Unexpected

I was seven years old.

My daily routine was still studying magic and training my body.

Recently, my research into magic seemed to have hit a bottleneck.

This world did not seem to have magic that could affect the mind, but I truly wanted to research that kind of magic.

Starting from zero was always difficult. The problem was that I had no test subjects.

Using manipulated mana to form threads and invade someone else's brain—that was the magic I had imagined, but it had stalled because I had no one to experiment on.

"Never mind... There's no rush."

One night.

The room next door was extremely quiet.

After all, Zenith was pregnant, so I had not heard those sounds for quite some time.

"Looks like I won't even need soundproofing magic lately."

As I said that, I opened my door and headed out, preparing to use the bathroom.

But halfway there, I heard a sound.

It was different from Zenith's voice, but just as filled with lust.

And in this house, aside from Zenith, there was only Lilia...

"I really am unlucky..."

Just as I was about to turn around and go back to my room, I heard another noise.

It did not belong to Lilia. It was a man's voice, a man's voice that sounded a little familiar.

No... Don't be ridiculous...

It couldn't be... that bastard Paul...

To make sure, I quietly walked to the door of Lilia's room and peered in through the crack.

Lilia... Paul...

To be honest, I really wanted to push the door open and make them stop.

But after calming down, I still withdrew to my own room.

Paul had cheated... and the person he cheated with was Zenith's close friend, Lilia... while Zenith was pregnant, no less...

What kind of ridiculous movie was I in? It was seriously disgusting.

"Take this, take this~ Why are you so distracted today?"

Paul swung his wooden sword, and I struggled to fend him off.

Distracted?

I looked left and right, making sure Lilia and Zenith were both absent.

"Father, do you have nothing you need to say to Mother?"

"Hm? I said today's 'I love you' too. I don't think I missed anything, did I?"

How should I put this?

Being able to stay so composed after cheating—Paul was even more impressive than I had imagined.

I sighed.

"You did something wrong to Mother."

When Paul heard those words, he froze.

"Ru... Rudy... You mean..."

"Yes. I saw it. You and Lilia, Father."

Paul fell silent for a long time, and the words came out one by one, as if squeezed from a tube.

"Uh... Can you... keep it a secret for me? I..."

Scumbag.

That was the first thought that came to mind.

An absolute, irredeemable scumbag.

Just thinking that a scumbag like this was my father made me kind of pissed off!

"Father, pick up your sword. Let's have another match. If you beat me, I'll keep this secret for you."

"Oh... oh!"

The instant Paul picked up his sword, I activated magic.

The ice magic froze the wooden sword and Paul's feet in place, and at the same time, I cast earth magic to turn the ground into a muddy bog.

After Paul came to his senses, he used some unknown force to shatter my ice magic, then charged toward me.

But...

"Father, you've lost."

"Huh?"

Beneath Paul's feet, a magic circle activated.

It was a magic circle I had set up in advance and infused with a large amount of mana. Its effect was controllable vines.

Paul was tied up. Just as expected, after infusing it with so much mana, even Paul couldn't break free.

"Father."

"Rudy... Uh... Can we do that one more time?" Paul said with an awkward laugh.

"You are probably a complete and utter scumbag."

"Uh..."

Paul was left speechless.

I sighed.

"Father, no matter what, you should take responsibility and apologize to Mother."

"B-but... your mother is a Millis..."

"I don't care about that! Whether it's Lilia or Zenith, they both raised me! No matter what, you have to get their forgiveness, and then accept Lilia!"

After throwing out those words, I attacked the bound Paul with a water bullet too, making him look even more wretched.

That night, I heard countless arguments.

Most of it was Zenith losing her temper or crying, while Lilia stood off to the side, looking as though she was ready to leave at any moment.

I went downstairs, and all their gazes turned toward me.

It seemed Paul hadn't handled the matter very well.

But he had indeed gone and admitted his mistake.

"Mother..."

I walked forward and hugged Zenith with the air of an obedient little child.

To be honest, I didn't know what I should do.

Zenith stroked my head, held me in her arms, and spoke with a hint of tears in her voice.

