Binka looked at Byron, who was dumbfounded by the unexpected appearance of his daughter, and looked at him appraisingly.
Frankly, it was incredibly disappointing for a first meeting with her biological father, something she had long dreamed of.
He was dressed in shabby clothes, torn and stained here and there, his hair was unkempt and unruly, and he even had menacing shackles tied to his legs.
She never thought she would meet him in such an unattractive appearance.
Even though he was being chased away as a traitor, isn't he a member of the royal family with the right to succeed to the throne?
But Binka hid her disappointment behind a smile. Now was not the time to clash with her father over such a trivial matter.
“Now you know who I am, right?”
“...Yeah. I’m a little confused, but it looks like you're my daughter.”
Byron let out a breathy, almost deflated laugh. He couldn't believe it, but the circumstances confirmed she was his daughter.
The necklace she presented as evidence was one thing, but there was plenty of other visible evidence as well. Things like her shining golden eyes and her resemblance to his own appearance.
Of course, judging by the color of her eyes, she could be of royal blood other than his own, but that seemed unlikely.
The only royal family members who looked similar to him were his father, the late Emperor, and his younger brother, Hiram. Both of them were very old-fashioned and close-minded, so it was unlikely that they would have flirted with a royal maid.
'Daughter, daughter.'
For over ten years, he had called Aila his daughter and heard her call him father, but it was all a show, a pretense.
But he really did have a daughter. A daughter born to another woman, not Ophelia.
As his thoughts turned to a woman from his past whose name he could only vaguely recall, Byron frowned and asked.
"By the way, where is your mother, and why did you come here alone? If you want to prove you're my daughter, it would be better to come with her rather than alone."
“...My mother passed away from an illness a few years ago.”
Binka answered with a gloomy face.
“Really? That’s too bad.”
Even when he heard that the woman he had once admired had died long ago, Byron remained indifferent and offered only a polite condolence.
He couldn't even remember her name, so how could he possibly still have feelings for her? Women other than Ophelia meant nothing to him.
And Binka, too, didn't seem to mind Byron's attitude. She had already guessed that he wasn't possessed by a genuine love for his mother.
She was not naive enough to believe in the passionate love between the Prince and the maid.
All Binka wanted was one thing: to regain her rights as Byron's only daughter, the one who could become Emperor.
Her mother, Delphine, quit her job as a maid and went into hiding in the countryside as soon as she learned she was pregnant with his child, out of fear of Byron.
Byron was a man filled with the desire to become Emperor.
It was clear that the illegitimate child born to a maid would be an obstacle to his ascension to the throne, so she ran away, judging that both she and the child would be in danger.
Having given birth to and raised a child on her own, she quickly fled abroad with her daughter when Byron's treason failed. She feared that her daughter would be in danger if his traitorous lineage were revealed.
So, Binka was forced to grow up alone with her mother in a faraway foreign land, without even knowing who her father was. It was a poor and difficult childhood.
Meanwhile, Delphine fell seriously ill and confessed this to her daughter just before she died.
Binka was shocked when she learned the secret of her birth. She had been born with such noble birth.
And that shock soon turned to anger.
If Byron's rebellion had been successful, she would have been treated as a Princess and lived a luxurious life as the Emperor's daughter.
But it seemed absurd that she had to grow up in poverty, persecuted, and without a father in a foreign land.
She returned to the Peles Empire by that road, using expensive magic potions to change the color of her eyes to hide her traitorous lineage.
To find her father, restore him to his position as Emperor, and return herself to her original position.
That was Binka's only goal.
Binka raised her chin as if her pride was hurt and spoke confidently.
At her words, Byron looked slightly intrigued, as if he was a little curious.
“You, at the Crown Prince’s Palace?”
When her father showed interest in her story, Binka began to exaggerate her own heroic feats.
She's talking about the incident where she stole a handkerchief from the pocket of the Crown Prince, who had fallen on the restaurant floor.
