Born as the Hidden Daughter of a Villainess and the Male Lead

<Episode 8> 

Roberick held out his hand to me. 

I gritted my teeth in disgust, but I couldn’t help holding his hand. 

I had to check on my grandfather. 

“…Edith!!” 

“Grandpa!” 

I saw my grandfather kneeling among the knights who appeared to be the archduke’s force. 

“Roberick Arne Haelian! You’ve finally come to take away my granddaughter!” 

There was bitter hatred on my grandfather’s face. 

Roberick, who gently held my hand, slowly moved his steps and replied. 

“You should keep your mouth in check.” 

As I walked to my grandfather’s side, Roberick let go of my hand. 

Without knowing what he had done, I ran to my grandfather and hugged him as hard as I could. 

“I’m Edith’s biological father. As long as Edith is safe and happy, I am willing to do anything.” 

“…he was your man, huh.” 

My grandfather, who held me face to face, growled like a beast scratching his neck. 

Embracing my grandfather with a bewildered and desperate heart, I opened my closed eyes and looked around. 

“……!”  

And I found it. The owner of the inn, hesitating behind the knights. 

It was him. 

I realized instinctively. 

The one who told Roberick about my whereabouts.  

I clenched my teeth. 

I had no intention of fitting in with their well-organized play as it is. 

“Why are you doing this?” 

“Edith!” 

I loosened the arm that hugged my grandfather’s neck and turned back. 

With his sword sheathed at the ground, Roberick looked down at me. 

“What?” 

He asked affectionately. 

I cried out, barely holding back my disgust.  

“I told you I don’t want to follow you. But what are you doing? Why are you holding on to Grandpa and me!” 

I knew it too. The fact that this won’t change things.  

However, it was too much to just tremble and obey.  

I thought I could somehow hold out if I shouted like this. 

“…Siorn Archaitz Bastevan.” 

But Roberick’s eyes and voice were directed at my grandfather, not me. 

He asked calmly.  

“How on earth did you educate Edith?” 

…what? 

I looked up at Roberick in a daze as if I had been beaten in the back of my head. 

“You’ve been educating my child as if you were brainwashing her to be hostile toward me. It’s obvious even if you don’t look.” 

It is said that when people are out of their minds, they interrogate, convince and conclude something about others based on their delusions alone.  

So Roberick was really out of his mind. 

“No! I’ve never even heard of my father before you came!” 

I screamed with rage. 

My grandfather’s hand, which grabbed my arm, trembled slightly. 

“Edith.” 

Roberick called me. 

I didn’t stop nor lift my clear gaze at him. 

“I won’t follow you no matter what. I’ll be with my grandfather until I die!” 

“Edith…” 

My grandfather’s voice sounded low. 

I tried to hold back the tears of sorrow and anger as I stared at Roberick. 

“……Ha.” 

Roberick’s breath came out laughing. 

And he drew his silver-sword from the sheath he was holding. 

“!” 

The moment when the wind blew so hard that my hair was shaking. 

“Grandpa!” 

The tip of Roberick’s sword passed me and pointed at my grandfather’s neck. 

“It was not enough to cover up my child’s existence, but now you even tried to steal it from me.” 

I seemed to pale and age all at once. 

Roberick twisted his sword blade and spoke. 

“How are you going to pay for that?”  

The look on Roberick’s face was one I’d never seen before. 

“Edith!”  

“Thank God, you finally have the heart to talk to your father!” 

 ‘Edith, please…what’s the matter with you?’  

Always smiling or crying wistfully. 

He was an insane human being with a head like that of a flower-field.  

He was exactly like I’d thought.  

“What? Tell me.” 

Who did that creepy face belong to?  

I’ve got goose bumps all over my body. 

I couldn’t blink an eyelid. 

His inner self, that had thrown away all masks, was so creepy and cold. 

How could this be? Unless, his personality had changed. 

“…what do you want?” 

My grandfather spoke weakly. 

…no, it was my delusion that he had no strength. 

“What do you still want from me, you, who took away my honor, my family, my title, and my daughter?” 

My grandfather was still angry. 

“I’ll claim ownership now, too. Edith is no good. I raised this kid. From the moment she was born with a coat around her mother’s belly to this moment. Please don’t use excuses like you’re her father or flesh and blood. For me, Edith is the only family that Mariette has left behind for me in this world.” 

My grandfather’s hand clasped my shoulder tightly. 

“…what shall we do?” 

Roberick said as if my grandfather’s words were unreasonable. 

“That child is exactly what I want.”  

“…….” 

“What are you going to pay for it? Do you have anything to offer now?” 

