The Villain’S Daughter-In-Law Is Inherently Powerful [EN]: Chapter 47

“Grrr.”

It was then.

A moist nose nudged my hand.

Dante was staring at me, having approached sometime ago, and his expression was somehow sulky yet adorable, which made me burst into a smile.

“I guess my flower really works. I’m glad.”

I quietly reached out and stroked the bridge of Dante’s nose.

Dante’s fur was so soft that just touching his nose made me feel good.

“Grandfather, Inanna, and even Lapiren are all worried about Dante. No hurting your precious self, okay?”

Hugging the large black panther’s face tightly, I rubbed my cheek against him.

“I’m so sleepy, can I sleep for a bit?”

It seems like Father won’t be here for a while… and all I can hear outside are crickets chirping.

Maybe it’s because the tension has eased, or maybe it’s because I’ve been too stressed yesterday and today, but my body quickly became languid.

“Hey, can I lean on you?”

It’ll be so fluffy.

I looked at Dante’s fur with greedy eyes.

Dante flinched, but he didn’t push me away as I snuggled in.

“I was a little chilly, so thank you… yawn.”

Leaning against Dante’s warm and fluffy body, my vision blurred.

And after a while, I really fell asleep.

* * *

“…Something round and round.”

How much time had passed?

Dante, who had buried his nose in the flower, was able to transform into a human much earlier than expected.

Thud.

Florin, having slipped down, lay against his thigh.

Dante poked Florin’s chubby cheek.

“Eung.”

She frowned and whined as if she didn’t like it.

Afraid that Florin would wake up, Dante quickly withdrew his hand and turned his gaze to the sky outside the narrow window, clicking his tongue.

“Tch.”

Girls are difficult.

The other cadets were just female in gender, but they felt like comrades, so it wasn’t difficult… strangely, he couldn’t treat Florin like those comrades.

“Always shoving something like herself into my mouth…”

Dante hated sweets. Yet, he didn’t spit out the meringue cookie because it was just like Florin.

Small, easily broken, fragile, and sweet.

‘Strawberry shortcake…’

When he was younger. For his birthday, his mom and dad made him a strawberry shortcake.

Of course, it wasn’t as delicious as one made by a famous chef, and the shape was a mess, but since they made it themselves, Dante ate it deliciously.

And the next year, on his birthday, his mom didn’t return from the battlefield.

‘You said you’d make it again…’

Dad couldn’t bear the absence of Mom. So, he had to go to both his mom’s funeral and his dad’s funeral.

Was that when it started? When his heart became all prickly.

In fact, he knew it in his head. That the academy instructors were treating him unfairly.

But he stayed still because… of guilt.

If I had been stronger.

If I had been more of an adult.

Then I could have protected Mom.

‘Ah, I was resentful.’

For not protecting Mom. For hating himself for being still young and weak.

So, as if receiving punishment, he let someone treat him carelessly.

‘Precious self…’

Dante muttered Florin’s words and then chuckled.

“You little thing. You’re the same age as me, but you act like an adult.”

He pinched her small nose, and she frowned again. They say martens [a type of weasel] have bad tempers, and it was true.

“The sun is rising.”

His legs were numb, but Dante didn’t change his position. He was used to repeating the same posture while receiving discipline or training.

He had been Florin’s pillow all night, but he didn’t find it too difficult. It was thanks to being born with a strong constitution.

‘It’ll be dazzling.’

Dante put his hands together to shield the sunlight from touching Florin’s soft cheeks.

Mom was respectable and cool, but she was also always busy. In fact, she was closer to ‘Lady So-gaju’ [likely a title of authority or respect] than ‘Mom’….

So, Dante tried even harder to call her Mom. Calling her Mother felt too distant.

Still, thankfully, Dad was very kind, so he gave him plenty of love to fill Mom’s absence.

Having been spoiled enough by his dad since birth, Dante also knew how to give as much as he received.

‘When Mom was tired and lying on the sofa, Dad always gave her a lap pillow. And he did this so the sunlight wouldn’t touch her.’

Dante faithfully carried out what he had seen and learned.

Anyway, Florin is the designated next Duchess of Dribljane, and when he becomes the Duke….

‘We, we’ll get married.’

His neck flushed red, and Dante grumbled for no reason.

‘I have to be a good husband like Dad.’

Dante naturally thought he would become the Duke. That was arrogance with a basis.

Isn’t the academy only for geniuses who can fly and crawl? [idiom for being exceptionally talented]

But no one among his peers could beat him.

The wooden swords of his classmates were boringly slow, and even the instructor’s sword was fast, but not to the point where he couldn’t dodge it. As time passed and he grew taller and bigger like the seniors in C group, probably no one would be able to beat him.

Dante was already sure of that. Even though he had inherited his mom’s blood so strongly.

‘So, becoming Florin’s husband is naturally me.’

And Florin will become my wife….

The moment he thought of the word wife, it felt like the flower he had seen earlier was bursting into bloom in his heart.

That feeling was like a sugar confection that would break if he moved even slightly wrong… Dante carefully held it in his hands.

“Now, let’s go home. Kiddos.”

It was then.

His uncle appeared from over there. Dragging the principal, who was covered in blood and had lost his front teeth, in one hand.

He didn’t care, but it was a very bad sight for Florin to see, so Dante frowned.

“Oh ho. You already like Florin?”

“……”

I saw it in a dream. A future where I treat this child very preciously.

Dante swallowed those words.

‘Is this what they call greed?’

I don’t want to spread the word about Florin here and there. I want to be the only one who knows.

“You know, don’t you? Florin is now married to the family, not you.”

“…I know.”

“You’ll have to work hard to become her husband.”

Effort? Me?

Dante frowned at the unfamiliar word.

He knows training. Not using tricks and doing what you’re told honestly. That’s training.

But effort was… a very subjective word.

“In Dribljane, there are at least two family head candidates in every generation.”

“Could I lose?”

Dante’s voice, which had only growled for a long time and hadn’t spoken human words, was completely hoarse and made a low metallic sound.

Kiraxus, throwing the captured principal away, turned to his nephew and had to suppress his laughter at the pouty face as if he was upset.

This young nephew probably hasn’t met a worthy rival to face him.

After looking around at yesterday’s event, the only useful one was Viktor Claudin. It’s only natural since there was no one else.

A crocodile thrown into a frog’s well doesn’t know that other crocodiles exist in the world [idiom for someone arrogant due to limited experience].

Kiraxus patted his nephew’s shoulder, who looked very puzzled.

“You’re not the only son of your mother, are you?”

“…But I’m stronger.”

“Well, if you’re just talking about force… Ian has a bit more tenacity.”

“Ian?”

Dante raised his eyebrows in dissatisfaction.

‘Have they not met?’

Kiraxus pondered the past.

‘Dien Glans was eighteen when she was pregnant with Ian.’

Of course, it was before they were formally married.

In fact, Dien was already madly in love with her sister from then on, but the size of the heart wasn’t always the same.

As far as Kiraxus knew, Dien’s marriage to Dien was a political marriage out of necessity.

She broke the tradition of Dribljane and chose the one who would be most helpful to her, and that was the Glans family, famous for medicine and medical supplies.

But Dien, who was docile, demure, delicate, and often sulky at the same time, wasn’t exactly her sister’s taste.

Anyway, as he remembers, Dien Glans often acted as if Ian didn’t exist. He didn’t harass him, but he remembers ignoring him even when he saw him.

So perhaps Dien hadn’t said a word to his own blood, Dante, about Ian.

‘Ah, was sending him to the academy in the first place to keep him from running into Ian?’

I’ve never thought about it that way, but it could be.