After observing the Crown Prince's every move for several days, Binka found out his most prized handkerchief. She pretended to help him up among the servants and stole it with the dexterity she had learned on the street.
Then she showed the handkerchief in front of his eyes as if she had picked it up by chance in a restaurant.
After that, she started to build a rapport with him by lying about her mother being sick, and gradually became closer to him, strengthening her influence over him.
How she laughed inside when Winfred said, "You're like my older sister."
She doesn't think she would say that, knowing that they were cousins, but coincidentally, she really was Winfred's cousin.
‘...It seems like you’ve been avoiding me a bit lately.’
Of course, the Crown Prince's attitude toward her had not been the same recently, but Binka didn't bother to add that.
Now that her father has finally started to show some interest in her, there is no need to tell him bad things about her.
“Hmm, I guess so.”
And Byron seemed quite pleased with his daughter's story about working at the Crown Princess's Palace.
It was certainly a great hand. His last trump card, one his opponents still didn't know about.
He smiled broadly and opened his mouth.
"You're amazing. Amazingly, you came all this way without your mother and to have even won the Crown Prince's heart."
Binka's cheeks flushed at her father's praise, a first for her life. Byron looked deeply satisfied at this sight.
Since he had been taming that woman, Aila, with sweet talk for many years, he didn't seem to have any problems using Binka.
The first thing that came to mind was the idea of using Binka as a liaison with Capella.
He had no way to contact her while he was in prison, so it had been a long time, but he finally found a way.
"Good, very good. There's definitely something great you can do for this father. First, there's a subordinate of mine who hasn't been captured yet... Could you find her and give her my message? If you can get me a pen, I'll write her a letter."
At Byron's words, Binka took out a small piece of paper and a pen from her bosom with an anxious expression.
“I brought it in advance just in case. But... I think you need to write it quickly. I don’t have much time.”
She wasn't originally in charge of cleaning this place. It was only natural. Binka was part of the Crown Prince's Palace, and the department managing this place was entirely different.
But, to meet Byron, she had already bribed the maid who was originally in charge of this place.
So she had to get out of here quickly before someone came.
“Oh, yes. I’ll write it down right away.”
Although he didn't know the details, Byron agreed that now wasn't the time for such leisurely conversation, so he quickly wrote a letter to Capella.
Capella would definitely recognize this handwriting. It was crooked and awkward, a handwriting he had developed after losing his right hand and starting to write with his left.
He folded the paper in half and stuck it through the bars, showing Binka the hiding place he had prepared in case of an emergency.
“Go there and find a woman named Capella. Then give her this letter.”
“Yes, Father. Just trust me.”
Binka smiled broadly, placed Byron's letter in her bosom, then took a small vial from her pocket and took a familiar swig. Then, her hair and eyes returned to brown.
Frankly, it was incredibly disappointing for a first meeting with her biological father, something she had long dreamed of.
He was dressed in shabby clothes, torn and stained here and there, his hair was unkempt and unruly, and he even had menacing shackles tied to his legs.
She never thought she would meet him in such an unattractive appearance.
Even though he was being chased away as a traitor, isn't he a member of the royal family with the right to succeed to the throne?
But Binka hid her disappointment behind a smile. Now was not the time to clash with her father over such a trivial matter.
“Now you know who I am, right?”
“...Yeah. I’m a little confused, but it looks like you're my daughter.”
Byron let out a breathy, almost deflated laugh. He couldn't believe it, but the circumstances confirmed she was his daughter.
The necklace she presented as evidence was one thing, but there was plenty of other visible evidence as well. Things like her shining golden eyes and her resemblance to his own appearance.
Of course, judging by the color of her eyes, she could be of royal blood other than his own, but that seemed unlikely.
The only royal family members who looked similar to him were his father, the late Emperor, and his younger brother, Hiram. Both of them were very old-fashioned and close-minded, so it was unlikely that they would have flirted with a royal maid.
