Surviving as the Adopted Daughter of the Genius Duke (Completed Main Story) - Chapter 2
“Yes.”
At Kirian’s long-awaited response, the breath I’d been holding burst out unconsciously.
“Our son is so impressive.”
When the woman smiled warmly, Kirian stared at me intensely instead of her and spoke again.
“Mother, may I show her around the house?”
The woman nodded with a smile.
“Go ahead. You two already seem close, it’s nice to see.”
“Sister, let’s go. I’ll show you your room.”
Kirian, grabbing my hand with his chubby little fingers, pulled my arm and started climbing the stairs.
His determined way of climbing the stairs, with his waddling back, made me want to give his little bottom a playful pat.
The moment I lost control and raised my hand, a loud crash.
“Be careful on the third step from the top. It’s a fake step made to catch intruders.”
By the time I heard the belated explanation, I had already tumbled down about five steps.
But despite the crashing noise, Kirian didn’t look back, so I hurriedly quickened my pace to follow him.
“This is your room!”
Entering a room larger than the house I lived in during my past life, I instinctively stuck close to Kirian, afraid of getting lost.
Kirian eagerly led me around, pointing at things with his short fingers and explaining.
“This is a 100-year-old tapestry!”
Whoosh.
When Kirian pulled the cord to unfurl the tapestry, I was hit with a full blast of 100-year-old dust.
Coughing erupted, and my eyes stung, but not wanting to embarrass the kid, I pretended to be fine and admired the tapestry through blurry eyes.
As soon as I went to the bathroom attached to the room, I searched for water to wash my face. The moment I saw the mirror by the faucet, it was clear I wasn’t adopted for any deadly cuteness.
“Every bathroom has magic, so water gushes out when you open the faucet.”
Splash, splash. I experienced the miracle of washing my face without touching anything.
“Hmm? Why are you standing under the faucet?”
After roughly wringing the water from my clothes, I left the bathroom and headed straight for the fireplace on one side of the wall.
Kirian followed me with his short legs, toddling along.
“The fireplace lights up if you press this.”
Crackle. In an instant, the smell of burning wet rags filled the air.
“Cough, cough.”
As I coughed, Kirian turned around with an innocent face.
“Sister, what’s wrong?”
“Are you doing this on purpose?”
I tried to rationalize it as a childish accident the first time, but as it happened a second and third time, doubts slowly began to creep in.
Kirian tilted his head and blinked his eyes.
“What do you mean?”
“This.”
I pointed to my hair, one side singed and ruined, the other still dripping with water.
Kirian’s expression, blinking his big eyes, was so innocent that for a moment I thought I’d misjudged.
“So?”
“Huh?”
For a moment, I doubted my ears.
“So what?”
“What do you mean, what! You shouldn’t torment people!”
“Are you going to tell my parents?”
Kirian was smiling as he asked, but somehow his eyes had a chilling glint.
“Yeah. If you keep tormenting me, I’ll tell!”
Kirian smiled brightly.
“You must be mistaken. If we fall out, the one who’ll be chased out isn’t me—it’s you.”
A shiver ran down my spine at the dangerous glint in Kirian’s eyes, despite his childish speech, so intense it overshadowed his short tongue.
He wasn’t wrong, which made me even more anxious.
Wasn’t my adoption based on nothing more than my mother’s old affection, not some fatal charm?
But being kicked out and sold to an orphanage was something I’d die before letting happen.
“Do you hate me?”
“Yeah.”
“Why?!”
“Well.”
Kirian smiled brightly again.
His curly silver hair glinting in the sunlight, his big eyes sparkling like red jewels under long lashes, his pert little nose, and his plump cheeks—if I didn’t know his true nature, he could’ve passed for an angelic baby.
“Think about it carefully.”
With that, the mansion tour seemed to be over, as Kirian left me in the hallway and disappeared.
“Ha, haha.”
A hollow laugh escaped me.
“What am I supposed to think about?”
We just met today—why would he hate me?
