Free Web NovelChapter 1: Who is Your Father
"Oh... really... this is truly heartbreaking... I understand you."
Cain sighed to himself, taking a sip from his teacup.
His eyes gazed from behind his glasses as he sat on the luxurious sofa. Across from him sat a woman, her back slumped, staring blankly at the floor.
After a moment, she adjusted her posture.
"I know my request is unreasonable," she said. "After all, taking care of the daughter of a woman the world calls ’evil’ is nothing but trouble."
Cain immediately waved his hand in dismissal.
"Not at all. We’ve been friends since our school days. I would never find a friend’s daughter a burden."
Cain wore a warm, reassuring smile. Lucy looked at him with her beautiful eyes and nodded.
"Do not worry, Young Master Cain. Once I take my revenge on the one who did this to me, I will come back and take her."
Cain nodded in agreement.
"Take your time. I understand your tragedy. Whoever did this must be entirely devoid of humanity—a complete monster."
Lucy nodded along, staring out the glass window as memories of that fateful night flashed through her mind. She let out a heavy sigh, stood up from the sofa, and walked toward the large room door.
"So... where is the little lady?"
Lucy smiled at him as she walked toward the door with steady, rhythmic steps, her high heels clicking sharply against the marble floor.
"Heh... you will see her now."
Lucy opened the door and glanced down the hallway. One second... two seconds...
"MOMMY—!"
Suddenly, a voice echoed from the far end of the hallway. A little girl was sprinting at full speed. Several servants were trying to keep up with her pace, only to stumble and trip behind her.
"Little Mistress, you cannot go in there—!"
Lucy smiled at the sight of the girl running toward her. As the child drew near, she launched herself into the air with a leap that seemed impossible for a child her age, crashing into Lucy’s arms. She clung tightly to her, affectionately burying her face in Lucy’s voluptuous chest.
"Mommy! Those scoundrels... they were trying to keep me away from you! If I wasn’t so happy to see you, I would have broken their legs! Heh!"
Lucy gently stroked the girl’s pitch-black hair. Although Lucy’s own hair was a pure, snowy white, her daughter hadn’t inherited that trait; instead, her hair was an intense, deep black.
Lucy looked at her daughter’s beautiful face, then turned to look at Cain, who was smiling warmly at the touching reunion.
Pitch-black hair... Isn’t that one of the distinctive traits of the Oster family? But... wait, what am I thinking? That can’t be right. freewёbnoνel.com
Lucy quickly brushed the thoughts out of her head.
"This is my daughter, Master Cain. She turns five this year. Her name is Amelia Montegrad. Amelia, say hello to Uncle Cain."
The girl, however, paid absolutely no attention to Cain, remaining tightly glued to her mother.
"Oh, hello there. I am Cain Oster," he offered gently. "Do you like princess fairy tales? I know plenty of them."
The girl nestled in her mother’s arms glared at him.
"Hah? You read princess fairy tales? Looking at that scrawny body of yours, it looks like you can’t even lift a two-kilogram weight."
Cain’s smiling expression instantly froze.
"Amelia! Show some respect to your Uncle Cain," Lucy scolded, shock evident in her eyes. "He is the one you will be staying with for the next few days."
Hearing this, Amelia’s eyes welled up with tears.
"But... Mommy... Amelia hasn’t seen Mommy in such a long time, and now Mommy wants to leave Amelia again...?"
She looked like she was on the verge of throwing a tantrum.
"Don’t worry, Mommy will be back soon," Lucy comforted her, kissing her forehead. "I know you are mature, and you understand that everyone looks at Mama with hostility right now. I don’t trust anyone else in this world but this uncle. Be a good girl... I love you."
Those tender words were enough to soothe Amelia, easing her tears away. She wiped her eyes with her tiny fingers.
"I love Mommy too... I know Mommy isn’t evil. Amelia loves Mommy."
This touching scene softened something inside Cain’s heart, causing a genuine smile to grace his lips—an unusual sight for him. It wasn’t the shallow, practiced smile he usually flashed to the world; this one was completely real.
