Chapter 544
The Krasius family isn’t necessarily one that treasures its members dearly. It doesn’t mean they treat people like a certain red country that doesn’t value human life; instead, it means they pop out kids with ease.
It might seem like a minor detail, but when you consider that some noble families can’t even have children and resort to adopting distant relatives, or worse, bringing back long-forgotten branches of the family tree, it’s evident that having kids is a blessing in disguise. The direct lineage that has continued for 300 years since the founding patriarch symbolizes the authority and prosperity of Krasius.
Thanks to that, my parents had a healthy relationship, yet they only ended up having me and Erich. It’s not like the family has trouble that calls for desperate measures to have more children.
“Congratulations, Mother.”
“Uh… Thank you.”
But that was the story for “Count Wilhelm of the Krasius family,” and it seemed different when viewed from the “unemployed Wilhelm” perspective.
“Th-thank you…”
Mother, her face flushed, stared at the floor as Erich and I delivered our wishes. Father had long since zipped his lips.
‘A baby brother who’s over twenty years younger.’
Seeing my parents like that, I forced an awkward smile. When I first heard about Mother’s pregnancy, a wave of shock hit me, but deep down, I had a hunch this would happen.
That’s because my parents had been glued to each other since Erich graduated from the academy. Thanks to Erich and me, Father was no longer the family patriarch, count, lord, or senator, and Mother had gone from being the head of the household to just being the mother of the patriarch. Instead of being busy with work, they were now in a situation where they had to figure out how to spend their excess time.
Given how well they got along, it was predictable what would happen with all that free time. Plus, being mana cultivators, they were still youthful and spry.
‘If they weren’t having kids, that would have been the unusual part.’
I temporarily pushed from my mind the fact that contraceptive magic exists in this world. Perhaps they didn’t want a gloomy son but instead a cute little sibling.
So, I managed to put on the brightest face possible to celebrate this moment. Honestly, I still hadn’t fully processed my feelings or come to grips with this surprising news.
‘After all, Mar was a late child, too.’
Even my wife is a late bloomer. Having a little brother at this stage isn’t so hard to accept.
Of course, the new sibling will end up being younger than the likes of Pedi, Taiyang, Haneul, and Chomok, but Mar already has several cousins older than him. There’s no way a slightly twisted generational hierarchy is going to be a problem.
…
‘Guess I’ll have to teach them properly.’
I resolved that once the kids are old enough, I need to include a lesson in the home education curriculum on “how to treat younger uncles and aunts.” If I catch my kids talking back or looking down on my little brother, my heart will shatter.
Whose heart will shatter — mine or the kids’? I guess I’ll figure that out later.
“By the way, the nanny is going to be busy again soon.”
I tossed a little joke towards my mother, who still had her head bowed. The nanny had focused solely on her duties as the head maid as we grew up, but with the sudden appearance of this little sibling, she was sort of returning as a nanny—
“This child, I plan to raise myself.”
I was momentarily speechless at the unexpected response.
Wait, what? Mother wants to raise a baby?
“Yourself?”
I repeated the question, just to confirm I hadn’t misheard.
“Y-yeah. I have more time on my hands than the head maid now. So instead of bothering someone who’s busy, it might be better for someone less busy to step up…”
But the answer remained unchanged. Mother clearly expressed her intent to raise the child while glancing at Erich and me.
That’s a tricky situation. It’s perfectly normal for parents to raise their children, so I had no grounds to dissuade her. What’s more, as she pointed out, it would be more efficient for a free mother to look after the baby over a busy nanny.
Even so, the reason for my hesitation was simple.
‘This isn’t going to be easy.’
Raising a child is not something you decide to do just because you have spare time.
Even I, a twenty-something with a strong physique, feel drained taking care of Pedi, so what would the delicate noble lady that is my mother feel like? I might even witness her collapsing in a pile next to the wailing baby.
On top of that, I sometimes forget, but Mother is in her forties. That’s an age where her stamina may start to wane.
“It’ll be tough. You know better than me, but babies are unpredictable. They cry at all hours, you soothe them only for them to start crying again, and just when they finally sleep, they wake up crying again — it’s just non-stop! Considering Mother’s endurance, it would be better to leave it to a professional nanny.”
