I Became a Mother of a Sub-Male Son

“Well, it means that we should help each other. Even if not right now, wouldn’t you be able to help me later?”

“Even if you put it to sleep, it’s going to be a mess when it wakes up anyway.”

“Don’t worry about that. When you open your eyes, you won’t remember what happened.”

She stared at Allegro blankly.

“Now, go ahead and go. Didn’t you say you have to go in there and have a look?”

She thought for a moment and then turned around. Although she felt uncomfortable about Allegro helping her, now was not the time to argue.

When she had barely taken a few steps, she heard Allegro’s voice again.

“The person in there who was locked has just opened it. Please feel free to come in and come back.”

She couldn’t help but turn her head at those words.

“How did you know it was locked?”

“Who do you think I am, my lady?”

Realizing the meaning behind those words, she reluctantly nodded. Since he was the magic tower lord, he should be able to understand that much.

She turned again and, without hesitation, passed the portrait and entered the dark hallway. The hallway had a similar feel to the one she had passed through in her dream. When she finally arrived, she stood in front of the person and took a deep breath. Then, without hesitation, she turned the hook.

Sweet.

She stepped into the gap that opened easily. The room was dark, but she didn’t panic and headed towards where the table would be. Just as in the dream, there was a candlestick there. What was slightly different was that the candle did not light up on its own. As she walked a little further next to it, she sensed a small box. When she looked at it, it looked like a match and she used it to light the candle.

As she looked around the brightly lit room, a small chair caught her eye.

“It’s the same.”

It was exactly the same as the chair she saw in her dream. So much so that it was identical. That was when she walked to the chair holding the rod. There was a vague shape lying on the chair. What was that?

She reached out and picked up something lying on the chair. It was none other than a white feather. 

She took a deep breath.

Yes, it wasn’t just a dream. Maybe it was to show something from the past. And that’s probably because the white bird helped her in some way.

She just picked up the feather. She quietly grabbed the feather that she couldn’t even feel its weight. Then she looked around.

As expected, the room was exactly the same as what she had seen in the dream. When she saw the small chair, her mood instantly calmed down.

“You like corporal punishment. On the topic of abuse.”

She chewed her lips.

Resentment towards the now dead Duke of Zhendae soared again. Corporal punishment couldn’t be justified under any circumstances. Even more so when parents used violence against their children.

Even if her anger surged, her mind felt colder than ever. Now that she had confirmed with the feather that the room was like a dream, there was only one thing to find out.

Information about the previous operation, ‘Iban Nation’.

It was because she didn’t feel like it was a simple reason why Iban Nation appeared in her dream. It felt like something kept getting stuck.

In the current situation, the only person who could learn about the previous operation the fastest was Lubart, the butler who had worked here the longest.

When she left the room, she saw the knights still lying on the floor. Allegro was standing nearby.

“Have you been here the whole time?”

“Shouldn’t it be resolved completely?”

“I guess so.”

“Anyway, have you finished checking?”

“For now.”

“Well, it’s late today, so I’ll just take you to your room.”

Allegro clicked his fingers.

At the same time, the place changed. She looked around the familiar room and passed through the increments into the next room.

The child was sleeping in an uncomfortable position. It seemed like he was waiting for her and eventually fell asleep.

She walked to the bed, changed the child’s position to a comfortable position, and carefully laid down next to him. There was still a lot going on in her mind, but she decided not to think about it for now. She was planning to go to Lubart as soon as she opened her eyes in the morning, so it’s not too late to think about it again.

So she closed her eyes and forced herself to sleep.

* * *

Early moning. As soon as she opened her eyes, she washed and got ready. The child was still sleeping, so she carefully brought Sarah inside and asked quietly.

“Do you know where Lubart is now?”

“He is working in the office on behalf of the Duke.”

“From this early in the day?”

“Yes. You said you have a lot of work behind you.”

When he heard that, he hesitated a little.

“…Then, will it be a bit embarrassing if I visit Lubart now?”

“I’m sure he can spare some time.”

After thinking about it for a while, she left the room and headed to Lubart’s office. As she entered the housekeeping room, she saw Lubart buried in a pile of documents.

Lubart got up from his chair and greeted her with a smile.

“Good morning, Elia.”

“Good morning, Lubart. I’m sorry for disturbing you while you were busy.”

“No, please go over there and sit down.”

She went to the sofa and sat down, with Lubart sitting across from me.

“Would you like some tea?”

“No, it’s okay. I’m going to eat later anyway.”

“Of course.”

After those words, there was a moment of silence. She needed some time to sort out in her head how to ask Lubart.

She soon came to a conclusion and opened her mouth.

“…Lubart, I want to ask you something.”

“Yes, please speak.”

“Well, I’m talking about the former Duke. What kind of person was he?”

Lubart gave a puzzled look.

