Chapter 2

After shaking the mage by the collar so much that he collapsed, saying the world was spinning, I dragged him into the reception room once he came to his senses—while Aksion continued sleeping peacefully.

Once he recovered, he started explaining everything that had happened at the Magic Tower.

While shedding huge chicken-droplet tears.

Sniff.

“H-hngh…”

“Oh come on, stop crying already. You’re a grown adult. And look—this baby is being perfectly quiet.”

“That’s because he’s sleeping without knowing anything about the world!”

“Shhh. Don’t yell when there’s a baby asleep. Will you take responsibility if he wakes up? Hm?”

The mage flinched and shook his head quickly. The navy handkerchief in his hand was already soaked with tears.

He muttered in a small, sulking voice.

“I’m crying because it’s unfair… unfair.”

“Unfair? You put a dragon heart into a baby’s chest without the guardian’s permission—how do you justify that?”

“T-that’s because… um… it was the Tower Master’s order…”

“Good. Call that Tower Master here. I’ll rearrange his teeth for him.”

“Hiieeek—!”

The mage slapped both hands over his mouth, his face turning pale.

… Are all Tower mages this cowardly? It seems unfair to generalize from one person, but wow. Suspicious.

I stared at the top of his trembling head, sighed deeply, and crossed my arms.

“So what you’re saying is—you had no choice if you wanted to save the child. Right?”

“Yes! When the baby was about to stop breathing, the dragon heart started humming and glowing! So I—I mean, the Tower Master—was shocked and—”

“Hm.”

“I-I’m telling the truth! I don’t know how to lie!”

I narrowed my eyes at him, and he shrank again like a slug sprinkled with salt.

“T-the thing is… the dragon heart hadn’t reacted to anything in a hundred years, no matter what we tried. But when it reacted to that baby… well… I—I mean, we got curious…”

“So out of curiosity you pressed a dragon heart onto a baby’s chest?”

“Yes… And then the dragon heart was absorbed instantly, and—the baby’s dying heart started beating again…”

He hunched his shoulders and watched my face anxiously.

If the dragon heart saved him that directly, then…

‘…Would Aksion die if the dragon heart were removed?’

“What happens if you take the dragon heart out?”

“Well… ahem… the child’s heart would likely stop again…”

Of course. That figured.

In the original story, Aksion gains dragon-level power thanks to the demon-dragon’s heart—but the price is slowly losing his mind to its corruption.

Instinctively sensing danger, he subconsciously seals his own power.

But the seal is incomplete, so as he grows, he gradually merges with the demon-dragon’s consciousness.

‘And then… he meets the heroine.’

When he becomes an adult and the empire’s strongest swordsman, he meets the heroine by chance.

The heroine is Vanilla Siastor, the only daughter of the monstrous Duke Siastor family, whose name was enough to make even birds fear flying overhead.

“She should be a baby too right now, right?”

Since they were about the same age.

“…Pardon?”

I shook my head at the mage’s puzzled look.

“No, nothing. Anyway, that means I can’t remove the dragon heart.”

“Right… most likely. Erm…”

“Is there any other solution?”

“T-that’s… um…”

While the mage sweated and rolled his eyes, I sank into deep despair.

‘Damn it. How old was Aksion when he went crazy and destroyed the continent?’

Twenty? Maybe around then.

I glanced at the basket beside me. He looked like he wasn’t even a year old yet.

‘So I get to live… what, twenty years before doomsday?’

No—wait.

A terrible memory struck me.

‘Hold on. Aksion’s first step into madness was wiping out his maternal family—the family that abandoned him.’

And that family was…

Yes.

Mine.

‘So in the original story… did this body abandon Aksion?’

Why adopt a baby only to abandon him?
Well—I can’t ask the original owner of this body now.

‘When did that happen again…?’

Even though the novel was written from the male lead’s perspective, his childhood was barely shown.

Just one brief moment while talking to Vanilla, the heroine.

“Mother? I’ve never had anyone deserving of that title. Not even for a moment.”’

No, not that line. Another one…

“I almost had two mothers. One tried to die with me before I could understand the world, and the other… tried to kill me. She called me cursed.”’

Ah.

That reminded me—the body’s older sister had tried to die together with Aksion.

So that carriage accident wasn’t an accident at all.

