I’m the Future Crazy Male Lead’s Mother – Chapter 75

Author: isuzuuy

After Dazar was taken away like that, I spent the rest of the Hall of Rest with Vanilla in our room.

“Axiooon!”

“Kyah!”

Vanilla and Axion, who had been spending several days together in the room, looked very happy.

Vanilla stretched out her short arms and tightly hugged Axion, giggling.

“Say ‘Big Sis’! Come on! Huh?”

“Uu?”

“Say ‘Big Sis’! Come on! Huh? Huh?”

“Uuuh!”

Vanilla and Axion spent their time playing house with me, their faces bright and innocent as they laughed nonstop.

“But when is Dazar coming baaack?”

“He’ll come after we sleep two more nights, Vanilla.”

“Uuung……”

Occasionally, she would become dejected because Dazar wasn’t there.

But Dazar, who had left as though he would be back soon, still hadn’t returned even after we grew tired of playing house, played mage, played inn, and finally returned to the Siaster estate.

‘What the heck? He disappeared as if he’d be back in no time.’

With one hand holding Vanilla’s hand and Axion in my other arm, I climbed into the carriage.

With Dazar gone, there was plenty of room even with all the children in the carriage. Carl was going to follow us in the small carriage he had ridden in with Dazar.

Vanilla climbed onto the seat with an energetic “Heave-ho!” and wiggled her feet.

“Are we goin’ home?”

“That’s right. The Hall of Rest is over now, so we have to go back, right?”

“Hmph! There’s kinda nobody here!”

Just as Vanilla said, the surroundings were quiet.

When we had first arrived at the Imperial Palace, the place had been filled with carriages coming from all directions.

“Everyone left before us.”

As soon as the Hall of Rest ended, the nobles had gotten up at the crack of dawn and hurried out of the Imperial Palace.

“Why?”

“I guess everyone has things to do.”

I brushed it off vaguely, but the number of people really had decreased.

I hadn’t realized it because we had been confined to our rooms in the Imperial Palace, but judging from the things I overheard from nobles we happened to pass, quite a lot of people had suddenly disappeared.

The nobles whispered that they must have been taken to the underground prison deep within the Imperial Palace.

They also looked extremely anxious, worried that they might be arrested as well.

On top of that, they said that, thinking about it, the recent behavior of those who had disappeared had been suspicious.

‘That young nobleman who hasn’t been seen since yesterday—didn’t he leave his estate every day lately, saying he was going to attend some lecture about the end of the world or whatever?’

‘I heard that a young nobleman’s uncle became obsessed with the end-of-the-world theory first.’

The end-of-the-world theory.

I remembered the lecture by the doomsday prophet I had happened to see at the Academic Hall.

There had been quite a few people who subtly agreed with what he said.

‘Are those the people who were arrested?’

Then were they also Followers of Ruben?

I tightly hugged Axion, who was sitting on my lap, and looked out the window.

Suddenly, I remembered Morocanil’s words.

‘I am protecting her from someone who may be…… a Follower of Ruben.’

Was Dazar a Follower of Ruben?

“That’s impossible……”

There was no way Dazar could be a Follower of Ruben.

He had said that Axion could be a useful ‘tool’ for them, so if that were the case, there was no way he would leave Axion alone like this.

‘If anything, he was hiding him.’

I stopped when I reached that thought.

Huh. But…… There was something strange.

‘If that’s the case, wouldn’t Axion be a huge threat to Dazar, who is a Transcendent……?’

A child with the Dragon Heart of the Demon Dragon embedded in his heart.

According to Dazar, Axion could become a tool for the Followers of Ruben, which meant that if he considered the peace of this world, Axion should have been the number one target for elimination.

He had definitely said this when he first learned that Axion possessed the Dragon Heart of the Demon Dragon.

‘A human child with the Demon Dragon’s heart embedded in him? That makes him the number one target for execution.’

Dazar had already known that Axion could become a useful tool for the Followers of Ruben.

If he was a Transcendent, then the right thing to do would have been to eliminate Axion.

But he had said he had no intention of killing him.

‘Don’t worry. I have no intention of killing him.’

‘……Why?’

‘Because it’s interesting.’

Simply because it was interesting?

“……That’s strange.”

Was there really such a simple, one-dimensional reason?

Not only had he refrained from eliminating Axion, he had actually protected him.

It really was strange.

Then, suddenly, an absurd thought crossed my mind.

‘Could Dazar already know that Axion is Ruben?’

And was he really a Follower of Ruben?

Once I thought of it that way, a chill ran down the back of my neck.

Even I still couldn’t say for certain that Axion was Ruben, but if—just if—Axion really was Ruben……

And if Dazar was a Follower of Ruben.

Then it would mean he had deliberately taken Axion under his protection to keep Ruben safe.

‘But he’s a Transcendent.’

Once I thought that, I was back where I started.

No. Could Dazar have betrayed the Transcendents?

I vaguely remembered hearing somewhere before that the bloodline of the Siaster family could easily be consumed by demonic energy.

