Chapter 123: Argent Family

As I was about to enter the door with Alice, the door opened. For a moment I thought it would be Astrid,

but when I saw that it was a handsome man, my face twisted. I knew this guy well: it was Doran, my magical circulation instructor. A class that taught you how to circulate mana efficiently and be faster at conjuring spells or arts.

It was useful for both warriors and mages, and very popular, too. Girls loved it because the instructor was extremely handsome. The worst part was that this idiot was the son of the former Duke Argent ,

which made him technically Astrid’s stepson, despite being about the same age. His brother is the current Duke.

I didn’t think anything of it at first, but then Astrid complained to me that Doran was courting her, despite being her stepmother.

’What an indecent fellow, with no shame whatsoever to court his stepmother, and a married woman to boot!…Tch…. well, you’re too late, you idiot. Astrid is mine.’

When our gazes met, he smiled politely and greeted us.

I feigned ignorance, I waved back, as did Alice, although I noticed that he lingered for an unnecessary fraction of a second looking at her too long….

’yeah, I’ll definitely kill him someday.’ My personal list of people to eliminate is getting longer and longer, although some I will simply kill socially, like the guy who courted me on my birthday, or if they are too persistent, I will have to truly bury them.

Without further ado, we moved on and entered Astrid’s personal lounge.

Click.

I locked the door and we finally entered. Astrid was sitting at her desk, a bit lost in thought. I got a little angry, who knows what that bastard Doran said to her, to leave her in that state? I approached, but she didn’t wake up from her reverie.

I reached around her back and wrapped my arms around her shoulders, hugging her.

“Astrid, love, tell me what’s wrong, why are you like this?”

When I put my arms around her, she reacted on instinct and, for a second, panicked. But when she discovered it was me, she calmed down. She asked me what I was doing to act like this.

“Ah, Chris, when did you get here? …and it’s nothing…it’s more of a family thing.”

Astrid didn’t seem to want to talk to me about what happened, but I wasn’t going to back down. This might sound a little intense, but no way am I going to let the situation escalate, to one day suddenly say to me:

“Chris, we can’t be together, I have to do….. ’I don’t know what thing’…for your sake and mine or for the sake of our daughter.”

If I can imagine Astrid doing that for the sake of our daughter, who as a stepfather I have yet to meet, For some reason, Astrid doesn’t want to tell me much about her daughter, but from what little I’ve been able to find out from listening to stories about her, she’s a girl of about thirteen or ten.

Even though she’s not that far behind me in age, I’ll be sure to take care of her, like a daughter, as for whether I’m ready to be a stepfather, well, you’re not born knowing.

Not wanting this to get unnecessarily complicated, I’ll try to get the information out of her.

“Astrid, you can’t just say things like that. Doesn’t our thing mean nothing? Don’t you think I can be of help to you? I thought were family .”

“This… but, this is a little, you know, I don’t want to burden you… haa…, well you’re right. Will you listen to me?”

“Of course, love.”

She seemed hesitant, but our relationship has reached a point where even a topic that seems sensitive and personal, she will tell me, although she seemed hesitant at first

I for one certainly planning to definitely tell him my identity and my past we had already harvested true feelings for each other. That was also why I brought Alice to slowly join the group.

..

.

I listened to Astrid’s story, and when she finished, I couldn’t help but get angry. That bastard! Apparently, Astrid’s former Duke and legal husband, whom I had forgotten about, and was technically a victim of an NTR was on his last legs.

And that bastard who came wanted to bargain with Astrid to marry her. That, in itself, was bad enough, but what was worse was that the bastard had a son among the students of this generation at the academy and wanted to marry him to his daughter.

It may sound strange, but just as a harem is a normal thing, this is also relatively common. And I say “relatively” because sibling marriage is allowed.

Not only that, Astrid would be wife number 40. That guy had a colossal harem… what an envious… I mean, what a scumbag of a person! He is beyond salvation.

Apparently, he proposed good terms to Astrid, and she was thinking about the future of her daughter, who was apparently falling behind in her generation,

If I think about it, Astrid’s daughter could be in the third generation, umm…’ I was a little worried about a possibility that came to my mind, but it’s a long way off, and by that time I’ll have made preparations.

That aside, Astrid is a honey of a mother, and that’s something I like about her.

Honestly my alternate self didn’t know what became of her after I graduated from the academy, whether she got married or not, I don’t know but I will never allow it in this life, having me she wouldn’t have to worry about resources any more

’ I’ve never given my stepdaughter anything, so it’s time to be a generous stepfather.’

From what I understood, his daughter has a talent for being a warrior, so she will need a lot of things, even for the future, and I had a lot of things. I started pulling them out and putting them one by one on the table.

