Let’s Make Saving a Habit - Chapter 107

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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 107
Aiden lowered his head as if confessing a sin, parting his parched lips to speak.
“When Tania said she would become the Duchess’s daughter… I intended to let her go.”
That way, Tania could live the noble life she should have enjoyed from the start and remain safe.
No one would ever know that Tania carried the blood of the Tempus Family.
“But then Tania asked me to become her guard knight.”
The agonizing reality of my dilemma tormented me, and I despised myself for lacking the resolve to refuse her outright.
“I knew it shouldn’t happen that way… Yet in the end, I used the child’s plea as an excuse and selfishly followed her all the way to the Duke’s Residence.”
“Aiden, that’s not selfishness. How could wanting to be with your child be selfish?”
But the Duchess’s consolation barely reached Aiden’s heart.
Instead of accepting her reassurance, he broached another subject.
“In truth, even after becoming Tania’s guard, I made efforts to track down the Tempus Family Head. Yet for some reason, I could not find him.”
The man who had supposedly gone to recuperate in the Tempus Duchy due to poor health did not exist there either.
Had he ascended to the heavens, or sunk into the earth?
“By the time the Tempus Family Head position was inherited by Hugo, the young duke, I had never once laid eyes on his face.”
The Duchess quietly furrowed her brow.
“It’s true… I myself rarely saw Duke Tempus in my childhood, but I don’t think I’ve seen him at all since his children were born.”
Even at mandatory gatherings, his children would attend in his stead, citing health reasons.
“Yes. So while I cannot be certain… I suspect the Previous Tempus Family Head died quite some time ago.”
Had the Previous Tempus Family Head still been alive, he would have found Aiden and immediately discovered that Tania was his daughter.
There would have been no shortage of assassination attempts.
He would have sought to kill Tania by any means necessary.
Yet throughout my service as her guard knight, the child has never once faced a threat to her life.
The Duchess tilted her head in puzzlement.
“Then why don’t you reveal to Tania that you are her father?”
“How could I possibly.”
Aiden’s face contorted miserably.
“How could I dare claim now to be Tania’s true father?”
“Aiden….”
“I neither raised nor protected Tania.”
The Duchess found herself unable to speak.
She had thought she understood Aiden well enough, having observed him for quite some time. Yet she had never witnessed such turbulent emotion from him.
How much suffering must he have endured in solitude.
Without having walked in Aiden’s shoes, she could not fathom the depths of his anguish.
“Wait. Then the current Tempus Family Head is Tania’s uncle?”
“…Yes.”
“Ah, so that’s why Tania’s complexion turned ashen when she received the marriage proposal.”
Only then did the Duchess understand the entire situation.
In truth, when the proposal from Duke Tempus arrived, she had found it somewhat distasteful, yet on the other hand, quite amusing.
But for Aiden, who knew everything, that situation must have been terrifying.
It must have felt like she was going mad.
“If Tania’s ability is precognition, then the Tempus Family’s hidden ability must also be precognition.”
Certainly, it was an ability worth concealing from other families.
“…It’s unlikely to be a precognition ability.”
Only then did Duchess Papiope realize her mistake.
If the Tempus Family’s ability were precognition, she would have immediately suspected Tania of being a family member.
No sane person would have submitted a marriage proposal.
The Duchess’s brow furrowed deeply.
“Then what is Tania’s ability?”
Aiden hesitated for a moment, as if deliberating whether he should reveal this much, before finally speaking.
“According to Marquis Rivera’s Wife….”
The Duchess found herself quite satisfied that Aiden had referred to Rivera as ‘Marquis Rivera’s Wife.’
That firm title seemed to indirectly reveal a heart grown distant.
But such leisurely thoughts lasted only a moment.
At Aiden’s next words, the Duchess’s mind came to a complete halt.
“The Tempus Family awakens abilities related to ‘time,’ she said.”
“What?”
It was absurd.
No matter how powerful an Ability User might be, there was no way they could handle such an ability….
