My Ex-Boyfriend Gave Birth to My Child? What Does That Mean? - Chapter 24

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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? Episode 024
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I stepped out of the Warehouse.
I was breathing, but the air didn’t seem to reach my lungs.
I stood dazed for a moment before sensing a presence, which made me jump. Somewhere along the way, Leon Voltain had appeared, leaning against the doorframe.
“All done?”
“All done.”
“And Lucian?”
“At the Duke’s Residence. He’s thoroughly sulking, so you’ll have to work hard to smooth things over.”
He laughed lightly, his expression relaxed.
“Did you hear all of it?”
“I did.”
“You’re not disappointed?”
“Why would I be?”
“I thought you liked who I used to be.”
The simple version of me who didn’t know scheming and trusted people readily.
Leon Voltain, who had been staring at me intently, slowly spread both his arms toward me.
“What are you doing?”
“Want a hug?”
“No thanks.”
“Too bad.”
Leon Voltain answered as he pleased, and his arms pulled me into a tight embrace. The warmth radiating from his chest made me realize, only then, that my body had gone cold.
It was a strangely desolate feeling.
I wanted to kill Lea Bestin.
But I didn’t want to touch the child in her womb.
I didn’t want to become like her.
But then, what about avenging my children who were never born?
“You seem to be forgetting something,” Leon Voltain said matter-of-factly.

“There’s an even easier way.”
I asked from within his embrace, half-trapped.
“What way?”
“Just tear them all to pieces.”
In the blue eyes of the man looking down at me, I read genuine conviction.
“Should I kill them?”
I fell silent for a moment.
He could certainly do it—carry out a swift, bloody, thoroughly easy revenge, exactly as he said.
But.
I shook my head.
“No.”
“Why not?”
“Our family should be happy. What kind of father do you want to be to our child anyway?”
I reached up and cradled his face in my hands. The man, who nuzzled against my palms like a cat, wore an expression that showed he knew he was beautiful.
I couldn’t help myself and pressed a soft kiss to his lips.
It was only a fleeting warmth.
I slowly slipped from Leon’s embrace and stepped beyond the tender sanctuary he had created.
In the distance, I could see Lea Bestin disappearing through the rear entrance of the Manor.
I gazed at the lingering afterimage of her blonde hair vanishing through the gap in the door and murmured softly.
“That woman is no ordinary person, is she?”
“You noticed?”
I nodded at Leon’s question.
Lea’s accusation against the Dowager was entirely fabricated. My former mother-in-law lacked the boldness to murder a business partner’s daughter merely to gain a noble daughter-in-law.
Yet despite that, Lea had forced her way out of the Ocker Family with such a claim.
And based on my experience from my past life…….
“The child in that woman’s womb is definitely not Pascal Ocker’s.”
* * *
Not long after her arrival, Lea Bestin became the Autreha Manor’s greatest headache.
“Master! That madam is so difficult! I actually find myself missing Herdi!” Rita came rushing up to the desk where I sat, tattling with all her might.

