Dark Dad’s Rebirth - Chapter 12: A New Tool (7)

Time passed in a haze, unmarked and unnoticed, until the creak of the door opening shattered the heavy stillness in Aria’s room.

“Lady Aria…”

The familiar voice roused her from her stupor. Her eyes, wide and unsteady, darted toward the door, and she propped herself up on the bed with trembling effort.

“Leon!”

Gone were the formalities or even the pretense of composure. She no longer thought of him as anything but a source for the one thing she craved.

“I’m almost out of the hallucinogens,” she murmured, her voice a fragile thread. The words spilled from her lips in a tone that wavered between desperation and incoherence. Her eyes, clouded and restless, darted to Leon, pleading for him to deliver what she needed.

In just three days, her condition had deteriorated even further. She looked utterly broken—a fragile shell of the proud woman she once was. She was so far gone that a single nudge would have been enough to shatter her completely.

The sight of her ignited a dark, twisted satisfaction within Leon. He couldn’t help the cruel smile that crept across his face.

“Lady Aria…” he said, feigning concern as he took a step closer. His voice carried a note of pity, though it was laced with mockery he could barely suppress.

“You look…” He trailed off, and then a laugh escaped him—a soft chuckle that grew into full-blown, unrestrained laughter.

“Haha… Oh, this is priceless.”

Aria didn’t even notice his derision. Her thoughts were too consumed by her need.

“Please… please give Riri her medicine,” she begged, her voice trembling.

Leon marveled at her desperation. He had made the right decision increasing the dosage. Watching her unravel was a spectacle he couldn’t have anticipated, and he relished every moment of it.

“The so-called grand Caelius’s bloodline,” he murmured, wiping his face as if to contain his elation, “turns out to be nothing special after all.”

Her small, trembling hands clung to the fabric of his shirt like a lifeline, her wide eyes pleading as she whispered his name again. Leon paused, then reached into his coat and pulled out a generous stash of hallucinogens.

The sight of them sent Aria into a frenzy. Like a starved animal, she lunged for the package, her fingers clawing at it.

“Riri’s medicine…!”

Leon let her have it, shaking his head with mock disbelief.

“And what is the Grand Duke doing while you’re like this?” he said, his tone dripping with false sympathy. As he smoothed her disheveled hair, he added, “He used to care for you, didn’t he? But I suppose his affections have shifted to that Leria girl.”

Aria flinched, her trembling intensifying. Her hands shook so violently that she struggled to light the hallucinogen she’d hastily placed between her lips. Frustrated, she groaned softly, her movements jerky and uncoordinated.

“Here, let me help,” Leon offered, lighting it for her.

She leaned in eagerly, inhaling deeply as the ember flared to life. The tension in her body melted away with the first drag, and she exhaled slowly, a faint smile playing on her lips.

“Ah…”

The room was already thick with smoke, its acrid stench suffocating, yet Aria didn’t seem to care. Each inhale brought her a fleeting sense of relief, a temporary reprieve from the torment she refused to face.

“I increased the dosage this time,” Leon said smoothly, watching her intently. “I thought you’d enjoy it more.”

And she did. The stronger dose worked quickly, obliterating the last remnants of her lucidity.

Her golden eyes grew hazy, unfocused, until she could no longer recognize the man standing before her. She no longer realized that this world was her second chance, nor could she comprehend that she had been discarded once again.

Her mind drifted further and further into the sweetness of old memories—moments when Caelius’s voice was tender, his touch gentle, his love seemingly boundless.

Reality faded, replaced by a vivid dreamscape where the past felt as real as the present.

In this haze, she clung to the illusion of a kinder Caelius, his warmth enveloping her as though he had never let her go.

Aria, her expression hazy and unfocused as though lost in thought, stared blankly. Leon, watching her closely, carefully reached out to touch her cheek. Despite the cool smile playing on his lips, his touch was warm. Feeling the comforting heat, Aria let out a soft giggle and nuzzled her face against his hand.

“Daddy…”

Was she mistaking him for Caelius?

“Daddy…”

Hearing her call him “Daddy” made Leon freeze for a moment. He didn’t know what kind of delusion she was trapped in, but the connection to Caelius stirred something odd within him. Aria, caught in her hallucination, smiled faintly and stretched out her arms toward him.

“Riri wants a hug.”

Leon sensed something strange in the moment, but he couldn’t quite put his finger on it. Hesitant, he eventually gave in to her pleading and carefully obliged.

Her frail, thin body felt so small as it melted into his firm embrace. Bewitched, Leon held her gently, patting her back. Aria wrapped her fragile arms around his waist and smiled with a look of pure happiness.

“Daddy…”

Her voice, spilling weakly between her lips, sounded so pitiful and small, but at the same time, there was an undeniable tenderness in it.

“I just want to be loved…”

At her next words, Leon bit his lip and furrowed his brow.

“Riri will be good… really, I’ll be good…”

“…”

“Don’t throw Riri away…”

As soon as she said that, Leon felt an unpleasant, throbbing ache in his chest.

Did the Grand Duke usually call her “Riri”?

“Riri…”

Leon murmured the nickname absentmindedly, and Aria burst into a delighted laugh.

“Ehehe… Did you call Riri?”

She didn’t even seem to realize who he was, only responding with a wide smile as if simply hearing her nickname made her happy. Her drug-dulled golden eyes stared up at him, utterly unguarded, and the sight made him feel queasy.

He had come a step closer to achieving his goal, so he should have felt triumphant. But instead, an inexplicable sense of filth weighed on him, like he’d been rolling in mud.

“Does the Grand Duke usually call you that?” Leon muttered under his breath. Aria tilted her head, clearly not understanding his question.

“…You’re so different from the Grand Duke I’ve known. It’s fascinating.”

“Hmm? Riri doesn’t know…”

Her wide eyes blinked at him, round and innocent. Despite looking completely different from Caelius, Aria couldn’t distinguish the two. She was simply content to be held in someone’s arms, warm and secure, smiling blissfully all the while.

“Daddy, kiss Riri.”

She grinned and puckered her lips, her carefree gesture making Leon’s expression harden.

Something was wrong. Her constant nuzzling against him, her unguarded neediness…

“Daddy, hug Riri. Please?”

“I… I already am holding you.”

“Not like this,” she whispered, her small lips forming the words delicately.

“Daddy… said so.”

Every time she opened her mouth to speak, an inexplicable sense of unease flared within Leon, like a warning.

It felt as though he needed to stop her—like he had to silence those lips before they said something he couldn’t bear to hear.

“Riri only eats daddy’s dick… … It’s daddy’s… … .”

And with the words that followed, Leon finally understood the source of the unease that had been gnawing at him.

What she craved, in her state of emptiness, was not the bond of a father and daughter.

* * *

“Your Highness…!”

Caelius frowned deeply at the sudden intrusion into his office.

“What is it?”

The one who had opened the door was Aria’s personal maid. The moment he realized this, an inexplicable dread surged through him. His whole body was gripped by an unfamiliar anxiety. His heart pounded as if it would burst from his chest, and the hand holding his pen trembled uncontrollably.

“Lady Aria… something is wrong with her.”

Caelius’s frown deepened, urging the maid to continue.

“What do you mean?”

“It’s… it’s… the lady has brought Lord Verha into her bedroom.”

At those words, the pen in Caelius’s hand slipped and fell to the floor with a clatter.