I’m the Future Crazy Male Lead’s Mother Chapter 20

I heard some truly astonishing news.

“What? Elston became Vanilla’s private tutor?”

“Yes.”

Jingle! The golden rattle shook along with Elston’s short answer.

An hour ago, Elston had appeared with the dignified expression of a victorious general returning from war, holding a sparkling golden rattle in one hand.

Axion was immediately captivated by its dazzling brilliance.

He didn’t even spare a glance at the rattle I occasionally shook for him.

“Kyahhh!”

“Hehehe.”

As I watched Elston gleefully shake the rattle, I suddenly thought of Vanilla, the female lead of this novel.

‘Come to think of it, wouldn’t it be about time to arrange their meeting?’

I had already gotten permission from Dazar, after all.

The meeting between the heroine and the male lead was bound to happen by pure coincidence. Ahem. 

“I suppose all the previous tutors have been dismissed. So what subjects are you teaching?”

“Ancient languages and world history, economics, magical theory, and magic.”

“……”

Is it really okay for the Tower Master to teach all that?

“R-right. By the way, isn’t it almost time for you to go? I heard you were starting lessons today.”

“Ah…!”

Watching Elston wipe away a tear of disappointment, I casually let my words trail off.

“Oh, come to think of it, I have something to do over there too. Should I bring Axion with me?”

“……!”

Watching Elston’s eyes fill with hearts once again, I headed toward the second floor of the main building where Vanilla was staying.

And finally, I came face-to-face with her.

Vanilla, the heroine of this novel and Axion’s future love interest.

A cute little girl who looked to be around two or three years old was sitting at a desk studying, staring at me with bright, sparkling eyes.

‘Gasp. She’s so pretty and adorable!’

As expected of the heroine.

Her beauty was already extraordinary from such a young age.

“Who are you?”

She even spoke so cutely!

……Our Axion still couldn’t even talk yet. Sob.

As Vanilla tilted her head, Elston interrupted.

“Gasp! When did you get here? I think you should leave now. You need the Siastor Duke’s permission to be here.”

“If that’s what you’re worried about, don’t be. I already got permission.”

I smiled warmly at Vanilla.

Vanilla tilted her head with a curious expression.

“Hello, Miss Vanilla. I’m Cilia Evanroar. I’m the second daughter of the Evanroar Viscount Family.”

“Hello, Cilia.”

“Yes, it’s nice to meet you.”

“Elstooon. Are you teaching me together with Cilia?”

The moment Vanilla’s eyes turned toward Elston, I quickly checked on Axion.

I checked whether there was any drool around his mouth, whether he was still cute, and what he was wearing today.

Good. Axion was still adorable today.

I swallowed nervously and asked,

“Do you happen to like younger obsessive men?”

“……”

I could have sworn Elston had just stumbled and done a little tap dance by himself.

Vanilla blinked at my question.

“Elstooon. What’s a young obseee man?”

“W-well, I’m not sure. Haha. I don’t really know either. Shoo, shoo. Let’s go now.”

Oops. I was being too hasty.

Vanilla was still innocent!

I tilted my head just like Vanilla and grabbed Elston by the ear, whispering,

“Come to think of it, how old is Vanilla?”

Just as Elston opened his mouth with a flustered expression, someone separated the two of us, who had been standing close together.

“You’re both here.”

“Huh…?”

It was Dazar in his ‘dignified and well-mannered’ mode.

He cut between the two of us with the side of his hand, subtly separating us, then smiled.

“I was looking for Miss Evanroar because I had something to ask of her.”

“Ah, yes.”

Though judging by the way he had seemingly stumbled across me by chance, it looked more like he had simply happened to find me while passing by. Especially considering his shirt was unbuttoned as usual.

If you’re going to put on an act, at least do it properly. Tsk.

I clicked my tongue inwardly when a cute little voice reached my ears.

“Huuuuung. What’s that?”

Vanilla, who was sitting at her desk, puffed out her cheeks and glared at Dazar.

“Ah, Vanilla. Are you listening well to Mr. Elston’s lessons?”

Dazar asked with a kind smile, but Vanilla gave him dead fish eyes and sharply turned her head away.

“Don’t talk to me.”

“Ha ha. This little one must still be upset because I didn’t play with her yesterday.”

“Idiot.”

“Hahaha. What a cute little thing. You’re so cute I could just bite you to death.”

I could feel it.

A thick murderous aura was flowing between father and daughter.

Vanilla probably knew what Dazar was really like. Well, she practically had to.

‘You should be fine. You don’t need to worry. Even if the Siastor Duke is a murderer who brutally killed his own father and older brother.’

Cedric’s voice suddenly flashed through my mind.

Then that meant Dazar had killed Vanilla’s biological father…?

As I broke into a cold sweat thinking about the relationship between Vanilla and Dazar, Elston whispered,

“They really are a close father and daughter, aren’t they?”

“You’re incredibly oblivious.”

 

***

 

Somehow, we ended up sitting around together and drinking tea. When I asked how old Vanilla was, Dazar answered immediately.

