Chapter 49
I calmly laid out a plan going forward, not for myself, but for Gaius.
After listening to everything I had to say, Gaius grasped my hand tightly. Judging by his reaction, it seemed he didn’t even have a single strategist by his side.
It was only natural. The King of Xenon wouldn’t welcome a brilliant strategist serving the fourth prince.
“Baron Louis de Hebron.”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
Your Highness was the honorific reserved for royalty.
Gaius seemed pleased with the title.
“You not only uncovered traces of traitors, but also prevented their attempt to overthrow the Kingdom of Xenon using undead and nefarious theories.”
“I merely did my duty as a noble.”
Gaius smiled, seemingly satisfied with my answer.
“If Xenon had even ten nobles like you, no crisis would be too great to overcome.”
“I am unworthy of such praise, Your Highness.”
“From this moment on, you are no longer Baron Louis de Hebron, but Viscount Louis de Hebron. As the bloodline of the great Xenon royal family and Special Inspector Gaius de Xenon, I hereby bestow upon you the title of Viscount. Furthermore, I grant you dominion over the former Barony of Delgain, and I give you control over the Wastelands. For the next ten years, the taxes of House Hebron will be halved. This is the will of the royal family, anyone who opposes it shall face the wrath of the king.”
‘Finally…!’
It happened even faster than I expected. Though Gaius was simple-minded, his decisiveness was truly exceptional.
He could only make such a decision because he hadn’t factored in the potential for massive civil war that might erupt from the sudden rise of a third viscount alongside Zylson and Slein in this region.
“I am unworthy of Your Highness’s grace!”
“I would summon you to the capital and honor you properly, but now is not the time. Viscount Louis, I entrust you with maintaining order in this region. I will appoint a royal mage as your liaison. Communicate with the royal family through him and exterminate the evil monsters appearing here.”
A royal mage, this was an unexpected blessing.
Even if he was just a liaison, with the right bribes, he could be persuaded to handle all kinds of tasks.
“I, Louis de Hebron, shall devote myself entirely to Your Highness’s will!”
“I must return to the capital. But we shall meet again soon.”
“I await the day eagerly, Your Highness.”
* * *
“Viscount Hebron!”
The booming voice that echoed through the corridor made me flinch instinctively.
It was a reflex from Louis de Hebron’s memories. Perhaps because I’d been scolded by Mother a few times as a child, my body reacted on its own.
“Mother, you’re here?”
“Viscount Hebron, what are you doing up and about? Didn’t your mother, the mother of a viscount, tell you not to move around yet?”
She now addressed me formally in public. Not long ago, she’d spoken to me casually, but ever since I was promoted to viscount, even in the streets, she addressed me as ‘Viscount Hebron’.
I didn’t particularly dislike it, so I didn’t object.
“You should be the one being careful. You’re due any day now.”
After sending the maids away, Mother and I sat on a bench.
She naturally rested her arm on mine. She placed absolute trust in my medical skills.
I checked her pulse and channeled aura to examine her aura roads, a technique based on the legendary methods of Dalia, a famed physician from two centuries ago.
“It looks like the baby will arrive soon. I can feel the growing strength by the day. You’re still practicing the breathing technique I taught you, right?”
With no one listening in, her tone softened.
“I am… but does that thing really work?”
“Of course. It’s a type of aura cultivation method. Mastering it would be ideal, but even just mimicking the breathing technique helps.”
Mother hadn’t learned aura cultivation. Unless they were exceptionally talented, noblewomen rarely studied aura or swordsmanship.
So I had crafted an aura cultivation method just for her.
The Lamazuri Aura Cultivation Method.
It was a unique method developed by Lamazuri, a female knight who had given birth to three children. Legend has it she returned to battle less than a day after giving birth. While her resilient knight’s body surely played a role, records indicate that her aura cultivation method significantly aided the birthing process.
‘This should definitely help. And since it’s only mimicking the breathing, not manipulating aura itself, there’s no risk involved.’
My mother was clearly in the final days of pregnancy.
Thankfully, Hebron remained untouched by war.
–Remain in seclusion until the investigation is complete!
Under this strict royal order, Viscount Slein, who had been preparing for war, had no choice but to lay low. Rumor had it he even had to pay hefty cancellation fees to the mercenaries he’d hired.
Gaius had followed my advice and ordered Slein to pursue the remnants of House Sardia.
As for Pakus, the chief mage of House Breio, he was sent to the Mage Tower, not as a Tower Master, but as a mere vice-tower master. To someone as proud as Pakus, this was no different than exile.
“Are you sure you’re not in any pain?”
“I told you, I’m fine.”
“You still need a few more days of rest. Promise me, okay?”
Even after becoming a viscount, I was still like a child in my mother’s eyes. Though the treatment felt unfamiliar, I played along with her rhythm.
“Promise.”
Mother hooked her little finger with mine and shook it vigorously, then smiled gently.
“You should go rest in your chamber too, Mother.”
“Yes, I feel unusually heavy today. I’ll let you know right away if anything happens.”
“Yes, Mother.”
She rose from the bench.
