I examined the child who lit up her eyes and declared herself as the ‘real daughter’.

This baby, somehow reminds me of a small bird.

As if she hadn’t expected to be left alone, the child blinked her eyes.

I handed a warm cup of tea to the child.

The child fidgeted with her hands as if unsure how to drink the warm tea.

Meanwhile, I carefully examined this child.

I measured her body dimensions and closely checked her eye and hair color.

Of course, I had a plan.

First of all…

“Hey, Sir Ted!”

“Yes?”

“Originally, paternity tests could only be done by Count Yoter’s organization, right?”

Ted, who was standing nearby, quietly said.

“Yes, that’s correct, Lady Sien.”

I clenched my fist.

There was a reason why Count Yoter was acting so tyrannically.

‘Currently, the only institution in the empire that can perform tests is Count Yoter’s side, which competes with massive capital!’

But suddenly I had doubts.

Among the nobles of the empire, there were many who committed adultery. Not only that, the wealthy and ordinary commoners were the same.

No matter how you look at it, the ‘paternity test’ industry had to be a blue ocean.

There must be many organizations with excellent technology, so why is only Count Yoter still doing paternity tests?

Such doubts were swirling, just then.

Perhaps because I had left the window open just in case.

Outside, precisely from the direction of the square, I could hear people murmuring. The disturbance must have reached its climax.

‘Dad said to wait ten minutes. So I need to extract as much information from this child before that!’

Actually, it wasn’t even ten minutes.

Based on my intuition, I estimated he would come within 3 minutes.

Feeling slightly rushed, I said the first thing to the child in front of me.

“What’s your name?”

It’s a basic identity check.

I stared intently at the child. The child looked at me with a blank expression, as if anxious, and repeatedly mumbled.

“I am Sir Matthias’s real daughter.”

“I’m asking what your name is?”

“I am, the real daughter.”

Like a broken clock mechanism turning, she just kept repeating that phrase. I looked down at the child quietly and tilted my head slightly.

Should I deny that statement?

“… No, I’m the real daughter?”

“You’re nothing. Please do the test kit right away, Count Yoter!”

It seemed like something had been forcibly inputted into her.

I narrowed my brows and whispered to her.

“Elder sister.”

“Yes?”

“Let’s grab her.”

For now… I need to catch her.

I stood up and approached her. Then I signaled to the maid.

The maid looked at me with a confident expression and said.

“Shall we… hug her once?”

I gently hugged the child and firmly grasped her hair. But even though her hair was being pulled, the child didn’t even flinch.

‘She’s being too strangely obedient?’

I scratched under my chin, deep in thought.

But just then, with a click, the outer door opened.

“Lady Sien!”

Dad’s adjutant, Uncle Sam with his fierce appearance, hurriedly entered the room.

I turned my head with a puzzled expression. Then the adjutant approached me and carefully said.

“The Imperial Princess has returned to the palace.”

“Huh?”

“Count Yoter also said he would take this child away. So don’t worry.”

That’s when I started to feel something was strange.

I couldn’t believe that the Imperial Princess, who had been so tyrannical, had gone back.

Until just now, she clearly looked like she had no intention of leaving.

“… Why did she go back?”

I was planning to think of all sorts of ways to bring the Imperial Princess back, now that I had caught on to this child’s suspiciousness.

To go back so easily and helplessly!

“Ah, Sir Matthias persuaded her well.”

“… Huh?”

“She said she would go back easily.”

Sniff sniff.

I wrinkled my slightly puffed-up nose bridge.

Something smelled fishy.

“Oh my, you’re so much like a puppy…”

“So cute…!”

… The maids’ whispers interrupted my thoughts, but they couldn’t stop my suspicions.

Just then, Dad started to enter with a relaxed expression.

“Sien.”

“Dad!”

“Now let’s… no, let’s send that friend back. There was a misunderstanding. It seems to have been a mistake.”

It seemed more like she came with a purpose rather than a mistake or misunderstanding.

I stared at the child who kept mumbling ‘I am Sir Matthias’s daughter’ like a broken record.

‘This is very, very suspicious!’

But Dad didn’t seem to have any particular thoughts. Dad firmly grabbed my shoulder and turned my gaze towards him.

“We’ll entrust the paternity test to another organization.”

“Huh…?”

“We need to make sure that our Sien is Dad’s daughter. But Dad finds it a bit difficult to trust Count Yoter’s side.”

Something felt a bit off.

‘My kind Dad’s thinking is exactly the same as my evil thoughts!’

I was also planning to entrust the paternity test to another organization, not Count Yoter.

But…

“I’m sorry to the people of the temple, but it can’t be helped.”

Seeing him still politely apologizing to the temple even in this situation, he was still far from becoming a great villain.

“Alright, I got it!”

I nodded my head towards Dad.

Then Dad’s adjutant, the uncle with a fierce appearance but a soft tofu-like inner heart, approached the little girl with vigor.

“Now go back to your home.”

That uncle, who only stuck on a weird mustache in front of me!

He looks so solemn when he lowers his voice like that.

I rolled my eyes around and looked in that direction.

