I Became the Male Lead’s Adopted Daughter
Chapter 208

“A little sister can’t come visit her big sister sometimes?”

Lota snapped, her voice rising in wounded protest. Being called out for her rudeness embarrassed her.

“We’re family, aren’t we?”

“Exactly. Which means you should respect proper boundaries.”

Varia, seated across from her, didn’t even glance in her direction.

Lota looked heartbroken at her sister’s coldness.

“Why are you being like this?”

As if she were the innocent party. As if she didn’t know what she had done wrong.

Her eyes shimmered with tears.

“Do you... hate me that much?”

Lota asked, her voice muffled with tears.

“......”

Varia stared at her quietly.

“...Lota, you’re...”

She began to speak slowly.

“Truly shameless.”

The laugh that escaped her lips was drier than sand.

“Selfish.”

Each cold word twisted Lota’s pitiful expression into something pained. But Varia didn’t stop.

“You only ever think about yourself.”

“H-How can you say that...!”

“When I was fourteen.”

Varia quickly cut her off before Lota could yell.

“When you pushed me into the lake.”

That death from her first life—that had granted her this second chance.

Varia’s eyes sharpened as she remembered.

“You said everything was an accident, that it happened while I was passed out from a high fever, didn’t you?”

“Of course it was an accident!”

“It wasn’t. It was intentional.”

You pushed me.

Varia’s voice trembled.

She had gained and learned so much after returning from death.

A family that truly loved her. Friends with whom she could open her heart. A home where she could rest in peace.

And the truth of that day at the lake.

“You pushed me.”

In her first life, she had believed it was an accident. As a child, she’d thought Lota had simply touched her back while trying to grab her.

Once her fever subsided, she had even apologized to her shocked little sister.

But in her second life, she saw it clearly.

“Just because I didn’t give you some stupid hair ornament.”

Lota had shoved her with all her strength.

As she fell into the lake, Varia had seen something she hadn’t in her first life—

Lota’s smile reflected on the water as she pushed her.

“You tried to kill me.”

“It was an accident!”

“An accident?”

“Yes! I was just a kid—I didn’t know what I was doing!”

“You weren’t just any kid.”

You had seen the way our parents favored me with your own eyes, and you used that to your advantage—monopolizing their love and gaining everything.

You weren’t a normal child.

“...Yeah. I really was stupid.”

Varia sighed, leaning back in her chair.

“I should’ve realized it then.”

Looking back, there had been countless unsettling moments.

Once, she had accidentally broken one of Lota’s dolls.

She heard a crunch as she stood up from a chair—and there it was, the doll crushed beneath it.

It had been Lota’s favorite. Their parents scolded Varia harshly for breaking her sister’s belongings, while Lota sobbed and blamed her.

But in hindsight—why had the doll been in her room in the first place?

Whenever she was busy, Lota would beg her to play.

And when she borrowed something Varia liked, she’d always lose it or break it by “accident.”

Whenever Lota got in trouble with their parents, she would cry and blame someone else.

“Sis wouldn’t play with me!”

“Sis didn’t let me borrow it!”

“But sis is the one who—!”

It might seem childish.

Or innocent.

But it was incredibly malicious.

“My little sister.”

Only then did Varia lift her head and confront the wickedness in her sister’s childhood.

Lota flinched under her gaze. The look in her older sister’s eyes sent a chill down her spine—it was as if she could see straight through her.

“You tried to kill me.”

When you pushed me into the lake.

When Remus tried to kill me.

Lota had killed her sister twice.

“And still, I...”

Still called you my little sister. Believed we could talk things through—because you were family.

How stupid of me.

Varia was tired. They hadn’t even spoken for long, yet her entire body felt drained.

She just wanted to leave this room and return to the family she loved.

“What do you want?”

Varia asked.

“You came all this way, so I’ll at least listen.”

“......”

“If you’re here to say something ridiculous, then just—”

“P-please help me!”

Lota shouted.

“Please, I’m begging you...!”

She hunched forward over the table, her body trembling.

“My husband, Remus...”

Her voice cracked as she spoke.

But now that it ❖ Nоvеl𝚒ght ❖ (Exclusive on Nоvеl𝚒ght) came time to actually say it, the words stuck in her throat. Even now, Lota’s pride refused to let her bow her head to Varia.

And then the tears came.

Hot, bitter tears streamed down her face.

“They say the Voreoti girl... she’s his daughter!”

“Yeah, I just found out too.”

“They said the bracelet I saw is proof!”

Lota covered her face with both hands. She couldn’t stand the idea that she had been the one to expose the terrible secret.

“You know what he said to me?”

