Maybe Twelve Children Would Be Good
Maybe twelve children would be good. We arrived at the ducal estate through the warp gate. On the way, I took a recovery potion from Zeppelin and gently applied it to Ester’s swollen cheek. Even if the slap had come before my memories returned, the guilt weighed heavily on me.
I also carefully dabbed some on my own cheek so my parents wouldn’t be startled. Then I cautiously woke Ester. Her eyes, still heavy with sleep, fluttered open. The moment she realized her pillow had been my thigh, her face gradually turned scarlet. She covered her small face with even smaller hands, utterly embarrassed.
“Did you sleep well, my lovely sister?”
“Y-yes… Leon O-oppa… eugh, my words are slurred because I just woke up…”
Maybe seven would be better. My future wife would need to be healthy, after all. If an adopted sister who didn’t even share my blood could be this adorable, how cute would my own children be? I smiled softly, imagining a future as a father of many.
Ester’s face flushed the same pink as her hair. What a lovely child. I lightly stroked her head, then took her small hand—now the same rosy hue as her cheeks—and escorted her like a proper gentleman.
Outside the carriage, the head butler and servants stood in neat rows.
“Welcome home, young master.”
At the butler’s words, the servants bowed in unison. Seeing it again with my past-life memories intact felt strangely new.
“Indeed. Head butler, I intend to greet my parents. This child is Ester; she will become the adopted daughter of our ducal house. Please wash her with care and dress her in something beautiful.”
“…An adopted daughter, young master?”
The butler’s pupils trembled as he glanced at Zeppelin behind me. Zeppelin was probably ignoring the look entirely, lips sealed tight.
“Yes. Address her properly as young lady. She is a timid child, so treat her gently.”
“…Understood, young master.”
The butler answered with an expression that clearly said, Young master has done it again. Was this disloyalty? Hmm. Thinking back on past memories, it didn’t seem so.
I looked down at Ester, who was clutching my hand tightly, trembling with anxiety. It really must be too unfamiliar an environment for a child her age.
“Ester, my sister.”
I bent down slightly to meet her eyes. She stared back at me with shaking pupils.
“Y-yes, Leon oppa.”
“That’s right. I am your older brother. This is the house where you will live from now on—the home of your true family. So there’s no need to be afraid. This is a house with no reason for you to fear anything.”
“No reason… to fear…”
“My lovely sister. After you wash up and change clothes, let’s greet our parents. First impressions matter, so we must show them how pretty you are. Choose any jewelry and a cute dress in whatever color you like.”
“P-parents…? Um…”
The anxiety that had filled her earlier seemed to melt away. It looked like she trusted my words. In that case, I would need to have a firm talk with my parents before Ester arrived.
Her cute voice slipped out from between hesitant lips.
“U-um… what colors do our p-parents like?! If I can choose… I want to wear the color they like!”
Maybe twelve children really would be good. My future dream might be to form a sports team.
“They will like any color you choose, but they especially favor red and yellow. They are the symbolic colors of our ducal house.”
My hair was golden and my eyes red—the venerable favorite colors passed down through the Leonhardt line.
“The house’s symbolic colors… Th-thank you for telling me, Leon oppa.”
“It is my honor, Ester.”
The more I heard her call me “oppa,” the better it felt. I gave the butler a meaningful look; he nodded and selected a few servants. They all had kind faces.
“Young lady, I am Percival, head butler of the honorable Leonhardt family. Would you grant me the honor of serving you?”
“Y-yes…! Um, I…”
Ester’s large eyes darted back and forth between the butler and me. She really did resemble a rabbit.
I gently pried her hand from mine and carefully guided her toward Percival.
“Ah—”
She must have felt anxious the moment I let go.
“Don’t worry, Ester. They will not harm you. If anyone does anything bad, tell me. I will make sure they never appear before your eyes again.”
“Hic—”
At my words, several servants began hiccupping. They had precedent, after all. It made me feel a little sorry.
Ester’s eyes widened into perfect circles before she gave a faint smile.
