The reason Evan hadn't known about the news of his mother's pregnancy was simple. This was because he had been so busy for nearly a year that he couldn't even meet her at a family dinner. If he had known about it already, he wouldn't have been so shocked about it!
Anyway, the second wife of the Marquis, Miriam D. Sherden, had given birth to a daughter. As the Marquis's focus was shifted there, Evan thought the problem to appoint the Marquis's successor would go away for a while. It was good for Evan. The decision to announce the Dungeon Knights Commander would also be naturally delayed.
"Yes, it's definitely a good thing, but why is it that I feel a bit jealous…"
"I know that feeling, Master. It's similar to the ones when you welcomed Belois in this household. That was the day I pledged to become the Master's exclusive maid."
"You're trying to stimulate my guilt. It's useless."
The mother and child's stability had been given the first priority, so after the child was born, even the Marquis could not get close to the second wife.
However, the Marquis's First Lady which was his first wife, Redine D. Sherden, accompanied the priestess and took care of the second wife. Originally, the two wives weren't very close to each other.
Thanks to the constant assistance, both the mother and the child were able to quickly regain their health. They were back to normal by the fourth day of childbirth.
These days, barely any family could meet the child.
"Yes, Marquis's Second Wife, Miriam gave birth to a daughter…"
"Why aren't you still excited, Master? Aren't you happy that your younger sister is born?"
"I'm happy. Of course I'm glad. By the way…"
Evan thought Maybell was pointlessly glaring at him. Evan was pre-occupied with other things at the moment. He was worried about the declaration of the Dungeon Knights Commander, not because he couldn't do it, but there were other factors about it that bothered Evan's heart.
In the main story of Yo-Ma Great War 3 in his previous life, the daughter of the Marquis of Sherden never appeared…
'There were a lot of things and the Marquis was busy, but it's still ridiculous that her daughter didn't appear. Even considering Evan's younger age, he had to be introduced at least once. That means, at least at the time of the main story, there is no younger daughter of the Marquis…'
Did she marry and went to a foreign country? No, that was bizarre. The main story began nine years from now. Who would have taken the 9-year-girl as the bride? … It wasn't possible!
Then there were only two conclusions left. Evan's actions so far had a direct impact on the Marquis and changed the future, which had given birth to new possibilities. As a result, a child was born. In other words, it was a history that was not in the game.
What if… The child was born originally in the main game, too, as it was now, but it had died at that point?
"That's absolutely not possible…"
"Don't worry, no matter how lovely a newly born girl is, Master will always be my number one!"
"I am not even worrying about that."
Evan stood up, flicking lightly on Maybell's forehead, which didn't make sense as usual (the problem was that Maybell liked it too. Now Evan really didn't know what to do with her).
"I'll think about it after seeing her this evening."
That evening, Evan realized that angels existed in this world too.
The angel's name was Elizabeth D. Sherden, the second wife's daughter and the third of the Marquis children.
"She just looked at me directly and laughed."
"Yes, Evan. Our Liz fell in love with the big brother's reliable shoulders. That much is clear."
"Eric…If you had stronger shoulders, you'd also be able to hold her. Come on, Liz. It's Dad."
The three of them, father and two sons, fought a fierce and childish argument to conquer the love of a mysterious creature that seemed to radiate light with her whole body.
Since a girl was born in a house where only a son was born until now, the joy and wonder were unspeakable of. Of course, people still couldn't believe that Evan was also a boy.
He was a pretty child, but he couldn't be compared to a real girl.
"Everyone is acting so childish. Oh, you shouldn't kiss her that much. It may not be good for the child."
"What? I can't kiss my cute daughter now…"
"Please be patient, honey."
Looking at the Marquis of Sherden, who seemed to have traveled to a whole another world due to excitement, the Second Wife, sitting on the bed, simply laughed. The First Wife joined her.
The Marquis put his hand on her shoulder and said in a kind voice.
"It's been a lot of trouble for you, Miriam."
"You should be thankful for the sister. I was able to bear all that pain, thanks to my older sister…"
"No, no. Miriam was the one who was strong enough."
Evan looked blankly at the conversation between the two beautiful wives, and there was something he thought about.
The First Wife was the First Lady.
She had given birth to the first child as well as the second son. On the other hand, the Second Wife didn't even have a single kid, and there had been no news of a child until now. That frustrating feeling must have been unbearable for her. Evan had been busy dealing with the temple. But, his conscience had received a huge shock due to not paying attention to the household matters.
'In the game, the second wife later came out as a villain, so I've been avoiding her since I recovered my memory…'
Miriam D. Sherden, the second wife in the Sherden family, was strong and powerful. She was the only one who had enormous amounts of wealth among the wives of the Marquis of Sherden.
Miriam D. Sherden was a beautiful woman with red eyes and blazing scarlet hair. She seemed to hate all the other beings in the world, and only wanted to search for an opportunity to destroy the Marquis. She gave various quests to the protagonist as a means to destroy the Marquis.
The players who chose her quests were surely able to grow quite easily in the beginning. It was relatively easier than to side with the Marquis. Even her rewards were bigger than him.
'However, as the Marquis collapsed terribly due to her tactics, the difficulty of clearing her missions in the later half of the game was terrifying. There were some perverts who deliberately enjoyed playing in these hard conditions, and it looked pretty fun too, but I didn't like it personally. Evan dies, as if it were natural for him, while going through those events! He was only able to survive in the company of his brother!'
Since she was one of the primary killers who indirectly took Evan's life, how could Evan get along with her?!
However, it was impossible to glimpse her as being evil and malicious. Far from it, she looked like she was going to die of joy, only by looking at her child…
'Wait a minute!'
At that moment, Evan's thoughts started swirling around in his head at a very high speed.
