Chapter 83: Chapter 83: Male Father
The shock on Duke Leslie’s face was impossible to conceal. Lu Xia saw it but said nothing. She knew that even though Duke Leslie had been told she and Graces had a child, seeing the baby in person would still take some time to process.
She smiled as she took the chubby little cub from the Breeding Master’s arms and began to feed him his bottle herself.
The little one sucked vigorously on his bottle, his big, grape-like eyes fixed on Lu Xia as if trying to commit his mother’s face to memory.
Having regained her composure, Duke Leslie finally managed her expression and walked over. "I heard from Graces... the cub has taken your surname?"
"Yes. His name is Lu Qi. Graces chose it. I think it’s a wonderful name."
Hearing that Graces had chosen it, Duke Leslie could only think that her male son was becoming increasingly audacious. He was taking advantage of Duke Lu Xia’s indifference to such matters to make these unreasonable demands, making it seem as if the Leslie Duke Mansion had failed to raise him properly. "You are far too indulgent with Graces. For a male, taking his father’s surname would have been sufficient. By having him take your surname, if you have a female child later, won’t it seem as if she is valued less?"
"In my household, males and females are equal. There is no difference, so Duke Leslie need not worry." Lu Xia knew that Duke Leslie’s perspective was the mainstream view in the Empire today—it wasn’t something that could be changed overnight. She had no desire to change it, nor could she control what others thought. All she needed to do was handle her own affairs.
Strangely, hearing Lu Xia’s words, she didn’t feel she had lost face. On the contrary, she felt that this was exactly what she expected Lu Xia to say.
"Would you like to hold him?" Lu Xia burped the little cub, who had just finished his bottle, and asked Duke Leslie with a smile.
Despite having two male sons of her own whom she had never held, Duke Leslie met Lu Xia’s smiling and expectant gaze and found she couldn’t refuse. She could only extend her arms and cautiously accept the baby.
The soft little cub carried the faint scent of milk. He was so sweet-smelling and soft to hold. Unbeknownst to her, Duke Leslie’s heart melted, and a smile unconsciously graced her lips. "Oh my, he’s so soft! And he smells so sweet."
Seeing this, Lu Xia smiled. "He has several bottles a day now, so he always has that milky scent. It seems he likes you."
"This is truly the first time I’ve held a baby. I never held Hugheska or Graces when they were little. This little one isn’t shy with strangers at all."
"Why would he be shy with a stranger? You’re his grandmother; you share a blood tie!" Lu Xia wasn’t necessarily trying to make Duke Leslie accept Little Pu Tao, but if the little cub could receive more love, she was happy to see it.
A child who grows up surrounded by love is different from one who grows up without it.
Duke Leslie wondered if Lu Xia’s attitude was contagious, because ever since holding Little Pu Tao that one time, she didn’t want to let him go.
Little Pu Tao was not only well-behaved but also soft and sweet-smelling, letting her hold him however she pleased. Most importantly, his tiny features seemed to have taken the best from both Lu Xia and Graces. He was already stunningly beautiful at such a young age; one could only imagine how dashing he would be when he was older.
Duke Leslie, who had originally planned to just pop over to see if what Graces said was true, ended up staying the entire day. She even had dinner at Lu Xia’s mansion before leaving. On her way out, she couldn’t resist taking another peek at the sleeping cub, already scheming in her heart about visiting again in a few days.
She worried that coming over too often would disturb Lu Xia and become a nuisance, but she was already incredibly fond of Little Pu Tao.
Reluctantly, she returned home, only to find Hugheska sitting in the living room waiting for her the moment she walked in.
She wasn’t sure why, but in the past, because Hugheska was the only male in the family who had successfully undergone gene fusion, Duke Leslie had always told herself she valued him highly—especially compared to her impatience with Graces.
But looking at him now, she found him inferior to Graces in every single way.
When Graces was still a so-called "defective" male, he had managed to become a Colonel in the First Military District all on his own. And in comparison, what was Hugheska doing?
Despite being a Gene Fusion Expert, he was nothing more than a minor clerk in the family business, incapable of even a management role. It wasn’t that she hadn’t given him opportunities; he was simply a hopeless case. Calling him an "employee" was just an excuse to pay him a salary.
After Graces got together with Duke Lu Xia, the Duke personally brought him home for a visit, giving the Leslie Duke Mansion tremendous face. Hugheska’s Female Master, however, rarely paid her respects. A mere Earl, acting more high and mighty than she did.
Now, Graces wasn’t just a Gene Fusion Expert; he had a male son of his own, a son who had taken Duke Lu Xia’s surname.
In the entire Empire, such a thing was unprecedented.
And then there was Hugheska. After years of marriage to his Female Master, he was still the officially registered main husband, but forget a female child—he hadn’t even produced a male. She’d heard his Female Master had recently taken a new husband.
The comparison was unbearable. It was nothing but painful.
"What do you want? Was there something you couldn’t say over a voice call? Did you really have to come all this way?" The sight of him was an immediate annoyance.
Hugheska hadn’t wanted to come either, but he couldn’t ignore his Female Master’s demands. "Mother, could you give me some money? I’m a bit tight on funds recently."
The new husband in the house was a smooth talker who had their Female Master completely charmed. She agreed to anything he wanted, but in the end, it was Hugheska, the main husband, who had to foot the bill.
But he didn’t have that kind of money. Even though Duke Leslie gave him a monthly salary and he had some private assets, it was nowhere near enough to cover such expenses.
It didn’t take long for him to run out of money. If he wanted to maintain his position as main husband, his only option was to ask Duke Leslie for more.
At his words, Duke Leslie’s face instantly darkened. The wonderful mood from playing with the little cub at Lu Xia’s mansion vanished without a trace. "Are you a complete idiot? You just stand there and watch him usurp your position? Don’t you know how to fight back? You let a junior husband walk all over you! You’re going to be the death of me! Why can’t you have a fraction of Graces’s cunning? Look at your brother! He might be a husband, but he enjoys the treatment of a main husband! Now he’s not only a Gene Fusion Expert, but he’s also a Male Father! And then there’s you. Nobody has ever been such a pathetic main husband. Useless!"
Duke Leslie wanted to slap him twice to knock some sense into him.
Hugheska, however, seized on a key point in her tirade. He asked in astonishment, "What did you say? Graces is a Male Father? How is that possible? Why would Duke Lu Xia agree to have a child for him? Besides, isn’t he a ’defective’ male? Since when can defective males reproduce?"
"Why would it be impossible? I just came back from Duke Lu Xia’s Mansion. I saw it with my own eyes. It may be a male, but he has taken his mother’s surname. Do you have any idea what it means for a male child to take his mother’s surname? It means he is being doted on, placed on the same footing as a female child! I’m not asking for your Female Master to treat you that well, but you’re old enough to be a Male Father, aren’t you? Have you even thought about these things at all?"
