When The Count’s Illegitimate Daughter Gets Married

Chapter 131

The boy born to Ian and Laritte was named Joshua.

Joshua, one of several name candidates, was the name they would give when a child resembling Laritte was born. Because… Joshua meant “perfect” in an archaic language during the reign of Iasa.

“If they look like Laritte, they’ll be perfectly likable to anyone.”

…It was Ian’s strong argument.

It was a few days after Joshua was born.

“Wow, look at this… How can you be so calm, Young Master?”

The maids gazed affectionately at the child in the white cradle. Joshua took all the redness off his skin in a matter of days. He was quite a bit faster than the others. As his wriggling skin stretched out, he became what he was often pictured as a newborn baby.

Then, it turned out that Ian’s prediction was perfectly correct.

The child was very similar to Laritte, except for his ferocious golden eyes. Given that Laritte resembles Olivia, it may have been foreseeable.

How powerful this gene was…!

Everything was especially Ian’s favorite, so there was nothing wrong with strong genes. Meanwhile, as baby Joshua was placed next to Laritte’s bed, she spent most of her time lying in bed for postpartum care.

Thanks to that, Joshua was with his mom all day.

Joshua didn’t cry much and slept well. He didn’t bother Laritte, except for the frequent breastfeeding as he was a newborn baby. Besides, sometimes in his waking hours, he instinctively grinned when he made eye contact with Laritte.

How cute that was. The maids in charge of Joshua really liked it. It was when the maids, as usual, were all around Joshua’s cradle.

A white object jumped up on Laritte, lying on the bed next to him.

“Nyaaw.”

Butterfly made a habit of weeping and crossed the bed towards Joshua. Like a cat, Butterfly leaped gracefully over the railing of the cradle. The cat’s sharp pupils stared into the newborn’s face.

Soon, as the cat returned to Laritte, she asked as Butterfly went to the bed.

“Butterfly. Did you come to make sure everything was okay with Joshua?”

“Nyan.”

Butterfly replied with a solemn look as if she had understood her words.

Laritte wondered how Butterfly would accept Joshua. Apparently, she was Joshua’s older sister… though Butterfly seemed to see Joshua as a young individual she had to raise.

‘It’s plausible enough. Sometimes when Joshua feels uncomfortable after peeing, Butterfly notices and gives a cry…’

Cats were territorial animals, but they also had a tendency to co-parent. She didn’t even know that Butterfly thought she was raising Joshua as hard as Laritte herself.

It was then.

A knock came from across the room, and the door opened.

Ian and Olivia came in together.

‘What’s going on?’, thought Laritte as she stroked Butterfly’s head.

It was because Ian and Olivia rarely spent time together. It was not that they hated each other, but Ian was someone who didn’t talk to people other than Laritte.

He was very grateful to Olivia for risking her life to obtain magic from the dragons though the conversation did not go well. Sometimes he mustered up the courage and said, ‘…The weather is nice today’ and not even a minute later… the conversation ended with ‘yes.’

…Olivia was as awkward as the other person.

She was just awkward, embarrassed, and at a loss about living here. At least, it was thanks to the letters that the mother and daughter had exchanged that she was able to have a normal conversation with Laritte without building a wall.

So, it was unusual for Ian and Olivia to appear together.

The reason they were of one mind was that Oscar had sent good oil from the Palace. As soon as something good came for Laritte, they wanted to give it to her.

“They say this is really good for postpartum mothers. If you mix it with water and wipe your body with it…”

Ian recited the efficacy as if he had memorized it with his eyes shining. The entire mother’s body could be very painful after childbirth.

Because of that, the oil itself was the price of gold. Though to use the oil, she had to go to the large bathroom on the first floor of the mansion. Laritte said she hadn’t been far from Joshua since she gave birth to her son, so she was concerned.

Ian quickly stood beside Joshua.

“Joshua Reinhardt will protect my name well, so don’t worry and come back. Besides, isn’t there Butterfly here?”

