Micaela wanted to say, “How dare they!” but instead remained consistent with her silence.
“Sister!”
“If you insist on adoption, sending her to a suitable family would be the best way for the family, and for El.”
Micaela said this, setting down the empty cup she was holding, while looking at Lapellian as if sizing him up.
“How do you come to that conclusion?”
His fingers moved in a rather irritated manner.
“Let me be frank. I don’t want to see any harm done to El by adopting her into our house. Surely, those who intentionally create accidents like today will appear. I can’t put Briel and Riel in danger.”
Micaela’s gaze briefly dropped to Lapellian’s finger before she perfectly donned the mask of not just someone’s sister, but the head of a family.
She took a moment to catch her breath and continued the conversation.
“Even though we are indebted, my own flesh and blood comes first. If we send El to a good human family, we can avoid all this. Protecting the family, letting El grow under proper guardianship. Isn’t that quite reasonable?”
Micaela gently asked, tilting her head slightly.
“…….”
Lapellian could not readily deny it. It was not wrong.
Even if he agreed with his head, his heart was reluctant to follow. His fingers busily tapped.
“Still, sending her to another family feels like evading responsibility.”
“Then all I can do for her is raise El in this place as well as any house’s young lady. That’s it. Adoption is not an option.”
“…….”
“There’s too much at risk in putting a human name in my family lineage. As the head of the Mosteros family, and as someone who owes a debt to El, I have a duty to protect both.”
Lapellian had nothing more to say.
What more could he say when it was for the family and for El? That’s why he couldn’t insist any further.
“I thought it would be easier for El to be treated everywhere if she had a decent position. But if it threatens El and the family, I can’t help it. I understand your intentions, Sister.”
Perhaps because it did not go his way, some strength had left his oncesolid voice.
Micaela, finding Lapellian somewhat cute and tricky in his dispirited state, pushed harder.
“That’s what being the head of a family means. Anyway, I’m the head of the Mosteros, and I have much to protect. I’ll take any further discussion on this matter as a challenge to the head.”
Her voice, which had been warm until now, cooled down.
Since Micaela had invoked the name of the family head, he really couldn’t argue about this matter any longer.
His tapping finger stopped.
“……Understood. I apologize.”
Lapellian didn’t like the outcome, but he obediently got up.
As soon as he had completely left the office, Micaela also immediately stood up.
She opened the door to the library located to the left of the office. The nostalgic scent wafted from the books that densely filled the shelves.
Mikaela stood in front of the bookshelf in the far corner and manipulated a few devices.
Then a hidden safe appeared.
She quickly figured out the password, opened the door, and took out a thick book from a wooden box full of traces of time, and quickly flipped through the pages.
“I just can’t pass this up.”
The first Duchess had actual black hair and rubycolored eyes… …excerpt… …the first Duke had to shed much blood to realize his love with her. However, he willingly risked his life for her. …excerpt… …due to the unavoidable difference in lifespan between humans, the first Duke was …excerpt…
It was Lapellian who resembled the first Duke the most and inherited most of his abilities. Next to him, a girl with the same appearance as the first Duchess appeared.
‘I thought it might be excessive to think like this just because of appearance, but that guy, who was impregnable to great ladies, was clearly annoyed earlier.’
Lapellian was unusually paying attention to El, keeping her in mind.
Lapellian’s hand had been quite restless earlier.
Since the time when they deliberately sent the child to the south to regard Lapellian, Lapellian’s hand had been excessively restless to the point of being maddening.
It was a habit of Lapellian’s.
When anxious, or when things didn’t go as planned, or when being stubborn, he always wore rings on both hands and tapped his fingers.
Mikaela carefully recalled Lapellian’s appearance as they had conversed in the office.
‘Which reason could it be?’
Lapellian’s interest in El was certain.
But it was not yet clear.
Whether it was a strong protective concept of having to guard a benefactor, or if he was interested in El for some other reason.
And also, the cause of Lapellian’s anxiety, who was always extremely calm, whether it was simply because he could not assert his will, or because there was some reason he must not lose El.
The only certain thing was that Lapellian seemed to want to keep El in this house at all costs.
‘It’s different than usual. Too different. If these two were destined to meet, and it is fate that they should be connected, and Lapellian is acting instinctively…’
“If that’s the case, adoption is absolutely not possible.”
The reason Mikaela had opposed El’s adoption for all sorts of reasons was exactly this.
Especially since she had the experience of failed love, she wished for her younger sibling to smoothly realize love with the person she loved. She wished for Lapellian, who does not easily trust others, to have someone to trust and rely on.
So Mikaela couldn’t let this opportunity to meet slip away over nothing.
Strength involuntarily went into the hands of Mikaela, who was holding the book.
The Villainous Demon Lord Laid an Egg for Her (Female-Dominated)
Several months after transmigrating into a book, Yu Wu found herself facing the demon lord Li You, who could no longer conceal his dragon horns. With one hand on her aching waist and the other gripping a sharp sword, she stared at him.
The demon lord’s eyes were red with fury:
“This is all your doing! Today, I won’t rest until I kill you!”
Yu Wu rubbed her temples. Putting aside the taboo against bloodshed during pregnancy, wasn’t it this very man who willingly walked into her trap that day?!
Warnings:
- Male pregnancy.
- Height ratios are set to mirror typical male-female height proportions.
- Characters include a foot-loving demon lord and an eldest daughter from an immortal family’s concubine lineage.
