Chapter 119
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Brought to you by Valir Scans! To support our team and enjoy the latest releases, please read directly on our official site: valirscans.org
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Dear, I believe you may be misunderstanding.
Chapter 119
'What on earth.'
Lucas Black's already pallid face drained of all color entirely.
"Waaaaaah!"
The baby awkwardly cradled in his arms was wailing at the top of its lungs.
'What is this tiny, red, squishy creature...?'
The baby had burst into frantic cries the moment it touched Lucas's hands, yet the other children who had handed it to him paid no mind whatsoever.
"Hey, you kids, this thing here..."
"Rene! I told you not to touch that! Anna, bring a towel quickly!"
"This is bad! If the teacher finds out, we're in trouble! Hurry, hurry!"
"Chris! Where on earth did Chris go!"
"...."
The Orphanage didn't house an overwhelming number of children.
But when eight children of different ages ran about, the chaos rivaled a battlefield.
Christine and Anna, mature for their years, attempted to keep the children in order, but they were still children themselves.
"No, what do we do if you spill stew all over here!"
"Rene, wipe it up before you get hurt! Anna, why aren't you bringing the towel? Ugh!"
A small child had spilled tomato stew, which completely soiled a girl's skirt.
The toddling baby saw the spilled stew and dove headfirst into the mess to eat it.
...And then a war between tomato stew and children erupted.
'...How chaotic.'
The newborn sleeping in a room had awakened from the commotion moments earlier and begun crying.
Christine had rushed out carrying the baby and thrust it into Lucas's arms—mere seconds ago.
"Sir! Please hold this for a moment. Rene! I told you not to eat things off the floor!"
In that brief span, the Kitchen had transformed into a warzone, and Lucas found himself unable to escape (?), standing alone with the baby in his arms.
"No, Rene!"
The child called Rene's clothes were already completely red.
The child lay sprawled over the stew like playing with textures, kneading the chunks.
Seemingly delighted by the sensation, the child giggled and squirmed.
"Kyahahaha!"
"Ahhhhh! Rene, Rene!!"
Anna and Christine quickly scooped the child up.
As a result, Christine's previously clean clothes were now messily stained red.
Anna flinched back in alarm at the sight, but it was already too late.
Rene hurled the lump of tomato she'd been holding straight at her.
"Kyaaaah! Rene! Wahhhhh. This is one I treasure! Teacher Grace Oellin gave it to me!"
Anna burst into tears.
As the newborn's cries mixed with Anna's sobs, Lucas experienced his soul half-departing his body.
"Anna, don't cry. I'll clean it thoroughly for you."
The brown-haired boy hopping on his feet tried to calm Anna down, but it was futile.
"That's enough! This won't come off! Waahhh! Rene, I hate you!"
"Anna! Anna, where are you going!"
A tiny lady fleeing in tears and a three-year-old child flinging tomatoes everywhere without care.
And a boy in his early teens scrambling to clean up the mess, along with a newborn crying in Lucas Black's arms.
Watching children of various ages creating chaos in every direction, Lucas Black pondered very seriously.
...It seemed that children weren't absolutely necessary for married life.
If Grace Oellin wanted one, he could accept having at least one....
Lucas Black quickly shook his head at such thoughts.
'No. I need to have children. For Grace Oellin's sake too....'
Of course, that was on the premise that she agreed.
"Don't follow me all the way to changing clothes! Go away!"
"Waahhh, Anna!"
"Christine, haven't you finished cleaning yet? What will we do if the director arrives?"
"Shh, be quiet. Your voice will bring her here."
The girl named Anna quickly wiped away her tears and came back out.
I thought she wouldn't come back after running out in tears, but it seems she changed clothes and returned.
'I should have brought Haem along.'
When I went out today, I hadn't anticipated the schedule would extend this long.
Since I had tasks to assign to Haem, I came out alone with only an escort knight and a coachman....
"Waaahhh!!"
"...!"
The newborn pierced Lucas Black's eardrums with a resounding cry while he stood dazed.
It was destructive enough to make Lucas Black, who had never flinched before any enemy, shudder.
"Mister! If you hold the baby like that, it's uncomfortable and they cry! Please hold it properly!"
Catherine, Anna's younger sister, scolded the man without knowing he was the most powerful figure in this nation.
Overwhelmed by her momentum, Lucas Black adjusted the way he was holding the baby.
But the baby's crying didn't stop, as if that position was also uncomfortable.
'How on earth am I supposed to do this?'
This was Lucas Black's first time holding such a small and delicate life.
The baby was so tiny and so soft that it fit entirely in his thick, large hands.
Terrifyingly so.
It felt as though the slightest pressure would break it completely.
"Goodness... Lucas!"
Just as Lucas Black stood there sweating coldly in helplessness, a savior fortunately appeared.
"Oh my goodness...."
