Axel Voss blinked as Alfred stumbled over his words, completely flustered by Axel's unexpected question.
Before Axel returned, Alfred had run through countless possible reactions in his mind, but he hadn't imagined anything like this. Not once had he thought about the possibility of Axel still being able to have children.
Alfred took a steadying breath and said carefully, "Sir, I haven't been able to fully analyze your DNA yet, but from what I have seen so far, your genetic structure isn't different from a normal human's. Based on that alone, there's nothing suggesting reproductive incompatibility. You should be able to have children."
He glanced at Selina, who had been quietly eating noodles but now perked up at Alfred's words.
He added with a small smile, "So… who knows? Your heir might arrive sooner than you think."
"That's good, haha!" Axel laughed, visibly pleased, then went back to slurping his noodles. While twirling pasta with his fork, he snatched a few pieces of chicken off Selina's plate.
Alfred exhaled and gave a tired smile. "It's been so long since Wayne Manor has had a female guest. Honestly, there were times I wished Bruce would come home with a companion. Even a whole group of them would be fine."
Behind him, Axel kept eating, noodles spilling over his mouth as he chewed.
"Bruce Wayne?" Axel turned, still mid-bite. "Alfred, I don't think you understand. The first time I met Bruce, I could've sworn he was already dead. Whatever lives inside him now isn't really him anymore, it's just memories and goals and emotions. Here in Gotham, the old timers all say I seem to have fire in my eyes. And an old timer sees more than you think. If I have fire, then what Bruce carries now is ice."
Swallowing a huge mouthful of pasta, Axel kept talking.
"You could call him an ascetic crawling through thorns, or the very embodiment of vengeance. But no matter how you put it, he doesn't chase human desires anymore. He pursues something else entirely."
Selina looked up in disgust at the loud slurping.
"Does eating like that make you feel better?" she asked.
Without missing a beat, she lifted her plate and shoved noodles into her mouth, chewing wildly.
Axel swallowed then laughed. "Selina, even if you think you're a cat, you sound like a dog with its tongue out! Think about the size difference before you imitate me!"
"Shut up! I'm mocking you! Argue with me if you want!" she said, flipping him off.
Alfred swallowed hard, regretting that he was only here to serve as butler. He knew he had no authority to reprimand them. All he knew was that Axel was an enemy of the Wayne family, a literal threat.
And yet… Alfred found himself trembling as he reached out and pressed his palm firmly onto Axel's shoulder.
"This is just… too uncouth. You should be doing it like this!"
With surprising boldness, Alfred reached across the table, correcting Axel's knife-and-fork grip and insisting he sit up straighter.
Axel looked at him with confusion. But before long, Alfred ended up shoved into a chair by Axel while Selina gleefully offered a huge handful of noodles to Alfred's face.
"Open up, Alfred. You don't know how fun this is until you try it."
"Let go of me, Axel! This isn't a joke!"
"It is a joke! You need to drop the aristocratic airs. Down-to-earth is in style now!"
"I've lived this way my whole life, I'm almost sixty, and you want me to change?"
"Open your mouth… ah…!"
"I… Mmm mmm mmm!!!"
Watching Alfred chew without dignity, Axel and Selina high-fived and then bolted out of the dining room, laughing.
Alfred loosened his collar, gravy stains on his shirt, and murmured with a wry smile, "If only you really were Bruce…"
He might be a proper man, but Alfred had once been a top British intelligence officer. Killing used to be a minor matter to him, something he could handle. If Bruce could have been carefree like Axel without becoming a psychopath, Alfred would have gladly helped him eliminate enough criminals to buy a little happiness.
But fifteen years ago, after Thomas and Martha Wayne died in that alley, the Bruce Alfred remembered vanished.
And now, the master running around Wayne Manor with a woman was not Bruce Wayne, but Axel.
Shaking his head with a reluctant smile, Alfred added, "But he's interesting all the same. If Bruce had had a brother like this… maybe things would've turned out differently."
**
Axel dove face-first onto Bruce Wayne's enormous bed. A maid stood by assisting Selina with pajamas. When the nightgown slid down her back, Selina frowned at the maid.
"Is this really how the rich live? Someone helps you dress and undress? Did you wait on Bruce too?"
The maid replied quietly, "Mr. Bruce Wayne doesn't allow anyone in the main estate except Mr. Alfred. Still, if he wanted help, we would gladly—after all, it is Bruce Wayne."
The maid glanced at Axel sprawled on the bed. Selina caught her gaze. With a mischievous grin, she suddenly wrapped her arms around the maid.
"What are you staring at, girl?"
"I'm sorry, I…" the maid stammered.
Selina placed a hand on her cheek and said, "Saying sorry is boring. I saw you looking, so tell me. Want to join us?"
Before the maid could respond, Selina leaned in and kissed her.
Pulling back with shiny lips, Selina asked Axel with a giggle, "How about adding one more?"
"Add a man, and I'll twist your head off and use it as a goblet. But add a woman? I admit I'd be hypocritical," Axel said with a laugh, pulling both women onto the bed.
Their activities continued late into the night.
Later, several maids came in to fix the bed.
Selina dressed and patted Axel's thigh.
"I'm going to see Liv off. You coming?"
"You go alone. I'm sleeping. It's almost ten o'clock," Axel said flatly.
Selina poked him and shook her head with a smirk.
"You're just like a true Gothamite. But you don't have the routine of one. Ten o'clock? The nightlife has barely begun. You're lazy."
She left the manor bored, and Axel, accompanied by rain tapping the window, fell asleep quickly.
About an hour later, the phone rang urgently, jolting Axel awake. He picked up and immediately heard Selina's curses.
"Damn it, you bastard! You had your men put Liv's body in a cement drum and sink it in the harbor!"
"Huh? A water burial? Fine, I'm sleeping. Bye," Axel mumbled and hung up, then fell back asleep—leaving Selina furious, circling the harbor in a small boat searching for Liv's cement drum…