'Daughter, daughter.'
For over ten years, he had called Aila his daughter and heard her call him father, but it was all a show, a pretense.
But he really did have a daughter. A daughter born to another woman, not Ophelia.
As his thoughts turned to a woman from his past whose name he could only vaguely recall, Byron frowned and asked.
"By the way, where is your mother, and why did you come here alone? If you want to prove you're my daughter, it would be better to come with her rather than alone."
“...My mother passed away from an illness a few years ago.”
Binka answered with a gloomy face.
“Really? That’s too bad.”
Even when he heard that the woman he had once admired had died long ago, Byron remained indifferent and offered only a polite condolence.
He couldn't even remember her name, so how could he possibly still have feelings for her? Women other than Ophelia meant nothing to him.
And Binka, too, didn't seem to mind Byron's attitude. She had already guessed that he wasn't possessed by a genuine love for his mother.
She was not naive enough to believe in the passionate love between the Prince and the maid.
All Binka wanted was one thing: to regain her rights as Byron's only daughter, the one who could become Emperor.
Her mother, Delphine, quit her job as a maid and went into hiding in the countryside as soon as she learned she was pregnant with his child, out of fear of Byron.
Byron was a man filled with the desire to become Emperor.
It was clear that the illegitimate child born to a maid would be an obstacle to his ascension to the throne, so she ran away, judging that both she and the child would be in danger.
Having given birth to and raised a child on her own, she quickly fled abroad with her daughter when Byron's treason failed. She feared that her daughter would be in danger if his traitorous lineage were revealed.
So, Binka was forced to grow up alone with her mother in a faraway foreign land, without even knowing who her father was. It was a poor and difficult childhood.
Meanwhile, Delphine fell seriously ill and confessed this to her daughter just before she died.
Binka was shocked when she learned the secret of her birth. She had been born with such noble birth.
And that shock soon turned to anger.
If Byron's rebellion had been successful, she would have been treated as a Princess and lived a luxurious life as the Emperor's daughter.
But it seemed absurd that she had to grow up in poverty, persecuted, and without a father in a foreign land.
She returned to the Peles Empire by that road, using expensive magic potions to change the color of her eyes to hide her traitorous lineage.
To find her father, restore him to his position as Emperor, and return herself to her original position.
That was Binka's only goal.
She would have done anything for that.
“Then... what should I do now, Father?”
At her question, Byron blinked slowly. It was clear he didn't fully grasp the situation.
“What do you mean, ‘What should I do?’”
"What can I do for my father? Surely you don't intend to just sit here in prison waiting to die?"
At Byron's frustrated look as he asked with a dull expression, Binka spoke in a disapproving voice as if she didn't know that.
Byron stared at his daughter, speechless. He couldn't figure out who she was, who could be so arrogant and condescending.
'At least she doesn't resemble her mother. She was a docile and obedient woman.'
He clicked his tongue, but inwardly he was calculating the value of Binka, who had suddenly appeared as his daughter.
'...If this girl can sneak into a tight prison, it doesn't seem so useless.'
Byron, who had roughly calculated the amount in his head, opened his mouth with a wry smile.
“Well... I’m not sure what you can do. It’s such a dangerous situation.”
On the surface, he pretended to be concerned about his daughter's well-being, but the content was actually provocative and questioned her abilities.
“...Father, aren't you seeing me too often? I'm the one who infiltrated the palace to find you. I'm still working at the Crown Prince's Palace.”
“Then... what should I do now, Father?”
At her question, Byron blinked slowly. It was clear he didn't fully grasp the situation.
“What do you mean, ‘What should I do?’”
"What can I do for my father? Surely you don't intend to just sit here in prison waiting to die?"
At Byron's frustrated look as he asked with a dull expression, Binka spoke in a disapproving voice as if she didn't know that.
Byron stared at his daughter, speechless. He couldn't figure out who she was, who could be so arrogant and condescending.
