“Just now…… what did you say?”

The marquis even wondered if he’d finally gone deaf. Because he must have heard wrong.

Leonora let out a sigh and repeated what she’d said in a calm voice.

“I said I’m pregnant.”

The marquis shook his head.

“That can’t be. Don’t tell me…… Prince Ciel did something so immoral to a child lying unconscious—”

“What on earth are you talking about?!”

At her husband’s ridiculous reaction, Leonora raised her voice slightly, then barely forced it back down.

“As if Prince Ciel is the kind of person who would do that! Haa…… It’s not Estella—I said I’m pregnant.”

Even as she added the explanation, Leonora’s ears turned red with embarrassment. She was not someone whose emotions flared easily, but not right now.

“Haa…… then that’s a relie— No, wait. You just said you’re pregnant?”

“Yes. Me.”

In that instant, the marquis’s head became extremely confused. Even if their relationship as husband and wife had grown far closer than before, days close enough for Leonora to get pregnant had been very rare.

Then again, Luka had also been conceived only a month after they married. Still, even so—those days were few enough to count on one hand, and yet pregnancy.

The marquis silently stared at Leonora’s face, which looked extremely displeased, then crept closer and pulled her into a hug. Even as he held her, he was a little afraid Leonora might get angry, but he tried to act bold anyway.

“Just Estella waking up is happiness beyond words, and to grant our family another life as well! There’s no doubt the gods have decided to pour blessings onto Wintfall with intent.”

But Leonora only kept her mouth tightly shut and let out a heavy sigh. The marquis suddenly worried she might not be welcoming the news of new life.

“Do you know how old I am and you’re saying that?”

“What are you talking about. You’re still young.”

The marquis said it with a serious face, but Leonora thought differently. Giving birth at an age approaching forty—her vision went pitch-black. And she worried even more because her health had been a disaster while she was pregnant with Luka. On top of that, she wasn’t even the type who loved babies that much.

When Luka had been a baby, the time the nanny held him had overwhelmingly exceeded the time Leonora held him. It wasn’t like now, but back then she had even worried she lacked maternal instinct. And now she was older—she didn’t have confidence she could do better than then.

“You’ll do very well. Just look at how wonderfully you raised Luka.”

The marquis patted her shoulder as he spoke, having sensed what Leonora was worried about.

“Luka grew up well on his own.”

“That’s true…… but! Under a wonderful mother, a wonderful child can grow, of course.”

Without realizing it, the marquis had nodded along, then at Leonora’s cool gaze, he cleared his throat and smiled awkwardly. Leonora stared blankly at her husband as if she couldn’t believe him, then without realizing it, she let out a snort of laughter.

Only then did the marquis relax. He hugged his wife again and patted her back as he spoke.

“I don’t even know how fortunate it is that Estella and Luka have a mother like you. So don’t worry. This time too, you’ll do very well.”

Estella had now moved her quarters from the hospital room to her own bedroom. There was no longer a need for mages to stand guard by rotation, and Martino also said she had stabilized a lot now and it would be enough to check her condition about once a day.

The moment Estella moved into her room, she summoned Wintfall’s mages, including Gerard and Airi. It was to praise their hard work while she was unconscious and to convey her gratitude.

“It’s right that I should go find you myself and tell you thank you, but as you can see, it’s still uncomfortable to move. Sorry for calling busy people back and forth.”

At Estella’s words with a smile, the mages shook their heads with moved expressions.

“No. We’re the ones who don’t even know how grateful we are that you accepted us and even provided such an excellent place to stay, my liege.”

Estella narrowed her eyes as she looked at a mage who felt somehow familiar.

“You’re…….”

“Yes, I’m Aaron—the one you saved on the battlefield back then. And this is my older brother, Roen.”

At Aaron’s introduction, the handsome young man beside him stepped forward.

“Older brother… then you’re the one who had been severely injured back then.”

“Yes. The Armory Chief made prosthetic leg and arm that fit me, so it’s become much easier to move like this.”

As if to show it off, Roen rolled up his sleeve and pant leg, showing his new limbs.

“I can understand the leg, but how is the hand so natural?”

Even though she thought it might be rude, Estella couldn’t help being curious.

“My uncle helped.”

At Roen’s words, Gerard lifted his chin like he’d been waiting and bragged.

“I put in some work. I’m a genius magical engineer, after all.”

“Is that possible?”