Then had Dazar gone mad from demonic energy?

“Ugh. No matter how I look at it, he’s a bad guy.”

Whether he was a Transcendent protecting a child who was the number one target for execution simply because it was entertaining,

or a Transcendent who had betrayed his own kind, secretly hiding a child who might be Ruben and serving as a Follower of Ruben.

Either way, he was a bad guy.

Just as I was clutching my head and groaning—

Flap!

The sudden sound of wings startled me, and a red bird flew through the open carriage window and landed on the window frame.

“Huh……?”

“Uung? Why?”

It was the red bird I had occasionally seen perched on Dazar’s shoulder.

Vanilla tilted her head with wide eyes at my startled voice. Apparently, she couldn’t see the red bird from where she was.

It was a rather cute sight, but I couldn’t smile because of the sudden appearance of the bird.

“No, it’s nothing.”

“Uuung……”

Vanilla seemed to think I was worried about Dazar. Judging by the way she boldly put both hands on her hips before saying,

“Don’t worry, Cilia! I’ll protect you. I’m stronger than Dazar!”

The way she proudly lifted the tip of her nose was adorable.

“Okay. Now that I have Vanilla, I feel reassured.”

After answering her like that, I stared intently at the red bird sitting on the window frame.

The red bird stared straight at me as though it had something it wanted to tell me.

Finally, when our eyes met, the red bird shook its head from side to side.

For some reason, that gesture seemed to say,

‘You’re wrong.’

……Was even the bird making fun of me now?

For a moment, I felt as though my fists were itching to do something, but I calmed myself down by looking at the adorable Vanilla.

‘Yeah. I hope I’m wrong.’

It would be nice if Dazar wasn’t a bad person.

Perhaps I had grown attached to him in my own way, because that was what I found myself thinking.

If that happened, though, his relationship with Vanilla would become complicated too.

‘Could it be that the reason Dazar didn’t appear in the original story was because some other incident happened?’

I had thought it was simply because he and Vanilla weren’t on good terms.

That thought crossed my mind for a moment, but there was nothing I could clearly determine in the current situation.

For now, I would have to watch how things unfolded.

And prepare for whatever might happen.

***

“Big Sissssss—!!”

When we returned to the Siaster estate, the ones who greeted us were the Black Hawks, their eyes brimming with tears.

Leon, standing at the front like their representative, scratched the back of his head with his usual vacant eyes and said,

“Welcome back, Big Sis.”

“Uh…… yes. Why are you all here?”

After having Carl take Vanilla and Axion inside first, I faced them with a bewildered expression.

Could they have heard that Dazar had been arrested and were worried about him?

I looked at them sympathetically, feeling a little sorry for them.

They were trash, but at least they had loyalty to their lord……

“What if we get fired from here? Since you’re an employee just like us, Big Sis, why don’t we establish a labor union together?”

“Right! Even if the Siaster family goes bankrupt, our job security should still be guaranteed!”

“Agreed! Agreed!”

……Apparently, they had no loyalty whatsoever.

They seemed to have heard that Dazar had been taken away, but their reaction was absolutely infuriating.

“Fine. Let me join the labor union too.”

Of course, I was no different.

“Ooooooh! We knew you’d say that. First, our leader Leon will be the representative……”

I quickly signed the labor-union documents they hurriedly thrust at me.

If something happened to Dazar, there was a chance I wouldn’t receive the compensation I was supposed to get after developing the new food source.

‘That can’t happen.’

To raise Axion well, keep him healthy, and make sure he lacked for nothing, I needed money.

For now, everything I needed for daily life was being provided by the Siaster estate.

‘But once he gets older, the amount of money he’ll need won’t be a joke!’

I was just about to head to my room, leaving the Black Hawks cheering that the labor union was now complete, when Leon followed after me and asked in a quiet voice,

“Did our lord leave any message?”

“Hmm……”

His voice was calm, without much concern, but I had the feeling that he was checking on Dazar’s safety.

I answered just as casually.

“No. Nothing in particular. He just told me to wait at home.”

“I see. Understood.”

Leon nodded with his usual blank expression before turning around and disappearing with the Black Hawks.

Judging by someone shouting, “All right! Let’s drink ourselves senseless until our lord comes back!” it seemed they were planning to spend their days in complete debauchery.

“……Trash.”

……I muttered that without realizing it.

But through what had just happened, I realized that the trust they had in Dazar was absolute.

‘It doesn’t seem like they think Dazar did anything wrong.’

They seemed to fully expect him to return safe and sound.

For some reason, seeing the Black Hawks like that made my heart feel a little lighter too.

I guess I had been worrying about his return without even realizing it.

“After all, isn’t it more comfortable to just get paid by your employer than to fight for our wages through a labor union?”

I shrugged and headed toward my room.

“Lady Cilia. You have a guest.”

And as soon as I arrived at my room, I was greeted by Carl’s troubled voice.

Carl told me that a guest was waiting in the reception room prepared in the annex.