Chapter 29

Of course, she had thought he might have gone looking for her since she disappeared.

But the thought that he had searched for her every single day was something she hadn’t considered at all.

She had thought that just like a pet dog that suddenly disappears causes worry, he would have looked a few times and then given up.

She had assumed he either started looking again after learning the Magic Tower was after her, or he had simply forgotten about her until he coincidentally heard news that she was in the Spirit Village and came to find her.

“I know why my brother didn’t tell you, but I thought it was better not to mention this for both his sake and yours. From the day you vanished until the day he found you, Lord Caldeon personally searched for you without a single day of rest.”

Roseanne smiled slightly at her, saying she thought it was best to clear up the misunderstanding that Caldeon had abandoned Enria.

At that, Enria naturally nodded as the vague misunderstandings lingering in her heart were cleared up.

“I almost forgot, but this shows how important communication is.”

Roseanne smiled, curving her eyebrows at Enria’s words.

‘Communication…’

“I need to have a conversation with Caldeon.”

Enria stood up and continued.

“Waiting for the genius illusionist is one way, but I’d prefer it if he figured it out himself.”

“Ah.”

“I’ll have a conversation with him to help him understand as much as possible.”

“Yes. I hope Lord Caldeon realizes it soon.”

Enria smiled and nodded at Roseanne’s words.

Caldeon, who had been carrying Hayden and looking for Enria, entrusted Hayden to Chavel and returned to his office upon hearing that Enria was with Roseanne.

As soon as he arrived, he told Arsen, who immediately asked about Hayden, what had happened at the party.

Arsen asked Caldeon again with a look of surprise.

“He used magic?”

“Yes. The boy used the same black magic as me.”

At that, Arsen’s face gradually hardened and turned pale.

He had come to realize in life that nothing in this world could be 100%.

The fact that Enria, a saintess, had given birth to a boy solidified that thought.

So, he thought it was possible that the idea that no child could be born between Enria and Caldeon was not 100% certain.

“Then isn’t he your Grace’s son?”

When Arsen asked, Caldeon frowned slightly.

“How could that be? A child cannot be born between Enria and me.”

“But there is always a chance. I knew that only girls could be born to a saintess, but didn’t Lady Enria give birth to a boy? Therefore…”

“That’s different from this. A saintess, who calms the mana rampage, could never have my child in the first place.”

He had once read all the ancient texts about magic because he wanted to elevate Enria to the position of Grand Duchess.

He needed a justification—that she had conceived his child—to make Enria, a saintess, the Grand Duchess.

However, after searching through all the ancient texts, there had never been such a case.

Whether male or female, a person with the power to calm a mana rampage could not produce an heir through a union with the person experiencing the mana rampage.

In the first place, only a few of those born with magic experienced a mana rampage.

Those who experienced a mana rampage were those born with an uncontrollable amount of mana, and since such an owner of uncontrollable mana appeared only once every few generations, detailed explanations about mana rampages were not recorded.

It was recorded that only one man in the past, who, like Caldeon, had his mana rampage calmed by a saintess, was unable to have children despite marrying the saintess, leading to a period with no children born with magic.

Furthermore, there were fewer people born with black magic than those with mana rampages. Despite scouring all the ancient texts on black magic, no satisfactory results were found.

One thing he did learn was that all those born with black magic were from his mother Roniph Pandemonie’s family.

This fact, which his father—who had found Caldeon’s mother in the Monster Forest—had spent a long time investigating, indicated that the first person with black magic was born in the Pandemonie family.

This record made Caldeon suspect that Hayden might be the child of someone in his mother’s family.

Of course, he knew his mother had no family, but he thought there might be an unrecorded relative.

After all, the Pandemonie family was thought to have been extinct long ago, with no one inheriting their blood, but his mother had clearly existed.

“In any case, Hayden’s biological father might be someone in my mother’s family.”

Arsen asked him with an incomprehensible expression at Caldeon’s words.

“Your Grace’s mother had no family, did she?”

“I don’t know. Maybe she had a hidden family.”

“That is mere conjecture. If there were any, the former Grand Duke would have already found them.”

Caldeon’s father was a man who had persistently tried to make Caldeon’s mother, the sole possessor of black magic, his legal wife instead of just a mistress.

If Caldeon’s mother had family, his father would never have overlooked investigating them.

He was the kind of person who would have given rank to her family and made her his wife if she had family.

Since it was a world where rank could not be bestowed upon a woman without family, Caldeon’s father would surely have made an effort to find his mother’s family.

