I Played the Role of the Adopted Daughter Too Well

A day ago Heron called Medea. Medea was a little puzzled so she checked again.

 

“He called me to his room, not the study?”

 

“That’s right.”

 

“Okay.”

 

Calling her to his room rather than his study meant that he was calling his daughter Medea, not the successor Medea. 

 

‘I don’t even remember the last time I met Father in his room.’

 

There seemed to be no exception during her childhood. She didn’t think it was sad or disappointing. She was Medea and she had to be the perfect princess, running forward for him. However, when she thought that she was actually meeting her ‘Father’ rather than the ‘Duke,’ she became a little excited. Medea quickly arrived at the Duke’s room.

 

The duke was sitting on a chair in front of the table, dressed comfortably.

 

“You seem to be in a good mood.”

 

“Yes, because you called your daughter Medea, not your successor Medea.”

 

“Why does that feel good?”

 

Medea thought for a moment. She had to think about whether her answer was correct as a ‘Bellato.’

 

“Because I need a family.”

 

There was silence. Heron looked at Medea with his expressionless face, and Medea did not avoid his eyes. Medea thought that her father might be disappointed in her but Heron didn’t seem too disappointed. 

 

“I remember you saying you wanted to become strong because you needed a family.”

 

“You said it was nonsense.”

 

“I did.”

 

When Medea was young, she dreamed of having a warm family. Now that she had grown up, she’d lost that dream. Her humanity and warmth were poisoned in the Winter Castle that was sometimes infested with monsters. The person who would rule here had to make thoroughly rational judgments and lead Winter Castle with great strength and mental power. Fierce succession competition was the process to create such a monarch. Silence came again. Heron and Medea had never had a long private conversation, and naturally, their conversation was not smooth.

 

“Medea.”

 

“Yes?”

 

“Do you still think of me as your father?”

 

Heron never thought of his father as his ‘father.’ He had thought it was just another monster creating monsters.

 

“Do I have another father that I don’t know about?”

 

“I’m asking what you think.”

 

There was another awkward silence. Medea found Heron’s question very strange. He felt a little different from the previous Heron.

 

“Do you think of me as your daughter?”

 

After Medea asked that, she felt a little afraid. 

 

‘Stop talking dreamily! Before I am a daughter, I am the most likely successor candidate.’

 

She was scared and her heart pounded at the thought of asking something like this. 

 

“You are my daughter.”

 

The tension that had been constricting her heart disappeared like a lie. 

 

“You are my father, too.”

 

“Is that so?”

 

“It is a fact that cannot be denied and that I do not want to deny.”

 

Heron just stared at Medea for a long time. A feeling that was difficult to express in concrete words filled Heron’s entire body, spreading to his fingertips and toes. Heron was feeling strange and it seemed to him that he had been feeling this way ever since Viola came into this house, probably six years ago.

 

At that time, Medea found a newspaper on the desk. It was severely crumpled. 

 

‘Why is it so crumpled?’

 

<The 6th Princess of Winter Castle has two fathers?>

 

She had a rough idea of the contents.

 

“I guess this has something to do with Uncle Hickson?”

 

“How did you know?”

 

“Uncle always refers to Viola as ‘the daughter born of his heart.’”

 

“Viola is…”

 

In an instant, all the windows of the Duke’s castle shattered. Because of this, no one heard him say, ‘my daughter.’

 

The Duke then gave orders. What happened between Viola and the Beggar Gang of the Magic Tower? He asked Medea to discover every detail, even the smallest conversation. 

 

Medea’s butler was very puzzled.

 

“He gave the princess this kind of errand-like work directly?”

 

Meeting a gang of beggars and gathering information. This was not a mission worthy of a high-level person like Medea.

 

“Uh-huh.”

 

But Medea didn’t seem upset. 

 

“Viola’s strategy this time was incredible. She must be the greatest White Bellato of all time!”

 

“That has nothing to do with the princess’ mission…”

 

“True.”

 

The butler didn’t understand. What did Viola’s incredible work have to do with Medea investigating it?

 

“The Duke told me, as the first-ranking successor, to investigate Viola’s achievements. What do you think that means?”

 

“I don’t know. Is there a hidden meaning?”

 

“It means I should research and learn from what Viola has done.”

 

He gave those instructions to no one else except her, the first-ranked successor. In other words, Heron meant that Viola’s achievements were outstanding enough for a first-rank successor to watch and learn from.

 

“This is an action that announces he recognizes Viola as one of the true successor candidates.”

 

“But there’s no need for the princess to be used for that, right?”

 

“I want to be used.”

 

“…What?”

 

The butler felt as if the sky was falling. 

 

“I do.”

 

She didn’t want to be the head of the family. The words rose up in her throat, but she managed to hold them back. 

 

“I think Viola is an excellent candidate for successor. If that child is better than me, she will succeed the Duke.”

 

Medea reassured her butler who was lost in thought. 

 

“But if not, I will do my best to be the head of the family.”

 

Only by suppressing others with her own immense power could the other family members feel safe. Only if she had absolute power would her younger siblings not engage in a bloody war. Anticipation rose brightly in her heart.

