Chapter 12
As I straightened up, Sara’s lips curled into a smile, and her stiff, expressionless face, like a knight’s, turned bright and cheerful.
“Young lady, shall I prepare a snack for you?”
“Uh… That’s okay. Um, Sara, what exactly do you do? I mean, I kind of forgot all of a sudden!”
Even with such a clumsy excuse, Sara kindly explained that she was someone who did everything I needed—from maid duties to bodyguard tasks.
It was already surprising that Tail was said to be managing the entire house, but now hearing that Sara handled everything from cleaning to protection was equally amazing.
‘They must only hire incredible people here.’
Even doing just one of those jobs would be overwhelming.
At the same time, I felt confused—this life was so different from anything I’d experienced before. Was this the life Mafius had meant as my “true life”?
Mafius didn’t find me a great home at first, but since I ended up drawing a dad on the first pull, I got to live in this nice place. So I guess it worked out?
Even though I met a lot of new people today, I didn’t experience a single unfair or cruel thing.
Instead of hearing things like “Get lost,” “Filthy,” “Demon,” “Witch,” or “Wretched girl,”—words I’d heard countless times—I was hearing things like “It’s okay,” and “Thank you.”
Sara, who was right in front of me, was listening to everything I said. And most of all, there was Mr. White, who firmly believed he was my father.
It still felt a little awkward, like wearing clothes that didn’t fit—but I couldn’t help but think I didn’t want to give this life up.
Yes, this must be what I was supposed to have all along.
So it’s only fair. Right?
I was busy justifying it all in my head when Mr. White appeared in the doorway.
“Oh, mister!”
“I see Sara came to greet you.”
I ran over to stand in front of Mr. White.
He was the first person I met in this new life, so I wanted to make sure he wasn’t hurt. Thankfully, he didn’t seem injured at all—his clothes weren’t even dirty.
“Did that lizard get away? The flowers in the garden were all trampled. If you caught it, you should give it a real scolding.”
“What? Lizard? Are you talking about me?”
A deep male voice suddenly cut in between us.
Ack, that startled me!
It sounded similar to that loud voice from earlier, just deeper.
A burly man with flaming red hair swept it back roughly and stared down at me with terrifying orange eyes.
He was just as tall as Mr. White, and looked hot as he had unbuttoned the top of his shirt and rolled his sleeves up to his elbows.
It was obvious he was a guest of Mr. White’s.
A friend, maybe. That much I could tell easily.
I shook my head quickly.
“No. I was talking about the lizard I saw from the window—completely wild, stupid, and rude. It was huge and ruined the whole flower bed.”
At that, the red-haired man’s upper lip twitched.
“W-What? Wild… and stupid?!”
Strangely, I could feel the air heating up around us.
His fierce expression made me nervous, so I quietly moved to stand next to Mr. White.
“And rude too. Right?”
Still, I had to say what needed to be said.
I looked up at Mr. White, seeking agreement.
“That’s right, very disrespectful.”
See?
I peeked from behind Mr. White, using him as a shield. The red-haired man’s expression turned even more threatening.
When facing strong people, it’s only natural to side with the strongest.
He glared at me like he was about to breathe fire, then tsk! clicked his tongue.
“You little yellow brat. You think you can act all cute and sassy? That won’t work on me—”
“If you speak rudely to my daughter again, I’ll roast you on the spot. So watch your mouth.”
“What? Daughter?”
The orange eyes darted back to me.
Come to think of it, they looked a lot like the eyes I saw from the window earlier…
“Did you say daughter?”
The scary man asked, and Mr. White looked at him like it was the most obvious thing in the world.
“Yes. My daughter. Why are you pretending not to know all of a sudden? So if you don’t mind, state your business and leave, you brute.”
“Your real daughter?”
“Looks like your brain finally started working. Took you long enough to ask.”
Suddenly, the red-haired man leaned in close to my face, making me pull my head back in surprise.
He reeked of smoke.
“W-What are you doing?”
“You’re saying you’re White’s daughter?”
“Uh… yes.”
I wasn’t quite ready to admit it fully yet.
But it was strange.
Everyone else had accepted me without question, but this man was the first to seem suspicious.
Why was that?
Still, I decided to play dumb, just in case Mafius would get mad if I said the wrong thing.
“When did he get a daughter? Judging by your size, it’s been a while since you hatched, hasn’t it?”
This time, instead of asking Mr. White, he asked me.
Then he grabbed both my arms and, without hesitation, lifted me up.
“Ahhh! Put me down!”
Dangling like a statue at attention, I squirmed and shouted for him to let me go.
“Hm. Can’t tell your weight, but you’re walking and talking just fine. So at least a few years old. Why haven’t I ever seen you before?”
My view suddenly shifted.
Mr. White had stepped in to rescue me.
“Don’t go picking up my daughter without permission.”
“She’s just too strange. Are you sure she’s your daughter? I don’t smell a trace of you on her.”
He even tried to sniff me up close, so I shrank back in fear and turned toward Mr. White.
This guy is weird!
And what’s with the “hatched” talk?
“Humans aren’t born from eggs.”
I corrected him, since he clearly had the wrong idea.
“I know. Do you think I’m stupid?”
“I’m saying I wasn’t born from an egg.”
“Then how?”
Now I was at a loss for words.
Should I say I fell from the sky?
That would sound even weirder.
“Um, well… it’s like…”
“I gave birth to her. She’s my daughter, so of course I did.”
Mr. White suddenly cut in.
I whipped my head up to look at him.
That made it worse!
Sure enough, the red-haired man covered his mouth with one hand, looking very serious.
Yep, definitely not buying it…
“You… you were a female this whole time? Huh, that makes sense.”
“……”
Mr. White winked at me.
Ah, it was a joke.
But for some reason, it didn’t seem like the red-haired man took it as one.
Even Sara was giving him a weird look, while he was the only one out of the loop.
“What? Then if you gave birth to her, that means she did come out of an egg, right?”
He paused and muttered nonsense again.
“….”
He really might be an idiot.
These men are seriously all weird.
I slowly slipped away from the two of them and moved closer to Sara.
“This is starting to make me feel like I’m going dumb, too. It’s bad for my daughter’s education. Please just leave already. Ion, want to go explore the estate with Daddy?”
Mr. White clicked his tongue and scolded the man, then instantly brightened up and smiled. Of the two, if I had to choose, I’d rather be with Mr. White.
Apparently deciding to ignore the red-haired man entirely, Mr. White took my hand and turned to show me around the mansion.
Being with the other three in one room was too much, so this was definitely the better option.
But the red-haired man started following us, arms crossed.
“He’s still following us.”
I whispered quietly.
“Don’t mind him. He probably has nothing better to do.”
“I can hear you.”
