Dark Dad’s Rebirth - Chapter 11: Time at Crossroads (5)

“Is that all your brain can come up with, Daddy?”

“And if it is?”

“…Figures. You’re nothing but a dog in heat.”

Aria’s unusually sharp words seemed to amuse Caelius for a moment, his eyebrow quirking playfully. But the amusement quickly gave way to a low, mocking voice.

“So what about the daughter who cried in pleasure beneath that dog in heat?”

He had expected an immediate, fiery retort, but instead, the room was filled with a heavy silence. Aria’s lack of reaction—her deliberate refusal to engage—made it clear she found him unworthy of a response. The unexpected reaction seemed to unsettle him.

Growing impatient, Caelius pressed further.

“At least tell me why you’re acting like this.”

“…Why should I?” Aria finally replied, her tone cold and indifferent.

Aria’s sharp tone only deepened Caelius’s irritation. His fists clenched and unclenched repeatedly, betraying his growing frustration. Everything felt wrong.

Aria’s sudden defiance, as if she’d woken up one day with rebellion in her veins. Her sharp rebuttals that tested his patience. And most of all, his inability to lash out in anger as he usually would.

“If you insist on asking, then I’ll answer,” Aria said finally, her voice lower than usual, carrying a weight that filled the room.

“As I’ve said before, I have no intention of interfering with your plans. I’ll help you to the best of my ability.”

“…”

“But I don’t want to continue… those acts with you anymore.”

“You said you loved me,” Caelius replied, his voice quieter now, almost testing.

“I did,” Aria admitted after a short pause. “But not anymore. Once your plans are complete, I intend to marry someone of my age and station and leave this place for good.”

Her words made Caelius falter. The thought of Aria marrying someone else—anyone else—had never crossed his mind.

“Marriage. Sure, marriage is good,” he said finally, his voice deceptively calm.

“…”

“Is there already some bastard you want to marry?”

Though his tone hadn’t changed much, an icy edge in his words sent a chill through Aria. Uneasy, she burrowed further into her blanket, her body instinctively recoiling.

“Ah, Leon Verha, perhaps?”

“It’s not him,” she replied quickly, her voice muffled by the blanket.

“Funny, considering how familiar you seem with him, calling him Leon like you’re old friends.”

Caelius abruptly slipped his hand under the blanket. Then, as if it were the most natural thing, he began to grope Aria’s body.

“W-what are you…!”

“What were you doing on the terrace?”

She knew she should say “nothing,” but strangely, the words wouldn’t come out. No, to be more precise, she didn’t want to answer. So, instead, Aria deliberately kept silent and simply stared at Caelius.

“Did you suck that bastard’s dick or something?”

“Daddy.”

“Or could it be that you’ve already gone all the way with him?”

Even though Caelius knew Aria would never do such a thing, he couldn’t control the turmoil of emotions welling up inside him. That’s why he kept spewing sharp words and behaving irritably toward her.

“G-get away from me!”

Aria screamed desperately, but Caelius didn’t budge. Instead, with a calm expression, he casually moved to pin her down.

“Spread them.”

“No, I won’t!”

Ignoring her protests entirely, Caelius grabbed Aria’s thighs and forced them apart as if her consent never mattered. Shocked by the sudden action, Aria struggled and resisted desperately.

“Don’t do this. I don’t want to keep doing this with you anymore.”

She tried to speak as calmly as possible, but her voice trembled uncontrollably in the face of Caelius’s anger.

“I can’t stand the thought of other guys messing around with what’s mine.”

“Why would I be yours?!”

“Because you’re my daughter.”

“That doesn’t make any sense…”

“That hair, those eyes, your nose, your mouth—even down to your fingernails. You’re like a perfect mirror of me. So where do you think you’re going, if not to me?”

She wanted to refute him, but frustratingly, she couldn’t. He wasn’t wrong. Aria truly was the spitting image of Caelius.

It wasn’t just her appearance. Even the smallest habits, her personality, and her eating preferences mirrored his so much that it was hard to find anything different. The only feature that didn’t resemble him was her eyes. Those round, soft, puppy-like eyes came from Amerin, not Caelius.

