Chapter 284
Chapter 284: The Child Is Mine—Everything Else, I Don't Want!
Not a cloud in the sky, the radiant sun hanging high overhead.
A clear shaft of morning light spilled down across the Royal Capital, as though a layer of golden surf had been draped over it.
Between the buildings of varying heights, sunlight swayed gently, like waves on water.
The streets were alive with a steady flow of people. The calls of vendors at the morning market, the rush of hurried footsteps, and the clatter of Carriages rolling over cobblestone roads together composed a symphony of the city.
Nearly a week had passed since the battle at the Padalenbu Sea.
Though that terrifying catastrophe had shaken the world, the Royal Capital seemed entirely unaffected, the city maintaining its usual bustle without missing a beat.
Despite the fact that during those days, the weather in the Royal Capital had been nothing but howling winds and torrential rain.
Yet people's daily routines and the operation of all manner of shops had not been disrupted in the slightest by the unusual weather.
Meanwhile, at Viktor Manor.
Leah stood in the study of the manor, gazing through the carved window lattice toward the front gate.
Yet another ornate Carriage had pulled up before the entrance, someone evidently coming to pay a visit.
But shortly, after a brief exchange, the visitor was politely turned away by the Maidservant.
Leah pressed her fingers lightly to her forehead and sighed with a trace of fatigue. "Again."
"This is already the 4th noble today," she murmured inwardly.
In recent days, the manor had been receiving a constant stream of visitors.
And none of them were ordinary people.
Whether high-ranking nobles of distinguished standing, or ministers with access to Morning Court—every single one of them was a figure of considerable prominence in society.
There were even nobles who had traveled thousands of miles from other cities across the Empire, making the journey personally just to meet Viktor once.
Some had gone directly to Blairstone in the Clavena Territory.
But all of them had been turned away—none had so much as caught a glimpse of Viktor.
Once those ministers and nobles learned that Viktor had been away for an extended period, they gradually reduced the frequency of their visits.
Still, a large number of visitors continued to arrive day after day.
Every day, Leah had to manage these tiresome calls, exchanging pleasantries and making small talk with nobility.
During this time, people had even come from neighboring countries, approaching Leah to ask:
When might Council Member Clavena be available to visit their nation in person?
The question left Leah genuinely baffled.
How on earth had that scoundrel of a brother of hers become so influential?
People were actually coming to request that he visit their countries—what kind of international standing did that take?
Leah didn't quite know.
The battle at the Padalenbu Sea had been extensively promoted and publicized by the Mage Council, spreading word of it to regions far and wide.
Viktor's strength had been laid completely bare before the eyes of the world.
If, before this, those who had little understanding of Viktor's abilities could only go by hearsay and suspected him of being all reputation and no substance—
Then now, when it came to naming the most powerful Mage alive, no one dared contend with Viktor.
Countless 4th-Tier Magic spells, never once repeated, unleashed as casually as eating and drinking.
And in conditions as extreme as those, Viktor had somehow found the presence of mind to engage in battle.
No other human Mage but him could have held their ground in an environment like that.
And in the end, the Magic Viktor had unleashed shattered every person's understanding of what Magic could be.
The terrifying power it carried—like the end of the world—as though it could raze the entire world to ash.
Even now, in the waters of Padalenbu, that impossibly pitch-black abyss crater remained, still sitting there.
Looking down from above, it was as though a vast chunk had been carved out of the ocean.
Fortunately, it had not disrupted the normal flow of the seawater, despite everything.
No one knew how Viktor had managed it—how the ocean could not fill the void.
The Mage Council had been sending people to carry out repairs, setting up Magic barriers to block the sea's ingress and prevent onlookers from accidentally falling in.
They were also continuously channeling Magic Power into the abyss, attempting to seal it shut entirely.
Though that stretch of sea had, in the meantime, become quite the tourist attraction.
The spectacular visuals of Viktor's battle had by now been seared into the hearts and minds of the people.
And the Mage Council, too, had been drawing considerable attention on account of Viktor.
After all, before this, very few people had believed that a Mage's battle could be both so elegant and so staggering.
Leah turned and walked back into the depths of the study, settling gracefully into a chair, tilting her head back to gaze at the ceiling, and letting out a sigh.
For the past few days, Leah had simply been lying flat. Whoever came, her answer was essentially 2 words.
Not receiving.
They were all here for Viktor, and Viktor wasn't home. A brief explanation was all it took for these nobles to see themselves out.
Still, Leah was a little curious about where Viktor had actually gone.
Heni, who had left alongside Viktor at the time, had already returned early—in fact, she had come back together with Cocotte.
Though upon her return, that lazy former Elven Council Member had, for some reason, looked thoroughly out of sorts, as though her soul had gone astray.
Just what exactly had happened during that time, no one could say.
As Leah slumped in her chair, letting her mind go blank, there came a light knock at the door:
"Miss Leah, you have a visitor."
Hearing yet another visitor had arrived, she couldn't hide her impatience, her voice jumping up several notches:
"Didn't I already say? I'm not receiving anyone!"
The Maidservant outside replied respectfully:
"Miss Leah, the person who has come to call—it is the Duke."
Leah blinked.
The Duke?
***
Livi stood before a display shelf in the Meeting Hall, turning a delicate vase over in his hands, examining it closely.
As he studied the vase, a smile played across his face—he appeared to be quite taken with it.
"They're all just cheap little trinkets."
"If the Duke fancies it, we'll send a few home with you."
Leah had yet to arrive in person, but her voice floated down from the staircase ahead of her.
Hearing it, Livi set the vase carefully back on the table, released it from his hands, and gave Leah a nodding smile in return.
