How hard did I hit?
My butt felt like it was on fire.
“Sigh..”
“Are you okay, Mom? I’ll put some ointment on, so take off your clothes.”
“N-No, Mari, I’m fine.”
“Tsk.”
For some reason, Mari seemed a bit disappointed. But between the pain blazing in my rear, I couldn’t pay much attention.
“Hera. We might’ve gone a bit too far, huh?”
“Ugh.. It hurts..”
Looking at Athena, who flashed a gentle smile again, a tiny tear formed at the corner of my eye.
“I’m sorry, Hera. But everything was done out of concern for you.”
“That’s right, unnie. There was absolutely no selfish motive behind it.”
Unusually, Lily agreed with Athena.
I couldn’t respond to their words for fear of getting hit again.
‘….What should I do now..’
My plan to ensnare the Demon King collapsed under their staunch opposition.
But there were too many issues to just drop it.
There were no alternatives, and didn’t the Demon King herself say it?
If she doesn’t show up as promised, she’ll attack somewhere else.
Regis Academy. Elvenheim. I couldn’t imagine where the next calamity would strike.
‘In the end. Is there no choice but to capture her..?’
Demon King subjugation.
However, according to the goddess, even if we subjugated her, a new Demon King would appear again in about a hundred years.
And in a hundred years, neither I nor Lily nor Athena would exist in this world.
Ultimately, it would fall to Mari and the heroes of that time.
Honestly, if it wasn’t for Mari, I might not have pushed this hard.
I turned my head to look at Mari.
“Huh? Mom, why?”
She answered with a bright smile.
Her cuteness, which wouldn’t sting even if I put it in my eye, seemed to melt my heart.
‘Right.. I have to solve this for Mari’s sake.’
What parent would want their child to live in the midst of war?
I felt the same.
Even if I didn’t want to seduce the Demon King, I had to stop this fight.
“I’ll give up on seducing the Demon King.”
As I let out a sigh, their expressions gradually brightened.
“But let me go in the direction of persuasion.”
“Persuasion?”
Athena tilted her head with wide-open eyes as if she didn’t understand my words.
“I want to end this vicious cycle in our generation. To do that, the Demon King’s cooperation is absolutely necessary.”
“Right. So you were trying to seduce her.”
Athena’s brows furrowed slightly, causing my body to flinch.
“I-I won’t try to seduce her anymore.. But I still want to keep talking with the Demon King.”
“Talking?”
“Yeah.. I feel like there’s a way to communicate if we just talk.. There must be a compromise where everyone can live peacefully without fighting.”
Athena sighed deeply, looking at me with a displeased face.
“Hera. The Demon King is insane. An insane person who has killed so many lives. Do you really think you can persuade her?”
“I know. Subjugating her might seem like the cleanest method. But you know, Athena, it will just repeat itself.”
“……”
“I want to stop this cycle while we are still here.”
Athena closed her eyes for a moment and began to think about my serious attitude.
Lily and Mari were also pondering with serious expressions.
“Why are you so obsessed with peace, unnie?”
As a brief moment passed, Lily grabbed my sleeve and asked.
Athena and Mari also seemed curious, waiting with their eyes opened slightly for my answer.
I glanced at Mari and continued to speak.
“…It’s not a grand reason. I just hope that someone else can live in a better world later on.”
After a short, firm resolution in my heart, I addressed them again.
“And.. you never know.. Maybe someday your children will live in the peaceful world we create…”
Like they had been struck by lightning, their bodies immediately froze.
The shock was so immense that their eyes trembled violently at my words.
“Ah.. children..?”
A loud quaver was heard from Athena’s lips.
Yeah. They must have been shocked.
I just rejected Athena and Lily after realizing that they both had feelings for me.
I had worried a lot after discovering these feelings.
What should I do about this heart?
After much contemplation, the conclusion I reached was that I couldn’t accept them.
