Chapter 318
Translator: crow
Chapter Title: Chapter 318 - 316. 표범과 여우
Translator: crow
Chapter 318: Leopard and Fox
After a new emperor ascended the throne in the empire.
A warm breeze of peace swept through the capital.
All the citizens praised her with bright expressions, and the children's cheerful laughter never ceased.
However, not everyone appreciated that laughter.
“Your Highness the Imperial Uncle! Your Highness the Imperial Uncle—!! How did you start dating Her Majesty the Emperor?!”
“I heard you even married the princess of the Bakal Kingdom. I want to marry a princess too!!”
*Sigh…*
My jet-black eyes lost focus amid my dark hair.
Wearing an apron over my dress shirt, I looked down at the little devils with a dumbfounded expression.
*If they hear that, I’ll get dragged to their parents for an interrogation.*
I thought becoming the Imperial Uncle meant no one would bother me anymore.
Since Lea, Irina, and Lydia would handle all the state affairs and politics anyway.
So I planned to just nap all day.
“But if there’s nothing to do in the palace, shouldn’t you at least learn how to take care of children in advance?!”
Her Majesty had granted me the special privilege of looking after children ahead of time.
Namely, observing a nursery.
But that didn’t mean I’d just flounder around with the kids.
“Alright, kids. How about we play hide-and-seek?”
The children focused at my sly voice.
They all shouted in unison that it sounded great.
“Yes!!”
The adorable kids cried out together.
In response, I held up two fingers in the middle of the garden and said,
“Then I’ll count for exactly two minutes, and you hide somewhere in this garden. Got it?”
“Yes!!”
The kids, who only came up to my waist, scurried off to hide in various spots across the vast imperial garden.
I watched them fondly.
No matter where they hid, I could see the faint mana inside their bodies anyway.
*They’re all from elite families, so they’ve got impressive innate talent.*
Once the children were out of sight, I sat on a chair in the center of the garden.
Then, for a bit, I sipped coffee while reading a book.
*“50 Foods Good for Children and Husbands.”*
Lea’s latest book.
“I can pretend to look after about ten minutes.”
Thinking that, I leisurely enjoyed the midday sun.
Healing from the unexpected fatigue of childcare.
But the long-awaited rest didn’t last.
Just as I popped a grape from the garden table into my mouth.
“Why are you here alone? Where are the children?”
Lydia’s sullen face blocked the sun above my head.
“Gah!!”
Her sudden appearance made the grape catch in my throat.
I barely managed to swallow it by adjusting the mana in my dantian.
“Lydia, make some noise when you approach, would you?”
“I snuck up because I knew you’d be slacking off like this.”
The Third Imperial Sister had almost no mana and trained her body in Eastern-style martial arts, making her approach hard to detect.
She draped her cute little hands over my shoulders like a leopard’s soft paws.
“I came to help since taking care of kids must be tough, and sure enough, you’re spending your time just like I expected.”
Out in public, she still used the speech patterns from her princess days.
So every time I saw her, Lydia looked as fresh and innocent as before her marriage.
“What if the kids hurt themselves hiding in weird spots?”
“It’s fine. They’re all in safe places.”
I chuckled and raised a finger.
Then pointed out where each child was hiding, one by one.
“The son of the Imperial Council Chairman, Bixson, is giggling behind Her Majesty’s statue.”
Lydia eyed the statue suspiciously at my words.
Sure enough, the shadow of a small boy came into view.
“The granddaughter of the former prime minister, Mosian, is hiding in the snowbox with Richard’s cousin.”
Lydia turned to me with an exasperated look upon seeing the shaking box.
The empire’s top powerhouses treated like neighborhood kids.
“You’re the only Grandmaster in history who’d use their abilities like this.”
“Means I’m one of a kind, right?”
The empire’s Third Imperial Sister glared at me with a pouty expression.
Like a female companion saying *let’s talk after work*.
She quickly strode off to round up the kids.
“Found you~.”
Completely different from when she faced me.
In a voice that was utterly cute and endearing.
“Ah, Your Highness the Imperial Sister!!”
“May I join the fun too~?”
Lydia won the children over with her innocently shining red eyes.
They had no idea.
That the petite twenty-year-old woman before them had once been the ruler of the East.
“Come on, everyone follow me. It’s time for a fun role-playing game.”
Her twin tails bounced merrily.
Dressed in a dress shirt and short skirt like an academy uniform, she expertly led the kids back.
“The game we’re playing now is war games.”
*War games…?*
As expected of a former ruler.
I stared at Lydia with an *I knew it* look.
“Have you kids heard about the underground city in the eastern capital from before?”
Underground city.
The children’s eyes sparkled at the mysterious tale they’d love.
“Yes! The place where the Third Imperial Prince hid and plotted!!”
Lydia glanced at me, recalling those times too.
“Hehe… That’s right. The game we’re playing now is escaping from that place—dodging me, the Third Prince’s blood kin—and reaching the exit.”
The Imperial Sister’s eyes flashed with a fierce red glint for a moment.
She bared her signature sharp fangs and extended both hands into the air.
“Anyone I catch gets buried underground!!”
“Waaah—!!”
The kids scattered with delighted squeals.
Lydia shrugged off her cardigan draped over her shoulders, tied it around her waist.
Then she began chasing them like a real leopard.
Just fast enough to keep them from reaching the exit too easily.
“Oh dear… You’re guarding the exit too obviously.”
“No choice. I’ll lure her away.”
The kids boldly shouted tactics right in front of the enemy.
Mosian’s responsible granddaughter stepped forward toward Lydia.
“Your Highness, catch me first.”
“Hmph, no thanks~. I plan to catch and eat you all~.”
