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Adopted Daughter Role Played Too Well 006

“Did Mom give me a mission?”

Oh.

This.

The progress is a bit different.

This was originally supposed to happen days later.

Viola felt a bit flustered.

The sequence of episodes had changed.

“‘Mom gave me a mission.’”

In the original story, Bichen and Viola embark on a mission together.

It was Viola’s official first mission.

Bichen in the original work says this.

“Wouldn’t it be fun if you and I competed?”

But the current Bichen was a bit different.

“Want to play with me?”

It had subtly shifted from competition to play.

“Play?”

“It’ll be fun.”

“Are you sure?”

“It’s really fun. Super fun.”

“Who?”

“Bichen!”

Viola almost collapsed, her legs giving way.

For someone to cheerfully say her own name and smile like that—

But it was cute in a way that wasn’t contrived.

Damn it.

She must not feel cute towards Bichen.

‘He’s a guy trained for murder since birth.’

With just a thought, he could take down several adults. A very, very dangerous living weapon.

Viola steeled her mind.

One must not be deceived by appearances.

Feeling pity for the abused Bichen and her own safety were two separate matters.

“Well, it might be fun.”

The order of episodes had changed after all.

Still, Viola thought it was a good thing.

As far as other matters went, this episode was extremely, extremely important for Viola.

‘Suddenly, I’m off to kidnap the male lead.’

She was about to meet the male lead Tundra from the novel.

*

Zeno provided some explanations.

“This is your first real situation, right? Mountain bandits mostly use bows coated with weak poison and knives. In close combat, they might swing axes, but usually, they tire quickly since they rely on strength without proper technique.”

“And this is a dagger coated with a deadly poison, so please use it with caution. If you accidentally get pricked, even the princess…”

He pointed to the sky with his finger.

He smiled brightly.

It seemed he was implying she would be going to the sky.

Such talk.

Please don’t say that with such a warm smile.

Viola swallowed those words.

“I don’t need deadly poison.”

“It could be useful, though?”

“I don’t want to use poison for play.”

In truth, she refused out of fear of accidentally getting the poison on herself, but Zeno easily accepted this.

“Hmm. That makes sense.”

After wiping off the poison with a handkerchief, Zeno handed Viola the dagger while smiling brightly.

“I wish you success in your mission.”

“And you?”

“Of course, I’ll accompany you, but I can’t offer direct help. This is a mission given to the 5th Young Master, after all.”

That’s right.

The mission Bichen spoke of.

So, the ‘play’ was a task to subdue the mountain bandits causing trouble in the Beto Mountains.

It wasn’t a large group of bandits.

An eight-year-old couldn’t single-handedly take down a notorious and gigantic bandit group.

Initially, this was less of a mission and closer to Bichen’s practical training.

Zeno asked.

“Shall we get in the carriage? Or should I prepare horses?”

Viola didn’t know how to ride a horse.

Viola looked up at Zeno.

“I’d prefer it if you treated me more elegantly.”

“I’ll prepare the carriage.”

Zeno got the carriage ready.

It was a carriage drawn by a pair of black horses.

Thanks to the magic, the inside of the carriage was surprisingly comfortable and cozy.

However, Bichen seemed a bit displeased.

“I think riding is fun.”

“Then you ride.”

“Why do you call me ‘you’?”

Bichen lifted his chin high in front of Viola. He pointed a finger at her.

“Viola is seven years old.”

Then he poked at his own chest with his finger.

“Bichen is eight years old.”

His expression was full of arrogance.

He was overflowing with the confidence of a victor.

“You should call me ‘big brother’.”

“Why?”

“Because I’m eight years old, and you’re seven years old, right?”

In that moment, he looked just like an innocent child, and Viola almost smiled without meaning to.

She desperately held back her smile.

“Still, I’ve probably killed ten times more people than you. Hehe.”

The smile came naturally.

“If you dislike the carriage that much, big brother will ride a horse.”

“No way.”

“Why?”

“Riding a horse uses up stamina.”

“And?”

“Then I can’t show off my handsome side.”

Saving even a single bit of stamina was this eight-year-old’s profound resolution.

Viola’s party headed toward the Beto Mountains located south of the Winter Castle.

The Beto Mountains were a small range that branched off from the massive ‘Northern Great Mountain Range.’

Viola steeled her mind inwardly.

‘Practical training against mountain bandits; however, this is a situation extremely dangerous to me.’

True Viola might not know it, but the current one was Ah-rin.

So Viola devised a plan.

“Big brother.”

“Yeah?”

“I’ll give you the first chance.”

“Really?”

“It’s originally your play, right?”

“That’s true.”

Bichen nodded.

Although he had suggested playing together, he didn’t want to lose to his younger sister.

If possible, he wanted to show off in front of her. As a big brother.

“Just do your thing first.”

“Okay, got it.”

“Just do as much as you can. Don’t overdo it.”

“Hmm?”

“If you start to struggle a lot, then I’ll help you then.”

Viola put on an intentionally mocking expression.

It poked at Bichen’s pride.

“Hmph! That won’t happen!”

Bichen vowed.

As a big brother, he would show a very strong side.

“You just stay there. I’ll take care of everything!”

*

The twelve-year-old boy.

Tundra had treasures.

A father and a sister.

