Deadline Is Raining in the Status Window - Chapter 316

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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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“There’s nothing strange about that at all! Anyone among you who can manifest wings or has dragon traits—be honest and raise your hands!”
After I reassured the children and gave the signal, three younger sisters raised their hands along with the starving child who had already manifested wings, and one younger brother did as well.
“Listen up! The Duchess Neftis is a dragon! It’s perfectly normal for you to be half-dragon!”
“Wow!”
“That explains it! I always thought Mother possessed beauty that transcended humanity!”
“To think someone as ordinary as me harbors such a secret origin! How moving!”
“She doesn’t age much, and she’s beautiful!”
“But Father doesn’t age either, does he? Is Father also a dragon?”
“No! Father just has a youthful appearance!”
“Wow!”
An even louder cheer filled the mansion. Though honestly, it’s more remarkable for an ordinary human to remain young and beautiful than for a dragon to do so.
“We’ll have the half-dragons call either Samryong or Professor Ilyong later for special lectures.”
For now, let’s not waste time and just play. Today’s star is Rael, so let’s do whatever Rael wants to do. When I gave them the choice, my younger sibling looked at another sibling and smiled brightly.
“Let’s play baseball. Luan probably wants to show her skills to you as well.”
The sibling bonds among the Neftis children are truly radiant. Despite their parents being what they are, they’ve all grown up wonderfully. My chest swelled with emotion, and before I knew it, I wiped away tears that had spilled down my cheeks, gathered the equipment, and headed to the garden.
The difference in strength was enormous, so it was better for me to umpire. I stood behind the catcher, but my younger siblings looked dissatisfied.
“We want to play together with you!”
“It may be difficult, but could you accommodate us?”
Hmm… if I turn off my superhuman skills and only use one hand and one foot, I might be able to play while holding back. Besides, baseball isn’t a sport where one person can win alone.
At my siblings’ request, I left the umpiring to the butler apprentice and stepped up as the number one batter for Mitchell’s team. Luan was pitching for the opposing team, and though I swung the bat with a light heart, the ball that came at me was anything but light, grazing past my side.
“Strike!”
A forkball clocking around 150 kilometers per hour dropped at nearly a right angle. So the reputation of leading the Neftis Children’s Baseball Team to a national championship wasn’t unfounded.
“This is fun.”
Now this is my younger sibling. I adjusted my grip on the bat. I said I’d keep my physical abilities at minimum and use only one hand and one foot, but I wouldn’t hold back anymore. I got serious, and when the second pitch came, I smacked it cleanly over the mansion’s fence. As I rounded third base with a thunderous crack, Luan’s face fell, but she didn’t lose her composure and struck out the next batter.
“Three outs! Change!”
The game continued, and after a fierce battle, Mitchell’s team won 11 to 9. Luan Neftis, the pitcher for Rael’s team, removed her baseball cap, paid her respects to her team and the field, then cried as if summer itself had ended.
“….”
I should have let her win and played more gently.

