I Became the Abandoned Daughter of an Underworld Boss

Was he talking as if he was older than that girl?

To Al, it just sounded funny.

No matter how they played, to an adult’s eyes, it was just make-believe!

– Well, alright. I’ve said my piece, so take care until you return to the Empire.

– Got it. Don’t let Yuriana know. If you tease her about it, she’ll cry her eyes out and might say she’ll never see me again.

Karas was worried about this too.

– Hehe… yes. I’ll serve you well.

Just as the recollection was ending, Al hurried in.

“Master, Lady Yuriana has arrived.”

“Is that so?”

Meeting Yuriana again after about three months was indeed pleasant.

Even the sight of her running to the table with a chocolate bar a few days ago was cute.

He thought he couldn’t see anything cuter than that, but he loved it even more when she demanded to go to the capital.

When she begged while swaying in a dress in front of her father, it was truly heartwarming.

Watching her made his heart race to dangerous levels.

‘Yuriana is cute even just breathing. But why is my face so hot? Oh…!’

The boy touched his cheeks and put on a serious face.

If his face got any redder here, it would be obvious.

Yuriana spoke well for her age and above all, her words and actions were coherent. She rarely did anything contradictory.

He needed to pull himself together too!

Just then, Yuriana came running.

“Lord Karas!”

“You came, Yuriana. Al, what’s the schedule like?”

Karas greeted her casually, trying to act nonchalant, and asked Al.

During the New Year’s celebration meal, he couldn’t look at her, but now he suddenly turned his head away?

Were they already so formal with each other?

Al, enjoying the amusing scene, winked.

“Yes. Since it’s January, there aren’t any special events planned in the kingdom’s capital, Trishia. Sometimes there’s heavy snowfall, and they’re worried about accidents if too many people gather.”

“The quietness is even better.”

This time, Al spoke meaningfully while looking at Yuriana.

“Lady Yuriana, the imperial capital, Lloyd, has many attractions. Please let us know through a letter whenever you have time. We are always prepared to welcome you.”

No matter how powerful the Reef Empire was, there was no need to be so deferential to the daughter of a mere kingdom’s – and one ruling from the shadows at that.

So why the elaborate invitation?

They were trying to immerse her gradually in the empire’s splendid and grand culture.

Over time, Yuriana Litus would demand to marry into the empire to her father.

Her standards would already be aligned with the splendid and grand empire.

Haha. It was an honest yet terrifying strategy!

Al found Harun’s plan both scary and meticulous.

And Al also liked this pretty and lively girl.

The moment she stepped into the gloomy imperial palace; she would become a ray of light!

“Whoa~!”

Where did that brilliant political mind go?

Yuriana was in high spirits, not knowing Asil and Harun would get along.

‘Amazing. I thought Asil was a grumpy cat and Harun a cat boss who rarely shows his face. Aidan… hmm, maybe a proud and noble-blooded cat? Heidel is a mysterious creature?’

Being with Lulu, she started comparing everyone to cats.

Karas nodded and then raised an objection.

“Al, isn’t there any other nice place?”

Even though Yuriana was a person of the kingdom, he didn’t ask directly, worried it might hurt her as a person from Dark Town.

“It’s not that there’s nothing at all. In the kingdom’s capital, it’s customary to install a big tree in the square around the second week of December. It’s taken down around the 10th of next year, so there’s plenty of time to see it.”

According to the plan Al made with Asil, they were supposed to stay one night at the Fatima Hotel in the capital and return.

This was contingent on Karas and Al’s identities remaining undiscovered.

This trip to the kingdom was known only to Asil, King Aidan of Nea, and a few others in secret.

Upon hearing this, Yuriana suddenly remembered.

‘Right! The tree event, I completely forgot. Was I too focused on other important things? How could I forget for months?’

The December tree event.

If Alice had built good relationships with the three male protagonists, she could see it.

Huh? Wasn’t Harun the grumpy one?

He was.

Unlike the other male protagonists, Harun didn’t ask to meet in advance.

Alice, not expecting to see the tree with him, was engrossed in making a list of books to borrow at home.

A few days later, Harun would tap on Alice’s window with a small snowball, asking her out on a date.

