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Chapter 18
He frowned in confusion as he tore open the sealed envelope.
The village chief began reading through the documents carefully.
But at some point, the speed at which his eyes scanned the pages began to quicken.
“W-What is this…?!”
“What’s wrong? What happened?”
Sensing that the chief’s reaction was far from normal, the old man rose from his chair and asked.
The village chief slowly lifted his head, his lips and jaw trembling violently.
“The bank… they’ve contacted me, demanding repayment of my debts.”
“…What?”
“They said the creditors made the request! If I don’t pay everything back within two weeks, all of my accounts will be frozen!”
The chief shouted in a frantic, hysterical voice.
The papers in his shaking hands fluttered to the floor.
But unfortunately for him, this crisis was only the beginning.
To torment someone properly, you needed peace of mind.
So what would happen if that peace was completely stripped away?
In his younger days, the village chief had been a highly successful merchant.
About five years ago, he retired and handed all of his businesses over to his son.
But unlike the chief, who had possessed genuine business talent, his son had absolutely none.
At first, he slowly chipped away at profits.
Then, before anyone realized it, he had begun devouring even their existing assets.
‘Meditation shoes that help awaken mana?’
‘This is the flagship item for my new business venture.’
‘Flagship item? And because of this, you bought an entire factory just to produce these ragged shoes?’
‘This time, I’m really going to succeed! You know how much people admire mages. These will sell like wildfire!’
‘Haaaah…’
‘But, Father… purchasing the factory land cost more than I expected… Could you lend me some money?’
‘Where would I get that kind of money?!’
‘You have connections, don’t you? I’ve already run out of people willing to lend to me… Ah, but this is really going to work! I’m telling you, it’ll be a massive hit!’
Unable to ignore the pleas of his only son, the village chief eventually borrowed money under his own name.
Once wasn’t enough.
Then twice.
Then three more times.
Every coin he borrowed flowed straight into his son’s disastrous ventures.
The chief had been anxious, but seeing his son work so desperately, he forced himself to trust him.
It also helped that the creditors had all been long-time business associates.
He believed they would be understanding.
And yet now, those very same people had suddenly demanded repayment through the bank that had guaranteed his loans.
And that wasn’t all.
The city hall.
The merchants’ guild.
Every possible institution began flooding him with notices.
Each one packed with enough pressure to suffocate him.
“What the hell is going on?! Why all of a sudden?!”
Buried beneath the avalanche of letters crashing down on him like a natural disaster, the chief could barely keep his sanity.
Naturally, anything involving Eleanor was immediately pushed to the bottom of his priorities.
Forget fulfilling the former chief’s request.
Now, he was too busy trying to save his own neck.
When disaster was licking at your heels, there was no time left to harass some outsider single mother.
After receiving the report from his subordinate, Matthias was deeply satisfied.
“That was far too easy.”
Honestly, it had been so simple it almost felt disappointing.
If James had come to his senses when Matthias had politely—very politely—threatened him with words, his godfather would never have ended up like this.
They had dug their own grave.
After ordering his subordinate to keep watching the situation, Matthias returned to the inn in significantly better spirits.
He couldn’t wait to show Eleanor what he had accomplished.
‘At first, she was clearly afraid of me… but these days, it almost feels like she’s subtly looking down on me.’
Not once in his life had anyone ever dared belittle him.
Everyone revered the Grand Duke Hilliard—a man who held both immense wealth and power.
He was not a man anyone could treat lightly.
And yet Eleanor sometimes seemed to completely forget that he was the empire’s one and only Grand Duke.
Otherwise, there was no way she could glare at him with those eyes that practically said:
You can’t even deal with one pathetic worm properly?
“Ahem. Baby mama, are you in there?”
Matthias knocked on Eleanor’s door.
But instead of an answer, the loud cries of a baby came from inside.
The powerful wailing showed no signs of stopping.
Was the child alone in there?
Alarmed, Matthias quickly pushed open the door.
“Ah, Mr. Matthias.”
Contrary to his fears, Eleanor was indeed inside.
But something about her looked… wrong.
Her eyes were sunken and shadowed as she held the crying baby.
Her body seemed strangely heavy, her movements sluggish.
Matthias frowned.
“What’s wrong with you? Did you stay up all night?”
“Haha… all night, you say…”
A hollow laugh escaped Eleanor’s lips.
“If it were just one night, that’d actually be a blessing. I’ve been holding this baby all day.”
“WAAAAAH! WAAAAAH!”
“Right, right… it’s okay… shhh…”
As she weakly rocked the baby from side to side, there was not a trace of soul left in her face.
Matthias’s expression hardened.
“Why is the baby like this? She was fine yesterday.”
“She’s been like this for the past few days. Today’s just especially bad.”
“Is she sick?”
“She’s teething.”
Eleanor answered in a dry, exhausted voice.
“Her little front tooth started coming in. Sophie said babies usually get extra sensitive around this time.”
“WAAAAAH…!”
“Right, sweetheart… I know… Can’t you please sleep just a little?”
Eleanor looked utterly drained.
And for good reason.
Up until now, this baby had never once made Eleanor’s life difficult.
Her niece had been so gentle that sometimes Eleanor genuinely wondered if an angel had descended from heaven.
Even when she fussed over food or sleep, it never lasted more than ten minutes.
The rest of the time, she could play happily on her own.
‘So where exactly had that sweet little angel gone?’
Because the only thing left here now…
…was a demon baby straight from hell, determined to devour Eleanor whole.
“WAAAAAH!”
“Tch. Give her to me.”
Unable to watch this pathetic state any longer, Matthias held out his arms.
Eleanor’s eyes wavered.
The desperate desire to rest, even briefly…
And the instinctive fear that she absolutely should not hand her baby over to this dark-hearted Grand Duke…
The two emotions clashed fiercely.
‘But… the Grand Duke is actually really good with babies.’
After all, he had five younger siblings.
If anyone knew childcare, it was him.
Maybe… just maybe… he could even handle teething.
Her utterly exhausted body quickly found the excuse it wanted.
At last, Eleanor carefully handed over the baby.
“Up we go.”
Matthias took the child with surprising stability.
“WAAAAAH! WAAAH!”
“There, there…”
He gently patted the crying baby’s back.
Then, spotting a small baby handkerchief on the table, he grabbed it and turned away.
“Where are you going?”
“To the kitchen.”
Without offering any explanation, Matthias strode off.
Panicked, Eleanor hurried after him.
Once in the kitchen, Matthias filled a bowl with cold water.
He soaked the clean handkerchief, wrapped it around his finger, and then carefully slipped his pinky into the baby’s mouth.
His hands were naturally large, so even his smallest finger was slightly big for her.
“Uu…”
“There we go. Your gums hurt because your teeth are coming in, huh?”
In a voice so gentle it was almost unrecognizable, Matthias softly massaged the baby’s swollen gums.
And then—
As if by magic—
The baby’s crying gradually began to lessen.
Eleanor’s eyes widened in complete shock.
The baby… had stopped crying.
She had spent the entire day carrying, soothing, and begging…
And none of it had worked!
“Did you feed her?”
“Ah… no. She’s been crying nonstop… She wouldn’t drink her formula…”
“If her gums hurt, of course she wouldn’t feel like eating. But you still can’t neglect her meals.”
“It’s not like I meant to—”
“I noticed before that she likes apples. Do you have any?”
“There should still be some left from last time.”
“Go get one.”
Matthias gave the order with arrogant authority.
But after witnessing the miracle he had just performed, Eleanor moved with the speed and obedience of the youngest knight in his personal order, immediately rushing off to find an apple.
