* * *

Apparently, Felix hadn’t thought that far ahead, despite agreeing to raise the child together.

“Of course. If we’re becoming a family, a wedding is only natural.”

Lowell emphasized the word family, deliberately pressing on Felix’s emotional vulnerability.

As expected, it hit the mark, and Felix’s hesitation deepened.

“You’ll return to your territory after the Festival of Blessings, won’t you? Take me with you.”

Felix’s presence in the capital was partly due to his victory in the war, but primarily for the Festival of Blessings—a grand event meant to pray for abundance but also a thinly veiled warning to the nobility not to rebel.

Every ruling lord or heir had to attend unless they were at death’s door.

With no heir of his own, Felix had to represent his territory.

“I can’t take you back to my territory without justification.”

“You can announce the pregnancy or an engagement. The temple won’t keep quiet forever, and keeping it secret for too long is impossible.”

Lowell’s argument seemed logical even to a confused Felix.

“Damn it, this is madness.”

“The baby can hear you, so please speak nicely.”

Lowell clasped his hands over his ears as if to block out the words.

What baby?

It’s just a clump of dividing cells right now.

Even Lowell thought his words were ridiculous, but they seemed to work on Felix, who bit his lip, clearly regretful.

“I can’t decide right now.”

Felix’s voice was low and subdued, but Lowell felt he’d already overcome a significant hurdle.

Family. Illegitimacy. Marriage.

I hit all the right notes for Felix.

Now it’s time to step back and let him think.

With a cheerful nod, Lowell responded, “Of course. I’m just glad you’re taking our child’s future seriously.”

Even as he spoke, Lowell slyly emphasized the phrase our child.

He eased Felix’s tension while subtly reinforcing what couldn’t be ignored.

“I’m not thinking about the child…”

Felix began to yell but stopped abruptly, lowering his gaze to Lowell’s stomach.

He seemed genuinely concerned that the baby might actually hear him.

He took a deep breath and, in a softer tone, said,

“Fine. I’ll decide before the Festival of Blessings ends.”

“Understood.”

Lowell answered obediently, though his thoughts were entirely different.

That’s too long. I can’t give him that much time to think.

It was ten days later that Felix finally visited the Lowell household.

“You held out for quite a while.”

At the news that Felix was waiting in the parlor, Lowell walked gracefully down the hallway.

Tanya, who had delivered the message, looked like she was about to faint, and the other servants were in a state of utter commotion.

Amidst the chaos, Lowell was the only one who seemed calm.

“Good day, Your Grace.”

Lowell greeted brightly as he entered the parlor.

“I’d prefer if we could talk alone.”

Felix’s gaze swept over the servants standing watch like guards, and his words were direct.

“Of course. Could you all step outside for a moment?”

The servants, wary of Felix, quickly scurried out of the room.

It was clear they had no desire to stay in the same space as the infamous Duke Felix.

“Did you come to finalize our contract?”

As soon as the servants left, Lowell confidently broke the silence.

Felix, clutching a bundle of letters in his hand, looked ready to toss them at Lowell but restrained himself.

He took a deep breath, steadied his anger, and carefully extended the letters toward him.

“What is the meaning of this?”

His voice, seething through gritted teeth, was so cold it sent chills down one’s spine.

Yet Lowell didn’t flinch, lowering his gaze to the letters with an unbothered expression.

✨✨✨

To the esteemed Duke Felix, the father of my little bean,

The sunlight is so warm today. I was wondering if Your Grace visited that hill again this past weekend.

Surely, with such lovely weather, it must have made for a delightful walk, don’t you think?

As for me, perhaps because of the child, my mood seems as fickle as the breeze these days.

Maybe it’s just in my head, but I feel a faint ache in my stomach. I’ll be sure to inform you of any further changes in my condition.

✨✨✨

The short letter described Lowell’s physical condition in detail.

“Are you perhaps startled by the mention of the child’s name? I thought it’d be nice to give a temporary name while the baby is still in the womb, so please don’t worry too much about it.”

Lowell avoided directly explaining the unusual concept of a taemyung—a fetal nickname—common in his previous world, opting instead for a vague explanation.

Felix’s expression darkened, as though on the verge of exploding.

“Sending letters like this every single day, day and night—have you lost your mind?”

When Felix first heard a letter had arrived, he had assumed it was an official report about his territory.

Instead, the letter was from the Count of Clarke.

And upon further investigation, Felix discovered that Lowell was the youngest of the Clarke family’s seven sons.

‘Is he backing out of the contract now?’

Even if Lowell were to change his mind, Felix wouldn’t find it surprising.

After all, who in their right mind would willingly marry someone like him, no matter how cunning their schemes were?

‘Maybe he’s afraid the curse might infect him.’

Felix smirked bitterly as he opened the letter, assuming the talk of pregnancy was just another lie.

However, the contents of the letter were nothing like he’d expected.

✨✨✨

To the soon-to-be father, Duke Felix,

Did Your Grace sleep well last night?

As for me, I spent a restless night thinking about the future.

If it’s not too much trouble, I’d like to decide on a name for the baby before its birth.

Here are some candidates: Bean, Love, Sturdy, and Sticky Rice Cake.

If no particular name comes to Your Grace’s mind, I’ll pick one myself.

Also, before I leave, could you tell me more about your territory?

I’d like to know about the place I’ll soon be living in.

✨✨✨

Felix reread the letter several times with an expression that suggested he had stumbled upon something incomprehensible.

Wondering if there might be some hidden code, he tried reading the letter vertically and even removing specific characters to decode it.

But in the end, there was no secret message, no metaphorical undertones—just a plain, bizarre letter written in clumsy handwriting.

‘Why is he acting as if coming to live in my territory is already decided?’

Felix hadn’t given any answer regarding the contract, yet Lowell appeared entirely confident that rejection wasn’t even a possibility.

Adding to his confusion were the strange names Lowell had suggested for the child.

While the letter was written in the empire’s language, the names were so childish and peculiar that they seemed almost nonsensical.

Of them, one name in particular caught Felix’s attention.

‘This “Love”… The ink here is darker than the rest. He’s clearly trying to lead me on. As expected, he’s a master manipulator.’

In truth, the ink was only slightly smudged, but Felix’s mind exaggerated the detail.

As he stared endlessly at the letter, debating whether to respond, another letter arrived at sunset.

This one, too, was from Lowell, and the content wasn’t all that different.

“What does he even want from me?”

Just as Felix began to consider the contract seriously, Lowell would send another letter, throwing him off balance.

The trivial content of the letters left Felix both bewildered and irritated.

The more he reread them, the more he felt an embarrassing sort of ticklishness creeping over him.

Unable to endure it any longer, Felix finally raised a white flag and headed to the Clarke estate.

He was determined to put an end to these absurd letters, imagining himself coldly reprimanding Lowell to stop with the nonsense.

Felix assumed Lowell would be frightened or repulsed, like most others. Of course, Lowell was not like most others.

* * *