“In that case…”

Still, Ian only regarded Joshua as his beloved son.

Laritte trusted him to hold his word and nodded her head before getting out of bed and following Olivia out of the room.

The door soon closed with a sound.

“….?”

Joshua’s golden eyes, who had been sleeping well, suddenly opened. It was as if he had noticed the anomaly of the situation.

Ian leaned over to the cradle where Joshua was.

“…Joshua, did you sleep well?”

As he awkwardly greeted the baby.

“….”

The child’s golden eyes were busy following his instincts. The eyes that looked around gradually became watery as the speed at which the tears filled up increased each time the missing Laritte moved further and further away.

Finally, Joshua started to cry.

“Uwaaahh! WAAAHHH!”

It was the first time he had cried so loud other than when he was born, so the maids were taken aback.

“Young Master, what’s wrong?”

They hugged Joshua and tried hard to soothe him, but there was no sign of stopping. At the same time, Ian could feel the magical energy in the room going awry. Since he was a human, he only knew how to feel the flow of his magical power though… one thing was certain now.

The baby was controlling the flow of magical power!

‘…How could this be?’

Humans could never move this much magical power. The only thing a knight who had reached Sword Master could do was put magic into his sword. This was the equivalent of using magic itself.

At that moment, the magic gathered into a sharp arrow shape…

There was a roar, like a huge tree breaking in an instant and there was a big hole cut in the wall where the door was. While the maids opened their mouths in surprise, Joshua continued to cry as if he was miserable.

“UWAAAANNGG!”

Laritte heard the sound and came back. Even without opening the door, she could still see Ian in the room, thanks to the gaping hole. Meanwhile, Butterfly that remained on the bed raised her tail as she was startled, too.

“Ian, what happened?”

She thought that only Ian, a Sword Master, could do such a thing here.

“It’s not what I did. This… this…”

Ian’s eyes widened when he saw Joshua stop in the maid’s hand. The baby had stopped crying when Laritte came as if he hadn’t been mad at all?!

“This is what Joshua did…”

“…What? No way.”

Only silence flowed.

Seta and Ikar soon arrived at the mansion in human form, flapping their wings. This was because today was the day Joshua was originally due.

“Huh? Did you already give birth today?”

Two dragons intervened in this situation.

Seta approached Joshua with a curious face. Then, as soon as he saw the face, he lost his words.

“H, h, h, h… Ho—H… h…”

How could such a creature…

It was the same as Laritte, but the eyes were different, so it had a different impression… like the difference between a blue diamond and a pink diamond?

His heart was full.

Instead of the stuttering Seta, Ikar analyzed the whole situation.

“Magic power flows through that baby human over there…”

He pointed to Joshua.

Tracing the lineage of dragons, dragons were no different from magical power itself. As every dragon’s body had its own magical power, Ikar could feel the magic flowing through the little creature’s body like a dragon.

Then, he pointed at Laritte.

“It is because of you. The magic of the dragon that restored your dead body still remains and was passed on to the baby human.”

Olivia, who followed Laritte, asked back.

“But, my daughter can’t do this…”

“Ever since this baby human was very small, he grew up using magical power as a nutrient. Because he grew up with the same mechanism as dragons, he can use magic. Of course, he may not be able to do great things like us.”

Ikar thought it was not a bad thing for humans.

How happy would it be for an inferior race to know how to handle magical powers? It was the first time it happened, so they didn’t know in advance, although it was a natural occurrence when Laritte gave birth to the child.

Since the existence of the Duke and his wife had already been recognized by magical power, there was no way they would be attacked by magical power because they were not going against their impossible fate.

Nonetheless, Ian was still serious.

“Does that have anything to do with why this child became obsessed with Laritte?”

He was more obsessed with Laritte than anyone else. Because of that, it was what Ian noticed first since, without Laritte, Joshua went mad! It wasn’t like a newborn child that was anxious about being away from his mother.

At that moment, Ian’s keen animal senses were telling…

…Somehow, it seemed that he had a rival rather than a son.

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