“Ah, yes, that’s right. If it’s Lady Lisianthus, she might know.”

She is known for being strict and ill-tempered, but at the same time, she is an extremely cool-headed and practical person.

She knows how to catch her son like catching a mouse, so she will surely scold him with common sense, saying what nonsense this is.

Dominic turned his gaze with such expectation.

Indeed, as he thought, the old Lady Lisianthus was openly showing her displeased mood.

“What are you talking about? Is drawing blood such a big deal that it’s nonsense, tch.”

“Y-Yes, that’s right? As expected of you, my lady!”

Dominic quickly rubbed his palms together.

“We’ll be careful to extract it with minimal traces, so you don’t need to worry too much. We’ll disinfect it right away too.”

Luke still looked displeased, but he didn’t object any further.

He understood that there was no point in being stubborn here.

He knew, but still didn’t like it.

“Then I’ll draw the blood now. Young lady, please extend your arm this way for a moment…”

While Dominic was distracting Bonita, Leo secretly prepared the needle beside them.

Leo, who wiped the needle thoroughly with alcohol-soaked cotton, was very nervous inside.

‘She’s definitely going to cry, this one.’

It’s only natural for children to dislike getting shots, but the problem was when they burst into tears.

If that small and cute-looking girl was really the duke’s daughter, and if they made such a child cry…

‘Oh well, whatever. They wouldn’t kill a cleric in front of a child, would they?’

Leo glanced at Dominic. Dominic was looking back at him too.

The two nodded with a silent signal.

“Now then-”

“Oh my!”

However, contrary to their expectations, it wasn’t Bonita who screamed.

“No, how can such a thick needle go into this thin and twisted chopstick-like arm! You should use a thinner one!”

“M-My lady?”

“Didn’t you hear me?! Use this to poke that fellow thoroughly and bring something less painful!”

“Ah, no, this is a children’s needle-”

“Children?! Does this child look like a child to you?!”

Leo broke out in a cold sweat and rolled his eyes at Catherine’s pointing.

“No, well, my lady, this person isn’t an adult…”

“An adult?! Of course not!”

“Then a child…”

“What nonsense!”

Catherine shouted angrily.

“At this size, she’s a newborn baby!”

“What?”

“What?”

This time, it wasn’t just Dominic who questioned. Bonita, who was suddenly treated as a newborn baby, blushed and protested.

“My lady, I’m not a baby.”

“What are you saying? Luke was already this big when he was a month old.”

“Whaat?”

Whoosh.

The gazes of everyone in the room simultaneously turned towards Luke.

A tall stature close to 2m. Moreover, shoulders and build that made the chair he was sitting on look narrow.

Certainly, Luke Lisianthus looked closer to a bear than a person. Aria muttered.

“Certainly, there’s a point.”

“What nonsense is this?”

Luke gave her a reproachful look with an incredulous expression.

“No matter how big I am, I didn’t grow that much in just a month after birth. It’s absurd to seriously believe such words.”

“Haha, of course, right?”

“Obviously.”

Luke said with a forced laugh.

“It took a year to grow that big.”

“What?”

“What?”

“What?”

“What?”

This time, the two clerics, Aria, and Bonita all questioned simultaneously. Luke didn’t particularly mind and nodded towards Leo holding the needle.

“Anyway, that needle is indeed too thick. Bonita is too small, so you should use a smaller needle.”

“How is this thick…”

Leo shut his mouth at the terrifying glare.

But he was truly wronged.

‘This is a needle used even for three-year-olds!’

Hearing that the child presumed to be a young lady was very small, he had deliberately prepared a needle used for children younger than her age.

Moreover, an even thinner needle than this? There was no such thing.

“Um… Should we use a lancet instead?”

“A lancet?”

“Yes, a lancet.”

Dominic rummaged through his bag and pulled out a small needle. Since it wasn’t hollow in the middle, it looked much thinner than a syringe needle.

Luke looked over that needle with drowsy eyes, then came to a conclusion.

“That would be better. Use that.”

In the end, they ended up pricking her hand with that needle, but because Catherine kept making a fuss every time the needle was brought close, it took an hour just to collect Bonita’s blood.

Bonita was completely drained and crawled into Aria’s arms. Seeing this, the old lady got angry again.

“Look what you’ve done to the baby! What did you do to that needle?”

Luke was the same.

“If you’ve done anything suspicious, I won’t let you off easy.”

The two clerics, Dominic and Leo, were so dumbfounded they couldn’t even speak. They shouted with wronged expressions.

‘It’s because of you!’

