My Ex-Boyfriend Gave Birth to My Child? What Does That Mean? - Chapter 14
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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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My Ex Got Pregnant With My Child — What in the World Does That Mean? Episode 14
A few days later, in the evening, Leon Voltaine arrived with the face of a disobedient puppy. I glanced behind the tall shadow of the man standing at my door, and finally gave in to curiosity and asked.
“Where is Lucian?”
“I didn’t bring him.”
“Why not?”
“Because it seems you’re only interested in the boy.”
“That’s infuriating!”
“Want to know what’s truly infuriating?”
The man who had entered the house without invitation spoke casually.
“The Shasteang Pearl.”
“……”
I held my tongue obediently.
The fact that I had received pearl jewelry from the Countess Shasteang had become a topic of conversation at alarming speed, alongside Leon’s illegitimate child scandal. I found myself screaming alone as I received an enormous pile of invitations arriving day after day.
As it turned out, the pearls in the ornament that the Countess had gifted me were no ordinary treasure.
They were an extraordinarily rare gemstone that could only be harvested in minute quantities from a rare magical beast — and the Shasteang Family had earned the honor of being the first discoverers.
Whether or not Leon knew how shocked and dismayed I was to learn this belatedly, he tilted his lips into a crooked smile.
“So you came back wearing the Shasteang Pearl without the jewels I gave you?”
Leon approached at a leisurely pace, his hand grazing the nape of my neck with a chill.
“For whom?”
“No, but how could I refuse the Countess’s gift right there?”
“Are you afraid of her?”
“Yes!”
“And me?”
The man’s large frame suddenly drew closer.
A face beautiful enough to raise goosebumps looked down at me.
Deep and blue eyes like rippling water reflections stared directly at me — eyes I had gazed into once, a very long time ago. ……. Just as I was about to sink into some sentiment, I clenched my teeth instead.
Without hesitation, I drove my forehead toward his jaw!
“……!”
“Don’t you dare threaten me!”
Leon stepped back with one hand on his jaw, his eyebrow arching slightly.
“So you’re saying it’s alright for me to display my power?”
Though his tone was playful, I felt my back go cold in an instant. Damn it. I’d been too bold. I’d forgotten a fact that I’d gotten so comfortable ignoring — he was the lunatic from the Magic Tower!
“I, I didn’t say anything like that……”
“Got it.”
The man smiled wickedly, lowered his head, and brushed his lips lightly against mine before pulling away.
“Expect something.”
My face burning crimson, I covered my lips with my hand — but only when Leon stepped out of my front door could I finally raise my voice in haste.
“Expect what?!”
He didn’t turn back. With one hand waving casually in the air as if in farewell, he passed through the garden and boarded the carriage with perfect composure.
It was an ordinary-looking carriage with none of the Duchy’s emblems adorning it.
* * *
Rita let out a scream as she opened the box draped in black silk.
“M-madam. This is a Tiara Set……!”
“A tiara… what?”
“A Tiara Set! It comes with a tiara, a necklace, earrings, a bracelet, and a brooch all together! My goodness. I feel like I might ascend to heaven this very moment.”
I felt the color drain from my face as I held the pen to record the box’s contents.
Rita paid no attention to my expression and rushed toward me with the tiara in hand. She almost tripped, caught herself, and her excitement was evident in every movement.
Rita hummed softly as she held the tiara against my hair, utterly entranced.
“The deep color of the sapphires embedded here suits you so perfectly, madam! Ooh, if you stand beside the Duke wearing this ornament, it will look as if his radiance has transferred to you. How romantic!”
“I see……”
I replied weakly and made my notes.
Tiara. Design mixing sapphire, diamond, and peridot. Matching necklace, earrings, bracelet, brooch, and belt in the same style.
What kind of list was this?
“Madam. A carriage from the Duchy has arrived. With a Flower Basket and…… a Dress.”
It was Leon’s gift list, arriving at a frenzied pace.
At Siril’s report, delivered with steady footsteps, I clutched my head. I didn’t even notice Rita’s cry that it would ruin my hairstyle!
