Catherine and the Black Emperor

70. Daughter

Boris was completely dumbfounded when he saw the corpses of his five men on the ground.

"A demon! A demon from hell!"

Boris turned and ran, but the little girl grabbed an axe and threw it. The axe spun along the ground and struck Boris's left leg, causing him to scream and roll away.

"No...don't kill me, I have money...I'll give you money!" Boris pleaded in agony.

"Don't you recognize me?" The little girl holding the axe bent down.

Up close, in the moonlight, Boris saw the delicate face clearly. His face was filled with shock and fear as he said in disbelief, "How...how could it be you!"

How could he forget that face? It was the best price he'd ever gotten.

"You...you weren't sold to...the landowner Valentin, were you?"

"You do remember." Fiona raised her axe.

Boris's eyes widened: "No—"

"puff!"

The axe chopped into Boris's head.

After doing all that, the little girl walked back to the corpses, retrieved her two daggers, and at that moment, more figures emerged from the darkness. Some carried away the corpses, while others opened the wooden boxes and took away the unconscious girls inside.

One of the men approached Fiona, who was sitting on the rock.

"What does it feel like to kill your own enemy?" Yuri asked.

"It's fine." Fiona wasn't very interested.

"You're not happy?" Yuri asked in surprise.

"I wonder how many children have fallen into the hands of demons." Fiona raised her head, her eyes revealing an even colder glint. "I will kill more human traffickers, wipe them all out!"

While Yuri was relieved, he also sighed inwardly; the child's heart was filled with too much hatred.

Just then, he suddenly saw someone walking towards him, and he was surprised when he saw who it was.

"My lord! Why did you come in person?"

When Fiona saw Sergei, her gloomy mood vanished instantly. She happily jumped off the big rock and ran to Sergei.

"Father!"

Sergei paused in his steps.

This address truly startled him. Even as the vice chairman of the secret committee, who had handled so many secret cases and witnessed so much bloodshed, and whose mentality was incredibly strong, he never expected this trip to end like this.

"Fiona, don't be so rude!" Yuri scolded.

Fiona didn't care about any of that. For the past few years, she had been trying to see him, but apart from meeting Sergei a few times at the beginning, she hadn't seen him since.

But Yuri told her that it wasn't that the other person didn't come to see her, but rather that he always stood at a distance and didn't meet her—the delicious treats he would send her every month were proof of that.

The less Fiona saw Sergei, the more she missed him. She had always wanted Sergei to be her father, and the thought became increasingly irresistible. Over the years, she had come to accept him as her "father."

That's why I shouted it out in my excitement.

"I'm not your father," Sergei said with a smile, ruffling Fiona's hair.

Fiona wasn't sad at all; she looked at him with a sweet smile.

Sergei, feeling helpless, could only ask Yuri, "How is it?"

"It's all resolved, and the site is almost cleaned up. We rescued a total of seven children, both boys and girls. The orphanage has sent quite a few over the past few days, and they're already overflowing," Yuri replied.

After a brief moment of contemplation, Sergei said, "Tomorrow, Pimen will bring you money to rent a larger yard and take them in for now."

Yuri nodded, then hesitated before asking, "Sir, if there are suitable children, should I take them in and teach them skills?"

"Follow the methods I wrote down," Sergei instructed.

Yuri nodded.

After reading the papers Pimen had given him that day, he sincerely admired Sergei's abilities; those methods could directly and effectively test the children's personalities.

"Hurry up, the guards are coming soon," Sergei warned.

Yuri nodded, but Fiona didn't want to leave; she had just met Sergei.

Sergei looked at the other person, hesitated briefly, and then said, "She can come with me tonight, and Pimen will take her back tomorrow."

Fiona was overjoyed.

And so, Sergei, holding Fiona's rough little hand, returned to the manor.

Anastasia felt a pang of anxiety when she saw her husband go out and bring back a child.

In her view, this was very likely her husband's illegitimate daughter!

Although she was naive, she knew that her husband had been a womanizer, so it was not impossible that he had a child outside of marriage.

"she……"

Before Sergei could finish speaking, Anastasia ran off to the kitchen.

"She must be starving, I'll go cook for her."

Looking at that slightly flustered figure, Sergei couldn't help but find it amusing.

Anastasia soon returned with steaming hot food, and Sergei and Fiona were already sitting at the table.

"for you."

Anastasia placed the plate in front of Fiona, her reserved manner resembling that of a servant facing her young mistress; their roles were completely reversed.

"Thank you, Mother!" Fiona said happily.

"Huh?! What did you call me?" Anastasia was startled.

"Mother, aren't you Father's wife?" Fianna said between bites, clearly hungry, or perhaps because the food her "mother" had prepared was so delicious that she ate with gusto.

"Eat slowly, be careful it's hot." Anastasia was now convinced that Fiona was her husband's child from the other side of the story.

"I'm not afraid of it being hot; I've never been able to eat anything this hot before." Fiona was naturally referring to the period when she was "sold and sold."

Hearing this, Anastasia felt a pang of heartache, especially when she saw Fiona's hands, which were covered in calluses and wounds. She felt even more sorry for her and saddened.

Actually, having a daughter like this is quite nice.

And later, when she and her husband have children, she will be the children's older sister.

Anastasia didn't think at all about where the girl's mother was or whether she would suddenly appear one day to compete with her for her husband. She only felt that the girl was so pitiful and cute.

Fiona finished eating quickly, wiped her mouth with her sleeve, used her hand as a rag to clean up the food scraps on the table, and then put them back on her plate.

"You're so sensible," Anastasia said, feeling both delighted and heartbroken.

"Alright, Fiona, you should go to sleep now." Sergei wiped her mouth.

"Can I sleep here?" Fiona asked.

Sergei looked at Anastasia, who nodded and said to her husband, "Of course, she won't be used to sleeping here, and she won't sleep well at night."

Sergei nodded to Fiona: "You can sleep here."

"Thank you, Mother!" Fiona was overjoyed.

Anastasia smiled with satisfaction, picked up her tray, and left. Sergei watched his wife's retreating figure, got up, and followed her out, telling Fiona to go to bed early before leaving.

"I understand!" Fiona nodded obediently.

Sergei entered the kitchen just as Anastasia put down her plate. She turned around and saw him: "Why are you here? You startled me."

"I want to tell you that Fiona is not my child. I saved her, so she calls me that. I won't let her call me that anymore," Sergei explained.

He originally wanted to talk about these things tomorrow, but when he saw Anastasia, he worried that she might be wronged.

"I believe you, and even if she is your daughter, it doesn't matter. I like her very much, and having a daughter like her would make me much happier." Anastasia smiled sweetly.

Sergei kissed her: "Thank you for understanding me, but she can't stay here. She has to leave first thing tomorrow morning."

When the two returned to their room, Anastasia told Sergei to walk quietly so as not to wake Fiona if she was asleep.

Fiona was indeed asleep, but the two men fell silent when they saw where she was sleeping.

Sergei felt a sudden tightness in his chest.

Anastasia's cheeks were streaked with tears.

Fiona's small body was curled up on the single sofa. It wasn't that she was cold, but rather that the sofa was too small; if she didn't curl up, the sofa wouldn't be able to accommodate her.

"I really wish I had a daughter like this, would she stay with me?" Anastasia looked at her husband with tears in her eyes.

The next morning, Fiona woke up to find herself lying in a soft bed.

Sergei walked in from outside.

"Get up, come out for dinner. Pimin will come to pick you up in a bit."