A Contract Marriage with My Child’s Father Chapter 2

Chapter 2

The title of the novel I had reincarnated into was The Baby Saintess From the Future.

For short, Future Saintess.

It had been my favorite story in my previous life—I’d read it more than five times.

“But loving it doesn’t mean I wanted to reincarnate into it…!”

Just because you enjoy horror movies doesn’t mean you want to become a ghost, right?

Anyway.

What first drew me to the novel was its refreshingly unique premise.

Future Saintess wasn’t about regression, possession, or reincarnation.

It was a time-leap story.

The plot was a little complicated, but to summarize:

Melody awakens as a saintess at a very young age. Despite being only a child, she is abused and exploited by the people of the temple.

Eventually, she gains the power of time leap and chooses to escape—traveling back seven years to a time before she was even born.

Thus, she arrives in the year 636.

Melody is adopted by a woman and begins living a peaceful, happy life…

“But if it ended there, it wouldn’t be a childcare novel.”

Her adoptive mother suddenly dies, and Melody once again faces the danger of being taken by the temple. At that critical moment, like a miracle, she is rescued and becomes the adopted daughter of the Dragon Duke.

After that, the story shifts into a classic doting-parent childcare tale.

The cold, aloof duke slowly turns into an overprotective father. Even his nephews become adoring older brothers.

“For some reason… I can’t remember the exact ending.”

Still, stories like that usually end happily.

I let out a long sigh.

Well… Melody having a happy ending isn’t a bad thing.

But separately from that, it was utterly despair-inducing.

Because the mother who dies early in the story…

Is me.

“Please let the mom live too.”

It may be a childcare novel, but I’m a person too!

If possible, I’d love to grab the author by the collar and demand answers—but that wasn’t exactly an option.

“Haah… what a fate.”

Every time things seem about to get better, something like this happens.

In my previous life, I had been a kindergarten teacher.

It was my lifelong dream—truly my calling.

It was physically exhausting work, but whenever the children smiled and ran up to me calling, “Teeacher~,” all the fatigue melted away.

I had wanted to spend my entire life surrounded by children.

“Who would’ve thought I’d die less than a year after being hired?”

And now, even after reincarnating, I was apparently destined to die again.

When I lifted my head, I saw Melody tiptoeing away sneakily.

This little rascal. Your mother is having an existential crisis right now.

And you’re pretending nothing happened?

“Child attempting escape. Freeze.”

“Yaaawn. Uu?”

Melody let out an exaggerated yawn, clearly acting.

“Come here, Melody. You have something to tell Mommy.”

Seeing that she couldn’t feign ignorance anymore, she shuffled over obediently.

“Mommyyy. Heehee.”

Now she was trying to charm her way out of it—puffing her chubby cheeks and grinning sweetly.

You cunning little child.

You think I won’t fall for that?

Of course I will.

She was too adorable. I gently pinched her soft, dough-like cheeks.

“Hehe…”

But I couldn’t let this slide like usual.

I held her hand so she couldn’t run.

“I’m not going to scold you.”

“Uu.”

“I mean it.”

I didn’t even need to ask for details. I already knew everything from the original novel.

More importantly—

Melody was a deeply wounded child.

In the story, she even developed selective mutism due to the temple’s abuse. I didn’t want to reopen that trauma.

Still, she fidgeted nervously.

“Melody, you know that people with holy power are supposed to go to the temple, right?”

“Uu?”

Her face went pale. She pointed at herself, as if asking—Are you going to send me away?

“No. I won’t. If you don’t want to go, you won’t.”

“Uu?”

Really?

“Have you ever known Mommy to lie?”

She shook her head fiercely, relief washing over her face.

The moment I realized the temple were the villains, there was no way I would ever send Melody there.

But that didn’t mean we could keep living peacefully like this.

Because in just a few months—

I would be murdered.

In the original story, Melody hides her identity from Viola, believing they can live happily forever.

But that naive hope is shattered when the temple discovers the saintess and brutally kills her guardian to take her away.

“If I want to survive, I have to twist the original plot.”

But how?

There was supposedly a holy relic that could block holy power.

A necklace that had vanished twenty-three years ago.

If I could find it, everything would be easier.

…But even the great Dragon Duke had failed to obtain it in the original story.

Which left only one option.

Kain Ashellen.

The man who would become Melody’s adoptive father.

He could protect Melody from the temple.

And my life, too.

Yes, approaching a man rumored to be terrifying was scary—very scary.

But I had no choice.

For Melody.

Once I made up my mind, there was no time to hesitate.

“Melody, let’s get ready.”

“Uu?”

“We’re going on a long journey. I’ll explain on the way.”

She looked confused, but obediently followed along.

“First, brush your teeth.”

“Ugh.”

“Arms up!”

After dressing her warmly, we were finally ready.

I threw the door open dramatically.

“Let’s go, Melody!”

“Uu!”

Grrrrr.

Her stomach growled louder than her reply.

…Of course.

We quietly closed the door again.

We’d go meet your dad.

After we ate.

And that brings us to the present.

“Waaah…”

After three days of carriage travel, Melody wobbled on her feet from exhaustion.

We had finally arrived in the central city of the Duchy of Ashellen.

“Winterwald.”

The heart of the duchy—and one of the main settings of the original novel.

I inhaled deeply.

I couldn’t simply march up to the ducal estate. It was notoriously inaccessible.

A commoner like me would never be granted an audience.

So for now, my plan was to gather information.

As I walked through the streets, colorful toys displayed in shop windows caught my eye.

Melody would absolutely love those.

But then—

In the reflection of one of the windows, I saw a man drenched in dark red liquid.

I turned.

It was blood.

A man covered in blood was walking calmly down the street.

And the townspeople merely stepped aside, pretending not to notice.

Urban indifference at its finest.

Still, I was an apothecary.

I couldn’t ignore that.

“Excuse me! Are you alright?”

He ignored me.

“Wait!”

For someone supposedly injured, he moved at an absurdly fast pace.

“You’re hurt—!”

Finally, he responded flatly.

“It’s not my blood.”

Oh.

I see.

…Whose is it, then?

He looked down at me.

And our eyes met.

Beneath the hood of his black robe, I caught sight of sharp features and impossibly handsome contours.

My breath caught.

Even half-hidden, he looked unreal.