Grace Oellin took the baby from him with a barely suppressed smile.
"How could you make the baby cry, Your Grace the Duke? You mustn't torment such a small life."
But I was just holding it the way the children told me to...!
Lucas Black looked at Grace Oellin with a deeply aggrieved expression.
Grace knew full well that he hadn't made the baby cry.
She had simply teased him a little.
She hushed softly and gently rocked the baby in her arms.
In that moment, Lucas Black's aggrieved expression grew even more pitiful.
"Waaah... hic, hic-uuung. Uung.... Hing."
The baby's cries, which had seemed endless, ceased the moment it was cradled in Grace's embrace.
What was this? What could possibly be the reason?
"Huueng.... Hiung.... Uuu...."
From the baby's mouth, which she had expected to continue wailing dramatically, came instead soft cooing sounds—strange yet endearing.
Lucas Black stared back and forth between the baby and Grace in utter bewilderment.
"How... how did you do that?"
"Do what?"
"No matter how much I held it, it only cried...."
Lucas Black looked adorable speaking with that woeful expression.
Grace spoke in a playful whisper.
"Even the General becomes docile in my arms. My embrace must possess some kind of magic—the power to make things gentle."
"...."
Ah, this was logic he simply could not refute.
He found himself genuinely convinced.
"My goodness, what a mess you've all made. You had quite the tomato stew incident, didn't you? Let me see—do we have enough food for today?"
Kelly laughed in exasperation as she surveyed the children's disheveled state.
When children gathered together, all manner of chaos inevitably ensued.
"Matron... I'm sorry."
"Thank goodness the stew wasn't scalding hot. We cannot continue to present such embarrassing sights before our guests, so go change your clothes at once."
At Kelly's words, the children moved with perfect coordination.
Kelly turned to Lucas Black with an apologetic expression.
"The General must have been quite startled. These young children are clumsy and made a mistake, so I do hope you will forgive them graciously."
"Not at all. I simply... stood there. As an adult, I feel embarrassed now that I could not help the children."
"You did plenty simply by holding the crying baby."
At Kelly's words, Lucas Black gazed at the baby cradled skillfully in Grace's arms.
The child, now silent, appeared remarkably docile—quite unlike its earlier tantrum.
Watching Grace gently pat the baby's back, Lucas Black found his earlier conviction subtly shifting.
...Perhaps having a child might bring joy after all—something along those lines.
It was a most peculiar sensation.
The sight of Grace holding the baby stirred within him a strange sense of reverence.
He had never seriously contemplated the matter of an heir, so why did he feel this way....
"But how did this baby come to be here? This place isn't easy to find...."
"Well, actually, I had something to tell you about that very matter."
Kelly glanced at the baby for a moment, then retrieved something from her pocket.
It was a small object wrapped in crumpled, creased paper and cloth.
"What is this?"
"Please read it, ma'am."
Sensing something amiss, I handed the baby to Kelly and unfolded the paper to read it.
'Why would she do this?'
With a puzzled heart, I began reading the note aloud without much thought, but my voice faltered.
"Name: Melissa. Born January 12th. Mother: Carolian Adeia...."
Carolian.
Carolian Adeia.
It was a name I knew.
A name I had heard only days ago.
My voice trembled as I read the final part of the note.
"Father... Norman Oellin."
I lifted my head sharply and looked at the baby again.
Oh, my goodness!
'How could I have missed this?'
The baby's soft hair was a rosy pink that resembled someone else's exactly.
It wasn't even a common color, yet I had failed to notice.
"And look at this as well."
Kelly held out a small object wrapped in white cloth.
When I retrieved the item from the cloth with trembling hands, I had to draw a sharp, ragged breath.
"This... this is definitely Norman's possession."
It was the family ring that Capren Oellin had personally passed down to Norman.
An ancient ring made of pure gold.
Years ago, Norman had said he lost it while drunk, unaware of its value.
I recalled the rare occasion when Father had scolded his son.
"A few days ago, a young man came and delivered this along with the baby. He was very insistent that no one else should see it, and that I should show it to you when you arrived... and then he disappeared."
"But why didn't you come find me right away?"
"Thompson and Bree, who helped with the work, were injured, so I couldn't leave the Orphanage. And I remembered you mentioning that you'd head straight to Contana after the wedding... ."
"Ah...."
No one could have known that my schedule had been delayed.
I looked at Lucas with trembling eyes.
Lucas, who had been listening to the entire story, smiled broadly and spoke.
"That man took quite a tremendous risk. Then we must rescue him from that hell as soon as possible."
He was right. I nodded firmly.
"Tomorrow... everything will be decided."
It was time to reveal to everyone the sins of Norman Oellin, who had made so many people suffer.
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Brought to you by Valir Scans! To support our team and enjoy the latest releases, please read directly on our official site: valirscans.org
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