Choosing the Baby’s Father From the Following – Chapter 41

𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟒𝟏
Lurik left the detached palace before the sun rose.

His deputy commander, Jesus, happened to be climbing the stairs.

He must have been on night duty.

“You’re up early.”

Though he said that, Jesus wasn’t surprised to see the commander up at the crack of dawn.

Lurik replied nonchalantly.

“Were you on duty? Anything happen?”

“Nothing special. However, the Tower Master entered the palace late last night, and his departure hasn’t been reported yet.”

Lurik narrowed his eyes, just enough to be noticeable.

It wasn’t a big deal that the Tower Master, Ren Dapht, appeared and disappeared like lightning.

“Understood. Get some rest.”

High-ranking knights like Jesus often stayed in the same detached palace as Lurik.

Lurik moved his steps toward the main palace.

The lingering excitement of the late-night banquet mingled with the dawn air.

It was sickening.

At least the victory he witnessed wasn’t something to be celebrated so joyously.

He reaffirmed his decision not to pass near the main palace again until the Thanksgiving Festival ended, once he finished his current task.

🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹

“Where’s the Tower Master?”

Lurik asked the Imperial Guard standing watch on the upper floor.

“I believe he has been in His Majesty’s office since last night.”

“You mean he’s still there?”

He asked again in bewilderment, but the guard’s answer remained the same.

“As far as I know, yes.”

The Emperor, whose stamina seemed to be waning, had been keeping a strict bedtime lately.

‘Then, does that mean the Tower Master stayed in the Emperor’s empty room all night?’

However, when he went to the Emperor’s office, the guard standing in front of the door answered about the Tower Master’s whereabouts like this:

“Tower Master-nim just left.”

“Just now?”

“Yes.”

Lurik glanced at the dark sky through the hallway window, where the sun was just about to rise.

Seeing his displeasure, the guard subtly added,

“He was sitting at the innermost desk all night. I believe he used the stairs through the west corridor just a moment ago.”

The guard was testifying that the Tower Master didn’t use magic carelessly within the Imperial Palace, while simultaneously explaining why he and Lurik had missed each other.

After thinking for a moment, Lurik said,

“……I’ll go in for a moment.”

The guard flinched reflexively but couldn’t bring himself to say no.

The Second Prince’s momentum had been tremendous since the recent victory.

It was understandable, considering he had newly expanded the territory by an amount equivalent to 1/7 of the entire empire.

Knights and soldiers even called him the God of War amongst themselves.

For those who had seen and experienced him firsthand, the nobles’ talk about the Emperor using him seemed utterly absurd.

Who was using whom?

The old Emperor, that fearsome war maniac?

Anyway, Lurik entered the Emperor’s office, leaving the guard standing dumbly.

Then, he turned his gaze to the innermost desk where the Tower Master had been sitting.

‘What did he do here all night?’

His red eyes carefully scanned the nearby objects.

Documents piled like mountains on the large desk, relatively organized bookshelves, dust-covered chests left unattended……

Suddenly, he felt a strange sense of incongruity from those chests.

‘Was there something here?’

He saw a square-shaped dust mark.

Lurik shifted his gaze again, searching for a chest that had been moved recently.

It was placed rather deep inside, but unlike the others, it was completely free of dust.

It was clearly a trace of the mage’s hand.

‘Would Ren Dapht make such a mistake?’

No, it couldn’t be a mistake.

If he wanted to hide his tracks, he would never have left any trace.

Lurik glanced at the office door, which he had left slightly open, conscious of the guard.

However, it was still a long time before the Emperor would wake up, and it wouldn’t be something for the guard to boast about that he had let him into the empty room without permission.

‘So, it won’t be reported to Father.’

Therefore, Lurik opened the lid of the wooden chest.

He was only afraid that the Emperor and the Tower Master might be plotting to take Louise away from him right under his nose; he certainly wasn’t looking for ‘that’ kind of item.

🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹

What emerged from the wooden box was a thin, old book.

Unintelligible ancient words were written on the cover, but he was certain it was a book about the magic sword.

Because his sword, which he had carried with him for half his life, was drawn largely on the cover.

‘Belich……’

Like a magnet drawn to a piece of iron, Lurik reached out and grabbed the book, as if possessed.

In that instant, electricity surged through his palm.

He flinched and tried to pull his hand away, but it wouldn’t budge.

―Flip, flip, flip.

In the windless room, the pages began to turn on their own.

‘What the……’

While he twitched his fingers, the flipping pages abruptly stopped at a certain point.

