I Became the Male Lead's Adopted Daughter-Chapter 97
“There’s nothing to eat, nothing to play with...”
Leonia began listing every reason she found the banquet unpleasant.
Her criticism was so nitpicky it could have put the most notorious in-laws to shame.
Emperor Subiteo’s face twisted more and more with every word.
The spectators could barely take it—watching the fearless baby beast march forward like this was unbearable.
Someone even shouted, begging for someone to stop her, for the Duke to be brought at once.
“And normally, I’m snoozing by now, you know—snore~.”
Leonia brought her hands together like a pillow and leaned her head on them, miming sleep.
In that moment, the entire banquet hall went cold.
What Leonia had just said was a blatant accusation: that the Emperor had summoned her past her bedtime.
It could be taken as an insult to the Imperial Family.
And indeed, a vein visibly throbbed on Emperor Subiteo’s forehead.
He was being humiliated by something he had completely underestimated.
After her long list of complaints, Leonia suddenly stopped.
“...I want to go home.”
I want to cuddle my dolls and sleep.
“I like my doll better than you, mister.”
The one Daddy gave me!
With that jumbled closing line, Leonia waved her hand as she turned to leave.
“Bye-bye, Emperor Mister.”
It was shockingly rude—beyond comprehension.
“Y-You...!”
Emperor Subiteo’s face turned so red it looked about to explode. It wasn’t just insult—it was pure humiliation.
“Such insolence!”
The attendant burst out, shouting at Leonia.
“No matter how uneducated you are, how dare you speak that way to His Majesty the Emperor!”
At the booming scolding, Leonia’s shoulders twitched.
“That’s enough.”
Emperor Subiteo raised a hand, silencing the attendant. The man breathed heavily, then bowed his # Nоvеlight # head.
“She’s a child. If one cannot forgive such a mistake, then they’re no adult at all.”
“My deepest apologies, Your Majesty.”
The Emperor’s face had improved slightly. After all, the attendant had spoken out on his behalf.
“......”
Leonia’s round eyes widened.
“Did she not get scared?”
The Emperor lowered his back a little—though he clearly had no intention of bending his knees.
“Are you alright?”
He reached out a hand to check on her.
“U-Uuh...”
Leonia’s chin began to tremble. Her lower lip pushed up over her top lip like a mountain rising.
“H-He yelled at me...”
She bowed her head.
“...WAAAHH!”
A thunderous wail erupted—loud enough to shake the chandelier above.
Startled, the Emperor yanked his hand back.
“Ugh!”
And then he dropped down on the spot.
“Waaah! AaAAAAH! DADDDDYYYYY!”
“Urgh!”
“Gahk...!”
“S-Stop...!”
It wasn’t just Emperor Subiteo.
Amid Leonia’s growing cries, tortured groans began to echo around the hall.
The shouting attendant, the nobles watching nearby, the knights at the door—
All of them fell to the floor, clutching at their throats or chests.
Something sharp and indescribable was pressing against their very lives—their existence itself.
A fear none of them had ever known.
“Waaaaaah! Daddyyyy!”
The more she sobbed, the more golden energy shimmered and bloomed behind her.
The fog-like glow began to form a strange shape.
A mouth, vague and slightly unsteady in form—
And inside it, something glowed with a deadly light.
The symbol of House Voreoti.
The Fangs of the Beast.
***
“I’m thinking of using the Fangs.”
Before the banquet—
Leonia had planned to cause a grand uproar to spit in the face of the Emperor who dared invite her.
And among the options, she’d asked Ferio about this one.
“What do you think?”
“Explain it in detail.”
“Umm, so—”
The baby beast began her presentation.
She predicted the scenario, how she would act, what variables might come up, and what the final result would be if all factors played out.
Her past corporate life, buried deep in memory, proved surprisingly useful.
“Try it.”
After a moment of thought, Ferio gave permission more easily than she expected.
“Really?”
“You said you wanted to do it.”
Ferio replied that if she was going to make a scene, it should be at least this big.
Leonia realized just how much Ferio despised the Imperial Family—and that all his offhanded jokes about revolution were actually sincere.
“I’m still clumsy with the Fangs, and it’s the Imperial Palace, so...”
She spoke bravely of her resolve, but many things still weighed on her.
If Voreoti ended up being used as a scapegoat just because she made a scene, she’d feel too guilty toward her dad.
“It’s fine.”
Ferio had placed Leonia on his lap.
The solid, warm chest that brushed against her left ear and the steady thrum of his heartbeat calmed her.
“It’s a parent’s job to take responsibility for a child’s mistakes.”
Not knowing what his daughter was feeling, Ferio stroked her messy bangs one by one, straightening them.
“But using the Fangs isn't exactly a ‘mistake’...”
The intention was too clear. The effect was far too cruel.
“It’s a mistake.”
The father beast declared proudly.
“We’ll just make it a mistake.”
And with that, he decided to participate—just a little—in Leonia’s banquet riot.
“But there’s one condition.”
“A condition?”
Leonia pouted. Why not just help her out?
“Let’s use this to test something.”
Ferio had decided to use the banquet rampage as a test—to see how well Leonia could now wield the Fangs of the Beast.
“Don’t lose control.”
Leonia still hadn’t completed the full form of the Fangs.
They remained vague and unstable.
But now she could maintain four fangs longer than before, and her control had improved significantly.
Which meant she had to be even more careful.
Staying just under the edge of losing control, Leonia drew out the full power of the Fangs.
