Capítulo 44: Chapter 44. Siblings
"Father, mother, I'm home…"
As it always was, every three months I would return to Buena village.
"Seraph, you are back." Zenith greeted me with a placid smile.
Next to her, Lilia also smiled, but her smile was a little forced.
That one time, this quite strange scene greeted me.
Instead of greeting me with her usual bright smile, Zenith's expression was gloomy. I could sense a dark cloud brewing behind her small smile.
But rather than being angry, her face was colored with disappointment.
At the side, I saw Lilia holding her hand as if to support her.
Without a doubt, something had happened.
And without a doubt, my first suspect was Paul.
I guess this was a canon event, just a matter of time.
Who was it with?
Lilia?
But Lilia's expression was strange…
Just what happened?
…
It was only something that I learned in detail much later, but the situation was basically like this.
While I was away from home, Zenith became pregnant.
It would seem that I would have a sibling. Probably Norn.
But it wasn't just that.
A month later after Zenith became pregnant, Lilia came to her.
"Madam… I'm afraid I won't be able to handle it any longer. I wish to leave the household and serve young master Seraphim in Roa."
"Huh, you want to leave, Lilia? What brought this up? What can't you handle? Did something happen?" Zenith's first reaction was naturally concern for Lilia.
"Madam…" Lilia hesitated for a while, before deciding to be frank. "The truth is that I'm in love with Paul."
This was the truth. While saying this, Lilia involuntarily thought back to when she was first hired as a maid of the Greyrat Household.
*** (canon side-story - First Job of the Knight's Maid)
It was the day Seraphim was born.
Lilia baked a cake with dried fruits.
That night, Paul was having dinner alone.
"Hehehe, my son… he didn't even cry. My son…" Paul was drinking as he kept repeating the words 'my son'.
Sometimes he grinned like an idiot.
He must be over the moon for Seraphim's arrival in this world.
But once he saw the cake, he frowned.
"What… is this?"
"It's to celebrate young master Seraphim's birth."
"I see…"
Paul kept poking his piece of cake with a fork without eating while sipping at his beer.
Looks like the Master doesn't like it. I might have messed up.
Just as Lilia was thinking about what she did, Paul opened his mouth. "Say Lilia, why did you become my maid?"
"By 'why', you mean…?"
"I meant your reason."
"Didn't I tell you already when I was hired?"
"No, I know your situation. But there should have been better choices than coming to my family, right?"
"Oh, that, how should I say it…"
Back then there was a chance Lilia might be assassinated for political reasons, so the best place for her to go was somewhere as far away as possible. And with someone who could protect her.
Location aside, finding a protector was easier said than done.
You could count on the fingers of one hand the amount of people that would be willing to help her knowing she was being targeted by the Asuran Royals.
But Paul had a debt to Lilia.
Lilia thought if she negotiated right, there was a chance he would protect her from assassins if needed.
She didn't know whether Paul understood the meaning behind her situation. In the end, he didn't spend much time interviewing Lilia before accepting her.
"Actually, I didn't really understand why you were willing to hire me," said Lilia.
"Well, there weren't many people willing to come to a rural village like this one."
Paul stopped, then looked Lilia in the eyes.
"That was one of the reasons. When I saw your name, I realized there was something I needed to tell you. However, I thought you wouldn't like me bringing up old wounds. So I haven't talked with you about it."
Old wounds. After Paul brought it up, Lilia remembered her first time.
Afterwards, when she worked as a royal maid in the Asura palace, lots of bad things happened.
The impact of that first time faded, but she would never forget it, and it wasn't a good memory.
"However, after my son's birth today, I made up my mind," Paul said. "I'm really sorry for that time. I understand it's not something that you can forgive just because I apologize. But I still hope that you could forgive me."
Lilia was surprised.
The Paul that she knew was a literal hellion.
Doing bad things was the norm for him. Like he thought that he was the most important person in the world.
Because of this, Lilia planned on using her incident in the past to negotiate.
For a married man, he surely didn't want his wife to know about his dark past.
Give him a taste of his own medicine, Lilia thought.
"Ha…" Lilia was at a loss for words at this unexpected apology.
Whether or not to forgive him wasn't an issue, Lilia had already settled the matter in her mind a long time ago.
Considering the future, the correct choice would be to say that it didn't bother her any more.
"In that case, please finish the entire cake." The words flew out of Lilia's mouth before she even thought about it.
Paul was somewhat surprised but he slowly nodded and started eating the cake.
He definitely didn't like it. Rather, he probably hated it.
He choked a couple times while he was eating. Even so, he didn't spit out any of the cake. With tears gathering at the corner of his eyes, he forced himself to finish the whole cake.
As Lilia recalled that scene, she still couldn't understand why she said that to this day.
But of one thing she was certain.
That moment was when she truly forgave him and fell in love with him.
***
After hearing Lilia's confession of love for Paul, Zenith seemed to have trouble accepting what she just heard. After a while, she said, "Lilia… You're actually serious. But why Paul? He's my husband."