“First she asked for the windows open, then just a crack, then open again, then the curtains half-drawn…….”
“Handle the slightly annoying tasks yourself.”
“……She asked for the water to be warmed, then asked for it cold, then asked for honey stirred in, and she even threw the cup at the face of the maid who’d already added it! Now nobody wants to be assigned to tend to her anymore.”
I pressed my fingers to my temple.
Exhaustion, rather than irritation, crept up my spine.
“If she does that again, send her to Ocker Manor. Pay the servant assigned to her a bonus of half their wages.”
“Yes, I’ll do that right away, sir. Should I report every detail that comes up from now on?”
“Yes. Report even the smallest things. As long as that woman is under this roof, I won’t tolerate being ignorant of her every move.”
Rita nodded gravely, her expression sharpened by my words, before leaving the study to relay my instructions to the staff. Even in her retreating figure, there was a precision that set her apart from before.
‘It’s true—spend enough time working together and you inevitably pick up each other’s habits.’
I observed Cyril standing just behind me and nodded inwardly at the thought.
“Sir, the reports from our informants in Autreha Territory have arrived.”
The neatly dressed maidservant with short hair extended a silver tray toward me with precise movements. On it lay a letter, its seal unadorned by any mark.
The letter contained information about the education of Autreha’s cousins, the current state of her brother and mother, news of her stepmother, and details about the territory itself.
Until now, I had assumed Pascal had used debtors as instruments to acquire the Autreha Family more smoothly.
But the information Lea had disclosed went further than that. Now that I knew, there was no guarantee he wouldn’t reach again.
I scanned the report and murmured.
“My brother started investing again?”
With enough headaches piling up as it was, my family members offered no help—just as they had in my past life.
“Did he touch the children’s dowries this time.”
In my previous life, my brother was the sort who eagerly bit the poisoned apple Pascal offered him. From a man who gambled away the price of selling his own sister, one could expect no familial affection.
“Have them dig deeper into whoever recommended this investment to my brother. Relatives, acquaintances, whether any leverage was used against him.”
“Understood.”
“And regarding my mother’s new lover……ugh.”
I pressed my head again. This was embarrassing even to discuss.
“Investigate him too. If nothing’s amiss, leave it be. If there’s something unsavory, arrange for them to part ways on their own. You’ll have quite a lot on your plate—can you manage?”
I waited for an answer while my fingernail pressed against the fountain pen on my desk. I could not allow them to tarnish the Autreha Family’s reputation any further—and by extension, my own.
“We’re genuinely short on personnel at the moment. Which should I prioritize?”
“My brother first. As for my mother, no matter how deeply she falls in the love of a lifetime, she won’t value that man over my brother.”
All that escaped me was a sigh.
At least the children in that household were growing up reasonably well—that was my only consolation.
“Send my stepmother some extra living expenses in secret. Be careful they don’t find out.”
“An easy matter.”
I nodded. Next came the matter of the troublesome guest under our roof.
“Have you looked into Lea?”
Cyril lowered her voice.
“The Ocker Family had been confining Lea Bestin. From the record of carriages entering and leaving the Ocker residence, we confirmed evidence of bodies being transported out. It appears Lea Bestin killed two servants who were watching her and escaped.”
“By what means?”
“Based on the wounds remaining on Lea Bestin’s hands, it appears she used something like a kitchen knife as a weapon.”
“Two people died and no investigator was called?”
“It was classified as a case of servants fleeing their posts due to hardship. Most people believe it.”
“I see.”
I lifted my eyes from the report.
I felt the tension building in my fingertips but made no effort to release it.
That was the Ocker Family’s standard practice. They employed only those no one would search for, and when things threatened to become noisy, they recorded it as the servants having “fled.”
In my previous life, long after marrying into the Ocker Family, I only learned of the house’s corruption. Back then, I had no right to be angry.
“The bodies were likely disposed of at the unmarked graves of the South River Bank. Have that area searched. Collect and document any evidence you find. Someday, I’ll ensure those poor servants have justice.”
It was a vow.
For now, it was anger I had to swallow.
“……Ocker hasn’t searched for Lea?”
“Two horses travel between the residence and the surrounding areas daily. It doesn’t seem they dare suspect us.”
“Of course not. How could they possibly imagine I’m harboring Lea Bestin.”
Judging by their movements, they seem less desperate than I expected.
I couldn’t fully trust Lea’s word, but Pascal clearly didn’t know that she was aware of his “scheme.”
His plan to deliberately drive the Autreha baronial house to bankruptcy and thereby insert himself into the noble ranks.
Yes. Based on what Lea had confessed, when I traced back the bonds I’d purchased, most of them were connected to Pascal.
Far more than my initial estimate of merely one or two instances of interference.
“……But the fact that Lea came to me with information about them won’t stay hidden forever. I need to gather all the evidence I can as quickly as possible before that.”
As I finished speaking, I gathered the reports from the territory and stacked them on my desk.
“We’ll leave it at that for today.”
I rose from my seat.
I’ve had quite enough of headaches!
What I need is some healing!

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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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