“You mean Hale Nathan?”

“Yes.”

“What specifically do you want to know?”

“Anything.”

“…what are you talking about?”

Lubart trailed off his words and lazily smoothed his chin. His expression of distress was evident.

“Well. This is going to be a long conversation, so I’ll tell them to bring the car.”

“Is it so?”

Lubart called the maid outside and told her to bring tea, and then began talking in earnest.

“Hale Nathan was a man with typical aristocratic characteristics. Since Hale himself was so strong, he could not help but be arrogant by nature.”

Although he may have been his superior, Lubart’s evaluation was very honest.

“But that doesn’t mean he’s a mean-spirited person who causes uncontrollable accidents or bullies his subordinates. It’s just….”

Lubart paused for a moment and looked as if he was reminiscing.

“At some point he started to become a little strange.”

“…when?”

“After marriage, the current duke, Hale Nathan, began showing abnormal symptoms around the time his son was born.”

Abnormal symptoms?

“The exact name of the disease was not known at the time or even now, and was generally viewed as a mental problem.”

Lubart took the tea brought by the maid, took a sip from it, and then added:

“Sometimes he walked around the mansion with empty eyes, as if his soul had gone out of him, and on the other hand, he showed destructive tendencies and devastated the surrounding area.”

“It’s definitely strange when I hear it.”

“At that time, I couldn’t shake the feeling that something was strange. I asked the Magic Tower to bring in a wizard and a priest to diagnose the condition, but I was never able to find out the name of the disease.”

“Then the symptoms must have continued.”

“Yes. There were times when the symptoms suddenly disappeared, and each time, His Excellency…”

Lubart, who trailed off his words, suddenly closed his mouth. She could guess what he was trying to say. He’s probably trying to talk about what the former Duke did to his son in the name of corporal punishment and education.

Lubart let out a small breath and said something else.

“There is a hallway with portraits hanging some distance away from the main building of the mansion.”

“Yes, I know. I’ve been there before.”

“There is a small room at the far end. It was the room that Hale Nathan used to punish my current master.”

A variety of emotions were mixed on Lubart’s face.

“Nominally it was corporal punishment, but it was a clear escalation. I also tried to fix the situation somehow, but I couldn’t.”

Lubart let out a deep breath and lazily stroked his face.

“When the current master was 14 years old, His Excellency the Duke and Duchess suddenly stopped breathing for unknown reasons.”

“The cause is unknown… you mean it happened suddenly?”

It was the first time she heard that. Of course, she knew from the book that the Duke’s parents died at an early age. However, the cause of death was not revealed, so the cause was unknown. But they died of unknown causes. She couldn’t help but think it was strange.

“When the two of them didn’t come out of the room for a long time, I started to feel agitated. So I ended up forcing the door open and going in, and by that time, both of them had already passed away.”

“Wasn’t it like they were harmed by an outsider or something like that?”

“Of course, we thought there was a high possibility of that happening, so we searched thoroughly, but we didn’t get any results. We didn’t find any traces of any tampering on their bodies.”

The more she listened to Lubart’s explanation, the more she felt trapped in a maze. There were so many unclear corners. Where on earth did it go wrong?

“I’m talking about when the former Duke showed abnormal symptoms. Was there anything strange around him?”

“Well, it’s because abnormal symptoms appeared so suddenly.”

Lubart thought for a moment, then let out a small exclamation, ‘Ah.’

“After experiencing abnormal symptoms, he said that his head always felt dizzy and painful. To the point where he took headache medication every time as it was a habit.”

He said he had a chronic headache? She was lost in thought for a moment. Was it just a headache? However, after experiencing abnormal symptoms, he always said that his head hurts, so there must be something going on. As she was racking her brain, she remembered the contents of a fantasy book that she had read all the way to the end. The main character in the book suffered a miserable death after being mentally controlled by a villain throughout his life, and it was described that he sometimes suffered a headache as an aftereffect every time he was released from the brainwashing. However, it was not possible to make a proper decision based on that alone. Because it’s just a guess.

“Was there anything else besides that?”

“…Hmm, no, I don’t think there was anything else.”

“Is that so?”

He nodded his head with a little regret.

“Oh. That’s right.”

At that time, Lubart added as if he remembered something.

“Right after he said he had a headache, he always went to the temple that day or the next day.”

Her mind lit up at those words.

“You mean the temple?”

“Yes. Medicine didn’t work, so he went to the temple so often that he became obsessive, saying he had to pray.”

There was definitely something in the temple.

Just a moment ago, she barely had a clue, but now she felt like she was starting to get the hang of it.

“Is there anything else?”

“No. No more.”

It seemed like she got most of the information from Lubart.

She decided that further conversation was pointless and nodded.

 

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Translator Note:

Next week I won’t be able to release chapters of this novel. See you the next after that!