'At least she doesn't resemble her mother. She was a docile and obedient woman.'
He clicked his tongue, but inwardly he was calculating the value of Binka, who had suddenly appeared as his daughter.
'...If this girl can sneak into a tight prison, it doesn't seem so useless.'
Byron, who had roughly calculated the amount in his head, opened his mouth with a wry smile.
“Well... I’m not sure what you can do. It’s such a dangerous situation.”
On the surface, he pretended to be concerned about his daughter's well-being, but the content was actually provocative and questioned her abilities.
“...Father, aren't you seeing me too often? I'm the one who infiltrated the palace to find you. I'm still working at the Crown Prince's Palace.”
Binka raised her chin as if her pride was hurt and spoke confidently.
At her words, Byron looked slightly intrigued, as if he was a little curious.
“You, at the Crown Prince’s Palace?”
“Yes! I'm not just any servant. I'm Winfred or something like that—the crown prince's most cherished maid. Roasting a naive little child is no trouble at all.”
She's talking about the incident where she stole a handkerchief from the pocket of the Crown Prince, who had fallen on the restaurant floor.
After observing the Crown Prince's every move for several days, Binka found out his most prized handkerchief. She pretended to help him up among the servants and stole it with the dexterity she had learned on the street.
Then she showed the handkerchief in front of his eyes as if she had picked it up by chance in a restaurant.
After that, she started to build a rapport with him by lying about her mother being sick, and gradually became closer to him, strengthening her influence over him.
How she laughed inside when Winfred said, "You're like my older sister."
She doesn't think she would say that, knowing that they were cousins, but coincidentally, she really was Winfred's cousin.
‘...It seems like you’ve been avoiding me a bit lately.’
Of course, the Crown Prince's attitude toward her had not been the same recently, but Binka didn't bother to add that.
Now that her father has finally started to show some interest in her, there is no need to tell him bad things about her.
“Hmm, I guess so.”
And Byron seemed quite pleased with his daughter's story about working at the Crown Princess's Palace.
It was certainly a great hand. His last trump card, one his opponents still didn't know about.
He smiled broadly and opened his mouth.
"You're amazing. Amazingly, you came all this way without your mother and to have even won the Crown Prince's heart."
Binka's cheeks flushed at her father's praise, a first for her life. Byron looked deeply satisfied at this sight.
Since he had been taming that woman, Aila, with sweet talk for many years, he didn't seem to have any problems using Binka.
The first thing that came to mind was the idea of using Binka as a liaison with Capella.
He had no way to contact her while he was in prison, so it had been a long time, but he finally found a way.
"Good, very good. There's definitely something great you can do for this father. First, there's a subordinate of mine who hasn't been captured yet... Could you find her and give her my message? If you can get me a pen, I'll write her a letter."
At Byron's words, Binka took out a small piece of paper and a pen from her bosom with an anxious expression.
“I brought it in advance just in case. But... I think you need to write it quickly. I don’t have much time.”
She wasn't originally in charge of cleaning this place. It was only natural. Binka was part of the Crown Prince's Palace, and the department managing this place was entirely different.
But, to meet Byron, she had already bribed the maid who was originally in charge of this place.
So she had to get out of here quickly before someone came.
“Oh, yes. I’ll write it down right away.”
Although he didn't know the details, Byron agreed that now wasn't the time for such leisurely conversation, so he quickly wrote a letter to Capella.
Capella would definitely recognize this handwriting. It was crooked and awkward, a handwriting he had developed after losing his right hand and starting to write with his left.
He folded the paper in half and stuck it through the bars, showing Binka the hiding place he had prepared in case of an emergency.
“Go there and find a woman named Capella. Then give her this letter.”
“Yes, Father. Just trust me.”
Binka smiled broadly, placed Byron's letter in her bosom, then took a small vial from her pocket and took a familiar swig. Then, her hair and eyes returned to brown.
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