It was awful. 

Seriously, it was awful. 

“Oh, I made a slip of the tongue. Only one thing, you only have one thing left.” 

What does the tip of the knife wandering around the grandfather’s neck so blatantly mean? 

I didn’t like Roberick at first. 

Now I was disgusted beyond disgust. 

His behavior of dropping my grandfather into the abyss and casually mocking his benefactor and teacher laid his sincerity out in the open. 

…but he had power. 

The power to act so arrogant and ugly and still not pay for anything. 

And that power… 

“-Stop it.”  

It also had the potential to be mine someday. 

For life would have it the way it wants. 

“I’ll follow you.” 

If I were to be Roberick’s daughter. 

“Edith!” 

My grandfather’s cry pierced my ears. Roberick looked down at me. 

“…that is….”  

Roberick mumbled, narrowing the space between us. 

I turned away from his eyes because I didn’t want to acknowledge it – the fact that the enemy’s eye shone with the same light as mine. 

 “I’ll go to the Grand Mansion. The way that Mister…no, father wants it.” 

The fierce drooping eyes expanded greatly. 

I looked up at the chime in his eyes.  

And I thought. 

The blood ties between you and me are so clear and thorough. 

Therefore, in the distant future, the power you have built will be properly mine. 

When that time comes, I will finally achieve it, having grown beyond your control and you’d have become so weak you’d not be able to stop me. 

My grandfather’s lottery ticket. 

“Edith…” 

Conviction for the arrogance you’ve had. 

A beautiful and bright smile bloomed on Roberick’s face as if petals were falling on the surface of a lake. 

It looked like the most gruesome smile to me, who’d seen that creepy face just now.  

He crumbled down and hugged me. 

“Thank you for accepting me as your father, thank you very much…whatever you want, I’ll try to make it happen. I will protect you no matter what…” 

A desperate whisper came to my ear.  

Not a single word of importance existed in the long dialogue he spoke. 

My heart was directed at my grandfather, whose face I couldn’t see behind me. 

I’m sure you’ll blame my choice on yourself and suffer, but I don’t know how to soothe you. 

I closed my eyes. 

The peace that had covered my life so far was looking back at me at this moment and ending. 

Perion, watching this scene from afar, clenched his chin. 

He didn’t want to embark on this route, so he took every measure available.  

But will it end up like this after all?  

Tell Perion to pick the person he hates most, and he will answer Mariette’s name without a second thought. 

Now that she has disappeared, the people Perion hated most were Mariette’s father, Siorn Archaitz Bastevan and her daughter.  

Edith Ronen Bastevan. 

In particular, Mariette’s daughter was more like a thorn in his mouth. 

Chastia and Allea’s current position looked perfect and stable on the surface, but this was only limited to the Grand Residence.  

‘Lowly things…’ 

 ‘Does Grand Duke Haelian really intend to hand over the dukedom to that stepdaughter he has no blood relations with?’  

‘Although the former Duke of Bastevan’s young lady was a bit of a troublemaker, there was no other noble quite like her.’  

‘Where in the empire would there be a woman who could surpass the daughter of a hero?’  

‘It’s disgusting to see how carelessly the title of Grand Duchess and Grand Princess has been given to commoners without thought!’ 

‘I can’t believe that the noble duke of Haelian’s line will end because of one widow!’ 

These were words that could be heard just a few steps outside the grand residence. 

The people who knew nothing considered the Duchess of Haelian to be a blessed and good-hearted woman who finally won against the wicked, but the nobles openly despised Chastia and Allea.  

Furthermore, the moment he heard that the vicious Mariette was a woman of incomparable excellence as compared to Chastia, Perion had to suppress the urge to draw his sword and cut off the throat of the person who was making the absurd remarks. 

However, in this situation, if Roberick’s only biological child, the daughter of the deceased Mariette appears…  

The nobles will be the most welcoming.  

And they’ll support her as the next Grand Duchess of Haelian. 

“No…” 

He had to stop it at all costs. 

He hated to imagine it, but if things go that way, how far would Chastia and Allea’s situation fall? 

That poison that resembles her mother would definitely not leave Chastia and Allea alone. 

‘……thank you, Perion.’  

He’s finally found happiness. 

When he imagined Chastia losing everything and being kicked out, Perion felt like vomiting blood. 

“…….” 

Perion fixed his hateful gaze on Edith. 

I didn’t want your blood on my hands, even though you were the daughter of the hateful Mariette. 

But this is the only way left for me. 

The last resort that he would use if Edith and Siorn get caught by Roberick.  

Perion decided to kill Edith Ronen Bastevan.