Even though magic existed, in an era without advanced modern science, she couldn’t believe it was possible to implement movements with that level of detail even while she was seeing it.

As if he were someone who’d been waiting for Estella to ask, Gerard began explaining excitedly.

“You implant extremely fine conductive magical threads into the body’s cut surface where the prosthetic arm meets. When you think ‘I should extend my arm,’ that tiny will is carried along mana and transmitted to the prosthetic’s joints. And you attach mana cylinders to each joint. Those cylinders use mana as fuel to reproduce the movement of muscles contracting and relaxing. Thanks to that, Roen can move his arm with little strength. Of course, right now, if you run both the prosthetic arm and prosthetic leg at the same time, there’s a risk of mana backflow, so it’s linked only to the prosthetic arm, which has high output efficiency. But I’m researching it, so I’ll be able to solve that problem soon too. It consumes a bit of mana, so it’s hard for a non-mage to use, but that can also be supplemented with the portable temporary mana storage box I designed. You pre-condense external mana and then supply it when needed. How is it! This genius design where magic and mechanics are perfectly combined!”

Estella couldn’t understand everything Gerard said, but she felt like she understood it was incredible.

Clap clap clap!

When Estella nodded and clapped, the mages standing nearby clapped along too.

“But where’s Airi? Why didn’t she come with you today?”

A few days ago, when Airi had visited the hospital room with the Squirrels, her complexion hadn’t looked very good, so Estella was worried.

“Airi’s having a hard time with morning sickness right now, so she’s lying down. Some little punk got in there and is already making his mom suffer.”

At Gerard’s answer, Estella—who had been lying down—shot upright.

“What?! Airi’s pregnant? Which bastard son of a bitch did that to our cute, precious Airi!”

At Estella’s intense reaction, Gerard pressed his lips shut and only rolled his eyes, and Aaron cautiously opened his mouth beside him.

“She’s our aunt.”

“What? Aunt? Who’s your uncle? And why didn’t you tell me—you and our Airi!”

Even after becoming a great mage, Airi’s appearance had changed from a girl-like look to a mature one, but in Estella’s eyes, Airi was still the very embodiment of an adorable magical girl. So it was hard to accept that Airi was becoming a mom. And if the other party was some man whose face she didn’t even know, even more so! Whoever it was, if she could, she wanted to grab him by the collar and shake him hard.

Aaron quietly pointed a finger at Gerard, who was standing there blankly.

“What? Gerard knows the guy? Who is it!”

“Me. That bastard son of a bitch.”

“……”

Only then did Estella remember that Aaron and Roen were Gerard’s relatives—his nephews. When Estella stared at him with eyes widened into marbles, Gerard scratched his head, smiling awkwardly, his hair now much calmer than before.

“Wow.”

Estella let out a short exclamation, and Gerard shrugged his shoulders.

“You little punk. If you make even one tear fall from our Airi’s eyes, I’ll pluck out your mismatched eyeballs.”

“Don’t worry. Even if it’s not you, there’s a whole line of people waiting to pluck out my eyeballs.”

Gerard answered with a sour face, thinking of the Squirrels. Estella nodded like she understood, then said,

“I see. Anyway, congratulations, Gerard. For taking a wife like Airi—cute, adorable, beautiful, and an outstanding mage—and for becoming a father soon too. I hope the baby looks a lot like Airi, and not like you.”

“Hey, how can you say something that harsh! If you look closely, my eyes, nose, and mouth are prettier.”

“Airi’s pretty even if you don’t look closely. So pray every day. Pray the baby looks like Airi.”

At their casual back-and-forth, even the mages who had been standing there tense began to smile little by little. Somehow, transferring to Wintfall really did seem like the right decision.

After the commotion, the mages withdrew, and soon Dolan knocked on Estella’s door.

At Estella’s call, Dolan came running in a single dash and opened his notebook with a flushed expression. Having carried it around for so long, the leather cover had become ragged, and now it was practically like an extension of his body.

Holding a quill, Dolan looked at Estella with sparkling eyes like a kindergartener on a field trip. It had been two years since he’d last made something under Estella’s orders—he hadn’t even started yet, but his heart was already thumping.

“My lady, just say the word. Even if I have to stay up all night, I’ll whip it up in no time!”

Having honed his skills without resting for a single moment over the past two years, Dolan felt confident he could make anything Estella wanted. Even if she asked for something he couldn’t make, he swore he would complete it by any means necessary.

“Already reassuring. Thank you for saying that.”