I am a person from Daehanminguk.
The Confucian ideology is deep within me, and I am one of those who think that cheating is a terrible thing.
My face isn’t thick enough to date three people at the same time.
That said, I couldn’t accept only one of their feelings. Doing so would hurt the other two immensely.
So, loving all of them, I ultimately decided to reject them all.
As long as it ends up that way, no one will be seriously hurt.
No matter how many times I think about it, this seems to be the only option for someone as weak-hearted as me.
From the moment I changed into a woman, I had no intention of seeking romance. I just wanted to find a family I could be with.
What I said to them, mentioning their children, meant that I couldn’t share a future as a romantic partner.
There’s no way women could have children together. They must have understood my intent.
Seeing them all deeply shocked, they surely grasped it correctly.
Perhaps now they might even lose interest in me.
But I believe.
That our relationship isn’t some shallow bond that could break just because we couldn’t become lovers.
Although I rejected their confessions.. I still hoped that we could continue to be together as before.
“Um… girls..?”
I cautiously called out to them, but there was no response.
They seemed too busy thinking about something.
“Hera’s.. child.. With great magic, perhaps..”
“My sister and I..”
“Ugh… The daughter spot is mine.. But Mom’s child..”
They muttered in voices barely audible.
As a lengthy moment passed.
Among them, Lily suddenly brightened up and looked at me.
“Okay. Let’s do as my sister says.”
“Yeah. I agree too.”
“Me too, Mom!”
…..Huh?
“…Really?”
I felt a deep sense of bewilderment at their sudden change in attitude.
Why are the ones that were just vehemently rejecting me suddenly…?
As I looked at them with a puzzled expression, Athena smiled gently and patted my shoulder.
“Yes. As you said, one day, the child of one of us will live in this world. We need to make it a better world.”
“Wait… are you serious?”
Lily looked at me with mucky eyes for some reason.
“That’s right, unnie. Someday I’m going to have a child. I can’t just let the Demon King run rampant.”
“Do.. you really think that, Lily?”
Next to Lily, Mari was smiling brightly.
“Mari thinks so too. Mari’s going to live happily with Mom for a long time.”
“M-Mari…”
I was stunned by their overflowing positive words.
Why are they so happy about this…?
I hadn’t particularly said anything to warrant that response-
‘…No way.’
A single thought pierced my mind.
I replayed what I had said as if it were a recall.
No way.
Could Athena and Lily both secretly have wanted children?
That was the only explanation for their sudden change.
Since I hadn’t explicitly said anything else, that must be it.
The feelings they’d expressed about loving me seemed to have been different at heart.
Since having a child with a woman like me was impossible..
They probably ultimately wanted to build a family with someone else.
‘…That’s a little disappointing.’
Here I am thinking they love me, only to discover they were considering having children with others..
A sense of melancholy welled up in me.
But it’s okay.
Their happiness is my happiness.
Even if it means drifting a bit farther from me.. as long as they can smile, that’s all that matters.
‘Children of Athena and Lily, huh.. I wonder how strong they’ll be.’
Just the thought of it made my body instinctively tremble.
If their children teamed up.. maybe they could easily block the next Demon King.
But, that’s just imagination.
I have to make sure such a thing never happens.
‘Speaking of children..’
Even though I once was a man. Now, without a doubt, I’m living a woman’s life.
Perhaps someday, someone might propose to me.
But of course, I have no intention of accepting.
After all, I have no desire to marry a man.
Having lived as a man, I have no thoughts of bearing children.
And I have Mari..
I probably will spend my time with Mari like this.
‘…I should take care of Athena or Lily’s children later on.’
If they take after them, they’ll probably have beautiful faces like fairies.
They would definitely be incredibly cute.
But it was entirely unimaginable.
The resolve I had made never to have children faded away.
In the end, I would become a fool, only looking at the lovely daughter I had given birth to.
At this point, I had no idea.
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