I'm Secretly the Father of the Yandere Villainess's Daughter

Chapter 58: Are you deaf

Roger’s arrogance and sheer audacity expanded, swallowing whatever remnants of serenity lingered within the room. He had absolutely no intention of keeping quiet or backing down; instead, a smug, wide grin stretched across his face as he pressed on.

"And you know what else, Master Cain? I—and I alone—built the entire glory of this empire with my unparalleled contributions and brilliant theories, which were stolen and credited to someone else. Ah, how I wish I could see her just one more time; only then could I exact my revenge and humiliate her exactly as she deserves! Now, let—"

But this time, Amelia cut him off completely. Her childish voice rang out with a bizarre, razor-sharp edge that instantly caused the atmosphere in the room to stiffen.

"Are you... are you truly as knowledgeable and brilliant as you claim to be?"

Roger let out a deeply confident, booming laugh. He looked down at her with pure condescension, foolishly assuming that the slight hesitation in the little girl’s voice stemmed from sheer awe of him and his grand academic status. He didn’t suspect for a single second that those words were slipping from her lips laced with a volcanic, burning rage—one that wanted nothing more than to erupt and tear his throat out. She was suppressing it through sheer force of will, solely out of profound respect for her father’s presence.

Roger puffed out his chest proudly. "Why, of course, young Mistress! I am the absolute best in star magic within this entire universe. In fact, I have brought countless intricate questions written on these papers today just to test you and determine your level. Though, naturally, you won’t be able to solve them anyway due to their extreme complexity. My teaching philosophy always relies on the student asking me about the parts they fail to comprehend so that I may enlighten them."

Amelia was drowning in an absolute sea of fury. She could feel the muscles in her body tightening as she fought with everything she had to stop her magic from instinctively flaring out. The wretched dog standing right before her was none other than Roger Lafondue! In her past life, he had been, without a shadow of a doubt, the single worst disciple she had ever had the misfortune of teaching.

If his late father hadn’t done her a monumental, unforgettable favor before his passing, she would never have even looked at this trash, let alone allowed him into her presence back then! And today, with all the audacity in the world, he dared to show up and tell her that he would be her master and mentor.

Thoughts raced like lightning through Amelia’s sharp mind. "Of course... of course, this is a calculated, hidden test from my beloved father! The great Cain would never bring this foolish piece of trash to be my actual teacher. I must show Dad just how brilliantly talented his daughter truly is—a proud entity who has absolutely no need to be trained or educated by such lying human garbage!"

Amelia forced her childish features into a completely neutral, freezing mask. Locking her eyes onto him, she spoke calmly: "So... since you were definitely the one who drafted and formulated the questions on these papers... you must naturally know the answers to every single one of them without exception, correct?"

Roger blinked, slightly caught off guard by the question. He hadn’t expected a child her age to throw an inquiry carrying such laced, underlying cunning. In reality, he hadn’t written a single line of those questions; he had plundered them from the research notes of his late Imperial Mentor after her death. But he would obviously never admit that aloud.

He refused to let this golden opportunity slip through his fingers. Duke Cain was a golden goose whose vast wealth and sweeping influence could catapult him to a position of power far superior to a mere minister in a decaying empire that currently stood on the absolute brink of total bankruptcy and economic collapse.

Roger offered a flattering, greasy smile. "Yes, of course, I drafted every single one of those questions with utmost precision. I hold all the ideal model answers right here in my mind."

Amelia firmly extended her small hand toward him, tossing out a strict command: "Give me the papers."

Roger handed the documents over immediately, a malicious smirk playing on his lips. Amelia snapped them open, her eyes dropping directly onto the very first question: [Does the number of observed stars in the cosmos directly correlate to the volume of stellar energy flow within a mage’s spiritual core?]

An internal, venomous smile spread across Amelia’s face.

This specific question relied on incredibly advanced magical and physical sciences that she herself had observed and proven during the twilight of her reign as Empress. Such concepts were highly advanced, encrypted codes that were leagues beyond the comprehension of the inhabitants of the lower Mundane Continent. By all normal logic, no five-year-old child should have been able to decipher a single syllable of it—unless, of course, she was the previous Empress herself.

