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It all started with Yulian\'s slip of the tongue - a moment destined to go down in history as his most cringe-worthy blunder.

"I\'m starving. How about we hit up a restaurant in town today, Dad?"

"Sure, I\'m not in the mood to cook either... Wait, what?"

"Hm?"

"..."

"..."

Yulian and I locked eyes for what felt like an eternity. It was as if we were trying to telepathically confirm what had just been said and heard.

Tina and Glen, who\'d been listening nearby, gawked at us with shocked expressions.

As hard as it was to accept, it had really happened. When this realization hit Yulian, his face turned as red as an erupting volcano.

"Pfft... Kuh... Pffhaha..."

"S-stop! Don\'t you dare say it!"

"Kha... Haha...!"

"I said stop...!!!"

"Bwahahahahaha!!! Yulian just called me Dad!!! Kuhuhaha...!!!"

"Y-you must\'ve heard wrong! Right...?!"

Yulian desperately looked to Tina and Glen for backup, but they just avoided eye contact, looking super uncomfortable.

He should\'ve just played it cool. For someone so smart, Yulian\'s clumsy attempt at damage control was absolutely hilarious.

As pitiful as it was, I just couldn\'t stop laughing.

"A-anyway, you heard wrong! We should get going..."

"Oh my! Does my dear son hate his father\'s cooking that much? Hmm?"

"Urk...!"

"How about calling me Papa today? Or Daddy works too. Even Dad like you said before would be fine~"

"S-shut up! I..."

"Hey! Is that any way to talk to your Papa?"

"Argghhh!"

I swear, since getting my past life\'s memories back, I\'d never laughed this hard.

If Tina or Glen had accidentally called me Dad, that\'d be one thing. But of all people, it had to be Yulian. I was dying...!

Not that I didn\'t get it.

\'Mm-hmm, I understand. It happens. Like when kids accidentally call their teacher "Mom"... Pfft...\'

But the fact that it was Yulian who slipped up made it ten times funnier. This was prime teasing material I could milk even at his 60th birthday party.

"There, there, it\'s okay Yulian. Some people have three dads in this world, so what\'s the big deal?"

However, the issue is that the son killed two of the three.

"I completely understand. So to celebrate this moment, Papa\'s treating everyone today!"

"Please... I\'m begging you, please be quiet."

Wow, Yulian must be desperate if he\'s bringing out honorifics.

They say people can do anything when backed into a corner. This was a textbook example.

"Kuh, heh... Haa... Alright. Thanks for the laugh. I mean it. Yulian, you bring joy to my life."

"I\'m seriously thinking about running away..."

"Aw, I\'m sorry, really. I\'ll stop now, so don\'t cry."

"I\'m not crying!!!"

My mood was through the roof. I felt like splurging at that fancy restaurant Yulian wanted.

Besides, after roasting him this hard, I owed him that much at least.

"Whew, we should start getting ready to..."

Just as I was about to stand up, someone grabbed my sleeve and pulled me back down.

"... Can\'t you really do it?"

It was Tina.

She looked at me with sad, puppy-dog eyes and a gloomy expression.

Sensing something was up, I met her gaze and asked:

"Tina, what do you want me to do?"

"..."

Tina clamped her mouth shut. Then she puffed out her cheeks like a duck and went quiet.

"Tina?"

Pushed for an answer, Tina\'s eyes welled up as she sat in silence. After an awkward pause, she seemed to steel herself and squeaked out her true feelings.

"Can\'t you... really be my dad...?"

"..."

Now it was my turn to clam up.

It came out of nowhere, and I never in a million years thought Tina would ask something like that.

I\'d only set up the orphanage because I had to. I definitely never planned on becoming anyone\'s actual family.

Right?

These kids were destined to be big shots in the future.

Wouldn\'t a nobody like me just get in their way if I got too close?

As I sat there, shocked by this turn of events...

"... Is it not possible?"

Tina asked, her blue eyes brimming with tears...

"Tina... I..."

I was about to say it probably wasn\'t possible when suddenly, memories of Tina\'s past hit me like a ton of bricks.

The kid of a nutjob dragon and an innocent human.

Caught up in a mess she didn\'t ask for, drifting around and stewing in loneliness before ever feeling real love - her childhood haunted me.

Faced with those blue eyes, still carrying the weight of her past, I couldn\'t bring myself to shut her down.

\'Dad, huh...\'

It still felt weird to me. Honestly, I don\'t think I\'d ever pictured myself as a father.

Obviously, I had zero experience being a dad. So I had no clue if I\'d be any good at it.

And yet...

...

......

I still wasn\'t sure.

Even so, I couldn\'t bring myself to coldly reject her.

In front of me was a little girl who, too scared to take my hand, was clinging to my sleeve instead.

Here was a kid who, desperate for some warmth, had screwed up all her courage to ask.

