Becoming the Villain’s Family - Chapter 5
‘I’m saved….’ Aria thought, grasping her beating heart.
Not far away, Count Cortez had fainted with foam in his mouth.
“Are you insane? What are you guys doing?” he snarled, scowling at the beasts’ absurd acts.
The beasts immediately hid behind Aria’s back.
“Ha, how amusing,” he leered.
The man approached Aria.
Aria stared at his feet, which left bloody footprints onto the overused dirt path.
His steps grew closer to her every second, and once he stopped, Aria lifted her head towards his.
The man was tall.
‘Too tall…’
“Who the hell are you?” he glowered.
Initially, his eyes resembled a dead fish’s; empty and dull. His facial muscles were just as loose. There was no anger, no sadness, no joy nor resentment. He simply seemed… bored.1
But now, his eyes expressed sentiment.
Instantly, emotions flashed through his elaborate marble-like eyes, brimming with astonishment.
He stared at her, wondering how someone so dainty could tame his hounds so easily.
He was clearly interested in her.
“You’re wearing a strange mask.”
He thoughtfully gazed at the large mask covering her face.
The mask was a relic left by Aria’s mother.
“My hounds respond instinctively to strong magic. These dogs obey me because no one else could oppose my power.”
“…….”
“Could you be stronger than me?”
Impossible.
The man was overwhelmingly powerful.
He was far stronger than her.
No matter how talented Aria is, she was nothing but a mere ten year old who had never been trained.
“You look weak.”
“……”
“Like an insect.”
The man observed Aria from top to bottom.
‘Sirens are the friends of animals.’
Being able to interact with them was one of their unique quirks.
‘To think that this ability could save me from the monsters of the Ingo Mountains.’
Aria glimpsed at the beasts. They had transformed from ferocious-looking wolves to gentle sheeps.
They licked her mask, acting vulnerable and cute, making it hard for Aria to come to her senses.
Her mask was now dripping with saliva.
Truthfully, Aria had never used her ability to communicate with animals.
This was because she had never encountered them.
As Aria stared at the mug, the man wearing a black cloak finally opened his mouth.
“I need to go to the hunting grounds,” he said while casually leaning against the wall.
“Right now?” the butler questioned.
“I need to feed the hounds before the mountain animals eat all their prey.”
Count Cortez’s head was a mess, he couldn’t grasp the situation.
Finally, he raised his head and asked, “Wh-where in blue blazes are we?”
Then, the Count shouted his words.
“Our family’s personal knights and mercenaries became dog food!”
He glared at Aria, redirecting his anger toward her.
Grr—
The hounds lying beside Aria got angry and threatened him.
Frightened, the Count averted his gaze and lowered his head.
“I shall repeat my words. Your Lordship was only able to survive because of Miss Aria here,” the butler added.
A moment later, the man spoke.
“I will compensate you.”
“……”
“Do you have any other complaints?”
Count Cortez was speechless.
“But, the amount…”
The butler nervously turned towards the man..
“Give him as much as he pleases.” He replied, annoyed.
Count Cortez bit his lips. It was a good deal, but unfortunately, he had come for something else.
“Actually, I came here because… I wanted to introduce my daughter,” he stammered.
The Count was afraid of him. After witnessing the brutal slaughter, he thought that the man was no different from a monster.
He anxiously glanced at Aria, gesturing for her to take off the mask.
But Aria did not move.
The Count gave an awkward smile and quickly glazed it over.
“Ahem, she will show you her appearance later. I assure you that she is my real daughter.”
“Then why have you been hiding her?”
“…Because she’s mute.”
This one sentence cleared up the whole situation.
The reason why the Count married Aria’s mother, a commoner, was because she was a Siren.
He wanted to acquire the power of the Siren and pass it onto his bloodline.
But the Siren’s daughter was mute, so she had little to no value.
“Even if she can’t sing, she can become a great tribute to the duchy.”
“Alright, I’ll take her in,” the man said, taking off the black hood that covered half of his face.1
Aria stared at him in awe.
‘The Grand Duke of Valentine!’
As expected, the man was Lloyd’s father.