The Return (6)
The officials who served in the Imperial Palace would breathe sighs of relief whenever they confirmed that Her Majesty's mood had softened after spending time with me.
…Which was exactly why I wished they'd stop giving me those looks that said they were counting on me.
I couldn't have told you precisely why, but every time one of those trusting gazes landed on me, it stirred up a rather peculiar feeling.
Anyway, back to the matter at hand: the fact that Her Majesty the Empress was carrying my child was hardly strange at all.
She summoned me at every opportunity and fawned over me like that—anything short of this would have been the stranger outcome.
The next Emperor of the Han Dynasty.
Just hearing the phrase was enough to multiply my worries several times over.
At the very least, I'd be spared worrying about the child's career path. Short of some truly disqualifying flaw, they would ascend the throne without a hitch.
Honestly, even now it didn't quite feel real that my child would one day become the most exalted being under heaven.
Well… I'd known this day would come and steeled myself for it, so all that remained was to teach them diligently.
And if, despite everyone's guidance, my child ever looked likely to run the realm into the ground, I fully intended to stand in the way. My position at court was enormous; anyone hoping to take the throne over my objection would have no recourse but some truly red-hot flaming filial piety.
Whether flaming filial piety would even work on me was another question entirely.
…Then again, if someone could actually pull it off—smashing straight through Seo Yeo and Lü Bu, who never strayed from my side—I'd have to admit their ability was thoroughly proven.
To a man who still carried a modern soul's sensibilities, the thought of one's own flesh and blood at each other's throats was a genuinely bitter one.
No—forget being a modern man. Asking any parent to fight their own child for their life would leave a deep wound.
Fight to the death with the same little one who beamed like an angel the moment you walked through the door?
I didn't need to dwell on it long to know what a tremendous weight that would press on my heart.
To make sure such a thing never came to pass, nothing mattered more than raising the children well from their earliest years, so they never went astray.
The question was whether I was actually capable of educating them properly…
But rather than shudder at a future that had yet to arrive, wasn't it better to stride forward with my head held high?
After spending a while sharing affection with Her Majesty, I slipped out of the Imperial Palace without difficulty and made for a certain building.
The reason was none other than this: my mother was minding the children.
I could still picture her expression from the moment I'd asked her to watch them for a little while—delighted and daunted in equal measure.
By now, at the mercy of my children, she'd be learning in her bones just how grueling childcare really was.
──WAAAAH─!
…
The moment I drew near the building, a baby's wail came pouring out.
From that sound alone, I could predict exactly what kind of disaster was unfolding inside.
Slam!
And having flung the door open without a second's hesitation, here is what I saw.
"WAAAAAH──!!"
"S-Stop crying and hush up now, okay? Hm? Your daddy will be here any minute!"
"WAAAAAAAH──!!"
Pow!
"Urk!"
Lü Bu, who had been trying to soothe Yeo Hwa as the baby squirmed endlessly in her arms—and had taken a picture-perfect uppercut for her trouble.
"Our little darling! Look at this! Fun, right?!"
…
"Th-then how about this one? Is this one fun?"
…
My mother, parading one toy after another in a desperate bid for attention—and Seo Hui, immovable as a bodhisattva statue.
"Gyaaoo!"
"Byeoo!"
And atop Zhang Fei—flopped flat on the floor as though her strength had finally given out—three babies giggling away.
'What a mess.'
I nodded solemnly as I took in the pandemonium.
…Hold on, though—wasn't there a baby in this mix I'd never seen before?
So Zhang Fei had come through her delivery safely, then.
It goes without saying, but the moment I arrived at my mother's house, my first order of business was settling the little darlings responsible for all the chaos.
First came Yeo Hwa, who had been wailing hard enough to bring the building down.
Actually, "coaxed and comforted" might be putting it a bit generously.
"…Dada?"
"That's right. Papa's here."
"Dada!"
Because the instant Yeo Hwa laid eyes on me, her tears stopped mid-breath and her face split into a beaming grin.
"Ngh… my own daughter is playing favorites…"
Watching the scene, Lü Bu rubbed the jaw her daughter had clobbered and spoke in a voice thick with hurt.
A clean hit on Lü Bu, the Matchless Under Heaven herself… Now that was an achievement worth bragging about anywhere—even if it was an uppercut she'd caught by pure accident while squirming in Lü Bu's arms.
Cooing over Yeo Hwa as she stretched her little arms out to be picked up, I moved on to my next target.
"Good grief… she just won't react to anything I do…"
…
The child who had only stared blankly at everything my mother tried turned her head in one smooth motion the moment she heard my footsteps.
My mother's head followed hers, and on spotting me, her face lit up.
"Son! You're here!"
"Yes. I'm here."
"Then here—take her!"
