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When Leticia finished preparing and came down to the drawing room, an unwelcome face was waiting for her.
"Leticia!"
He seemed to have completely forgotten about the anger he'd shown the last time they met, his face full of delight.
'Of course, he would be.'
The rope he'd hitched onto, Peidan, had broken, so he had to grab onto her rope before he fell.
It was so like him.
"I thought you wouldn't dare show your face in the capital for a while after being branded a fraud."
"F-Fraud! That's...!"
Baron Cloel flared up, trying to retort, but Leticia cut him off.
"So, what brings you here this time?"
"What brings me? Does a father need a reason to see his daughter?"
"If there's no reason, then I have no reason to see my father. As you know, I haven't fully recovered yet."
Leticia subtly jabbed at her father, who had no interest in his daughter's well-being and had only come to satisfy his own selfish desires, and rose from her seat.
Baron Cloel visibly panicked.
Of course.
The Leticia he knew was a kind daughter who couldn't ignore him, even though she hated him.
Normally, he would have flown into a rage and tried to take control in this situation, but not today.
He had already learned from the previous experience that his scolding and anger didn't work on Leticia.
He changed his strategy this time.
"Oh, I came all the way here for you today, Leticia."
Baron Cloel hurriedly grabbed Leticia.
"I can't forgive the Duke for putting you in danger either. So I was looking for anything that might help..."
Before Leticia could turn away again, Baron Cloel hurriedly pulled out a document and handed it to her.
"It's Boutique Blanc's next season's plan."
Leticia glanced at the proposal.
It didn't seem to be a poorly fabricated fake.
"...Where did you get this?"
"I went to the Duke to take responsibility for the fabric problem and find a solution, but then I heard that he did that to you."
As soon as Leticia showed interest, the Baron launched into a plausible story as if he had been waiting for it.
Of course, the claim that he had tried to take responsibility for the fabric problem first was a lie.
"The Duke ran away, and the mansion was in chaos, so I just slipped it out in the confusion. How dare he try to do that to you...? Isn't it outrageous?"
"So, you're trying to sell this to me?"
The Baron waved his hand, pretending to be startled.
"Hey, sell it! My daughter went through something like that, and since there's nothing else I can do, I'm just helping you out with something like this."
He subtly pushed the proposal towards Leticia.
"Anyway, he's already ruined, so how about you completely dominate the market with this idea next season?"
But contrary to his expectations, Leticia was indifferent.
No, rather...
She looked upset. Very much so.
"It seems like Mariposa still looks like a joke in my father's eyes."
"Huh...?"
"To the point where I can't survive in the market unless I steal shabby ideas from competitors?"
Then the Baron jumped up.
"No! That's not it. I just wanted to get revenge on that guy who's been bothering you like this..."
"Now?"
Leticia scoffed.
"When my mother and I begged you to come back home, you ignored us and played around with other women..."
When I was kicked out of the Duke's mansion in my past life and went to see him, he kicked me out so cruelly even in the cold winter.
"Now you're going to play the role of a father?"
"Leticia!"
"What a pity. I don't need a father anymore."
"Family isn't just a relationship based on need! Are you judging family only by materialistic values now that you've made some money?"
Hearing those words, Leticia widened her eyes in surprise and then burst out laughing.
"You're the one who taught me that standard, Father. Have you forgotten?"
"What?"
"You're useless, a parasite who only eats, I'll kick you out if you don't listen..."
Baron Cloel, who had been raising his voice, paused at Leticia's following words.
"W-When did I say such things...!"
It was the reaction she expected.
The perpetrators always forget the wounds they inflict and live comfortably.
Leticia continued calmly.
"With those words, you became the person who gave me food, the landlord."
"......"
"But now I don't need someone to give me food or a landlord anymore, Father."
"......"
"Of course, I don't need leeches who smell money and cling to me even more."
At the insulting words referring to him, Baron Cloel's face turned red.
"How dare you say such things to your father...!"
He raised his right hand so naturally that he didn't even realize it.
But at that moment.
"I was wrong, Father. I won't do it again..."
He saw Leticia looking up at him with tears in her eyes, pleading with him.
But that image quickly disappeared, and only the grown-up Leticia remained in its place.
His daughter, who had grown up so quickly, was staring straight at him, as if daring him to try, instead of being afraid of him.
Baron Cloel's hand trembled as he met her gaze.
Was this hesitation out of guilt?
Or...
As if reading his mind, Leticia asked.
"Why? Are you starting to get scared of me?"
...Was it fear of realizing the reversed power dynamic?
"Don't hesitate now, Father."
Leticia continued, wearing a cold sneer.
"Just like you can't turn back the past."
"......"
"I will never forgive you in my life."
In those blue eyes that resembled his, resentment, hatred, pain...
All kinds of terrible emotions flickered.
Only after seeing those eyes did Baron Cloel realize.
That there was no way to win Leticia's heart.
Baron Cloel slumped down on the sofa.
Leticia, seeing him lose his vigor, began to speak.
"There's only one last thing I can do for you, Father. I advise you to take all the responsibility for the fabric incident and confess."
"Are you now going to put your poor father, who was scammed, in jail?"
"I'm not putting you in, you're choosing it. Either pay back the money from the fabric, or go to jail."
"If you put me in jail, won't your reputation be ruined?"
Leticia paused at those words.
At one time, she had covered up his mistakes because she thought that her father's flaws would become her own.
But...
"Your father's flaws are not your flaws."
"......"
"So, you don't have to be ashamed."
Leticia suddenly remembered what Idris had said one day and chuckled.
"My father can't be my flaw."
Baron Cloel, realizing that threats no longer worked, got up from his seat.
"Ha! Confession, nonsense. I'm the one who was scammed."
He headed towards the door, as if he had nothing more to say, passing by Leticia.
And the moment he opened the door to the drawing room.
Grown men rushed in.
"W-What is this?"
Their uniforms had emblems symbolizing the imperial family.
"Jade Cloel, in accordance with the laws of the Empire, we are arresting you on charges of defrauding good citizens. The criminal must obey the imperial order."
Baron Cloel's complexion turned pale as he faced the Imperial Knights.
Before he could do anything, the knights who had approached him grabbed one of his arms each.
"You can't let go of this! I am a good citizen!"
Leticia ignored the sight and picked up the teacup in front of her.
"...The tea has gone cold."
While drinking the cold tea, the voice of Baron Cloel shouting at the top of his lungs gradually faded away.
Only after the noise had completely disappeared did Leticia put down the teacup.
Perhaps Baron Cloel would be able to get out of it relatively easily.
If he only paid back the value of the fabric.
'But he won't be able to find me again.'
He would know that his daughter had completely abandoned him because of this incident.
That neither persuasion nor threats would work.
And that the father-daughter relationship established with money and value had now been completely reversed.
Of course, this was only possible if he could obtain the value of the fabric to pay back.
Anyway, she had removed one of the obstacles in her life with this.
'Now all that's left...'
Leticia vigorously rang the call bell on the table.
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