But the empire’s Third Imperial Sister wouldn’t fall for a six-year-old’s taunt.
Mosian’s grandson pondered deeply for a moment, then.
“Earlier, His Highness Veil said that if the other Highnesses see the book he was reading, it’ll be trouble!”
True to her former prime minister grandfather’s blood, she pulled off a brilliant provocation.
“What…?”
Lydia eyed me intently.
I frantically shook my head and hid the book, but…
“I’m really curious what our husband is hiding like that.”
“T-This is just a cookbook, Lydia!!”
The Eastern woman landed behind my back in an instant with her superior footwork.
She flailed her short arms, trying to snatch Lea’s cookbook from my hands.
“Now’s our chance! Let’s go!!”
The kids seized the opening and scurried out on their short legs.
Thanks to that, the game ended in another victory for the young ones.
―――――.
Time passed in boisterous fun.
By noon, the exhausted kids had all drifted off to naps.
In the meantime, Lydia silently read through the cookbook she’d snatched from me.
“Long-tailed fish dishes… purple mountain berry juice… What shady recipes.”
Lydia closed the book with a sullen pout.
She looked at me and smirked.
“I was just learning dishes to make once the kids are born.”
I shrugged nonchalantly.
Understanding, she came over to me and brushed down her skirt over her thighs.
Then she perched on the armrest.
“I know. You just pretended to fall for the kids’ taunt.”
Now that it was just us, she spoke in her intimate tone.
“You played so well with them. Hard to believe you’re the youngest daughter.”
I brightly praised my wife’s performance.
Lydia brushed it off and cutely lifted her chin.
“As the youngest, I know how it’s done. Father used to play with me like this in the eastern palace when I was little.”
“Remembering that and playing along perfectly is a skill in itself.”
I gently stroked the top of Lydia’s head.
Her twin tails danced lightly.
“Didn’t I tell you not to do this outside?”
“Why? You like it indoors.”
The Imperial Sister glanced around with flushed cheeks.
Seeing the quiet garden, she let out a deep sigh of relief.
“I can’t stay the baby sister forever. Someday I’ll be a mother too…”
Even born the youngest, she’d always felt great responsibility.
She hesitated a long time to voice the last part out of shyness.
“You’ll make a great mother.”
Gazing at such a Lydia, I said with a soft smile.
“I’m not sure yet. It feels completely different from leading an army.”
The Imperial Sister looked up at the blue sky.
Her ruby-red eyes, half-lidded, drank in the brilliant sunlight.
I quietly admired her beauty for a moment.
Then, for some reason, I added,
“True, even when the kid grows up, you’ll seem more like a big sister than a mom—.”
Only then did Lydia revert to her lively self.
She poked my shoulder with her cute little fists.
“I’m plenty grown up, you know?”
Still sulking like I saw her as a child.
Feeling a change was needed, she squeezed onto my chair and said,
“If you don’t believe me, lie down here and see.”
Lydia pointed to her plump thighs.
Her skin brimmed with vitality and a glossy sheen.
“…….”
I stared blankly at that vibrant spot.
Seizing the moment, the Imperial Sister pulled me down like a leopard cub onto her thighs.
“Well? Nice and soft, right?”
“Mm…….”
Maybe because I was already tired from dealing with the kids.
Burying my face in her warm skin made me feel languid.
“Way firmer than Lea or Irina’s.”
“Really?”
But Lydia, who’d laid me down herself, was trembling more and more adorably.
Her thighs felt even hotter now.
“Theirs are just obnoxiously huge and squishy!!”
“…….”
When I didn’t reply right away, Lydia pouted.
She spread her thighs and clamped my face between them.
“Mmph…!! Yes, yes…!!”
Hot skin and the scent of sweat from running enveloped my face.
Amid it, I felt alternating waves of subtle pleasure and pain.
“Hmph.”
After a few dozen seconds, Lydia finally released me.
She turned her head away, breathing raggedly as she muttered,
“You say that, but you cling to them plenty at night…….”
The Imperial Sister gave me her soft thigh pillow again.
This time, she stroked my hair and asked,
“Veil.”
“Yeah, Lydia.”
The twin-tailed woman gazed at the sleeping children.
Then, in a small voice unlike her, she whispered to me.
“Do you think I can raise kids well?”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
Lydia had come supposedly to check if I was taking good care of the children.
In truth, she’d come to ask me something else.
“I just don’t want them fighting like me and my siblings.”
I lifted my head at the former princess’s listless question.
Bringing my nose almost to hers, I said,
“Lydia. That’ll never happen.”
I dropped my foxy grin.
With the serious gaze I’d shared with her through countless feats for the empire, I continued.
“Our kids will have the best sibling bond in the world. How could they fight with such a kind mother?”
“…….”
Lydia’s lips parted slightly at my words, blooming fresh.
Then they flushed red at the mention of having two or more.
“That means… like my mother, at least three…….”
The Imperial Sister whipped her head away, breathing heavily.
She muttered so softly I couldn’t hear.
*Did I misspeak again…?*
Scratching my soft cheek, I lifted my head.
Just as I tried to check her face.
“Those words better be sincere.”
The empire’s former princess fixed me with her sharp gaze and said.
In the authoritative tone from our first meeting.
“Huh? Of course. You’ll definitely be a great mot—.”
I tried to repeat myself.
But in that instant.
Lydia pressed me back to her thigh and leaned down first.
“……!”
Her soft black hair curtained around us.
Now we faced only each other’s faces.
Within that veil, Lydia wore an expression too seductive for her tender twenty years.
She left me with meaningful words.
“Definitely at least three.”
Then she kissed me first.
“Kids that look just like you and me.”
As expected, appearances aside, all imperial princesses were women brimming with ambition.