#3

Leonia had fallen completely asleep, and the couple quietly stepped out of the room.

“She was so firm I thought she’d turned into a pumpkin.”

Back in their bedroom, Varia couldn’t hide her disappointment.

“Is that a joke Leo taught you?”

“Oh my, how did you know?”

“The quality of the joke screams ‘Leo’.”

He didn’t bother mentioning that he could practically see Leonia’s devilish grin layered over the punchline.

“But still, you were too harsh with her.”

Varia circled back to the original topic.

“Leo offered to come up with a name for her sibling out of love. You could’ve just let her.”

At the very least, it could have been something the three of them decided together. But the way he shut her down so coldly made her heart ache.

“Ria.”

Lying beside her, Ferio turned onto his side. His large arm gently wrapped around Varia’s swollen belly.

“Did you happen to see Leo’s desk?”

“Her desk?”

Varia tilted her head in confusion, her jawline soft and rounded. Since returning to the North, she had been eating and sleeping well, which made her cheeks noticeably plumper.

“I saw it. I shouldn’t have.”

A shadow fell across Ferio’s face.

“I can’t speak for a fetal nickname, but no—absolutely not—for the actual name.”

He remembered what he had seen on Leonia’s desk: a list titled “Scientific Names of Muscles That Suit a Strong Name,” and internally recoiled.

***

A few days later. 𝓯𝓻𝓮𝙚𝙬𝓮𝙗𝒏𝙤𝒗𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝒐𝓶

Leonia presented the very list Ferio had seen.

“I really thought hard about this!”

“Really?”

Forced to skim the list, Ferio didn’t even have the strength to sigh. The page was covered with nothing but Latin muscle names.

“Goodness gracious...!”

Varia, on the other hand, widened her eyes as she studied the potential names for their second child.

“To think you put this much thought into ‘Muscley’...!”

She was touched. Leonia’s sincerity toward her future sibling was deeply moving.

“Oh no, I really think I’m gonna cry.”

Varia’s eyes glistened as she looked at Leonia. Embarrassed, Leonia scratched under her chin with a finger.

“Absolutely not.”

Even though mother and daughter were clearly on the same page, Ferio was unmoved.

“You can have your way with the fetal nickname, but the actual name is non-negotiable.”

“But the names have such great meanings!”

“What’s great about them? They’re all just muscle terms.”

“They’re scientific!”

Leonia explained her reasoning, her voice full of frustration and injustice at how her heartfelt thought process was being dismissed.

“Don’t you feel my sincerity? I want the baby to grow up strong like a muscle and smart like a scientific term!”

“At this rate, domestic violence is starting to feel like something that could happen in this very house.”

“You! Dad!”

Leonia flared up, lip twitching in fury, and rushed to Varia.

“Moooom...”

She knelt in front of the sofa where Varia sat and nuzzled her face against the bulging belly.

“Dad’s ignoring all the effort I put in!”

“That’s not it.”

Varia gently stroked her daughter’s head in consolation, but Leonia’s sulking didn’t let up. She soon flopped down beside her mother.

“Aren’t the names pretty?”

With a sulky pout, Leonia began reciting the names she had picked out one by one.

“Emtoracis, Latissi, Dorssi, Gastro...”

“Chest, beside the chest, calf...”

“But you forgot the rectus abdominis?”

Just hearing the names, Ferio and Varia instantly knew which body part each was referencing.

Nearby, a maid changing out the flower water flinched slightly. She silently marveled—as expected, the Voreoti family really is something else.

“See? The pronunciation’s nice too. And the meanings are great.”

Leonia boasted proudly.

“Still not happening.”

Ferio remained an unbreakable wall.

“Are you a ‘no squash’ or something? Why are you so firm?”

“Your mother used that joke first yesterday.”

“Oh, really?”

Leonia looked sheepishly at Varia.

“...It’s not that your dad doesn’t like the names you came up with.”

Varia recalled what Ferio had told her last night.

The Voreoti family, with its long history, upheld several highly regarded traditions.

The annual winter monster hunt was one such tradition. The rule that only those bearing the “Fangs of the Beast” could become the next duke was another.

And so was naming within the direct bloodline.

“The name must include ‘beast.’”

Ferio stated.

Direct descendants of Voreoti always bore names meaning “beast.”

“...Oh. Right.”

Leonia only now realized. When she’d been adopted, Ferio had deliberately chosen her name with that tradition in mind and gifted it to her.

“Then how about the muscles of a beast?”

Leonia offered a compromise. Ferio remained silent, exercising the right to remain speechless.

“Geez...”

Leonia pouted, but unlike before, she didn’t press the issue.

“You and Mom just name the baby.”

“We want you to help us too, Leo.”

Varia looked at her daughter fondly for yielding. She knew just how big of a concession this was—Leonia’s name list had clearly been crafted with great care.

“Right, dear?”

Varia turned to Ferio.

“...It’s your homework.”

Ferio said, opening a newspaper as a pretense.

