Chapter 354: Epilogue 1 (1/2)
“Hmm…!” Kang Chul-In was nervous. “Hmm… hmm…!”
In fact, he was extremely restless.
“Honey… Why are you so restless…? You have to maintain your composure.” Lee Chae-Rin told him.
“That’s right, your imperial Majesty… Please calm down.” Skadi agreed with Lee Chae-Rin.
“Oppa… you are not acting like an emperor now; do you know that?” Han Ye-Sun, who had become his fourth wife after Skadi, also reprimanded him.
“Why are you so distressed!?” Desdemona, his fifth wife, pouted.
“What?” Hecate, his sixth wife, had a strange look on her face. “My husband had this side to him?”
She was right. Truly, the current Kang Chul-In did not seem like the emperor at all. Nobody would believe that he was the ruler of Pangaea. He had restless eyes, cold sweats, and fidgety fingers. In fact, he didn’t even act like a man. However, he had a clear reason for that.
“Heung… should I get pregnant too? Will he be this anxious at that time, too?” Hecate narrowed her eyes and spoke.
“What? Pregnant?” Desdemona turned around to face her. “Hey, Hecate. What are you saying?”
“What’s wrong, elder sister?” Hecate asked.
“There’s an order to everything, don’t you know? How can the youngest get pregnant earlier than the older ones? Huh?”
“Why not?”
“W-What!?”
“Who says there’s an order to who gets pregnant first?”
That was right. Kang Chul-In was nervous because of a pregnancy. To be exact...
“Kyaaaaaa!”
Ninetails, his first wife, was about to give birth!
“Are you telling me that you will have a baby before me?” Desdemona asked Hecate again.
“Why not?” Hecate replied curtly.
“You…!” Desdemona was about to explode due to Hecate’s disrespectful behaviour.
“Kyaaaaa!” Ninetails’ scream echoed from within the delivery room.
“Wah~! Wah~!” A baby’s cry could also be heard.
“...!” Kang Chul-In’s eyes gleamed.
“...!” Lee Chae-Rin, Skadi, Han Ye-Sun, Desdemona and Hecate had similar responses. Kang Chul-In’s first child was finally born!
Sometime later, the midwife came out from the delivery room with a baby wrapped around in cloth. She showed Kang Chul-In the baby.
“Congratulations, your imperial Majesty!”
“C-Congrats…! R-Right…!”
“It’s a healthy boy!”
“...!”
“You have an imperial prince, your imperial Majesty!”
It was a joyous occasion. An imperial prince? He was a blessing for the royal family and the empire.
“Oh no… I was hoping that it was a girl...” Kang Chul-In mumbled to himself. It seemed like he had an intrinsic love for daughters.
“Y-Your imperial Majesty?” The midwife was bewildered. “Y-You have an imperial prince… so how could you…?”
“Yes, your imperial Majesty.” The midwife passed him the baby in the cloth.
“Let’s see… my son...” Kang Chul-In gently swept the cloth away to face his newborn son.
“This boy… is my second child…!”
The baby was extremely cute. In fact, he already had the facial traits and the potential to grow into a handsome man. As expected from having Ninetails and Kang Chul-In as the parents.
“Who would have thought… that I would be… a father…?”
Kang Chul-In was deeply moved. A child? Although he was the Emperor now, he had grown up poor without a father. Therefore, the thought of becoming a father had never crossed his mind. However, now he was one.
“Kya!” Suddenly, the baby looked at Kang Chul-In and smiled, as if he knew that the awkward man was his father!
In addition...
Swish~! He even wagged his white and soft tail.
“T-Tail!?” Kang Chul-In was shocked. “My son… has a tail…! W-What’s going on!?”
The midwife replied, “Your imperial Majesty, the first Queen is a fox-human. Isn’t it natural for the imperial prince to have a tail?”
“R-Right…!” Kang Chul-In agreed with the midwife and nodded.
At that moment,
“Here comes the Great Empress and the imperial princess Arshelly!” A servant shouted. Park Sun-Ja and Arshelly entered the room.
“Son!”
“Father!”
Kang Chul-In showed the newborn baby to his mother and his precious first child.
“Mother, look. He’s your grandson. Arshelly, you too. He’s your younger brother.”
Park Sun-Ja and Arshelly looked at the baby with curiosity.
“Oh, look at him! He has a tail!?”
“S-So cute!”
