My Ex-Boyfriend Gave Birth to My Child? What Does That Mean? - Chapter 21

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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-boyfriend gave birth to my child. Episode 21
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The Ball Hall fell silent.
Even the musicians seemed to sense it—the soft dance melody wavered, as if holding its breath.
The princess’s declaration carried a meaning something like this:
If you have eyes, use them.
Who does this child resemble?
The answer is already written. All you need to do is speak it.
“Surely it must be ……, yes?”
“But when exactly …….”
“Still, we should wait and see …….”
Words, words, words.
Standing among the whispered speculation about me, I felt a strange kind of bitterness rising.
Listen here, Duke Voltaine.
Isn’t this precisely when you should be using that position of yours to save me?
But Leon did nothing—only watched me, the same way he had since he stormed into my home demanding I take responsibility.
He had never proposed. Never told me he loved me.
As if I should understand everything without words, he simply looked at me.
‘A man who bends my life to his will is the worst kind of man.’
I knew it already, from bitter experience. How thoroughly such a man could destroy me.
But.
He had brought a small child here.
He said he had offered his heart. A prince had witnessed it directly—the blood, the agony, the screams enough to rob him of sleep for nights.
All because I was afraid of giving birth.
Though we were bound to part soon anyway.
Heedless of Mana Depletion and the judgment of society, he had borne my child for me with his own body.
The music continued, and the flowing seconds relentlessly demanded an answer.
I took a step forward.
“Lucian resembles me greatly, Your Highness.”
Another step.
I moved between Leon and Lucian, blocking the sight line of Princess Isabella, who had been watching them both.
I stood as if to shield them, my voice rising in declaration—though I myself held no certainty that this was the right answer.
“He is my child.”
The eyes of the crowd felt like thousands of arrows.
Arrows that struck me. They would dissect my every gesture, weigh every word. The slightest opening, and they would move to cut off my breath.
But I did not care.
There was something in my heart that demanded I speak.
“Your Highness has given me the kindness of presenting before all of you the fruit of love born from a long and cherished bond. It would be disrespectful of me not to honor that consideration.”
I turned to face Leon Voltaine.
My heart already firm in its resolve to accept this new family.
“You said to take responsibility, didn’t you?”
Then I will.
“Leon Voltaine.”
My heart thundered in my chest.
“Will you mar…….”
Tap. Leon Voltaine’s finger touched my lips, sealing my words.
He was stopping me here? Stunned, I widened my eyes and looked up.
Leon Voltaine’s childlike, crystalline smile
“Irina Autreha.”
spilled over me like a waterfall.
The beautiful man who had rendered me helpless spoke as though asking a child to hand over candy.
“Will you marry me?”
* * *
“It turned out well, so why the complaint? It’s a wonderful story.”
A silver-haired youth swirled wine into his glass with amusement.
“‘And they lived happily ever after.’ Could anything be finer?”
Princess Isabella Soleian, who had spent the whole dawn after the ball glowering at her elder brother drowning in wine, replied coldly.
“There’s no such thing as ‘and they lived happily ever after,’ Adrian.”
When she extended her hand with utter composure, Adrian clicked his tongue and set the half-filled wine glass onto her palm.
The woman took a sip and opened her mouth.
“Did you forget why Father collapsed?”
“His ambition got the better of him, that’s all.”
Adrian shrugged as he answered, but Isabella’s stubborn tone made clear she disagreed.
“The dragon shouldn’t have squandered that magic in such a manner.”
“That’s harsh. Lucian’s a sweet kid. Kind-hearted, even.”
“So that child matters more than the people?”
The wine glass on Adrian’s Study desk clattered sharply, sending crimson droplets scattering. Isabella’s voice trembled with suppressed anger. “He could have used his strength for this nation!”
“He could have used his strength for this nation!”
The prince, half-buried in the plush chair of his Study, shook his head slowly.
“If you wanted your wish granted, you should have seduced the dragon more skillfully.”
“What does that have to do with anything? He made a Contract with us!”
“The Contract was only ever about ‘not leaving for another kingdom and helping my sister and me.’ The dragon’s egg was never part of the agreement, and besides……”
Adrian, who had been muttering while fumbling across the Study desk, let out a small sigh and drained the nearly empty wine bottle in one gulp.
“……it’s not a power that grants anything. It’s a power that grants what the dragon desires.”
Isabella’s cheeks flushed with anger and comprehension as she heard her brother’s words.
“The dragon wanted something so utterly ordinary.”
“Ordinary? Have you seen his Mana Aptitude?”
“There have been geniuses of that caliber before in the Kingdom’s history. Perfectly ordinary. Have you already forgotten what the dragon of the last generation did?”
“Yes, yes. Our ancestor gifted us Magic. You’re quite greedy yourself. So what was it you wanted? Eternal peace? Immortality?”
“Vast land to till and a bountiful sea.”
“My goodness. You ask for a new continent as though it’s nothing.”
The prince’s eyes glimmered with mischief as he licked his lips and emptied his wine glass.
“For someone throwing such a tantrum, the Autreha heiress seems to have helped quite well.”
“What?”
“The Autreha heiress.”
Adrian gestured toward the Red Dress that Isabella wore.
Beneath the Study’s dim lamplight, Isabella wrapped in the red fabric shone with an elegance and beauty as though cloaked in starlight itself.
By appearing at the Ball Hall in this dress today, she had concluded her endorsement of the Autreha heiress and her guarantee of Lucian’s illegitimate status.
The beautiful princess, lauded as the Kingdom’s finest beauty, spoke with perfect composure.
“It’s lovely.”
The prince, exhaling sharply, nodded with unconcealed reluctance.
“That much is true.”
“That’s beside the point. That child was born into debt. To this nation and its people.”
“My goodness.”
“The child is innocent, so the debt must be collected from the parents.”
* * *
“This is……”
A low, seething man’s voice echoed bleakly through the side chamber of the Basement beside Autreha House.
“This is not it—ahhhhh!”
The scream that erupted like a volcano pounded against the old wooden door as though it might splinter. Cyril, standing with a Silver Tray in hand, stared at the source of the voice and asked me quietly.
“Master. Shall I discard that and leave?”
Rita, who adorned Cyril’s side like a shadow while clutching a small Ledger, cried out in a half-whimper.
“This man’s been going on like this without a break since last night! Please let me abandon him and go!”
My cold, salty gaze turned toward the source of the desolate voice.
A man with large, cloudy spectacles pushed roughly over his eyes was clutching his disheveled gray hair, crying out in desperation.
“The masterpiece of this genius mage Herdi—is nothing but Shimmering Fabric?! I can’t accept that! I won’t!”
I spoke to the self-proclaimed genius mage, Herdi, with sincerity.
“Technically, it’s a joint development.”
“Nooooo!”
The man, unable to accept reality, threw himself onto the desk and began tearing at his already disheveled hair again.
“To think my camouflage spell was repurposed into such a toy……!”
Right.
The multicolored Shimmering Fabric was not entirely my idea.
It was a collaboration with this man.

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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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