IHMEB - Chapter 144 < Dirty Blood >

“What are you going to do if even a redhead is born in Temnes?”

“What are you planning to do?”

“Isn’t the probability pretty high?”

When Kaian asked blankly, Valquiterre raised his eyebrows.

“There could be a baby born that looks like Vermont.”

When Kaian heard the word ‘Vermont’ that Valquiterre pointedly mentioned, his eyes naturally wrinkled.

'Vermont?'

It's ridiculous why do you keep putting up the name of Vermont now?

Something made Kaian feel like Valquiterre was deliberately provoking him by picking words he would dislike.

Why should his child, the head of the Temnes family, bear the Vermont brand? He was being ridiculous.

"The womb...”

Kaian was so angry that he held back the words that were about to escape him without realizing it.

'The baby being born is mine.'

Kaian's true feelings were written as if hidden in the pages of a notebook that were passed down only to the matriarch.

As soon as he found out that Claudel was pregnant, he couldn't stand it even for a moment, so he hugged the woman, who must have been tired all the time, put her to sleep, and then secretly ran to the head of the family's office.

That the child his wife was carrying would be Temnes' next successor.

It was only after seriously writing down his heart, overflowing with emotion, that he was finally able to calm down his excessively beating heart.

This is the sound of his heart that was pounding so loud that he could hear it in his ears when he was at the marketplace that afternoon, buying a bunch of unspeakable pregnancy congratulatory gifts.

'Why are you saying such a thing?'

Kaian's intuition pointed out that the timing of this topic was very strange.

As if Valquiterre knew that Claudel was pregnant.

Don't you say things in a very light and meaningless way, like a good morning greeting, as if you know everything?

'That's nonsense. What she hasn't even told me yet.'

In terms of timing, Claudel seemed to have entered a period of stability. Just as the doctor said, her morning sickness had disappeared, and when he felt Claudel's sleeping stomach, he could feel that a round fist-sized thing had settled below her dry, flat belly button.

'It's all because of Valquiterre that I haven't even heard this story properly.'

If Valquiterre had not suddenly announced that he was coming to Rowen, Claudel would have definitely told him when her morning sickness symptoms disappeared and her body felt better.

However, since he had not yet heard her say that she had a child, Kaian still had to act as if he did not know that fact.

'I guess I'll have to say something anyway.'

Kaian was naturally very suspicious and had a very good sense. Because he had such a natural temperament, he survived and came back from the battlefield even though others would have already died.

There were two things that this great man overlooked: he trusted his wife.

Since Claudel's heart remained with him, he thought that although some things had disturbed her, they were nothing more than petty quarrels. This is because the time he spent with Claudel was also considered important to him.

If a woman who had built up anxiety after being beaten around was cornered, he could not even guess what she would think, which was truly befitting of the matriarch of Temnes, an unrivaled and fierce warrior.

Moreover, he could not have even suspected that Valquiterre, whom he actually considered family, excluding Bianque, who had become disillusioned due to the age difference and marriage after his parents passed away, would be so terribly deviant and insidiously stir up his family.

The idea that Kaian quickly came up with after a very serious error in information seemed reasonable to him.

'It would be better to completely cut off Valquiterre's interest at this point.'

Although he wanted to think no, Kaian felt uncomfortable that Valquiterre kept paying attention to Claudel's affairs.

Since they are already officially married, all that needs to be done is to issue a royal order.

It wasn't even that he was being dragged by Vermont's neck by the collar, but he seemed to just be interested in Claudel, which made Kaian feel quite uncomfortable.

'He's not young anymore. If you ask for something, I'd rather give it to you.'

The things that he didn't want to give in to Valquiterre, so Valquiterre held on and ended up as ruined trash passed through the cracks of a distant memory.

Now that he is an adult, if Valquiterre covets what Kaian has and says he looks good, he can say, 'Yes, take it.'

The problem was that he couldn't do that since Claudel was the only wife Kaian had with no replacement.

Thinking that Valquiterre was snooping around, he thought it was nonsense, but he was still worried.

'It would be better to make him not think about Claudel at this point.'

Kaian decided not to give Valquiterre any room for interest.

“It’s ridiculous to even think about it.”

"Why? Isn’t that possible?”

Seeing Valquiterre's blue eyes watching his reaction carefully, Kaian erased the expression from his face and expressed his displeasure.

“Do you think that makes sense?”

Kaian spoke emphatically.

“It’s a terrible thing that dirty blood is mixed. You can’t cut a child in half.”

