Black-Haired Dad Isn’t Something You Reap - Chapter 68

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 68. A Helbatro Side Story Here? Really? (2)
What is it with this woman? Why is she so terrifying? Just moments ago, I’d come from slaughtering hundreds, thousands, and my entire body seemed to radiate killing intent. Beyond mere bloodlust, the way she made my skin crawl—I could almost call it a ghostly aura. And those eyes of hers. Even though it was clear she was looking down on me, I found myself unable to muster any anger.
I couldn’t find any logical basis for it… but simply put, I was afraid of this woman.
“What is the matter?”
“No. Yes, nothing. It’s nothing at all.”
I quickly averted my gaze. Just from making eye contact, cold sweat broke across my skin.
The Marquis, seeming to understand my state perfectly, let out a soft, mocking laugh before calling her daughter and uttering something outrageous.
“You want to leave home because of that fool, don’t you?”
“Now, Marquis! That fool? This is an insult to the imperial family!”
“I am currently speaking with my daughter. It is rude of you to interrupt.”
No, who’s really being rude here! I felt like I was going to develop an ulcer from sheer indignation.
“Yes, I am leaving home because of that fool.”
Still reeling from the Marquis’s words, Lutia went even further and insulted me. If she thinks of me as “that fool,” then why did she agree to marry me in the first place, you woman!
“You would abandon the power of the legitimate line, the duties of succession, all your subordinates and the battlefield, and choose that man?”
“I need neither power nor status. Helbatro alone is sufficient for me.”
“Did I raise you to be this way!”
The Marquis strikes Lutia across the cheek. I’d anticipated something might happen, but what unfolded before my eyes was entirely different. Lutia seized her mother’s wrist and applied pressure as though she might snap it at any moment.
“I’m no longer a child who would throw herself onto the battlefield at a word to die.”
“You wretch…!”
“You’ve grown old.”
Lutia wrenched the Marquis’s wrist away. The atmosphere between them had become so murderous that I felt like weeping.
“If this is a mother-daughter quarrel, perhaps you should… take it outside…?”
I spoke in a trembling voice, and the Lorowi Marquis fixed me with eyes wide as a ghost’s, glaring at me with such intensity that I felt she could kill me with her gaze alone. I had been afraid ever since the beginning.
“Of all people, why must my child bear a child with this incompetent idiot?”
No, wait—that’s also an insult to the imperial family.
“That is what has come to pass.”
Why would you just accept it like that?
“Do you think I would permit this!”
“And if you don’t permit it, what then?”
Lutia swiftly drew a pistol from the garter belt at her thigh and fired twice. Her marksmanship was so precise that the bullets merely shattered the ornamental hairpin adorning the Lorowi Marquis’s upswept hair.
“…”
“…”
“You’ve grown well.”
You nearly died from gunfire and that’s all you have to say?!
The sheer cultural shock left me utterly bewildered. And the greater shock still was that after receiving this barrage of gunfire, the Marquis had uttered something that sounded like consent to the marriage.
“I’ll turn a blind eye for now. Your brother is not fit to lead the military. When playtime ends, he must return.”
“I’m not going back.”
“Then I’m too busy. There’s no need to invite me to the wedding.”
So I really am going to marry this woman. Having it confirmed this way left my mind completely blank.
Since Lutia had prepared everything—the wedding venue design, the ceremonial robes, all of it—I had nothing to do. My mother had completely fallen for this woman, saying how fortunate it was that such a capable daughter-in-law was coming into the family. When I thought about later entrusting her with state affairs, my head throbbed relentlessly.
Ende brought surprising news that he had defeated Lorowi. With only my uncle’s remaining forces left to deal with, I invited him to come here for a bachelor party when he had free time, but his reply was to drop dead.
Ha, I appreciate the suggestion, but since he’s busy, he said we’d have the party next time. The guy’s great in every way, but the problem is his mouth runs like a broken faucet.
“Helbatro, you look absolutely magnificent.”
“Isn’t that supposed to be what I say to you?”
When I emerged wearing the ceremonial robes crafted for the marriage, Lutia offered her assessment of my impeccable appearance.
No matter what anyone says, I know perfectly well that this woman loves me intensely. It’s almost uncomfortably overwhelming, but honestly, a marriage like this isn’t so bad. I thought I’d be entering a purely strategic union, but having at least one side brimming with love—well, that’s rather nice.
I never imagined I’d actually live together with a wife. I assumed we’d merge territories and each rule our own nations separately—Media and Kisomalos, for instance.
“Will you tell me I’m beautiful too?”
“Your beauty is an undeniable fact that no one could dispute.”
“Hehe.”
My aesthetic judgment is impeccable, after all. When I first saw you, you were so perfectly aligned with my tastes that I stood there like a fool struck by lightning. Your personality leaves much to be desired, but your beauty is unquestionably the finest in all of Kisomalos—no, the entire Mortal Realm.
Speaking with such confidence, the woman’s laughter deepened.
“I love that about you.”
“Well, I’m flawless in every way.”
“No, your womanizing habits and personality are truly the worst.”
To rattle off such words without even pausing for breath—that’s so like you.
Meeting a woman like this must be Kisomalos’s doing as well. With that thought, I signed the marriage certificate.