More than that, those sky-blue eyes held a trust in me that made me feel special.

"Uuu..."

Tina looked like she might burst into tears any second.

Her hand shook as she reached out, showing how scared she was.

But she still held onto my sleeve tight. That took guts.

And finally, the words that came out of her mouth... that must\'ve taken some serious resolve.

\'When did I get so soft?\'

I felt myself crumbling in front of that raw, honest determination. The walls I\'d built around myself...

Next thing I knew, I saw the kids climbing over those now-fallen walls.

At this point, I had to admit it.

That I\'d grown attached to them too, way beyond mere sympathy.

"Tina."

"I-I guess it\'s not..."

"Let\'s do it."

"... Huh?"

Tina\'s eyes went wide as saucers.

I gently put my hand on Tina\'s head as she stood there frozen.

"Be your dad, I mean. It\'d be a once-in-a-lifetime blessing to have such a cute daughter."

"...!"

"Of course, I\'ll probably suck as a father at first... but I\'ll work on getting better."

"No, no... There\'s no way you could be bad..."

"Well, that\'s a relief then."

Tina and I both knew without saying that we had one last step before we could really be parent and child.

For Tina, who\'d mustered up the courage but was still hesitating, I took the lead to finish things off.

"Tina, it\'s okay, so just call me whatever feels right, yeah?"

Tina mumbled shyly, fidgeting like crazy.

"Um, uuh... Uh..."

...

......

After hemming and hawing for a while, Tina screwed up her courage one more time.

"...... Dad."

"Yes, my daughter."

"Dad...!"

"Yes, my beautiful daughter."

"Uu..."

And just like that, by calling each other by our new titles, we forged a new bond.

Overwhelmed, Tina threw herself into my arms and burst into tears.

"Waaahh... Dad... Dad..."

"Yeah, that\'s right... There, there. No more tears, okay?"

"Hic... Sniff..."

As I patted Tina\'s back, I glanced over at Yulian and Glen.

"What about you two? Want to call me Dad too?"

"I\'ve already got a perfectly good father who\'s alive, so that\'d be weird."

You\'re the one who called me that first, Yulian.

"I don\'t have parents, but Director, you\'re too... I dunno, sacred to call Dad... Honestly, it\'s kinda awkward. But, huh?"

Just what do you think I am, some kind of God?

But then Glen\'s eyes suddenly went wide as he turned to Yulian.

"Yulian, if your dad\'s still around, why are you here...?"

"It\'s not exactly rare. Some people only have fathers on paper."

"Oh... Sorry."

"Don\'t worry. I don\'t really feel anything for him anyway."

An awkward silence fell between Yulian and Glen. Yeah, finding out about someone\'s family drama is always uncomfortable.

I looked at the boys while wiping Tina\'s tears.

"If you don\'t like \'Dad\', why don\'t we just be family? Hm? That\'s not so bad, right?"

Parents and children aren\'t the only ones who can be family. When people\'s hearts connect, they can be family even without blood ties.

Yulian and Glen each mumbled their own awkward responses.

"... Well. I guess... whatever."

"If that\'s all it is, I\'m okay with it too..."

Then Tina put the final punctuation on it.

"Then from today on, we\'re all family!"

Tina\'s eyes had already dried up completely.

My new daughter\'s radiant smile shut down any objections the others might\'ve had.

Finding it somewhat funny, I chuckled.

\'Life\'s full of surprises.\'

At the ripe old age of twenty-two.

Still wet behind the ears, with plenty of growing up to do.

Yet, as if pulled by the threads of fate.

Today, I gained a new family.

---

---

Duke Luminel\'s office is about as welcoming as a prison cell.

The only thing remotely open about it is the tall window behind the Duke\'s chair. But that\'s just there to make visitors squint when they look at him.

Every single thing in that room is set up to scream "I\'m the boss here."

Most visitors feel like they\'re being crushed by an invisible weight.

"You called for me?"

"Yes, you\'re here."

Duke Luminel spoke in a quiet voice. Then, without even asking how she was doing, he got straight to the point.

"Get married."

"As you wish."

"I know you think you\'re too good for... Wait, what?"

"I said I\'ll do as you say."

"..."

Duke Luminel was dumbfounded.

Even though it was his own order, he could hardly believe what he was hearing.

"Do you even know who I\'m telling you to marry before you agree so quickly?"

"Does it matter who it is? No matter what anyone says, I\'m just your property, right?"

"No father thinks of his only daughter that way."

"How sweet. I feel so much better now."

Yeah, right.

His daughter\'s blatant sarcasm caught him off guard.

She might not have been a pushover, but she\'d never had the guts to talk back to him like this before.

Yet here she was, laying down her demands without missing a beat.

"I just hope you\'ll cough up a dowry worthy of our oh-so-noble family name."

And to top it off, she added:

"Even if the groom\'s some nameless commoner off the street."