"Madam, the truth is that I have a history with Paul. Back when we were still young… Paul was the man who had taken my first time." Lilia started with this.
Of course, she skipped saying that at that time Paul had actually forced himself on her. If Zenith heard that Paul had done something like this, it would forever stain their relationship and their family. She knew how Madam was.
"... Ah, so he was…" Zenith had a complicated expression on her face.
Lilia continued, "Yes… While cleaning your bedroom every day that smells of a man and a woman, hearing your loud moans every night… I thought that I could suppress my urges, but I'm afraid that your pregnancy might disrupt this balance. Before something unforgivable happens, I would like to leave the household."
Zenith looked at Lilia for a long while, then said, "I understand. So before you happen to sleep with Paul, you'd prefer to leave the house. Did Paul make moves on you before?"
"This… It was nothing serious so far."
"... Nothing serious?" Zenith parroted.
Lilia answered with silence. It would be awkward to tell her Madam about Paul's occasional sexual harassment.
Lilia herself didn't quite mind it, but it would certainly paint things in a very bad light for Paul.
But Lilia's silence caused Zenith to have suspicions which in truth were only stronger than the reality.
She watched her for a bit, then sighed. "Sigh. Lilia, I know Paul has a weakness for women, so I prepared myself for the day he would cheat on me. But if he had done it with you, I just don't know how I would feel."
At that time she would not only feel betrayed by her husband, but also by her best friend.
Zenith said, "Thank you, Lilia, for telling me this."
Lilia didn't answer.
Zenith stared at Lilia's face for a long time. After having made up her mind, she said, "Lilia, how about we test him?"
"Madam?" Lilia was confused when she heard this.
Zenith forced a small smile. "Paul has been better these days, probably because of Seraph, but it might only be a matter of time before something happens. In that case, I would rather be proactive about it."
"A-ah?"
"I sincerely hope that he wouldn't do something malicious like betray me with my best friend while I'm away from home, but if he tries it, it will be a lesson for him. Even if he does something, I would rather have him do it with you here than with a strange woman."
"..."
As Zenith spoke, soon tears began to stream out of her eyes, "I love my family, I love my current life. Paul… He's a piece of work, but he's a man I love, and I want to believe in him. If he betrays me this time, then I'll use it to make our family stronger."
This was the story.
Which is what led to the current predicament.
At the first chance, Paul cheated on Zenith with Lilia when she invited him into her bedroom, and Zenith was filled with utter disappointment.
However, the plan was for Lilia to pull away the moment that Paul started doing *that*.
But once things started, it was impossible for Lilia to hold herself back. This happened while Zenith was at the clinic.
Rather than feeling betrayed by Lilia, Zenith was forced to forgive her and not blame her, since it was her idea in the first place when she even knew Lilia's situation.
But there was more. That one time also caused Lilia to become pregnant.
After that truth came to light, Zenith felt forced to accept Lilia into the family.
However, there were no bad feelings related to it. The two women seemed to have banded together and looked to be even closer.
It seemed that, despite the twists and turns that I learned about, the outcome was the same - rather than Lilia leaving the house and Paul sleeping with a random village woman when he felt horny, Lilia swept with Paul and became pregnant.
It felt like Fate.
So I'm going to have siblings. Not just one, but two.
Would that be Norn and Aisha?
If something like Fate can't be ignored in this world, then I feel that probably yes.
…
At present time, Zenith had told me about her pregnancy and also told me about Lilia joining the family. She also told me about Paul's betrayal.
Of course, the one who received all the blame for this incident was Paul.
His betrayal at the earliest convenience and the attitude of not caring about the consequences still affected Zenith.
While ruffling my hair, Zenith exerted more pressure with her hand and continued, "Make sure you don't grow up to be someone like that, okay, Seraph?"
She gripped the top of my head even more firmly. "Make sure you're honest with Sylphy-chan and Eris-chan, and treat them really well, okay, Seraph?"
"Ah, yes… Ouch, it hurts."
It seems as if she was nailing down what I should do in the future.
Well, honesty is one thing I want to have in my relationships in this world.
But what was that, suddenly putting Sylphy and Eris in the same sentence? Was Zenith fine with that?
Actually, there was a time during winter when Eris came to the village to visit me and Sylphy, and had even stayed at our house, so Zenith saw how close the three of us are.
Perhaps, after seeing that and after what she had done, she felt that she no longer had the rights to hammer down monogamy on me.
Well, that was good.
When she used vague phrasing, I also felt she wanted me to stop at just Sylphy and Eris or only choose one of them, but well… that conveniently went over my ears.
At any rate, following that incident, Zenith and Lilia bonded, and Paul's position in the family dropped to the bottom.
Sometimes the two women would even sleep together, but Paul would always be excluded and neither of them had sex with him.
It was a hard time for him.