“I think he might be your Grace’s son, after all.”

Caldeon looked at Arsen at his words.

“Please investigate. Since there’s no 100% certainty in this world, I think he could be your Grace’s son.”

“…”

“Since Lady Enria is the owner of the oracle, it’s possible she bore your Grace’s child, and a boy at that.”

Caldeon, who looked like he was thinking about something with a hardened face, eventually asked Arsen, “But if he were my child, wouldn’t Enria have told me first?”

“Lady Enria might also believe he is not your Grace’s child. I don’t mean that Lady Enria has had an affair with another man, but since your Grace believes a child can absolutely not be born between you two, why would Lady Enria think differently? Therefore, it would be best to check using a paternity test artifact.”

“…But he is the child Enria conceived before she went to Endelie. Doesn’t the fact that she concealed the situation from me suggest a high probability that he is not my child?”

Caldeon said with an ambiguous expression.

This was understandable, as he believed the one-year-old Hayden was two years old.

“Since he grew up in the Spirit Village, the age might not be accurate. As your Grace knows, time in the Spirit Village moves faster than in the human world.”

“…”

“Let’s do the paternity test.”

Caldeon, who had been contemplating for a moment at Arsen’s suggestion, nodded once toward him and said, “Prepare it right now.”

“Yes, Your Grace.”

Arsen readily nodded.

Caldeon stood up and headed toward the door, saying to Arsen,

“I will go talk with Enria.”

“Please do.”

“A-ppa, a-ppa.”

As soon as Hayden saw Caldeon, he stretched out his two arms, trying to be held.

Caldeon took Hayden from Chavel and walked over to the sofa by the window, examining the child’s face.

His heart thumped as he was struck anew by how much Hayden’s eyes, nose, and mouth resembled him.

“Should I escort Lady Enria here?”

When Chavel cautiously asked, Caldeon shook his head once and told her to leave her be.

“She will come soon. I will be with Hayden, so don’t worry and leave.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

While Chavel bowed and left, Caldeon meticulously scrutinized every feature of Hayden’s face as the boy looked up at him.

Perhaps because of Arsen’s words, he felt an unusually strong sense that everything about the boy resembled him.

It was strange because he was absolutely not the type to be easily swayed, yet he was having such thoughts.

‘Is he really my child…?’

But Enria was the saintess who calmed his mana, she hadn’t received the blessing of the Elven Tree, and she could only give birth to girls.

Suddenly realizing that he had never accurately confirmed the child’s gender, Caldeon slipped his index finger into Hayden’s pants.

“Excuse me for a moment, Hayden.”

Then, he simultaneously pulled down the pants and the diaper to check the contents inside.

‘He’s definitely a boy.’

Caldeon pulled the clothes back into place and sighed briefly.

In any case, the fact that a child born to a saintess was a boy was unprecedented, and if this unprecedented event wasn’t the only one, then it was possible that Hayden was indeed the child born between Enria and himself.

When that thought occurred to him, his heart started racing again.

If Enria hadn’t given birth to another man’s child, if Hayden was his child, he felt he could offer everything he had, except Enria and Hayden, to the gods.

Just then.

“A-ppa-ppa?”

Hayden mimicked Caldeon’s actions, pulling and releasing his own pants while babbling.

“Oh, no, you shouldn’t do that.”

When Caldeon grabbed Hayden’s tiny, fern-like hand to restrain him, Hayden slightly frowned his small, adorable eyebrows and mumbled something.

“A-byu-boo, u-bwaa-bwaa.”

It sounded like, “You did it, so why can’t I?” which made Caldeon chuckle softly.

Then, finding Hayden unbearably lovely, he spontaneously put his mouth over Hayden’s small nose with a pop and pulled back.

Hayden burst into uproarious laughter at that.

He seemed to know it was a game.

Caldeon repeated the same action once more at Hayden’s delightful laugh, and Hayden again roared with laughter.

“Is it fun?”

“A-ppa-ppa.”

Caldeon also smiled happily, and this time, Hayden used his fern-like hands to pull Caldeon’s face towards his own.

“Ah, you want to do it too?”

Caldeon naturally leaned his face forward to Hayden, and Hayden opened his small, charming mouth and playfully chomped on the bridge of his prominent nose.

At that, Caldeon burst into loud laughter for the first time.

“Hahaha.”

“Hehe-”

The cheerful laughter of the two father and son figures filled the room.