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

A few moments before all of this happened...

Inside Tamari’s Bakery, the waiter had just cleared the dishes from several tables belonging to various customers. He was now heading back toward the inner section reserved strictly for staff. But before he could step through the curtains...

”My boy, come here for a moment. I want to ask you something...”

The waiter turned his head toward the sound, which came from one of the corner tables. Sitting there was an old, elderly woman whose face was heavily lined with wrinkles.

Approaching her, he leaned down. ”What is it, Grandma Tamari? Do you need something?”

This woman was the founder of the bakery, which had stood for exactly thirty long years. In reality, this waiter was her own grandson.

Grandma Tamari spoke in her frail, aging voice,

”Isn’t that the Duke? I’ve never heard of him marrying... but it seems he already has a family.”

Her grandson nearly burst out laughing, a cynical smirk surfacing on his face.

”A family? Anyone would be fooled by that sight, grandma. But that lady with him? He didn’t even know her name until moments ago. She isn’t his family. Besides, that woman looks entirely ordinary. This is a man who rejected a legendary beauty like Princess Sylvia—the very princess who rejected the hero, Hykes, herself. Why would he ever spare a glance for someone so plain?”

Grandma Tamari’s expression contorted, as if deeply puzzled by his words.

”How can that be? I’ve been watching them... The way they look at each other doesn’t seem like people who just met. Those are looks of affection. It’s the kind of gaze that says ’I love you, but I cannot say it.’”

The grandson paused, thinking for a moment, before concluding that his grandmother was merely senile and rambling. He decided to just play along with her, knowing that the elderly often lose their focus.

”Grandma... how could you possibly know that? You know the Duke’s reputation. He would never marry a commoner, right?”

Grandma Tamari let out a heavy sigh, as though exhaling the crushing weight of time and the lingering memories trapped within her frail body.

”A long time ago, I said those exact same words. ’It is impossible for a noble to ever look at a commoner.’ But when I met your grandfather, those exact same looks were passed between us. It was as if... as if there was an invisible barrier, one created entirely by own imagination.”

Long ago, the old woman had realized the true meaning behind those glances. Ancient perspectives and outdated beliefs make you build walls around yourself, even when no real obstacles exist.

She hadn’t been convinced of this in her youth, and the young generation today wouldn’t be convinced either. Only time would force them to understand. Yet, she couldn’t help but reminisce, as though she had nothing left to do in this world but remember.

She pictured herself and her late husband sitting together at the exact same table in the bakery years ago... desperately wanting to confess their feelings to one another, but constantly holding themselves back.

Wanting to hold hands... wanting to pour out what was buried deep inside their hearts.

Snapping out of her trance, she gestured for her grandson to leave.

She believed that despite the difference in their status, she and her husband were just like the Duke and that lady. She had always wished she could go back and tell her past self not to let useless, trivial doubts restrain her from what she truly desired.

She could not return to the past. But she could certainly tell that young lady...in whom she saw a reflection of her younger self...the exact words she wished she could have told her own youth.

Grandma Tamari’s focus narrowed completely onto that specific table.

And at that exact moment, at the table where the trio...Cain, Lucy, and Amelia....sat, Cain was reaching the absolute peak of his anxiety. Only now did he realize, a fraction too late, that the unshakeable composure he always maintained as the Lord of the Transmigrator Sect had utterly crumbled. The intricate strategies in his mind collapsed one by one, leaving him with no choice but to squeeze out a desperate sentence.

”In truth... my father always wished he had a little girl to give this pendant to, but he ended up with me instead. As for me, it is completely useless, so there is no harm in her having it.”

He spoke while desperately trying to maintain a calm, nonchalant tone.

”Lord Duke, do you not have a sister? Why wasn’t it given to her instead?”