When Horace found Lilith, Red Hair was sitting beside the chimney on the Manor's roof, swinging her legs and humming a tuneless song.
Horace leaped onto the roof and said something he had said countless times lately: "Explain."
Lilith turned her head, blinking her red eyes with an innocent expression. "Explain what?"
"Rennala's pregnancy." Horace walked up to her.
"You did it, didn't you?"
"Oh dear, you caught me~" Lilith stuck out her tongue, but showed no sign of panic.
"Yes, I did it, but it's a good thing!"
"A good thing? You made an unmarried queen inexplicably pregnant..."
"Relax, relax~" Lilith waved her hand.
She hopped down from the chimney, walked up to Horace, and looked up at him:
"Look, the moon's goal is to find a representative. Rennala doesn't want to be one, so give it a 'perfect vessel,' a child with Divine Blood and an eternal bloodline. The moon will turn its attention to this 'child,' and Rennala will be free."
Lilith's smile turned sly:
"Besides, she was scheming against your child. My boy, Mother has taken care of it for you. No need to thank me."
Horace fell silent. From his position, he had no grounds to criticize Lilith.
"But..." Horace frowned. He couldn't understand what the Formless Mother stood to gain by interfering in this.
"Why did you do this? What do you get out of it?"
Lilith licked her lips, a certain craving in her voice:
"Oh, can't a mother look after her boy's affairs? Besides... I'll get to witness the 'pain of childbirth' firsthand~"
"Ever since Marika gave birth to the Omen twins, I've wanted another taste of that delicacy. The ultimate pain, the ultimate bleeding, the ultimate birth of life and torment of the mother's body... What a precious experience!"
She grabbed