Beast, Blue Blood - Chapter 30

Chapter 30

“Hisha!”

Everyone looked up together, someone was holding onto the railing and looking down from the terrace where the sunlight shone. The sunlight was dazzling, causing Eugene to squint. Through the sunlight, a slender shadow moved.

The shadow grasped the railing and… jumped down.

Without warning, the shadow landed in front of Hisha with a leap. It seemed to be about three floors high.

Bare feet caught the eye first. Then, black hair fluttering from the shoulders… When Hisha looked up, the visible figure was a young Asian girl who seemed to be around the same age as Ha-yeon.

The girl got up quickly and hugged Hisha tightly.

“Hisha!”

Hisha also embraced the girl. The girl buried herself deeply in Hisha’s arms, almost as if she were about to cry.

“How I fidgeted without being able to help myself…….”

Hisha whispered as he held her.

“I’m sorry.”

Soon after, the girl pulled away from Hisha and looked around in a daze.

“Are you okay? Are you hurt?”

“I’m fine. It’s nothing.”

Only then did the girl seem relieved. She turned to Eugene with black eyes.

“And you?”

Eugene knew who this girl was, despite looking like a couple with Hisha, who seemed to be in their late teens at most.

Colonel Kang Yeon-ha, Commander of the 1st Battalion of the MCTC Central Guards.

And Hisha’s mother.

Because she was a Luax, she didn’t look her age, but she was almost fifty in reality.

“Nice to meet you. I’m…”

“Eugene Fuger-Dulloch, right?”

Yeon-ha interrupted Eugene firmly. She, too, knew who Eugene was.

“Hisha.”

Then a man walked out of the helicopter bay into a living room-like space with long glass windows wide open.

Red eyes burning on blonde hair like a crown. He was dressed casually in light pants and a knitted T-shirt, but he was not as dignified as Heinrich, her father.

Eugene looked at him as if to penetrate, and bowed with an Asian courtesy.

“Nice to see you after a long time.”

In addition to Captain Alex Yachthund, MCTC and ISLE representative Selena Chu, Ivan Ivanov, the head of the Ivanov clan, who has considerable influence, nodded his head.

“It’s been a long time.”

Ivan also seemed to remember Eugene.

Eugene raised her head and said.

“You remember.”

After a while, Ivan looked at Eugene and said with a new tone.

“Living long, you never know about the world.”

He didn’t expect his son to bring the girl he met on the cruise that day.

Now a beautiful lady, Eugene’s attitude was not much different from when he saw her on that cruise. It was very polite and cold.

“Let’s go in first.”

At the Ha-yeon’s words, everyone went inside the house. But Ivan just passed by Hisha’s shoulder.

“Hisha.”

“Yes.”

Hisha looked back at his father. Ivan, however, was only staring at Hisha, seemingly searching for any injuries. Eugene watched the two through the crowd. Standing side by side, it was unmistakably clear that they were father and son.

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

Hisha asked his father, who was still looking at him. At that moment, Yeon-ha approached the two men, cupping Hisha’s cheek and asking.

“Are you really not hurt?”

“No, I’m fine.”

Even so, the look of concern didn’t leave his mother’s eyes. Yeon-ha brushed Hisha’s arm and noticed something.

“What’s this?”

It was a hemostatic bandage he had forgotten to remove. Hisha, a bit flustered, quickly peeled off the bandage, crumpled it, and started walking.

“It’s nothing. Let’s go inside.”

Then Hisha approached Eugene.

“Why are you still standing here?”

Finally, Eugene quietly walked down the stairs. The living room was spacious, with a large table and a few other pieces of furniture.

“Sit down.”

Yeon-ha gestured toward the table. As they sat down one by one, a woman who appeared to be a housekeeper in her 40s brought out tea. Yeon-ha then spoke in a firm tone that suggested she would not tolerate evasion.

“Let’s hear it. From the beginning, how you met Hisha.”

“Mother, let me explain.”

Hisha tried to intervene, but Eugene held up a hand to stop him and spoke.

“We had a minor collision. He was looking for a part-time job, so I hired him as a live-in employee at our mansion.”

Then, Eugene calmly explained what had happened.

“So, I thought he was Hisha Ivanov.”

When the explanation was over, Yeon-ha looked at her son, seemingly at a loss for words.

“Hisha, you…”

Hisha scratched the back of his head, looking as if he had nothing to say.

“Was the whole thing about traveling to South America a lie?”

In the end, Yeon-ha raised her voice. In the face of his angry mother, Hisha fumbled for words.

