Moreover, he knew why Saena was so dedicated to this research, so he couldn’t complain.

He recalled the moment she told him about her pregnancy.

‘Constantine.’

‘Saya?’

‘I have something to tell you.’

Her eyes were slightly teary, and her heart pounded.

Why did she keep crying?

She had cried profusely that early morning, saying she had a strange dream.

He had even reviewed his recent actions, wondering if he had inadvertently made her feel insecure.

‘…Why are you crying again?’

‘I’m happy.’

Happy to the point of tears?

Her expression was different from the one she had that early morning, but seeing the moisture in her eyes was still unsettling.

‘Did I do something wrong?’

‘Hmm…’

If Yuri was right, then Constantine had made a mistake by getting her pregnant with twins, but Saena didn’t say that because she was happy about the twins.

‘No, it’s not that. You’ll be a father next year.’

‘…What… did you say?’

For a moment, Constantine couldn’t understand what he was hearing.

‘I’m pregnant, me.’

She had already confirmed it with her doctor and was telling him now.

‘…You, you’re… pregnant…’

Constantine repeated the words as if he had forgotten what pregnancy meant, then his mouth dropped open in shock.

‘And they’re twins.’

His mouth opened even wider.

Faced with this sudden and overwhelming news, he seemed to freeze.

When he finally regained his composure, he blurted out a series of incoherent words.

But one thing was clear: he was very happy.

As the shock wore off and he fully understood what she had said, an indescribable joy washed over him.

‘Saya…! I’m so, so happy.’

They hadn’t planned to have children or thought about what to do if they had them. To be precise, they hadn’t really thought about it at all.

But the idea of having a child with her made him very happy.

A daughter who looked like Saena would be adorable. A son who looked like her would be great too…!

‘Wait, wait! You said twins? Is that safe? Is it dangerous?’

Having one child at a time would be challenging enough, but the thought of her small frame carrying two babies made him incredibly worried.

Why did it have to be two at once?!

‘It’s fine. I’m very happy about the twins.’

‘But if it’s dangerous…’

‘It’s efficient to have two at once, isn’t it?’

While he didn’t know much about parenting, he understood that efficiency wasn’t the right way to look at it.

But she seemed genuinely happy.

‘I am a bit worried, though.’

‘What about?’

If it was something he could help with, he was determined to do whatever it took to ease her worries.

Saena’s expression turned slightly distant as she slowly spoke.

‘It’s about the succession…’

‘……’

‘Succession is necessary, right? But I hope our child can inherit without the pain you went through.’

‘……’

He was speechless.

Yes, that’s right….

She would have to pass on the inheritance to the child she bore….

The pure joy he felt when he learned about the pregnancy turned into a complex mix of emotions as he thought about the responsibilities that would come with it.

While he wouldn’t subject his child to the process starting at eight years old, even starting at fifteen would mean five years of suffering.

The thought of making his child go through that painful process made his heart heavy.

What must the previous dukes have felt when they passed on the inheritance to their children?

Especially the previous duke, who had subjected an eight-year-old child, a child who looked just like him, to that obvious pain.

Feeling his mood sink, it was Saena who comforted him.

‘That’s why I want to try various methods within my means.’

‘…Methods?’

If there were methods to eliminate the pain of the process, wouldn’t the previous dukes have tried them?

But he didn’t say that. Saena’s words weren’t said lightly.

Even if they couldn’t eliminate all the pain, if they could reduce it, it would be worth trying.

‘I’ll need your cooperation for that.’

Whatever cooperation was needed, if it could reduce his child’s suffering, he was ready to do anything.

Seeing his readiness to listen, Saena slowly laid out her plan.

* * *

As Yuri had said, the following year, the Kramer mansion was filled with the cries of two babies.

They were not just twins, but fraternal twins of different genders.

After 36 hours of labor, the babies were born, and they were incredibly adorable.

Both had black hair, with one inheriting Saena’s eye color and the other inheriting Constantine’s.

The pregnancy was quite challenging.

While she had experienced intense mood swings in the early stages, they subsided as the pregnancy progressed. It seemed that being pregnant with twins made Saena very happy.

When Constantine asked if there was a specific reason, she simply said she liked twins.

But strangely, her morning sickness didn’t start in the early stages but in the middle, and it lasted for quite a while, making it difficult for her to eat.

With two babies in her womb, her inability to eat properly made her visibly lose weight.

Seeing this, Constantine was restless and tried his best to get her to eat something.

But no matter what he brought, she couldn’t keep it down, and the sight of her suffering made his heart ache.

Then, Saena finally discovered something she could eat without any repulsion: grilled fish from the ‘Forgotten Land.’

If she ate grilled fish from anywhere else, her body would somehow know and reject it, so Constantine had to use the warp gate every day to go to the Forgotten Land and catch fish to bring back.

It was quite a hardship, but he didn’t think of it as a hardship at all.

