My Ex-Boyfriend Gave Birth to My Child? What Does That Mean? - Chapter 9

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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? Episode 9
* * *
Pascal departed in full-body tremor, humiliation coursing through him.
The lawyer who had accompanied him mumbled something about magical threats being grounds for prosecution, then hastily followed in Pascal’s wake.
The cleric’s reaction was altogether different—he fixed me with a suspicious gaze, clicked his tongue in disapproval, and turned away muttering, “Blasphemy!” It was, in essence, the standard attitude a clergyman adopted when confronted with a mage.
In any case, I’d settled one matter.
A decade of pent-up weight lifted away—the relief was exquisite.
Where my expression gleamed with satisfaction, my mother’s and Schüler’s faces were shrouded in despair.
“Irina, how could you handle things so recklessly!”
“Oh no, the debt maturity date is approaching……! If we truly lose the Territory and the Title……!”
I turned to them both.
“Do you know exactly how much debt we’re carrying?”
My mother was the first to collect herself.
“The Ledger—it’s all recorded in the Ledger. Rita, Rita! Where are you? Go to my room and fetch the Ledgers.”
At her cry, Rita scrambled up to my mother’s chambers and soon returned with several Ledgers in hand. It was a state of affairs unimaginable during the days when we’d had a proper treasurer, yet this was our household’s present condition.
I opened the Ledgers.
“You know how to read account books?”
Precisely as expected, Schüler shot me a look of protest from the side, but I paid it no mind.
They knew nothing of how I’d overseen the Ledgers of the Ocker Family, the great merchant house of the Capital, for over a decade.
So my assessment was…….
“A mess.”
The organization was chaotic, though mercifully most transactions were at least recorded—however poorly. I supposed I should count myself fortunate.
I began mentally cataloging my own Bonds while cross-referencing them against the debts recorded in the family’s Ledgers. Fortunately, every recorded debt was one I myself had purchased. What gave me pause was what remained unrecorded…….
I leveled my gaze at Schüler.
“Any debts not in the Ledgers? More than what’s listed?”
“N—no……!”
Plainly startled by my Magic, Schüler threw both hands forward and waved them frantically in vigorous denial.
“Truly? If you’re lying…….”
“I’m telling the truth!”
I raised my fist, and out came a squeak. I shouldn’t have taken such grim satisfaction in this.
“Nobody’s willing to lend us money anymore—I already told you I don’t have a single copper to my name!”
“Lucky for us, or you’d have burned through it by now.”
Ignoring Schüler’s frantic protests behind me, I returned to examining the Ledgers.
My brow furrowed of its own accord.
Why on earth had anyone extended us a sum this vast?
It was a fortune—the kind that seemed to have been squandered with remarkable efficiency.
In any case, action now mattered more than questions.
“You asked why I went out every day? I was negotiating with the Creditors.”
I answered while treading upon the torn shred of Betrothal Document Pascal had left behind.
“I bought us time. The Creditors have agreed not to touch the Territory or the Title provided they receive the Estate. So both of you should pack at once and head down to the Territory.”
“What? And you?”
“You mean you’re staying in the Capital instead of going down to the Territory? How is that possible?”
I fixed them both with an empty gaze.
“I’m a mage, aren’t I? From now on, I’ll remain here managing this Estate as a Pledged person, repaying the debt for the rest of my life.”
I drove home the final nail.
“The Enforcers will arrive within days. If you don’t want to attract their attention and suffer for it, you’d do well to vanish from this house tomorrow.”
I smiled as I heard my family scramble up the stairs to their rooms.
‘Enforcers’ would be no other than my own people, after all!
* * *
The Autresia Family packed their belongings and departed.
As they fled from the Enforcers, my mother spared me not even the concern she might have lavished on a cherished piece of furniture in an old house, and Schüler refused to so much as look my way.
Let them.
I waved my family off with casual indifference and swiftly stepped back into the house.
“Miss, I’ll lock up the unused rooms as you instructed. Which room will you be using?”
Rita drew near and asked, her eyes searching mine. In her round gaze lay undisguised the fear that while she’d been spared dismissal today, she couldn’t know how long this arrangement would hold.
The household staff from the Territory had largely departed with my mother and Schüler, but Rita, being employed from the Capital, had remained. Her deft hands and quick wit were a stroke of good fortune for me.
“I’ll keep using my original room. Additionally, could you prepare the drawing room, two guest chambers, and clear out my brother’s study?”
“You mean the Master’s study, miss?”
“Yes. I need to manage this Estate, so I’ll need adequate space to maintain appearances.”
“Of course, miss……!”
“For now, just record it as such, and you only need to manage my chambers and the study for the time being. I’ll hire a few more servants within the next few days and put them to work. We can’t very well handle all the cleaning and housework between just the two of us, can we?”
“You’ll be hiring more people?”
“Yes. I’m planning to ask for recommendations from families with good connections. Would you mind tidying up the study first? I’m thinking of writing some letters.”
“Yes, yes!”
Life suddenly kindled in Rita’s eyes.
“You’re the best, miss!”
Rita’s cheerful cry echoed through the manor, and in her enthusiasm she forgot the refined posture she’d been taught, bounding forward with bright, energetic steps before catching herself—straightening her spine and composing herself into an elegant gait as she disappeared toward the landing.
A good sign that she hadn’t entirely lost what she’d learned as a servant. She’d need to be ready to supervise our household staff for some time to come.
I was left alone in the manor’s entrance hall. With so much furniture gone and not a soul in sight, the estate felt like an abandoned ruin.
The front hall was the space that shaped the house’s first impression, and it had once held the finest furnishings.
With the weight of generations stripped bare, the empty threshold seemed to mirror my own present state.
Empty.
And ready to be filled with anything anew.
An indescribable satisfaction tingled up from my fingertips and filled my chest to bursting.
That cursed betrothal—that humiliating life—was gone forever!
* * *
I noticed the Enforcers had arrived while I was working on letters at the study desk. Several black carriages bearing the Voltaine Family’s dragon crest had drawn up before the manor gates.
I set the letter I’d been writing to one side and took a moment to assess myself. My dress remained a modest shade, but Rita’s careful hands had arranged my hair well enough. My light cosmetics presented nothing objectionable.
Good.
I clenched my fist once and made my way downstairs.
Rita followed close behind with a tense expression, as though she’d become my personal guard. Yes, one needed to steel oneself. Meeting Leon Voltaine demanded nothing less than a prepared heart.
Of course, not everything in life unfolds as one intends…….
“Mother!”
The word that burst from the Enforcer who’d thrown open the gates struck me like a blow I had no defense against.

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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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