“To say it was all a lie, well, not exactly… I didn’t go, but someone did go, so…”

Sitting far away, Ha-yeon gave Hisha a look that seemed to say, ‘Is that even an excuse…?’ Hisha also seemed to realize how feeble his excuse was and clamped his mouth shut, looking embarrassed.

Yeon-ha rubbed her temples as if she had a headache. Only Ivan remained silent, seemingly watching the situation rather than being indifferent.

“Then what about the postcards? You sent them just a few days ago.” 

Yeon-ha asked as if she had just remembered.

“For that, I’m sorry.”

Eugene replied. Yeon-ha seemed to understand without needing further explanation and didn’t ask more.

“Um, by the way…”

Hisha started speaking suddenly, looking embarrassed.

“There might be a baby.”

“What?”

Everyone was shocked, including Eugene. Hisha looked at Eugene with a puzzled expression.

“Why are you surprised, Eugene? I might have a baby with you…”

“Quiet!”

Eugene exclaimed, covering Hisha’s mouth in panic. Ivan looked intrigued by Eugene’s openly emotional reaction, while Yachthund was more taken aback.

“What…?”

“No, that’s…”

Eugene stammered, unable to think of any excuse.

Hisha looked at Eugene in surprise. It was the first time he had seen Eugene so flustered. He wanted to kiss those flushed cheeks but refrained since everyone was watching. He didn’t mind, but he sensed Eugene would be mortified.

“Hisha, you just graduated!”

Ha-yeon exclaimed in disbelief. Eugene understood her reaction. Even though Hisha was from Luax and didn’t age like others, it didn’t change the fact that she was ten years older than him. After all, he had just graduated from university…

Eugene swallowed a sigh and took a sip of water.

“How could someone who just graduated from high school…!”

Ha-yeon shouted, and Eugene choked, coughing violently. She knew everyone was staring, but she couldn’t stop.

“Are you okay?”

Hisha asked worriedly.

Eugene hadn’t had such a bad coughing fit in years. When she finally looked up, her eyes were teary.

“I’m sorry. But high school…?”

Her voice came out hoarse from all the coughing. Ha-yeon looked at her skeptically.

“You didn’t know, did you?”

Feeling the heat of their stares, Eugene’s back tingled.

“Twenty-five…”

Eugene began. Though she had received information about Hisha Ivanov, she hadn’t paid attention to his age, focusing on other details. Age seemed the least important at the time.

But thinking back, the cruise terror incident happened twenty years ago when she was fifteen, and Colonel Kang Yeon-ha was pregnant then. It was simple math she had overlooked in the chaos of recent events.

“I thought you knew.”

Hisha said, scratching behind his ear.

Then, glancing around, he added defensively.

“But I’m twenty-one by the old Korean age system.”

Finally, Eugene understood why Hisha hadn’t known how to do anything when he first arrived. He was a newly adult rich kid who couldn’t be expected to know much.

* * *

“You’re not pregnant.”

The doctor said, looking at the monitor. She was a plump black woman in her forties. Eugene, lying on the bed, sighed in relief.

“I kept saying I wasn’t.”

The Ivanovs’ family doctor, who had rushed over after receiving the call, gave an awkward smile. Just then, there was a knock on the door, and Hisha peeked in.

“Can I come in?”

“Come in.”

The doctor answered, and Hisha walked in, asking.

“How is she?”

The doctor simply smiled, while Eugene spoke.

“I told you it wasn’t true.”

“Still, just in case…”

Hisha mumbled.

Eugene had insisted she wasn’t pregnant, but Hisha argued that in this day and age when you can immediately confirm pregnancy, it made no sense not to use technology. He had insisted on calling the doctor for a check-up.

“After spinning around in the air like that, wouldn’t you feel nauseous?”

Eugene said. Only then did Hisha seem to consider it, making a face that said, ‘Maybe.’

Eugene sighed internally. She had talked about having a child, but even if she did, what would she do with it? Experiments? She didn’t consider herself overly moral, but she hadn’t lost her humanity to that extent.

Then Hisha spoke.

“Anyway, it’s a relief.”

A relief? For a moment, Eugene felt a sharp pain in her chest and thought with a blank expression.

‘That’s funny.’

There was no reason for Hisha to want a child. He couldn’t deny that their relationship was consensual, but a twenty-year-old—or twenty-one, even by the old Korean age system—wanting a child seemed more absurd.

Of course, she didn’t want a child either. She felt a sense of duty to continue the Fuger-Dulloch name eventually, but whomever she had the child with, she doubted she’d feel much attachment.

Despite these rational thoughts, a prickly feeling remained in her chest, which frustrated her.

Then Hisha added.

“It would be hard to work if you were pregnant now. You have to take over the family.”