The carriage carrying Joel arrived at the Baron’s castle.
Joel, carefully stepping down while supporting his stomach, was greeted personally by the Baron.
“Oh, you’ve arrived.”
Unlike the previous time when he was in his undressed nightwear, the Baron was fortunately properly clothed.
In fact, he seemed to have put quite a bit of effort into his appearance.
Of course, that didn’t mean his elderly, toad-like features had gone anywhere.
The Baron personally guided Joel to the drawing room.
Simple refreshments were prepared on the table.
Joel, who had been giving up all decent food to the siblings and subsisting on thin soup and a single small piece of bread, felt his stomach growl.
“Please, help yourself.”
The Baron offered the refreshments in a fairly sociable tone.
However, Joel didn’t have a strong enough stomach to sit and eat across from him.
“I’m fine,” Joel said, politely declining the offer.
“More importantly, why did you summon me and even send a carriage?”
Anxious that news of his disappearance might have reached the Baron’s ears, Joel asked the question in a stiff tone.
Fortunately, the Baron seemed completely unaware of the identity of the person sitting across from him.
He chuckled and replied, “I called you to be a conversation partner. I’ve been living alone ever since my wife passed away ten years ago. My three daughters have long since married, and no other guests visit the castle. I’m glad to have a visitor after being lonely for so long.”
Stopping his laughter, the Baron gazed at the Omega sitting opposite him with deep eyes.
Even to his eyes, which had no interest in men, the Omega sitting across from him was incredibly attractive.
Even among the high-priced prostitutes in the capital who only dealt with high-ranking nobles, none had such fine, luscious blonde hair.
And what of that skin, as clear and transparent as milk?
Feeling uneasy under his greasy gaze, Joel unconsciously hugged his slightly protruding stomach as if to protect it.
Watching this, the Baron thought, ‘He looks young, yet he’s wandering around pregnant with only two young servants. I can guess what his past conduct was like.’
The Omega named ‘Robert’ had claimed he worked as a tutor and left when the child grew up, but it was obvious he had been reckless with his body at his previous residence, got pregnant unintentionally, and was kicked out.
This was a fairly common story; the Baron himself had once gotten a young maid pregnant, and his wife had kicked the girl out with only three months’ wages.
No matter how penniless an Omega from a ruined family was, with looks like that, one would usually keep him around.
Seeing as he was wandering like this, ‘Robert’ must have played around with a married man.
The Baron let his imagination run wild regarding Joel’s circumstances while leisurely admiring Joel’s silk-like skin.
Unable to bear the Baron’s low-class gaze, ‘Robert’ nervously tightened his outer coat.
But such prickly acting only felt like a temptation to the Baron.
Feeling his mouth go dry, the Baron brought his hot teacup to his lips.
“If you have nothing else to say, I will take my leave. The interest I owe you is not small, so I must return to work.”
“Now, now, the money-making will be handled by your talented servants. What’s the rush?”
The Baron forcibly grabbed Joel, who was trying to leave, and made him sit back down.
Not satisfied with just making him sit, he began to massage Joel’s hand and spoke in a slimy voice, “And what kind of work could you possibly do with such delicate hands?”
Joel barely suppressed a gag and shook off the Baron’s wrinkled hand.
“I do fieldwork, weaving… I have much to do.”
“Fieldwork? Weaving? You said you were a noble, yet you do such labor? Your situation must be very poor indeed.”
Joel looked at the Baron with absurd eyes as he spoke with such feigned concern.
The man had set the interest on the ten silver coins at a murderous level—was he really in a position to say such things?
Joel had intended to leave without paying back the debt, but if he had tried to live as one of the Baron’s subjects, he would never have been able to repay the snowballing interest even if he worked himself to the bone.
“It’s not easy to do such harsh commoner’s work while pregnant, is it? How about I make you a good proposal?”
“Pardon…?”
As Joel asked back with a face that said ‘No way,’ the Baron spoke with a brazen face.
“As you might have guessed, I called you because I want you to warm my bed. I’ll pay you well, so don’t worry. I’ll even exempt you from forced labor. I am a gentleman, and I am generous toward pregnant women and Omegas. Of course, you know this only applies to you, Robert? Your servants are my subjects, so they must continue their labor at my barns and fields for the set days of the week.”
As the Baron continued, Joel’s face, which had been pale, gradually turned red.
In truth, Joel was so furious that the veins were bulging on his neck and forehead, but the Baron thought Joel was just acting shy and playing hard to get.
He didn’t think for a second that an Omega stupid enough to be reckless and sleep with a married man like ‘Robert’ would refuse his offer.
To the Baron’s mind, this was a win-win situation.
It couldn’t be easy for someone who was once a noble to live like a commoner; wouldn’t it be better to just sell his body as he had been doing rather than living so miserably?
As if showing great magnanimity, he said to ‘Robert’, “…And if you bear me a son later, I might even formally propose to you. As you can see, the territory is vast, but I have no heir, which is a big problem.”
Meanwhile, Joel was struggling with a conflict: ‘Should I just reveal my identity and rip this guy’s throat out…?’
To be told to sell his body—this was the first time in his life he had received such an insult… well, not quite the first.
Come to think of it, he had suffered from rumors of being promiscuous for a while after entering the Imperial Academy.
Joel felt his anger flare even more as memories of the past he had tried to bury resurfaced.
The conflict didn’t last long. Joel gripped the handle of the hot teacup as if he would crush it.
According to his original personality, he intended to splash the hot tea in the Baron’s face immediately, but just before he could act, he felt a small ‘thump-thump’ in his lower abdomen.
The faint sensation vanished in an instant and wasn’t felt again.
It might not have even been a fetal movement, but the moment Joel recognized the baby’s existence, he quietly let go of the teacup.
His mind, which had been burning with rage, cooled down instantly.
Right now, there was something a hundred, a thousand times more important than getting immediate revenge for an insult. It was being happy with his baby.
Joel forced the corners of his mouth up.
“Thank you for such an undeserved proposal. However, it is so sudden… I would like to go back to the hut and think about it first.”
Baron Aster, seemingly impatient, pestered Joel by asking why he needed to waste time and told him to decide right here, but when Joel firmly repeated that he needed time, the Baron finally nodded with a dissatisfied face.
“Fine, but make your decision quickly. My patience isn’t very long.”
‘No thanks, you toad.’
Joel suppressed the surging curses and left the drawing room.
He planned to pack his bags the moment he returned to the hut.
“Becky? Rob?”
Returning to the hut in the carriage provided by the Baron, Joel carefully pushed the door open.
They had definitely been working in the garden when he left, but Becky and Rob were nowhere to be found.
There wasn’t even a sign of life inside the hut.
Joel looked around and muttered worriedly.
“Jack is gone too. Today isn’t a labor day… Did they go to the market to sell linen?”
Tilting his head, Joel closed the door and went inside.
There wasn’t much time. He had to leave tonight.
Since that Baron fellow might demand his body as soon as tomorrow, he could no longer stay here.
Joel hurried toward the bag he had left in a corner of the hut.
While he was busy moving back and forth packing, the door to the hut suddenly burst open.
Joel turned toward the door.
“Whoa! You scared me! Becky?”
“Master, we’re in big trouble!”
Becky, shouting with a face covered in tears, ran and threw herself into Joel’s arms.
Joel soothed the wailing Becky, asking, “Why, what happened?”
“The soldiers… the soldiers took my brother!”
“What?”
Hearing the words Becky finally managed to get out, Joel’s eyes widened.
His mind momentarily went blank at the completely unexpected news.