“Vanilla should be two years old now.”

Should be two years old…?

‘So even he doesn’t know Vanilla’s exact age.’

I was trying to figure out whether that meant she was a year apart from Axion when Vanilla suddenly shrieked,

“I told you I’m three!”

At Vanilla’s indignant cry, Dazar elegantly took a sip of tea before setting the teacup down without making a sound.

He looked coldly at Vanilla, who was glaring at him sulkily, and said kindly,

“Let me correct that. She’s three.”

“Ahhh…”

Vanilla’s cheeks puffed up even more.

I couldn’t help feeling a little sorry for her. Even the heroine Vanilla must have had a difficult time from such a young age.

Feeling a strange sense of camaraderie, I glanced at Vanilla, only to find her looking at me at the same time.

Our eyes met.

With the characteristic black hair and golden eyes of the Siastor family, Vanilla looked incredibly bright and alert.

“What’s he?”

Vanilla raised her tiny index finger and pointed at Axion, who was nestled in my arms.

“This child is Axion. He’s two years younger than you, Miss Vanilla.”

“Sion!”

Perhaps the pronunciation was difficult, so Vanilla only said Sion as she stared at Axion.

“Nice to meet you.”

“Abwuu!”

It was the historic first meeting between the heroine and the male lead.

Hehehe. So this was how their meeting, disguised as a coincidence, came to happen.

Was this how the childhood-friends × childhood-friends trope began? I wondered if I should celebrate with Carl when I returned to my room.

But then Vanilla beckoned me.

Was she telling me to come closer?

I tilted my head and brought my face closer, and Vanilla whispered into my ear.

“Don’t meet that man.”

Her tiny index finger pointed toward her father, Dazar.

“Hm?”

“He’s a bad guy.”

“……”

Vanilla, who would eventually grow into the pure and delicate heroine, had quite the insight.

 

***

 

“What was it you wanted to ask me?”

After Vanilla’s lesson began, we were naturally kicked out and found ourselves standing alone in the hallway.

With Elston gone, Dazar abandoned his polite façade and tilted his head as he looked down at me crookedly. He somehow looked slightly thinner than he had a few days ago.

“What?”

“……You said earlier that you were looking for me because you had something to ask.”

“Oh.”

Dazar crossed his arms and frowned.

After a brief silence, he brushed his hair back slightly and said,

“I forgot.”

“What?”

“I said I forgot.”

“……”

He always said I gave him a headache whenever he saw me. Had he somehow actually developed a problem with his brain from saying that so often?

‘Could it be that?’

The rice I had occasionally been asked to make back then.

He had said it was for testing purposes, but now that I thought about it, I still hadn’t made it for him even once since entering the ducal residence.

‘Oh-ho?’

Seeing my annoying future in-law looking hesitant somehow made me think that he really did want that rice.

But he had accumulated quite a few points on my evil-deeds scoreboard by now, hadn’t he? Hmm. I didn’t really want to make it for him that easily.

I must have been looking at him with slightly wicked eyes without realizing it.

“Then I’ll be going.”

He twisted the corner of his lips and abruptly turned around.

“Ah. Wait a moment.”

“Why?”

He stopped walking and glanced at me as I grabbed the hem of his clothes.

There was a slight hint of anticipation in his eyes.

I ruthlessly ignored that expectation and started talking about something else.

“Would it be okay if I occasionally sat in on Vanilla’s lessons?”

“You? Ah, right. I heard that her previous tutor used to get kicked out every day.”

He grinned.

“Well, if you want to make up for that now, go ahead.”

“No. I mean our Axion!”

“That little brat?”

His eyebrow twitched. His lips, which had been curled upward mockingly, fell slightly.

“Axion is still a baby, though.”

Compared to Vanilla, whom he had just met, Axion in my arms felt incredibly tiny, so I added that as if making an excuse.

Then Dazar tilted his head slightly and casually said,

“Normally, he should have grown to about Vanilla’s size by now, so I don’t see why he couldn’t listen in.”

“What?”

“He should be bigger by now, shouldn’t he?”

Huh? What was he talking about?

I stared at him wide-eyed, shocked that Dazar had precisely pointed out the concern that had been bothering me recently.

Dazar rolled his eyes toward another direction. He even clicked his tongue slightly, as if he had realized that he had made a mistake.

What? That was suspicious.

Did he have mind-reading abilities or something? How did he know?

Then Dazar casually said,

“I heard he has the Dragon Heart of the Demon Dragon embedded in him. So he isn’t an ordinary human.”

“That’s true, I suppose…?”

Could he really infer his growth rate from just that?

My eyes naturally narrowed.

“What’s with that look? When I placed the restriction on him last time, I sensed something.”

“What did you sense?”

“It’s something like that. It’s within the realm of a Transcendent, so you wouldn’t understand even if I explained it.”

Hmmmmmm.

No matter how I looked at it, he seemed to be making something up on the spot.

Just like when I brought up his past life and he hurriedly kicked me out, Dazar abruptly ended the conversation and disappeared in an instant.

Thanks to that, I was left with a very uneasy feeling.