Who’s your dad?

Chapter 3 

“Um ma, um mam ma.”

“Wait, I’m getting it now.”

While grumbling with my mouth, there was no hesitation in giving milk with my hands. Since being with the child for some time…

“Oh my, it’s already been a week. This is insane.”

I entrusted the request to the detective to find the child’s father, giving him the impression that I wouldn’t mix words with a despicable act like abandoning my child. When I asked him to help find the child’s father, the contemptuous look in his eyes vanished as if it never existed. Perhaps the detective now saw me as a somewhat caring mother rather than an unyielding human garbage.

Nevertheless, everything was unfair, but what could I do? In this rural village where I fled without anyone knowing, especially in a situation where I had to hide my identity, there was no one to help me other than that obnoxious detective.

Despite urging the detective to hurry by adding extra money and entrusting the request, there was no news from the office for a week.

While I waited to hear back, my week was a living hell.

Could you call it ‘parenting hell’?

Marriage was out of the question, and in my previous life, I hadn’t even experienced love, let alone dating. Taking care of a baby alone was truly maddening.

“Mum mwa!”

“I said I’m coming!”

Reflecting on the past week, having a baby was truly a miraculous existence.

It would be happy one moment and then suddenly burst into tears. Moreover, why did it have so much energy? It would crawl around the house in a flash, making it impossible for me to relax.

Raising a child was much harder than I thought. Moreover, being a complete novice without any childcare knowledge, in my twenties, and alone in the world without even a humble maid, it was truly, truly difficult.

She was sobbing like she was going to cry at any moment, but when I handed her the bottle, she was as calm as ever and sucked the milk with fierce intensity.

Teardrops dangled from the tips of her long lashes.

When I ran my finger over the teardrop that looked like it was about to fall, it tickled, and she let out a cute little giggle as she drank the milk.

“…… You’re such an angel when you’re so calm.”

I empathized with the saying that the most adorable time for a child was when they were asleep.

I was extremely grateful for the momentary tranquility and peace. Remembering the hard work I had gone through all morning to make the baby’s formula, I sighed deeply. It gave me chills.

“When is that darn detective going to contact me?”

It has been about a week, so shouldn’t there be some news by now? They said he was the most skilled detective in the village, but was it too much to expect competent help in this small rural village where I had hidden my identity?

As the baby’s belly filled, it seemed sleepy, so it blinks its eyes slowly.

“Are you sleepy because you’re full?”

It wasn’t nap time yet, but it seemed sleep came earlier today. Carefully picking up the baby so as not to drop the bottle and cautiously patting its small and delicate back, I walked toward the stairs.

The small log cabin I chose as my refuge wasn’t large, but it had a living room, kitchen, and a small guest room on the first floor. On the second floor was a bedroom, suitable for living alone.

“Mmm.”

I patted her tiny, delicate back to burp her, and laid her down on the bed, making sure to make a wall of pillows so she wouldn’t toss and turn and fall down.

The baby’s lips, which had been sucking the bottle vigorously, had turned redder.

The baby’s face, flushed with color, was so lovely that I lost myself in it for a moment.

Thud, thud, thud.

At that moment, someone knocked on the door downstairs, snapping me out of my reverie.

“Who is it?”

Who could it be…? Ah! Finally, it must be the baby’s father!

Since there was no one else to come for me other than the detective, I ran downstairs without asking twice and opened the door.

“Why did it take you so long! I entrusted you with the request, even adding extra money. If I knew it would take this long, I shouldn’t have paid extra. Goodness, how much have I suffered over the past week…”

As I poured out all the fatigue accumulated over the week into anger, I fell silent as soon as I opened the door and faced the sight of a tall man.

…This person isn’t the detective?

The man who looked down at me was completely different in height, build, and even face from the detective I met a week ago.

And he was fully armed.

“…Who are you?”

“It’s been a while, Viscountess Louisette.”

The name flowing from the man’s mouth sounded so natural. It felt like a voice I had heard many times before.

“Who are you? Do you know me?”

At my question, the man’s face stiffened. Did he know me?