If his memories about her character were correct, then the Second Wife's evil and merciless could easily be explained. If she wasn't a wicked person in the first place, then there would have been an event that changed her, after which she would have eaten a heart! And perhaps it was…
'The loss of a child who she loved unconditionally…"
Only then could someone go insane! Moreover, the situation that led to it must have been terrible.
The First Wife's both sons were completely healthy (although one of them was just waiting for the arrival of his death), and only her own child died? Even if Evan was confident in the Second Wife position, he could still guarantee that she would go crazy!
'That was the reason. Just like that! So the second part…'
Evan's notions got complicated. Soon, many hypotheses and thoughts about what he should do next started popping up in his mind, and he stopped moving completely. That was the moment.
"Ah…Boo…?"
'Yes, my love?"
The newborn child was in the arms of the Marquis.
She was reaching for Evan. Evan was puzzled, but when he reached out, the child grabbed his hand tightly and smiled brightly. The Marquis was slightly depressed by this defeat in capturing the child's attention.
"Even a newborn child loves his face."
"Oh my God, look at how her eyes widen when she looks at him."
"That's it."
While the First Wife and the Second Wife smiled, the Marquis carefully put Elizabeth in Evan's arms.
When Evan supported the child and held her, she was delighted and held his face tightly with both her tiny hands. The wives burst into laughter.
"He's your big brother, Liz."
"But if she likes Evan now, then she'll love him in the future for sure…"
"Well look at that. A cute Evan is holding a cuter Liz, so the cuteness is squared and together they break all the records of cuteness!"
"Okay, I also give them a perfect score!"
The Marquis was standing there and smiling. Evan seemed to have arrived at a conclusion. He wasn't completely sure what was good for him, but now, he didn't have the energy to think about it anymore.
He looked down at Liz's fingers and then looked into her eyes. Like Evan's, the purple eyes inherited from the Marquis sparkled beautifully.
"Liz, do you recognize your brother?"
Evan felt his own heart beat faster. He closed and opened his eyes.
As he was holding Elizabeth, the worries that filled his head disappeared. His complicated thoughts were untangled, and he felt relaxed.
This child was his dear sister. Other than that, nothing else mattered. Evan felt like an idiot because he had been thinking about something different entirely.
There was only one thing he had to do now.
"Yes, Liz. Your brother will protect you."
"Did she understand Evan's words? Oh, she smiled wide."
When Evan smiled back at her sister, those who saw them were completely captivated.
It seemed as if there were two angels who had descended on Earth.
"I mean, why would you make an assumption like that?"
"Because Grandpa there are countless possibilities that a newborn child can die in a noble mansion, even if a priest who gives blessings once a day resides there."
Evan had already decided that there was no time to waste. He went straight to Bernard Garcia. Bernard, the great alchemist, had an ocean of knowledge of all kinds of diseases, and he also had knowledge of cures that could heal them.
That was the only intelligence that Evan, who only learned alchemy as a skill, did not have.
"You are getting worried for no reason kid. Like you said, your sister is in the safest place in the world. Nothing will go wrong."
"Grandpa, I'm really serious. I don't even know what's going to happen to Elizabeth."
"Okay…" Bernard thought, staring into Evan's infinitely deep purple eyes. Maybe this kid was seeing something that he couldn't see yet.
"Okay, let's take it seriously. Theoretically, even if a high-ranking demon came to attack, it will not be able to penetrate, so there's no point discussing this. Even if a larger number of demons was to attack, no-one would die with all the armed personnel protecting the mansion."
"What then?"
"There are only curses, diseases, and poisons left. But even those are not harmful. Aren't there three priests staying in the Marquis mansion?"
"For quite a while now, yes."
"Are they from three different churches?"
"Yeah. They are the priests of the Earth Church, the Charity Church, and finally the Cheonan Church."
Priests of the Earth Church were those who were very skilled in all divine spells such as healing, protection, reinforcement, and so on. Among them, the one that was particularly good was the reinforcement ability, which was why the Earth Church's priests were also welcomed in the dungeon.
Meanwhile, the priests from the Charity Church were those who thoroughly specialized in healing. Each priest had a mighty divine power.
Unfortunately, the number of priests was small. There was a priest who was assigned personally to the Marquis of Sherden.
Lastly, the Cheonan Church's priests were excellent in their ability to protect and create a protection which was best among the priests of all the churches. It was an overwhelming shield that was incomparable to the shield made by the wizard. It was a reliable shield that protected the Marquis in any situation.
"Abandon the Cheonan Church priest for now."
"No, he's a really strong man…! He's a really nice guy too!"
"If you want to help improve your sister's situation, then let me continue. The Earth Church is an ally of the Marquis, so they don't have any reason to hurt your sister. Therefore, you don't have to worry about them. I doubt if there is any need of the healing power of the Charity Church priest for a newborn baby. But if she is ever truly poisoned, the priest of the Charity Church can heal her."
"Then…"
"The number of possibilities has decreased considerably. All that is left is a disease that cannot be cured with the churches healing spells."
"Is it a curse or a disease? Neither of them can break through the protection of the Earth Church and the Charity Church and harm Liz." As Evan said this, Bernard stood up with a groan.
"Well in that case, it is best to go around the mansion and find out for ourselves. The Marquis is already inspecting the local servants. So let's look there."
"So we have to do that too…?'
"Don't be too disappointed, little boy." The legendary alchemist, Bernard Garcia, said with a smile. "Actually, I have a rough guess. Hopefully, you will be able to save not only your sister, but many others as well."
"Grandpa … !"
"I don't know for sure yet! So let's go around first! Hey, get off me, you bastard!"
'There will never be a Grandpa like Bernard!' When Evan clung to his waist, Bernard was annoyed and tried to remove him, but he finally gave up.