Author: aji (あじ)
Translator: sleepingjay
Jill 01
He rushed through the night road.
Returning to beast form, running through the night, finally, he reached that place.
In the lake lit faintly by the blue moon was Lilius.
He couldn’t tear his eyes away from the bare figure that was swimming in the water. The surging sheets of water fell back from the sky, glittering like stars. At the moment the figure rose to the surface, floating inside the moon in the water, that beauty stole his breath away.
—Ephemeral.
Watching that soaked back, this was his thought.
He was an ephemeral existence.
Seeing that lively face he had grown familiar with, now as if soaked with tears, Jill was unable to bear it and spoke out his name.
＊ ＊ ＊
Meeting Lilius was certainly not something pleasant. It wasn’t good to talk bad about the children’s mother, but Jill had never been able to conceal that he had wanted her to leave as soon as possible.
Despite how awful and debauched her lifestyle was, he had never said anything and closed one eye to it, all for the children’s sake.
Children born with the blood of beastmen could not separate from their mother’s side until they reached two years old. It was because their growth depended on magic given by the mother.
Beastmen had much stronger physical ability and sturdier bodies than humans, but children younger than two were fragile. Children who were apart from their mother would end up dying from emaciation, no matter how meticulous the care they were given.
For that reason, despite how atrocious her arrogant behaviour was, Jill and others could not say anything to her face.
That was precisely Jill’s first miscalculation.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
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Jill’s life was inundated with monotonous, dull things.
After climbing up to a high position, before long, talk of Jill’s marriage came up. For the first time, he felt the emotion called “anxiety”. What exactly he was anxious about, the Jill from back then did not know.
But now, although it was still hazy, Jill could understand a little.
Could he guide the children properly after becoming a parent? Could this self — who lived without valuing that thing called a “heart” — could he nurture his children to understand love? These made him restless.
Because of the enormous magic carried by the white lion body, the candidates for his marriage partner became limited. If the person didn’t possess magic equivalent to, or even more powerful than Jill, it was impossible to give birth to children safely.
Even if the unlikely happened, and someone with less magic than Jill was blessed with a child, what awaited them was nothing but death.
Hence, Jill was pitied by the surrounding people, but he himself was glad for the circumstances. Lion beastmen were destined to create a harem. The only possible difference was the number of people in the harem.
That was Nature’s rules, and to beastmen, it was an ordinary act.
However, Jill did not like harems — he did not even have any interest in sensual affairs. When his close friend, the emperor, knew about this thought, he teased Jill as an “unsociable, boring man”.
However, even Jill had no qualms being described as a boring man.
In that non-committal manner, he kept away from talks of marriage. That was up until she came into the picture.
The eldest daughter of the Marquis Household of the Schuld Kingdom, the former Land of Gods. With her dreadfully beautiful appearance, she was called the Black Rose, the jewel of her country.
Most importantly, her magic was equal to, or even exceeded, Jill’s. With this, it was already impossible for Jill to run.
Jill, who agreed to the marriage gracefully, would soon come to regret for the first time.
Certainly, the woman he accepted into the family was beautiful.
She was a bewitching woman, possessing all qualities a woman should have. However, her magic possessed a horrible colour, twining around her thin limbs like a coiled viper. The smell she gave off was an intolerably bad stench.
Seth, who could also feel her magic, had stared at her dumbfoundedly before looking at Jill with a speechless face. Then he laughed uproariously..
“You really threw yourself under the bus this time, hahaha!”
Saying that, Seth then disappeared for one week, but everyone sympathised with him and turned a blind eye to it.
To welcome her into the Moorwright household as the legal wife, of course Jill did an investigation on her privately. There was indeed a problem found, but the one said to be the ringleader, the second son, had been exiled since two years ago. Later, when his death was confirmed, it had also been recorded down officially.
Although she was a bit proud, it couldn’t be helped. Unlike the free empire, in her kingdom, royalty and nobility were esteemed. When the countries were different, of course the people’s values would have some differences.
Jill thought they could put in effort to gradually get used to each other’s culture, but the situation was not so simple.
Her country and their empire were separated by a huge distance, so the news exchanged was also not always up-to-date. That was probably why her side didn’t know.
Within beastmen, there were those that could read emotions from the aura and scent of a person’s magic. No matter how well she kept up appearances, no matter how she lied, everything was leaked.
Nobody had a soul that was born with impurities.
