I became a father with a genius face in the game

Yeah. Seymour Mausoleum is a villain. A mastermind.

Before meeting the protagonist, I just need to do some good deeds, like washing off the golden powder, and then retire.

Is there any need to struggle to be good from now on?

Besides…

‘You have knowledge and information about the future.’

I have all the knowledge and information.

‘Including about the protagonist.’

The powers and abilities the protagonist can learn, and even how to counter them.

‘Then, wouldn’t I be able to kill the protagonist too?’

I can win.

Not just against the protagonist, but against anyone.

‘Then I’ll just live the way I want. As I feel.’

Ssss.

It felt like I could hear the tongue of a snake in my ear.

‘If you just let go of that foolish thought of living kindly, annoying things will be gone forever.’

Just a little pressure in my hand.

‘One, two, three, and I’ll make it explode.’

If I pour just a little of my magic.

‘One… Two…’

I could live comfortably.

I could make things easier.

“Hyung… hyung-nim…”

The sudden voice made me turn my head.

There was one person who was unaffected by the black magic lake.

Simon. My little brother.

“This, this… This can’t be…”

He was clearly not affected by my magic at all, but for some reason, he was sweating profusely, without stopping.

“L-Lucis…”

Simon, pale as a ghost, gasped for breath and barely managed to speak.

“To be a father that’s not ashamed in front of… Lucis… Wasn’t that the change…?”

I couldn’t understand what he was saying at all.

He said he was changing to become a father who wouldn’t be ashamed in front of Lucis?

It seemed like he was having some grand delusion.

“……”

However, Simon’s words were enough to stir something in my chest.

Lucis.

Just the thought of Lucis’s pure white hair and golden eyes made the trembling in my heart grow stronger.

‘Why Lucis? He’s just a tool I received through a contract, right?’

A tool?

…No.

Lucis holds far greater meaning for me.

Lucis is my child.

The child I designed, the child I gave birth to with my heart.

The child I must take responsibility for.

‘Why is it your child? Get a hold of yourself.’

Yeah. You wouldn’t understand.

To you, that child is just a tool that fell from the sky.

‘Read the situation properly. We’re not talking about Lucis right now. We’re talking about what to do with those branch family scum…’

Shut up, Seymour.

‘……’

I’m not you.

Don’t try to control me.

‘Heh heh heh…’

I’m not a sociopath like you.

I don’t kill people just to make things easier for myself.

Whoosh-!

As I relaxed my grip and lost control over my magic, the magic that had been lying on the floor burst into flames and vanished in an instant.

The magic that had been climbing Richard’s body disappeared as well.

“Gah!”

“Ughh…!”

The branch family members finally gasped for breath, their heads hitting the table.

Many of them fell onto the food, but they didn’t seem to have the time to care about that.

“Phew…”

I exhaled deeply and pressed my hand against my chest.

Though I no longer heard his voice, that unpleasant presence lingered like an aftertaste.

“Hyung…”

I turned my head to see Simon trembling, looking at me.

“……”

I had always thought of him as a weakling.

I had thought he was even less resolute than his younger sister, Sia.

“I misjudged him.”

It was Simon who saved the people in this room today, who saved me from Seymour.

“Thank you, Simon.”

“Uh, uh…?”

“Thanks to you, I’m alive.”

At my words of gratitude, Simon’s eyes widened.

I wanted to say something more, but even I had reached the limit of my patience.

“What now?”

“Ugh…”

“Ugh…”

I couldn’t even begin to think about how to clean up this mess in the banquet hall.

***

Three days later.

I met with Andre in the study.

“Here’s the material you requested, Count.”

“Thank you, Andre.”

“It’s nothing. Feel free to call me anytime.”

The materials I received from Andre contained exactly the information I had been looking for.

I nodded in satisfaction and asked.

“Andre, is the moving preparation going well?”

“Yes. The household items have been sorted, and the shop is in its final stages.”

“Good. Make sure everything is done thoroughly so we don’t have to go back and forth.”

“Yes!”

Andre was going to accompany me to the capital to showcase the fashion of modern Earth, including neckties and other items from the tailor shop I had established.

After sending Andre off, an hour later, I finished writing the notice.

“Alfred.”

“Yes, my lord.”

Alfred, who had been waiting outside, appeared at my call.

“You called?”

“Come read this.”

Alfred came around to the desk and skimmed through the notice I had written.

“Count, this is…?”

“It’s a final notice to the collateral branches.”

At my words, Alfred began reading the contents of the notice with a serious expression.

For reference, the incident at the banquet hall had been blatantly swept under the rug.

There had been no apologies or excuses; it was as if nothing had happened, just with a thick-skinned attitude.

‘What can we do? Seymour is a reckless troublemaker by nature.’

I had always been troubled by Seymour’s past actions, but I had to take advantage of this opportunity.

Thanks to that, I hadn’t been bothered by the collateral branches lately and had been living quite comfortably.

Of course, just because they were out of sight didn’t mean the internal power struggles were over, so this time, I decided to strike first.

