For My Birthday, I Was Gifted Five Husbands - Chapter 37
Percival silently glanced back and forth between Eugenie and Mrs. Norton. He felt his face grow warmer as he looked at Eugenie.
“Are you really okay with this ‘contract,’ when you say I must do well?”
“Of course.”
“What about your daughter’s feelings?”
“I considered my daughter’s feelings when establishing the contract, Duke. I deliberately set the maximum age limit at twenty-four.”
Still, Percival’s face continued to redden. Although he had received education on matters of the s-x since childhood, hearing such discussions from the mother of a woman who might become his future wife was exceedingly embarrassing.
What embarrassed him the most was knowing that he would eventually have to explain everything to Eugenie Norton himself.
‘How do I explain my condition?’
He had gained formidable strength and vitality due to the power of the monsters that flowed through his veins, but that same lineage had led the Troys family to madness and death for generations.
The only reason he had been able to keep that secret was because he could attribute it to witnessing horrific deaths along the border.
Thanks to Theodora Norton, Percival had avoided the worst-case scenario, but he still felt the sting of embarrassment.
Clearing his throat, he spoke up.
“Or you could tell her yourself…”
“Duke, you haven’t forgotten, have you? The cost of magic is ‘secrecy.’”
“…I haven’t forgotten.”
“Then you understand that if you tell her before she properly awakens, it will all be pointless.”
“…”
Percival reluctantly nodded in agreement.
Meanwhile, Mrs. Norton covered her mouth with a handkerchief. After a brief fit of coughing that shook her shoulders, she emphasized in a hoarse voice.
“If you don’t want it to become fate, you must adhere to the contract, Duke.”
“…Understood.”
With that, she turned to leave to find her daughter.
Percival watched the Norton mother and daughter in silence for a while.
Mrs. Norton had saved him and taught him some of the world’s harsh realities.
For instance, the fact that powerful magic requires a significant cost. And that the most valuable price a human can offer for magic is their ‘life,’ followed closely by ‘secrets.’
However, even the one who had enlightened him had not foreseen the terrible accident that would occur during that year’s debutante ball.
As a result, Percival lost the opportunity to speak directly with Eugenie Norton, and he departed to resolve the tensions with the Lavernik Kingdom.
Thus began the first of 1,875 expeditions.
* * *
“Madam.”
“…”
“Madam, would you… look this way?”
It was far beyond the time when the birds announced the dawn that Eugenie finally lifted her body from the bed.
When she woke up, Eugenie was hit by an overwhelming soreness that stretched from her lower back to her thighs. It took her a while to regain her senses.
In front of the dazed Eugenie, Percival was covering his face with his hands and repeatedly apologizing.
“I’m sorry… I’m so sorry, Madam. I messed up.”
“…”
“I couldn’t control myself, and it turned out like this.”
“Ah… no…”
Eugenie barely managed to respond in a dazed voice, feeling a metallic taste in her throat from crying out until dawn.
Compared to Percival, Alfred was truly a gentleman. At least he had left enough space to enjoy breakfast in bed.
Now, however, if someone were to say a war had been fought in Percival’s room, no one would doubt it. The sheets were completely torn, and the mattress seemed to have been damaged by rough thrusting, with one side sagging deeply.
Yet, despite the chaos, Eugenie couldn’t bring herself to be angry.
‘The headboard is split in half.’
That heavy wooden board had been split, making her wonder just how beastly she and this man had been. Eugenie decided to be thankful that her body hadn’t split apart.
“Duke, no, Percival.”
“Hmm?”
“Is this what you meant by the ‘blood of monsters’? Not actually from beasts?”
Percival’s face turned an even deeper shade of red. He looked down, the expression of a child caught in a lie, shame flooding over him.
“The family calls it beast blood, but it’s actually monster blood.”
“Oh my. I thought monsters were extinct?”
“The ones mentioned in myths or history books are gone. No matter how powerful they are, they can’t compete with human advancement.”
Eugenie’s eyes sparkled with scholarly curiosity as she absorbed this information. Percival cautiously began to wipe her slender limbs.
“…But those monsters used humans to survive.”
“Ah.”
Even without saying it, Eugenie could picture how they managed to survive. Perhaps there were monsters that could plant their seeds in humans.
As he diligently wiped away the dried fluids, Percival added, “Don’t worry, madam. The medicine we took is effective enough.”
“But you said you wanted to knot me.”
“That… that…”
“And I think you said you’d suck all the milk out of me.”
“I… I was wrong. I didn’t mean that at all…”
Did becoming beastly intensify his lewd remarks? But in the light of day, Percival merely bowed his head in silence, his chest still tinged with the rosy hue of embarrassment.
Seeing him like that, Eugenie suddenly felt an unexplainable hunger. It wasn’t the kind of hunger for real food, but something else entirely. She bit her lip, forcing down that desire.
‘Indeed. There’s something strange about my body.’
