Lately, my life had been shifting at a breakneck pace.
To be perfectly honest, I felt like taking my wife and daughter and vanishing—locking ourselves away in some corner of the world where no one could ever find us.
But there was the matter of my daughter's education. If I wanted her to grow up with a proper sense of character, she needed to interact with the world and its people.
That was why, whenever my wife managed to find a gap in her grueling schedule, I pushed myself to plan trips and activities suited for a child her age, no matter how exhausting it was.
It wasn't just about the kid, though. My wife needed healing too. I practically worked myself into a premature balding state trying to kill two birds with one stone through meticulous planning.
I always felt my efforts fell short, but seeing them both so happy made every bit of the struggle worthwhile for this family man.
I should have been busy enough just looking after my wonderful wife and daughter, yet my surroundings continued to spiral into the realm of the surreal.
It started with women making moves on a married man, and now, out of nowhere, another child had appeared.
Supposedly, she wasn't the result of some current indiscretion but was my child from the future. Regardless of the semantics, the conclusion remained the same: she was my flesh and blood.
And just as I was grappling with another suspicious situation, a fresh incident erupted—one I hadn't even seen coming.
"..."
"..."
Uh, Auntie?
If you suddenly fall silent like that, it makes me feel like my suspicions are right on the money.
As I stared at her with hollow, bewildered eyes, my Aunt slowly averted her gaze.
"...Aunt Theresa?"
"I-I have no idea what you're talking about! Theresa is t-totally clueless...!"
She pressed her index fingers together, attempting a nonchalant whistle that failed to mask her trembling voice. When she started referring to herself in the third person, I could only hang my head in defeat.
I hadn't gotten the answer I wanted yet, but one thing was crystal clear.
"Auntie, you're still a terrible liar."
"Ugh?!"
I'd always thought this, but the woman was far too transparent.
Well, that honesty was why she was trustworthy... but that wasn't the point right now.
"I'm sorry to press, but I haven't been intimate with any woman other than my wife since we got married..."
"Well, that's because it happened before you were mar—I, I can't say it...!"
As she spoke, she recoiled from my approach, shielding her face with both hands. I didn't let up; I hardened my expression and stepped even closer.
Honestly, I needed to know the truth.
I was already plagued by guilt toward my wife because of the current situation, even if it wasn't intentional. Now, a bombshell like this?
And that too, before I'd even finished processing the previous events?
It wouldn't have been surprising if she'd slapped me, but I needed the answer to what she just let slip.
If we were talking about before the marriage, there were only two people I had ever been intimate with!
One was Seele, whom I had proposed to recently.
The other... well, all the Valkyries knew that we hadn't just dated, but had gone all the way. There was no way my Aunt didn't know about her, so if she was hinting at someone else... the problem was that I had zero memory of it.
Driven by an unusual urgency, I grabbed her shoulders as she tried to back away. I leaned in close and shouted.
"Auntie!"
"Hic?!"
She looked up at me with trembling eyes, her face flushing crimson in shock. For a fleeting second, my resolve wavered.
Visually, she didn't look a day over fourteen.
No, I had to stay firm.
I couldn't bear to see my wife shed any more tears. Even now, if I closed my eyes, I could see her that night. I could still see the tears tracing paths down her cheeks as she forced a smile for my sake.
"Please. Tell me who it was. If you don't—"
—I might lose my mind, I was about to say. But Aunt Theresa cut me off with a panicked scream.
"S-Stop it! You're going to do something violent to me, aren't you?! Just like in those erotic doujinshi!!"
"...What?"
My brain experienced a total system crash. The words made absolutely no sense.
Wait... what? Violent acts? Erotic doujinshi?
"Why on earth would I do something like that?!"
"S-Something like that?! Did you just call them 'something like that'?!"
"Of course! What logical leap did you take to reach that conclusion anyway?"
"Because you're pinning me down with raw strength!"
"Auntie, with your power level, you could break free in a heartbeat even if I was holding on with everything I had!"
That was a cold, hard fact.
In my current weakened state, if she actually intended to suppress me, she could have me face-down on the floor in less than a second.
And yet, she was babbling about 'violent acts' like some adult comic?
This was a woman who could leave me counting my own shattered bones if I even tried anything improper.
"T-Theresa is a delicate lady... she can't handle things like that..."
"...Excuse me?"
Delicate? Who?
If we were ranking the most fragile people in this room, I'd be sitting at number one with a massive lead.
She brought her hands to her chest, fidgeting her fingers in a calculated show of cuteness, but the truth was undeniable.
However, she seemed to realize she'd overplayed her hand. Her face grew even redder as she hung her head. I decided not to say the words out loud.
Besides... if she actually lost her temper and went berserk, I wouldn't even be able to put up a guard. In my current condition, that was a one-way ticket to the intensive care unit.
"Setting that aside... Auntie, have you been reading erotic doujinshi?"
She flinched visibly, breaking into a cold sweat as she turned her head away to avoid my eyes. I let out a heavy sigh.
So, despite never showing interest in that sort of thing, she had been reading them.
The real question was how that kind of material even reached someone in her position, but then again, as long as people lived together, there would always be someone sneaking that stuff in.
"...I'll let this part slide. You're an adult, Auntie; it's not exactly a crime to look at that stuff."
"Mmmgh~! Just criticize me instead! Seriously!"
She couldn't deny it. She collapsed backward, covering her face and twisting her body in sheer agony. I simply watched her with a warm, empathetic gaze.
After all, the secrets of my own 'February 29th Files' were currently being exposed to the various women in my life.
I understood exactly how she felt right now. More than anyone else.
When you're caught like that, it's almost better to be scolded or teased—at least then you can get angry to distract yourself. But when someone looks at you with pity and warmth in that situation? It's enough to make you want to curl up and die of embarrassment.
And then it clicked.
I realized why those women, after finding out my secrets, didn't go around telling everyone. Instead, they kept it between us, letting the knowledge simmer.
"Auntie."
"What!"
"So. Who was the woman you saw me in bed with?"
She stopped squirming instantly.
Slowly, she uncurled her body, propping herself up on her arms. She looked at me with eyes that had turned deadly serious.
"...Do you really want to know?"
"Yes. If it's someone I don't remember, I need to brace myself."
Deep down, I wished I didn't have to know.
But with the Bianca situation already on my plate, what would happen if someone else showed up later with a child and demanded marriage? It would be a catastrophe.
Could anyone guarantee that my wife wouldn't just slap a divorce paper on the table and take our daughter away?
It was better to know everything and come clean to her now.
Even if it meant a hellish fight between us.
...Why did I have to suffer like this over things I didn't even remember doing?
As I looked at her with a sense of hollow exhaustion, Aunt Theresa let out a long sigh and finally spoke the name.
"You... were also involved with her."
"Who are you talking about?"
Thinking I might have misheard, I asked again. My Aunt squeezed her eyes shut, her face flushing as she screamed the woman's name at the top of her lungs.
"I. SAID! You slept with Himeko too!"
...Wait, what?
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