People think it was after Diana’s death that Emilie Cabezo began to be abused at home, but Victoire, who was monitoring the Duke of Cabezo, knew that was not true.
Ever since Diana became the Duchess, Emilie has since been bullied.
Around that time, Victoire gradually expanded his business.
There was nothing more certain than money to approach the greedy Ferdinand.
It was around that time that the existence of the abused child Emilie appeared as a variable.
‘The Duke of Cabezo is not only destroying our innocent family, but also harassing a little girl.’
I thought maybe I could use the child. The hated child will crave affection because her mind will be weakened. I thought it would be easy if I saved her a little bit.
But even a neglected child, a princess is a princess. If you try to approach in a hurry, you’ll mess things up. Slowly and with great effort, this child will one day open the gates of Cabezo’s.
‘And get some blood.’
But it was a plan that I always thought would be achieved in the distant future.
I didn’t expect the girl to show up in front of me.
“Miss! Miss Emilie!”
The girl, chased by the dog, deliberately rolled down the slope. Then she hid herself down the street and waited for the people looking for her to disappear. She left the duchy.
‘Is she running away from home?’
As he watched Emilie sneak out of the duchy, Victoire thought: It was not strange to run away from such a house. Emilie had been a perfect stranger in the Cabezo duchy ever since her stepmother died.
The rumor that Emilie had killed her stepmother had already been widespread in society by his other daughter, Polia, although the Duke of Cabezo stopped her from spreading the rumors. Polia showed tears in front of people whenever she had time, saying she wanted to see her mother sacrificed by her sister.
And the Duke of Cabezo was infatuated with his poor daughter, Polia.
The only thing Emilie could get in the house was abuse.
Victoire watched Emilie closely, who was fleeing from the Cabezo duchy.
“Father, look at that.”
Damon said, who was accompanying Victoire. Robbers were chasing after the girl. Soon they tried to kidnap the girl.
“What should we do, Fa…ther?”
Damon, who found no one sitting next to him, jumped up from his seat. Victoire, who was just beside Damon, was already in front of the robbers.
In addition…
“Get your hands off my daughter.”
…he was even talking nonsense.
Not only the robber, but also the little girl…
‘What is he talking about?’
…looked at Victoire with their eyes.
Damon was a little ashamed of his father for the first time in his life.
Victoire brought the little girl to the mansion of Daughtry. Even Damon, who followed whatever he said…
“What are you trying to do?”
…told Victoire this.
Dylan’s particularly opposed.
“You’re saying we should make her a sacrifice for revenge? Are you crazy? She’s only 12 years old!”
Dylan’s protest seemed ridiculous for Victoire.
That child doesn’t know. How unjust and disastrous the Leschines have fallen.
‘That’s why you can say those things like that.’
Damon ended up on the side of Victoire. His eldest son was always on his side.
‘Of course, the second is always on the side of others.’
Victoire had entered Elisabeth despite Dylan’s opposition.
It was very successful.
It was successful and odd.
The girl burying into his arms was quite different from Victoire’s expectations.
“I like it here!”
The moment I saw the face of a child smiling without knowing anything, my heart was pounding.
‘Is being a Cabezo an instinctive rejection of blood?’
But the rumbling was not disgusting. Rather, I felt as good as the wind blowing on a good afternoon.
‘Is that guilt then? Me? Does Victoire feel guilty to a Cabezo?’
Eventually, Victoire gave up looking for the answer to the rumble. He had a lot of other answers to find.
So Elisabeth Daughtry became the youngest daughter of Victoire Daughtry.
‘She’s a poor kid, so I should be nice to her.’
Victoire was going to do his best for Elisabeth until [that day] came. That was the least thing to do as a human being.
But Elisabeth did her best for him more than Victoire.
“Did you sleep well last night? I was scolded because I wanted to see you by morning.”
The little child came to greet him every morning.
“I saw you yesterday evening. Did you miss me again?”
“Of course. I can’t see you in my dreams.”
‘I’ve seen you in my dreams.’
Victoire always had nightmares before he adopted Elisabeth. But not long ago, the little girl began to appear in his dream, leaving the place of a nightmare.
There was nothing much about the dream.
A small shadow often runs through the garden, and Elisabeth looks back with a bright smile.
I looked into my arms and saw that it was Elisabeth.
I heard a small voice in my ear, so I turned my head, and the girl smiled brightly and…
“Dad!”
….called me.
Even though it was a dream with little content, when he woke up, Victoire always lay in bed enjoying the lingering imagery of the dream. When he had nightmares, he would jump out of bed as if he were running away.
Things have changed.
Something was changing.
Victoire, who stroked Elisabeth’s head, suddenly felt a chill.
‘Are you feeling like a father with a real daughter?’
