I’m a Villainess but So Popular

Editor: Aru

Side Story 8. Winter passed, Spring comes (1)

Eugene didn’t answer his father’s question.

He just looked at his father with his cold, glowing blue eyes.

A heavy sigh of Ricktuanis was heard.

But Eugene had no intention of backing down.

“Are you worried about the successor?”

Eugene also knew well that he was unilaterally stubborn.

However, since he had lived as his father wanted, he thought he could be stubborn about this.

“I also have no intention of completely ending the Ace family with this single stubbornness.”

Looking at the white eyes of Ricktuanis, Eugene said softly.

“Don’t worry too much, we’ll take in the adoption and make sure there is no problem in nurturing a successor.”

He already planned it a long time ago, but because there’s no suitable successor from the relatives family, it didn’t occur right away.

Also, in fact, Eugene didn’t even want to adopt a child he didn’t even know and let him walk the same path as him.

But he decided that he had to say this to convince Ricktuanis.

“What are you going to do if you don’t find a suitable child?”

“There’s no way such a child didn’t exist in this empire.”

“It would be better to have an heir who inherited Ace’s magic than to wish for that little possibility. You know that, don’t you?”

Eugene refuted Ricktuanis’ comments.

“But it doesn’t mean that all the direct children would have the magical powers inherited.”

Ricktuanis’ eyebrows went up.

He did not refute what Eugene said.

In an icy silence, Eugene prepared to hear the screams in his heart.

‘That’s not wrong.’

Ricktuanis’s predecessor was the eldest of four siblings.

All four siblings had a father who was Trump, but the other three had poor magical abilities except for the eldest son.

In addition, the second son lived like a spoiled brat and was eventually expelled from the family.

Ricktuanis, who told Eugene that case himself, must also be aware that Eugene is right.

However, Eugene knew that Ricktuanis, who considered contradicting himself as a bad thing, would judge that word as “disrespectful.”

“Huh, by the way.”

Ricktuanis leaned against the back of the chair, kicking his tongue.

“You make me speechless.”

“…….”

There was silence again.

Even though he was clearly in the room, Eugene felt as if the cold air outside had flowed in.

It wasn’t until a long time later that Ricktuanis opened his mouth first.

“I knew it, but that kid is really great.”

Eugene looked up and saw his father’s blue eyes.

And for a brief moment, Eugene saw a glimmer of admiration pass through his eyes.

“I can’t believe you made me say this.”

At the end of that, Ricktuanis looked at the snow-covered branches over Eugene’s shoulder through the window for a while.

And suddenly got up and stepped toward the door.

“Father?”

Surprised, Eugene got up and called Ricktuanis.

“Father, let’s talk for a second…….”

“Well, I got it.”

His blue eyes, which resemble him, looked back on Eugene.

“Now that you are the head of the house, what can I say to you about what you do?”

Eugene shut up at his words.

This was not an approval or permission.

It was more of a resignation.

“Take care of your successor. I can’t back down as much as that.”

“Yes.”

Upon receiving Eugene’s confirmation, Ricktuanis turned his head and grabbed the doorknob.

“However, I’ll tell you in advance.”

Darting, he heard the door open.

“I’m sure you’ll regret your choice.”

After saying something like that, more like a curse, the door closed.

His heart was pierced and the gap seemed to be filled with cold air, but Eugene was not sick of it.

It was the routine here.

The North was originally such a place.

“There’s no way I’ll regret it.”

Eugene, who was brooding over his father’s words, muttered.

He didn’t care when he heard his father’s curse.

This time he knew he was right, so he wasn’t shaken at all.

However, this did not mean that Eugene’s heart-filled coldness disappeared.

Feeling frustrated, Eugene opened the window wide.

Snow piled up on the window frame poured down, and the biting cold wind flowed in.

The whole world was like a sheet of paper.

“…….it’s still winter.”

Eugene muttered as he was looking at the white snowfield that resembled him.

* * *

“Have you seen it?”

“………”

“Did you see my mother?”

Looking down at the silver-haired boy who kept asking the same question, Eugene felt a headache coming after a long time.

When the users saw Eugene sighing and holding his forehead with his right hand, they didn’t know what to do.

“So, you said, he was standing in front of the gate?”

“Yes, someone left the child with the letter.”