“I didn’t expect to receive hospitality anyway.”

“What?”

What is this man saying?

“I’m not in a position to be greeted at the door.”

The unknown man’s words immediately set off a red flag in my head. This man should be avoided. Dangerous! This was probably Celeste’s instinctive warning to me.

With all the complications because of the child, I didn’t have the mental capacity for other thoughts.

I reached for the door handle to close the door and pushed it, intending to leave.

“I think you’re in the wrong place, so goodbye.”

“I thought you said you weren’t in a position to be slammed in the face.”

However, the man’s hand moved faster. In that fleeting moment, he quickly inserted his hand into the gap and pulled the door open the other way. Wide open.

“It’s been a while. Almost two years.”

With a brief sigh, the greeting he gave didn’t seem to require a response from me.

“But, why are you leaving me out here like this?”

“Uh, well…”

I quickly rolled my eyes. Should I lie and say I’m not Celestia, or should I ask him to leave because I can’t receive guests right now?

At least until I knew who the man was and what he came for, it didn’t seem wise to let him into the house.

“Excuse me!”

But my hesitation was unnecessary. Before hearing my answer, the man strode into the house with long strides.

“I didn’t give permission for you to come in like this. What are you doing?”

“Whether it’s two years ago or now, the Viscountess tone is still sharp.”

Pushed aside by the man who walked confidently into the house, I stepped aside.

Only two years? Then this man must be someone I met two years ago… What was Celestia doing back then?

It seemed that the muddy footprints on the dirt road indicated the man’s path. For a moment, I felt annoyed. After struggling with childcare all day and finally taking time to clean the floor all night last night, how could I feel good about someone sweeping in with muddy feet indoors?

Regardless, the man looked around the house before heading to the table in the center of the living room.

Anyone would think this was my home. There are all sorts of impudent people out there. Since it didn’t seem like he was going to leave right away, I closed the door.

But who is this man really? Is he a character from the original work? I know all the content of the original, so if he’s a character who appeared in the original, I might recognize him.

Now, let’s think. Two years ago, Celestia had a lover. A handsome Grand Duke with blonde hair and ashen eyes, Franz Albrecht Toskur Grand Duke. Although his name was too long to remember well, he was commonly referred to as the Toskur Grand Duke. He was the ultimate villain character in the novel.

“Franz?”

No, quietly mumbling his name, when I looked at him properly, this man wasn’t blonde.

With jet-black hair and eyes far from ashen, it was clear that he wasn’t Franz. So, who among the men around Celestia had black hair?

“If you called me that name to deliberately make me angry, you succeeded, Viscountess.”

The man stopped in his tracks at the mention of Franz’s name and turned around, his brow furrowed deeply.

Not only was he not Franz, but it seemed there was also some bad blood between them.

Seeming displeased, the man still gestured for me to come over, as if to say it was my turn.

Pretending to approach him closely, I narrowed my eyes and scrutinized him.

His neatly combed black hair, just covering his forehead, disappeared between the strands whenever his face moved. His eyebrows, as black as his hair, seemed to either protrude sharply or his eyes were deep, casting a dark shadow below them, making his face look even sharper.

His long eyelashes sparkled as they caught the sunlight coming through the opposite window. Beneath them, mysterious turquoise irises captivated the gaze.

The black uniform complemented the man’s skin tone perfectly. From his broad shoulders and firm chest muscles to his slender, elongated legs, the man’s appearance resembled a painting.

I tried to recall from my memory for a moment. In fact, aside from the protagonist or supporting characters of equivalent importance in the novel, there weren’t many characters described in detail. Among them, the one person who had black hair, turquoise eyes, and a bad relationship with Franz…

…was none other than the protagonist.

I mean, the original male protagonist who beheaded Celeste had black hair and blue eyes like this.

Karl Rudolf Johann Albrecht.

He was the Archduke of Otaka and the older cousin of the young emperor, ascending to the throne by outmaneuvering Celestia and Franz, the typically capable male protagonist.

But why was he here?

My mind stopped thinking further, overwhelmed as if overloaded.