Dumbfounded, I grumbled at a portrait hanging on the wall.
“Do something about your descendant.”
Looking closely at the portraits, they all had silver hair and red eyes.
Beneath each portrait were inscriptions in unfamiliar characters.
Even though it wasn’t Korean, I could read it fluently, so I must know the script of this place.
“The 35th Duke Istira.”
The family name Kirian mentioned, which I hadn’t caught clearly, felt oddly familiar when I saw it written.
Istira. The Istira Ducal Family.
Kirian Istira.
A strange sense of déjà vu made me roll the name around in my head a few more times.
“Ugh!”
It suddenly hit me.
Kirian Istira!
The strongest character and male protagonist in the novel I read in my past life.
As typical of novels, Kirian had everything except a decent personality and was the kind of sociopath who’d need counseling in reality.
Of course, in the novel, he reforms after meeting a spirited heroine who, despite having nothing, is armed with a strong sense of justice.
Come to think of it, I vaguely recalled something about Kirian’s commoner-born older sister.
A vain woman who, despite not being a legitimate duchess, acted high and mighty as if she owned the ducal estate. She probably tormented the heroine as her sister-in-law and got swiftly dealt with by Kirian.
A chill ran through me.
Already hated by him, I rubbed the back of my neck, feeling a creeping unease.
“Why does he hate me?”
What was once a mildly uneasy question became desperate.
In a flash, I remembered how I’d pinched Kirian’s cheeks and called him cute in the past.
For someone as prideful as Kirian, being fussed over by a complete stranger just two years older wouldn’t have been pleasant.
And Kirian was the type to hold grudges over even the smallest slights.
“Ugh, what do I do?”
I clutched my throbbing head.
Having already been marked, winning over the heart of the future strongest being would be no easy task.
* * *
Crouching in the bushes, I closely observed my target. No matter how much the grass tickled my calves, I didn’t move and kept watching my goal.
On the fifth day of keeping a journal to win Kirian’s favor, sadly, I still hadn’t made any progress.
From a few days of observation, Kirian led a rather monotonous life.
He attended lessons, read books, or trained.
And now, he was training in archery at the ducal estate’s training grounds. Not ordinary archery, but training to hit the target while facing backward.
No matter how many times I watched, I couldn’t grasp the technique, but he shot arrows at the target behind him quickly and accurately.
The thought that I’d become that target if I didn’t mend our relationship soon made my body tremble instinctively.
“Sister.”
“Eek!”
Seeing Kirian suddenly appear in front of me, I fell back on my rear.
“Why are you here?”
“Uh, uh.”
I quickly scanned the surroundings and started picking grass.
“I was, uh, looking for a four-leaf clover. To, uh, give it to you!”
“I know you’ve been following me.”
Seeing Kirian’s chubby cheeks wobble as he spoke in his childish voice, the urge to pinch them surged again, but I held it back.
This kid isn’t cute—he’s a future human weapon, a weapon. I pinched my thigh, repeating it to myself.
“I did it because I want to be friends with you!”
Kirian coldly turned away.
“No need. I don’t want to be friends with you, Sister.”
But I couldn’t give up like this.
I leapt out of the bushes and ran toward the target.
From what I’d seen, Kirian always trained alone.
I might not be a training partner, but I could at least help with small tasks, right?
“I’ll pull the arrows for you!”
I started yanking arrows from the target, which looked like a hedgehog.
The arrows were so deeply embedded that even gripping them with both hands and pulling with my whole body wouldn’t budge them.
Whoosh.
At that moment, the air by my ear split.
An arrow, newly lodged in the target right by my face, was quivering.
“Gasp!”
I whipped my head toward Kirian, who was still facing backward, practicing archery.
Thwack!
Another arrow struck just above my head.
By the time it fully sank in that he was shooting without looking at my position, a neat circle of arrows had formed around my head like a crown.
I collapsed to the ground.
Trying to get close to avoid dying was only hastening my doom.
“No more arrows.”
Kirian glanced at me, seeming to send silent pressure.
