Chapter 20

At Enria’s startled shout, Silri’s body gave a small twitch.

Hayden, just as surprised, instinctively pulled the cat into his arms.

Silri purred contentedly in his embrace and said that Hayden would grow into a dependable man one day.

“But what am I supposed to do then? I can’t even tell him the truth!”

When Enria demanded an answer with an incredulous look, Silri shot her a sidelong glance and scratched behind her ear with her hind paw as if to say she had no idea either.

Her irresponsibility made Enria’s brow crease sharply. After a moment of silent thought, Silri finally spoke.

[Well, there is one way.]

“What is it?”

Enria’s face instantly brightened.

Silri glanced up at her, then burrowed deeper into Hayden’s arms, curling up comfortably.

“What way?” Enria pressed again, watching as Silri pretended to bite Hayden’s tiny hand tugging at her fur.

[His father has to realize it himself.]

“…What?”

When Enria gave her a baffled stare, Silri lifted her head proudly and added,

[The moment the child’s father realizes the boy is his own, the spell will break.]

Enria’s face twisted again.

‘What kind of ridiculous logic is that…?’

***

Enria fell into deep thought.

‘If Caldeon weren’t such a dense man, that’d be nice—but he’s seen Hayden, who looks exactly like him, and still hasn’t realized anything.’

Far from realizing it, he didn’t even seem to consider the possibility. Unless someone told him outright, Caldeon would probably never notice.

‘Then what am I supposed to do…?’

She sighed, unable to stop the sound from escaping.

Roseanne, who had been looking through a parchment full of sketches of baby cribs, lifted her head and looked over. She’d come early that morning to help Enria choose furniture for Hayden’s room.

“Don’t like any of the cribs?” Roseanne asked, misunderstanding the sigh.

“Oh—no, it’s not that,” Enria said quickly, shaking her head.

“Then what’s wrong? You look like you’re carrying the weight of the world.”

“Well…”

Enria hesitated, thinking for a moment before turning toward her.

“You said you really have nothing going on with Caldeon, right? I’m trusting you on that.”

“I swear. Absolutely nothing,” Roseanne said firmly, crossing her arms into an X.

Enria chuckled faintly at her seriousness and admitted, “I was thinking of telling Hayden’s father about him.”

“I mean, you were never officially married, so it should be fine to register Hayden under his family, right?”

“Ah, I see what you mean. Giving the child his father’s name… Wait—does Hayden have any magic?”

That question made Enria’s eyes widen.

“Oh, um… I don’t really know yet.”

She hadn’t even considered that, but since Caldeon was his father, there was a good chance the boy carried the same magical blood.

“Enri,” Roseanne said seriously, “I’m only asking this to be sure—don’t take it the wrong way, okay?”

“Sure?”

“You’re certain about who the father is, right?”

“…”

Even though Roseanne said not to misunderstand, the sudden doubt made Enria freeze in surprise.

She was a Saintess, after all. She’d only shared a bed with Caldeon because of his magical rampage.

There was no way she could have been with another man inside the Grand Duchy, and the timing ruled out any possibility after she’d left.

If Roseanne was questioning it despite that, there had to be some deeper reason—maybe even related to why Caldeon himself hadn’t suspected a thing.

Just then, Roseanne continued, “I mean, just by looks alone, there’s no way he isn’t Caldeon’s child. But you’re a Saintess, and Saintesses rarely get pregnant, right?”

“Saintesses… have trouble getting pregnant?” Enria asked, blinking in surprise.

“You didn’t know?”

“No! I never heard that before.”

Enria shook her head quickly.

“The temple never told me anything like that. Honestly, as soon as they found out I could calm Caldeon’s rampage, they sent me straight to the Grand Duchy.”

“Ah, I see.” Roseanne nodded, then explained, “Saintesses can’t conceive unless they receive Elim’s blessing.”

Enria’s eyes went wide. Elim—the great sacred tree that stood at the heart of the Holy Temple. The source of all divine power, said to be a vessel of the gods themselves. Even prophecies were believed to come from the divine voice that flowed through it.

That the tree could even interfere with human life was… staggering, though by now Enria felt she had seen enough impossible things to believe anything.

