Chapter 50

06. The Mad Emperor and the Witch of Arbella

***

Shortly after hearing that Theodore had left for the western continent, I declared to Benjamin that I would leave the Empire.

“Now is my chance without Emperor Theodore knowing. If not now, we’ll never know when the Emperor will be away again.”

“But… the place you said is too far away.”

“So it will be safer from the Emperor.”

Benjamin objected to my leaving his mansion, but in the end had to accept it

“Then I’ll look for a place where you can settle down. Ferdinand’s funds are enough……”

In the end, he couldn’t break my stubbornness, and he tried to help me in another way.

“It’s okay, Benjamin. I can do it.”

But I turned down his favor.

“How can you?” (Benjamin)

I said calmly to Benjamin, who looked at me with a surprised expression on his face.

“I have a lot of money.” (Yvonne)

When I left the Imperial Palace, I never came out with empty hands.

I dated Theodore for half a year.

During that brief time, he would present me with all kinds of treasures along with sweet pushes of love.

And I packed the small, light, and valuable ones in advance.

Among them were the national treasures of the Albrecht imperial family.

‘I didn’t steal or take it, Theodore gave it to me…….’

I felt a little guilty about disposing of the royal family’s treasure, but I decided to be a little brazen for the sake of the baby.

‘And technically speaking, it’s not for me, it’s for the baby, right?’

Besides, isn’t the baby in my stomach the bloodline of the Albrecht family?

Apart from the fact that I have no intention of raising the baby to be Theodore’s baby.

‘So it’s not wrong to sell some royal family treasures for our baby.’

When I reached an agreement with myself like that, my heart, which was a little uncomfortable, calmed down.

I disposed of Theodore’s gifts to finance the settlement of a new home.

The first thing I did when I arrived in Caligor Kingdom was to buy a mansion.

There were three conditions I wanted.

First, it should be located in a place where there was not many people.

Second, there must be a lake which should be visible.

Third, there must be a large garden where the baby can run around.

And the large mansion in the Arbella estate where a fallen nobleman lived long ago met the conditions I wanted.

So I settled in Arbella, a small estate with a lake located in the interior of the Caligor Kingdom.

There, I was able to enjoy a small and comfortable life with a few employees.

Arbella was a very small estate, so when I first appeared here, the locals showed great interest in unfamiliar immigrants.

But what I wanted was quiet peace, not traffic with people.

Rumors about the hostess of the mansion gradually spread due to the blunt response. However, there were those who did not yield and came to visit.

Most of them were men who looked at me pregnant and said the mansion needed a man.

I slightly raised the power I had been restraining myself from using, scared them and chased them away, but only rumors circulated that I was a witch for no reason.

“There is a witch living in the mansion in front of the lake… .”

“She seduces and eats people with her pretty face…”

I was taken aback by the nonsensical rumors about me.

Was Theodore, who had atrocious rumors in the past, feeling this way?

But I didn’t pay much attention to those rumors.

After kicking out everyone who approached me, all that was left for me was the peaceful life I had longed for.

The amount of money sold by Theodore’s gift was large, and even after purchasing the mansion, I was still wealthy.

Thanks to this, I was able to lead a life that was not insufficient to give birth to and raise my children in the estate of Arbella, far away from Albrecht.

I gave birth to my children here.

‘Children’, not ‘child’.

The babies born were twins.

No wonder.

Ever since my stomach was big, I felt particularly large fetal movements and pain in my back.

Certainly, my Lady! The baby in your stomach is a boy!

Why?

Why? I’ve never seen such a big stomach.

Laura, who had been deceived by her relatives and had lost all she had and had nearly drowned while wandering the shores of the lake, became a servant in my mansion, clenched her fists and exclaimed.

Although she was five years younger than me, Laura followed her mother, who was a midwife from her childhood, and met many pregnant women.

And she was surprised to see a pregnant woman with such a belly as big as mine.

It could be a big girl, right?

Does my Lady prefer a girl?

Hmm…

I tilted my head and imagined the baby to be born.

‘If it looks like me, I think it would be cute whether it was a boy or a girl.’

Did God Breim give a blessing to me, who was struggling to choose between the two?

“Oh my God, my Lady! Look at this! The babies are so pretty!”

Laura said with excitement.

I looked at the newborn babies for a long time.

The babies were so small, and I could hold two children in one arm.

….And they were really pretty.

‘I heard that babies are usually wrinkled and red when they are born…’

Did they look particularly pretty because they were my babies?

My babies were born small, white, and fairy-like from the moment I first saw them.

So at first I couldn’t believe it.

The fact that these small and pretty creatures like angels came out of my belly.

“Don’t just look at them, give them to me.”

“Oh…!”

Then Laura gave me the babies for me to hold.

I loved the small, warm warmth that was held in my arms, so I burst out crying.

At the sound of my cries, the babies cried together, causing a commotion.

It was a complete mess, but Laura just smiled happily as if she understood.

After a while, after the room became quiet, Laura asked me.

“Did you think of the names of the babies?”