The place he’d take her was the top floor of the Fatima Hotel, where they would clink glasses while looking at the lit tree through the window.

Their dialogue, when savored, was remarkable.

– Why didn’t you tell me beforehand?

– I’m a busy man, Alice.

– So, did you not contact me because you couldn’t guarantee we’d meet?

– Of course not. I planned to send a splendid carriage for you.

– How could you be sure I’d take that carriage?

– You would have taken it no matter what, Alice. You are drawn to me. Just hearing my name would have thrilled you.

Then Harun would present a desert flower that bloomed once in a hundred years in the empire’s desert.

He’d tell her its flower language was .

Ah… Harun did know romance.

Befitting an emperor of a great country!

‘This is why there’s a romance about the empire, but if I’m not Alice, I don’t want it. Hehe. Alice has guaranteed love, but I don’t.’

She would be seeing that tree with her father, Asil, and Karas, whom she barely knew.

It felt strange and sentimental.

Was it because of the sad event before she came here?

She was becoming more certain that it was okay if she could never return to where she used to live.

This was good enough…

Living as Yuriana Litus for the rest of her life wouldn’t be bad.

She looked forward to seeing the tree in a peaceful country.

“It’s time to leave. Since we’ll be in separate carriages, see you later, Miss Yuriana.”

“Yes!”

Asil and Yuriana rode in one carriage, and Karas, Al, and Levina in another.

Clip-clop, clip-clop.

If you listened closely in the carriage, you could faintly hear the sound of horses running.

Yuriana sat next to Asil, smiling.

Asil quietly observed his daughter.

‘Hmm.’

When it was announced that Karas’s party would come around New Year’s, he hadn’t thought about this.

Seeing the capital with Yuriana.

His daughter was smiling too much.

It felt too guilty to scold her and say, “Don’t meet Karas!”

Thinking he should have taken her out more often… Asil had been more focused on protecting Yuriana.

He hadn’t thought of taking her to the capital even once last year.

Was it nice? He felt too proud to ask.

Glancing at his daughter, who was all smiles, he felt guilty.

Had he neglected her too much in the beginning?

‘I’m sorry?’

Asil was slightly stunned by the words coming from within.

This tiny, wiggling child brought him so many emotions.

He believed the world’s way was the survival of the fittest, but what Yuriana brought was very different.

Yuriana Litus… you…

When she wandered the dark alleys with the cursed beast, calling out his name to save her.

When she escaped somewhere with a cat beastman, tormented by worthless things.

When she turned back on her own after facing his dark past.

When she handed him a note with crooked letters saying, ‘Daddy, I love you.’

And now, when she was at risk of being married off to that imperial guy, Karas…

Asil was furious.

‘The last thing is absolutely not happening. Not over my dead body!’

He didn’t care that Karas was destined to become an emperor.

It didn’t matter if he was noble or a rebel.

Engaging a mere seven-year-old in a marriage alliance? Shameless worms. Let’s see if that would happen! They would get nothing!

Crunch.

Clenching his fists tightly, Asil startled Yuriana.

“Dad, why?”

“Yuriana. There will come a time when you’ll need that clip you gave me.”

“Huh?”

“… it might seem like early education, but those bastards… no, those imperial brats… no, I’m going crazy. Those guests will leave, and then I’ll teach you. It’s not hard, don’t worry.”

“Umm?”

Once a person was literate, the next thing he should learn was self-defense and escape techniques.

Just wait and see.

The daughter he raised with blood and tears; they would never take her!

While Asil was seething, the conversation started slowly in the following carriage.

“Hmm…”

Karas remained silent.

Al sighed deeply, catching Levina’s glance.

Levina, with her gentle nature, was also a member of Dark Town.

Her kindness towards outsiders wasn’t guaranteed.

Especially in front of the pesky male pelicans trying to snatch her beloved Yuriana.

“…?”

Al looked again, and Levina met his gaze.

With her eyes wide open, unlike usual.

The imperial magician smiled and spoke.

“Something feels off.”

“… ah, I see. I understand.”

Only then did Levina realize what Al meant.

There was something thick and hard on her thigh.

Al, sitting next to Levina, had felt it when the carriage slightly swayed.