Victoire was displeased at the moment that he, with his life-long mission of ‘revenge,’ was intoxicated by this emotional play.
So he tried to let Elisabeth go.
“I… but I want to read a book.”
But when Elisabeth looked up with her eyes wide open, he would forget the idea of sending her away.
“Book?”
“Yes. There’s a big study in the mansion.”
“All right. It’s not that hard. Tell me if you want anything else.”
That afternoon Victoire immediately organized a room for art storage and created a study for Elisabeth. The walls were decorated with bright primary colors and a lot of lights were attached. The bookshelf was filled with picture books for a young girl to see.
“Elisabeth, do you like it?”
Victoire asked triumphantly.
“Ah, yes.”
But Elisabeth’s response was not as expected. I was so happy that I thought it was basic to run into my arms and hug me and maybe call me ‘Dad’ without realizing it.
‘Is this kind of lame?’
Victoire reflected on himself.
‘As expected, the scale of a princess…’
If I go to the Imperial Palace this time, I’ll have to look around the princess’ study. If I make a better study than that, I might see Elisabeth smiling.
“Umm, by the way.”
“I know. This study is rather simple. I haven’t even shown you the real thing yet. Until then, please be satisfied with this little shabby study. I’ll soon make you a study as good as the Imperial Library.”
“What? This study is really pretty. I’ve never had anything so good.”
Elisabeth then said with her eyes glistening.
“I just want to go to your study.”
The following words came as a surprise.
“In my study?”
“Yes.”
“Why? It’s not fun because it’s dark and difficult. Dylan even hates the study because it looks just like me.”
Victoire’s study was different from Elisabeth’s. There were only dull books on the dreary bookshelf. It was full of ancient books covering the history of the family and books that made him feel sick.
‘Why would she want to see such a boring study?’
“Pft. Dylan is mean.”
Elisabeth laughed.
“I’m saying that it resembles Your Grace, so I want to see it more.”
“Are you serious? You might regret it.”
“And I’m curious about the adult world.”
Elisabeth answered with a sly voice. The adult world. Victoire laughed his head off.
“Do- don’t laugh at me.”
“No, I laughed because it was cute.”
“What?”
Elisabeth was perplexed by the word ‘cute,’ and she was at a loss. The girl didn’t seem to know it was cuter.
“I’ll give you the keys to my study. You can go and see whenever you want.”
“Thank you. Really!”
Elisabeth leaped from her place.
‘I can’t believe you’re so happy. What if you’re disappointed.’
Victoire was half happy and half worried.
“You’re not going to meet your expectations. It’s a very boring place.”
“No. I’m excited just to see your study!”
That afternoon, a key to the study with a cute teddy bear-shaped ring was delivered to Elisabeth’s room.
Elisabeth may not know, but the key to the study was something neither Damon nor Dylan had received it. The study was open, but having a key was different. It’s about getting recognition from the family.
‘I wish Elisabeth could understand this deep meaning of mine.’
But Elisabeth was still too young for that.
Since that day, Elisabeth has been locked up in Victoire’s study. After morning greetings, they would go to the study together, holding Victoire’s hand with her adorable hand.
After letting Elisabeth into his study, Victoire left the mansion to work.
“Your Excellency, is it okay not to meet you?”
“You can say hello in the study. Just the two of us.”
“Only two of us! It feels very special. I wanted to do something special with you.”
Elisabeth smiled shyly. Victoire instinctively realized that Elisabeth wanted to do something special with him as her ‘Father.’
Still, Elisabeth could not hide her wounded face when she talked about her biological father. But it was getting better.
Now you don’t cry, you smile and talk.
‘But you haven’t called me Father yet. You’ll be embarrassed.’
Victoire was upset but pretended to be okay.
Victoire prepared to get on the carriage prepared with Damon.
“Um, what’s going on today?”
Damon suddenly looked back and said. Dylan was standing poorly with his legs.
(V) “Dylan, what’s going on today, you’re a spoiled child who never came out to see us off.”
Victoire…
“Of course, I’m not sad that you don’t see me off.”
…asked face to face.
“About Elisabeth. Is that okay?”
Victoire’s eyebrows twisted. These days, Dylan has become more involved in Elisabeth’s affairs. Before, most of the stories were about ‘send her out,’ but these days, the topics have become diverse.
Don’t make Elisabeth a picky eater, she has nightmares a lot, shouldn’t you invite a singer who sings lullaby, and so on.
“What about Elisabeth?”
Victoire asked back seriously.
“You know, a child stays in the study all day. Isn’t that an emotional issue?”
“I guess it’s because she likes reading.”
“A 12-year-old girl likes books like【The Bloody History of the Empire】and【The Rise of the Cruel Religious War】?”