After coming to love the child, Gillen began to feel a strange emotion for the first time in his life. He always felt a pang in his heart for Cecilia. Why did she seem so pitiful and adorable? Why did he want so badly to protect and help her? Was this what they called paternal love? But he'd never even dated before—was it normal for him to feel paternal love?
Maybe it was because he wanted to pour onto Cecilia all the love he had never received from his own parents, who had treated him like a burden. Or maybe it was simply because she was such a cute and beautiful child.
Regardless of his confusion, he had already reached the point where just seeing Cecilia smile made him tear up, and even when he was looking at her, he still wanted to see her more. So whenever the child grew uneasy because of her old memories, he would pretend not to notice and encourage her, while secretly using the information from the original story to help her behind the scenes.
And so twenty years passed like that. Gillen became Cecilia's dependable father and closest friend, and Cecilia became Gillen's daughter and treasure. Her daughter, whom he wouldn't mind putting in his very eye—Cecilia had already become that kind of existence to him. And that Cecilia had recently started a budding romance—with none other than the male lead of the original story, Hexion Moore.
Honestly, male lead or not, in Gillen's eyes Cecilia was far too precious. He wished she wouldn't bother with dating or marriage at all, and would just live by her father's side forever…
But Hexion Moore was the crown prince of the empire, fairly good-looking, and had a personality that was passable enough. Cecilia was now an adult, and the flow of this romance-fantasy world had already moved past the "#childcare story" stage, through the "#revenge story" stage, and was heading toward "#romantic comedy." If she had to end up with someone, the male lead was the lesser evil.
As befitting the heroine of "Adorable Lady Cecilia", many "second male leads" had hovered around her—The Crazy Slave, The Crazy High Priest, The Crazy Marquis…
Yes, all the second male leads were completely unhinged. The slave was a lunatic whose only thought was to imprison Cecilia. The high priest was a budding traitor who dreamed of founding a Holy Empire and becoming pope. And the marquis was a pathological narcissist drunk on his own perfection—practically a main villain in his own right.
For reference, Gillen had long ago rescued the slave in Cecilia's place and granted him freedom. When the slave pledged to obey his every command, Gillen sent him abroad, cutting off any possibility of meeting Cecilia.
The high priest was more difficult to get rid of with Gillen's power alone. So instead, he simply forbade Cecilia from going anywhere near the temple, occasionally badmouthing the gods and the temple to plant a negative impression. Thanks to that, Cecilia grew up into a skeptic who knew all about the temple's corruption.
The real problem was the marquis. Marquis Ewan Hampton hadn't been born a noble. He had lived in the closed-off Magic Tower since childhood, so there was no way to meet him in advance. Gillen had wanted to prevent Cecilia from ever meeting him, but in the original story, the man was involved in a task that Cecilia absolutely had to complete. That meant Gillen couldn't arbitrarily interfere.
Gillen's first opportunity to meet Ewan came only after the man earned enormous military merit in the war and was granted a marquisate. In the original, as soon as the former commoner magician became a marquis, he went straight to his first love, Cecilia, and proposed.
His crimes were many and varied—proposing out of the blue and having newspapers publish articles announcing they were to be wed,
kidnapping and imprisoning Cecilia with magic, forcing her into a pheromone shower, even attempting to assassinate the crown prince, and so on.
Of course, it was all futile—the male lead was always going to be Hexion in the end. Even after enduring all those ordeals, Cecilia would still marry Hexion.
But what parent doesn't want to pave a smooth highway of flowers and jewels before their child? Knowing from the original story that Ewan would cause the Cecilia–Hexion couple to weather many crises, Gillen wanted to remove Ewan in advance.
Having returned to school only to suffer a stroke of bad luck and end up a widower with a child, Gillen—still a "mental virgin"—harboured the small hope that once Cecilia married, he might meet an omega woman of the right age and temperament, and enjoy a sweet romance of his own. Because once Cecilia left him for marriage, he had no idea how he'd survive alone in this world.
In short, for both his and Cecilia's happy future, he had to deal with Ewan himself.
"My word… just look at these pebbles!"
And that was how Gillen ended up spending a dreadful, entire month alone with Ewan.
"The colour, the shape, the hardness—so full of the late duke's love! Isn't it moving?"
"…Yes, I suppose so. But, excuse me, could I use the restroom—"
"Restroom? How convenient—I was just thinking of going myself. Let's go together."
"Sigh, never mind. I don't really feel like it now. Please, go ahead."
"Actually, I don't feel like it either. I lied because I didn't want to be apart from you."
Gillen smiled and picked up another pebble. Fortunately, this garden was full of unusually shaped stones, making it easy to invent conversation topics.
