Obviously, It’s My Child

Until the day before that day, Claire Delford was just an underclassman in the academy who he knew by only face and name.

He knew about her insight. There were many people who couldn’t understand why the professor cared for her, why the professor kept calling her to the lab and trying to make her do something, but Erich knew.

Still, that was all. He knew her name and her face because of it.

But one day, he looked at the seating chart posted in the central lobby and thought involuntarily. It was strange how ‘Delford’ was not there. It was clear to him that she got low grades on purpose.

However, Claire answered his question like this.

[ To Your Lordship, saying that you are excellent and competent would be a very nice decoration. ]

[ What does that mean? ]

[ For you, it’s only a decoration. But for me, it means that a baron’s daughter like me can’t have it unless I get a high grade. ]

It would have been the first time he had met her eyes straight. If it wasn’t for that, he couldn’t have known that her eyes were such a vivid amber color.

The brilliance flashing in the depths of those pupils were like flecks of gold. When the emotions are turbulent, they shine bright like sparks when steel would get immersed in a furnace.

Her gaze arrested him then and there, sharply like a heated knife. At that time, Erich couldn’t remember what he had answered.

The heat he inhaled filled his chest that it felt stuffy, and he only remembered he got angry, as if he was defending himself.

* * *

Light was still leaking from the window at the top of the Weaving Guild. Erich got off the carriage, told the coachman to wait, and knocked on the door of the head office building alone.

“…Are you really here at this hour?”

After a while, Grey opened the door. Erich narrowed his eyes.

“Are you also involved in this matter?”

“Because it required a contract. Please come in.”

Grey stepped back from the doorway. Erich took one look at him and stepped inside.

There were candles lit here and there in the office, but he couldn’t say they were as bright as being illuminated by the chandeliers and mirrors.

Claire was sprawled on the sofa in the middle of the office. Casey, who was sitting below her, saw Erich and got up, and politely withdrew.

Erich glanced at him, then he held out a hand to Claire.

“Uhngg…”

Claire groaned as if she didn’t want to get up.

“What are you doing here at this hour?”

“When I contacted the hotel, they said you hadn’t returned yet, so I thought it would be nice if I could take you back. Didn’t an errand boy come?”

“He did.”

A note sent to her earlier lay on top of a mountain of papers.

“But to be honest, making an appointment with a note sent twenty or thirty minutes prior is just bad manners. Can you really call this a ‘notice’?”

“There is no way to send it any faster.”

“Make an appointment about a week in advance.”

“Don’t you think you want to see me?”

“…Right now is when I don’t want to see you at all.”

Claire said. She wished she could control her mind without seeing him for three days.

There was no way this man, who was visiting every other day despite how he was supposed to be busy, couldn’t do that.

When was the telephone invented again? Then she could use that as an excuse, tell him not to come because she was busy, and then just keep the voice under control.

But currently it still wasn’t possible at this point in time. Even the telegraph was still only used for official purposes in some areas.

It would not be an exaggeration to say that letters were the only way to convey messages, but living in the same city and refusing the suitor’s visit one after another seemed like the preemption of a breakup.

“Did dinner go well? No matter how you say it, it is still the process of making an out-of-wedlock child as the firstborn son.”

“If anyone was going to quarrel with me about that, they would probably encourage Mother. Not branch family relatives or vassals.”

“Chairperson Neumann too?”

Claire brought up the House of Representatives’ chairperson, the most famous of Klausener’s vassals. Erich replied lightly.

“Sir Neumann is a part of the progressive faction.”

“You mean he agreed, right?”

“Having the blood of an Arren Baron in the ruling family of Rommel is in itself a progressive thing. Isn’t it?”

“Because that feeling is something you will never understand for the rest of your life.”

Claire sighed.

“It’s not me who’s arrogant, it’s you.”

“What are you talking about all of a sudden?”

“If you don’t understand that it’s progress, it means you don’t understand in your heart that there is a difference between you, a Baron of Arren, and me, the master of Klausener.”

“What’s new about that.”

Erich smiled bitterly and reached out his hand to Claire again.

The thing was, it was a pleasure to be with her. Because it’s not something he could do often.

Claire stood up, this time holding his hand. Erich didn’t let go of her hand and pulled her in, placing it on his own arm and asked.

“I hope you finished your matters well?”

“The one I’m carrying on my back right now is Klausener, so something like Krozik is no big deal.”

“That too.”

Claire took one look at him, then turned her head away. It was very natural.

He thought she would say a few words, but she didn’t say anything, which made Erich wonder.

“Claire?”

“What?”

“…….”

“Nothing.”

As expected, something was strange. Erich wasn’t the type to notice, but he was sensitive to Claire’s unusual behavior.

“Why are you angry?”

“Me?”

“Your voice is a little high right now.”

Erich pointed out. It was like that even now. The usual Claire would have told him what she was upset about instead of asking back, ‘Me?’

“I’m not.”

“You’re angry.”

“I am not.”

Once Claire denied it, he realized it wasn’t true.

“What is there to be angry about? I guess I look that way because I’m a bit tired.”

“Hmm.”

“Today, I was going to just talk about the terms of the contract and finish it there, but unexpectedly, I had a bit of a war of nerves. So I must be tired.”

Talking a lot was just as suspicious as not talking. In addition, unlike usual, she ended the conversation with words that did not contain specific information.

But at this point, it was clear that Claire would not respond to any further questions.