Before she knew it, she had forgotten all about pretending to cry. Her entire focus was locked on the Fangs.
The golden killing aura that filled the wide banquet hall was the absolute maximum the baby beast could control.
“Leo.”
Just then, something warm flooded into her body.
“Slowly.”
Put the Fangs away.
The most dependable voice in the world whispered into her ear.
At the same time, scarlet Fangs began to envelop and suppress the golden ones that had spread through the hall.
“You did well.”
She hadn’t lost control. She passed the test.
“You’re a good girl, aren’t you?”
This translation is the intellectual property of Novelight.
“Daddyyyy...”
“Yes, that was scary, wasn’t it?”
By now, the Fangs had vanished, and Leonia had thrown herself into Ferio’s arms.
“...It wasn’t that scary, though.”
She added, whispering just for her father to hear.
Ferio gently pulled her closer, pressing her small head into his chest, and murmured for her to quiet down.
“Ehehe~”
Her mouth curved into a wide grin, squished against his muscular chest.
Ferio lightly tapped the top of her head. That meant: enough fooling around.
Now, it was time for Daddy to take the stage.
“Your Majesty, are you all right?”
Ferio addressed the Emperor sprawled on the floor.
He merely asked. That was all.
Ferio did not extend a hand to help him up, nor did he step closer. He simply stood a few paces away and inquired out of courtesy.
In the end, it was the attendants standing farther off who rushed in to assist the fallen Subiteo.
The others struck by the Fangs’ power also began slowly gathering themselves from the floor.
“W-What in the world...!”
Though the Emperor managed to stand with their help, he still hadn’t shaken off the terror that had just threatened his life.
Saliva even dribbled from the corner of his mouth.
Still, he fared better than the attendant who’d stood right beside him—he’d passed out with his eyes wide open.
And wet himself, too.
“The child made a mistake.”
“A... a mistake?!”
Subiteo shouted, but his tongue was stiff, and his words came out slurred.
“She could’ve killed me!”
“She wouldn’t have.”
Ferio calmly replied. He had been watching from afar. Leonia had deliberately pulled her power back, enough to only scare, not harm.
“More importantly—why was my daughter alone with Your Majesty?”
Ferio’s question made the Emperor shut his mouth.
“I was looking for her because she disappeared, but then I felt the Fangs’ aura and was startled. I never imagined she’d be with Your Majesty...”
Finishing his words, Ferio slowly glanced around at the nobles nearby.
“Why did no one inform me of this?”
The nobles, who had just barely recovered their composure, flinched and shrank back.
Ferio hadn’t even summoned the Fangs, and yet something far more violent than Leonia’s earlier ‘mistake’ now wrapped around his entire body like a beast ready to lunge.
Anyone could see that Leonia had committed a serious offense.
Yet the mood was shifting—blaming not the child, but the Emperor and the nobles who had allowed it to happen.
All because of one man.
“Could someone please explain.”
Ferio Voreoti, standing alone.
“How could my daughter, only seven years old, end up in a room full of people—without me? Unless someone gives me a satisfactory explanation...”
He was just about to say he’d show them what a blood-soaked banquet really looked like—
“Duke Voreoti.”
Marquis Pardus interjected, appearing out of nowhere. He seemed perfectly unaffected, as though the Fangs hadn’t touched him at all.
And in truth, they hadn’t.
The marquis first checked on the Emperor’s condition, then turned to Ferio, offering a composed reminder.
“You’re not without fault yourself, Duke.”
He pointed out that Ferio had also let the child wander the banquet alone.
“And His Majesty simply wished to thank the young lady for attending tonight. If anyone is truly at fault, it would be the attendant who raised his voice at her.”
With a shrug, Marquis Pardus dumped all blame onto the now-unconscious and soaking-wet attendant.
“Wouldn’t it be best for the two of you to head out now?”
The banquet was already in ruins.
Even if it were to continue, no one could truly enjoy themselves with the Voreotis still present.
They wouldn’t speak freely.
And if they didn’t speak freely, Marquis Pardus wouldn’t be able to gather the information he wanted.
“It seems the young lady is also quite sleepy.”
At those words, Leonia—still nestled in Ferio’s arms—twitched.
The child who had been grinning into her father’s chest suddenly shifted into a sleepy act.
“...Very well.”
Ferio gave a short farewell to the Emperor.
“I’ll call on you again another time.”
It was a simple parting phrase. But Subiteo’s face turned ghostly pale.
To him, it sounded like a threat: We’ll have a proper talk—just the two of us.
And truthfully, Ferio had meant it that way.
The hall had fallen into silence, and the only sound was the steady click of Ferio’s boots on the floor.
At the banquet hall’s entrance, Lupe was already waiting for them.
As the three turned to leave—
“Everyone.”
A clear voice rang brightly through the hall.
Leonia had stepped down from Ferio’s arms and was now clutching her skirt, bowing politely.
The elegant motion she had learned from Countess Bosgruni made it hard to believe she had just brought a room full of adults to their knees in tears.
“It’s been an honor to see all of you on such a meaningful night.”
I came here tonight with the full intention of hunting you down.
“As the only daughter of Duke Voreoti, his one and only heir...”
And yet you dare spread rumors about my low birth, calling me a bastard?
“I am Leonia.”
Remember that name clearly.
“I hope to see you again.”
Though next time will likely be your end.
With the loveliest smile she had ever worn, Leonia turned her back on the hall.
Ferio looked at his daughter with a gaze that said she was the most admirable creature in the world.
