My Ex-Boyfriend Gave Birth to My Child? What Does That Mean? - Chapter 48

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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’s Baby — What Does This Even Mean? Chapter 48
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The child’s laughter bounced between the garden trees like a ball.
“Valraimond II, come here!”
The cat was clever enough to understand the child’s words. No matter how far away he wandered, the moment the boy called, he’d trot over like a puppy and rub his whiskered cheeks against those stubby little legs.
“Lusian, what are you up to?”
“I’m playing exploration with Valraimond II. There’s lots of things hidden all over the mansion.”
“Is that so? What kind of things?”
“Like this.”
I froze.
What Lusian held up was an old silver necklace I’d thought I’d lost years ago.
A gift from my late father.
As I stood staring blankly at the pendant, Valraimond II lifted himself slightly and pressed his nose to the dangling silver, sniffing at it carefully.
I let out a breath I’d been holding.
“Goodness, where on earth did you find this?”
“Under that window over there. Valraimond II found it. Isn’t he clever?”
“Very clever indeed.”
I gathered my courage and reached out to gently stroke the homely, warm-hearted cat’s fur. He trembled slightly with a low, rumbling purr.
“Such a good cat.”
“He is, isn’t he?”
I looked at Lusian, radiant with laughter, and broached the real topic.
“It looks like your father’s house is going to have quite a few scary guests soon. You’ll need to stay at your mother’s place for a while — is that alright with you?”
The child’s eyes blazed with excitement.
“I’d love that!”
Giddy with delight, the boy spun in circles around me, whooping with joy.
“Mother’s house has Valraimond II, and Doctor Herdi, and Rita, and Siril, and you, and… and Emil too.”
As he counted off each wonderful thing, his cheeks flushed rosy with laughter.
“It’s so wonderful!”
The boy and the tabby cat, both giggling — it was a peaceful scene.
I sighed inwardly.
‘Yes. Emil’s there too.’
Soon, the mansion in the capital of Autrelia would have a total of four children.
Well then.
How was I supposed to explain Emil to my sister?
* * *
I’d already given Emil’s situation some thought.
“You’re going to entrust him to the Temple?”
After putting Lusian to bed and returning to finish the remaining paperwork in my study, I opened the window for Leon, who’d tapped against it in his usual manner, and spoke.
“Leon, I’ve said this before — ‘he’ is not ‘it.’ He’s a baby. And I’m not entrusting him entirely to the Temple; I’m going to disguise him as an orphan who was taken in by them.”
Leon ignored my correction and continued.
“Fine, whitewashing his origins, sure.”
He complained offhandedly, as though I’d brought home a stray dog without asking permission.
“But why does he need to stay with you?”
“First of all, let’s rule out the option of getting rid of the child.”
I made one thing crystal clear to Leon, who’d been viewing the newborn with cold eyes: I would not permit an infant to be disposed of because of his parents’ sins.
“Emil is in danger wherever we leave him right now. The Oker Family is desperate to erase Lea from their genealogy, and the Bestin Family is already claiming that since their daughter married into the Oker line, the child is the Oker Family’s problem — but if his biological father tries to find him, things will get complicated.”
“Why is that our problem to handle?”
“Because that man already knew his name.”
I offered Leon the sofa where I’d already prepared a blanket for him. He curled his lip and stretched out on it obediently, looking like a well-behaved cat.
“So you’re saying he’s already a lost cause?”
“The way you talk… I’d love to hit you.”
I ignored his deliberate needling and sat at my desk, drafting the papers I’d bring to the Temple tomorrow — an application to ‘sponsor’ Emil.
“We’re already in a position where we have to actively hunt down and punish his biological father. One more child doesn’t change our situation.”
The Temple steadily accepted orphans.
As a result, the Temple’s orphanage was always full. To meet their perpetually insufficient budget, they actively promoted their ‘sponsorship’ program.
Technically a form of donation, the program allowed someone to bring a Temple child home, teach him work, and raise him — essentially as a laborer.
The Temple received a small deposit and periodically summoned the child for inspections to ensure he wasn’t being abused until he came of age.
Beyond that, it was entirely up to the sponsor to decide what small tasks to assign the children.
“So you’re planning to ‘sponsor’ that one?”
“That’s essentially what it will be. If I slip Priestess Vivian a generous donation, she’ll turn a blind eye to some document forgery. She believes charity requires funding.”
Leon let out a short, dismissive snort and replied.
“Sponsoring a newborn is extremely rare.”
“It’s not unheard of, though.”
“It’s a method particularly favored when taking in an illegitimate child who cannot be given proper standing within a family.”
“What does it matter? You’re already notorious as a man with an illegitimate child. Another bastard surfacing—that’s just another scandal to your name.”
“And you?”
“I’m sorry?”
“Does it bother you?”
I found myself speechless, staring down at him. Those bright blue eyes again. The ones that could render anyone mute.
I cleared my throat once and spoke.
“I don’t mind. Even if such rumors were circulating, they wouldn’t be true, would they?”
“I don’t like hearing gossip about you from people behind your back.”
This time, I truly had nothing to say.
I had rarely heard him speak about anyone in quite this way—as though he genuinely understood them.
As though he was thinking of me.
“Just the stories already circulating are hard enough to bear. If a child appears here, and one who doesn’t even look like you—what then? Have you thought about how much you’d be mocked?”
Hearing him voice these concerns—which sounded almost like a petulant complaint—filled my chest with something so intensely warm that my face grew hotter than any conventional declaration of love could have made it.
Leon Voltain was showing consideration for another person.
And that person was me!
Overcome by a feeling I could barely contain, I rose carefully from my chair. Leon Voltain continued airing his grievances, seemingly indifferent to my movement.
“Think about your reputation too. You’re too kind-hearted.”
I sat down carefully beside him where he lay.
This man was driving me absolutely mad with affection!
I drank in the sight of Leon Voltain’s beautiful eyes, his perfect nose, his jawline as gracefully sculpted as a goddess’s visage. My body moved of its own accord, doing something bold before I could think.
I playfully licked his full lower lip.
I smiled at the man wearing that rare, unguarded expression.
“If I cared that much about my reputation, would I be doing this with you before we’re even married?”
Then, with a soft laugh, his hand pulled my shoulder down toward him.
In that instant, finding myself sprawled across the sofa with him leaning over me, I made a mental note that a small bed really should be placed in the office, even as I received his passionate kiss.
* * *
The next day.
My flawless plan encountered a minor obstruction in the form of High Priestess Vivian Rochuel’s displeased expression.
Her chamber was pristine white, from floor to ceiling.
Having dismissed all the apprentice priestesses, she looked between the child in my arms and me in turn, her voice tinged with suspicion.
“……Where did this child come from?”

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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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