He was so grateful that there was something she could eat.

As he went in and out of the neutral zone every day to catch fish, Caligo complained that he thought his job was a fisherman, but he didn’t care.

Compared to the pain of seeing Saena wasting away because she couldn’t swallow anything, anything was worth doing.

Time passed like that.

Kyah-woo! Kyak kyak!

The children grew up, and occasionally made incomprehensible sound effects while running around everywhere.

That’s right. They were already old enough to run around.

“Yuri, Uncle!”

Not only that, but they were also good at talking now.

The little one who ran to Yuri and hugged him was Primula Kramer, who was now five years old.

She inherited her blue eyes from her dad, but when her emotions ran high, they would turn a purplish-blue, as if a little of her mom’s purple was mixed in. She was a very cute girl.

And she loved her dad very much, and she also called Yuri uncle and loved him very much.

“……”

Constantine was a little uncomfortable.

Sometimes it seemed like she liked Yuri more than her dad.

No. When that happened, he was very, very uncomfortable.

Saena’s research was still ongoing. That meant that Yuri was still appearing very often.

The children, who had started running around on their own feet, were not easy for the nannies to stop, and every time they would throw a fit, saying they wanted to go where their mom was, they would go in and out of the study and naturally meet Yuri.

Saena had given Yuri the title of ‘uncle’ to the children and had put him in the category of family.

He wasn’t very happy about it, but he also knew that he wasn’t in a position to object.

“…Prim!”

However, seeing Primula openly pass him by, who had his arms open, and hug Yuri, it was more than just uncomfortable, it was shocking. He uttered his daughter’s nickname in a sigh.

Seeing him like that, Yuri hugged Primula even tighter and patted her, making a sly face, but Constantine was too shocked to even speak.

“Lua, go hug Dad.”

At that moment, Saena whispered to Luafe, who was already in her arms, and persuaded him. (When Primula went to Yuri, Luafe had headed to his mom.)

Luafe was Primula’s older brother, born 30 minutes earlier of the twins.

“Dad seems shocked. Hurry.”

She spoke softly, but Constantine’s excellent hearing could hear everything.

“Go tell him you love him, okay?”

Saena’s voice, soothing Luafe as if she felt sorry for him, could be heard.

Luafe sighed softly, then suddenly put on an affectionate attitude, shouted “Dad–!” loudly, and ran to hug Constantine.

No, it was more like Luafe patting his back, as if he was comforting his dad, rather than hugging him.

It was as if he was saying, ‘I’m annoyed, but compromise with this.’

It sounded like Constantine made a small ‘kheuh’ sound, but he must have misheard it.

Saena found this situation, which repeated every time, somewhat funny, and almost laughed, but she barely held it in because Constantine’s expression was too serious.

And she declared sternly.

“You guys. You are banned from entering the study for the time being.”

“Woong?”

“What’s ‘banned’?”

“It means you two can’t come here anymore.”

This time, both twins had shocked expressions.

“Why?”

“Why?”

“Not just you two, but you too.”

“…Saya?!”

Constantine’s pupils shook wildly as Saena delivered another shocking news after the shock caused by Primula.

“The research is in its final stages. I want to focus for a while.”

“What’s ‘research’?”

“What’s ‘focus’?”

“…Do you think it’s possible?”

Question marks were flying everywhere.

After explaining to the twins that they should ask their dad about the words they were curious about, she spoke to Constantine.

“I see a possibility, but the problem is the engraving. The engraving will change depending on the implementation method, and then the usage will also change, so I think we will need to do various tests.”

Engraving Arlesian letters on a diamond, the hardest gemstone, was a difficult task in itself. They had to be engraved in layers, but the letters couldn’t be smudged.

She had hired an engraver for the time being, but it remained to be seen if it would work out.

If it didn’t work out, Saena was also considering learning the engraving method herself and trying to engrave it in various ways.

Also, a joint experiment with Constantine was needed.

Caligo’s power was always compatible with the black diamond, so that part was taken for granted, but whether the power worked properly when it was infused, and whether it fulfilled its role, were tasks that required various experiments.

“I think I’ll need to do experiments with you around that time.”

Saena shared with Constantine the research progress so far, the current obstacles, and the direction to move forward.

The twins became quiet at the sight of their parents having a conversation that seemed very difficult.

And after the conversation was over, Constantine left the study, carrying one of his children in each arm. The weight of the children in both arms was reassuring and proud, and suddenly he had such a thought.

If they can’t go in and out of the study, my children won’t see Yuri so often!

‘And if the research is over, they won’t see him anymore!’

Children quickly forget faces even after a short time, so it might not be long before that ‘uncle’ or whatever he is, becomes a non-existent being.

A sly smile spread across Constantine’s lips, but others didn’t know the reason.

They just thought he was smiling because his children were cute.

The sight of Constantine walking away with two children dangling from both arms looked particularly cheerful, but it was probably just an illusion.