“Oh, right! I’ll get them right away.”
Grabbing the arrows that came loose, I hurriedly ran over.
Instead of being a human target, I was promoted to placing arrows in Kirian’s hand whenever he reached out.
“Wow, that’s so cool.”
Honestly, rather than cool, the sight of him sticking out his chubby belly and pulling the bowstring with short arms made me want to pat his tummy, but I clapped with all my soul in my voice.
My years of practiced flattery from grad school shone brightly here.
“Cool?”
“It’s really cool! I mean, awesome!”
“Hmph.”
But perhaps my praise was satisfactory, as he glanced at me once while holding out his hand again.
Tasting success once made me bolder.
“You’re so gallant! I mean, impressive.”
“Guess I am.”
Kirian nodded solemnly.
“You’d make Robin Hood cry!”
“Who’s Robin Hood?”
“The world’s greatest archer and a hero who steals from the rich to give to the poor.”
Kirian shook his head firmly.
“No. Not the best archer.”
“Of course! Our Kirian is the best archer!”
Kirian looked at me with pity, as if I were utterly dim-witted.
“The best archer is my father.”
“Oh! I meant that Kirian is, like, destined to claim the title of future greatest archer, or something like that.”
I rubbed my hands together, passionately explaining. I must’ve looked like a sycophant next to a tyrant.
But then again, being a sycophant wasn’t so bad. At least sycophants survive until the end, right?
“Right.”
Kirian nodded solemnly again.
“But, Sister, why are you using formal speech?”
“Haha, when did I— I mean, I didn’t… I must’ve been so awed by your coolness that I slipped.”
“Sister, you’re weird.”
Seeing Kirian look at me with pity again, a wave of self-loathing hit me.
“Yeah, okay. I won’t do it.”
I looked around for something to please Kirian. Spotting the last arrow in my hand, I puffed on it and polished it with my sleeve.
“Instead, I’ll help out diligently! I’m really good at assisting.”
“Sister, you’re definitely weird.”
Shaking his head, Kirian finally tossed his bow aside and turned toward the mansion.
“No, wait! Kirian! Let’s go together.”
“No way.”
“I won’t use formal speech!”
I hurriedly followed Kirian, but when he glared back at me, I froze in a salute-like stance.
Unable to keep up, I mustered all my courage and waved.
“Let me know if you need me to run any errands!”
Watching his chubby figure quickly disappear into the mansion, I felt devastated, thinking my strategy had failed.
But a few days later, it turned out my strategy wasn’t a failure after all.
I had, unbelievably, discovered Kirian’s weakness.
Male lead is reincarnated to save his wife
I’ve also read this one twice already. The female lead is kinda soft and gets embarrassed easily—not really my type, but the plot is definitely worth reading. Hurry up and read it, y’all!
Intro
When Shen Yuan encountered Su Jin again in his previous life, she had already become the Prime Minister of the current dynasty. As for him, the former top young master of the capital, he had long since fallen into the abyss, becoming a singer on a pleasure boat.
After a song ended, he was redeemed and sent to the Su Residence.
Su Jin respected and cherished him, gave him a roof over his head, and bestowed him with warmth. Shen Yuan fell deeper and deeper, but before he could express his feelings, Su Jin passed away.
Shen Yuan died to follow her in death, but instead, he returned to when he was fifteen years old.
At that time, he was not yet engaged, and Su Jin was just a poor scholar.
Shen Yuan gritted his teeth, casting aside all his pride, and thought of ways to coax and entice her every day.
The colder and more indifferent Su Jin was towards him, the more proactive Shen Yuan became.
He was not afraid of being mocked by the world, only wanting to marry his Wife-master early, to hold her hand and never let go for a lifetime.
[Note: This story will not specifically point out the male lead’s reincarnation time point; it’s all in the details. Whenever you feel that the male lead is acting strangely, he has most likely been reincarnated.]
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BWAHAHAHAH if only we all had a buff in life 🫡🫡it should be tha easy 😩