I’m the Future Crazy Male Lead’s Mother Chapter 73

“Eek! You scared me!”

Gasp.

A pale face suddenly appeared, startling me.

As if he couldn’t even see how startled I was, Cedric waved at me with an extremely delighted expression.

“Cilia, you were here too. You must have been surprised when all this suddenly happened, right?”

“……I was surprised.”

Come to think of it, that meant this guy had known something like this was going to happen. He could have given me a little warning beforehand. What an infuriating guy.

‘Then did Dazar know too?’

If Cedric, the Emperor’s left hand, knew, then I figured Dazar, the right hand, probably knew as well.

‘Cedric and Dazar are both the same.’

Tsk. These inconsiderate guys.

Thinking that the people I saw fairly often had probably been sharing information while leaving me out made me feel strangely left out.

Even though I naturally knew it wasn’t something I was supposed to know.

“Why are you here?”

Perhaps because of that, my words came out harsher than intended.

Cedric carefully examined my expression, still smiling.

“Why is Cilia so angry? Did I do something wrong?”

Hehe.

Was that really the laugh of someone asking if he had done something wrong?

I stared at Cedric, who let out a friendly little laugh, with a sullen expression.

“Are you perhaps sulking because I didn’t tell you beforehand?”

“…….”

When I narrowed my eyes, Cedric pouted.

“Hmm. Cilia. You also have something you didn’t tell me, you know?”

“Huh?”

Something I didn’t tell him? What was that?

As I blinked, clearly not understanding, Cedric raised his index finger and pointed at the…….

“This child is here.”

“……?”

He pointed at Axion.

I looked down at Axion, who was peacefully nestled in my arms, breathing softly in his sleep.

Then I realized.

“Ah!”

Cedric hadn’t known that I had a child. Carl had asked me to keep it a secret from Cedric as well, so I hadn’t mentioned it at all.

I had even deliberately avoided going outside whenever he came around so that he wouldn’t have a chance to meet Axion.

“I’ve practically been living at the Siaster ducal estate until now……”

Cedric continued, his shoulders drooping.

“I thought we were practically family……”

Family? What family?

“No. I was practically family with the Black Hawks too……”

Suddenly, his eyes began to glisten with tears.

“How could I not have known that you had such a grown child?”

He lowered his head as though deeply wounded.

No, hey.

“A grown child? Do you even know what the word ‘grown’ means?”

“Sniff. That’s so mean……”

Eventually, Cedric buried his face in both hands and trembled his shoulders, leaving me utterly dumbfounded.

What was he doing?

Eishu and Cora, who had been standing beside me and watching our conversation, seemed to be thinking the same thing as me, because they muttered,

“I didn’t know Cilia was like this.”

“I think Cilia is the one at fault here.”

Wait, wait.

As I stared blankly at the two of them, who had suddenly taken Cedric’s side and blamed me, Cedric began sobbing even louder.

“Sniff! Sniff! I, all this time, for such a long, long time, sniff! sniff! Cilia…… deep in my heart……!”

“…….”

Deep in his heart, what?

Anyone hearing that would get the wrong idea, you idiot.

Just as I had that thought, I felt sharp gazes from both sides.

“Oh my. Oh my. Cilia, you really were a terrifying person!”

“How cold-hearted!”

“You people……”

My head suddenly started hurting.

I adjusted Axion in my arms and shook my head vigorously.

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you beforehand, but I had my reasons.”

“Sniff! Sniff!”

“I’ll understand that you didn’t tell me beforehand either, so you should……”

“Yes!”

Cedric cut off my sentence, which I had spoken as though trying to soothe him, and nodded vigorously.

Where had his gloomy expression from a moment ago gone? He spoke brightly and energetically.

“Cilia really does have a heart as wide as the sea! Thank you for understanding!”

“Uh…… yeah. Sure.”

“Then, I’m a little busy, so I’ll be going first. See you at the Siaster estate after the Hall of Rest ends.”

“Uh-huh……”

Strange. Somehow, I felt like I’d been tricked.

And apparently my instincts weren’t wrong, because after Cedric disappeared with a whoosh, Cora grabbed my shoulder and said,

“He really is the Prime Minister. I fell for it without even realizing.”

