I Played the Role of the Adopted Daughter Too Well

Hickson yelled out loud.

“Hey!”

“Uncle, it’s okay. My sister won’t hurt me.”

“No, not that.”

Hickson’s bell-sized eyes trembled.

“I’m sorry, Viola.”

Viola did not understand Hickson’s words for a moment. Was he sad? Really? She saw that face in Hickson.

‘Aren you feeling really sad?’

She could see why he was doing that.

“No. I trust uncle, I think he is a good adult.”

“But why do I have to go too?”

“Because I want to talk with you two.”

“So, why am I taking it out? I feel disappointed.”

Hickson felt as if she were watching his little daughter say her words, ‘Dad, I’ve got a boyfriend!’

“I can’t help but feel sad.”

“Why are you adamant?”

“Can’t you be firm?”

“I hope it doesn’t.”

Hickson finally sighed deeply. Then he looked towards Tundra. After all, it was Tundra.

“You can’t. We should have a heated conversation.”

“Mister. Don’t take your anger out on my dog.”

“It’s not anger, it’s training.”

“But why are there flashes of life in your eyes?”

“…Did you notice? Hahaha!”

However, Tundra’s answer was more speculative.

“Thank you very much, Master.”

Hickson felt sorry for Viola, and it was a powerful shock therapy for Tundra. The fort continues to be stimulated. She did that when she met 3rd Prince Kundo, and it was the same even now.

‘I was a very trustworthy companion dog. Otherwise, I could have been here too.’

He was talking alone about it. In other words, it meant that he didn’t want to tell others about it. He, too, falls into that other person’s category.

‘That’s probably because I didn’t give him enough trust.’

Viola offered to stay by his side. He reached out to her when he lost her father and sister.

‘Someday, I will reach out to you, master. Become a reliable companion dog.’

So, he had to be strong. He said to his master with serious eyes.

“Rough, please.”

* * *

Viola was left alone with Medea. The first princess drew her sword and looked at Viola. She had light purple hair and eyes and she was still small for her age. She looked thin and fragile.

“Didn’t you eat enough when you were young?”

She has been told that the aftermath seemed to be still there.

“Sister. You said if I had been the enemy I would have lost my life.”

“That’s right.”

“You think I didn’t know that?”

“It’s that so?”

“That’s right. I knew.”

If Viola hadn’t shown herself as a ‘black Bellato’, this statement might have sounded absurd. However, Viola has already completed qualification verification. From the beginning of her adoption until now. Not only did she show more Bellato behavior than anyone else, but she also recently had a criminal record for subjugating bandits. Of course, in reality, Hickson and Tundra did it on their own, but Medea didn’t know that.

“Then why do you think I rushed so recklessly?”

“Well. Why did you do that?”

“Because I trusted my sister.”

“Do you have any objective circumstances or evidence to believe me?”

“I told you before. I said that if my sister had made up her mind, 2nd prince and 3rd prince would no longer be in this world.”

She had a personality like Vicen. If so, perhaps the 2nd and 3rd Princes would have already been found dead. It must have further solidified her position as successor.

“Sister.”

Once again she called Medea. But Medea did not hate being called this ‘sister’. She had a special feeling for Viola. She didn’t know why she had such blind faith and favor towards her.

“Is this a political calculation?”

Iron Blooded Bellato. A Bellato who knew how to wear a thousand masks. Was that why she was approaching wearing a mask like this?

“I always wear a mask.”

“I know. We all wear masks.”

Viola looked into Medea’s eyes for a moment.

Medea’s eyes are red. They looked like a red jewel.

“You know what I’m talking about, sister.”

“I don’t know.”

Medea lives wearing a mask.

In the guise of the 1st Princess of Bellato, Medea didn’t want to kill her blood kin and she didn’t. She loved Bellato and her own family more than anyone else. She was the one who chose to be strong.

“If you don’t want to be honest, I will be honest first.”

“…”

“I hate this.”

“What?”

“War between flesh and blood. I hate all sorts of schemes and secret struggles to become the successor. I’ve always longed for a family. The family I dreamed of and longed for is not like this.”

Medea’s expression hardened. A thick flesh flowed from her ruby-red eyes.

“Viola, you don’t look like Bellatus.”

“Yeah, I wasn’t born as a Bellato. Because I was a very ordinary and abandoned child.”

Frankly, Viola was taken aback by the sting. Medea was a first-class knight recognized by the Empire. Among them, she was a 1-star knight who was bestowed with one star by the Sword Emperor. The killing spree of a 1-star knight couldn’t even compare to the killing spree of Vicen. An endless darkness seemed to descend upon Viola and the world around her. It felt like sinking into a swamp made of darkness and suffocating.

‘Let’s keep our minds straight. I know how influential the author’s settings are in this world.’

So it didn’t shrink.

“I am an adopted daughter.”

“That does not become an extenuating factor in your grumbling. You seem to regret becoming an adopted daughter.”

“No. Bellato is a nice place. Much better than where I was originally. My mother died a long time ago, and my father abandoned me. There were no brothers. Before coming to Bellato, I was very, very tired and lonely.”

