"What do you mean, a horrifying tsunami? They’re all very nice. Father will understand once you meet them."

Muen rebutted him with a perfectly serious face.

After all, what bad intentions could a gentle senior, an adorable saintess, and an obedient maid who’d grown up in the duke’s residence since childhood possibly have?

A “tsunami” or anything like that was completely Father overthinking it. Wasn’t he living just fine right now?

Sure, he had gone through a tiiiiny bit of twists and danger.

Just a tiiiiny bit.

A tiiiiny bit...

"..."

While Muen was still soothing himself over here, Lorne’s gaze toward his son grew more and more full of pity.

He’d already reached the point of needing to deceive himself—what exactly were the identities of those women this kid had provoked outside?

Could they be some terrifying figures, like important ministers of state, or saintesses of the Church...?

"Alright, Father, don’t worry. How many ‘shura fields’ do you think I’ve already survived up to now?"

Muen crossed his arms and nodded firmly.

"I’ve always moved people with true love. An ending where I get stabbed to death with a hatchet is absolutely not going to happen!"

"I never said anything about you getting stabbed to death with a hatchet..."

The corner of Lorne’s mouth twitched as he muttered a few words.

When Muen said those things, it was like he could already see several Black men in suits, carrying a coffin, singing and dancing as they walked toward this brat...

Should he pick a good plot for this kid in advance? He had a feeling there would come a day it might be useful...

"Let’s not talk about that. Right—how is Mother doing?"

Muen didn’t want his poor little heart to sink into the terror of a shura field again, so he switched topics and returned to business.

"When you came, you didn’t go to your mother’s place?"

"No. To save time, I had King Yintuo bring me straight down into the Abyss. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have come in from the front of the fortress."

Muen shook his head.

If he’d taken the normal route, then it really would have been on the way to visit Mother, who was in Campbell territory resting and carrying the baby.

But that would’ve delayed him by at least two days, and with Mother’s temperament—she doted on him even more than Father did—she would definitely cling to him and refuse to let him go to the dangerous Abyss. After weighing it again and again, Muen still chose not to visit.

After victory, on the way back, it would be the same.

But...

"...Come to think of it, if you count the time, Mother should’ve given birth already, right?"

Only now did Muen suddenly remember.

So much had happened over this past year. Sudden situations one after another—first from the academy to the Lower District, {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} then to the Holy City, then back to Belrand... and now to the Abyss defensive line. Over this year and more, it felt like he hadn’t been able to properly stop even once.

So only now did he abruptly realize...

Mother had been carrying the baby for over a full year already, hadn’t she?

Then why hadn’t he received any definite news up to now?

Even if he’d forgotten, the people of the duke’s residence would definitely have sent the news to him immediately.

"Is it a little brother, or a fair, soft, sweet, adorable little sister that makes you want to kiss her the moment you look at her?" Muen asked.

"That difference in your descriptions is way too big."

Lorne rolled his eyes while tugging at his beard.

"But sorry—your old man doesn’t know either."

"You don’t know? Mother didn’t even tell you that? You made Mother mad again?"

Suspicion appeared on Muen’s face. He secretly thought—Father looks so upright and proper... don’t tell him that in private, he actually also...

"What are you even talking about? You think everyone is like you?"

Lorne glared.

"It’s because your mother still hasn’t gone into labor yet. She hasn’t given birth—how would I know whether it’s a son or a daughter?"

"Huh?"

This time Muen really froze.

"Hasn’t... given birth?"

He lowered his head in silence and started counting on his fingers.

But no matter how he counted, from the time Mother left the duke’s residence and said she was returning to her hometown to rest and carry the baby...

The number of months had already reached the point where you couldn’t finish counting on two hands.

Could it be...

That this time span was normal?

After all, this was an otherworld. Taking a little longer to have a baby might...

"Even though I don’t know what you’re thinking," Lorne said, "I can tell you directly—normally, ten months of pregnancy means birth. You were the same back then."

"Then why this time...?"

"Haha... maybe because this little one isn’t ordinary."

Lorne threw his head back and laughed.

