A Royal Guest Advisor.
This specific political position had existed since the founding of the Kingdom of Lugnica. However, despite its existence in the legal code, very few people had managed to actually obtain it in over four hundred years.
A so-called 'Guest Advisor' essentially meant someone who was not a sworn citizen of the current country, but a foreigner of immense, undeniable power residing and acting within its borders.
People from other countries were already difficult to trust, let alone allowing them to hold a recognized public office with political immunity in this Kingdom.
But this young man sitting before the Astrea matriarch was an unprecedented exception.
Not only had he run off with her precious daughter, but he had also clearly already initiated an intimate relationship with her. Furthermore, his military achievements were genuinely terrifying.
Given the current political situation, it made sense. With the Divine Dragon Volcanica not appearing to quell the Vollachian border disputes, and problems arising within their own Royal Guard, coupled with the exhausting internal Demi-Human strife, even the King of Lugnica must be desperately worried. There was an absolute need to supplement the Kingdom's talent pool with a walking calamity like Regulus.
"When do you plan to marry Theresia?" The middle-aged woman's tone suddenly shifted from assessing to direct.
"Marry..." Theresia's face instantly turned a deep shade of crimson.
She had thought her mother was here to cause trouble for Regulus, but now it seemed her mother's intentions were entirely different from what she had imagined.
"Regarding that," Regulus smiled pleasantly. "Of course, the sooner the better."
"Who said Theresia was getting married?!" Veltol roared, slamming his hand on the armrest. "I absolutely forbid it! I absolutely forbid Theresia from marrying such a philandering—!"
"Dear!" The middle-aged woman snapped, cutting him off sharply. "As things currently stand, Theresia has already become his woman in body and soul. Do you still want to stubbornly force her to marry someone else? Or perhaps remain unmarried her whole life and stay locked up at home out of spite?"
"I... I..." Veltol stammered, his face flushing with indignation. "Anyway, I will absolutely not agree to this!"
The middle-aged man, fuming with protective anger, puffed out his mustache and glared at Regulus, then turned his head away as if throwing a childish tantrum.
His wife shook her head with a weary sigh. Normally, as the lady of a high noble house, she would definitely give her husband enough face in front of outsiders. But not this time.
She turned her sharp gaze back to Regulus.
"I do not oppose the marriage," she stated clearly. "But if you want to formally marry Theresia, you must agree to one absolute condition."
"Please say it," Regulus invited casually.
"If Theresia gets pregnant, whether she gives birth to a boy or a girl, the firstborn child must take her maiden name, becoming the official heir of the Astrea family."
The demand could be said to be quite excessive for a patriarchal aristocratic society. At least in this country, a man of Regulus's overwhelming status giving up his naming rights to his child basically wouldn't exist.
"Mother..." Theresia bit her lip nervously.
"This is a necessary condition," her mother replied, her attitude extremely firm facing her daughter's worry.
Actually, she had no other choice. The Astrea family now only had Theresia as its sole descendant; if they didn't do this, their prestigious lineage of Sword Saints would be permanently cut off.
As for having another child herself? Although she had considered it, the biological problem was that her husband was already past his prime. She couldn't just gamble the entire family's future on that slim probability, could she? Moreover, gambling on a new pregnancy was far less reliable than simply placing her hopes on her healthy, youthful daughter.
When she had privately interrogated Theresia earlier, she had naturally learned a bit about Regulus and knew that he could somehow physically and emotionally handle over a hundred wives without issue. It was logically unbelievable to her, but her daughter never lied, which meant it was the terrifying truth.
Besides, since he had so many wives, letting just Theresia's child take the Astrea maiden name shouldn't be something completely unacceptable to a man with potentially hundreds of heirs, right?
If it really didn't work out... then her daughter just wouldn't get officially married. Of course, not getting married was one thing, but she wouldn't try to interfere with the physical relationship between her daughter and Regulus. That way, even if her daughter eventually got pregnant out of wedlock, the child would legally still be part of the Astrea family. The only one who would suffer socially was Theresia, who would lack an official title and merely exist as a mistress.