She was just about to wave over the maid who was waiting a short distance away.
“Oh my!”
“What is it, Mother?”
She looked down at her feet.
Clear water was flowing down between her legs, soaking the floor.
Her water had broken.
“My water just broke. Looks like the baby really is coming, just like you said.”
Her response was calm. In contrast, I was panicking.
Even when I inhaled the dragon’s breath in my past life, I hadn’t been this shocked.
“Get the midwife! Now! Hurry!”
Startled, I shouted, and my mother reached out and tugged on my arm.
She spoke to me in a soft voice, as if addressing a child.
“It’s alright. The baby’s not coming right this instant…”
But then, her brows furrowed.
She took a deep breath. She was in pain.
“Hmmph!”
She squeezed my hand tightly. So tightly that her hand turned white.
I placed my other hand over hers and said.
“M-Mother, breathing! Remember the breathing I taught you. Hooo, haaa.”
“Hooo, haaa.”
Thankfully, she seemed quite accustomed to the breathing technique. That meant she’d been practicing consistently.
I lifted her onto my back and carried her to her chamber.
There wasn’t a dedicated medical facility. It was common for physicians trained in folk remedies to visit and treat patients.
As I heard the sound of the midwife rushing over, I checked my mother’s pulse.
‘What is this? Is this normal? Why are there so many broken aura roads? And in some places, the magical energy is concentrated way too heavily.’
My mother had never learned any aura cultivation methods. Naturally, she had never accumulated aura in her body.
And yet, I could feel magical energy in several spots.
It was utterly unnatural.
‘Is this what childbirth is supposed to be like?’
Though I took pride in my medical knowledge, childbirth had never been part of that expertise.
Childbirth was entirely the midwife’s domain. Perhaps that’s why not a single book had ever been published on the subject.
At last, the midwife arrived.
She was an elderly woman well past sixty, and she immediately asked the maid for hot water, towels, and other supplies. She mixed her own herbal oils into the water and sprinkled some onto the pillows.
I sat beside my mother, who lay with her legs apart.
I held her hand tightly.
“Viscount, it would be better if you waited outside.”
“No. If there’s anything I can do to help, I will.”
The midwife didn’t reply.
Her face was full of discontent.
“Mother, breathe. Inhale through the nose, hooooooooo. Exhale through the mouth, haaaaaaaa. Focus your strength on the spots I touch with my hand.”
I guided her breathing.
To be precise, I was teaching her the Lamazuri Aura breathing technique.
She channeled strength into the points I indicated with my fingertips.
No, more than that, she strained her entire body.
‘Even in this chaotic state… this is how she is…..’
I had thought my mother had no connection to martial arts.
But from what she was showing now, she had more talent than anyone in the Hebron family. No, to be exact, her talent went beyond average; she bordered on prodigious.
“Ugghhh!”
Veins bulged in her neck.
‘Is childbirth supposed to be this painful?’
I’d stepped in to help her without much thought.
I hadn’t expected her to be in this much pain. And the pain didn’t stop quickly, it dragged on and on.
“Honeyyy!”
My father came running as soon as he heard the news.
He burst through the door, grabbed my mother’s hand, and cried out.
“Oh no, honey! Don’t be in pain! You can’t die! I can’t live without you, you know that, right? Ohhh, ohhhh!”
Father was flustered. Even searching my memories, I’d never seen him like this before.
Mother pushed his hand away. Panting heavily, she gestured to him, and I immediately understood what she meant.
“Please wait outside for a while, Father.”
“No! I will stay by your mother’s side! Let us protect her together!”
Mother gestured again. If he insisted any further, she might start cursing at him.
“Father, please leave.”
I was his son, yes, but I was also the head of the household.
That was the rule in noble families. The moment this tradition broke down, so too would a noble’s authority.
“…If anything happens to your mother, I’ll die too.”
Though he said it out of love, I didn’t appreciate those words.
“Is that something a father should say to his son?”
“Take care of her for me.”
“Don’t worry, and wait outside.”
“Your mother has always been frail. She was weak even when she was young. That’s why I used to carry her around…”
At that moment, my mother, who had been focusing on the Lamazuri Aura breathing technique to ease her pain, gasped and shouted.
“Get out! I’m in pain and all I hear is your yapping!”
Father turned to her with wide eyes.
It was probably the first time he’d ever been treated like that by her.
Mother’s pain had reached its peak. Her complexion had gone pale.
Her lips were turning purple, and her face was so swollen it was hard to recognize her.
“Mother, breathing. Focus on your breathing.”
She followed the breathing technique. The midwife tried to intervene with her own methods, but even through the pain, Mother chose mine.
She trusted me.
‘To Mother, her son is a kind of faith.’
Though she was a Haryan follower, she chose her son over Haryan. She listened to my words and believed in them.
And slowly, it began to show results.
“Ahh!”
Mother let out a breath she had been holding in.
That breath carried a foul stench.
After that, her breathing became noticeably lighter.
‘Mother has awakened the aura cultivation method.’
It happened in an instant.
It must have felt like an eternity to her, but to a knight practicing in aura cultivation, it was an incredibly short moment.
