My Ex-Boyfriend Gave Birth to My Child? What Does That Mean? - Chapter 25

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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 Had My Child — What on Earth Is Going On? Episode 25
* * *
“Where’s Lucian?”
I slipped out of the Office like a breeze and went straight to find the child. Right — nothing heals quite like a little one’s chubby, rosy cheeks.
But instead of the cry of “Mama!” I’d been hoping to hear when I left the Office, what greeted me was…….
“Mew.”
A stocky tabby cat with a peculiar whimper and a sulky expression.
“What on earth is this?”
“Oh no, Balromont II! You can’t go in there!”
Rita rushed over trying to catch the cat, but the enormous chubby beast leaped nimbly, slipped straight through the space between Rita’s legs, and vanished.
I turned to Rita, who was wearing a dismayed expression.
“Balromont II? What kind of extraordinary name is that?”
“It’s a stray cat that’s been visiting our Residence frequently lately, and the Young Master started calling it that.”
“That’s a nice name.”
“You’re serious?”
“Don’t you trust me?”
I ignored Rita’s skeptical look and asked the one thing I was most curious about.
“Where’s the child?”
“Oh!”
Rita’s voice jumped up as if she’d just remembered.
“I need to go fetch the Young Master!”
“No, wait — where exactly is Lucian?”
“That is…….”
Before Rita could answer, I heard Lucian’s laughter first.
It was coming from the stairwell that led down to the Basement.
I narrowed my eyes and moved my legs toward the source of the laughter.
“Hahaha! What is that!”
Again, the child’s laughter rang out.
Even the dark Basement didn’t feel gloomy when it was filled with the child’s clear, bright laughter. Actually, it wasn’t merely a feeling.
In fact, the basement corridor was swept so clean I couldn’t believe it had ever been like this before!
When I gasped at the stone floor without a speck of dust, Rita spoke with an embarrassed face.
“The Young Master has been visiting so often lately that everyone’s been taking great care with it.”
“The Basement?”
“The Research Laboratory.”
As if to brush away my suspicion, the rough laugh of Herdi — good heavens, that mad mage researcher — mixed in with the child’s voice.
“Ahahaha! Look, you’re no different, are you?”
It was unbelievable!
I ran and yanked the Research Laboratory door open, and before my eyes…….
I saw no one.
“Huh?”
“Mama!”
Something bumped against my skirt hem as if footsteps were sounding from empty air. Then, from the very middle of the emptiness, the child’s face appeared as if a curtain had been drawn back.
“Look at this!”
I alternated my gaze between the empty space the child was half-covering and the child’s face. An incredulous voice tumbled out on its own.
“This can’t be real?”
“Why not?”
With a whoosh, the shaggy-haired mage Herdi Puva materialized from the empty air and let out a beaming laugh. Honestly, this might have been the most frightening appearance he’d ever shown me.
Had this man finally gone completely mad?
“Mad, you ask? Yes! I’m obsessed with invention. And here is my assistant number two…….”
When he reached his hand toward Lucian, the child scurried to his side as if waiting for this moment and made a motion of adjusting glasses.
“Uncle Herdi!”
“Uh-uh, call me Doctor. Ahem — here is my assistant number two, young Lucian.”
I had no choice but to ask, bewildered as I was.
“Then who is assistant number one?”
“Why, you, of course!”
“I refuse!”
“Refusal cannot stop the currents of fate!”
Herdi threw his fist clenched toward empty air, speaking as if delivering a grand speech.
“No one in this world can deny the fact that my ‘Biological Mana Complete Permeability Fabric No. 1’ has finally been completed with the assistance of two excellent helpers!”
“Biological Mana Complete Permeability Fabric No. 1?”
“In other words, it’s a disguise.”
I opened my mouth wide.
“You’ve already developed that?”
“I have!”
Herdi Puva stroked Lucian’s soft auburn hair with a series of gentle pats, as if he found the child utterly adorable. The rounded auburn back of the boy’s head became as fluffy as Herdi’s own.
“It’s perfect except for one problem!”
“What problem?”
“The raw materials I ordered a few days ago for the final confirmation haven’t arrived yet. How can research progress like this? How can the world’s magical civilization move forward?”
As Herdi launched into his lengthy complaints, using Lucian as an impenetrable shield, I glanced over at Rita.