"No problem," Regulus gave his answer without missing a beat. "I can accept this condition."
'Whose surname the child takes is completely irrelevant, isn't it?' Regulus thought, amused. 'After all, the name Regulus Corneas is just a fake identity I borrowed from that unlucky bastard anyway.'
"It's very good that you understand," a genuine smile finally appeared on the woman's face.
In her opinion, Regulus had chosen to swallow his male pride and compromise for her daughter, and this compromise was quite significant.
Similarly, Veltol, who had been scowling at the wall until just now, softened his expression considerably. Even though he was still very dissatisfied and had strong opinions about the white-haired scoundrel, ensuring the Astrea lineage was his heaviest burden.
"I'm leaving," Veltol grunted, abruptly choosing to get up and march toward the door.
He didn't want to stay in this parlor a second longer. If he continued to stay and look at Regulus's smug face, he might not be able to resist drawing his sword and fighting this scoundrel who stole his precious daughter.
Regulus had directly tricked his innocent daughter away, not to mention only returning her after several months; Veltol had no idea how sick with worry he had been during that time.
But among all of it, what Veltol found most unacceptable was the physical reality. During this time, this beast had completely devoured his daughter!
'How infuriating!' Veltol screamed internally as he walked out. He felt that if they had been away from home any longer, his precious daughter might have come back with a big belly! If he had known this would happen, he wouldn't have listened to his wife's persuasion back then—saying that with the Royal Knight Carol there, nothing would go wrong, and Carol would definitely protect their daughter's virtue.
Now look! Not only was his daughter taken, but even Carol, who had been entrusted with so much hope, was also thoroughly corrupted and taken in by this monster! He should have gone to the front lines to bring them back himself!
With the furious departure of the middle-aged man, the tense atmosphere in the house immediately eased.
"You don't need to pay attention to Veltol," the woman sighed gently. "Although he loudly says he will absolutely not agree, he definitely won't actually stop the marriage."
"Is that so?" Regulus smiled.
"Don't worry. He loves Theresia more than his own life, and no matter how dissatisfied or angry he acts, he definitely wouldn't do anything to truly upset his daughter."
"Hmm." Regulus also showed a relaxed smile.
However, looking closely at the elegant woman sitting in front of him, Regulus felt a very strange, jarring sensation in his mind.
As time passed since his transmigration, his meta-knowledge and suppressed memories had improved a lot. Especially when dreaming at night, he would occasionally dream of historical events from this world's past. Most of the dreams were about the various girls he had claimed or planned to claim. It felt like his subconscious was deliberately reminding him of the true lore of this world.
This naturally included Theresia, Carol, and even Theresia's original mother: Tishua van Astrea.
But the massive problem was...
The woman sitting in front of him right now... although her appearance was dignified and not bad at all, she was definitely not the Tishua from his dreams.
'Wait...' Regulus's eyes widened fractionally. 'Speaking of which… does my future time-traveling self actually...?!'
It was not impossible; in fact, given his own greedy nature, it was highly likely.
After all, Echidna had already hinted at his time-traveling exploits as the "Flamboyant Sage". If his future self went back in time and intercepted the real Tishua before she married Veltol... Veltol would have had to marry a different woman—the woman sitting in front of him right now!
'And even if the original Tishua was intercepted in advance by me,' Regulus deduced, 'the world's corrective force still ensured Theresia was successfully born into this world through Veltol and this second wife?'
'I would definitely do something that outrageous,' Regulus admitted to himself.
"Regulus! Regulus!" A sharp call came from beside him.
Regulus, snapping back to reality, saw Theresia looking at him, her expression full of a cute, pouting displeasure.
"Sorry, sorry," Regulus chuckled, patting her hand. "I just zoned out for a bit, thinking about the future."
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