Right? I got tricked, didn’t I?

He must have brought up Axion because he was afraid I’d scold him.

I realized it too late and clenched my teeth, but Eishu muttered strangely,

“But he didn’t seem all that surprised. Wouldn’t you be startled if a friend suddenly showed up with a child?”

“Hmm.”

Cora nodded in agreement, but I couldn’t hear them anymore. I simply watched Cedric leisurely walking away and snorted in irritation.

After spending quite some time fuming in the lobby, I left just as Axion was about to wake up.

‘Phew. I was delayed longer than I expected.’

Because so much time had been spent thoroughly checking everyone’s identities, it was already around sunset by the time I could return to my room.

“Were you tired from waiting, Axion?”

“Uuuh!”

I took Axion’s hand as he stood on the floor and slowly walked down the corridor with him.

‘See you next time, Cilia!’

‘It was rather enjoyable.’

Eishu and Cora had parted ways with me in the lobby.

Their rooms were in a different direction.

‘If you happen to meet that being again next time, observe them carefully and let me know.’

I wasn’t sure what I could do about it.

Cora had said that before we parted, and I had answered that I understood.

‘But who really was that person?’

That mysterious sensation, as though only the two of us existed within that space. I couldn’t easily forget how it had felt.

There had been no such existence in the original story, either.

No matter how much I thought about it, no character came to mind, so for now, I put the matter aside and slowly headed toward my room with Axion.

“Come on, let’s take it slow, Axion.”

Because I was matching Axion’s walking pace, nobles heading toward their rooms continued to pass us at a brisk pace.

“How long are we supposed to stay here? If they’re going to keep us here, they should at least let us enjoy ourselves.”

“I know, right?”

The complaints continued as well.

Amid the familiar sounds of grumbling, it was only after a little while that I heard a different kind of voice.

“……Found you.”

A somewhat breathless voice.

The voice, tinged with relief, was familiar.

“Where have you been wandering around? I’ve been looking for you for ages.”

Slightly disheveled black hair and golden eyes.

Dazar suddenly appeared and blocked my path with a firm step, crossing his arms.

I was a little dumbfounded.

“No, why are you blocking someone’s path?”

“……Judging by the way you came out, I guess nothing happened to you.”

“Was something supposed to happen to me?”

At my sullen response, Dazar gave a short laugh.

“I’m just glad nothing happened.”

The way he added that was somehow just a liiiittle……

‘What’s wrong with him? That’s creepy.’

Creepy.

Ugh. Excuse me. Have you not seen my hands? They’re this long, you know.

I desperately straightened my fingers, which were curling up like roasted squid, and took a step away from him.

“Reveal your true identity, monster wearing Dazar’s face.”

“…….”

Dazar’s face, which had been wearing a slightly relieved expression, crumpled terribly.

“Who are you calling a monster?”

Dazar glared at me with his face scrunched up as much as possible. Judging by the contempt filling his eyes, it seemed he really was Dazar.

Relieved, I brought Axion, whom I had briefly hidden behind me, back to the front.

“Kyah?”

Axion clung to my hand and giggled.

I smiled back at him and picked him up.

“Oof. So, why are you here?”

“Why do you think so?”

Dazar continued to look at me with a sullen expression.

Hmm, surely not.

“You didn’t come here to see me, did you?”

“…….”

Dazar hesitated for a moment before nodding.

“Uh. No. There’s no way I would come to see you.”

“Right? Surely you didn’t rush over here because you were worried about me.”

“Of course not.”

He nodded excessively and pointed somewhere with his index finger.

The tip of that finger was aimed at Axion.

“I came looking for you because of this kid.”

“Axion? Why Axion?”

“Well…… because the situation suddenly changed so drastically?”

Why was he being so vague?

“I heard you’re searching for the rebels right now. During the ‘Hall of Rest.’ But why Axion?”

Now that Axion had suddenly come up, I began to feel slightly anxious. Dazar couldn’t already know that there was a high possibility Axion was Ruben, could he?

If that were the case……

The Transcendents’ greatest enemy was Ruben. To those whose duty was to protect the world, he would be someone who needed to be killed immediately.

In the end, that meant Axion was in danger.