Estella spoke with a smile. But Dolan felt a sting in his chest at how strangely pale the aura on her face looked. It might be because she hadn’t been awake long, but her former healthy appearance was gone without a trace, and she had become so fragile she looked like she might scatter like a dandelion seed with a single gust of wind.

“What should I make?”

Dolan forced a smile, holding back the lump in his throat.

“As you can see, my body’s a mess right now. So I need rehabilitation exercise equipment.”

“Rehabilitation exercise equipment?”

At the unfamiliar term he was hearing for the first time, Dolan’s ears perked up. Just thinking about making something new already thrilled him.

“Yeah. Exercise equipment for someone like me, whose muscles are all gone and who can’t even walk for long.”

“Ahh……”

With a concept that he half understood and half didn’t, Dolan furrowed his brow in concentration.

“This is a rough blueprint I drew. If you show it to Luka, he’ll refine it in more detail.”

“Yes, my lady!”

Dolan quickly took the blueprint Estella held out with both hands.

It looked similar to the exercise equipment Estella had commissioned from him at first, and yet it felt subtly different. More detailed, lighter, and more precise, maybe? As Dolan stared hard at the blueprint, Estella’s calm explanation continued.

“The first one is a rehabilitation tool that can stimulate my weakened muscles. If we make it well and commercialize it, we’ll be able to sell it to hospitals across the Empire, or even to homes with patients, so we have to make it well.”

“Yes! I’ll prepare it so mass production is possible too.”

“You see the pulley there? We’ll attach weights. Start with something very light at first, and make a hook where you can hang weight-adjusting sandbags or thin iron plates so the weight can be increased a little each day.”

“Yes! We should use a soft leather strap that’s tough and has low friction. Your palms can’t get rubbed raw.”

As expected, Dolan was the type who understood three or four things the moment you explained one.

“Right. And the second one is…….”

Dolan flipped the paper and stared at the second blueprint. It was equipment he’d never seen before as well, but even at a glance, he had a sense of what function it had.

“Is it equipment that helps you stand on your own?”

“That’s right. Set the bars you see there a little wider than my shoulders. So I can train walking while supporting my weight only with my arms.”

“Yes. The material should be smooth ash wood. I’ll add leather to the grip so it won’t slip with sweat.”

“Good. I like that a lot. Now it’s the last one.”

“What is this?”

He had a rough idea of the first two rehabilitation tools, but the third was an exercise device in a form Dolan had never seen, and his eyes widened. At the same time, his heart thumped with interest in something new.

“This is equipment that needs gears. If I put my feet on the pedals there and roll it, the gears will mesh and turn, and it’ll gently loosen my knee joints.”

“My goodness! What an amazing exercise device! How do you even come up with things like this, my lady! You’re truly incredible!”

Dolan couldn’t hide his amazement as he looked back and forth between the three blueprints Estella gave him. No matter what, working with Estella was the most exciting and fun for Dolan.

“I’m just trying to live, that’s all.”

Estella drew the blueprints by tracing back memories from when she had lived as Yoon Seo-yi—times she’d been injured during training and devoted herself to rehabilitation. Even if the blueprint she drew was a total mess, she had firm faith that Luka would fix it perfectly, and that was what made it possible.

“Nunim! Nunim!”

Just as Dolan took the new blueprints and was about to stand up, the door opened and Luka ran in with a flushed face.

“Luka!”

Even though he’d grown taller, Luka still looked like nothing but a cute little brother, and Estella opened her arms wide. Maybe he’d entered puberty—she even found the one or two pimples popping up on his forehead cute.

Luka hugged Estella out of habit, then with round eyes sparkling, shouted,

“Nunim! They say I’m getting a sibling!”

“Gerard’s baby?”

Estella asked with a relaxed smile like she already knew, gently smoothing Luka’s messed-up hair since he’d run in.

“No! My sibling. Mother says she’s pregnant!”

“What?!”

Holy shit!

Estella shouted inwardly as she recalled her own meddling where she’d felt heartbroken, saying he’d gotten so aged.

Father, you’re still going strong!

Waking up after two years, incredible things were lined up waiting for her. Estella took a moment to catch her breath, then looked at Luka and asked,

“Is it a girl, or a boy?”

Even in this moment, she was so curious whether it would be a little sister or a little brother.

If it was a little sister, she’d train her hard in shooting, and if it was a little brother…… she’d still train him hard in shooting.

Chapter 287

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