But wait—why do I only remember the depressing lines?!

When did the massacre happen?!

Groaning while clutching my head, suddenly another line surfaced.

“So I killed them first. I wiped out everyone with her bloodline. I was… hmm, about school age?”’

School age. A public elementary school that would exist later for commoners.

‘That’s about seven years old…?’

…Seven.

I had less than seven years to live.

I’d barely been transmigrated for a year—and I was already on a countdown?!

The shock nearly made me yank out my own hair.

“U-um… My lady? Are you alright?”

“……”

No, wait—it wasn’t the shock.

I was pulling my own hair.

I quickly smoothed down my hair as if nothing had happened. Two strands of hair stuck between my fingers? Never saw them.

But the mage looked at me like I was totally unhinged.

“…Anyway. Thank you for saving the child.”

I bowed politely.

After watching me pull my hair out like a madwoman and suddenly switching to a ladylike act, the mage automatically scooted back in his seat.

“Y-yes? O-oh. Yes. Ahem. W-we should’ve asked for permission in advance… It was very improper of us.”

“No, it’s fine. It was to save the baby. And I’m sorry about grabbing your collar earlier.”

His hunched shoulders eased a little.

But I spoke again before he could relax too much.

“But that doesn’t mean you’re free of responsibility, right?”

“…Pardon?”

“I’d like the Magic Tower to regularly check this child’s condition. Surely you can do that? For his entire life.”

The mage stared at me like I’d grown horns.

But I only heard a clear ding! in my head.

Yes. Exactly.

‘Aksion isn’t insane yet, right?’

He will be soon, sure.

‘But in the original, he destroyed this family because they abandoned him.’

So—what if that doesn’t happen?

And what if I can make sure he never merges completely with the demon dragon’s power?
Or maybe even remove the dragon heart one day.

‘To do that, I need every tool available—even this flimsy, trembling mage.’

“His entire life?! How are we supposed to manage him for his entire life?!”

“You mages live much longer than normal people, right? Especially the Tower Master.”

“……”

“And since the Tower Master is the most responsible one here—you can give the responsibility to him.”

Sweat dripped down his pale face like rain. After a long moment, he finally answered.

“…Very well. We’ll do that.”

“Great! Then sign here.”

“When did you prepare paperwork—?!”

“Our Evanroir butler works fast. Thanks, Carl.”

My longtime butler, Carl, who had apparently been waiting nearby, stepped forward with perfect timing and handed me the documents.

He’d served the family for years and was practically a grandfather figure to Cillia.

“No problem, my lady. Since you are, for once, greeting a guest instead of farming, I couldn’t stay idle.”

“O-oh… right…”

Was that… a tear at the corner of his eye? No, it must be the lighting.

While Carl and I talked, the mage signed the contract with a resigned groan and handed it back.

“Your name is… Elstern?”

“Y-yes, that’s right.”

“Alright then, Mr. Elstern. I’m Cillia Evanroir, daughter of the Evanroir Viscount family. Please take care of us from now on.”

He hesitated, then shook my hand reluctantly.

“…Yes, Lady Evanroir. I’ve heard a lot about you.”

“You know me?”

“Is there anyone who doesn’t know you?”

The way his eyes slid sideways didn’t feel reassuring.

Cillia Evanroir—the male lead’s aunt and stepmother, who never appeared in the original.

I’d learned what she was like from the inherited memories…

But not what others thought of her.

“And… what exactly have they heard about me?”

“A strange noble lady obsessed with farming…”

“Sorry?”

“I—I mean, that’s… what they say. That you’re so obsessed with farming you missed your marriage age and lock yourself on the estate pulling weeds every day. And when people meet you, all you ever talk about is harvest yield and rice seedlings so they’ve started avoiding you…”

“……”

“Last year they say you tried to make the strongest fertilizer using… um… various animal—”

I didn’t want to hear any more.

I gently covered both ears and stared despairingly at the floor.

‘So… the reason this noble lady was farming all day was because…’

She was a farming maniac.

A hardcore farming otaku without even pretending otherwise.

“Waaaaah!”

Even Aksion, who had been sleeping soundly, burst into tears—as if shocked by the identity of his future mother.

I felt exactly the same.

‘So my reputation is absolutely atrocious.’

No friends. No allies. No social support.