Choosing the Baby’s Father From the Following – Chapter 126

𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟏𝟐𝟔

Whoosh!

Black powder scattered from the Tower Master’s fingertips, and flames erupted.

“AHAHAHAHAHA!”

Chilla laughed hysterically.

It was quite fair that Louise should suffer the same loss she had.

“WAAAAH! WAAAAH!”

Chilla yelled in a fit of rage at the baby’s cries.

“Burn her quickly, Ren! That noisy and filthy bastard is a disgrace to the Imperial Family of the Brentania Empire!”

Ren chuckled.

It was the moment he blew a breath.

The black flames spread to Chilla’s hair.

“ACK! What the……?”

Chilla frantically grabbed the curtains in a panic.

When the large, heavy curtains wouldn’t tear easily, she grabbed the edge and tried to flap them to extinguish the flames.

Ren finally pulled Prillice closer and held her properly.

“WAAAAAAAAH!”

His clumsy efforts weren’t enough to soothe the startled baby, but Ren was doing his best.

The flames that were burning Chilla’s hair quickly spread to the curtains and her clothes, blazing fiercely.

“AAAAH!”

Chilla screamed and rolled on the floor.

Ren blew again, extinguishing the flames that had spread to the curtains.

However, the convulsing woman’s hair and clothes were still burning.

She let out a hellish shriek.

“Ren Dapht, you idiot! That’s not your baby!”

“……So what.”

Ren laughed as if dumbfounded and clumsily patted Prillice.

“Wah! Waaah!”

He whispered affectionately to the crying baby.

“I’m sorry, baby. Let’s go to your mother now.”

Chilla, groaning while still on fire, crawled towards Ren and reached out.

“Give her to me! She’s not even your blood!”

She grabbed Ren’s ankle, but he brushed her hand away as lightly as dust.

Chilla screamed.

“I’ll take her with me to death! Then you can start over with Louise!”

“That’s really……”

Ren looked down at Chilla and jumped over her as if flying.

Then he glanced back.

“What a pathetic story. Just like you.”

“AAAAAH!”

A piercing scream echoed.

Ren looked at her with astonishment and asked.

“But do you think I’ll kill you?”

In the next moment, the two layers of barriers that had been blocking the room from the outside dispersed simultaneously.

“How foolish. How could you expect such mercy from me? I know a different way to make you suffer the most miserably and painfully.”

Ren opened the door with a gesture.

Louise, whom he had missed so much, was sitting in front of the door, crying.

🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹

A little while ago.

A knight of Babenberg came running in a hurry and reported.

“Your Grace, an additional barrier has been erected outside the building.”

“What?”

Callisto frowned.

The Babenberg Knights, having given up on the impenetrable barrier in the hallway, were climbing the outer wall to enter the room through the window.

Everyone was horrified when the baby suddenly popped out of the open window, but the defense mages waiting below began to combine their powers to create a protective barrier underneath.

Then, suddenly, another barrier appeared.

“Our mages say it’s a barrier so sophisticated that it’s impossible to replicate. It seems the Tower Master has indeed arrived. The problem is, we can no longer reach the top floor window because of it……”

The knight flinched under the Grand Duke’s piercing gaze and barely managed to continue.

“The Tower Master seems to have shown his will to protect the baby! Moreover, we can see a hand holding the baby inside, but it’s definitely not the Tower Master. Judging by the sleeve, it looks more like a woman.”

“……A woman?”

The knight gulped at the Grand Duke’s chilling question.

“We can’t see the face clearly, but…… we see red hair.”

As Callisto’s expression darkened, the knight cautiously added.

“We can hear the baby’s cries loudly from outside! Nothing must have happened yet!”

Callisto finally gave the next order.

“……The remaining personnel are to thoroughly search the surroundings.”

“Yes, sir!”

Callisto returned to the hallway and put his hand on Louise’s shoulder as she leaned against the door, gasping in pain.

“Lou. They’ve put up a barrier outside the building, and fortunately, the Tower Master seems to be on our side. We can hear Prillice crying outside. Everything will be alright, okay?”

Louise closed her eyes without answering.

Transparent tears rolled down from beneath her soft, pink eyelashes.

“Because of me…… because of me……”

Callisto hugged Louise tightly.

“It’s not your fault, it’s mine. Even that day a year ago, it was my fault. You did nothing wrong.”

He hugged Louise and repeated the same words over and over.

But her sobs didn’t lessen.

After a while, Leander’s voice was heard.

“Your Grace, the barrier is being deactivated.”

“What?”

As if to confirm his words, the baby’s cries began to be heard from inside.

As Callisto let go of Louise, she collapsed as if her legs had given way.

The door opened unnaturally, as if bouncing back, and the man, so welcome at this moment, walked out holding the crying baby awkwardly.

“……Ren.”

Callisto shook his head helplessly as he saw the man kneel directly in front of Louise.

“Thank you, Ren.”

Louise sobbed and clung to him as if embracing him.

“Thank you for protecting my baby…… for coming back to us.”

This time, even Callisto couldn’t disagree.

His debt to the Tower Master had grown considerably.

So he turned a blind eye to the man holding his child and his future wife.

Then, unexpectedly, Ren looked up at him.

Their eyes met, and Callisto couldn’t help but say,

“I’ll repay this favor…… for the rest of my life.”

The Second Princess’s agonizing screams could be heard from inside.

“AAAAAH!”

Ren chuckled and pointed to the room.

“Will a lifetime be enough for such a favor? I think you’ll have to repay it in your next life too.”

One corner of Callisto’s mouth twitched.

“Even in my next life, alright.”

Perhaps seeking the familiar comfort of her mother, Prillice finally stopped crying and fell asleep as if she had fainted.

The Babenberg Knights poured into the open room.

The night had just begun.

🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹

When the knights patrolling outside brought in a shabby man, the woman who had pretended to be the First Princess in the carriage exclaimed excitedly.

“That’s the man! He’s the one who paid me to do it! He said it was just a prank! I really didn’t know it would cause a fire or a big accident!”

The man dressed as a coachman also cried and pleaded.

“We’re just actors in a troupe. These clothes are just our costumes, and the wig is for the play. We only hung the Marquisate emblem as he instructed!”

Indeed, a red wig was lying disheveled next to the woman.

It would have been obvious that it was a wig if they had looked closely, but it seemed the darkness outside had obscured their vision.

“Their crime is impersonating royalty, so they will be escorted to the Imperial Palace.”

“Sir! Sir! Please have mercy…… I never dreamed it would be such a big deal!”

The two begged desperately, but the knights dragged them out.

Callisto glared menacingly at the man who was brought in late and then raised an eyebrow.

“Isn’t that the former Duke Damiani?”

Gideon flinched.

He hadn’t expected the Grand Duke to recognize him so quickly.

Callisto shook his head in disbelief.

“So it was you who brought her into my castle.”

Chilla was kneeling with her wrists and ankles bound.

Gideon, who couldn’t even offer a word of excuse to Callisto, spat and cursed at his niece.

“You useless thing! You stupid fool!”

Leander kicked Gideon straight in the gut with his military boot.

“Shut up. How dare you act on your own.”

Gideon’s saliva dripped onto Chilla’s face, half of which was bruised red.

One of her eyelids seemed to be damaged, and her golden eyes twitched strangely.

The sight of blood mixed with tears flowing down her face was truly grotesque, but Callisto ignored Chilla as if he hadn’t seen her at all.

Chilla felt like she was suffocating.

Even the burns all over her body didn’t hurt as much as Callisto’s disregard.

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