As expected, Park Sun-Ja and Arshelly were extremely delighted to see the imperial prince.
“Hmm…!” Kang Chul-In was proud.
It was a moving scene. So that was why everyone would be delighted and congratulated the parents when a baby was born? Of course, most parents would suffer financially later on, but that failed to apply to Kang Chul-In. He was the emperor of Pangaea and the savior of Earth. Money would never be a problem for him. Kang Chul-In could raise 10, or even 100, children without an issue.
“Your imperial Majesty.” The midwife spoke. “You have to give him a name.”
“N-Name?”
“According to this continent’s tradition, your imperial Majesty should be the one to name his imperial prince on the spot.”
“Is that so...”
“Yes, your imperial Majesty.”
“Hmm… w-wait… let me… think about it.” Kang Chul-In pondered for a moment. “This child will be called… Jun-Bae.”
That was the baby’s name.
“Jun-Bae. So he will be Kang Jun-Bae...”
At that moment,
“No!”
“Honey, what are you doing! That’s child abuse!”
“Daddy! That’s too hick-ish of a name!”
“Son… that’s not good...”
“My husband’s naming sense… is so shitty.”
“Oppa… that’s really not good...”
Kang Chul-In received an inundation of criticism.
“Eek!”
Only then could Kang Chul-In realize that he had made a mistake. They were right. Jun-Bae? What kind of hick name was that?
“I-I...” Kang Chul-In swiftly walked towards the delivery room. “I have to go tell Ninetails that she has done well...”
He was trying to escape irresponsibly by running away after making a fuss!
***
Two years passed since Jun-Bae was born. Kang Chul-In’s life was uneventful.
“Hmm… paving roads on Esmeralda? The budget’s a little tight...”
Deep into the night, the Emperor was burning his midnight oil in his office.
“Your imperial Majesty, do rest for a while.” Alfred the Vampire butler persuaded Kang Chul-In. “It’s already 4 am. You can stop doing...”
“I wish I could.” Kang Chul-In looked extremely fatigued. “Look.”
Kang Chul-In then pointed at the enormous pile of work, which could even touch the ceiling.
“I still have a lot of work to do.”
“Y-Your imperial Majesty...”
“If I don’t settle these by this week… then I may be nagged to death by Timothy...”
“Haha...”
“At least before the morning assembly...”
Kang Chul-In then brought his attention to the paperwork again.
Scribble, scribble scribble! His quill pen moved busily across the paperwork.
Damn it… I want to quit already. Kang Chul-In bit his lower lip tightly. This is not what I expected...
There were so many things that an emperor had to do, and paperwork was the most troublesome of them all. Scanning through the paperwork and signing them already took the whole day. Kang Chul-In found it agonizing to devote at least 10 hours to paperwork alone, but that was the reality. There was a huge discrepancy between his expectations and reality.
***
Another year slowly passed by.
“Ah!” Arshelly screamed, and Mitra was dropped onto the floor. A black demon sword barely touched Arshelly’s neck.
“Daughter, you still have a long way to go.” Kang Chul-In smiled.
“F-Father...” Arshelly gave a disappointed expression.
Already seventeen, she was extremely beautiful. In fact, she was the most beautiful woman in Pangaea. She was the living embodiment of the term ‘peerless beauty!’ To top it all off, her nickname on Earth was ‘Squid maker.’ It wasn’t an exaggeration to say that her beauty was insurmountable in both worlds.
Little girl.
Kang Chul-In was proud of Arshelly. It wasn’t because she had grown into such a fine woman. It was more because of her lovely attitude and demeanor. Arshelly was diligent. She was so busy that even Kang Chul-In had to make an appointment at least two or three hours beforehand to see her.
Studies, heir lessons, magic, and swordsmanship. She refused to neglect any of them. Arshelly was truly the ‘all-rounder.’ Furthermore, she had such a great passion for martial arts that she received one hour of personal training from Kang Chul-In every morning.
How could Kang Chul-In not adore Arshelly? Even after Jun-Bae was born, Arshelly and Kang Chul-In had a special relationship.
“My daughter.”
“Yes, father.”
“If you lack weight, overcome it with your flexibility. Don’t try to force what you can’t.” Kang Chul-In advised Arshelly. “A real master can turn their weakness into strength, but that is only applicable after a certain skill level. Don’t be greedy. A swordsman can never be greedy.”
“B-But...”
“...?”