⚠️ EMERGENCY QUEST ⚠️Calm the Rage of Duke Astridje (0/1)
Recommended solution: Hug her from behind and act cute.
'...Can't I just let them all get wiped out?'
The thought surged through my mind the instant I saw the emergency quest pop up before my eyes, but honestly, I was already half-convinced of the reason why not.
'Well, this is a cliché too, isn't it...'
The villainous family head, realizing too late the abuse the protagonist had suffered, goes on a rampage to slaughter everyone—only for the kind-hearted protagonist's plea to stop the massacre. Total cliché.
And even without that, I couldn't let the family I was about to join bear the infamy of massacring a marquisate in broad daylight.
Sure, as the empire's one and only ducal house, they'd probably get away with it, but the System sister's reaction made it clear this incident had to be prevented at all costs.
'But really, can I stop her with something like that?'
The problem was that the terrifying woman rampaging right in front of me didn't seem like the type to calm down just because I hugged her from behind.
Over the past week, sneaking in and out of the family library, I'd learned that the Belverk Ducal House's notoriety had spread far and wide across the empire long ago.
For instance, there was the time family members tore a noble elder to shreds right in front of the emperor himself.
Or how the families of ladies who failed to show up to the third daughter's eagerly awaited birthday party all crumbled to ruin within months.
Rumors abounded of wails echoing from the ducal lands every night, or bodies being buried in the ground day after day.
These were just the most famous incidents—and they expected me to stop the head of such a house by hugging her from behind and acting cute?
'...No, it can work.'
But my doubts lasted only a moment. As the marquis's choked gasps started coming from his mouth, I finished rationalizing it to myself and stood up.
'In a romance fantasy childcare story, this is totally possible.'
The tyrant who was ready to kill everyone with eyes rolled back in fury? The protagonist's cuteness calms them in an instant.
'...I'm really not confident about this stuff.'
The issue was that I now had to play the role of that childcare story's baby protagonist.
"Du... Duke..."
"..."
"Just a moment... Ta... Talk..."
But there was no more time to hesitate. Any longer, and the marquis pinned against the wall, flailing desperately, would breathe his last.
"M-Mom."
Gauging the moment, I slipped behind the female duke and wrapped my trembling arms around her back as carefully as I could, pressing my cheek against her.
- Twitch...!
Her body jerked slightly for an instant, and the murderous aura around her loosened a bit.
"...Let go."
But the voice from ahead was still filled with rage.
"I-I'm scared."
That only made me shrink back more, my voice trembling harder, but she remained unmoved.
"Are you trying to interfere?"
And then, glancing back slightly, she fixed me with a chilling gaze as she spoke.
"If you don't want to get involved, keep your distance..."
But for some reason, her words cut off abruptly.
"...Ah."
I blinked in confusion for a second before realizing why—and my heart sank as I squeezed my eyes shut.
'I'm screwed.'
The female duke's gaze, now somewhat dazed, had landed on the bruises and scars on my arms, exposed from hugging her.
'No, I can't give up like this.'
But I couldn't let things go wrong right from the start.
"B-But..."
Putting on the most pitiful expression I could muster as a last resort, I blurted out the line that had just popped into my head to the now-silent woman.
"I hate seeing people get hurt."
Honestly, that last line was the magnificent culmination of all my romance fantasy childcare knowledge in a moment of crisis.
'...I'm gonna die of embarrassment.'
It absolutely wasn't because I was so scared that some girly speech slipped out unconsciously.
"..."
As my words trailed off, a heavy silence descended on the reception room.
Rumble...
Then, feeling the female duke's fierce killing intent slowly ebb away, I let out a sigh of relief and unwrapped my arms from her back.
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙You're a natural.
"...Kairen."
"Yes?"
"Kairen, was it."
Having casually tossed the unconscious marquis aside, the female duke lowered herself to my eye level and stared at me intently.
"From today, your name is Kairen Nox Belverk."
I'd been looking up at her with a tense expression, but hearing those words finally let me relax completely.
"...Come with me."
✅ QUEST COMPLETED ✅
[Chapter 0 – Adoption]
Be recognized as the youngest son of the Belverk Ducal House (1/1) Calm the rage of Duke Astridje (1/1)
Perfect clear! Congratulations!
Somehow, I'd scraped past the first major hurdle.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
"H-Hiiik...!"
After all that ordeal, my formal adoption into the Belverk family was decided.
"Keep your back straight and walk proudly."
"Y-Yes."
"Belverks bow to no one."
Gripping my hand, the female duke—no, now my mother—led me past the terrified Opstein marquisate servants toward the mansion's exit.
"M-Monster..."
"...!?"
That part was fine, but the problem was the whispers and stares from the servants lined up in the hallway, their faces pale with fear.