Immediately after, a voice he had never heard before, yet felt strangely familiar, resonated loudly in his head.

―Offer victory to the hungry sword.

As he involuntarily inhaled, the book fell from his palm.

―Thud.

However, the turned page remained open and motionless, as if fixed in place.

The book that had fallen to the floor recited in a booming voice.

―Your blood, cries, and sacrifice shall awaken him, and pain shall turn into victory, victory into glory, and glory into death!

A splitting headache struck, and his vision alternated between red and black.

Lurik managed to exhale and picked up the book again.

Every time the book touched his fingertips, a tingling sensation shot up, pricking something sensitive within him.

―Offer victory to the hungry sword.

The book seemed to roar at him.

―Offer victory to the hungry sword!

Feeling nauseous, Lurik lifted the book and threw it back into the chest.

He hastily closed the wooden lid and left the Emperor’s office without looking back.

🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹

Meanwhile, on the Jofrua Coast of the Imperial Territory.

The first group of the Imperial Monastery heading towards Goldie Holy Land was setting up camping tents.

It was a rather windy day, but the monks’ hands, busily hammering in the supports and hanging the canvas, looked quite skillful.

“This pilgrimage is the first time I’ve seen the sea,”

Zariya, a nun from the inland region of Siygnac, whispered while pulling the edge of the tent to balance it.

“That’s why it’s so fascinating and wonderful, no matter how many times I look at it.”

Zariya, along with Helena, were the only two women in the group.

Helena stopped organizing her luggage and smiled.

“It’s the opposite for me. I’ve lived by the sea all my life, so this is my first time leaving it. Although we haven’t left the coast yet.”

The Imperial Monastery heading towards Goldie Holy Land was moving in three separate groups.

The first group, which Helena belonged to, was traveling along the northern border by the coast, and Helena had joined them when they passed near Kaisarea.

Zariya smiled brightly.

“Kaisarea! That’s where I saw the sea for the very first time.”

Helena teased her.

“Kaisarea is famous for having the most beautiful sea in the empire. Now that you’ve seen that, Zariya, no other sea will satisfy you, will it?”

However, Zariya, with her hazel eyes gazing blankly at the sea, replied,

“No, Helena. I love any sea. Just look at that horizon.”

Just then, a strong gust of wind blew.

One of the iron pegs that had been fixed to the ground to secure the tent was pulled out, unable to withstand the weight of the tilting support.

“Zariya……!”

Helena urgently called out, but it was already too late when Zariya turned around.

“Ouch!”

The iron peg, unfortunately, deeply grazed the back of Zariya’s neck, and the tent, which had been taking shape, collapsed with a rumble.

“Wh-what happened!”

Helena screamed as she removed the tent that had fallen on Zariya.

“Help! Zariya is injured! There’s…… a lot of blood!”

“Ugh……”

As Zariya groaned, monks rushed from all directions.

“Bring something to stop the bleeding!”

“First aid kit!”

However, Zariya’s wound was too deep, even at a glance.

Her beige nun’s habit was instantly stained crimson.

Helena grabbed a piece of cloth that looked clean nearby and started applying pressure to stop the bleeding.

Zariya asked, gasping for breath,

“Am I…… am I badly hurt?”

Helena quickly shook her head.

“No. You’ll be fine soon. Don’t talk.”

It was a lie.

The camping iron peg was heavily rusted, and healers only existed in the scriptures now.

Although she had embarked on this pilgrimage knowing it would be a grueling journey, ‘grueling’ and ‘death’ were different, weren’t they?

Moreover, Zariya was even younger than her.

Tears welled up in Helena’s eyes.

“It…… hurts so much.”

Helena looked down at her hands.

The cloth in her hand was already soaked in blood.

“Let me see.”

Someone approached, took the cloth, and applied a hemostatic agent.

Blood gushed out from the deep cut.

‘The wound needs stitches.’

Helena looked around, wiping her tears, but no one seemed capable of doing such a thing.

Of all places, they were on a deserted beach.

Just then, an unfamiliar old man appeared among the monks in gray robes.

“I came to lend a hand because it seemed like a tent had collapsed…… Is there a patient?”

Translator’s Blog

Blog

• Demon Slayer: Tengen Uzui – The Ultimate Husbando?
• From Page to Screen: The Grim Reality of Novel to Netflix Adaptation
• My Therapist Told Me to Stop Saying “Back In My Day” – Unrelatable TikTok Kids got me STRESSED
• Aqua Hoshino: The Ultimate Husbando?
• Lacus Clyne: The Ultimate Waifu? A Gundam SEED Freedom Deep Dive