“…Yes! I’ll come back pretty and greet our parents, Leon oppa!”
“Good. My lovely sister. But don’t forget that you are beautiful just as you are right now.”
“Yesh… hehe…”
That slight lisp was incredibly endearing. Yes, twelve children definitely seemed right.
Father’s office.
My parents sat with expressions that practically screamed they assumed I had caused some incident again. They couldn’t possibly know what had happened at the baron’s estate yet, but they were already radiating the aura of teachers who knew everything. Since I really had caused trouble, I couldn’t complain.
Damn it. In my previous life I had lived so diligently.
“Leon Leonhardt.”
“Yes, Father.”
Father sat in the office chair with a stern face, glaring at me. Brilliant golden hair and vivid red eyes. His face had a few light wrinkles, yet he still possessed the looks of a handsome middle-aged man. I took after him, so even as a child I was good-looking.
My perfectly normal reply seemed to surprise him; his rigid expression twitched slightly.
“Dear… let’s hear him out first. Leon seems very different from usual.”
Mother spoke in a gentle voice. She sat on the soft sofa in the office.
“There’s something on your clothes. Are you all right, Leon?”
Beautiful silver hair and sea-blue eyes. Father was handsome, but Mother was so stunning she was called the flower of the empire. It seemed I took after Mother more than Father.
“Yes, Mother. I am sorry for worrying you both all this time. As it happens, my mysophobia has been completely cured.”
I thought it was a concise and perfect answer, but both their faces flooded with shock. Ah. This felt ominous.
“Leon… why aren’t you calling me Papang like usual!! And you should run over, give Anna a kiss on the cheek, and do the same to me!!”
“That’s right, Leon!! You should call me Mamang like always!! Father? Mother? How could you…”
I felt a stiffening at the back of my neck.
Yes. My parents doted on me like mad, and I used to enjoy it. It was also why no matter what I did, I was never kicked out. If I acted just a little cute, the two of them would melt completely.
Though they looked young, Father was a Sword Master and Mother a sixth-circle mage. Superhumans aged slowly. Despite appearances, they were quite advanced in years.
Mana strengthened humans but interfered with pregnancy. Unions between powerful individuals often led to the empty sadness of childlessness. Yet I had been born very late, after great difficulty. My parents loved me more than anything, and that was their only flaw. Even when I caused trouble they couldn’t scold me, and if I acted cute they would hand over treasures.
I would never let that happen again. I had to live as a diligent son.
“Ahem. Mother, Father. I am the only son of the ducal family. I cannot continue acting like a child forever, can I?”
“Kuh… using the truth so cowardly…”
“Aah, my lovely Leon…”
Father looked mortified while Mother wiped away tears. Was this really the right approach? Damn it. Having died past thirty in my previous life, the words “Papang” and “Mamang” refused to leave my mouth. Even this stiff tone was a habit from my past life.
“More importantly, I have something to tell you both.”
When I spoke with a serious face, their gazes turned questioning. The question was obvious: What trouble have you caused this time?
“I have brought a sister. I humbly ask that you accept her as an adopted daughter of our family.”
An icy silence enveloped the office. Both of them wore troubled expressions. As expected, it wouldn’t be easy.
“…She will arrive with the captain of the guard shortly. She is a pitiful child who suffered abuse and never received love from her family. If I had left her there, it would not have been strange if she died at any moment—”
“That is enough.”
Father’s firm voice rang out.
“Leon. The position of adopted daughter of the Leonhardt Duchy is not one that can be granted lightly for such reasons. We are the empire’s sword and members of an honorable ducal house. We lead the noble faction. How could we adopt a child into such a position merely out of pity?”
Everything he said was correct. Using cold hard facts so shamelessly—how cruel. I really didn’t want to do this, but I had no choice. Damn it.
I let out a long sigh and placed my trembling hands on my cheeks.
“…P-please… Papang…”
Father’s face filled with shock and delight. Mother’s expression was pure betrayal.
“Khm, khm!! I can’t hear you well. What did our son say?”
