He’s My Real Brother, Duke Chapter 171 - Side Story 6 - What will the Baby look like?

 

Cassian finally gave something resembling permission to marry. But it was going to be a long time before they could get married.

 

Cassian and Knox had to get to know each other first.

 

Despite the bumpy road ahead, Knox happily put up with Cassian’s antics.

 

‘Not just happily, but like a slave.’ 

 

Knox has been making every effort to please Cassian.

 

Recently, Cassian was late for a meeting of the nobility because he was in a hurry, and Knox pushed the meeting back. Just to look good for him…

 

Although Cassian was beginning to worry about the state of the country, he had a bigger problem.

 

‘The problem is that he’s going out of his way to do things that I don’t want him to do.’

 

I sighed heavily and recalled Knox’s recent behavior.

 

Just the other day, he’d almost put my brother’s shoes back on when he’d accidentally taken them off at a Royal Guards ceremony.

 

“He was trying to get down on one knee like he was proposing to me,” he said in disbelief.

 

The sound of that made me giddy…

 

Still, the look on my brother’s face when he told me about Knox’s feat wasn’t all bad, so I decided to put my hopes in that direction.

 

‘You two seem to be getting along.’

 

It was a little awkward, but they were definitely slowly getting closer.

 

Until ‘the argument’ happened!

 

💫

 

Me, my brother, and Knox decided to have a regular tea time once a week, on Friday afternoons.

 

We’d gotten to know each other pretty well over the years.

 

Today’s tea was no different.

 

As they sipped their tea and talked lightly about the state of affairs in the empire, Knox broached the subject of the heir to the Duke of Anais.

 

“So, I suppose the House of Anais needs an heir, as well.”

 

“That’s right. Perhaps Belle of the Silver Fox family will be the next in line.”

 

I nodded inwardly. House Anais was not a place that was passed down in succession to blood relatives, I had heard. 

 

Knox hadn’t been born into the family, either, he’d proven himself and earned his way into the House of Anais and the position of Duke.

 

Meanwhile, my brother was deep in thought as he stirred his teacup. I was about to poke him in the side to see what he was thinking when he blurted out the following words.

 

“…Speaking of which, dear Duke, have you thought about your children?”

 

‘Children.’

 

Knox’s face flushed at the word, and his mouth curled into a soft smile.

 

I didn’t have to look inside his head to see it. It was as if he was happy to imagine having children with me.

 

‘A child with Knox…’

 

The thought made me feel instantly excited.

 

‘Who will it look like? Will it be male or female?’

 

My heart raced with all sorts of delightful imaginings. Cassian’s face crumpled in discomfort.

 

“You do realize that pregnancy is a great threat to a woman’s body, don’t you?”

 

“Oh, yes. I’ve heard it’s definitely dangerous.”

 

“Especially since the child of a beast and a human crosses races, so it’s probably even more dangerous. That was one of the reasons I was against this marriage.”

 

Cassian’s face tightened at his words.

 

Lies, he never thought of an heir.

 

‘You’re just against it because you hate Knox!’ 

 

My lips pouted, I was about to protest. Knox looked between me and my brother and said.

 

“Oh, don’t worry, that’s irrelevant.”

 

“The pregnancy is a threat to Astel’s body, and you don’t care?”

 

Cassian arched an eyebrow and shot back.

 

“Of course not, for your body, it only endangers Astel’s.”

 

“I’ve been thinking about a child plan to avoid that risk, as well.”

 

I hadn’t heard that before. I scratched my head, puzzled.

 

“Huh…? You’ve already thought about a child plan that specifically?”

 

“Yes.”

 

His expression turned grim.

 

“I can’t put Astel in danger, so I’ll do it.”

 

“…Huh?”

 

I repeated, thinking I’d misheard him, but his eyes were determined, and his voice was emphatic.

 

“I’ll do it, the pregnancy.”

 

My eyes widened in disbelief. As if that weren’t enough, my body stiffened like a corpse. 

 

As if I weren’t the only one confused, Cassian, who had been dazed, snapped out of it.