With sincerity, I urged her. It’s too cruel to expect a woman in her forties to exclusively take care of a baby. If there was truly no other option, I’d understand, but we have several staff members who could assist Mother.
“I’ll help out, so don’t worry. A child is meant to be raised by both parents.”
At Father’s words, both Erich and I turned to look at him.
Father raising a child?
‘Is that even possible?’
This time, my concern stemmed from a different angle than my concern for Mother. If it were Father, I wouldn’t need to worry about his strength. He could easily hold his own in the battlefield.
But my worry is whether those stern, serious features of his would intimidate a little baby. It’s rude to think so, but I imagine a crying baby seeing Father would either cry louder or freeze up in fear.
“I know exactly what you’re worried about.”
And then his next words caught me off guard. I had an incredibly rude thought, but he caught that—
“You might not trust us after we failed to raise you properly, so you might feel we can’t take care of a child now.”
Ah, wait, no.
“However, I don’t want to miss this opportunity that Enen has granted us. It may be selfish of me, but I’d like to be a proper parent for once.”
“What do you mean by that? Father and Mother have already been excellent parents twice.”
I hastily replied to my father’s bittersweet words.
It’s true; our upbringing had been primarily taken care of by the nannies rather than our parents. But that was the average for noble families.
It’s also true that the Krasius way of raising children was a bit wild. Still, that wasn’t due to malice but rather inexperience, and it came after a lot of care and concern.
So they should feel sorry for us, but there’s no need to feel such intense self-loathing. There’s no need to use the harsh wording of “proper parents.”
“This is our burden we must shoulder since it’s due to our mistakes. It’d be embarrassing to accept help from you.”
I must have read Father’s mind because he shook his head with a faint smile.
Seeing him like that left me without a word. Stubbornness in making amends would mean saying back to him what I told him before I went to catch Dorgon. I had no idea I’d get the same thing tossed back at me.
“Um.”
Just as that awkward standoff was about to stretch, Erich piped up.
“If we raise the youngest with the mindset of making amends for our wrongdoings, won’t that be unfair to the youngest?”
I was struck by a perspective I hadn’t even considered.
Thinking about it, that was quite a valid point. I understood my parents’ emotions deeply, and I could feel their determination to care for the youngest with true love, but as Erich mentioned, it could also be interpreted as viewing the little sibling as a means to redeem themselves.
“And you don’t have to hold onto the little squabbles that happened within the family. Just like how you and Mother treated us somewhat strangely, Brother and I didn’t express our opinions correctly either.”
Moreover, they treated their feelings of guilt as something like “family squabbles.” The issues arose not just because they struggled to express their feelings but because we failed to communicate our feelings properly.
As an older brother, I felt some satisfaction. It seemed Erich had developed his intellect and eloquence enough from his time in the council.
But one thing I felt regretful about was,
“Who’s the patriarch here?”
“Oh, right.”
It was silly behavior for him to still refer to Father as “the patriarch” when he’s become unemployed.
But whatever, given the contribution he made today, I’ll let it slide.
*
The impending announcement of our departure for the Kingdom of Leon was nearly overshadowed by the news of celebration in the minister’s family.
At first, I naturally assumed it was my third wife’s pregnancy. Given how quickly that man knocked up the Valenti family’s noble lady and the Duke of Marcilio’s daughter, it wouldn’t be surprising if he did that again.
‘This is something I never expected.’
But it turns out it was neither the third wife but rather my mother who was the protagonist.
‘What do I do?’
With a complex mix of feelings, I stared at the pink jewelry I had set aside in a corner of my office.
This was a gift I had prepared to congratulate the pregnancy, but am I really supposed to present these extravagant pink trinkets to a woman in her forties? Wouldn’t she just think I’m teasing her if I gave her something like that?
‘Damn it.’
I couldn’t help but resent that minister. While he’s not at fault, it feels wrong to drag my parents into a dilemma because of him.
On the bright side or the bitter side, I no longer needed to send the present I prepared for the third wife to the minister’s mother.
Not long after, I received reports that the third wife was pregnant too.
‘What a crazy guy.’
Is he even human or some beast?
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