The moment she mentioned what she saw at the tea party, Remus had stormed out of the mansion.

He didn’t come back for days.

When he finally returned, he kissed her passionately—and then dropped a bombshell.

‘Thanks to you, I found my daughter!’

His daughter.

Thanks to her?

He went on about the lover he had once lost, and the daughter they had together.

Remus was overjoyed, saying he’d finally found hope. He didn’t even seem to notice that Lota was completely crushed by the news.

Lota fell into despair.

“I don’t want this! I hate it!”

She hated the situation she now faced.

“How could he do this!”

How was this even remotely acceptable?

She had agonized over it endlessly—being held by Remus as he praised her, kissed her.

It tormented her.

This wasn’t right.

Hearing her husband speak of another woman he had loved, and of a child born from that love—who turned out to be a Voreoti.

He was happy that he’d found a daughter he hadn’t even known existed—thanks to her.

“...Why does that girl get to have it!”

Her sudden outburst startled Varia.

“Are you pregnant?”

“Not yet!”

But I will be—Lota glared at her sister with vicious determination.

“I’m the only one who should bear Remus’s child!”

The child she would one day have.

She’d always found the pressure to get pregnant annoying, but now, more than ever, she wanted it desperately.

She even placed her hand over her stomach—resolving to carry the seed of House Olor.

Varia was horrified.

“Are you insane?”

She pleaded, genuinely.

“After seeing and hearing all that, you still say you want to bear that man’s child?”

Varia shook her head in disbelief.

“Remus is a scumbag who preys on minors! Why can’t you see that you’re one of his victims too? Please, just wake up and divorce—”

“What do you even know!”

But Varia’s heartfelt plea was rejected.

“You don’t understand! He’s so kind, so wonderful!”

Lota’s green eyes were unfocused, no longer the bright and dazzling gaze Varia remembered.

They were dark. Lifeless.

Varia realized—that’s what despair looked like.

“All that happened before we were married! I can understand it!”

“Remus proudly admitted he touched that girl when she was a minor.”

“So what?”

She probably seduced him first.

That one sentence made Varia feel like the floor collapsed beneath her.

“...Urgh.”

She felt a wave of nausea. She hurried to cover her mouth, her vision going dark.

“That’s why you have to help me.”

Lota begged again. And now, tears welled in Varia’s eyes as well.

Please, don’t let this be what I think it is.

If she said she didn’t want to live with Remus, if she wanted a divorce...

Then no matter how much Varia hated her, she could help her.

Because she was still her sister.

“Please stop the paternity test. You’re a Voreoti now—you can do it!”

But it was a useless hope.

“Remus didn’t know either. He really didn’t know! But I don’t want this.”

The child had to be hers.

She couldn’t raise another woman’s daughter.

Even if that child had Voreoti blood, Lota couldn’t accept her.

“If only I’d gotten pregnant a little sooner—it would’ve been fine. But since I didn’t, I just need to get pregnant now, right...?”

Her frantic justification twisted her face into a disturbing smile.

It was desperation—on the verge of breaking.

“Remus said he loves me. He’s the only one who loves me...!”

Bang!

A loud thud struck between the sisters.

“...That’s enough.”

Varia muttered, her fist clenched where it had slammed the table.

“Please. Just go.”

She couldn’t look at Lota anymore.

***

Though she had worked up the courage to come to the Voreoti estate, Lota left without receiving the help she’d wanted.

She spent the journey home cursing Varia—then begging again—but it was no use.

And Varia, as if fleeing, collapsed into bed.

Exhaustion overtook her instantly.

Aches wracked her muscles, and fever coursed through her.

Ferio immediately summoned a physician, and Leonia paced anxiously outside her mother’s bedroom.

“Dad.”

Just then, Ferio stepped out of the room. Leonia quickly ran over.

“Is Mom okay? Is she very sick?”

“She took her medicine and just fell asleep.”

Leonia lowered her voice right away.

“...It’s because of that woman, isn’t it?”

Her voice was quiet—but tinged with rage.

“Is that why Mom got sick?”

The baby beast couldn’t hide her fury anymore. She grumbled for a while about how useless some people were.

Normally, she would’ve cursed outright, but because that woman was still technically family, she held it in.

“Leo.”

Ferio spoke gently.

Then he shared what Varia had told him—Lota’s shocking words.

As expected, Leonia’s face contorted into an ugly scowl.

“......”

For a long moment, she couldn’t even speak. She opened and closed her mouth wordlessly, then let out a long, exasperated sigh.

“That crazy bastard!”

And finally, she exploded.

This time, Ferio silently agreed and pretended not to hear his daughter’s curse.