.
“Why are you picking a fight first thing in the morning…?”

Still half-asleep, Leonia grumbled and leaned into Ferio’s leg.
That was her way of saying: I’m tired, pick me up already.
Ferio said nothing and simply obliged.

“Pat me too…”
Finding a comfy spot, Leonia propped her chin on Ferio’s shoulder and smacked her lips with a sleepy mumble.
Soon, a large, firm hand gently began to pat her back.

“Thanks for everything.”
As he soothed his daughter’s sleepy fussing, Ferio gave a farewell to Carnis and Abipher.
“You’ve really become a dad.”

Overcome with emotion, Carnis wiped the corners of his eyes, getting sentimental.
Abipher shot him a sidelong look, silently calling him ridiculous—but in truth, she too found herself surprised every time they saw Ferio and Leonia together.
“I just hope you weren’t lacking anything during your stay.”

“You were more than generous, madam.”
“What about me, then?”
Carnis grumbled, feigning hurt.

And to be fair, he had reason. He’d stayed up entire nights gathering evidence of illegal monster trafficking. He’d worked for days with the Gladiago Knights to secretly transfer captured monster cubs all the way to the North.
Thanks to that, the western region had avoided disaster—but still, a little acknowledgment wouldn’t hurt.
Not that Ferio didn’t appreciate it.

“I’ll repay you properly later.”
Those simple but sincere words from Ferio melted Carnis’s sulky heart right away.