The 2 of them sat across from each other on the sofa, as a Maidservant beside them set down a freshly brewed pot of tea on the table.
Duke Livi gave the Maidservant a polite nod.
Then Leah lifted her teacup and studied the man across from her.
The Duke before her seemed to have changed somewhat.
There was a faint haggardness in his face, exhaustion buried deep in his eyes—as though he hadn't been sleeping well.
Seeing this, Leah found herself growing more curious by the moment, and couldn't help asking:
"Duke, what is it that brings you here?"
Duke Livi likewise lifted his teacup, gave a small smile, and said:
"In truth, I also came to find Viktor."
Leah blinked, a trace of puzzlement crossing her face.
What would the Duke want with Viktor?
Surely it couldn't be as simple as those ministers and nobles who merely wanted to meet Viktor in person.
But then, all at once, it came back to her.
The impact of that battle had never faded. All manner of recorded footage had been captured on Magic Stones and had been circulating widely throughout the Empire.
And what had spread the furthest and most deeply—was that when Viktor unleashed his final Magic, there was someone in his arms.
At the time, the more Leah looked, the more familiar it seemed, but the conditions had been so severe that she couldn't quite make out who it was.
She hadn't been able to figure out who the person was all this while.
But now, with Duke Livi's visit, it suddenly clicked.
The person Viktor had been holding at the time—
Was it not the Duke's precious daughter?
Leah's body went stiff, a slight shiver running through her.
That had been a live broadcast to the entire world...
Didn't that mean... the whole world basically knew that Viktor had a thing for minors?
Leah found this somewhat impossible to accept. So she tentatively put a question to the Duke:
"Duke, your visit to find Viktor—does it have something to do with...your daughter?"
Leah's heart was in turmoil, like a boulder swaying back and forth overhead on a fraying rope.
She had no idea when it might drop and come crashing down on her chest.
Her heart thudded in her ribcage, and even the hand holding her teacup began to tremble slightly.
The Duke looked at Leah and blinked, the exhaustion never leaving his eyes—yet alongside it, a note of curiosity crept in:
"Miss Leah, how did you know?"
Leah's heart sank halfway upon hearing this.
She kept one hand pressed to her chest, drew a slow deep breath, and felt her chest rise and fall.
With great effort she steeled herself mentally, then looked the Duke in the eye and asked:
"Duke, just say it plainly."
"My brother—has he done something unacceptable to your daughter again?"
Livi blinked, then said:
"Well, Viktor did, in fact, disappear together with my daughter—for a week."
The moment those words landed, it was as though a bomb went off beside Leah's ear. Her entire mind seemed to ignite, a buzzing roar filling her head.
What!?
No wonder Viktor still hadn't come home!
A man and a woman, alone together, disappeared for an entire week? What could have happened in between—who could possibly know?
Viktor, how could you do something like this!
If you had needs, there were so many Maidservants in the house!
She's still just a child!
The more Leah thought about it, the more furious she became. She could have gone looking for Viktor right that instant.
Just to stand in front of him and give him a proper smack across the face. Twice.
The Duke seemed to sense Leah's anger and smiled, saying:
"Perhaps my way of putting it caused some misunderstanding, Miss Leah."
"In fact, I've come to formally establish friendly relations between the Du Chloe Family and the Clavena Family."
Leah was momentarily thrown, and could only stand there in a daze.
"Ah?"
"From today onwards, the Du Chloe Family wishes to establish a cooperative business relationship with the Clavena Family."
Hearing this news, Leah found it somewhat hard to believe.
In the end, as the 2 of them went into greater detail, the more Leah listened, the more astonished she became.
First, Duke Livi was willing to help the Clavena Family expand their potion business into distribution channels in other cities—free of charge.
Second, all of the Duke's shops within the Royal Capital could be handed over to the Clavena Family to operate, with proceeds split fifty-fifty.
In short, the longer Leah listened, the more confused she became, until her mind eventually crashed entirely.
There was only 1 thought left in her head.
Wasn't the Duke essentially...
Coming to their door to hand them money?
Just how wealthy was the Du Chloe Family?
That was a question the nobility had always quietly wondered about.
Along the most prosperous commercial street in the entire Royal Capital, of every 10 shops, nearly 8 of them belonged to the Duke's family.
That alone was enough for the Du Chloe Family to rake in an enormous fortune.
And then there were the rest—things like the Duke's antique dealings, the mining of Magic Stones.
All of it spoke to the Du Chloe Family's wealth being unfathomably vast.
And unlike the Rether Family, the Du Chloe Family wasn't like that.
Though everyone knew the Rether Family was extraordinarily wealthy, the Rether Family was more like an integrated entity—an economic empire.
If any one part of that empire developed a flaw, the gears of the entire Rether Family's operations would grind to a halt.
But the Du Chloe Family was different.
Duke Livi had no great many relatives, and no shops farmed out to external operators.
The Du Chloe Family's assets were held entirely under Duke Livi's sole control.
This unexpected windfall left Leah at a complete loss for what to do.
Yet she understood full well the truth that there was no such thing as a free lunch in this world.
And so she began to think.
Why would the Duke be offering her family so many benefits?
In those 7 days that had gone missing—what exactly had Viktor and Erika been up to?
Yet the more she thought, the more baffled she became; the more she thought, the more alarmed.
It was as though she had hit upon the one answer that was actually correct.
In the end, her stunned mind lost its grip on her mouth entirely, and the words tumbled out of her before she could stop them:
"We don't need any of this—I'll just say one thing!"
"The child—must take the Clavena name!"
Duke: "?"