Even the most evil villain, at the time they were just born, their soul would be a beautiful, pure white. Good and evil, nobleness and meanness. Within a living being, these two contradictory hearts invariably existed.
But if these hearts became covered by shadow, the soul would bear impurities. And the magic, which had a strong connection to the soul, would give off a glow that embodied the state of the soul.
Jill, who had never been emotional, for the first time became wrathful at the time he saw his own child being suppressed by her.
With his wrath seething and churning like magma, Jill arranged to drive her out as soon as possible.
Vigilantly watching her like a prey, waiting for the moment to stop the woman’s — the children’s mother’s — breath.
Then, he separated her from the children and drove her out from this empire. At that time, he first learned the emotion called regret.
Andrea’s voice, crying while begging for Mother.
Cyril and Guy, twins growing up without truly experiencing a Mother’s love.
Andrea’s bitter pleading, fraught with cries, permeated his eardrums and would not leave.
Cyril’s spilled, “Why does mother hate us?”, to which he couldn’t give a reason, despite the child’s frail voice pressing heavily on his chest. The smile that was lost from Guy’s face, which couldn’t be recovered no matter he tried.
Rather than giving them a mother, he took their mother away.
That was indisputably a sin that could never be redeemed.
Even now, it had not vanished.
The children’s grief had permeated, and forever they would echo in his ears. This was the first miscalculation of the man who once had everything.
In such circumstances, he met a young man with the same features as her.
Yet, his magic was clad in a beautiful light.
This was the reason for his irritation.
Why had he only appeared now? Why, once again, someone like this appeared in Jill and his family’s lives? — the feelings he held towards Lilius were complicated.
TN note:
I’m not sure why but I’d always thought the emperor was Jill’s dad. Probably from when I MTL’d this story lol.
Next week’s update will be on the weekend again. The week after might be too. My uni’s semester is ending and assessments are chasing after my ass.
Thanks for the chappie. I have been stalking the progress of this one pretty regularly. Good to know it wasn’t love at first sight for the ML. It was most likely his thoughts were that this person could provide the mana the children need to grow up properly. Lilius is right. He’s completely and totally shady.
Thanks for the chapter! Hope everything goes well with school. I really appreciated seeing things from Jill’s point of view. I had always thought that he might be a bit emotionally underdeveloped. But I hope he doesn’t blame Lilius for his sister’s actions
So in his country, they think Lilius is dead? Hmpf, their loss.😒 And now we know the back story of Jill’s marriage with Lilius’s older sister. Trully evil woman. 👹 The worst thing is that the whole thing caused suffering of Jill’s sweet buns. 😭 And after all that he met Lilius. I’m looking forward to more development between them. They both need someone who will help them heal the wounds of the heart. And more parenting please. Lilius despite being a serious tsundere, is good at it.
Thank you for the chapter and good luck with assessments!!!
+1 Yosh!
And here I was always thinking about how Jill managed to sleep with that disgusting sister if he hates her so (and he had to do it more than once). So he simply didn’t care until it was too late…
Not sure, but my evaluation of him just dropped a bit.
Thanks for the chapter!
I think, Jill’s thoughts were he had to do it since it was his responsibility to have heir/children. Plus, he’s a demihuman in which they naturally have desires for that so. .
Thanks for the chapter! ^ ^
Lilius is beautiful I love him
Ohh finally you catch me, I was MTL this novel but that was a really .. better not comment Nightmare sometimes, so I stop and waiting for translator sama … hugs and kisses thank you for never dropping this novel good luck with uni stuff
Good luck on your uni assignments! I somehow am finished with mine. Thank god. Then summer classes start on the first… Thank you for translating!
Jil’s POV! Yey! It’s good to know What are his thoughts about Lily.
If the sister’s magic stinks, I Wonder what kind of scent has Lily’s.
Thanks for the chapter!
Thank you for the chapter😘
😢 yeah, i’m ready for reliving the heartache
Thank you for translating 💕🙏💕
fudge, I cried. I’m so sad for the buns :(( it explained why Guy’s face is expressionless, Andrea’s stubborness and Cyril’s stuttering speech. BABIES YOU DON’T DESERVE THAT TREATMENT :(( Thank goodness, Lily came and you both found each other. My heartttt this story is well written! Also, translator sama did a great to convey the story on translating. Chef’s kiss! That’s why I’m gonna study Japanese later on after the school ends.
thanks for the chapter!