◇ ◆ ◇

As summer ended in the bloom of youth, Luan rushed about busily preparing to inherit the title. I had thought Rael would cling to the Duke’s position no matter what, even if he married into the Imperial Palace, but he unexpectedly ceded it to his younger sibling—quite a bold move. As a result, there’s an abundance of work.
From minor details like genealogies and portrait corrections to making the rounds of relatives again and submitting formal reports to the Emperor, Luan and her siblings are working incredibly hard to complete the succession ceremony within my vacation period.
Even during the school term, if Luan’s succession ceremony were to occur, I’d make time to attend. There are plenty of ways to manage it. Self-imposed breaks, or self-imposed breaks, and so forth.
“Sister! We’ve received word that the heir of House Letem will be visiting soon!”
“Why on earth?”
I was holed up in the Neftis Townhouse during my vacation. Since it was my younger sibling’s last time living at the family home, I’d obtained permission from all three husbands and was contentedly sipping peach juice when, from a distance, an uninvited carriage came thundering toward us.
From three thousand meters away, it was unmistakably the carriage of House Letem, and a gorilla with striking crimson hair descended from it, snorting as she bellowed my name.
“Yaaaack! Evan! Evan Mitchell! Where are you! You’re dead, seriously!”
Huh, what’s gotten into Reina? We haven’t fought recently, and there’s nothing in particular to quarrel about. The only reason Gorilla Reina’s fury would be directed at me is her jealousy over my blissful life with three husbands, but surely that can’t be it?
“Legendary Orb!”
“…!”
Wait, when did this lunatic acquire a Legendary skill?! I leaped off the veranda in shock.
“Reina! Have you lost your mind!”
“Burn it all to ash! Legendary Orb of Hellfire!”
“Yaaaack! Legendary Frozen Seal!”
The crimson flames extending from Reina gradually took on a blue hue, then shifted to violet. Is this madwoman insane? Just how high a temperature of flames is she producing?
“Calm down! Calm yourself, Gorilla Reina!”
“Kraaaagh!”
“I don’t know what’s happened, but I’ll help you! Absolutely, no matter what!”
“Uuuuugh! You damned bastaaaaard!”
With her hair standing on end, Reina vented her fury, and only after reducing a ten-meter radius around the Townhouse’s garden to complete ash did she finally calm down. I’d poured nearly all my power into it, yet I couldn’t stop her flames. She’s truly a monster of a different caliber.
“Ugh, ugh, waaah!”
What are you crying about as if you’ve done something praiseworthy? Reina, trudging out of the ash, suddenly threw her arms around me and began sobbing uncontrollably. She’d been furious the moment she saw me, then cried—has her mind become afflicted? More importantly, don’t embrace me outdoors; some of my fanbase will shriek with delight.
“Waaaaah! Because of you, I can’t even date men anymore!”
“Please don’t say things that will make some of my fanbase happy!”
“Sister! If you’d informed me about the Heart of Flame and Jindo’s departure, couldn’t you have given me a heads-up!”
“It’s a misunderstanding!”
Now that I think about it, my own younger brother was part of that fanbase. I desperately explained to Rael that it wasn’t like that, then pried Reina off by patting her back repeatedly.
“My ambition to date a hundred men, my long-held dream—it’s all ruined because of you!”
“What are you talking about?”
“Ah, could it be…”
Sensing what Reina was crying about, Rael brought up a previous matter.
“Sister, you know how you provided a service to His Majesty the Emperor the other day.”
“A service?”
“Yes. You said you’d provide a service so that His Majesty, who’s obsessed with control, wouldn’t develop rage sickness from stepping back from state affairs under the pretext of pregnancy, but then you were imprisoned for blasphemy.”
“Ah, that’s right.”
Pregnancy doesn’t just make your body heavy—hormonal changes are significant, and who knows what aftereffects or complications might arise after childbirth. So I became friends with Cecilia and had Cha Cha combine genes to send an egg. A child who resembles both Cecilia and Rael equally will be born soon; it’ll be incredibly beautiful.
Of course, since it’s a friend service, I’m prepared to oblige if Eugene or Kanna request it. As for Reina… I’ll have to think carefully about that.
“Because of that, a great uproar occurred in the Nobility Council.”
“Huh?”
“Since we can produce heirs through the Egg anyway, we could send a woman as Empress Consort.”
“Wh-what…?”
Now that I thought about it, that would work too. There was no need for a man and woman to share a bed, and if two women mixed their genetics, any offspring would invariably be female. Having the female gender in the succession struggle meant holding higher ground than everyone else.
“…Surely not?”
“It’s me, me! That damned Empress Consort candidate is me!”
“Oh….”
Count Letem had made a bold decision… But wait, Reina—what was your mother asking you to do? You could just refuse, couldn’t you? At my words, Reina whimpered again, tears glistening in her eyes.
“If I don’t attend the formal meeting with His Majesty, he won’t give me the title of Count!”
You possess such tremendous power, yet you still wish to grasp authority in human society as well. Truly, you are the Flame King. Your greed rivals that of a Demon Lord.
“Why don’t you just go once? You can always get rejected and come back, right?”
“Hey! If it were me, I’d obviously become the Emperor’s favored Empress Consort!”
“Why are you so overflowing with confidence?”

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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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