Amelia lifted her head, staring directly into his eyes with absolute, icy confidence. "Tell me, Mister... if I solve this test of yours completely... without a single mistake or a single slip of the pen... will you slap yourself hard across the face right in front of me and my father?"

Roger froze for a moment, staring in utter bewilderment at this little girl who dared to hurl such a defiant, insulting challenge right at his face! He never expected this small child to possess such a towering, arrogant pride. However, he quickly resolved to utterly crush her childish ego, forcing her to follow him and blindly submit to his teachings once he broke her haughty spirit and showed her the vast gulf between a master and an ignorant fool.

Once he brainwashed her mind, he could control her completely, using her to make her incredibly wealthy father fund him personally with gold and resources instead of bailing out the bankrupt empire.

Roger let out a mocking, dismissive laugh. "Is the young Mistress truly that boastful and overconfident in her abilities? Fine, I have absolutely no issue with this amusing little wager! But if you feel like a question has truly stumped you and locked your thoughts while solving, you are free to back down and ask me for help immediately. Hahaha."

Internally, Roger was laughing hysterically, already visualizing the expression of absolute defeat, broken tears, and despair that would cover her small face in a few moments. Everything was playing out under his absolute control. After all, it had taken him long weeks and months of grueling research just to crack the codes and solve the majority of these questions; the magical laws and equations embedded within them were still far too complex for his own mind to fully grasp even now. Because of this, he was entirely convinced—and firmly believed—that a child who hadn’t even turned six could never best a scholar who had spent his entire youth studying the secrets of star magic. He was absolutely certain.

Amelia picked up the pen with supreme calmness. Suddenly, her hand began moving across the sheets with the speed of blinding lightning.

Barely six minutes passed before the movement of her pen abruptly halted. Amelia coldly cracked her small knuckles, then pushed the papers forward, sliding the completed test right back to Roger.

Roger was completely stunned, staring in absolute disbelief as she handed over the papers so incredibly early and without a single shred of hesitation. His confidence wavered for a fraction of a second, but his deep arrogance quickly resurfaced. Assuming she had simply failed to solve it and given up early, he sneered inwardly. "Hahaha, damn it... it seems the children of nobility will always remain spoiled, fragile brats. They never have the patience for true knowledge!"

With a gloating, triumphant smile, Roger spoke up: "Hahaha... did you give up that quickly, young Mistress? I told you before that these advanced sciences—"

But Amelia cut him off with a gaze as sharp as a razor blade. She spoke in a cutting, ice-cold resonance: "You can start slapping yourself across the face right this instant, without delay... right after you verify the answers for yourself."

Meanwhile, Cain monitored the entire spectacle in absolute silence. He looked at his daughter with an amused, profoundly proud gleam in his eyes, deeply admiring the cold, commanding, and superior manner in which she dictated strict orders to someone vastly stronger, older, and larger than her without a single trace of fear.

The smirk froze instantly on Roger’s lips. With trembling hands, he began flipping through the pages, his eyes darting frantically. But Amelia gave him no time to process. She unleashed a commanding roar that shook the very foundations of the room:

"Are you deaf?!"

The weight of those two words and the terrifying resonance behind them hit Roger’s head like a devastating, destructive thunderbolt! He stood paralyzed, his eyes widening in horror as ancient memories, long etched into the deepest, darkest corners of his mind, violently exploded back to life.

This exact same lethal, piercing tone... these exact same icy eyes that seemed to tear through his very soul and body... the precise, terrifying way that majestic, dominating woman—the previous Star Empress—used to glare at him whenever he blundered or grew lazy in the past!

{Are you deaf?!}

That exact question and that precise tone were like a brand, a permanent scar seared into his mind and soul with a red-hot iron. Now, completely unconsciously, under the crippling weight of the sheer psychological trauma triggered by that voice, a state of blind obedience and instinctual submission seized his entire body. His hands began to violently shake as he stared down at the paper in absolute, unadulterated horror!