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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 10
Chapter Title: I'm the Male Lead's Daughter, But I'll Live With the Sub Male Lead!
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The next day.
"My lady~"
Ella entered Mabel's room and drew back the curtains.
"The sun is bright again today~"
Mabel, whose eyes had opened at the sound of the voice, slowly blinked as she looked at the brightened ceiling.
It was her second morning at the Grand Ducal Castle.
Surrounded by the fluffy bed and soft, fragrant blankets, Mabel found it hard to fully wake up.
Yesterday morning, she had managed to spring right up.
'Is it because I feel at ease...?'
Mabel smiled softly as yesterday's events came to mind in her half-asleep state.
'I'm the sub male lead's assistant!'
What a huge leap in status for a kidnapped little girl!
Since she was officially hired, she could even get paid.
"Hehe..."
She wouldn't have to go seek out the villain and sell Ashilonia's information.
Of course, having a reason to stay in the Grand Ducal Castle felt a little, just a little, better than that.
"Are you still asleep~? Oh, the sun wants to see our young lady today too~"
"I'm awake!"
Mabel, lost in her own thoughts, finally replied.
And then she tried to spring up—
'Huh? Uh oh?'
She flailed.
No matter how much she thrashed her limbs, she couldn't get out of the blanket.
"Oh my~ You're awake~ Sun~ Look here~ Our young lady is awake~"
"U-um, please untangle me..."
"Oh my, how cute~!"
Ella squealed, seeing Mabel flail, wrapped tightly in the blanket.
"I want to get up, I want to get up, so please untangle this...!"
"Yes, I'll help you~ *Oof*~"
Only after Ella meticulously unwrapped the tightly wound blanket was Mabel able to get up.
She had no idea how she could have slept so soundly that she ended up wrapped so tightly in the large blanket.
Mabel's face flushed red as she realized her sleeping habits, something she'd never known in her shabby attic room.
"Did you sleep well, my lady~?"
Mabel answered energetically to Ella, who smoothed her tangled purple hair with her hand.
"Yes! I slept well!"
"Hmm~? Our young lady is incredibly energetic today~"
Ella smiled warmly, as if relieved.
"I was worried you might have been tired yesterday~"
Indeed, Mabel had been very tired yesterday.
Following Dane's luxurious tour of the Grand Ducal Castle's treasure room, there was the sudden problem-solving, being treated as the Saintess of the God of Alchemy, and finally, becoming Sigmund's assistant!
For Mabel, whose typical day involved starving in a cramped room, or fainting from murderous heat or cold, it was an incredibly exhausting day.
"I-I was tired! That's why this happened, I don't usually sleep so wildly!"
Mabel, her nose tip flushed, hastily made excuses.
While it was true that all sorts of things could happen when one slept, embarrassment was still embarrassment.
"Is that so~? I understand~"
"Yes, yes! Really!"
To Mabel's firm insistence that she be believed, Ella merely smiled gently.
Honestly, what did rough sleeping habits matter now?
Every time she peeked in during the early hours, Mabel was lying in a different spot.
The young lady, who tried so hard to appear prim and proper during the day, now looked adorably carefree.
She had barely resisted the urge to call a portrait painter in the middle of the night.
'She's truly adorable.'
Ella gazed at the child with affectionate eyes.
Even when she was dirty, her cute features weren't hidden, but now that she was clean, she was even cuter.
And to think she was Sigmund's biological daughter, when he seemed to have no thoughts of romance, let alone marriage, making his succession a worry – that made her even more adorable!
What if she was an illegitimate child born to a married woman from another family?
In any case, thanks to Mabel's existence, Sigmund had unknowingly resolved the rumors of his impotence and the troublesome issue of succession.
'If anything, he brought her here too late.'
Someone might point fingers and call it irresponsible, but at least Ella felt that way.
The other servants probably felt no different.
And more than anything, she was most delighted that a little girl had appeared in the Grand Ducal Castle.
The Grand Ducal Castle had always been desolate, thanks to the master who was always cooped up in his lab doing research, and his students who were exact replicas of him.
But now, it would surely become more lively.
There was no need to predict the distant future.
Just yesterday, unlike other days, it had been bustling.
Ella was certain that thanks to this tiny young lady, the Grand Ducal Castle would feel more like a place where people lived than before.