Of course, only in their hearts, because they were scared.

Unlike Bonita’s blood collection which had completely drained her energy, Luke’s blood draw was carried out very quickly.

There was only a slight delay.

“Eek!”

“Th-The needle won’t go in?”

It was because the syringe needle wouldn’t penetrate Luke’s thick forearm.

Dominic, who was trying to give him an injection, gulped. His brown eyes shook violently.

‘No, no matter how thick, it’s still a human arm… How can a steel needle not go in?’

Seeing the flustered clerics, Luke nonchalantly picked up a knife and made a cut on his own arm.

It was only natural for Aria to be startled at the blood gushing out.

“What are you doing in front of the child!”

“…Ah.”

Luke’s complexion turned pale as he belatedly noticed Bonita’s gaze.

Whoosh.

His head turned. His terrifying red eyes glared at the two clerics with an intense light.

“Treat it immediately. That’s an order.”

“Yes sir…!”

And that’s how it went.

After finishing the treatment neatly, Luke relaxed his expression and approached Bonita.

“I’m sorry for showing you such a terrible sight. Were you very scared?”

“Well…”

Bonita hesitated to answer.

To be honest, in the back alleys of the streets where she used to live, there were quite a few thugs who engaged in knife fights.

Although she had never been directly involved, she had occasionally seen corpses after fierce fights had swept through.

Above all, hadn’t Bonita herself often bled?

‘I shouldn’t say that.’

Bonita was quite clever for a child. Such a girl vaguely sensed that the more she revealed about growing up in an unfavorable environment, the more troubled Aria would become.

“Bonita…”

As Bonita remained silent, the atmosphere grew heavy. Luke was now feeling almost self-loathing.

‘Was I this thoughtless?’

When Elodie was alive, he had always wanted to be a sweet lover in front of her, restraining his aggressive nature.

But during the seven years without her, there was no need to be kind to anyone, so he acted as he pleased.

That had become a habit, causing him to act like an idiot in front of Bonita from time to time.

‘Stupid fool.’

Luke had now entered a stage of self-flagellation.

Unaware of this fact, Bonita just rolled her eyes around.

Unable to bear it any longer, Catherine struck her stupid son’s head.

“Tsk! Doing such unnecessary things, tch. How do you expect her to answer when you ask with that expression? Look in a mirror once in a while!”

“…This is all because of you, Mother.”

“What?”

“Isn’t it because I take after you that I look scary?”

At those words, Catherine was at a loss for words.

It was true. Catherine’s eldest son looked exactly like her.

The reason Catherine didn’t look as scary as Luke was because she was a woman.

Catherine was tall for a woman, but of course shorter than the average adult male.

On the other hand, what about Luke?

His height exceeded 2m.

To make matters worse, he took after his father, the former duke, in his large build, resulting in the birth of an impossible monster.

In contrast, the second son, who took after the duke’s face and Catherine’s normal physique, was a handsome man with a gentle impression.

Unlike the ridiculously tall Luke, his height was pleasantly moderate.

In childhood, he didn’t pay much attention to this fact.

However, before dating, when he heard that Elodie’s ideal type was originally a man with a warm and kind face, he felt like the sky was falling.

Of course, in the end, she chose him, and this appearance was very helpful in becoming the ruler of the South, but…

Still, it felt unfair.

“It’s all because of you, Mother.”

He drove the point home.

Catherine was dumbfounded at his resentful tone.

“Um, when will the results be out?”

It was Aria who broke the heavy silence.

She asked the flustered clerics while tightly hugging Bonita, who had burrowed into her arms.

Dominic was the one who answered.

He was more sociable than Leo.

“In the past, it used to take over a month, but nowadays technology has advanced and it’s faster. It should be out in a few hours.”

“A few hours, you say?”

Catherine recovered from the shock upon hearing Dominic’s words. She was the type who didn’t care about others’ thoughts, so she recovered quickly.

“How many hours exactly is a few hours?”

“Huh? Well, since there can be variations, I can’t say exactly…”

“What’s the fastest it could be?”

“Well, that’s also flexible-”

Dominic evaded with cold sweat. Seeing him, Catherine raised her eyes fiercely.

“Spit it out.”

“Th-Three hours!”

“Good.”

It was almost like extracting an answer.

Catherine smiled like a satiated beast, then promptly pointed her cane at Dominic.

“Do it within three hours. You know my temper well, don’t you?”

Dominic inwardly swallowed his tears and rubbed his hands together.

“…Haha, how could I not?”

Today too, the cleric’s life is hard.