Choosing the Baby’s Father From the Following – Chapter 119

𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟏𝟏𝟗

Chilla’s wounded golden eyes overflowed with tears.

“Wh-why? Even in this state, even when I kneel before you, don’t you feel even a little sorry for me?”

“Sorry for you?”

Callisto Veil Babenberg asked back, as if he had heard something absurd.

He truly couldn’t understand this situation.

He hadn’t even imagined that Chilla would be waiting for his answer.

Because he had no reason whatsoever to give her one.

It was the same as not responding to every street vendor he encountered on the road.

But Chilla sobbed loudly, as if she was deeply aggrieved.

Callisto Veil Babenberg only wanted to end this tiresome situation quickly and go to the training hall, but as he listened, he became a little curious.

“But, back when you would summon me whenever you pleased and make me kneel at your feet just because your status was slightly higher, did you ever pity me?”

Chilla, even in the midst of this, shrieked indignantly.

“I am a Princess! I was the only daughter of the Emperor of the Empire!”

Now confined to the monastery, she rattled on about her past as if she had lost her mind.

“Everyone is eager to kiss the back of my hand, but I specially chose you! A mere second son of a small country with no right to succession! Do you think that makes you pitiful?”

“……If I hadn’t wanted it, wouldn’t that be pitiful enough?”

He said self-deprecatingly and added,

“Second Princess, since you seem to genuinely not know, let me tell you. From the moment I first saw you when I was twelve, I found you repulsive. And it’s been that way ever since.”

Chilla gasped for breath as she sobbed, but Callisto Veil Babenberg’s eyes remained calm.

He continued in a monotone voice.

“Every time I had to kneel before you because the previous Grand Duke ordered me to treat the Imperial Family with respect, I felt sorry for myself and ashamed. I was afraid that I might never be able to rescue my beloved from your cruel grasp.”

“That girl! What’s so special about her! If you were so lonely, why didn’t you say anything? If you wanted someone to secretly sneak into your bedchamber at night, I could have……!”

“Do you want your tongue cut out?”

Callisto Veil Babenberg’s voice didn’t change even when he said that.

That’s what made it terrifying.

Chilla had to realize anew how lofty and unyielding the man she had long believed she could manipulate was.

When she finally closed her mouth, Callisto Veil Babenberg shook his head and turned to the guards.

There was no need to respond to a wild animal’s cries; he had wasted his time on something unnecessary.

“And this thing managed to sneak all the way up to the top floor?”

The guards bowed their heads deeply.

“It seems the search was lax because it’s a woman. Please kill us.”

This thing.

He said ‘this thing,’ not this person, not this woman.

While Chilla was in shock, Callisto Veil Babenberg ordered,

“The salaries of all the guards in the main castle who let this thing through will be reduced by half a month’s worth. If this thing appears before my eyes again, you will have to be prepared to lose your eyes. Because I don’t want to see this thing ever again.”

“We’ll keep that in mind!”

Callisto Veil Babenberg paused for a moment and then spoke again.

“Personally, it’s regrettable, but this thing is still a Princess and a citizen of the Empire, even though she’s been expelled, so we can’t judge her according to Babenberg law. I don’t want to bring unnecessary disgrace upon myself before the sacred national wedding, so open a gate and send her to Sebitol immediately. I don’t care if you dump her at the foot of the mountain once she’s out of the Duchy.”

“Understood, Your Excellency.”

Chilla couldn’t move even as the guards dragged her away.

She just kept shedding tears as if all the water in her body was draining out.

🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹

The path she had taken with such difficulty, overcoming all kinds of adversity, was surprisingly easy on the way back to the Empire after being expelled by Callisto Veil Babenberg.

The Babenberg guards, though she had been expelled, seemed uncomfortable dragging around a woman who was still a Princess, and dumped Chilla like baggage near Sebitol Monastery and left.

She cried and examined her appearance.

Her shabby maid’s uniform was wrinkled and dirty, and her bound wrists were red and oozing pus.

But the physical pain was nothing compared to the Grand Duke’s contemptuous gaze.

‘He said I was repulsive……’

It wasn’t just words.

Callisto Veil Babenberg had treated her like trash.

Even when she had abandoned her last shred of pride as a woman and clung to him, he had threatened to cut out her tongue in a nonchalant voice.

“You know the Grand Duke’s mercy well, don’t you? Moreover, he’s a knight. He can’t mistreat a pitiful woman.”

Chilla cursed her uncle who had said that.

If her uncle hadn’t been so sure, she wouldn’t have had to suffer this humiliation.

She, who had expected the gentlemanly Grand Duke to show her pity more than anyone else, blamed others out of habit.

She stared blankly at the monastery, which wasn’t too far away.

She had nowhere to go.

The money in the pouch her uncle had given her had dwindled considerably from sneaking out of the monastery and hiding in Babenberg.

What if she bought a new identity and escaped the Empire?

By then, she would have almost no money left.

She would have to cut her red hair short and never grow it again.

And she would be chased by the Imperial army for the rest of her life……

‘Should I just go back to the monastery and apologize?’

The monks at the monastery didn’t pay much attention to her, but they were basically good people.

If she went back and repented, even though she had run away briefly, she would be forgiven and could live quietly in a corner room as before.

It had only been about fifteen days since she left the monastery, so if she was lucky, the report might not have reached the Imperial Palace yet.

Unlike her parents, she wasn’t an important figure with political power.

As she hesitated, a rough hand suddenly grabbed her, and Chilla screamed.

“Aah!”

Someone dragged her into the dark bushes, and a gloved hand roughly covered her mouth.

“Shh, quiet!”

Chilla, who was struggling, stopped kicking only after realizing that the man’s voice was familiar.

Gideon finally let her go and clicked his tongue.

“I was waiting nearby just in case…… Why are you back already? What’s so difficult about sneaking into the Grand Duke’s bedchamber naked!”

Chilla shed tears again in frustration.

“That heavily guarded castle! How could I do it alone! In these beggarly clothes!”

She cried and tore at the apron of her maid’s uniform.

She wanted to kill her uncle, who was nonchalantly complaining without knowing what hardship she had gone through to come back.

“Do you know how I begged in front of that man!”

Gideon stared at his sobbing niece.

Although he found her pathetic for failing such a simple task, he felt an unexpected sense of exhilaration seeing her suffer like he did after losing his family.

His sister, the deposed Empress, shouldn’t have gone mad on her own.

If his sister wasn’t going to take responsibility for all this, then her daughter had to pay the price instead.

Unaware of Gideon’s inner thoughts, Chilla poured out her grievances.

“The Grand Duke treated me like an insect! Like trash……”

The corners of Gideon’s mouth twitched as if suppressing a smile.

In his eyes, Chilla, having failed once, seemed to have become an even more useful pawn.

His niece had no further to fall, and her resentment was her driving force.

He was now confident that he could manipulate Chilla to his liking.

Gideon whispered insidiously,

“That’s how men with children are, Chilla. Your bastard sister’s child only has the Grand Duke’s blood, but men are creatures who are moved by blood ties. They can’t see anything else.”

Chilla trembled with rage.

It made sense.

Even this meek man, who had been her mother’s right-hand man, was this enraged after his child was taken away.

Chilla had never imagined that her uncle would yell at her.

So she cursed the baby she had never even seen once.

‘I wish that child would die!’

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