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

Chapter 60: He truly sees her shadow

"Th... This is truly..."

He thought in his mind... how in hell could he, a Noble-level mage from the Celestial Continent—that luxurious land whose lords look with contempt and disdain at the Sons of Adam—be crushed and have his pride dismantled in this shameful manner? And this was not at the hands of the strongest star mages in the lower continent, but at the hands of a child who had not exceeded her fifth year!

His subconscious refused to believe this bitter reality, and he thought there was some mistake, an incomprehensible conspiracy, but he did not dare utter his doubts. How could he turn toward that cold mountain sitting there, Cain, and tell him that he does not believe this is his child, or that she is a terrifying entity hiding in the body of a five-year-old girl?

And because Roger is a man who lives on appearances of power and fears the collapse of his pride, he decided to maneuver with a cheap tactic; he remembered that children tend to lean toward those who praise them, and if he praised her intelligence now, she would surely forget about that cursed wager. He truly, at any cost, does not want to slap himself and insult his dignity before the Supreme Leader!

He tried to draw a deformed, friendly smile and said in a tone full of flattery: "The young Mistress is truly intelligent... you possess a brilliance and sharpness beyond description, and I predict for you a brilliant and great future in the world of magic..."

But the features of Amelia’s face did not shake, and no signs of childhood or shyness appeared on her; rather, her silver eyes continued to trap him with icy steadiness: "Slap yourself."

Her tone was not merely a suggestion or a reminder of the wager; rather, it was a decisive royal order that accepted no debate. She looked exactly like an emperor sitting upon his ivory throne.

Roger swallowed his saliva again, and tried to laugh forcedly to spread an air of joking.

"Heh... the young Mistress is surely generous and noble... what will the little Mistress benefit from an awkward act like me slapping myself?"

As for Cain, who was sitting leaning back and watching this exciting show in silence, he was feeling a strange tremor in his internal emotions. A deep curiosity took hold of him, and he began to wonder in secret whether Lucy possessed these same miraculous abilities and dominating gazes when she was at such a young age.

Seeing his daughter’s proud posture, and her gaze that almost pierces the soul and forces fierce men to tremble, Cain felt that possessing a daughter with this level of genius is a terrifying and amazing thing at the same time! But pride dominated all his emotions; his daughter is truly intelligent, rather a unique genius.

Cain remembered his own childhood... when he was at the age of five, instead of solving magical physical dilemmas or dismantling complex moral questions, he was busy crying and screaming over broken toys or any other trivial thing that concerns ordinary children.

But this form of miraculous intelligence that Amelia shows now simply falls under the category of miracles. Does he have the right as a father to ask for anything better than this?

Cain’s mind drifted a little into the future, and he thought with an amused cunning: "If Lucy gives birth to another child from me in the future... what is the chance, I wonder, that we give birth to another entity with this same terrifying level of Amelia’s?"

As for Amelia, who was listening to Roger’s nonsense and his cowardly evasion, she sighed with boredom, and raised her eyebrows slightly while the corner of her lips twisted into a lethal, mocking smile, and she said in a low voice but it rang through the halls like a clap of thunder: "Speak with politeness and respect... you are in the presence of the Empress."

These words specifically were like a violent electric shock that struck Roger’s mind, making every cell in his body shake and tremble violently! Gates of things he does not want to remember opened in his mind as he remembered the phantom of that majestic woman in his past memories.

Every time Roger stood before the mirror in his house, trying to convince himself that she had departed and died forever, and that those nightmares and phantoms that haunt him in his sleep are mere weak illusions... every time he tried to convince himself that he had become a powerful and feared minister and she had become just a tale from the past... he failed. She was always to him like the high, proud mountain that no one could bring down by confrontation, but by betrayal only.

Roger had always tried to understand the reason his body trembled at the mere thought of her name... and now, after looking deep into the eyes of this child, he realized the horrifying truth that his senses reject. He saw in Amelia’s eyes something he had not seen in his entire life except in the eyes of his late mistress: absolute contempt, and a gaze of cosmic superiority that he knows well!

Roger realized, at the deepest point of his consciousness, that he had become a surrendered follower and slave in his mind to this woman before anything else, and that no matter how hard he tried in his life to prove that he is the best, he will never be able to come out of her shadow.

And in a strange way, disobeying the orders of his mind and body... his trembling hand moved automatically, and...

"Smack!"

He slapped himself on his face with a force that made his cheek turn red immediately!

But when he raised his eyes, filled with horror and weeping, to look into her eyes once more, he understood... Amelia’s gaze did not change a single bit, it was still the same cold gaze that demanded more from him. Fear completely possessed his mind, and he began to ask in despair and burning grief: "When will she be satisfied? When will this curse disappear from my thoughts? When will this psychological torment end, which is summarized in the shadow of a terrifying woman shaping and moving behind the body of a five-year-old child?!"

"Smack!" .. another slap. "Smack!" .. a third slap. "Smack!" ..

Those successive slaps that Roger rained down upon his face were like a magical key that reopened the basement of the black past in his mind... he remembered the last days of that great empire, and he remembered precisely that ill-fated day and what happened with him when he was dragged into the despicable conspiracy...

Bammmm

A blow... a violent and sudden punch directed straight at Roger’s face with a swift and immense speed, something his naked eye could not notice or track until after the punch settled in his jaw, sending him flying in the air for several meters before colliding with a solid concrete wall with force!

His body hit the wall and he fell to the ground breathing with difficulty, and he raised his tearful eyes to look in horror at the huge man who had just struck him, who was standing over his head with evil, arrogant features.

The man said as he dusted his hand with contempt: "Hah? Are you really telling me with all cowardice that you do not wish to participate in our plan and what we will do to the empire because you are just afraid? How foolish and extremely stupid you are, Roger, to think that that woman is still with her previous strength and dominance! She is weakening day after day by the effect of the poison!"

Roger at that time was trembling, and his face had completely swollen from the effect of the punch, and red blood was flowing profusely from his nose, and he tried to stammer and speak with difficulty: "You... you do not understand... you will all be destroyed... I cannot betray... I cannot..."

The man let out an evil, hysterical laugh: "Hahaha... Roger, what a fool you are! Your hands are stained with corruption with us from the beginning... if you do not cooperate and execute your role, we will personally make sure, after we finish our plan and seize the throne, to tell the entire world that you were a partner to that evil tyrant until the end... and then you will not find a place to absorb your filth, and you will be an outcast and hated by everyone!"

Roger in those moments realized with certainty that these traitors were intending to turn him into a mere sack of meat, or a scapegoat they sacrifice before the people if their vile and despicable plan to bring down the Empress failed.

Roger was always and forever a cowardly man, living in the shadows and feeding on the scraps of others... and even when he tried for once in his life to gather his courage and do the right thing by refusing the betrayal, it seems he failed in the end in this test, and fell into the swamp of treachery out of fear for his wretched life.

And now... he was standing in Cain’s reception lounge, slapping himself with a muffled weep.