As she spoke, she was somehow emotionally charged. As she tried to ignore and forget about it, the fragments of her unhealed emotions became sharp pieces of glass and scratched Viola’s heart.

“The only person who gave me strength died leaving me behind.”

She grew up while her family, and her crush, Kang Joon, also died in a car accident. Actually, that was the hardest time.

“Who is that?”

“That…”

‘Oops, I almost talked about it.’

As she was talking, she was so moved that she said too much.

“That must be Uncle Hickson’s daughter.”

Medea was convinced.

“Okay. You said that the reason you became friends with him was related to her daughter.”

Medea looked at Viola with slightly softened eyes. From the beginning, she lived a life very different from the one she was born as the first princess of the duchy. She thought she was an iron-blooded princess, but it turned out that she wasn’t like that.

‘A thousand masks…’

Medea said she was confident in herself. No matter what others say, she has not wavered in her values and beliefs.

“Then, do you mean Sangvis Bellato is a mask?”

“Yes. Like my older sister.”

Medea always wore a mask to become the perfect princess. She became a more perfect princess than anyone else, and she eventually devoured Bellato. So, in order for her to destroy this weak meaty ecosystem.

“You’re pretty sure I wore a mask.”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“I felt it from the welcome dinner. My sister was looking at me with a look of concern, not of curiosity.”

Medea was momentarily at a loss for words because Viola was right. Medea had not seen Viola as the object of her curiosity.

“I heard that you are seven years old, but you are very short.”

‘You must be a child who knows nothing. Are you okay?’

“It would be heartbreaking if you died in front of me.”

Viola read all of her thoughts through the novel.

Viola continued.

“It was obvious because your eyes were so different from other people’s.”

“…”

“Did I see it wrong?”

“Well.”

“If so, it would be my mistake. Having shown such a disheveled and weak appearance in front of my sister, I will soon collapse. I would be disqualified as Bellato.”

Medea did not answer. In fact, when she chose her confrontation with Viola, she had no idea that this would happen. She continued, as if she had to say everything she had to say, as she had to leave the viola behind.

“Anyway, sister. I have longed for my sister since the old days.”

“Since olden times?”

“Even in the slums, the white wind of Bellato blows.”

It was said that the nickname of white Bellato was so widely known.

“It’s okay if I misunderstood my sister, she got it wrong, and she’s making a mistake now.”

“Still, I wish you were my sister.”

Viola counted to herself.

‘Three, two, one.’

By this time, she was sure, a response would come. And that confidence soon became a reality.

Medea finally laughed.

“You are bold.”

“Did I make a mistake?”

“No.”

Medea drew closer to Viola and she gave her a soft hug.

“Congratulations on becoming Bellato.”

“…thank you.”

Viola suddenly felt Medea’s body heat.

“It’s warm.”

Maybe it’s because it’s a character she had been interested in since she read about her in the novel. Medea’s embrace was especially warm. She thought to herself that Medea had made up all the words that moved her heart and words that she didn’t have.

‘I don’t think so.’

Almost three years have passed since her guidance as Viola Bellato. For her, the days of her previous life felt like a dream.

‘If it wasn’t for Hanjun oppa’s face, it would have felt like a dream from a distant past.’

Because of Tundra’s face, which kept summoning Han Arin’s mind, her memories as Han Arin were vivid. Now she was more accustomed to Viola Bellato.

Viola Bellato was like Han Arin in the past.

‘I need a family.’

And that’s the owner of her original body. The same was true of Viola Bellato in the novel.

[“Have I ever been in your family, even once?”

“You grew up to be a great Bellatwo. To wish for a family doesn’t suit you.”

“Yes. It doesn’t suit me.”]

Viola asked.

“Can I hug you too?”

“Yes.”

Viola raised her heels. Medea’s arms were warmer and wider than she thought. It was like being a baby kangaroo in the pouch of her mother’s kangaroo.

“Then you are now becoming my older sister?”

“I’ve been your sister ever since you entered Winter Castle three years ago.”

“Not that sister. Not Bellato.”

Medea understood exactly what Viola was saying, but she pretended not to know. For some reason, that girl rumored to be a princess of iron blood looked cute. She was ten years old but looked younger than her peers. She was a little girl with light purple hair. Her little sister.

“Please be Medea’s older sister.”

She left out Bellato. She wasn’t meant to be a sister as Bellato, she was meant to be a real sister.

Medea let out her sigh.

“I never thought that such an absurd situation would unfold.”

Even this appearance and situation, is it a forced situation artificially created by this young princess?

‘No.’

Medea believed her and what her own eyes said. And that kid wasn’t acting.

‘More than where I was originally. My mother died a long time ago, and her father abandoned me. There were no brothers. Before coming to Bellato, I was very tired and lonely.’

It could never have been acting. Even if it’s acting, then it must be a really good mask. Either way it didn’t matter.

‘Still, I hope this is your true self.’

Asking to be her older sister, she suddenly thought that it would be nice if the child she held in her arms was the real Viola. But then a voice was heard.

“What are you doing? I guess I need some explanation.”

Medea’s body flinched and trembled. Even the first-star knight, Medea, didn’t seem to notice his presence at all.

“Father.”

Lord of the Winter Castle. It was Heron Bellato.

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Translator Note:

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