My Ex-Boyfriend Gave Birth to My Child? What Does That Mean? - Chapter 31

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

My ex-boyfriend’s child was born to me—what on earth does that mean? Episode 31
Underground Laboratory.
Herdi Pua, in the midst of adjusting a Magical Formula, muttered in a dissatisfied tone.
“Why hasn’t she been coming lately?”
“What are you talking about?”
“Do you think I’d complain about missing food? I’m talking about Assistant Number Two, Assistant Number Two!”
I had no leisure to answer back, too busy pouring fine gravel into a large Flask. One wrong tremor and the thin glass would shatter.
“Rita.”
Called by name, Rita clenched her fists with grim determination and waved them through the air. Acting as my spokesperson, she unleashed a barrage of relentless complaints at Herdi.
“The young master is a busy man! He hasn’t time to visit this sunless pit every time.”
“A boy not even five years old—what could possibly be keeping him busy?”
“What do you mean, nothing to be busy with? He has to learn letters, acquire refinement, and—well, and you really ought to build a house for Valeurmong the Second as well.”
“Tch. What good does a house do for a stray cat wandering about?”
As Herdi Pua spoke, he struck the desk with his palm—smack!
“I’m bored because that creature hasn’t shown his face!”
I closed the lid on the large Flask and finally caught my breath.
I’d come all the way down to Herdi’s laboratory to clear my muddled head, yet here I was, falling into that very train of thought again.
“Please bear with Assistant Number One for now. These days, I’ve had Lusian staying at the Duke’s Residence.”
“Why?”
“It’s complicated to explain.”
There was no way I could tell this research fanatic that I’d kept the boy from seeing the woman upstairs—the wife of another household—who’d just given birth, lest he grow attached to the child.
It went without saying that Lea’s presence in our home was itself a secret, and besides, Herdi Pua would hear the full details and still ask “Why?” without understanding a thing.
I brushed the dust from my hands.
As Herdi’s Assistant Number One, I’d done enough work for the day.
“I’ll be going then.”
Herdi waved his hand dismissively without even looking my way. His parting jab was needlessly spiteful.
“Bring Number Two next time! If you’re coming alone, don’t bother showing up.”
I told Herdi to at least feed the furious Rita, then made my way out of the underground.
With slow steps.
As if I wished I would never reach my destination.
I moved forward.
It had been a difficult childbirth.
Lea had delivered a healthy boy after losing an enormous quantity of blood.
Unlike in her past life, when she’d received the finest care from the Bestin Family, Lea had been half-imprisoned in the Ocker Family’s confines, living in constant dread, before killing someone and fleeing to our home. Her body and spirit alike were far more damaged than they had ever been.
Had I left her as she was, she would have died.
But I could not afford to lose her as a card to play.
As I approached the Guest Room, the number of servants had noticeably increased.
Cyril, who’d brought the child wrapped in white Swaddling Cloth at my instruction, bowed his head to me.
I gave a brief nod in acknowledgment and asked.
“How is Lea?”
“She rests quietly.”
“What of her condition?”
“She will not die.”
I nodded and took the child from Cyril’s arms. My hands tightened around the infant. It was incomparably smaller and lighter than the young man from my past life—who’d followed me faithfully, unknowing of what scars that life had left upon me.
“Let us go.”
The door opened slowly, and I reached my destination at last.
The pale, bloodless woman seemed terrified I might take the child from her. When I cradled the infant in her arms myself, visible relief flooded her expression.
Looking at Lea, I opened my mouth.
“I mean to ask for your testimony.”
“Testimony?”
“The Ocker Family will certainly claim the evidence has been falsified.”
“That’s impossible. That Ledger was managed directly by Pascal and——”
“But it is not the original, is it?”
Pascal had not drawn Lea entirely into this operation.
Perhaps he hadn’t trusted her.
Seeing that Lea too hadn’t fully trusted Pascal and had kept evidence for herself, the two of them shared a certain likeness.
“It is still a Ledger copied precisely, without a single flaw, down to every detail.”
The moment she’d discovered that Pascal was maintaining a secret ledger, she’d secretly found his records and copied them.
Records of investigations into my brother Schlei Otreha’s tastes and interests, and of the ‘investment plans’ tailored to his preferences that had been sent through intermediaries.
Records of every transaction—making him the center of an elaborate charade where they feigned complete ignorance of one another, orchestrating signatures on what amounted to nothing less than fraudulent ‘Investment Contracts’.
Compared with Schlei’s so-called business journal, the recorded contents were unmistakably authentic.
However…….
“It’s still not Pascal’s handwriting. There could be any number of loopholes to exploit.”
Lea clutched the child in her arms more tightly.
She looked anxious.
But it was clear she had no other choice. The Ocker Family would not leave her in peace, and the Bestin Family had abandoned her the moment she married out.
The only family she had left was the child, and the only place she could seek refuge was this Otreha Mansion.
Lea soothed the infant while tears slipped down her cheeks.
The child, now several days old, had shed much of its newborn redness and was slowly beginning to show its mother’s features in its face.
I found myself growing curious.
“Do you regret it?”
“Regret what?”
“The child resembles you so strongly. Didn’t you have to leave the Ocker Family at all?”
I fell silent for a moment, then continued.
“This child—it’s not Pascal’s, is it?”
Lea’s back stiffened. Before I even heard her answer, the air in the room seemed to freeze.
She looked up at me with disbelieving eyes.
“How could you possibly…”
“I suspected it from the moment you fled. There had to be some secret involving the child in your womb.”
I remained standing quietly, waiting for Lea to speak. There was no need to press someone already in my grasp.
After a long struggle, Lea opened her mouth with a voice that trembled weakly.
“……Everything changed from the day you became engaged to Duke Voltein.”
“Why? You were already pregnant before that. What could my engagement possibly have to do with your life?”
“They…… They stopped coming. I could no longer meet him anywhere!”
Eventually, Lea began to shed tears in suffocated silence, desperately holding the child in her arms as if it were her only hope.
“This child’s father is not Pascal.”
She was crying and laughing at once.
“Him? That man? Don’t make me laugh. A man who couldn’t even seduce a poor baron’s daughter—how could he possibly appeal to me?”
“But Pascal believed the child was his.”
“If he hadn’t asked…… if he hadn’t asked me to do it, I would never have done such a thing. It’s repulsive!”
Lea looked up at me with bloodshot eyes.
“You know it too, don’t you? A mother would know. A woman knows—knows this child is truly hers, and knows who the father is…….”
She let out a bitter laugh.
“Pascal has no right to this child. A man with no beauty, with nothing but cunning calculations.”
“Then, who is the child’s father?”
“He is…….”
Lea seemed to hesitate.
Did she still love ‘him’?
But did this woman truly understand what love was?
Could such a thing even exist in this world?
No.
I shook my head to scatter the negative thoughts that had invaded my own mind, and turned to speak to the bowed Lea.
“There’s no need to shield that man. If he had possessed any sense of responsibility, you would have had no reason to be here.”
“……Pascal introduced him to me. He called him a new business partner…….”
With her head still bowed, Lea continued.
“He is a beautiful person.”
As she slowly lifted her head, her eyes were vacant. As if the man stood before her, her lips trembled and her expression turned rapturous.
“A beautiful person.”

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————