She Is a Daughter Raised As the Son of a Duke

Unfortunately, his words were not wrong. Since the power of the family has not yet been manifested, I will not be his biological daughter, and therefore, I must live as his son as promised to Persis, and I must not disturb his mind.

His words are correct. However…

“…There are many things I can do.”

Diago’s mocking smile came closer to being in line with his words.

“What can you do?”

The voice asking what I can do touched my mind.

“…First.”

This was a temptation caused by an unpleasant feeling, a temptation to receive an apology.

“I will join the Nine.”

* * *

While May was listening to the members’ drunken stories at the Nine, Persis was in Elam with Heint.

Elam was a grassland directly connected to the Koutos Upper Demon Procurement. Sometimes it was a place where the Second Guardian Knights hunted demons.

Having made a contract with Koutos Upper and Persis was hunting demons on the grassland.

The red magic power flowing out of his body cut off the demon’s breath just by meeting the eyes without touching them.

Thump, thump, thump.

The demons died at a rate of one per second. In a minute, there were 60, and in an hour, there were 3,600.

Of course, if he gathered magic power and attacked, he could easily kill hundreds of demons in a few seconds, but he didn’t feel like doing that.

Persis was enveloped in a calm annoyance and released his annoyance calmly.

This was the reason why he killed the demons one by one.

Then he encountered an A-class demon, A Lion.

A Lion was a lion with a height of 3 meters, and its characteristic was that it had an A mark in its eyes.

The red energy emitted from Persis’ body penetrated A Lion’s body like a beam.

Except for the heart, which had to be sold at the top.

Thud―!

A Lion fell, bleeding without a chance to groan.

Persis slowly walked toward the corpse of A Lion. He dissected A Lion’s body up close.

Schwick― Chwaah―

Blood spurted out and stained his arm, but he didn’t mind. He focused on taking out A Lion’s heart.

Heint, who happened to be passing by, spotted Persis.

“Persis!”

Heint, a member of the Second Knight Order, was also hunting here.

Persis didn’t respond to Heint’s call. He just took out the heart.

The role of a son that you pushed for 5 years because of your greed and pride.

“How much resentment do you think the child has towards you? She would probably want to live like other girls her age.”

“……”

“It’s about time to stop. I’m not expecting you to make that child live as a man for the rest of her life, and it’s not because I dislike her for not being related by blood. If that were the case, we wouldn’t have adopted her in the first place.”

Persis had nothing to say. His words were all true.

“It’s been five years already. Forget about your pride and think about the time that’s left. Have a deep conversation with May now. Oh, isn’t it your birthday soon? It would be nice to go out and enjoy some fresh air with Mayon your birthday. Stop dressing up as a man.”

Heint patted Persis on the shoulder.

“Stay strong. I’ll go hunting near the entrance of the meadow. Don’t kill them too brutally.”

After giving Persis some advice, Heint left.

A few hours later, as the day was coming to an end, everyone gradually finished hunting and returned home.

When Persis and Heint finished hunting together and came out of the entrance to Elam Meadow, they saw a familiar face.

Stella Nazret. She came to pick up Heint.

Stella looked around, searching for Heint.

“It’s time to come out… Where is he?”

Even though Stella usually got along well with her father, she didn’t accompany him to the hunting grounds. It was because she didn’t know when the hunt would end, and the hunting grounds were far from home.

So why did she come to pick him up today?

The previous night, Stella happened to see Heint crying. Now that he had grown up, he was crying while looking at a photo of his young son and deceased wife.

It was the first time she saw him like that.

Heint was longing for his deceased wife and lost son, without showing any signs to Stella. She thought it was because he didn’t want to burden her with his emotional baggage.

Realizing this, Stella couldn’t leave Heint alone. She thought he would be sad and think about his deceased wife and lost son whenever he was alone, so she absolutely couldn’t let him be alone.

That’s why she came to pick him up, so that he wouldn’t secretly cry on the carriage ride back home.

Following Stella, her maid Ann pointed to Heint.

“Oh, there he is!”

Looking at where Ann pointed, Heint was walking with Persis.

Stella approached him quickly and called out energetically.

“Dad!”

Heint welcomed his beloved daughter with a joyful face.

“My daughter!”

Heint also ran towards Stella and embraced her.

“How did you find your way here? It must have been far.”

“I came because I wanted to see you, Dad.”

Stella smiled at Heint and then looked at Persis with a disdainful expression, giving him a casual greeting.

“Nice to see you after a long time, Duke.”

Persis looked at her and searched for May.

“…Where did May go all morning? Did you meet May on the way here?”

“No? I think May went to Nine today.”

“Nine?”

Stella instantly realized her mistake. Should she not have mentioned it?

“Ah… yes. I heard she was invited to Nine.”

She had been invited to Nine. Persis murmured to himself.

“Why didn’t you tell me…?”

When did she receive the invitation, why did she decide to accept it, and why didn’t she mention it before going.

While Persis was lost in his thoughts, Stella held Heint’s hand.

“I’ll be going now.”

She smiled at him again.

“Dad, let’s go home!”

“Huh? Uh…”

Heint followed Stella and got on the carriage.

Left behind, Persis felt gloomy and awkward as he watched Heint and Stella.

He wanted to have a close relationship like them, just like Heint and his daughter. But why was it so difficult?

…Was it because he was told by Heint to stop her cross-dressing?

To get closer to May, Heint had asked him to stop her from pretending to be a man in the first place.

‘It’s been five years already. Forget about your pride and think about the time that’s left.’

His words were true. For five years, Persis had made many resolutions to live unemotionally for the sake of the family, not to do anything that wouldn’t benefit him, and not to waver. But in the end, he acted according to his own emotions.

Whenever he wanted to see that child, he secretly went to the practice field to see her, and he called a maid and a servant who were always with her to ask about her.

He actually liked May a lot, despite the title of being the son of a girl body that he casually used to address her.

He realized this now, after five years. And he made up his mind to become a tender-hearted like them.

‘I should find a place to go together on my birthday.’

He turned his gaze away from Heint and Stella, who he had envied, and headed towards the Platinum carriage.