"When I learned about it, I was shocked too. I even brought in people from the Church to examine her, and everything was normal. After that, I personally looked through many books, and only then did I learn that some powerful bloodlines in the past, or some unusual geniuses, really would stay in their mother’s belly for a longer period of time."

"I-is that so?"

"That has to be it!"

Lorne looked completely certain.

"Worthy of my Lion King’s child—different from the moment of birth. Perfect. Since you brat betrayed the ancestors, I say we’ll let the little one inherit the Blood Lion legacy later!"

"...Father is wise."

At that, Muen actually let out a breath of relief.

Now it seemed his unborn little brother or sister was perfectly normal, and the Campbell family’s Blood Lion legacy had also found an excellent vessel.

No matter how you looked at it, this was the best of both worlds.

No wonder Father cut things off so fast. Having a genius “alt account” as a guaranteed fallback really did make him full of confidence...

"If that’s the case, then I can be at ease."

Muen pushed himself up with both hands and sat up from the bed.

After all, it wasn’t a big problem for him. In the time they’d spent talking, his body had recovered a bit of ability to move.

"We’ve talked so much—Father must be tired too. I won’t disturb your rest."

"Mhm."

Lorne nodded.

"Go out and have Donick take you around the fortress. This fortress isn’t something you can finish seeing just by walking from the city gate to here."

"I understand."

Muen turned, opened the door.

There was no one else outside. It seemed they’d also received Funal’s orders—not to let anyone disturb.

And at the very last moment before leaving, Muen suddenly turned his head back.

At this moment, his face no longer had that calm closeness of reuniting with family. Instead, it looked extremely serious.

"Father, can I ask you one more question?"

"Ask."

"If I asked you to name the one person in this fortress who is most likely to betray the Empire and collude with the demonfolk..."

Muen asked carefully, "Who do you think it would be?"

"You brat... what do you mean?"

Lorne’s gaze sharpened abruptly. Even lying in bed, he instantly displayed the intimidating authority that belonged to the Lion King.

"Nothing. It’s just that there are some questions I can’t get answers to yet."

Muen flipped his palm and took out a small piece of magic-conducting material that still had the Empire’s serial number engraved on it.

"For example... something produced by the Empire like this—how did it pass through the only current point of contact between the Empire and the demonfolk, namely this fortress, and circulate to the other side?"

...

...

After Muen left, the room returned to quiet.

Imperial Duke Lorne Campbell lay there silently on that sickbed that, for him, could be called far too crude, staring at the bare ceiling with no decorations.

"The little habits are exactly the same, but in the bigger things... he truly has become very different."

He murmured in a low voice.

"Goddess bless my Campbell family... that kid really did turn over a new leaf."

The Campbell family had passed down a single heir each generation. Many crises and accidents had happened along the way, yet their bloodline had never been cut off. Whether it was the curse brought by the Blood Lion legacy, or some so-called fated coincidence—there were endless guesses, but in truth, no one could say for sure.

But the moment he learned his wife was pregnant, Lorne...

...had actually already prepared himself mentally for the possibility that he would lose one son.

Yet his unpromising eldest son didn’t meet with any accident. On the contrary, he’d become extremely promising.

And that little one who should’ve been born long ago still hadn’t arrived in this world.

It made you suspect whether there really was some connection... for example, whether the eldest son who should’ve been crossed off the Campbell family had changed his original unlucky fate, walked onto another road, and as a result, this so-called “Blood Lion curse” or “heaven’s decree” got stuck.

Or was there some other possibility he didn’t know?

But no matter which possibility it was...

Lorne suddenly smiled.

"In the end, this is a good thing, isn’t it?"

No matter how close those guesses were to the truth, there was one thing he was absolutely certain of.

His beloved son, Muen Campbell...

Had just been standing there by his side, safe and sound.

That was enough. That was very enough.

"But..."

With a creak, Lorne casually crushed the magic-conducting material in his hand into a lump. His expression turned cold, and a chill flashed through his eyes.

"At a moment when something good like this is happening, some trash suddenly dares to come and ruin my mood... that is very bad."