 

‘A man’s getting pregnant, after all.’

 

“Hey, what the hell are you talking about?!”

 

“Why, it could be.”

 

Unlike me and Cassian, who were on the verge of losing our minds, Knox sipped his tea with an incredibly calm expression.

 

“Oh, crazy…”

 

My brother grabbed the back of his head, unable to change his tune.

 

💫

 

I barely managed to bring my brother to the estate of Count Vietry after he nearly collapsed from a heart attack.

 

Barely regaining his senses thanks to the warmth of the servants, he stamped his feet in disbelief.

 

“Is he crazy?”

 

He was no longer using respectful language. But I was powerless to call him out on his disrespect.

 

I grabbed his arm and muttered in a quivering voice.

 

“I think Knox might be a little, just a little, crazy…”

 

“Crazy is right, and it’s even scarier that he’s serious.”

 

That’s when my brother started shuddering like a maniac.

 

The inside pocket of my dress beeped. It was the visualizer Knox had given me. I pulled it out and stared at the screen.

 

On the screen was Knox, looking at me with an expression I couldn’t help but love.

 

“Hmm, what’s going on…?”

 

“I’m calling to tell you something else.”

 

“…?”

 

“ It seems you’re worried about a surrogate pregnancy, so… if that’s not possible, there are ways to make the child magically born.”

 

…I couldn’t say anything positive or negative to the completely unrealistic statement.

 

My brother glared at the image sphere and muttered.

 

“That thing is definitely insane.”

 

“…Oh, come on, brother. Calm down.”

 

‘I don’t think Knox is crazy, but I can’t say that in front of people!’ 

 

But I couldn’t get the words out of my mouth as I stared into Knox’s eyes, which had been turned away from me.

 

I froze in place, unsure of how to handle the exchange between the two of them. Then Knox spoke softly, almost childlike.

 

“Don’t worry, dear. I’ll do whatever it takes to make sure our child doesn’t hurt you…”

 

“…”

 

“I’ll try.”

 

I pursed my lips, then spilled it out urgently.

 

“Just, no surrogate pregnancies, okay?”

 

“If Astel doesn’t want to, then yes. No surrogate pregnancy.”

 

By the time Knox had finished speaking, he had managed to steady himself against the stiffness in his back. He glared at the sphere and quickly pressed a button.

 

The screen went black and the images cut out, and Cassian immediately muttered, “He’s crazy, no matter how I look at it.”

 

“…”

 

I remained silent, unable to refute him, so he declared firmly.

 

“You two should reconsider getting married.”

 

That day, Cassian’s heart slammed shut.

 

💫

 

The unprecedented ‘surrogate pregnancy’ remark got Knox completely caught on film by my brother.

 

Still, Knox has been explaining to my brother in a series of daily video-sphere statements.

 

Explaining that it was all for my good and that he was acting like a footman.

 

After a few weeks, he seemed to warm up a bit.

 

It was tea time again, the three of us, Knox, me, and him. He made a slight comment, directed only at me.

 

“Come to think of it, that guy should get pregnant, and sicker than that, you’re sick.”

 

‘That guy’ would be Knox… I mean, he’d say…

 

My mouth gaped open.

 

“Brother, please wake up.”

 

At the sound of my voice, which rang fragile, he blinked and swatted his knee.

 

“I, uh, yeah. I’m crazy. What the hell was I talking about?”

 

Knox, who’d overheard our secret conversation thanks to his superior hearing, casually interjected.

 

“Yeah, I’m not going to do that, I’m just going to use the pain transfer magic.”

 

“Wow, this world is a strange one…”

 

I suppose it didn’t make sense that magic couldn’t be involved in pregnancy, childbirth, and parenting when everything else could be done with magic.

 

So I nodded in agreement.

 

Then, as if to drive a nail in the coffin, my brother said.

 

“…Anyway, you’re not even ready to get married yet, so why are you talking about kids all of a sudden?”

 

Seeing him looking up stiffly, I gave a short laugh.

 

‘Well, it would be nice to have kids, though.’

 

My brother and I had been living alone for quite some time.