Rita, who had been observing the Research Laboratory’s chaos with practiced indifference, finally met my gaze.
“Actually, I just heard about it too. Someone came by from the Eunhasoo Silk Workshop.”
“About what?”
“The merchants who were supplying raw materials said their stock suddenly ran out…….”
I was hoping for a little peace, and now this?
I closed my eyes and took a deep breath.
Inner peace…….
“Exhale.”
And I reached a conclusion.
This was a textbook attack from the Merchant Realm. The Great Merchants Alliance—a coalition of the Merchant Realm’s heavy hitters and massive trading houses—had taken notice of my workshop.
“This time, I’ll handle it myself.”
* * *
There were countless methods by which the deep-rooted trading houses of the Merchant Realm could pressure an upstart workshop that was only now beginning to rise.
Controlling raw materials was merely the most basic of them.
Lieon, once he heard the news, asked in his usual nonchalant tone.
“Want me to sort it out?”
Lieon Voltein was draped across my Office sofa today as well, arranged like a handsome decoration. I couldn’t help but ask him.
“Don’t you have work?”
“There’s nothing more important than being here.”
“And what would constitute less important work?”
“The second one called for me.”
From my experience, “the second one” meant Adrian, the second prince. I gestured toward the Office door.
“You should go.”
“Don’t you need me?”
“I already lent you someone to send to the Autreha Territory. That’s enough.”
“That’s cold.”
“Is that what you want—for me to become someone who can’t do anything without you?”
“Yes.”
Lieon, lifting only his head from the sofa, continued in a leisurely voice.
“It wouldn’t be fair if only I felt that way.”
“You’re quite the talker.”
I rose from behind my Office desk and approached the sofa. The man who had been using my sofa like a personal bed received light kisses on both cheeks and lips before finally lifting himself up.
Honestly, he’s worse than a child.
“Take good care of the people I’ve attached to you.”
“I will.”
“Don’t take it lightly. I can’t do anything without you.”
Before I could respond to those last words, Lieon slipped out of the Office door.
Rita entered the Office as if passing a baton, her voice bewildered.
“My lord, do you really have to attend today’s meeting? Your face is very flushed. Are you running a fever…….”
* * *
Aside from wasting unnecessary time reassuring Rita, I was flawless today.
Just one thing troubled me slightly.
‘But are these jewels really alright?’
Light pink pearl ornaments gleamed at my ears and at the nape of my neck.
‘Why?’
‘The duke won’t like it if he finds out.’
Rita, holding the jewelry box, spoke in a worried voice. Inside the box sat a set of pearl ornaments with a soft pink luster.
Chastaign Pearls.
‘Everyone already knows about Lieon and me.’
‘That’s true.’
‘Yet he dares pull such a stunt on my business—which means either he knows he’s hardly ever abused his power for personal matters, or perhaps he’s judging him as a pitiful man with his nose led by a woman of unsuitable station. Either way, it’s a calculated move.’
I held the Chastaign Pearl Earrings in my hand and continued speaking.
‘But House of Chastaign’s influence and support are far more direct.’
Rita took the earrings from my palm and, her expression grave as if handling a freshly honed blade, fastened them to my ears with utmost care.
Though one item had proven a windfall, my standing in the Merchant Realm remained modest. I would need to mobilize anything that could tip the scales of seizing initiative.
……Even if it meant enduring Lieon’s complaints for quite some time.
“Do you possess an invitation card?”
A step removed from the bustling heart of the Capital, a gatekeeper standing before a heavy door ringed by thick stone walls posed the question to me in a low voice. I nodded and gestured to Siril, who followed behind me like a shadow.
Siril, dressed in a deliberately modest brown dress, withdrew an invitation card from her small hand-bag and offered it while adding, “This is the proprietor of Argent Tower Merchant House.”
“The proprietor of Argent Tower Merchant House.”
The gatekeeper, who had been thumbing through a thin ledger, slowly nodded.
“Argent Tower, Argent Tower…… Ah, here it is. Confirmed. Do enter.”
I made no reply to him, simply moving slowly through the massive bronze door he opened.
The interior of the Merchant Guild Hall was far more lavish than its exterior suggested.
A floor of black stone and a ceiling carved with the seal of the Merchant Guild presented themselves in ostentatious display of wealth.

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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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