Yet, his sharp eyes couldn’t help but notice two highly peculiar details. He couldn’t quite piece them together, but he felt an uncanny connection toward the girl. She seemed strangely similar to him in some way.
He immediately shook the thought from his head. In his entire current life, he had only ever been intimate with someone once—a completely random encounter. He had been heavily intoxicated at the time, remembering nothing more than the ghostly silhouette of the woman he was with.
Besides, this girl was the daughter of a yandere villainess who had never even appeared in the novel’s original plot, making her a dangerous, unknown variable.
An unscripted variable... possessing the trademark hair of the Oster family, sharp eyebrows just like his, and a delicate bridge of the nose...
These thoughts drifted through his mind, but he shrugged them off as mere coincidences, taking another sip of his tea.
"Well, Mommy has to leave now because she has a lot of work to do," Lucy said gently. "I will send you letters to let you know I’m safe. Goodbye... and don’t follow me, okay?"
Tears welled up in Amelia’s eyes once more as she watched her mother prepare to leave.
"Lady Lucy, wait a moment." ƒreeωebnovel.ƈom
"Yes, Young Master Cain?"
A complex smile played on Cain’s face.
"How far along is your investigation into the identity of that scoundrel? I could help you out. As you know, I have a few well-placed connections."
On the surface, he sounded like he was merely offering a helping hand, but in reality, a damning sphere of doubt was bouncing violently around the walls of his mind.
"Well, to be honest... not very far," Lucy replied. "I only managed to find out that he is the leader of a highly mysterious, secret organization known as ’The Transmigrators’... He rarely shows himself, but everyone agrees on his absolute power and profound mystery. Still, don’t trouble yourself over it. I have my own ways of tracking him down. Oh, I really must go now..."
In the blink of an eye, the woman’s beautiful figure vanished from before Cain’s eyes.
"Waaaah! Mommy, don’t go! I still want to hug you a little longer...!" Amelia wailed.
Clatter—!
The teacup slipped from Cain’s hand, crashing down as his fingers began to tremble slightly.
Swiftly and without warning, he unleashed his hidden magical aura, sweeping through the entire mansion in a fraction of a second to ensure Lucy had truly departed.
"Oh, damn it... Is that even possible...?"
Cain took off his glasses, pressing his fingers against his forehead as he brushed his hair back, revealing his handsome face.
He looked down at the little girl standing at the doorway, watching her cry while letting out a faint, dry chuckle every now and then.
He stepped forward, stopping right in front of her by the threshold. Behind them, the servants stood stiff as trees, not daring to cast their eyes anywhere they shouldn’t.
Cain leaned down, his shadow completely enveloping her small, fragile frame.
"Hey! You blockhead, you’re blocking my view," Amelia snapped. "Do you want to get beaten up?"
Cain smiled, thinking to himself: Like mother, like daughter. Absolutely no difference.
"Hah! It seems you really want to taste this lady’s punch. Have it your way!"
She was about to throw a punch straight at Cain’s face, but he swiftly caught her tiny wrist. With just one hand, he lifted her effortlessly off the ground, bringing her up to eye level.
"Let me go! If it wasn’t for my mommy respecting you, I would have killed you!"
Cain ignored the threat, instead gently cupping her face, turning it from side to side as he closely examined her delicate features.
"What? Are you mesmerized by this lady’s beauty?" she huffed. "Figures. This beauty is inherited from my mommy. But you have no right to touch my face without my permission!"
A smile of genuine, long-lost affection spread across Cain’s face.
"Hey, kiddo... do you know who your father is?"
The girl’s expression shifted instantly. It was as if he had just uttered a forbidden word.
She went dead silent for a few moments.
"My father...?" she muttered, her eyes flashing with sudden anger. "Hah! Do you know that scoundrel? That bastard? If you ever see him, tell him his daughter sends him this!"
She unleashed a powerful punch, channeling mana straight into her fist toward Cain’s face. But he casually caught her other hand, leaving her dangling in the air by both wrists.
"Let me go, you jerk! Before I tell my mommy that you’re bullying me, and she comes back to beat you up!"