“Do you hate it that much?”

“It’s obvious.”

For a moment, Kaian recalled what Vermont was like before he married Claudel.

'He must have been wasting his life away.'

It was at that time that he was planning to wipe out everything he had bought in the Valmonde estate.

“But if I knew that the child was being born in Vermont, I wouldn’t let it go.”

“What do you mean?”

“Isn’t that so? She will not stand by and watch her daughter and grandchildren being persecuted. You could use the Duke of Vermont’s personality as an excuse.”

Kaian snorted his laughter.

"What can a young man like that do? “If you had valued Claudel in the first place, you would not have let her into the den of your enemies.”

“That’s right.”

“No child with red hair and golden eyes should be born in Temnes.”

As Kaian spoke with force, Valquiterre pretended to understand, as if something had finally occurred to him.

"Ha. Come to think of it, I see. After all, there is a need to determine succession.”

The sound almost made Kaian jump out of his seat, but he managed to calm himself down.

'Why are you playing around? There's no way Valquiterre wouldn't know that.'

Determining succession was not something that only took place in the Temnes family.

What was originally done by the Oberon royal family was secretly followed by influential families such as Temnes and Vermont.

Kaian was confused because the conversation with Valquiterre was so sudden, but he tried to turn it to his advantage as much as possible.

"Yes. In the first place, people with red hair would not even be able to be born in Temnes.”

“I think the Duke of Vermont might have had some expectations.”

"No way. The Duke of Vermont has only one daughter, an heir with golden eyes, so I wouldn’t want anything if I were to be stabbed.”

Kaian sighed inwardly as he answered like that.

'Someone would think that Valquiterre was a spokesperson for Vermont.'

In fact, the Duke of Vermont was satisfied with the abundance of food he sent, so he sent a courtesy telegram of gratitude every time Kaian sent a wagon. It was an expression of the utmost gratitude, as such amicable communication had not occurred since the days of our ancestors.

Considering the generation above him, Vermonte poisoned Temnes, and Temnes sent assassin to Valmonde estate in retaliation.

His married life was going smoothly like that.

Kaian had never felt like his marriage was on the rocks like it was these days.

'Once this incident passes, I'll be able to cool off a bit.'

He really missed the days when Claudel and he spent time together, and Kaian was also slowly reaching his limit of stress.

Rattle.

At that time, a subtle noise reached his ears.

“What do you mean?”

It was when he suddenly felt a presence and turned his head toward the direction from which he heard the sound.

"Sound? What are you talking about?”

“Did you hear something just now?”

"No. No at all."

Valquiter refilled Kaian's empty glass.

“Let’s just call it our last drink and call it a day.”

"Yes."

Kaian was so busy gulping down his glass that he didn't see Valquiterre, who was covering his lips with his glass, smiling.

***

Valquiterre tried to hide his true feelings as he watched Kaian put down his glass.

‘Kaian. You're so lucky.'

Will Lady Luck always favor him?

Valquiterre was always curious about that. If all of this is simply dismissed as ‘luck’, what is the difference between himself and Kaian?

“Just go away.”

“I think it’s going to be a beautiful night thanks to you.”

“I don’t have much time left in Rowen. I hope you have a good night.”

As he saw off Kaian, Valquiterre remembered an old incident.

The day he hit his butt on the seesaw, Valquiterre couldn't sleep all night because his butt was swollen and uncomfortable, as if he had been whipped.

'Ouch. It hurts.'

The tingling must have been in the buttocks, but the little boy felt like his stomach was in a mess, and his head was hurting.

Finally, unable to sleep, Valquiterre left the bedroom and wandered around the hallway.

When he returned to the bedroom after walking aimlessly through Rowen Castle like a fallen leaf caught in the wrong wind, Madame Elise was looking at Kaian while he was away for a moment.

‘You're going to get bruises...'

With a small sigh, she applied medicine to the bump on her sleeping son's forehead where he hit the ground when he fell off the seesaw.

Watching her gentle, loving hands, young Valquiterre was reminded of his mother's ice-coldness.

Every time the gentle hand moved to heal Kaian, Valquiterre felt hurt.

Recalling his old memories, Valquiterre smiled bitterly.

Valquiterre closed the door and opened the closet door.

“It’s okay to come out now.”

Valquiterre looked sad as he saw the woman shedding tears so much that her cheeks became wet.

“Kaian..”

Valquiterre carefully embraced the trembling woman who could not forget his words.

“Don’t cry. I will help you.”

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