A Contract Marriage with My Child’s Father - Chapter 60

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 60

At least that’s a relief. He hasn’t lost consciousness.

I knelt on the floor and met the child’s gaze. I could feel a burning fever from his skin where I touched him.

“Young Master.”

I urgently grabbed his wrist to check his pulse first, but Jayden forced himself to try to lift the corners of his mouth.

“I’m f-fine. Hehe…”

Because he didn’t want me to worry. Even in this situation, Jayden was trying his best to pretend he was okay to reassure me.

Children cry when they’re hurt and laugh when they’re happy.

However, Jayden was acting exactly the opposite.

It felt like my heart was being torn to shreds. I got choked up without realizing it and my voice grew louder.

“What do you mean you’re fine!”

When you’re in such a mess. Since the balance that had been forcibly maintained was broken, the pain the child was feeling now must be beyond imagination.

If he had been in continuous pain it might be different, but pain that returns after not hurting would feel doubled.

Yet Jayden was holding onto his hazy consciousness and smiling. Just what…

This isn’t the time to be caught up in emotions.

Even during this, Jayden’s condition was getting worse by the moment.

‘We can’t stay here.’

I bit my lip and urgently looked back.

As if they had followed me who suddenly rushed in, I could see Craig and the knights through the open doorway.

“Sir Craig! Come help me! Hurry!”

I had to take him to the manor as quickly as possible to give him emergency treatment.

The knights, startled by my shout, tried to rush over here at once.

But they weren’t the only ones who approached Jayden’s side.

“What are you doing?”

A cold shadow fell over me. Before I knew it, Morden was looking down at me.

“How dare a mere commoner who doesn’t know her place… interrupt the lesson? Swordsmanship lessons are my jurisdiction. Don’t interfere and leave.”

Ha. What is this. Jurisdiction? Then you should have done it properly from the beginning.

I was speechless with absurdity, when he growled another warning.

“The lesson isn’t over yet. Didn’t you hear me tell you to leave?”

His cold voice pierced my eardrums.

Not once did his gaze fall on Jayden who was in pain.

‘I thought something was strange.’

The knight order that suddenly had an empty healer position.

Personnel that weren’t being replenished despite being the prestigious Ashern Duchy.

Yujin’s hands that had become a mess as if he’d been tormented with malice.

And even his behavior trying to cover it up as if nothing had happened.

Now I could finally realize the identity of the sense of unease I had been feeling all along.

Everything was the captain of the knights’ doing.

‘Driving Jayden to this state was definitely…’

It wasn’t poor management or anything like that, but intentional.

I stared at Morden.

Looking up at him from below, he was massive and intimidating.

Even I, an adult, was suffocated, so there’s no way a mere child could have resisted that oppressive attitude.

Unbearable anger surged to the top of my head.

I entrusted Jayden to the knights who had rushed over and stood up abruptly.

“You… don’t tell me you’ve been teaching like this all along?”

“Even if I have, what will you do about it? Teaching methods are entirely at my discretion. It’s not a place for a mere healer to interfere without knowing her place.”

Morden’s coldly spat words made me explode.

“What do you mean it’s not! A young child is in this condition!”

Jayden’s state was a mess no matter how I looked at it again.

If one were human. If one had even a little bit of human heart, one shouldn’t drive a child to such a situation.

But this basic logic didn’t seem to work on Morden.

“This is why lowly things are.”

His eyes glittered eerily. A chilling madness like that of a fanatic was vivid in his pupils.

“If he can’t overcome even this much, he won’t become proper Dragon Blood.”

Morden explained as if stating the truth that the sun rises in the east.

However, his words sounded like mere sophistry to me.

“Young Master is a child. He’s just a six-year-old patient!”

“Being a commoner, you have no idea what Dragon Blood means.”

Morden twisted the corner of his mouth bitterly.

His face was full of mockery as if looking at something stupid and dull.

“I have served the ducal family with my life since the previous generation. I know the nobility of Dragon Blood and the weight they bear to the bone.”

“…”

“But do you think a mere commoner wench who only handles herbs would know Dragon Blood better than I do?”

Flash. An indescribable killing intent poured out from his eyes.

The momentum to subdue me even by force.

My body stiffened with instinctive fear, but I raised my head more stiffly to not be overwhelmed by his momentum.

* * *

Craig’s body trembled at the fierce killing intent emanating from Morden. It was such a terrible energy that it made his spine chill.

‘Dangerous.’

It was a fact known to all members that the captain of the knights wasn’t in his right mind when it came to Dragon Blood. But Viola clearly didn’t know that fact.

…If she provokes the captain like that, there’s no telling what might happen!

Morden was one of the few Sword Masters in the Empire. There was no way an ordinary person could withstand his killing intent.

Especially with such a delicate woman’s body…

‘I have to stop this.’

The captain terribly hated it when his subordinates interfered with his work, but now wasn’t the time to worry about such things. If left like this, Lady Viola would be in danger.

“Lady Viola!”

It was exactly the moment when Craig urgently tried to get between the two.

“Aaaahhhhh!”

A resounding shout echoed through the training grounds.

A sound too loud to be a scream, and filled with desperate anger to be a battle cry.

The fact that the source of that sound was none other than Viola froze not only Craig but all the knights.

Even Morden seemed flustered by the unexpected counterattack and withdrew his killing intent.

Surprisingly, Viola, who always smiled gently like spring sunshine, had her eyes half-crazed.

“Dragon Blood! Dragon Blood! That damn Dragon Blood!”

She fumed and raged.

“Aren’t you ashamed? A Sword Master forcing such things on a child who’s not even half your height?”

“L-Lady Viola…?”

Craig called her in confusion, but it didn’t seem to reach Viola’s ears. She glared straight at Morden and snapped.

“What, is Dragon Blood not even human? Are they made of iron? They bleed when cut by swords, they hurt when hit. They’re all the same people! Just how long are you going to keep up that damn Dragon Blood talk? Aren’t you sick of it!”

Viola, who had poured everything out, panted roughly with anger.

She was so frustrated and upset that tears were even welling up in her bloodshot eyes.

“Before talking about the greatness of Dragon Blood, go study children’s developmental stages! Someone like you doesn’t have the qualifications to be a teacher!”

But her sincere words weren’t enough to break Morden’s twisted beliefs.

“Ha.”

Morden’s face contorted with cold anger.

“How dare…”

Shing. A chilling metallic sound rang out. Morden’s hand touched the sword hilt at his waist.

“A lowly commoner dares to spout such nonsense.”

Craig instinctively realized it. That wasn’t a simple threat.

The captain was truly ready to draw his sword and cut her down.

Yet Viola didn’t retreat even an inch, keeping her head held high as she watched Morden.

No! It was the moment Craig reflexively tried to throw himself forward.

“Stop.”

A low but heavy voice cut through the space.

Morden’s hand hesitated under the unapproachable, absolute pressure.

Everyone’s gaze turned toward the entrance.

How long had he been there? The red-eyed man who should have been in the capital by now stood there.

It was Cain Ashern.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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