The Reincarnated Villainous Young Master's Guide to Happiness

Chapter 37: Odum p.2

This was just the way things were...

—until now.

The reasoning for the family curse no longer held true.

If the curse was genuine and stood by its consequences for a millennium then there would only be two Odum children.

While there were two legitimate Odum children, no one had thought there would be a discovery of an illegitimate one.

The existence of the eldest Odum child, Nazareth Everette Odum, brought about questions no one dared look too closely into.

Neo had read the forbidden records, having gained access to it from his father after promising he wouldn't show Aurelion and Guinivere anything.

The two of them weren't of age, yet. They shouldn't be reading about the family curse until they turn sixteen.

Aurelion was told about the curse during his sixteenth birthday banquet, but Neo wasn't there to witness his reaction...

Neo remembered reading records of the fertility ceremony.

They weren't exactly explicit content, but he developed a large headache from the technical jargon that followed.

Basically, conception for the Odum Family was like the national college entrance exam. If you fail, you're screwed for life and all your ancestors will hate you.

The fertility ceremony wasn't difficult to perform, but the timing had to be perfect.

Both parties of the marriage needed to consent, the ceremony required seven witnesses, and an Elysium must officiate the marriage.

The day of the ceremony was always held on the second month of summer, on the day when the moon was bright and round, on the sacred grounds of the Ancestral Odum Estate, and the bride and groom must swear their vows at exactly noon when the sun was at its highest.

The Olde Wine from the wine cellar of the Imperial Palace must be drunk by the bride and groom immediately after their vows. Then the bride and groom must extract and tether the strands of their magic core, not a moment after the Olde Wine was drunk.

(The finer parts about the sun and moon were measured by the Royal Astronomists to ensure no flaw in the ceremony).

Finally, the bride and groom must consummate upon the sacred grounds from the moment the sun sets until the first light of dawn.

Repeat the last part for the second child.

This was the ceremony every Odum Duke needed to perform.

His father performed it, his grandmother performed it, his great-grandmother performed it, his great-great-grandfather also performed it, etc., etc., etc.

Someday, Aurelion would need to perform the ceremony, too.

Neo didn't know how that would work out considering his little brother was in love with Sutton, but there had to have been a same-sex couple somewhere in their long history, and surrogacy was always an option.

The Odum Family could only silently thank—and pity—their first ancestor for figuring out a solution to their fertility problem.

But then... how the hell did Nazareth come into existence?!

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"Mummy was magical," Neo decided.

He pushed the records away and stretched.

If his father managed to break the cycle by simply sleeping with his mother then the only conclusion was his mother's superior genetics.

I shouldn't be alive. I shouldn't be alive. I shouldn't be alive. I shouldn't be alive Ishouldn'tbealiveIshouldn'tbealive...