How to Be a Dark Hero’s Daughter

Today is the second day of the festival.

I was excited when Jade told me that he would take me to see the festival.

I got ready to go out early.

I wore a skirt with layers of lace and a cloak with fur balls attached to it. I also wore matching deaf-mute gloves. The maids dressed me in the clothes I had been saving in my closet.

‘We have to go out quickly before Collen changes his mind!’

We had to go out quickly before Collen banned us from going out because it’s dangerous in the crowded town.

That’s when Jade knocked on the door.

“Are you ready?”

“Yes!”

I opened the door wide and went out.

Jade saw my excited face and laughed.

“I want to tease you and say that our outing is canceled.”

My face became thoughtful.

“Don’t make jokes like that.”

Jade laughed quietly.

“Let’s go.”

He grabbed my waist and quickly put me in the carriage. My body easily lifted up.

“Are we really going now?”

“Well, don’t you want to waste a single minute?”

That’s… true. I was so excited that my shoulders bounced up and down.

Soon the carriage began to run.

‘Huh?’

I saw something strange shaking outside the carriage.

‘What is it?’

I rubbed my eyes.

There was something… like an animal shaking.

‘It looks like black smoke.’

But it disappeared soon after.

“Leticia?”

“Oh, it’s nothing. Let’s hurry!”

I shook my head hastily.

…Strange, did I just dream during the day?

* * *

I used to not know, but I had a lot of dreams.

You have to dream, right? Things that I didn’t even dare to hope for before are now possible.

For example, watching festivals to my heart’s content!

Until now, even if there were children or a bar nearby, everyone would chase away the beggar kids who showed up on festival days, making a fuss.

‘Because no one wants to play with beggars on the day of the festival.’

So for me, the New Year’s festival was always a noisy affair. I couldn’t even breathe in the narrow alleys, and I had to secretly peek.

That’s why I was so happy. I could watch the festival to my heart’s content.

I even held Jade’s hand and walked down the street.

I bought freshly baked sweet cookies and in the end, Jade took me to the balcony of a hotel in the downtown area.

“Wow, Jade. I can see the entire festival!”

“This is the royal seat, so let’s enjoy it leisurely.”

I watched the people walking around.

“Jade! Look over there. Clowns are running around. Wow, there are people jumping around and rolling a huge ball. How can it roll without crushsing them?”

If cameras were as common as in my past life, there were many interesting people that I would want to take pictures of.

In the afternoon, there was an outdoor masquerade ball in the square.

“Everyone came out to play even though it’s cold. I want to go down and see it.”

“After some people leave.”

That’s when it happened.

‘Huh?’

The shadow I saw earlier was in front of me again.

And it was floating in the sky.

‘What is this? A monster?’

I really couldn’t express it any other way. The figure that appeared in front of me, attached to the balcony, was huge.

‘Eh, a centaur?’

Looking closely, the arms and torso were human, but the head and lower body were horse. It was dark this time too.

My vision blurred.

Without realizing it, I let go of the hand holding the balcony.

“Leticia!”

Jade was surprised and caught me.

I pointed at it with trembling fingers.

“Jade, that… is it only visible to my eyes right now?”

“What?”

Jade finally looked up at the sky.

Oh, Jade saw it too.

Jade looked at me with shaking eyes, as if he couldn’t believe it.

“Can you see it?”

“I can see it. Oh, it’s gone.”

I wiped my chest. I couldn’t get up as my legs lost their strength.

“Jade?”

I called out to Jade with a trembling voice. Jade remained silent for a while.

“Leticia, let’s go home.”

“What?”

“Right now. I need to see my father.”