"…Pardon?"
Before I'd even finished reeling from the abrupt declaration, my mother had pressed the Seo Hui she'd been holding straight into my arms.
"Our pretty girl just won't smile! Tell me how you do it!"
I blinked a couple of times at the request.
"I'm hardly the right person to ask about that."
"Nonsense! You know exactly how—don't you!"
…Which was true, actually.
Seo Hui took after her mother—a child who almost never showed emotion.
She barely even cried, though crying was a baby's one and only means of talking to the world.
Frankly, a baby ought to howl the house down when she'd soiled herself or was hungry, but even then Seo Hui would only fuss a little before settling, which was more than a little disconcerting.
It was a mercy that this child's mother was Seo Yeo, blessed with superhuman senses.
Seo Yeo attended to whatever the baby needed with startling speed, as though mother and daughter shared a telepathic link.
Other babies were probably much the same, but I'd wager Seo Yeo had kept Seo Hui glued to her side twenty-four hours a day under close watch.
Seo Hui was simply the sort of child who exasperated her caregivers in an entirely different way.
…
I offered Seo Hui, who was watching me with those blank, unblinking eyes, a tentative smile.
"…Peekaboo?"
"Oh, come on… Son! There's no way she'd smile at something like that…?"
My mother, who had been on the verge of chiding me for my antics, froze in open shock at the reaction from the Seo Hui in my arms.
"…She smiled?"
Having confirmed that the corners of Seo Hui's mouth had lifted, if only by a hair, my mother's shoulders sagged just as Lü Bu's had.
…Was this somehow my fault?
Why did the air suddenly turn so awkward?
I'd more or less seen it coming, but Yeo Hwa and Seo Hui, nestled in my arms, had clamped onto my clothes for dear life, as if to declare they had no intention of letting go.
The moment I pried these darlings off me, Seo Hui might bear it, but Yeo Hwa would wail the roof down.
But right now, there was someone else who needed my help.
"Guan Yu."
"You called for me."
I tipped my chin toward Zhang Fei, flat on the floor, her position annexed outright by the babies.
"Go give her a hand."
"…As you command."
The woman with the striking azure eyes gazed at Zhang Fei, sprawled out like a corpse, and let out a sigh.
"Come here."
"Gyaaoo?"
Guan Yu lifted the first baby—the one lying adorably prone beside Zhang Fei, apparently determined to copy her.
"Gyaa—!"
The baby in Guan Yu's arms—Guan Ping—blinked her eyes a few times, then worked out who was holding her and broke into a sunny smile.
"Now you, come here as well."
"Aboo."
Next she scooped up Cao Cao's child, who had planted herself atop Zhang Fei's back like conquered territory.
Cao Ang was strangely unshy with strangers and good-natured to boot—so much so that I could scarcely believe such a child had been born to that Cao Cao of all people.
All that remained was the baby who, seemingly inexhaustible, babbled away as it crawled nonstop around Zhang Fei… and there lay exactly one problem.
"Waaeh…"
…
The moment Guan Yu drew near, the little one flinched and began to pull a face on the verge of tears.
Truthfully, there was nothing so strange about that.
Zhang Fei's baby was seeing all of us for the first time today.
"Hmm…"
Taking in the baby's reaction, Guan Yu crouched down quietly, then addressed Zhang Fei.
"How long do you intend to lie there like that? Our lord is watching. Get up at once."
"R-Really?!"
Zhang Fei, until now sprawled like a corpse, snapped her head up as though someone had whispered a magic incantation in her ear.
It had been a long while since I'd last seen her looking so fresh and full of life.
"Dada…"
Yeo Hwa, perhaps having spent every last ounce of strength on her earlier tantrum, had nodded off mid-drowse; I quietly passed her over to Lü Bu.
What good had clutching my clothes so tight done her, anyway? The moment she started dozing, her grip went slack all on its own.
When I stole a glance downward, Seo Hui was still gazing up at me with those wide, unblinking eyes.
…Prying this one loose was going to be another contest of strength—like going a round with Seo Yeo.
Zhang Fei shot upright, scooped up her baby with practiced ease, and came straight over to me.
"Well?! Isn't my daughter adorable?!"
"…She really is."
Another daughter, huh.
At this rate, maybe the problem lay with me.
Musing on that, I looked back and forth between Zhang Fei's sparkling eyes and the baby's bewildered little face—and burst out laughing.
"Did you end up going with the name we picked out together?"
"Of course!"
At my question, Zhang Fei declared it with total confidence and nodded hard.
"Uh… so it's Zhang Bao, right?"
…
Honestly, what was I supposed to do with her if she'd mixed up her own daughter's name.
Gazing at Zhang Fei—unchanged despite all the years that had passed—I gave her hair a hearty ruffle.