“And divine power,” Roseanne went on, “only manifests in women. It’s a power men can’t possess. Because of that, Saintesses—whose divine energy is inherited perfectly—can only give birth to girls.”

Enria’s jaw went slack.

“Elim can even change the child’s gender. So Saintesses who bear Elim’s blessing always give birth to daughters. And…” Roseanne hesitated, “when it comes to black magic, it’s even trickier. According to old texts, if a man possesses black magic, he can’t conceive a child with anyone but his lawful wife.”

“What?”

“I’m serious. It’s written right there in the old grimoires. Of course, Caldeon’s mother seems to be the exception—she conceived him before she was officially registered in the Jupiter family.”

Enria’s breath caught.

“Because black magic is so rare, there aren’t many records. But both Caldeon and his mother—being the only known cases—are living proof of how unique it is.”

“So in simpler terms,” Roseanne said, “since Caldeon is a man with black magic, only his duchess could ever bear his child.”

“B-but I’m not…”

Enria trailed off, her voice trembling.

Now that she thought about it, it was almost logical that Caldeon hadn’t even considered Hayden could be his.

‘Only a Grand Duchess could bear his child… and Saintesses can only give birth to girls… Then Hayden—‘

He was a boy. And she wasn’t the duchess. By all accounts, his existence should’ve been impossible.

“And yet, you still gave birth to him,” Roseanne said softly, as if reading her thoughts.

“That’s why the spirits are convinced Hayden must be the child of prophecy.”

“Ah…”

“But honestly,” Roseanne added, “I think that prophecy might be about you instead.”

She explained that Enria’s near-limitless divine power made her capable of calming Caldeon’s rampage and that this same power naturally infused itself into every magic circle she drew—barriers, summons, and attack arrays alike.

“That’s probably why you can summon spirits just by knowing their names,” Roseanne said. “It’s all because of your divine energy.”

“Anyway,” she continued, “I wasn’t doubting you, Enri. I just wanted to explain why something so impossible could happen. And that’s probably why Caldeon never even considered the boy might be his.”

“…Yeah.”

“And from what I’ve heard,” Roseanne went on, “Silri’s silence spell came from a previous spirit summoner—before she made a contract with Rahar.”

Enria’s eyes flickered in recognition. Roseanne clearly didn’t know she had already talked to Silri about it.

“That summoner was famous for being eccentric—a genius illusionist. Silri must’ve learned the silence spell from him.”

“Hmm…”

“But don’t worry. Rahar said he’d ask Lord Tearen for help, so it’ll be undone soon.”

“Lord Tearen? He can lift it?” Enria asked, her expression lighting up with relief.

Roseanne shook her head. “Not exactly. That silence spell was invented by that same eccentric genius—it doesn’t even have a formal reversal method.”

The hope that had just appeared on Enria’s face faded instantly.

“But,” Roseanne added quickly, “there is a formula for learning the spell. Lord Tearen might be able to use that to create a counter-spell. He’s a genius, after all.”

“Oh…”

That was at least some comfort.

Given everything, Caldeon probably would never realize Hayden was his own son. Unless Enria told him directly, he would doubt anyone else’s word.

He wasn’t the kind of man who trusted easily—but once he did, his trust was absolute.

And though he had once abandoned her, Enria knew she was still the only woman he had ever truly trusted.

‘If I told him the sky was the ground, he’d probably believe me,’ she thought with a faint smile.

Back then, before the separation, he had given her complete and unwavering trust—and that was precisely why his rejection had hurt so deeply.

She knew now that there had been reasons behind everything.

‘First, I have to undo Silri’s spell.’

Enria clenched her fists in determination.

“It won’t take too long,” Roseanne said reassuringly, “but the sooner Hayden’s registered in his father’s family, the easier things will be when it’s time for him to enter the academy. I’ll help however I can to make sure his father finds out.”

“Really? Thank you.”

Roseanne smiled. “Of course. So—no more worries? Anything else on your mind?”

“No, nothing.”

“Good. Then let’s put all our energy into decorating Hayden’s room!”

Roseanne pointed again at the parchment filled with drawings of baby cribs. Enria nodded and smiled warmly back at her.