“I didn’t ask Tania directly, but I suspect her precognition ability might actually be the result of rewinding time to see the future.”
The Duchess’s pupils trembled violently at the revelation of the truth.
Moreover, Tania had previously foreseen both a poor harvest one year in the future and a bountiful harvest two years in the future.
If that were the case, then all of it….
She knew it all by rewinding time?
“I could accept rewinding a few seconds or minutes, perhaps. But rewinding years at a time entirely?”
It would have been more credible if Tania simply had precognition.
Then Aiden spoke, his expression growing darker.
“That’s likely due to the blood flowing through me.”
“Your bloodline?”
“Yes. My father was a commoner with mixed blood, but my mother came from a noble household where lineage was strictly managed, I’m told.”
Among commoners, it wasn’t uncommon to find families that managed their bloodlines.
Most of them possessed abilities related to their livelihoods.
“What was your mother’s family ability?”
“‘Amplification’ of abilities. Anyone in my mother’s family who awakened an ability would amplify whatever ability they awakened.”
“…How much amplification are we talking about?”
“I heard that if someone with water-related abilities could barely handle a single cup of water, they could manage at least a small spring’s worth.”
The Duchess had now reached a point where she could no longer distinguish dream from reality.
It was a more dangerous ability than any other.
“Then the Tempus Family Head would have had even more reason to kill Tania.”
With Tania monopolizing the entire share of power, not only Duke Tempus but everyone in the family would be unable to use their abilities.
After Tania awakened, she would have suddenly become an Ability User.
“If Hugo, the current Tempus Family Head, discovers this fact, he will stop at nothing to kill Tania.”
“Yes. However, given that he has been favorable toward Tania and even proposed to her, it seems he does not yet know.”
It was a blessing in disguise. As long as he remained ignorant, there would be no bloodshed.
But if the day came when he learned the truth…
I had no hesitation in drawing my blade.
She pulled Aiden into a tight embrace.
“Aiden, you’ve endured so much all this time.”
“No, ma’am. When I think of what Tania has suffered… I have not struggled at all.”
His voice carried a heavy, stifled quality.
“Don’t you find your situation unjust?”
…
“I find your situation unjust and lamentable. It brings tears to my eyes.”
A child fell into my arms overnight, and I abandoned everything to live the life of a fugitive.
I entrusted my daughter to the family I believed in, only to receive betrayal in return.
The daughter I finally reunited with does not recognize me, and I cannot reveal myself as her father.
All of this happened because of the Previous Tempus Family Head.
Aiden held the Duchess close and slowly opened his mouth.
“Even knowing it was a difficult path, I walked it all the way. Moreover…”
He paused, then spoke his truth with a smile that trembled on the edge of tears.
“I have been happy because of Tania. Her very existence gives me the strength to go on living.”
It was a devotion so profound it seemed boundless.
I resolved to give Aiden my support.
“I will help you confirm whether the Tempus Family Head lives or dies. Now that I know Tania’s life hangs in the balance, I cannot remain idle.”
“…I apologize for dragging you into this matter, Duchess.”
“Don’t say such things, Aiden. We are family, after all.”
Family.
That single word embedded itself deeply in Aiden’s mind.
“You need not feel guilt. Even now, having heard everything from you, I have resolved to accept you.”
For someone who had always been relied upon rather than relying on others, the way the Duchess treated me was profoundly unfamiliar.
Yet why did I long to depend on her so?
With her at my side, it seemed I could overcome anything.
“More importantly, Aiden.”
“…Yes, Duchess.”
“Drop that stiff ‘Duchess’ address and call me Viviana instead.”
“Ah…”
“Actually, thinking about it, a pet name would be better. From now on, call me Viviana.”
At her endearing command, Aiden’s lips curved upward, and he pressed his mouth to her forehead.
“As you wish.”
My beloved Viviana.
At his whispered words, Duchess Papiope’s eyes ignited with fierce determination.
It seemed leaving the cave would have to wait considerably longer.

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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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