Daeghun and Ophelia’s headcanons
(( Because I see all these posts about KC’s childhood on my dash I have no choice but to address some points.
I’ve always suspected that the only reason Ophelia thinks her childhood was great is because she plainly REFUSED as a child to think otherwise. What saved her was her imagination, ability to quickly get along with people and too much childish idealism. Even if Daeghun disappeared for days without a warning, aside from missing him, it wasn’t a big deal because: 1. “He’s my Dad, he’s big, strong, clever and he’s an ADVENTURER, he’ll defeat any monster!”, 2. “Oh, hi, your name’s Bevil? Let’s play~!” If Ophelia needed company, she probably just went out to get it – and since she was outspoken and very polite if she wanted to, she was probably cherished by the whole village.
Imagine Daeghun coming back from the forest and seeing a flower on the table with the note with crudely scribed elven letters: “Welcome back, Dad”. Ophelia probably was making such notes on the morning she noticed Daeghun left, and later she was just picking a fresh flower every day of his absence.
It didn’t matter that Daeghun wasn’t giving her as much attention as Retta was giving her children, for example. “I’m his daughter, Daddy loves me. He HAS TO love me. :3 There’s no other way.” (And I’ve been wondering, since when she learned to lie so well to herself…)
After she started reading, she probably started to romantize Deaghun, to the point of being actually PROUD that she’s alone all the time. “Lone Wolves belong to the forests and wilderness. I am a daughter of a Lone Wolf.” She was building her own legend to cope with Daeghun’s absence. It worked HILARIOUSLY well.
Then came one day in which little Ophie decided it was a SPLENDID IDEA to, like, take her wooden sword toy and GO LOOK FOR HER DADDY IN THE SWAMP. The only reason she survived was because Daeghun heard her crying after she got lost. I cannot imagine him beating KC, but I have no idea, how he would react to such a thing. I wouldn’t be surprised if that was the only time that Daeghun actually used a wooden sick to beat some common sense into her. Or maybe not – because just after that escapade Daeghun realized that he should probably, like, actually TELL Ophie that he wanted for her to sit at home.
This is also the moment Daegun probably started to try to teach her something about the forest, just in case little idiot would follow him again, despite his stern orders. Ophelia learned almost nothing, but she got to spend with her disaster of a dad more time – which was for her another proof that he CARED.
And then there was that one night when Daeghun returned after a longer absence and Ophelia was nowhere to be found, but he went peacefully to sleep because she was probably just sleeping at Retta’s house, and just another day brother Merring came and low-key yelled at Daeghun for not taking care of little Ophie, because at that moment she, Amie and Bevil were all lying in his house, and he was nursing them back to health. Daeghun suddenly heard what his foster daughter was able to get herself into when he wasn’t around to mind her, and he had so vivid flashbacks of Esmerelle’s behavior, that from that point onward he began to spend more time in home. And to teach Ophelia how to use actual weapons. And a bow. And he found out she was pretty good at bowmanship and he felt pride, even though he was telling himself he had no right.
Consider also the following dialogue: “Why you didn’t listen to X?” “I listen only to you! You are my Dad!” “…*heavy sigh* So if I tell you to listen to X…” “I’ll do it! :D “ Suddenly Daegun quickly learned to describe his commands IN EXTREME DETAIL because that little crazy blonde was always finding some loophole.
“Dad, I want to kiss you! Dad, I wanna hug you! Dad, here’s a gift! Dad, listen to this song! Dad, here are some flowers!” It didn’t mean much that Daeghun was rather cold. Like, he was ALLOWING her to do all this and he always accepted her gifts. He HAD to love her. Accepting affection is a clear sign of love, of course that she had to initiate it, though, no action, no reaction, yes? (That also explains why she’s so bold at flirting. She’s just used that she must be the one to make the first step.)
That’s about child!Ophie. Adult!Ophie never truly changed her mindset that much. Her interpretations just became more mature: “he loves me, he has just troubles to show his feelings, he’s absent a lot because he loves solitude and needs it like air, he’s grim but he was always there for me. How can I hold any grudge? He’s my beloved father, a better one than I’ve ever deserved (because I’m a monster who forgot what is fear ect.).“
In a nutshell: Ophelia probably unintentionally terrorized Daeghun into being a slightly better dad.
I also totally headcanon that the first time Daeghun saw Ophelia at his doorstep after she came back from Rashemen, he probably cried for the first time in front of her. And Ophelia was like: “Dad, you sometimes wandered off for days and I was alone, but you always came back to me. How could I not come back when I knew that now you were waiting for me?” ))