“Bring us a list of name candidates in a week.”

“Dad!”

Leonia jumped up and threw her arms around Ferio, crumpling the newspaper in his hand. Ferio gave her back a few nonchalant pats.

“If the names are too weird, we’ll name the baby without you.”

“I’ll definitely come up with a beautiful one!”

Leonia kissed her father’s cheek with a loud smooch, then did the same to Varia’s cheek. She declared she’d decide on a name right away and dashed off to the study.

“Our little Muscley is lucky.”

Varia laughed as she rubbed her belly.

“To have such a wonderful older sister. Mommy’s a teensy bit jealous.”

“No need for jealousy.”

Ferio chuckled quietly.

“Don’t you feel that way?”

But Varia meant it sincerely.

If she’d had an older or younger sibling like Leonia growing up, she was sure her childhood would’ve been much happier.

Leonia’s overwhelming confidence had a way of influencing everyone around her. She was like a sun that never dimmed—bringing warm hope into Varia’s once-shadowed life.

“My ✧ NоvеIight ✧ (Original source) god is Leo.”

Varia murmured.

“Compared to whatever’s behind the mountains, our daughter is so much better.”

Ferio agreed, and Varia smiled softly.

“Well, of course. Look whose daughter she is.”

***

After boldly declaring she would name her sibling, Leonia began secluding herself in the study whenever she had a spare moment.

“...This is hard.”

But the sheet of paper before her had remained blank for days. Only the edges had darkened from the oil of her fingertips.

“Ugh, seriously!”

Leonia scratched her head in frustration.

She hadn’t imagined that naming her sibling would be such a time sink. Worse, she felt like she was losing to herself for not being able to do even this properly.

It was the worst.

Dad came up with my name on the spot...

Leonia recalled her first meeting with Ferio. She remembered it vividly. The day they first met at the orphanage, he had immediately named her ‘Leonia.’

Should I just give up?

The real reason she was struggling so much wasn’t the name itself.

But I really want their nickname to be Lea.

That was the issue—the nickname.

In the Voreoti family, nicknames were a heartfelt expression of affection. Her parents always called her “Leo.” While Ferio and Varia often addressed each other by name, they used nicknames when the mood was right.

“Ughhh.”

Leonia gagged at the mental image of her parents acting all lovey-dovey.

Still, nicknames mattered a great deal in the Voreoti household.

I’m Leo, Dad is Rio, Mom is Ria...

So she wanted the baby’s nickname to be Lea—to match.

But every name that included the “Lea” sound lacked the meaning of “beast,” and all names that meant “beast” lacked the “Lea” sound.

She even tried flipping through the genealogy of past Voreoti dukes, but it wasn’t much help.

She was just startled by how absurdly unrefined some of her distant ancestors’ names were.

“Beast’s Butt,” seriously?

She couldn’t help but question the naming sense of those ancestors.

Clearly, no one in the Voreoti line was ever sane...

Except me.

With that shameless conclusion, Leonia slumped over her desk, her limbs limp. Her patience was wearing thin. At this point, starting a revolution felt easier than naming someone.

She finally understood why Ferio always muttered about usurping the throne.

Dear sibling, you better appreciate this.

I’m doing this all for you.

So don’t forget.

Leonia let out a big puff of air.

“...I really need to do well.”

She squirmed a little as she lay over the desk.

After a while—

She got up to stroll around the estate in hopes of clearing her head.

“Young Miss.”

Just then, Kara called out to her. With his calm but brisk steps, he approached her in no time.

“You look a little pale.”

He frowned with concern.

“Mm, I’m fine.”

Leonia shook her head, but Kara’s worried gaze didn’t ease.

“It’s just hard coming up with a name.”

“Still undecided, I see?”

“A name is the first gift anyone receives! I’m going to give my sibling the most amazing name ever!”

With her fist clenched, Leonia declared her ambition. Yet Kara remained concerned.

“I hope this helps ease your frustration, even just a little.”

He pulled an envelope from inside his coat.

“You received a letter.”

Leonia’s eyes widened as she examined it. On the silver wax seal was the tiger emblem of the House of Hesperi.

“If I may...”

Ferio had firmly ordered that any letter addressed to Leonia should first be brought to him. Varia, on the other hand, told them to secretly deliver such letters to Leonia.

“I’m keeping this from the master.”

Kara followed the lady’s orders.

And just as expected—

“Woooow!”

Leonia’s face lit up with color.

“Thank you, Grandma!”

She threw her arms around Kara, who silently felt assured that he’d made the right choice.

With excited steps, Leonia rushed to her room and flopped onto the bed.

But when she retrieved her letter opener from the bedside drawer and opened the envelope, her movements were unusually delicate and cautious. Nothing like when she tore open a letter from the Imperial Palace not long ago.

Inside the cleanly cut envelope were several thickly folded letters.

“A letter from Boom-Boom!”

Leonia planted kisses on the paper.

The sender was Scandia.