The Number One Star in the Interstellar Era

WULFRIC just got out of the car when he saw Hildred walking up to him, as if the other had been waiting for him there. 

"I though you'd come back with Sled," the other started.  "Did you play hooky somewhere?" he added with a knowing smile.  As if he knew exactly where Wulfric had gone to.

Wulfric only gave Hildred a side-way glanced before he continued walking.  "Don't ask if you already know where."

Hildred smirked.  "You must be in a very good mood then."

Wulfric only have the other a look as if asking, 'do I even need to answer that?'.

Hildred stared at Wulf's obviously good mood.  The time he spent with Astrid must be quite eventful if he was this happy.  Well, good for him.  It's not often that Wulf could radiate this much happiness.

"If I knew something that interesting would happen, I would have insisted on accompanying you.  Now, Sled got all the good parts," he complained.  "Kidnapping and attempted murder, how awfully exciting!"

Wulfric didn't ask how the other knew about it.  Hildred probably had asked about it from Slade.  Knowing this guy, he would find a way to integrate himself with the investigation.

"What's the result of the investigation?" he asked.

"Oh, it's quite cliché, really.  The victim, his name is Snow Alban.  He's a freshman at Redwood Academy's acting department and he was also the illegitimate son of Viscount Campbell," Hildred said a gossipy manner.

Wulfric raised one of his brows.  An illegitimate son?  That's something that hardly ever happened nowadays.  Because of the fact that most women disliked conceiving and giving birth naturally.  Especially those mistresses, they would do anything to maintain their figure. 

Those people who had extramarital affairs would only usually have illegitimate children if both parties agreed to go to a fertility lab and combine their genes together.  But that's rarely done.  Especially if one of the involved parties was a noble. 

Most noble marriages were like business transactions.  That's why it really didn't matter if they had an affair.  But that's under the premise that they wouldn't go and produce illegitimate children.  Children who could have a share of the family's wealth and contend with the legitimate heirs. 

That's why Wulfric was a bit surprised by what Hildred reported.  Aside from that, Viscount Campbell was known for being very upright.  He often advocated for the well-being of the people.  He was especially against space pirates, doing projects that could eradicate them.  Wulfric hadn't thought that he would actually be the type to have an affair.

"Did his mistress willingly become pregnant for the viscount?" he asked.

"That's the funny part.  There's no mistress at all.  Or even a male lover for that matter," Hildred said with an interested tone.  "Apparently, 19 years ago, Viscount Campbell's first love – whom he wanted to marry but couldn't because of, you know, family stuff – died because the spacecraft he was in was hijacked by some space pirates.  Mr. first love no longer had any family members and Viscount Campbell was the one listed as his closest kin despite being separated for a couple of years already.

"The viscount was then informed by the death.  Of course, he was devastated.  Because he obviously still loved the other.  In his grief-stricken madness, he took a gene sample from the other's corpse and went to a private fertility lab right after.  You probably already know what he did there.  Yes, he combined his gene with that of his first love and voila, baby Snow was born!"

Wulfric just felt like a drama was unfolding before his eyes because of the way Hildred was narrating everything.  The viscount obviously broke a couple of laws doing what he did.  It's the reason why when someone died, they were immediately cremated.  To prevent something like that from happening.

"The viscount knew that what he did was wrong.  That's why he hid the real identity of that child.  To protect the both of them.  He did not even give the kid his surname.  In fact, he put him under the household of his trusted subordinate. This subordinate happened to not have any immediate family.  That's why the next step after that became much easier. 

"The subordinate along with the child, were sent to a planet away from the capital.  The viscount visited them quite often in the past years.  Spending two-three months there every year in the guise of a business trip.  But three months ago, the viscountess found out about the presence of this illegitimate child.  The funny thing was, she thought the kid was the son of the viscount and the subordinate.  And then later, somehow the couple's second son also got a whiffed of it.  And the latter hired those two thugs to 'take care' of Snow."

Wulfric wasn't too surprised by the latter part of what Hildred said.  When he mentioned the kid being an illegitimate child, he had already suspected that the culprit would either be the viscountess or one of her children.

"How did you find out about all these in such a short time anyway?" he curiously asked.  Because there's no way the other found out all that information from those two thugs.

"I have my sources," Hildred said mysteriously before adding in an exaggerated way, "And I do love gossip."

Wulfric could only shake his head at that.  "Has that kid regained consciousness?"

"Yes.  But surprisingly enough, those two thugs still haven't.  According to the doctor, they received quite a strong mental shock.  I wonder who's responsible for it.  Do you know?" Hildred asked with a knowing smile.

"There's nothing for you to wonder.  Just contact Viscount Campbell and tell him what happened to his kid.  Make sure that he would be angry to the point he would not allow his wife or other children to harm his precious son."

After all, Aster asked him to take care of this.  If that's the case, he might as well take care of it until the end. 

Hildred only smiled and gave a playful salute, "Aye, aye, Captain!"