 

‘If it’s Viola… Someday she will be able to surpass me.’

 

It didn’t matter who the head of the family was. All she had to do was be someone who could support her family with great strength.

 

‘I will help you. With all my sincerity.’

 

Viola tossed and turned under her blankets for a while, feeling eerie for some reason.

 

* * *

 

“I want to ask you something about Viola.”

 

Keitarun, the king of the 2nd Slum, thought a lot in a short period of time. Who was this Absolute? Why did she come to him? What was she trying to discover? Was this an enemy of Princess Viola? A rival? Or a friend? His thoughts became complicated.

 

“Please ask. I will tell you the truth about everything I know.”

 

“What do you think about Viola?”

 

He answered like a weakling. 

 

“Well, I don’t think that’s a matter for me to dare and judge. Please give me your opinion on what I should think.”

 

Medea could sense some of Keitarun’s fear through her eyes of truth. 

 

“I will never hurt you.”

 

At those words, Keitarun became even more afraid. There were quite a few enemies like this in the Magic Tower.

 

“We will never harm you. Just cooperate.”

 

He had many friends and family members who obeyed those words and then disappeared. Keitarun knew. They met a miserable death while being used as tools for human experimentation to develop magic. The fear of that time came to mind and his hands and feet began to tremble.

 

“I understand your fears. I’ll come back tomorrow.”

 

A day had passed. 

 

“I just want to know what my lovely little sister had on her mind. My father is also curious. What did his daughter do there that brought you all, who had been unable to escape before now, to Winter Castle?”

 

Medea comforted Keitarun’s heart with warm words. She slowly and carefully approached Keitarun. As time passed, Keitarun began to open his heart.

 

Thinking of Viola, Keitarun said, “She… she was scary but warm.”

 

He spoke frankly about what he felt about Viola. 

 

“Without her, our lives would not exist.”

 

When they came to the Winter Castle, they all found themselves. There was work they could do here and were each recognized as a ‘person.’ 

 

“She taught us how to live like human beings.”

 

He had learned the general information through the newspapers. Black Whale Hickson and the Mercenary King Kaiser. He learned in the newspaper that she had even mobilized the Baby Deer Mercenary force. He ended up with red eyes and burst into tears. 

 

“For people like us…”

 

‘Why did I say that?’

 

Medea took out a handkerchief from her jacket and gave it to Keitarun.

 

“I’ve listened carefully to your evaluation. Thank you for being kind to my younger sister.”

 

After hearing the story of Keitarun and other beggars from the Magic Tower, who were called immigrants in Winter Castle, Viola seemed to have accomplished a much greater task than she originally thought. She breathed new life into these immigrants and enabled them to live like human beings.

 

‘Viola, you really are great.’

 

From that day on, Medea began to have her dreams. A Winter Castle ruled by an adult Viola. Wouldn’t that Winter Castle look a little different from the current Winter Castle? 

 

‘I will help you.’

 

Medea, the first-ranked successor, had mentally half-relinquished her right to succession. For Viola, the true successor.

 

* * *

 

Wow!

 

The windows were broken. Viola, who was lying on the bed, jumped up.

 

‘Why are they broken?’

 

All of the windows in the duke’s residence were defensive barrier windows specially manufactured against monsters. They would not break under any significant impact.

 

‘Is it a symptom of foreshadowing?’

 

In addition to being a defensive barrier, the windows also had a warning spell attached. When some particularly powerful higher species among the monsters appeared, the glass windows would vibrate and break according to the monster’s particular wavelength.

 

‘That only comes up in the latter part of the novel? And just that once.’

 

Why was such foreshadowing already released? But it didn’t seem like foreshadowing had appeared. 

 

‘If foreshadowing had appeared, there would be no way my father would come to visit me leisurely.’

 

Heron had just come to Viola’s room and she didn’t know why.

 

“Are you still learning the Grass Sword?”

 

“Yes, I’m working hard.”

 

Why were the windows broken, and why did her father come to visit? Even Han Arin couldn’t figure out the reason.

 

“Let me take a look at your accomplishments. Follow me.”

 

Viola walked quietly behind Heron and arrived at the training ground. Over the past year, Viola had occasionally sparred with Heron. So this situation itself was not unfamiliar. 

 

“Unfold your Grass Sword.”

 

She attacked Heron with her ‘sword.’ A storm of sharp blades of grass and leaves went flying, covering the training ground. Viola gritted her teeth and attacked Heron, while Heron dealt with Viola leisurely. A long time passed. Heron trudged through the curtain of rust-colored leaves.

 

“Viola.”

 

A completely different situation began to emerge. 

 

“Six years ago, I chose you to be my daughter.”

 

Leaves fell from the rainforest tree as her Grass Sword lost its power and disappeared.

 

“And you, seven years old at the time, chose to be my daughter.”

 

Viola wondered what kind of situation this was and was a little worried. His behavior was strangely different from that of the Heron in the novel.

 

Heron asked a strange question.

 

“Do you regret that choice?”

 

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Translator Note:

Next 15 chapters will be translated by Bree ^^
See you in chapter 151 or in the comments 😉