Did they not know who was beside me? Or were they all suicidal maniacs eager to end it today?
They thought they were whispering quietly like ants, but with my newly awakened Crimson Eyes, their insults rang crystal clear in my ears.
And naturally, those words reached my mother's ears too.
"Don't worry. No one will be hurt here today."
Glancing nervously at her, I was relieved by her unexpectedly reassuring response.
"If we killed everyone who calls Belverks monsters, the empire's population would dry up."
The words were brutal, but they left a bitter taste.
No matter how bad the Belverk family's reputation, from what I'd investigated, they were founding heroes who'd produced war legends for generations.
Was the reason for such harsh treatment truly the stigma of monster blood?
"W-Wait a minute!"
I was grateful no bloody slaughter would unfold before my eyes, even if it was the house that abused me, and quickened my steps—right then.
"Kairen, what the hell are you doing?"
"Ah."
"Who's that woman next to you? Where do you think you're going?"
From behind us, at the mansion exit after descending the stairs, an angry voice rang out.
"Aren't you going to answer me?"
At the top of the stairs stood none other than Lady Dorsia, wearing her usual stern scowl.
A week ago, I'd have trembled and groveled before her.
But now, even seeing Dorsia didn't make my legs shake.
"Hm."
And rightly so—my mother beside me, holding my hand, was far more terrifying.
For some reason, her eyes seemed to be filling with killing intent again. She wouldn't rampage now, would she?
"D-Do, Dorsia!"
"M-Mother."
I was fretting over whether another "act cute" emergency quest would pop up when—
The Marchioness Opstein came rushing from down the hall, frantically pulling Dorsia into a hug and screaming.
"N-Not my daughter!"
A scoff escaped my mother's lips at those words.
"Even wretched Opsteins cherish their spawn, it seems."
"..."
"Couldn't you have given this child even half that much?"
The words that followed dripped with barely restrained disgust, as if forcing down something repulsive.
'Talk about killing the mood.'
Since realizing the abuse, I'd felt no attachment to this mansion, but witnessing this spectacle to the end soured my mood anyway.
"Farewell, Madam."
Still, I had to play the innocent childcare protagonist, so I put on the purest expression possible, bowed, and bid my final goodbye.
"...Hah."
My mother, who had been watching me quietly, let out another scoff and addressed the mother-daughter pair atop the stairs.
"Remember this. I spared the Opsteins today solely because of this child's wish."
Her tone was dignified now, unlike before, but the implication was chilling.
"Had he desired it even slightly, I would have ground your bones and flesh here and supped on the marrow."
"U-Ugh."
"What a pity."
The follow-up was a blunt threat stripped of all pretense, yet paradoxically, it carried more nobility in its icy delivery.
"Ka-Kairen. Wait."
But I'd overlooked one thing.
"There are still so many games we haven't played."
"..."
"I-I even got a new collar this time. And nice handcuffs, and a food bowl too..."
Lady Dorsia, raised as a princess her whole life, unlike me, had zero sense or tact.
"Oh dear. Kairen."
"...?"
"Something's on your face."
In that instant, my mother reached out to me, whispering softly as she brushed my cheek.
But I saw it clearly.
Just before her hand touched my face, it had flicked through the air.
"KyaAAAAAHHH!!!"
And sure enough, as her hand covered my eyes, Dorsia's scream filled the mansion.
"Oh my, she must have slipped."
When her hand withdrew moments later, what entered my view was Lady Dorsia sprawled at the bottom of the steeply inclined stairs, bleeding profusely—having tumbled the whole way.
Not just bleeding—her legs and arms were twisted at grotesque angles. She'd be in agony for a while.
"You should have watched your child better."
My mother sneered at the marchioness atop the stairs with a cold glare.
"..."
The marchioness bit her lip until it bled, glaring at my mother in fury, but she said nothing as we exited the mansion.
"...I'm sorry for breaking the promise not to let anyone get hurt."
Finally free of the marquisate after so long, basking in sunlight, I responded to my mother's whisper with a bright smile.
"But you see, those aren't people worth calling human."
"Haha..."
"...In that sense, we made the wrong promise from the start."
Of course, inwardly, I was crossing myself at the impending doom awaiting the Opstein Marquisate.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
About an hour after Kairen was rescued from the Opstein Marquisate.
"...Fuck. What the hell is this?"
The three ducal house candidates who bore the Belverk name. The three sisters, said by some to be even more dangerous and cruel than their mother.
An urgent missive stamped with House Head Astridje's seal had been delivered to each of them, scattered across the lands.
"Hehe, Mother's up to something fun again."
Their reactions varied wildly, but they shared one thing.
"...Interesting."
Every one of them had eyes burning crimson as they read the letter.