I was curious if she would act tyrannically like she did to me earlier. Or she might claim that she was Sir Matthias’s daughter.

However, the child did not show such behavior.

She just obediently took the uncle’s hand, as if submitting to the logic of power.

Without a single word.

It felt strange to see the child who had been mumbling like a parrot that she was the real one, leaving.

I slightly furrowed my brow and muttered.

“Elder sisters.”

“Yes?”

“Something… smells fishy.”

I clearly spoke to the elder sisters, but Dad quickly jumped into the conversation.

“… What kind of suspicious smell?”

“Hmm…”

It was very strange that Dad had persuaded the Imperial Princess well.

‘Does this world listen to our Dad’s words… this well?’

Thinking that something was definitely suspicious, I ran all sorts of simulations in my head.

‘It could be that our Dad is actually the strongest person in this world view. So when he says one word, bam! Everyone just goes back.’

Well, even I laughed at saying that.

‘Does this make sense? It doesn’t make sense at all!’

There must be some intimate reason.

For example, a reason like the Imperial Princess drawing a big picture and returning with some scheme in mind.

[This is the timeline separator]

Several weeks passed like that.

Setting aside that ‘intimate reason’, what was most important to me now was of course the paternity test. For some unknown reason, the Imperial Princess had tucked her tail and run away, and was still keeping quiet…

‘She even entered the family, she must be doing something under the surface.’

Moreover, that child’s identity was also quite suspicious.

I shouldn’t have sent her back so easily, but there was no justification to keep her. Plus, Dad and the adjutant joined forces to send her back.

I thought while clutching the hair I had plucked from that child.

‘It’s about time… to confront the imperial palace, starting with Count Yoter.’

If the Crown Prince and Imperial Princess keep interfering with our work, I had no intention of staying still any longer.

It seemed the day had come to start a fight with the imperial palace under the surface.

They threw the first punch, so my actions were clearly self-defense.

‘I’ll cut off the Crown Prince and Imperial Princess’s money first.’

I was planning to take everything from the temple that was blocking the path for me and my naive Dad, step by step.

The foundation for that is to bang this small fist on the sofa.

“Let’s go.”

“… Pardon?”

Perhaps because they were in the middle of drinking tea, the maid sisters had bewildered expressions. In front of me, Ted, Acid, and the maid sisters were drinking tea together.

For the past few weeks, I too had been working under the surface, just as the imperial palace people had.

In the meantime, I finally found it in a small local gossip magazine.

A small organization in the Bipal Principality that was producing paternity test kits just like Count Yoter.

The Bipal Principality was a small place attached to the edge of our empire, a place that used the same continental language as our empire.

‘Moreover, it’s also known as a neutral country famous for having many technicians!’

I heard that the Sheriff Organization was also a commercial group formed by promising technicians from the Bipal Principality.

I looked at the maid sisters with my chin raised and said.

“Bring me a scarf and sunglasses!”

“Pardon?”

“Lady Sien, why a scarf…”

“I have important business to attend to.”

The maid sisters looked perplexed. But true to being sisters who diligently listen to my authoritative words, they got up and brought a scarf and sunglasses.

In the original , a simple test kit using magic power is invented by the Sheriff Organization in a principality located around the empire.

So all I had to do was sponsor the Sheriff Organization.

Unfortunately, they were people who withered away without even blooming due to the tyranny and black propaganda of Count Yoter, who had the power of the imperial palace behind him.

In order to sell his own defective paternity test kits at high prices, Count Yoter would crush any signs of proper kits being sold.

‘There must be people who desperately need paternity tests, he’s really an incredibly wicked person!’

But now that there’s the awesome ten-year-old me, I just need to help people.

Ted, the only one who wasn’t flustered in this situation, quietly stood up and prostrated himself in front of me.

“Shall we head to Sheriff right away?”

“Yes, Ted.”

I felt Acid’s gaze on me. I responded to his gaze with a bright smile.

“And Acid too, come along.”

Those two are the most important for this operation.

Dimples formed on Acid’s cheeks. As if he was happy to be of help to me.

[This is the timeline separator]

It wasn’t difficult to arrive at the Sheriff Organization, which was said to be located on the outskirts of the capital.

I secretly rented a cargo wagon, then checked all the preparations inside the wagon.

“This is the kit made by Count Yoter’s side. And Sir Matthias’s hair…”

“Good.”

“That child’s hair is here too.”

I smuggled in Count Yoter’s kit with gold bars.

‘I plucked out Dad’s hair.’

I smiled mischievously as I held the kit in my hand.

“Hey, are there no other kits besides this one?”

“Ah, yes… there aren’t. Count Yoter is the only one who oversees paternity tests.”

“Is that so? I see.”

I stared intently at Acid and Ted while holding that kit. They would be able to help me. More precisely, me and the Sheriff Organization.

‘According to the original storyline, the Sheriff Organization might be in the final stages of kit development by now.’

It should be before Count Yoter’s side causes trouble, so the atmosphere should be quite lively.

But…

The atmosphere in front of the Sheriff Organization upon arrival was strange.

It felt like a house in mourning.