It’s going to spin.

It was a word that popped into Eugene’s mind.

‘Isn’t it crazy? I can’t believe there’s a person who dumped the baby in front of the castle with just one blanket in the winter. Does she want him to freeze to death?’

When Eugene was cursing in front of the users, the butler carefully held out a crumpled letter.

“This is the letter that the child’s mother supposedly left behind.”

Anyway, it seems that the mother’s affection for the child has already cooled down, so what should she write this letter for?

While thinking about it, Eugene opened the letter that the butler gave him.

“This is……”

After reading the letter, Eugene felt like his headache was getting worse.

The authenticity of this letter was unknown, but one thing was certain.

That something very complicated will happen in the future.

“Okay, I understand. For the time being, let’s keep the child at the castle.”

“Yes.”

The butler bowed his head and received the letter Eugene handed back.

“Take care of the child until we find a suitable place for him to adopt.”

“Of course.”

The Ace’s users were sincere and loyal to their master.

‘When this is over, I’ll give him a little reward.’

Just when Eugene was thinking to herself, the child stood up and said, holding the table with both his hands.

“But where are we?”

Eugene couldn’t figure out what to say to the child’s eyes.

A middle-aged maid who saw him as stiff as a statue hugged the child with a deft touch and answered the question.

“This is the castle of snow where the great Duke lives, my dear.”

“Castle?”

“Yes, and you arrived here at the invitation of the Duke.”

“Oh, I see. So where’s my mom?”

Looking at the back of the maid who was leaving the room with the child in her arms, Eugene sighed.

* * *

The child did not whine or cry at all.

The users who came up to report on the child all said that the child was uncharacteristically demure.

They were attached to the child in turn, but the child always asked the users where their mother had gone and said nothing.

Until the next user comes back in.

‘Don’t kid usually cry a lot?’

And even when he was alone with Eugene, the very first thing the child would ask is where his mother had gone.

When asked the difficult question, Eugene stuttered and lied that his mother would be here in a few days.

“I see.”

After that one word, the child didn’t open his mouth again.

Eugene asked the child who was wriggling on the bed Eugene used when he was young.

“You, what’s your name?”

The child didn’t tend to talk first, but he answered someone else’s question steadily.

“Aster.”

“What’s your mother’s name?”

“Uhm, Lilianne.”

His mother’s name is Lilianne.

This might be a clue.

“Who’s your father?”

Then the child shook his head.

“I don’t have a father.”

Eugene, who briefly bit his lips at the child’s answer, approached the bed and asked again.

“Well, haven’t you seen anyone with hair in a similar colour to mine?”

Eugene pointed to his hair and the child’s blue eyes rolled slowly.

“None.”

That’s right.

‘That man would have been your father…….’

The letter said the little boy abandoned in front of the castle was the great-grandchild of Ricktuanis’s uncle, who was expelled from the family.

And the letter also said that the mother couldn’t afford to raise a child, so she left the child to the Ace family, which had connections with the child.

She doesn’t even ask Ace’s family to raise him, so she said she would be grateful if they send him to a decent place for adoption.

Looking down at the child with his eyes wide open, Eugene was lost in thought.

‘Yeah, From the letter alone, there is no evidence that he inherited the Ace family lineage……..’

But, the appearance of the child was too strong evidence.

Ace’s family members have unique silver hair, shining brightly like the moonlight, and cold blue eyes.

Incidentally, the child had a look that looked quite similar to Eugene’s childhood.

“How old are you?”

When asked by Eugene, the child opened his four fingers.

‘Four years old.’

For his age, Eugene thought the child is already good at speaking.

‘I don’t think he’s the type to talk about things like that.’

Yerine’s and Cassius’s son, whom he saw at the palace last time, really talked nonstop.

He didn’t think this kid was the type to answer questions.

When the silence flowed in the room, Eugene felt unbearably awkward.

For some reason, he felt like he had to do something for the child, but he couldn’t really guess what the child wanted.

Just then, he heard a growl coming from somewhere.

Surprised and flabbergasted, the child slowly placed his hands on his stomach.

“………are you hungry?”

The child nodded still at Eugene’s question.

He got up with his back to the bed and called the user right away.

“Please prepare something for the child to eat.”

Commanding him in a quiet voice, the child looked at him with his spotless blue eyes.