"Paul... I'm so disappointed... So I was never enough for you...?"

"Dear... that's not it. I really love you! That day..."

"Don't say any more. After the child is born, let's get divorced..."

"Dear!"

Paul knelt in front of Zenith.

Zenith pressed her lips together.

Looks like...

I buried my face in Zenith's chest and spoke in a tearful voice.

"Mother... could you give Father one more chance...? I don't want to lose Father..."

"Rudy... do you understand what your father did?"

"I don't know... I just hope... Mother can stop being angry..."

"Rudy..."

I knew this was unreasonable.

To Zenith, those words would surely hurt her, wouldn't they? It could even be called a betrayal—her own child was deceiving her too.

But... to me, even if Paul was such a scumbag, he was still my family.

Zenith closed her eyes. After taking a deep breath, she seemed to make some kind of decision.

"Paul, I'll ask you one question. If you answer correctly, I'll forgive you this once..."

"G-go ahead."

"What do you plan to do about Lilia?"

That question plunged the whole house into silence, so quiet that even the sound of the candle burning could be heard.

In the silence, Lilia broke it.

"Master, Madam... this matter was my..."

"Shut your mouth for now! Paul, answer my question!"

Zenith was furious.

At least, since the day I was born, this was the first time I had ever seen Zenith this angry at Lilia.

Paul, still kneeling, took a deep breath and knocked his forehead against the floor.

"I... I'll... I'll take responsibility!! But... I really do love you, too! Darling..."

Zenith stood from her seat and carried me up toward the second floor.

"Just this once... And you'd better remember what you said. Take responsibility."

"Darling... You... forgive me...?"

"I'm not like you. I don't break my promises. For Rudy's sake, I'll forgive you this once and only this once."

"Darling..."

"Enough. I'm taking my adorable son upstairs to sleep. You can think about where you're sleeping by yourself."

With that, Zenith carried me into the room on the second floor.

She set me down on the bed, then lay down herself.

Before long, Zenith began to cry.

She must have had countless grievances bottled up in her heart.

I crawled up and hugged Zenith from behind.

But after all, my body was only seven years old, so all I could really do was tug at Zenith's clothes to show I was hugging her.

"Rudy..."

"Mother, I love you."

I spoke the words I had never managed to say in my previous life.

In my previous life, I had clearly loved my mother too, so why had I never been able to say those words?

Was it pride? Embarrassment? Or some other emotion?

I was certain that the love I had felt for my mother in my previous life surpassed what I felt for Zenith, so why had I been unable to say it back then?

In this life, perhaps because I was a child, I somehow worked up the courage and said it.

Though I understood that these were not words that should require courage to say... perhaps saying them now was only for the sake of my former self.

For the sake of... my mother from my previous life.

Zenith cried even harder and hugged me.

"I love you too, my dear Rudy..."

As her son, no matter what, I didn't want to see my mother cry...

Using magic, I knocked on the wooden door. Zenith thought the knock had come from outside, so she let go of me first, then got out of bed to open the door.

Paul was sitting outside the door.

That was within my expectations. No... if Paul hadn't been sitting outside this door right now, tomorrow I would have set up even more magic traps and truly punished him for once.

When he saw Zenith open the door, he gave a foolish smile.

"Darling... Can I come in...?"

"Hehe... I'll allow you to come in and sleep. But you can only sleep on the floor. Rudy and I are taking the bed."

There were still traces of tears at the corners of Zenith's eyes.

Even a scumbag like Paul felt his heart ache when he saw that.

He embraced Zenith.

"Darling, I promise you, I absolutely won't make the same mistake again..."

"Heh... Do your promises still have any credibility? I'll never again..."

Paul didn't wait for Zenith to finish and kissed her directly.

Zenith resisted for a while, then gave up.

After the deep kiss ended, Zenith pushed Paul aside.

"Sleep on the floor! I'm sleeping with Rudy today."

"Yes! Darling."

"Hmph. Don't think I've stopped being angry just because of this."

Paul, this was as much as I could do for you.

Although you were a complete and utter scumbag, you were still my family.