To him, his father and sister were treasures.

His father was always kind.

“Straighten your back, keep your gaze forward, right! Bullseye! Our son, you’ll become a great hunter!”

Since childhood, his frail sister always cheered for Tundra.

“Sister. I’ll definitely become a great hunter, fix your body, and make our family happy, living large!”

“I don’t need to live large. I just want you and Dad to be happy.”

During their childhood.

Tundra’s mother couldn’t withstand poverty and ran away.

The family of three relied on each other to overcome their poverty.

Starting to hunt from the age of six, Tundra’s skills improved to the point where they no longer went hungry.

“Now, are you catching even better than before? Our son, you’re amazing.”

Tundra smiled brightly.

“Dad hunts, and I hunt, double the game.”

That was nice.

“No worries about your sister’s medicine anymore.”

If time continued to flow like this.

If he became an even better hunter.

“Maybe I can get her treated at the temple.”

Tundra had dreamt like this.

He firmly believed that one day that dream would become reality.

*

Seven days ago.

Tundra’s dream shattered.

“I caught a deer! It’s a huge one!”

But there was no sign of life at home.

Something felt off and ominous.

“Dad…!”

Dad was horrifically dead.

So mutilated that it was unbearable to look at with open eyes.

Yet he clutched an axe in his right hand.

It looked like he had fought something fiercely.

“Sister!!”

Dad was dead.

Sister wasn’t in sight.

Tears streamed down his face.

It felt as though the world was crumbling.

It seemed his sister had been kidnapped.

There were marks from the axe everywhere.

There were footprints too.

Not just one or two.

At least four or five, it seemed.

He bit his lip tightly.

“Dad, I’m sorry. Truly sorry. I’ll be right back.”

He had to bury Dad, but now he couldn’t.

“I’ll find my sister first.”

He searched for traces like a madman.

For three days, he had hardly eaten anything, tracking the signs.

He entered the Beto Mountains.

Finally, he found a mountain hideout.

In the distance.

He saw a makeshift stockade and a small watchtower.

There was a mound of dirt visible.

Blood was splattered around.

“No.”

Ominous.

It couldn’t be.

Tundra unearthed the dirt with trembling hands.

After digging a bit, a pale hand appeared.

It was a human hand. It looked like a girl’s hand.

“Couldn’t be.”

He dug franticly through the dirt.

His fingernails peeled back, blood oozing out.

There lay the body of a young girl.

Even witnessing this horrifying scene, Tundra felt relieved.

“It’s not her.”

Panic surged within.

He snuck into the stockade to save his sister.

Outside the carriage, Zeno’s voice called out.

“We’ve arrived. There it is ahead, the hideout.”

Bichen flung the carriage door wide open, seeming in a rush.

Viola steadied her heart.

A terrible murder was about to take place.

‘They deserve to die.’

She had already seen it all in the novel.

Those guys had killed numerous people.

Among them was the male lead Tundra’s father and sister.

The carriage came to a stop.

It was a narrow path where entering with a carriage was tricky.

Bichen held the poisoned dagger aloft.

“Why’s the hideout so shabby?”

“It looks like it was built not long ago.”

It was no good to have a hideout where a carriage could get this close.

It meant they weren’t top-quality bandits.

Bichen walked forward.

“There’s no one in the watchtower?”

No matter how poorly built a hideout, there should be someone to keep watch.

But Bichen grinned.

“Can you smell the blood?”

While walking, he noticed something.

“A corpse.”

Bichen looked indifferently down at the corpse.

Upon seeing it, he quickly assessed the situation.

“There was a body buried here, and someone dug it up.”

“Seems so.”

Viola nearly choked.

The corpse lay right before her eyes. It was a young girl.

So small.

She couldn’t have been more than ten years old.

Viola bit her lip.

‘Why…

Why should such a tiny girl be dead like this?

No matter how fantasy this world is.

‘Why……!’

In her mind, she understood.

She knew, yet it felt like tears would spill.

Seeing it unfold in front of her eyes was far different from reading it in the novel.

They arrived at the front of the hideout.

Bichen knocked confidently.

Knock, knock.

After knocking, he called out even more confidently.

“Come out!”

However, there was likely no one in front of the hideout.

Viola knew this fact.

Viola pressed her hand against the wooden door and pushed.

Creeeak—

With that sound, the door opened.

Bichen’s eyes widened.

“The door was left open?”

Viola pointed with her finger to the ground.

“There are signs that it was just opened. Inside.”

“Hmm?”

“The door to the hideout is usually designed to pull from the outside, rather than push.”

“Why?”

“To gain at least a little time to escape.”

Yet they found signs that someone had pushed it open.

Normally, there would be marks going in the opposite direction.

“Earlier. Did you see the grave that was disturbed?”

“Yeah.”

“Someone entered before us.”

“Really?”

“Even if they’re a lousy bandit, it doesn’t make sense there’s no one in the watchtower?”

“Hmm. Makes no sense!”

It didn’t make sense.

There should be someone in the watchtower.

“It’s formed that someone skilled with a bow may have shot the guard in the watchtower and snuck in through the door.”

“Then big brother. The smell of blood you noticed could also be explained, meaning a fight has already taken place.”

Bichen’s eyes narrowed.

“This won’t do. We might get ambushed.”