“A letter — did the letter come with a reply?!”
Siril answered my shout flatly.
“There was no reply with the letter.”
“I’ll need to send a letter back! Have the Duchy’s carriage returned immediately. Send the gifts back with it!”
“That’s because he’d already set all the boxes down and left…….”
“Aaagh! Leon Voltaine, you absolute——!”
If only I’d known that day was a declaration of war, I never would have let Leon Voltaine walk away like that——!
I hastily scribbled out a letter. It was the I-don’t-know-how-many-th letter.
‘Please, let’s resolve this with words instead. I’m begging you.’
I stared at what I’d written for a moment, then added a few more lines.
‘I miss you. Kisses.’
I waved the letter dry—written in elegant gold ink—and handed it to Siril.
“Send this to the Duchy at once! And starting today, if a carriage arrives from the Duchy, don’t let them deliver any gifts!”
“But that is…… we hardly have the authority to refuse the Duke’s display of power——”
“It’s not an order, it’s a gift. We’re allowed to decline.”
“Are you quite certain, my lady?”
Siril’s dark gaze was deadly serious. She was asking with her eyes: ‘Won’t that only make him sulk more?’ I patted my chest firmly and nodded.
“Tell him this: I want a reply more than I want gifts. Tell him I won’t accept any gifts unless he sends a letter with them. Even he should listen to something reasonable like that.”
“Understood. I’ll deliver it at once.”
Siril departed immediately for the Voltaine Duchy. I collapsed onto the sofa.
My plan for a quiet life was completely shattered. Leon Voltaine had begun to lose his mind.
For an entire week he didn’t show his face, but sent a carriage four times a day. The carriages were an unmistakable jet black, emblazoned with the brilliant dragon crest of the Voltaine family, and—most importantly—the interiors were stuffed to bursting with flowers and gift boxes.
That’s right.
He did that four times a day for an entire week.
A Duke who visited to shop for women’s clothing with his child.
And then, inexplicably, the same Duke unleashing a gift offensive on an unmarried young lady.
No nobleman in the city was blind enough to miss what these two things meant.
It meant the stream of invitations to me had simply…stopped.
That beautiful face, laughing as it said ‘anticipate this,’ flashed before my eyes, and my blood pressure spiked dangerously.
I’d naturally assumed his display of power would be physical combat, but this kind of display——
What was it about coming back with the Countess Shasteang’s jewelry instead of his gifts that infuriated me so?
“Miss, or rather, my lady, please don’t lose heart. Look at this! No matter what happens, jewels are still jewels!”
Rita held up boxes towering like a mountain in my study, speaking to me.
I leapt to my feet. A jewelry inventory list stacked on the study desk caught my eye.
“That’s right.”
A Yellow Diamond Necklace, a brooch with peridot carved into leaves and rose-shaped ruby accents, a massive Sapphire Ring with a star-like carving inside…….
“Jewels are jewels, after all!”
I clenched my fists.
“I’m never giving these back, even if he asks for them later!”
“Exactly, my lady, that’s the spirit!”
“Rita, organize all the boxes. I need you to call in a merchant—we’re having a special enchanted safe made.”
“My lady, that’s brilliant!”
For the sake of my sanity, I couldn’t just sit still.
I helped Rita sort through the boxes. At the sheer, staggering volume of them, I couldn’t even muster a complaint—only speechless amazement. To manipulate someone in such an unheard-of, unexpected way. Leon Voltaine truly deserved my admiration.
As I carefully compared boxes against the record sheets, lost in the profound question of how much all this would fetch if I sold it, Siril’s voice came again.
“My lady, a carriage from the County has arrived.”
“Send it back——wait. It’s not from the Duchy?”
“No. It’s from Shasteang County…….”
Was I imagining it, or did Siril’s expressionless face seem somehow tense?
“Dominic Shasteang, the second young master of the Shasteang family, has come to visit.”
The sheaf of inventory papers slipped from my hands. Sheets scattered across the floor in all directions.
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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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