“Yeah. The boy is Erwin, and the girl is Odelia.”

I didn’t know if a boy or a girl would be born, so I prepared two names, and it was a good thing.

“How did the babies resemble the master so much!”

As Laura said, Erwin and Odelia miraculously resembled me.

Erwin was born with silver hair and golden eyes and Odelia was born with black hair and green eyes.

[T/N: Erwin has Yvonne’s hair color and Theodore’s eyes color. Odelia has Theodore’s hair color and Yvonne’s eyes color.]

The particularly dense eyelashes, the slightly drooping corners of the eyes, the lovely dimples when they smile with the plump lips were the same things I remembered from my childhood.

I was surprised and delighted with that fact.

‘I’m glad they don’t look like Theodore.’

Maybe my wish came true when I was holding my children in my womb, asking for a baby to look like me.

‘Please, your personality should also be like me.’

I desperately hoped that the only things Theodore passed on to my babies were Erwin’s golden eyes and Odelia’s black hair.

Erwin wasn’t much of a problem.

The problem was Odelia.

I had to contemplate for a long time when I saw the black hair of Odelia, who was just born.

Her dark hair was very rare.

At the same time, it was also the color of the symbol of Tenebris, which was called ‘ancient darkness’.

Unlike the Albrecht Empire, the western continent had less disregard for black hair, but it was still unsettling.

‘Theodore was also surrounded by ugly rumors because of his dark hair…’

I remembered that Theodore magically concealed the color of his hair when he was a Prince.

A few days later, Benjamin came.

I asked him, staring blankly at the newborn babies.

“Benjamin, can you hide Odelia’s hair color with your magic?”

“It’s not that difficult.”

I went to Benjamin and gave him a strand of Erwin’s silver hair.

Then Benjamin very easily changed Odelia’s black hair into silver.

With her curly silver hair and green eyes, Odelia looked exactly like me when I was a child.

The children grew up quickly, and four years have already passed since I left Theodore. Erwin and Odelia have also passed their three-year-old birthdays, and became great children who were talking and running.

***

[T/L: I want to say ahead that these are baby talks and I really don’t know what exactly what they said so it’s very roughly translated. Also Yvonne gave nicknames to the children. Lia is Odelia. Er is Erwin.]

“Is this Lia’s do?” (Do=doll)

A lovely voice came from below.

“Yes! This is made from the finest leather and cotton imported from the capital…”

A man with purple hair waved a cute dragon doll and continued his explanation with a grandeur.

“Kyaa! It’s so cute! Tturaego (Dragon)!”

Odelia’s green eyes twinkled as she looked at the dragon doll in the man’s hand.

Curly silver hair swayed along as her child sprinted with her short legs.

“No, Lia.”

Erwin was next to her, grabbing Odelia’s sleeve and stopped her.

“I’m not talking to bad guys. (You can’t take anything.)”

Three-year-old Erwin and Odelia grew more and more like each other.

Originally, Lia’s hair was black, resembling that of Theodore, but when Benjamin’s magic changed it to silver, the two children looked more alike.

It would be difficult for twins of the opposite sex to resemble each other like that, and the servants agreed.

“Hachiman, Lia is Tturaego (Dragon) and I want to have a doll…!”

Odelia looked at the pink dragon doll with pitiful eyes.

It was a very cute dragon doll with a green ribbon on its tail.

“I don’t even know what to say.”

As Erwin looked at the dragon doll with sullen eyes and spoke resolutely, Odelia burst into tears.

As if the man knew this would happen, he pulled out one more thing.

“Ha, here’s a present for Erwin.”

“….!”

Erwin’s eyes widened in an instant.

What the man took out was a squirrel doll with cute front teeth and a coveted tail.

“If I were to talk about this squirrel doll, it would be Jericho the squirrel, the main character in the popular play <Squirrel Hero>… … … … … .”

Besides, the squirrel was holding a toy dagger studded with red jewels on its short front paws. Erwin, who had been making a sad expression a while ago, lost his soul in front of the squirrel doll.

“Nonsense. Yonza (hero) Jelriko is brave….”

“Heung, it’s a normal squirrel. It’s not okay to be a bad guy.” (Odelia)

“Jelriko is not just funky!” (Erwin)

“No. Very funky. Tturaego (Dragon) is going to die of the squirrel’s teeth!” (Odelia)

“No! Jelriko is Yonza (hero)! That Tturaego (Dragon) is cooler!” (Erwin)

Recently, Erwin and Odelia have gradually become more assertive. Usually, they got along very well, but sometimes they quarreled over nonsense like this.

As Odelia pouted her lips, Erwin was furious.

Raising two children was much more difficult than raising one. Especially if the two children were twins. I’ve been realizing that fact lately.

****

[T/N: The children’s talks are so hard, but basically they argued, saying their toys are better. Odelia said her dragon doll is better and Erwin said his squirrel is a hero so it’s better than the dragon.]

[T/N: The man with purple hair who gave the children toys was a citizen of this kingdom. His identity will be known in a later chapter.]