Ewan's expression visibly soured. He was probably thinking something like How do I shake off this leech of a man?—but there was no chance.
Gillen had no intention of lowering his guard until the day Cecilia walked down the aisle with Hexion. That was how dangerous Ewan was. At that moment, Ewan set his teacup down with a loud clink and let out a long sigh.
"Let's stop this, Your Grace."
It seemed he'd finally snapped, unable to endure Gillen's harassment any longer. To be fair, a month was a long time to hold out. Gillen, well aware of Ewan's eccentricity, had thought himself ready for anything the man might do. But Gillen had overlooked one thing—Ewan's personality wasn't just strange. It was very strange.
"Honestly, as Cecilia's father, I didn't want to say this, but…"
Ewan was truly, completely, unbelievably odd.
"I have no feelings for you, Duke Blake."
"…?"
"I understand the desire to speak even a word to a young, handsome alpha like me," Ewan said, sweeping back his shimmering long hair, "but don't you think this is honestly going way too far?"
"W-what?"
"Please give up on me. I'm sorry, but my exquisite body will never be tasted by you while you're alive. And certainly not after, either."
"Pardon…?"
"If you're uncomfortable being rejected, I can come again later."
With that, Ewan dabbed at the corner of his mouth with a napkin and rose from his seat. Gillen sat there, mouth agape, frozen in place until Ewan left the garden. A moment later, Brian the butler, entered the butterfly garden.
"Your Grace, Marquis Hampton just left your estate—Your Grace? Why are you sitting like that? Are you feeling unwell?"
Gillen turned his head slowly toward Brian with a twitching smile.
"Brian, just now…"
"Yes?"
"I… got dumped."
"Excuse me?"
"I… was dumped by Ewan Hampton."
Brian narrowed his wrinkled eyes. His lord was an unusually easygoing grand noble with a hearty and kind personality who treated his servants without formality, but that didn't mean he made things up. Brian therefore asked cautiously:
"Did you confess to the Marquis, perhaps?"
"Confess?"
All Gillen had said was that he didn't want to go to the restroom. How on earth did Brian interpret that as a confession?
"I didn't confess… Why would I? To an alpha who's twenty years younger than me?"
Gillen rolled his eyes and scolded Brian. Brian cleared his throat and bowed.
"Please forgive this old man. Your words were so beyond my understanding that I risked offending you by asking."
Gillen pressed one hand to his forehead and waved the other to help Brian up.
"I'm the same. By all logic… no matter how crazy someone is… Is this just because I'm old? Are young people these days using 'I don't want to go to the restroom' as a way of confessing love?"
"Well… perhaps you should ask Lady Cecilia rather than a sixty-something old man," Brian said with a wink, gesturing toward the garden entrance.
"Dad!"
A nightingale-like voice echoed through the garden. Soon after, with light, pattering footsteps, a fairy-like young lady came running. Gillen, who had been staring blankly with his mouth open, smiled knowingly as if nothing had happened and stood up. When he spread his arms wide, the beauty in a pale blue dress immediately slipped into his embrace.
"Oh my! You're heavy."
"Hey, Dad! Then put me down!"
"No way."
Gillen teased her mischievously and spun around holding Cecilia. Clear, bright laughter burst from her lips right next to his ear.
"Duke Blake."
A young man's voice, tinged with a smile, came from ahead. Only then did Gillen realize Cecilia hadn't come alone. Carefully setting her down, he greeted the young man.
"I have the honour of meeting His Imperial Highness, the Star of the Empire, the Crown Prince."
"The bond between father and daughter is truly deep, as always."
The young man with honey-blonde hair and a warm smile was Hexion Moore, crown prince of the Moore Empire and Cecilia's friend. He was also her future husband, though at this point in the world, only Gillen knew this.
"Who was here earlier?"
Cecilia asked, looking at the two cups on the garden table.
"Oh, just some peddler. Nothing to worry about."
Gillen waved his hand dismissively.
"Oh? Does the Duke serve tea to peddlers too?"
Hexion asked in surprise.
"Hahaha… well, yes."
Just brush it off.
Gillen secretly gave a sharp look over his shoulder to Brian, his future son-in-law being clueless. Unlike Hexion, Brian quickly caught the hint and started clearing away the tea cups and dessert plates.
"I'll bring fresh tea."
"All right, all right. Sit here, Cecil. Your Highness, please sit too."
At Gillen's invitation, Cecilia and Hexion gladly took their seats. As Brian brought out fresh refreshments, and everyone laughed heartily at Cecilia's charming wit, Gillen completely forgot the earlier incident.