✦ ✦ ✦
After the grand wedding ceremony came days of genuine happiness. The Empress Mother remained so vigorous that she could manage state affairs for another hundred years, which meant I might live my entire life without ever inheriting the throne. As for Lutia—well, ahem, it was wonderful.
Sometimes I’d visit her first, and sometimes when I was too busy to call on her, she’d storm into my office instead, and well, ahem, it was wonderful.
Living like that, Lutia eventually became pregnant. The thought of having my own child was thrilling. I’d heard that when wives become pregnant, husbands often stray during that time. I figured I’d test the waters carefully and see if it seemed safe.
“Now that we have a child, I suppose you won’t need that lower half of yours anymore.”
I’d momentarily forgotten. It was absolutely not safe. This woman was a deranged thug.
“No, I won’t see another woman. Not even if I die. Please, spare me.”
Her instincts were uncanny.
I begged her not to castrate me and waited for the birth. The newborn looked like a monkey and was repulsive, but once hair grew in and it became fluffy, it transformed into the cutest baby in the world.
“Oh my, how beautiful. Takes after me, that’s why. Takes after me.”
“Papa!”
“The child called me papa. Did you hear that, Tania?”
“How could a one-month-old baby possibly speak?”
Chief Attendant Grandmother has no sense of romance. When I countered that if the child takes after me, it must be intelligent enough to have said papa, the Chief Attendant gave me an appalled look before uttering something terrifying.
“If the child takes after Your Highness, it won’t speak until age three.”
“I told you, listing facts to justify assault is forbidden!”
“Hehe.”
As Attendant Tania and I bickered as usual, Lutia snatched the child away, saying it was time to nurse.
“You know, honestly speaking, that kind of play is possible too.”
“You bastard!”
Chief Attendant Grandmother beat me repeatedly and drove me out of the Empress Palace. I mean, even if she’s practically the mother who raised me, is it really acceptable for her to bruise an Emperor’s Son like this?
When I protested, the Chief Attendant even removed her shoe and thrashed me with it. I should have kept my mouth shut. I only ended up getting hit more for letting my tongue wag.
“Hmm.”
Seeing my child fills me with such renewed determination. I hope to work diligently and pass down the prosperous nation that Empress Mother has built so carefully. Perhaps my daughter will become the next Emperor. After all, I have no intention of inheriting the throne and plan to avoid it as long as possible.
Even now, shouldering these responsibilities feels burdensome—becoming Emperor would only make it harder. I sincerely hope Mother lives as long as possible. I offered a prayer to Kisomalos for my mother’s longevity and returned to my office.

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