Choosing the Baby’s Father From the Following – Chapter 110

𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟏𝟏𝟎

Lurik wouldn’t listen to a single word I said.

Filled with resentment, I shut myself in the room with Prillice for days and didn’t budge.

Even though I had chased away the only man I loved, the man who would be the father of my child!

After hearing Helena’s advice that I still needed more rest, Lurik didn’t immediately take me to the Imperial Palace.

However, more Imperial Guards were newly stationed at the Edessa Hotel than the Babenberg Knights who had returned to the Grand Duchy.

After discovering the Imperial Guards, who had been completely replaced with new faces, I deliberately went outside the room with the baby in my arms and shouted.

“Are you saying that you dismissed the Imperial Guards who worked so hard to protect me because you were afraid that Your Majesty would take away both my lover and the father of my child at the same time?”

“Wah, Wahhh.”

Perhaps because I suddenly shouted, Prillice burst into tears.

Still, she was just a tiny baby.

So her cries were weak and thin, but Lurik looked at the baby as if even that was bothersome.

He didn’t even answer my question and asked back.

“Are you dissatisfied with that? They are Imperial Guards. They deceived me, the Emperor. What reason do I have to forgive them?”

Then, seeing me with my lips tightly shut, he added an explanation as if trying to soothe me belatedly.

“……I called the Crown Prince of Flavi to hear the circumstances. I heard the Grand Duke has been preparing for a proposal since the last victory celebration.”

Since I didn’t even know Ernst had been here, I looked up at Lurik in disbelief.

“Do you have to hear that from the Crown Prince of Flavi, not me, to believe it? Then hear the rest of the story from him as well.”

Lurik retorted, not backing down.

“Of course, I will. How many lies have you told me so far? How can I trust you?”

I was speechless, dumbfounded, and could only keep my mouth shut.

“Wah, Wah!”

Prillice’s cries grew louder.

As I was about to turn around, Lurik added one more thing.

“……Is the baby healthy?”

This time, I glared at him fiercely.

“The baby is healthy. But thanks to Your Majesty’s great mercy, she lost her father just ten days after she was born.”

“……Lou.”

“Do you know the baby’s name is Prillice? You probably know whose name she was named after, right? I really, really wanted to show the baby to you, Brother.”

I bit my lip hard and went back into the room.

Before, I had risked danger while carrying the baby in my womb, wanting to save Lurik.

‘It’s different from the very beginning when I thought of him only as the male protagonist.’

Was it because I was happy to have a sibling I never had in my past life? I quickly grew attached to him.

As much as that was the case, I resented Lurik for his extreme behavior.

I didn’t want to show him the baby anymore.

🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹

Ten days had passed since the Emperor of the Brentania Empire declared the severance of diplomatic relations with Babenberg and issued an expulsion order to the Grand Duke.

The Emperor had already made three unofficial visits to the Kingdom of Flavi during that time.

Each time, Helena accompanied the Emperor and did her best to restore the relationship between the estranged siblings.

“Lady-in-waiting.”

Phoebe stepped out of the room for a moment and stopped at Helena’s call.

Helena whispered softly.

“Can we show the baby to His Majesty for a moment? Do you think Her Highness will allow it?”

Phoebe thought for a moment and said.

“Her Highness is just upset and angry with His Majesty. I think she secretly wants to show him the baby.”

“Then I’ll go and get permission and bring the baby.”

However, Phoebe shook her head at Helena’s words.

“The baby is with the nanny right now, and Her Highness is resting alone. I’ll tell Her Highness later. It would be better to show the baby to His Majesty now.”

The veteran maid seemed to hope that the Emperor would see the baby and forgive Louise as soon as possible, even if it meant she would be scolded.

Helena nodded, sensing that.

The two brought Prillice before the Emperor.

This side was no pushover either, so Lurik cut them off without even looking at the baby.

“……I don’t want to see her.”

But when Helena brought Prillice before him and removed her indoor bonnet, Lurik let out a sigh as if his emotions were welling up.

His red gaze was fixed on the baby’s pink hair.

Helena whispered.

