CHAPTER 17…………………………………..
The instant he heard it, Theodore began planning an appropriate punishment for someone who dared harm his child.
The words the nanny whispered to the child were all too familiar. For years, Theodore had heard similar things spoken behind his back countless times.
A schemer who stole the position of the young heir.
An adopted brat who took advantage of a moment of weakness in the Pegasus bloodline to swallow the family whole.
“An orphan who rolled around the battlefield finally showed his true ungrateful nature—he just couldn’t escape his lowly roots.”
Among the endless rumors, the only truth was that he had been an orphan.
Theodore Pegasus.
Though he bore a surname reserved only for direct descendants, Theodore was not of Pegasus blood.
Of course he wasn’t. He hadn’t inherited their blood. He had been adopted into the family by the one who brought him home.
He couldn’t even remember when he first ended up on the streets. Each day had simply been a matter of escaping danger and surviving on scraps.
Meeting Lady Ada, the Pegasus family’s young matriarch, on a drifting battlefield had been the greatest fortune of his life.
“To think you gave all the food you barely managed to scrounge up to kids smaller than you and starved yourself skinny! I figured I’d better take this foolish bear with me before he dropped dead!”
Her tone had been light, but what she gave him was nothing short of everything.
“Theodore Pegasus. That’s your name now. Got it?”
He gained a family.
“Theo. This is your niece… Rin Pegasus.”
And when she placed another new family member into his arms, he made his decision.
The tiny warmth that barely filled his hands—he would live for this small life.
He would do anything to protect her.
Anything.
Even if that meant taking on a role he had never once imagined: filling the empty seat of the Pegasus family head alone.
Acting family head…
No one had expected such a thing to happen in the Pegasus House—home to the great Mercenary King, adored across the continent, and supported by the archmage heir who stood solidly as second-in-command.
Right after childbirth, his sister—the sub-head—fell into a mana depletion coma, and his adoptive father had vanished during his search for a cure for the rapidly declining Rin in the Eastern Continent.
Theodore, barely newly an adult, was suddenly forced to take the vacant head position.
An adopted acting head.
A terminally ill direct heiress who could die at any moment.
People said anything that rose too fast would fall just as quickly. Rival houses, threatened by the Pegasus family’s explosive growth under the Mercenary King, mocked and schemed without pause.
I have to protect her.
His precious niece Rin, entrusted to him by his sister.
And the Pegasus House, into which his family had poured their entire lives.
While drowning in sudden administrative duties and battling nonstop political pressure, he threw himself into expeditions just to keep the family afloat.
Beastkin clans with special abilities were respected and allowed to rule territory for one reason:
They used their powers to drive out monsters and create habitable lands.
Monsters—malicious beings—were nothing like ordinary lifeforms.
They formed naturally wherever people gathered and couldn’t be fought with normal weapons.
They weren’t even alive, so they couldn’t “die.”
And merely existing made people sick.
To survive, humans had to suppress monsters—and only ability or mana could do that. Hence the constant busyness of the Pegasus Knights.
Founded by the legendary Mercenary King, they were the continent’s finest monster hunters. Territories plagued by monsters competed to pay fortunes for their help.
After the King disappeared, the requests dwindled—until Theodore personally joined subjugations, restoring trust.
Being the strongest order on the continent, however, meant constant scrutiny.
Especially since the Pegasus clan was the first herbivore-beastkin lineage ever to become lords—made even more unusual when the Mercenary King appointed herbivore clansmen as retainers without hesitation.
Naturally, outsider clans sought any chance to drag down the lone, outstanding Pegasus House, while inside the family, branch members with greedy eyes attacked Theodore—an adopted acting head—trying to seize control of the direct bloodline.
Through all this chaos, one thing alone sustained him.
“Uncle Theo!”
His niece, Rin.
Even though he barely saw her—always using “I’m busy” as an excuse—the child who had begun to speak brightened his world.
With all direct adults gone, any marriage of his could be used to threaten her position—so he meticulously avoided any rumor of romance.
He was often away on expeditions to prove the Pegasus family’s continued strength, rarely home at the manor.
Yet even such a lacking uncle—Rin smiled at him.
A thief. A cuckoo. A lucky adoptee who devoured a family once its direct line vanished.
Say whatever they wanted.
He didn’t care if the arrows were aimed at him.
What he could not tolerate was—
—He claims to care for his niece, but look at his actions. The moment the true lord left, he stole all the authority.
—…
—He stole the heiress’s rightful place, the direct bloodline’s seat!
Those rats whispering their filthy adult politics into a child’s ear.
Theodore’s golden eyes flashed behind his large hand.
He thought the recording was nearly done, but it continued.
—…No!
Rin’s voice—despite being half-delirious from pheromone intoxication—cut through clearly.
A brief pause followed, maybe from surprise, or maybe to check if their kidnapping plan was compromised. Then Yubara’s voice continued.
Blissfully unaware she’d soon be spilling everything in the underground prison, she spoke lightly:
—What? Her pheromone trance is still intact. Well, some people answer clearly even half-asleep.
—Uncle… likes me…
—Please. You trust someone who hardly visits you?
—He’s busy… but he gives me presents…
—Wow, that’s all it takes? He throws gifts at you so people won’t say he mistreats the dying heir.
—No! Dummy…
—Did you just call me a dummy? Ha! Who’s the real idiot here? Clinging to that doll without even knowing what it means.
—That’s…
—A black Pegasus doll? Pegasi are white, obviously! Why else would he give you that but to mock you? Idiot.
As Yubara’s mocking voice flowed from the magical recorder, Theodore brushed aside what remained of his desk—shattered to powder from the force of his grip—and furrowed his brows.
The doll I bought Rin?
He had given his niece plenty of dolls, but the one mentioned—he remembered clearly.
Not for any malicious reason, but because it was the first doll he had ever ordered as a custom piece.
The doll that had become Rin’s cherished companion was a special order of the most popular “Winged Doll” line within the Pegasus territory—specifically a Pegasus doll.
After reading her a storybook about day and night as personified beings, Rin had decided night was the coolest thing in the world and wanted to paint everything black.
Reflecting his niece’s taste, he commissioned the creation of the one and only special black Pegasus doll.