“H-how could Leon call you Papang… He stopped calling me Mamang three years ago saying it was embarrassing…”
Damn it. Was this truly necessary? I endured the burning heat in my face and spoke.
“P-please make Ester my sister… Papang—”
“Hahahahaha!! Yes, yes! If our precious and adorable son wants it, we must grant at least that much!! Of course we will!!”
“Kuh— Leon, say Mamang for me too…!!”
Damn it. I would never forget this humiliation. The fact that I still had to do it one more time filled me with despair.
“M-Mamang… please punish the Billman baron family…”
Mother came from the Sylbenia family, raised like a priceless jewel. If the Leonhardt family was the empire’s sword, the Sylbenia family was its treasury. Mother’s family would be far more effective at crushing them than ours.
“Yes!! That’s it!! I will punish them, my son!! The baron family must have done something wrong!!”
“Hahaha, it was wise of me to prepare the recording orb in advance, wasn’t it, dear?”
“It was! As expected, you are wise, my love.”
…I would definitely smash that orb later.
Contrary to my worries, the problem was resolved quickly. If only the burning embarrassment would subside as well. I would absolutely never show Ester this side of me.
Come to think of it, I felt like Ester had some dangerous trait… What was it again? I couldn’t remember. It had appeared in the latter half of the original story. It probably wasn’t important.
The days at the baron’s estate were horrible.
“Useless bitch!! Just die!!”
Every day, the baroness—no, that auntie—showered me with curses.
“Ah, is this how you hit someone? Hey, stand up again.”
The baron’s son’s violence.
“Tsk, if we sold her to a brothel we might get some money. She’s so scrawny it’ll take time for her to fatten up.”
The baron’s leering gaze.
Those three things filled my days. I quenched my thirst with water collected in puddles in the attic. I eased my hunger with the stale bread and rotten soup they occasionally threw at me.
“Oh my… just what kind of life has the young lady…”
The older sister washing me wiped away tears. It was almost my first time being properly washed, and I felt embarrassed showing my naked body to someone. I was ashamed of the bruises covering me and my shabby frame.
“I-I’m fine. Please don’t cry.”
I was still a little afraid of people, but I was so grateful that she would cry for me. Even though my hands trembled, I wiped her tears away.
“Sob… you have such a kind heart… I will serve you well, young lady.”
For some reason she cried even more. Was it because of me? I was just a useless child who only caused trouble…
“You are not useless, Ester.”
It felt like I could hear Leon oppa’s voice even though he wasn’t beside me. My face grew hot and ticklish. What kind of feeling was this?
The first time we met, I threw up on oppa. When he slapped my cheek it really hurt and scared me. But then he suddenly hit his own cheek and beat the baron’s son. Surprise and worry hit me at the same time. The baron couple and their son were truly terrifying people.
Yet Leon oppa apologized to me and asked me to become his sister. He took me away from that scary baron family. He called me lovely. He gently said my name. He asked me to become family. He looked at me with warm eyes. He stroked my hair.
“Because you have the right to be loved, Ester.”
The words oppa said keep coming back to me. My chest feels ticklish and I think I might cry. I want to become Leon oppa’s real family. It feels like my tightly closed heart is opening. It’s all thanks to Leon oppa.
Leon oppa.
“You are truly beautiful, young lady. To think such a pretty face was hidden all this time…”
The older sister who washed me showed me a mirror. I saw myself in a yellow dress with a red pin in my hair.
“Waa—”
So this was what I looked like. I had never seen such soft clothes or pretty jewels before. I never looked in a mirror at the baron’s estate. The baroness always called me ugly. But the me in the mirror didn’t look that ugly at all!
The ducal estate was really huge! It was a little tiring, but I walked diligently and arrived in front of the big door.
“This is His Grace’s office. Seeing you now, I am certain their graces will be very pleased. You look beautiful as a flower, young lady.”
Grandpa Percival the butler smiled as he opened the door for me. I wanted to make a good impression on Mother and Father. I thought I had to if I wanted to become real family.
But…
I want Leon oppa to like how I look even more than our parents do.
What kind of feeling is this?