“Look closely, Your Majesty. She has the red eyes of the Imperial Family, and every single feature resembles Her Highness Louise.”

“……I thought she didn’t want to show me the baby.”

As he said that, he hesitated and reached out his hand, so Phoebe and Helena just kept their mouths shut, not revealing that they had brought the baby without Louise’s permission.

His large hand finally caught the baby wrapped in a swaddle.

The baby was truly small.

With a little exaggeration, she was the size of his palm.

Lurik remembered how Louise had deceived him for the past year, using all sorts of illnesses as excuses.

‘……How surprised I was when she collapsed at the monastery.’

Just thinking about how anxious he had been as she continued to lie in bed and suffer made him furious.

But looking back, there were parts of Louise’s behavior that he could understand to some extent.

First, he admitted that his mind was somewhat clouded by the magic sword at the time.

So it was understandable that the timid Louise would be afraid of him and hesitate to tell the truth.

Meanwhile, rumors that the Grand Duke of Babenberg intended to propose to Louise had been circulating in the Imperial Palace for several years.

The former Emperor and Empress had been quite puzzled that a proposal letter had not actually arrived, so if Louise had intervened and dissuaded him, that part was also understandable.

‘Above all, I don’t want to forgive the fact that he dared to have a relationship with the Princess before marriage……’

But it was Louise’s baby and his niece.

Not lifting the expulsion order he had placed on the Grand Duke would only make his already born niece a fatherless child.

Not to mention, the severance of relations with Babenberg would bring enormous losses to the Empire.

For now, the Grand Duke was lying low, hoping for the Emperor’s forgiveness, but if he failed to regain Louise and the baby and withdrew his hand from the defense of the northeastern border of the Empire, things would become incredibly complicated.

Perhaps sensing the Emperor’s wavering heart, Prillice, in his arms, blinked her red eyes and suddenly smiled.

“Oh my, the baby is smiling.”

As Helena exclaimed in admiration, Phoebe cut in with a surprised look.

“Really? She’s only cried until now!”

Phoebe made a fuss as if she was oblivious.

“Did our baby say hello to her uncle?”

Lurik froze at the word ‘uncle’.

His large hand, encased in a thick glove, hesitantly reached out and gently stroked the baby’s pink hair.

Then the baby smiled, her lips parted.

Lurik hesitantly brought his long finger closer to the baby’s hand.

The baby’s hand was so small that it was amazing that it had all five fingers.

That tiny hand tightly grasped Lurik’s little finger.

Phoebe quickly exchanged a secret glance with Helena.

Lurik hadn’t said anything yet, but in the end, he would forgive the Grand Duke and his sister for the baby’s sake.

No, they both wished with all their hearts that he would.

🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹

Meanwhile, in Babenberg.

The Chief Attendant lamented the fact that his lord, who had returned to the Duchy after a whole month, was filled with unprecedented rage.

There was a mountain of work that had piled up.

But all the returning Grand Duke did was wrestle with the Knight Commanders he had taken to Edessa and roll around the training ground all day.

Moreover, he put in so much effort that the Commanders, who were always steadfast despite taking turns managing the borders, had to walk around every day with injuries and wounds.

Furthermore, since even the Commanders wouldn’t clearly reveal what had happened in Edessa, the Chief Attendant was extremely nervous and hovered around the Grand Duke’s office several times a day.

A week passed like that.

On the eighth morning, the Grand Duke, who had emerged from his bedroom, finally headed to his office instead of the training ground.

The Chief Attendant stood happily by his desk to assist his lord.

However, the Grand Duke asked something unexpected without even glancing at the piled-up work.

“Exactly how much is the northeastern defense budget that the Empire provides each year?”

Translator’s Blog

Blog

• Aqua Hoshino: The Ultimate Husbando?
• Demon Slayer: Tengen Uzui – The Ultimate Husbando?
• My Therapist Told Me to Stop Saying “Back In My Day” – Unrelatable TikTok Kids got me STRESSED
• Unlocking Your Inner Naruto Fox: Finding Your Sasuke and Mastering the Sharingan
• Scrolling Through Reddit: “My dog got into the Chinese take-out before I did”