I'm not aware what their conversations looked like when I was gone, perhaps Zenith threatened him to leave for Millis with Lilia and me if something like this happened again, but the result was that Paul seemed to have learned his lesson this time.
After he betrayed Zenith, and Zenith instantly knew about it right after the fact, he must have also felt like a fool.
Rather than being forgiven like in the novel and then bragging about how he now has a harem, after falling into the trap, he seemed to have realized his mistake and simply tried to do better.
As someone who wasn't involved in all this, I somewhat felt like a neutral party.
Zenith and Lilia seemed to be happy as a result and everything ended rather smoothly, so what was I supposed to feel?
I knew about Paul's faults, but I couldn't hate him too much.
In all honesty, I was glad that Aisha might come to this world. Unlike in the novel where she wasted her potential, I would like to have her learn magic from a young age and receive proper education.
Well, it would obviously sound very wrong if I had relationship plans for someone who's supposed to be my future sister, but it's true that I really liked Aisha in the story. I especially liked her among the characters for her intelligence, loyalty and her hard work.
I simply didn't think about it much.
But I certainly wanted to see Aisha realize her potential. Even if not being a high-ranked Magician, she could become amazing at Magic Circle rather than just a maid.
Going back to Paul.
Dear diary, should I perhaps write about Paul's good points for once?
In short, one of those days Paul managed to launch his first [Longsword of Light] and had unofficially become a Saint ranked swordsman of the Sword God Style!
Yes, Paul reached true Saint rank. His overall strength and control over Battle Aura also increased.
He managed to reach this point in less than a year, so without a doubt, it should be the result of my corrective exercises.
Having reached Saint rank, Paul's confidence shot through the roof. Or should I call it arrogance?
When he reached Saint rank, Lilia's admiration for him had also grown considerably. This was still before they slept and perhaps contributed toward the current development.
Either way, after Paul had shown off his Longsword of Light, I tried to convince him to not reveal his status as a Sword Saint. The goal was to have his true combat strength be a hidden card of our family.
Paul looked very reluctant, and probably wanted to brag about it to Ghislaine and Philip, but eventually agreed.
While being excluded by his two women, he turned to begin training even harder. He seemed to want to earn his place and respect in the family.
Well, his motivations were admirable and he should have also felt further motivated by seeing progress, so I could only support him on that.
…
Several months passed without any major happenings.
One day, Zenith gave birth.
It was a rough experience, a breech delivery.
With Lilia gravid as she was, she called for a midwife from the village, an older woman, but even she said the situation was hopeless. That's how bad it was.
Fortunately, all this happened on the day that I was back in the village.
Whether it was fate or luck, this allowed me to be helpful. I assisted Lilia and continuously cast silent Healing magic.
In the end, our efforts paid off and the birth was a success.
A healthy baby girl was born, with a tiny bunch of sparse blonde hair.
Soon after that, Lilia went into premature labor on the same day.
We were already exhausted, but I remembered that Norn and Aisha had a birthday on the same day and kept it in mind. I quickly kicked Paul out of his daze and had him carry Lilia into one of the rooms where I already had some clean cloths and towels prepared.
This time the midwife was able to play her part, because premature births were something she claimed to have experience with.
Things went smoothly.
The moment the baby was born, Lilia boldly cried out Paul's name. He was at her side, clutching her hand.
The baby was smaller than Zenith's, but let out the same kinds of healthy cries all the time.
It was a girl as well.
"Two daughters… Two little sisters." Paul chuckled sheepishly to himself even as he mused about both of his new children being girls.
For the second time that day, I got to see the big, dumb grin of a new parent on his face.
Zenith's daughter was named Norn, while Lilia's daughter was named Aisha.
***
***
***
(AN: So well, some people might not like this development, but it's canon that Lilia loved Paul. Call it Stockholm syndrome or whatever, but unless something major happens, it is hard to change it. Perhaps the starting promise with Lilia was different, but the process and the end result were also somewhat different from the novel. Either way, I wrote what I felt could have happened in reality rather than wish-fulfillment.)
(This chapter also has a good portion of canon content, but I'm aware that many readers wouldn't have read the side story and some hadn't even read the novel itself either, so I included it, also because I felt it would be incomplete without it and there's no point in reinventing the wheel. )
(Side commentary. So it looks that the timeskip from 6 to 7 years old is far quicker than I expected and only takes 1-2 chapters… I thought of various plots I could write about at 6 years old, but in the end I felt that there was no need to add unnecessary things.)
(I also had the idea of Hilda having an unexpected child, and having it end up as the reincarnation of Riria (the Miko from the Future), because her wish was exactly to 'live with the man'. This was her wish and her powers are strange and overpowered, so this is exactly what could have happened when all that she did is only send MC's soul to the past, so she should have a lot of strength left over... But I realized that while being quite cool, adding in a new character at that point would only add unnecessary chaos to the story and not be anything good, and abandoned the idea. Chapter updates are Monday and Friday.)
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