“What do you think?”

Alfred read through the notice and then paused, tapping his chin before murmuring in admiration.

“It seems flawless. But is everything written here true?”

“Of course. Would I lie when dealing with the cunning members of the family?”

The content of the notice was essentially my own “self-promotion.”

It detailed how well the “tie” I introduced at the funeral had been received among the nobles.

After the funeral, how many nobles visited the Count’s tailor and clothing shop to inquire about it.

How many nobles, even those unrelated to tailoring, offered extra money to get in touch with the creator once they learned who it was.

‘Andre helped me investigate that,’ I thought.

It also described how much the fashion business in the Mausoleum family could grow because of the tie.

‘At least three times the current size.’

The tie was a brilliant invention in its own right.

After all, isn’t the tie, along with stockings, an iconic symbol of modern fashion on Earth?

‘This shows the value of my idea bank.’

My ideas, my knowledge of modern Earth, weren’t limited to just the fashion industry.

If they could grow their businesses with my help, they could make far more money than by forcing my businesses away.

‘Of course, I can’t help with every single business.’

I’m a mere healer, not a genius businessman.

But the businesses in this world were all part of one large family-owned conglomerate.

‘Even if only a few businesses succeed, the ripple effect will benefit everyone.’

Most importantly, I had a treasure-like child who could bring that ripple effect to the extreme.

‘Lucis.’

A family with a dragon.

A business founded on a family with living legends.

I couldn’t even imagine how many people would be captivated and charmed by that emblem alone.

‘Right now, I’m hiding Lucis’ existence during the funeral period, but I have no intention of doing so once we’re in the capital.’

So, the notice was clear: stop your foolishness and get in line.

Alfred, who had read the notice to the end, nodded with admiration.

“I didn’t know you were so knowledgeable about economics, Count.”

He said this after seeing terms like “reflected profits” and “professional management.”

It may not be common in this world, but in the Earth I lived on, even high school students knew those words, so I just shrugged it off.

‘Is this what they call the genius theory of modern people?’

Anyway, Alfred had served the late Count, who was a brilliant but morally corrupt man, for a long time. If he was nodding in approval, it meant the notice had passed the test with flying colors.

“Alright. Then, make sure to post this in the hall for everyone to see.”

“Yes. Understood.”

Alfred carefully held the notice and asked,

“Do you plan to take in all the collateral branches?”

At that question, I smiled faintly.

“I’m not going to take them in. I’m giving them a chance to be taken in.”

The notice was essentially my last act of mercy.

Anyone who came under my banner after seeing it would do so without question and would become part of my people.

Not all lost souls wander aimlessly; those who had temporarily lost their way after the loss of the late Count, the powerful anchor, were not all to be blamed.

The family’s numerous businesses needed certain people to keep running smoothly, and they were essential to me.

But if someone still tried to oppose me after seeing this notice…

‘There’s no reason to take them in.’

I hoped the collateral branches would make wise choices.

I didn’t particularly want to see my blood relatives either.

***

As Alfred posted the notice in the hall, he thought to himself.

‘When did the young master become so impressive?’

Alfred had served the Mausoleum family for decades. He had watched Seymour since he was a child.

‘I used to worry about him a lot.’

The late Count was never a good father, even with kind words.

True to the Mausoleum family’s legacy, which became more tyrannical with each generation, the late Count was unhesitant to lay hands on his own child.

Especially, the violence often focused on Seymour, the eldest.

‘I should have stopped it back then…’

When Seymour made a mistake, the late Count would reprimand him, and when he didn’t, he would still punish him just to relieve his mood. On peaceful days, it was the duty of the family members to placate the head of the family.

The late Count would use all kinds of excuses to beat and abuse Seymour every day.

Thanks to the family’s resident physician, Seymour’s injuries didn’t leave marks, but anyone could see that his heart was deteriorating.

‘But no one intervened.’

Alfred himself was no exception.

Alfred had been so focused on helping the late Count make the family even greater that he had turned a blind eye to the decay of the next generation’s roots.

‘In the end, when Seymour tried to harm Simon, the entire house was turned upside down.’

Even the cold-blooded late Count realized by then that he had created a monster.

However, the abuse didn’t stop after that.

He continued the abuse under the pretext of engraving loyalty, fearing that the monster he created might devour him.

‘When the late Count suddenly passed away, everyone was worried…’

Among the collateral branches, there were even some who opposed Seymour’s ascension to the title of Count, believing that such a monster should not be allowed to inherit the title, without any desire for the title or the family businesses.

But now, what about now?

‘I never thought the young master would smile like that.’

The expression Seymour wore when with Lucis was a warm expression he had never shown before.

‘And how well he gets along with the second young master and the lady?’

Alfred was thoroughly delighted every day. And the more he saw, the more he appreciated Lucis’ existence.

‘They say a man changes when he has children.’

Indeed, the old saying was not wrong.

And because of that, Lucis seemed even more adorable.

‘I should get a camera.’

To preserve the childhood moments of the cute and magnificent baby dragon.