Most of them were things found between the first and second vault of William’s legacy, as well as a lot of resources I have as a daughter of the duchy, which I always asked for extra for the girls, and my generous father didn’t hesitate to give me.

I was also going to pull out a powerful craft, from among those I transcribed from my memories inherited from my alternate self, and well…. Since his daughter is from the Argent duchy, a defensive martial art or something like that would be useful, since they tend to have high affinities in that, like Cordelia. But I’m going to ask…

“Astrid, does your daughter have any special affinities or talents?”

“Uh… oh, yes, in endurance, protection, and some affinity for metal…. but what’s all this, honey?”

’Oh, so it’s like Cordelia. Well, then that martial art will be perfect.’

It’s an art that is vastly better than those possessed by the Argent familyAnd now that I think about it, how are Cordelia and Astrid related?.

I mean, it may seem obvious that the mysterious daughter of Astrid, would be Cordelia or something like that, as in the cliches, since both have the same surname, but it was not something so easy to say since the Argent family is big, very big.

The damn previous duke and husband of Astrid has dozens of children, and even more illegitimate ones. That guy was a disaster who caused quite a stir during the current duke’s time of succession.

So Cordelia could be an illegitimate daughter of that promiscuous old man, or she could also be a descendant of one of the countless children he has lying around.

Even the current duke is much older in age than Astrid and not far behind his father with more wives than even Doran, so Cordelia could legally be AStrid’s stepdaughter or granddaughter.

It’s a fucking complicated family, and that’s without even looking at idiot Doran, who has forty wives, even Cordelia could be his illegitimate daughter. In fact, from what I could see, there are about five Argent besides Cordelia, including Ivan, who is the illegitimate son of the current Duke and is also in this academy.

And that’s just what I could see in her state, who knows if there are more? And even one of them could be Doran’s son. So maybe that’s why my alternate self could never find Cordelia’s background when researching her. Maybe it’s so convoluted that they just erased everything. Well, Ivan and Cordelia are the most talented of the, who knows, how many children of that house?

“Chris, hey!”

“Uh, oh, I got lost in my thoughts… here’s the latest.” I finally pulled out the ’metal art’, which I had transcribed. I had planned to give it to Cordelia if things went well, but hey, my stepdaughter has priority right now.

“I don’t mean… what’s all this, where did you get all this stuff and what are you getting it for?”

“No, well, it’s a gift for our daughter. She’s growing up and this stuff will come in handy, right?”

“Well yes, but… Chris, wouldn’t it be better if you used this for yourself? There are many valuable things here, not even found in this realm. No, rather… where did you get this?”

“Hey, I told you a few months ago, we broke into an old heirloom place and took a bunch of stuff. Don’t worry about me, I got a lot more.”

“No, but this is still too much… I can’t accept it.”

“Don’t worry. It’s my duty as a father. Like I said, we’re family. Your daughter is my daughter, so it’s the least I can do. Don’t worry about being abandoned by that old duke, I’ll always be there for you.”

“Honey…” Astrid looked touched. In fact, she received little help from the duchy since she was not one of the first wives, and the Duke she married retired, plus everything she earned from being an instructor until then went to her daughter.

But now I will support her in everything. In fact, I should have done this earlier, but well, it was now that our relationship escalated to the point where we can call each other family.

I didn’t come just for her body… well, I did come for that at first, I mean, that fucking perfect body is a…. no, well, maybe in the beginning, but the situation has changed, and for me this won’t end even when I graduate from the academy.

I moved closer to her and we started kissing. We were caught up in the atmosphere. Come to think of it, this could be an opportunity.

“Astrid, dear, while we’re at it, why don’t you introduce me to our daughter?” Astrid is very secretive about that. I just know she calls her Lili. I had no ulterior motive, it was just curiosity that had been killing me for a long time and I wanted to know.

“…I’m sorry, honey, but…well, I don’t think it’s time yet. I’ve been telling her about you lately, but I think it will take a while for her to accept you. And when that happens, I’ll introduce you to her.”

’Yes, that’s what she always says, which only fans my flames more. I wonder what all the secrecy is about.’ Well, this could be a touchy subject for his daughter, whose father is an old geezer of hundreds of years.

Well, I think I’m forgetting something….. oh, Alice! Right. At that point I looked at her, since she was always by my side, and by inertia, Astrid saw her too. So I introduced them.

“Astrid, you see, this is one of the girls I maintain a relationship with. I guess you’ve seen them during class. This is Alice. Alice, this is Astrid.”

I introduced them and they both looked at each other silently. Alice had a strange expression, but she didn’t seem to have anything against Astrid, so it was time to begin.

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