MBSGBC 04

Chapter 04

Every word from Lion Voltain felt like a story about someone in a distant world.

I thought of Emil. The child was certainly adorable. He seemed like a very clever boy. But still…

“Good heavens. If I got divorced, I got divorced—I had absolutely no intention of accepting that child!”

“I don’t know how your family convinced you. But I saw with my own eyes you raising Oker’s bastard. As always, did your soft heart get the better of you?”

“That can’t be!”

“You like pretty things.”

“That’s true, but…”

Come to think of it, it wasn’t entirely implausible. Before I came back to the past, I’d been on the verge of giving up anyway.

If I had given up. If I had decided to stake everything on my hollow position as the lawful wife and endure that humiliation.

The future Lion spoke of would surely have come to pass.

Lion Voltain didn’t give me time to process this absurd revelation. The man smiled gently and casually tossed out shocking information as if teasing me.

“How long do you think it took for Leah Vestine to become Leah Oker after your funeral?”

“…How long?”

“Three months.”

“Those bastards?”

“Watching over you from a distance was my mistake.”

It was a voice so weary and tired—unlike his usual brazen self.

Today’s Lion Voltain seemed somehow worn out. Still young, still beautiful, still clearly strong, yet for some reason, he felt like an old man.

His beautiful eyes looked down at me.

“You were a very good mother.”

“That’s completely unimaginable…”

“So you’ll raise my child well too.”

“P-… Pardon?”

What on earth was he saying?

“You have a child?”

“Four years old. The prime of cuteness, wouldn’t you say?”

I counted backward. Four years ago. If it was four years ago…

“Are you saying it was conceived while we were dating?”

I crossed a mountain of garbage and found an ocean of garbage. What even is my life? A collector of philanderers with children?

“Looks that way.”

My vision went dark.

Not only Pascal, but my ex-boyfriend had also committed infidelity. I could no longer contain my rage. I grabbed the liquor bottle in front of me and hurled it at him, shouting.

“Get out of here right now!”

Lion casually caught the bottle I’d thrown and replied in an exaggerated tone.

“Oh my. You say such hurtful things so casually.”

“Do you even know what hurt means? You’re just like Pascal. Why are you doing this to me?”

“Because you said it.”

“What did I…”

“That you didn’t want to have children.”

His voice was so mesmerizing that even ordinary words sounded like a song.

“You said it hurt, you hated it, and it was scary. You also said that if a man truly loves a woman, he should have the guts to at least bear her child.”

That was…

I had indeed said that.

It was just a petulant joke. Something I’d said to a man whose departure was already set, right before I left the Magic Tower.

“You said it was nonsense back then!”

“After thinking about it, I realized I might actually be able to do it.”

In Lion’s eyes as he looked at me, I read a glint of chilling madness.

“I bore your child.”

Lion Voltain, with a kind of beautiful, radiant smile I’d never seen from him before, spouted absolute nonsense.

“So shouldn’t you take responsibility for me?”

*’I’ll give you some time to think.’*

—

Lion Voltain appeared like a storm, displayed his destructive power, and left.

On the invitation he casually tossed onto the low table was written in golden ink: *’Come see me once.’* An invitation with no date or place.

I folded the invitation and hid it under the small clock on the dusty mantelpiece, then saw Lion out.

My family would absolutely throw a fit if they saw the invitation, and unlike the Magic Tower’s issued robes, my dress didn’t have any pockets.

After the ducal carriage left the front of the house, my mother and Schule, with pale faces and bloodshot eyes, buzzed around me like hungry baby birds, chirping frantically.

“What did he say?”

They didn’t seem to care at all that Lion Voltain had left without even a basic greeting to the head of the household.

Then again, it was my mother and Schule. It wouldn’t have been surprising if they’d had their ears pressed to the door, eavesdropping on our conversation.

“We just talked about old times at the Magic Tower.”

“Preposterous!”

My mother shoved aside Schule, who was screaming with his hands trembling, and hurriedly said,

“Dear, are you telling me a gentleman in his prime spent time alone with a woman past her prime and only talked about that?”

“If you’re so suspicious, why don’t you send an inquiry to the ducal residence and ask!”

Whether they actually had the nerve to do that remained to be seen.

Whether they were chattering beside me or not, only one sentence echoed in my mind. *’I carried your child’* *’I carried your child’* *’I…’*

No, seriously, what the hell is that supposed to mean?

Obviously, there was no magic that allowed a man to bear a child. The kingdom was fundamentally a male-dominated society. Women would bear children anyway, so why would noble men ever bother attempting such difficult and dangerous endeavors?

However, one fact drove me mad with anxiety.

‘Lion Voltain might actually be able to do it!’

If it were him, he might have pulled it off. He’s exactly the kind of man who would!

At this point, the fact that there was no activity between us that could have produced a child wasn’t all that important. Lion Voltain was a genius mage and an iconic figure in alchemy.

Was there anyone in this world who knew what he could and couldn’t do?

I desperately hoped that this ‘child’ was either a metaphor for our joint research, or just a lie he’d made up to torment me. Or even—this would also be terrible, but I’d even accept it if it implied some kind of perverse sexual preference!

Otherwise, I felt like I’d end up meeting some chimera monster that could only say ‘M-Mother…’

Oh, please, let it not be that!

“Now that things have come to this, we have no choice but to hold onto Pascal tightly!”

My mother’s sharp voice tore through my already chaotic mind. I reflexively retorted.

“I told you, I’m not marrying that man!”

“Then are you saying we should look for another, better match now? I can’t do that! Unless it’s a man about twenty years older than you, maybe.”

My mother muttered dreadful things, then added unnecessarily, like a fox saying ‘those grapes are surely sour!’

“Yes, the Duke Voltain is His Highness the Crown Prince’s cousin, after all. There’s no way dragon’s blood would formally betroth themselves to a poor baronial family like ours. He’s exactly the kind of man who’s good for a lover.”

Continuing with remarks befitting Lady Otreha, who’d never lacked lovers in her life.

“You’ve already had experience seducing him, haven’t you? His Grace probably hasn’t entirely forgotten you either. Think of how much strength it would bring our family if you married Pascal for stability and maintained a… good relationship with the Duke.”

My mother’s hand, speaking so casually, gently gripped my chin. They were soft hands that had never done hard work, except for occasionally holding ledgers and pens.

“If your face resembled mine just a little more, your life would be much easier.”

I swatted my mother’s hand away. As if I didn’t know. Even if I listened to her and married a wealthy man, life didn’t become all that easy.

*’Whether I become the debtor of this house or that house, it’s just that choice.’*

I thought of Lion’s invitation hidden under the clock.

If I set aside the incomprehensible ‘my child’ declaration for a moment, it might very well be one of my options. Perhaps the most perfect option available to me right now.

But clearly, that would only result in a change of debtor.

*’If that’s the case… then the only option left is this!’*

As far as I remembered, there was still a once-in-a-lifetime investment opportunity left for me.

If you could even call it an investment, that is.