As if displeased by this one dissimilarity, Caelius brushed his fingers across Aria’s eyes.

“You played at loving me, begging for affection with that pitiful act—only to now say you’re going to someone else?”

“…”

“And you thought if you said that, I’d just let you go quietly?”

His tone, almost jealous, left Aria furrowing her brow in confusion.

“…Why are you acting like this?”

“…”

“To you, I’m just a tool for seizing power, aren’t I?”

Her voice seemed to tremble, as if on the verge of tears.

‘You’ll discard me again once the rebellion fails, just like before…’

‘You’ll be the first to try and kill me… So why—?’

Looking up at Caelius, Aria couldn’t fully mask her unresolved emotions. Her expression was dampened by an unspoken sadness, but Caelius’s face remained cold and indifferent.

“I said I’ll do what I’m supposed to do. So why are you acting like this?”

“…”

“I just… I don’t understand you at all.”

It was clear that the Caelius before her now was unlike his usual self. With trembling fingers, Aria weakly clutched the hem of his shirt. The way her hands quivered was almost pitiful.

“Daddy.”

Instead of answering, Caelius met her eyes. Aria’s lips parted slightly, as if she had something to say. She hesitated for a long moment, choosing her words carefully. Her expression was so tightly drawn it looked like she might burst into tears at the slightest push.

Aria could still vividly remember the days when this man, who only seemed to know how to wield a sword, had awkwardly smiled and shyly handed her flowers. Even when he later aimed his blade at her, she had struggled to believe that all those fragrant, flower-filled moments had been lies.

They had spent five years together.

Aria had been almost blindly devoted to Caelius, making it all the harder to turn away from him now.

‘Maybe he had his reasons for trying to kill me,’ she thought.

Was she grasping at straws, hoping for a shred of hope? Or was she setting herself up for more humiliation by clinging to him once again? She didn’t fully understand her own actions, but still, in a frail voice, she cautiously asked:

“Do you… love me?”

She still remembered the unhesitating gaze he had given her—just the day before, when they had shared a bed and whispered words of love, only for him to point a sword at her without a moment’s doubt. That look from Caelius still haunted her, the wound of it resurfacing time and again.

Her voice trembled pitifully as she asked if he loved her.

Contrary to her expectations, however, Caelius didn’t mock her or smirk. Instead, his face reddened slightly, and he simply stared at her in silence. Aria was momentarily startled by this unexpected reaction.

“…I.”

Caelius’s voice, lower than usual, flowed out slowly.

“Is it because I don’t love you that I’m behaving this way now?”

He muttered this with his usual expressionless face.

“…I’m the one who asked the question,” Aria said, narrowing her eyes slightly as she met his gaze.

When she stared into his deep, dark eyes—like an endless abyss—it felt as though she might be pulled back into her old feelings for him.

No matter how much she tried to forget him or erase him, the spot where her love for him had once taken root was filled with overwhelmingly sweet memories. They could drag her back into the past at any moment.

Caelius was still her greatest weakness, and she wasn’t ready to sever that connection.

The fact that she still held onto faint hopes for him, even now, only made her despise herself more.

“How absurd.”

“….”

“All this time, I must have been too lenient with you. For you to ask such a ridiculous question.”

His voice was flat and devoid of emotion. But Aria, who had spent years reading his every mood, could tell. He was trying to hide it, but Caelius was conflicted. His usually steady eyes were trembling.

In her first life, Aria had known nothing but Caelius. In her second life, lived in Korea, she had gained broader perspectives. Only now, in this life, with all her memories intact, could she truly recognize how abnormal their relationship had been.

In the past, Caelius had never shown her anything beyond himself.

Whether his feelings for her had been genuine or not, that fact hadn’t changed.

Aria had been a blank canvas, and Caelius had filled her empty world entirely with himself. From the food she ate, to the jewels and dresses she wore, to the bustling marketplaces, tranquil beaches, or quiet forests teeming with squirrels—all her first experiences had been with him.