"Alright, could you give me your hands~?"
"Yes."
"Mm~ Good~! They're definitely healing~!"
When Mabel had first arrived at the Grand Ducal Castle, Ella, who was helping her bathe, had almost fainted at the sight of the child's hands.
How could a child's hands be rougher and more chapped than an old person's who had worked their whole life?
It hurt Ella even more that Mabel showed no reaction, even though her hands would bleed just from touching water.
A small, young child, accustomed and numb to pain.
Fortunately, her skin seemed to heal well; after applying ointment, they were quickly becoming soft.
"They heal so quickly with just a little care..."
Ella murmured coolly in a very small voice.
It seemed Mabel hadn't just been neglected by the Ashilonia family.
To go beyond not raising a child properly, to abuse her.
If that was the case, it would have been a thousand, ten thousand times better to bring her to the Grand Ducal Castle, even if it meant acknowledging her as an illegitimate child.
"Ella, Older Brother...?"
When Ella just stared at her hands, Mabel called out to her in a small voice.
At the sound of 'Older Sister,' Ella's heart went *kyuung* again! It hurt as if pierced by an arrowhead.
"Oh, come on~ I told you to speak comfortably to me~"
"B-but still. I'm more comfortable this way."
Mabel, who had been ignored her whole life, couldn't possibly start speaking informally to adults overnight.
But was that not allowed?
Was it against etiquette?
Mabel hesitated, tilting her head and looking up at Ella.
"Can't I call you... 'Older Sister'?"
*Gasp*.
A head-tilt attack! A looking-up attack!
Mabel was so cute that Ella's nostrils flared with hot air.
"...Of course not~! There's nothing our young lady can't do~!"
Ella answered, huffing out hot air.
Her momentum was such that if there were anything forbidden, she'd smash it with her fists.
Next, Ella brought a washbasin filled with lukewarm water.
"Alright, now let's wash your face until it's squeaky clean and brush your hair prettily~!"
Actually, washing her face a bit roughly would be fine.
She's cute anyway.
The important thing was tying her hair.
"How should I tie it today~?"
A high ponytail? A low ponytail? Or cute twin tails? Twisting her pigtails into little buns would also be adorable.
She has so much hair, braids would suit her well too!
Ella watched Mabel, who was splashing water and washing her face by herself, with admiration, while her imagination soared with happy thoughts.
However.
"Um... just however...?"
Ella's smiling face froze like stone.
Regrettably, it seemed her young lady didn't realize how cute she was.
Otherwise, she wouldn't have such a dry reaction!
But that was even better.
"...Alright, brace yourself~! I'm going to make you realize just how incredibly cute you are to your very core~!"
"Huh, what?"
Mabel, wiping her face with a fluffy towel, flinched.
"To my very core? That much...?"
Mabel tried to stop Ella, who was belatedly burning with fighting spirit, but it was no use.
"Ohoho, ohohoho~"
Ella, laughing sinisterly with various combs and hair ties woven between her ten fingers, looked like she couldn't be stopped even by Sigmund himself.
* * *
After a morning that felt like a war, Mabel could finally head to the dining room a long while later.
And Ella's burning passion had borne fruit.
"Kyaa~ You're so cute today, young lady!"
"Oh! You look truly beautiful and adorable today, young lady!"
"That hairstyle suits you so well! You look like a doll!"
Every time Mabel passed by, all the servants praised her.
And it was no wonder; with her abundant hair parted down the middle, tied into two pigtails, and then coiled into round buns near her small ears, she couldn't possibly look anything but cute!
Her side bangs were styled with cute curls, and the rest of her hair was softly brushed and neatly arranged.
Her already cute face naturally became even cuter when she was deliberately dolled up.
But Mabel, unfamiliar with praise, felt her face flush hot.
'Ah, I want to go to the dining room quickly!'
It was a moment when her body itched to escape.
"Ahem."
Someone approached and stood before Mabel.
It was none other than the Grand Ducal Castle's Head Butler, Lundwell.
"Ah..."
With an impression that seemed a little colder than others, Mabel felt a slight tension.
But what Lundwell held out was an unexpected item.
"This is..."
Mabel's mouth parted slightly at the sight of what Lundwell held in his hand.
