I looked directly at Princess Anessa and said, “What kind of verification?”

“Because you might not be a Mirmod… Sien. Yes, it’s important to know if you’re really suitable for this Mirmod. Don’t you think we should even conduct a kinship test?”

I stared at her intently.

Her intention to cause harm was glaringly evident.

“Um…”

While looking at her, I tilted my head.

“Aren’t you ashamed to say bad things to a ten-year-old?”
I omitted the phrase “when you grow up.”

I looked at her and thought, “Princess Serena Anessa, someone like this doesn’t suit our dad!”

Someday, there could be a new stepmother.

Judging by what my dad said, it would never happen, but I still had that thought.

However, this woman wasn’t it.

“Your Highness, she’s a bad person.”

Our gazes clashed sharply in the middle.
“My saying ‘Your Highness, you’re a bad person’ made her smile wryly.

“No, Sien,”

And as if she was trying to teach me, she said,

“Do you think I could be a bad person?”

“Um…”

“But,”

She folded her eyelids in half and smiled. However, her pupils were icy. I could feel enough intensity to make my small body tremble.

“When dealing with someone like you, who pretends to be a real daughter while being fake… When it comes to a child like you…”
There was poison hidden beneath her seemingly fragile appearance.

I stood firm, looking at her trembling lips.

“Don’t shake, don’t back down, Sien Mirmod. You’re not a fake daughter; you’re a real father’s daughter. That’s just her misguided notion. It’s like pushing you away.”

However, due to the burden of my unhappy past life, I couldn’t relax and, with bitten lips, I kept a close eye on her.
In this life, encountering a boldly living and openly hostile adult woman was something I was experiencing for the first time, and it made me slightly nervous.

“…She’s like the mother from my previous life.”

Memories of the pain I had endured in the labyrinth of illusions nearly ten years ago briefly flashed through my mind.

However, I had no intention of being bound by past trauma any longer.

I had grown several steps beyond that time, and I had overcome the traumas of my past life with the warm comfort of my father, after all.
When I didn’t avert my gaze, the princess’s eyes gave me an intriguing, slightly crooked look.

“I guess I have to become a bad person too.”

The image of the princess before me was by no means the kind that people called an angel.

But that was okay.

“So, Sienna, we will definitely see each other again.”

And perhaps at this moment, only I knew that fact.
Feeling a bit irked by that, I let out a sigh.

“Very well, Your Highness,” I replied, looking at her intently. “Do as you wish.”

“I won’t just go along with it. I have a father and a grandmother, you know.”
“Is that so? Well, I have my ways. I might even reveal to the world that you’re not the real daughter. Even if you’re a fake, will those people still love you? ‘That’ infamous Mirmod?”

“…….”

Our gazes clashed in the middle.

She brushed aside my pink hair and whispered softly, “I may seem quite lenient with you, dear. But don’t get too comfortable. Even if you’re one of them, it wouldn’t be difficult to chase you away from here.”
However, there was something the princess overlooked.

“I don’t think so.”

I’m a pretty smart kid, too.

No, I might have lived longer than you.

So…

“Don’t underestimate me.”

I stared at her with a cold gaze.

Even though I might only have a fraction of her body, I couldn’t emit as much energy as she could.

“I’m strong too, you know?”

It wasn’t that I didn’t threaten her because I couldn’t, but it wasn’t because I didn’t have the ability to leave her alone.
My words left the princess with a stunned expression.

It was quite a satisfying hit.

“So, you really want to try.”

The princess stared at me with sharp eyes.

It seemed like my words had touched a nerve with her.

That day ended with us glaring at each other like that.

After she left, I pondered the words Princess Anessa had said. The words I had said about being a fake daughter.
“Am I really a fake daughter?”

I began to doubt on what basis I was so sure that I wasn’t my dad’s daughter.

But even so, I couldn’t tell my tender father, “Am I a fake daughter?” Saying that might make him cry.

Because whether I was real or fake, my dad’s love for me had always been genuine.
The trust between Dad and me was solid. It was as if Princess Anessa or anyone else couldn’t create a rift between us.

So, I decided to ask Leonhardt, who had been in this family longer than me, first.

“You know, Leonhardt, how was I born?”

“Huh? Well, I… don’t know.”

Leonhardt scratched his head as he asked.

“But, genius, do you have something you don’t know?”

“Hmm?”

“You thought you knew everything in the world.”
Seeing his pure yet sharp eyes, I couldn’t bring myself to say, “That’s not true.”

I decided to rationalize myself. It wasn’t so bad that there was at least one person in the world who thought of me as a genius. In fact, it was a very good thing.

“…Yeah, that’s right.”