MBSGBC 20

 Chapter 20

My Ex-Boyfriend Supposedly Gave Birth to My Child. What Is Going On? Chapter 20**

Madame Chastain slowly looked over my dress, then shifted her gaze back to my face.

“A choice like this usually comes from someone who knows their place.”

At those words, the ladies around us perked up their ears.

“Or else,”

The lady paused and glanced toward the staircase.

“From someone who calculates very quickly.”

I kept my head bowed and gave no answer.

“Which one are you?”

“Since you have invited me, I am simply doing my best.”

“Aah.”

The Countess Chastain’s gaze swept once more over the staircase, where the guest of honor had yet to appear. She seemed to have keenly grasped that the child’s appearance itself was the host’s intention.

Perhaps it was my imagination, but Madame Chastain seemed to have grown somewhat softer toward me than before.

‘Well, of course—after going this far, there’s no way I’d covet her precious son.’

Whether I had such intentions or not, once she had heard from her son’s own mouth that ‘the Lady Hautreha once saved my life,’ she had no choice but to suspect my motives. Someone who demands marriage as repayment for saving a life. It was a cliché.

Given Madame Chastain’s status and character, she could only be far stricter with someone who might become part of her family. But if that woman carried another man’s bastard child?

My burden had now become someone else’s burden!

Madame Chastain even went so far as to introduce me to the surrounding ladies with a rare display of generosity.

Some ladies greeted me warmly, but several showed blatant displeasure and pushed me aside.

“Countess Chastain. I am concerned that Lady Hautreha’s conduct might tarnish your dignity.”

One lady lashed out in a sharp tone.

“To bring both a bastard child and a lover to an official ball. Has there ever been such an insulting act in the kingdom’s history?”

At those sharp words, Madame Chastain’s eyes glinted coldly. She raised her fan, snapped it shut with a loud click, and pointed its end at the lady’s face. It was a stern attitude.

“Madame, I believe you are forgetting one thing.”

Her voice, cold as a guillotine, crushed the other woman’s words.

“How His Majesty the Wise King ascended to the throne in the past.”

Yes.

The kingdom had a king who was born a bastard.

A man who had even torn apart and rewritten the kingdom’s succession law to become king.

“That is—!”

“Of course, that depends on how Duke Voltain chooses to act.”

Madame Chastain added, her gaze reaching Leon, who was looking this way.

“He seems to have no intention of hiding the child, nor of denying him.”

A silence settled between the ladies as they looked at one another.

—

* * *

—

Truthfully, I was anxiously awaiting Princess Isabella’s entrance.

It was because I had not received a reply to the letter I had sent Princess Isabella some time ago.

Unlike me, who was smiling among the women until my face twitched with tension, Leon Voltain, playing with our son, looked infuriatingly at ease.

He, who had never cared about appearances from the start, had been merely nodding lightly at those who came to greet him and teasing Lucian, who was whining from sleepiness.

It was the moment when Leon, who had been entertaining the child, and I briefly met each other’s eyes. The music in the ballroom changed.

The fast dance piece that had been playing was replaced by a slower, lower-register melody that filled the hall.

Then, from the top of the ballroom’s high staircase, a red figure slowly revealed herself.

“Princess Isabella.”

Today as well, she wore a red dress. Each time the vivid red dress swayed with her movements, a subtle purple, a blue-green like the wings of a jewel beetle, and a gold like scattered gold dust shimmered between its shadows, brilliant as the inside of a pearl oyster’s shell.

The moment I saw that, I realized I had received my passing grade.

Yes.

Princess Isabella had appeared wearing a dress made from our workshop’s fabric!

—

* * *

—

The development of the fabric had been completed long ago.

Soft fabric had sufficient demand but was not highly profitable. To grow money through my workshop business, I needed a more special business item than that.

And I had such a thing.

A masterpiece accidentally co-developed by me in this life and an inventor who had visited the Ocker family in my past life!

The reason I had not revealed it until now was that I had been waiting for the perfect stage on which to unveil the fabric.

For instance, a ball hosted personally by Princess Isabella.

Sure enough.

Enthusiastic reactions that could never have been drawn out by what I was wearing burst forth from all directions.

“Princess’s dress…….”

“My goodness, it’s truly beautiful……!”

Some people alternated their gazes between the princess and me, giving meaningful looks. I pretended not to notice and examined Princess Isabella thoroughly.

Each time the blade-like beautiful Princess Isabella descended the stairs step by step, a light like gold flowing down swirled from the hem of her dress.

I had thought she was beautiful when we first met, but today the princess looked almost like a divine being.

‘Perfectly beautiful.’

White skin and silver hair shining like jewels, contrasted by the brilliant red dress. It could only be described as truly perfect.

I struggled to keep the corners of my mouth, which kept rising, calm.

I must prepare for mass production the moment I return. My heart trembled at the thought of the orders that would come flooding in.

Princess Isabella was, as expected, a truly perfect promotional model.

A month ago, as soon as Princess Isabella invited me to the ball, I immediately created a red fabric for her.

Princess Isabella was of the royal direct line and was the full sister of the Second Prince Adrian. That meant she would already know that Lucian was the dragon’s child.

She was now one of the few people in high society who could not harbor hostility toward Leon or Lucian.

‘That means the princess cannot be my enemy either.’

Above all, that red fabric was one of the most beautiful fabrics even in my workshop. For a woman interested in clothing, for someone who needed to stand out, even if some slight suspicion remained about me, she truly would not be able to resist.

A foot wearing red shoes, the hem of a dress shining in several colors, stopped before me. A beautiful voice that sounded slightly stiff spoke to me.

“Lady Hautreha.”

“I greet the star of the kingdom, Princess Isabella.”

I bowed with full courtesy, neither too slowly nor too quickly.

“Your eye is excellent. What method did you use?”

“I used magic in the fabric’s finishing treatment.”

I felt a silence.

A silence that truly contained many thoughts, that is.

“This is the first time I have seen magic used so elegantly.”

“It was the result of long research. Creating beautiful fabric is magic that requires formulas as complex as building a castle.”

“I see.”

The princess nodded as if satisfied and half-opened her fan.

“The reason I called you today……”

Her gaze turned toward Lucian, who was playing with Leon.

“Is to clean up the troublesome rumors currently covering high society.”

She gestured with her chin for me to follow, then slowly moved to Leon Voltain’s side. Her back was straight, and there was not a single flaw in her gait. It was a perfect, textbook-like appearance of royalty that everyone could only imagine in their dreams.

She stood before Leon Voltain. Wrapped in brilliant light.

“Leon Voltain.”

“Princess Isabella.”

The man, who did not even show basic courtesy toward the princess, rose leisurely with a child in his arms and looked down at her.

How should I put it……

The gazes of the two were extremely heated.

“The two of you are competing in beauty……!”

Yes. Just as some thoughtless young lady standing somewhere had exclaimed, it was like two peacocks with their tail feathers fully puffed, competing in beauty.

The silver peacock raised her head first and opened her mouth.

“I will ask one thing.”

She quietly, as if asking ‘What did you eat for dinner?’, dropped a thunderbolt of a question.

“There is a rumor that Duke Voltain’s bastard child greatly resembles Lady Hautreha. What do you think of that?”