This Three-Year-Old Is A Villainess - Chapter 54
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Daymond lay on the bed, silently watching the sleeping child.
It was a strange feeling.
Until he returned from the battlefield, he had never expected to have such feelings.
‘I thought I would never be attached to anyone.’
All his siblings had different mothers.
When they were young, all the siblings were constantly in danger of being poisoned or assassinated.
Among them, Daymond, who had lost his mother early, was especially skilled, and he had an exceptional ability.
He was the first priority for his siblings.
‘I can’t die disgracefully. I will return what has been done unto me.’
With this determination, he had lived his life.
There was no one by his side.
His brothers were inferior to him.
His comrades were bought out by his brothers and attempted to assassinate him.
The only friend he had trusted had died in his place.
For these reasons, Daymond never opened his heart to anyone and lived that way.
And then, that day came.
He went to the battlefield by order of his father. On the battlefield, Daymond fell victim to an enemy sorcerer’s curse.
The pain was as if his heart was burning.
For a few days, he wandered through the battlefield, and then a woman entered his mansion.
“Who are… you…”
“The source of this curse.”
“What are you talking about…”
“Listen carefully, Daymond Astra. I need the power you’ve absorbed. And I’m sure you want to live.”
“…”
“So, let’s strike a deal.”
After that, Daymond lost consciousness.
When he woke up the next day, she was gone.
My condition had improved, as if his body had just been soaked well.
And, exactly 10 months later.
“General! General—! There’s an urgent message from the ducal residence.”
“What’s going on.”
“Your child has been born, General.”
“…What nonsense.”
According to the information the soldier had obtained, a pregnant commoner woman had come to the ducal residence.
She said, “Daymond Astra is the father of this child, so make preparations for childbirth immediately.”
The newborn child was Erylotte.
From the ducal residence, he found out that the woman had died during childbirth.
And according to what the soldiers had gathered, the appearance of the woman who came from the ducal castle turned out to match the woman he had met when he was cursed.
Living this long, he had never heard of such a thing happening.
“A child…”
He had never even thought of getting married, yet he had a child now.
He spent a few days in a daze, not knowing what to do.
One day, a portrait arrived at the battlefield.
“Is this Lady Erylotte’s portrait?”
“Let me see. Oh, she’s got the same hair color as the General.”
“Even the way the corners of her eyes are lifted.”
“…You’re all noisy. Get out.”
He shooed away the soldiers who were crowded around Erylotte’s portrait.
The portrait was placed on a table haphazardly.
The situation with the war was urgent. There was no time to pay attention to such things.
While he was looking at the map…
‘Does she resemble me a little?’
Her expression looked somewhat like his when he was young.
“Someone reported that the child has gone to the Twelfth Tower. Isn’t it too much for the General’s child? We should contact the authorities immediately—”
“Leave it be.”
“Yes?”
It was probably better this way.
His siblings were only waiting for an opportunity to exploit his weakness. If he paid even the slightest attention to the child, they would see it as a weakness and target her…
‘Why am I even bothering with this?’
It was an unwanted child anyway.
It was like a sudden accident to him.
‘I don’t need to care.’
That would be better for the child as well.
I added the thought that I wouldn’t let on.
At some point, a small, scrawled note arrived.
“Is this the first time the Young Miss has written?”
“What does it say?”
“It’s [Astra].”
“Wow!”
“Don’t get carried away. Focus on the meeting.”
He brushed it off, but the note left on the table bothered him.
‘Typically, children write their parents’ names first, don’t they?’
But what’s this. Astra?
Why did that old man have her write that?
It annoyed him throughout the meeting.
‘It’s nothing else but Astra. Father must have told her to write this, but she didn’t know what it meant.’
After the meeting, he discreetly searched for the piece of paper, but it was nowhere to be found.
“Enzo.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Who cleaned up the office?”
“Well, it was so messy that I…!”
Enzo replied with pride.
“Haha, even if I’m not as good as an attendant at this, I did clean quite well…”
“Run thirty laps around the encampment.”
“Sir? Wh, why all of a sudden?”
“Your appearance displeases me.”
On another day, a larger portrait of the child arrived.
“Oh, the child is growing well.”
“Growing up beautifully as expected from a noble family. I grew up on the streets, and I looked like a raggedy kid when I was young.”
“Look at those chubby cheeks.”
“Yeah, really cute and round.”
‘Did those people have something wrong with their eyes?’
The child was small.
Her chubby cheeks didn’t seem particularly prominent compared to other children.
Was that old man starving the child?