Because of that, no matter what she ate, wore, or did, it always reminded her of him. She had been in an environment that left her no choice but to follow him blindly.

That was why, even now, despite their relationship being irreparably broken, she couldn’t bring herself to let him go.

In the end, Caelius didn’t answer her question about whether he loved her.

His silence drew a bitter smile to Aria’s lips.

‘This is how a father should be.’

After keeping his mouth shut for a long time, he suddenly hugged Aria’s waist. He didn’t say anything, but it was basically like he was locking her up so she couldn’t escape.

Aria’s body trembled slightly at the firm front rubbing against her thigh.

“Daddy… … I don’t want to.”

Aria spoke in a voice dripping with utter disgust. Yet Caelius didn’t so much as flinch.

Instead of answering her, he responded with a rough kiss.

His large hand grabbed the back of her head firmly, almost possessively, as he pressed his lips against hers with unrelenting force. The kiss was anything but gentle—like a torrential downpour, it overwhelmed her.

His hot tongue forced its way between her lips, moving chaotically as it claimed the space inside her mouth. Saliva mingled messily, and their ragged breathing filled the room, suffocatingly heavy.

“Mm… ahh…”

Aria shook her head furiously in protest, but it didn’t take long before even that was rendered impossible. Caelius clasped her cheeks firmly, holding her in place so she couldn’t escape him.

Like a starving beast finally sinking its teeth into prey, he panted heavily as he shared her breath, his lips never leaving hers.

The kiss dragged on relentlessly. Only when Aria’s breath turned ragged and desperate, as if she were truly in distress, did Caelius finally pull away.

The first thing that greeted him was Aria’s flushed face, glaring at him with a mixture of anger and hurt.

Her small hands pounded weakly against his chest in an attempt to push him away, but the sight only struck him as absurd. Such fragile little hands, so delicate they looked as though they might snap if he squeezed too hard.

“Please…”

Aria refusing intimacy was nothing new—it had happened many times before. But today, something was different. She seemed more fragile, more on edge, as if she were teetering dangerously close to a breaking point.

Despite noticing this change, Caelius didn’t stop.

The clinking sound of a buckle echoed through the room as his clothing loosened, and Aria’s thin silk slip rode up, fully exposing her painfully thin legs.

“Please, stop…” Aria whimpered, her voice trembling with tears.

For a moment, irritation flickered across Caelius’s face. His cold, almost glacial eyes bore into her.

“Because it feels disgusting,” he said, his voice devoid of warmth.

“…”

“Tonight might get a little rough,” he said shamelessly, as if there had ever been a time he was gentle.

“If you don’t want to get hurt, you’d better stay still.”

His gaze, cold and unwavering, bore down on her with firm authority.

“No matter how far I go, I don’t have a taste for screwing a dry hole.”

Aria bit down hard on the soft flesh inside her mouth, desperately trying to hold back her tears. She hated the way they welled up and spilled over against her will.

She didn’t want to show him any more of her weakness, didn’t want to cry and seem like a child begging for mercy. Crying felt like admitting defeat, and yet her rebellious tear ducts betrayed her.

““Spread open, I’ll suck it.”

It wasn’t a suggestion—it was a demand, a choice imposed upon her. Either comply willingly and let this end smoothly, or resist and force him to use his strength. There were no other options.

In the end, Aria surrendered. Despite the overwhelming humiliation, sorrow, and shame that consumed her, she slowly parted her legs, resigning herself to the inevitable.

Aria knew all too well that resisting would only prolong her time trapped with Caelius. It was pointless.

As she parted her legs on her own, shame flushed her cheeks, and she tightly shut her eyes, turning her head away in silent humiliation. Caelius’s hand, however, caught her chin and forced her face back toward him.

“Keep your eyes open. Look at me.”

When Aria bit down on her lower lip in defiance, Caelius smirked, his lips curving into a cold grin as he slid her undergarments aside. His lips pressed against the trembling, vulnerable skin she instinctively tried to conceal, and Aria gripped the blanket tightly, stifling a gasp.

“There’s no such thing as love between us.”

“Hnn…”