I Faked a Pregnancy, but My Husband Returned - Chapter 10

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Judith calmly sipped her tea in front of the Master and spoke in a slow voice.

“I see. So you lied to me.”

Before she knew it, the Master was sighing deeply and holding his forehead. He spoke slowly as if troubled.

“Please understand. We can’t all live speaking only the truth to each other.”

“Of course. I understand. But I’ve only told you the truth, Master.”

“That, that’s… it’s naturally a sensitive and delicate matter for the Information Guild.”

“That’s understandable. But I’ve confided in you about my pregnancy issue, which is more sensitive than anything else.”

“Hah… Judith. From my position, I naturally can’t tell customers everything.”

“That’s natural. But I wasn’t just a customer, I was a customer who saved your life.”

When Judith answered nonchalantly, the Master sighed even more as if increasingly troubled.

She lowered her eyes and continued speaking elegantly.

“You could have just said you didn’t want to tell me, there was no need to go into such detail with lies about having no informants…”

“That’s not a lie.”

The Master said quickly.

“There really are no informants in that place. It’s true.”

“But you said you know the facts well.”

At her words, the Master clicked his tongue and shook his head with a bitter laugh.

“Really, I rarely lose my composure…”

The Master muttered while stroking his chin.

“Judith, when I talk with you, I feel like I become a different person.”

“Is that so.”

Judith nodded glumly.

“But don’t try to gloss over your earlier lie with such words.”

“Hah…”

The Master crossed his arms. His expression was unreadable because of the mask. Judith, as always, calmly looked out the window or leisurely drank her tea while waiting patiently. It had already been three years since she started frequenting his space, and the time when silence during conversations felt awkward had long passed.

Only after sufficient time had passed did he finally speak.

“I know of a secret passage.”

“Pardon?”

“I know of a secret passage in the Duke’s Mansion. I obtained that information before. So I… I can help prevent the danger that will befall the young master.”

This was another fact she didn’t know. Judith rolled her eyes and quietly fell into thought.

The second son of the Meius Ducal House, that is, Ekian’s younger brother, was named Karl.

Karl had a very good relationship with his missing older brother Ekian. Since there was a significant age gap, Ekian had doted on Karl greatly. After Ekian disappeared, he was also a boy who lived quite despondently.

‘Karl Meius… Actually, he’s the villain of this novel.’

He was a kind and pure boy, but his upbringing wasn’t good. The family that had been nothing but harmonious fell apart after Ekian’s running away and even their parents’ death.

Suddenly becoming the head of the family, he grew up with a twisted personality and showed abnormal obsession toward the sunshine-like female protagonist. The kind female protagonist had simply found young Karl endearing and treated him well, but ended up suffering for it.

‘In the original work, the ducal couple died together in an accident, but they weren’t bad parents. However, there was someone who influenced Karl more than his own parents…’

It was Sera, the maid who stayed close to Karl. That is, the very maid who was pretending to be pregnant with Ekian’s child.

She, who had great influence over Karl from the beginning, began abusing Karl even more after obtaining the Meius surname.

Even if Judith could prevent that intensified abuse by taking the position of fake daughter-in-law, she would still be doing terrible things to Karl now.

‘Without the ducal couple knowing at all, she’s probably cleverly exploiting the child’s immaturity…’

If she entered the Duke’s Mansion as a daughter-in-law, it would be too late then. The maids wouldn’t side with Judith who had just rolled in. They would obviously side with Sera who had worked there for a long time.

Everyone would surely think of Judith as a suspicious woman, and with so many watchful eyes, whatever she tried to do would obviously be quickly reported to Sera.

“A secret passage?”

Judith’s eyes lit up as she spoke to the Master.

“Good. Then I think I know a way. So Master, you’ll help me a bit.”

The information that appeared in the original work was limited. It was only Karl’s recollections of his childhood.

‘The times and places of abuse weren’t mentioned!’

She needed to know the time and place first to be able to prevent it. So Judith had originally planned to ask the Information Guild, ‘I want to know the times and places where Karl and Sera are often together.’

Even so, she hadn’t expected much. It wouldn’t be easy to know from outside information that even people in the Duke’s Mansion might not know well.

Sera wasn’t a fool. She very cleverly controlled Karl mentally. The abuse probably didn’t take place in Karl’s room either. Because there would be many watchful eyes there.

She had brought up the topic to the Master half without expectation, but unexpectedly, she had gained a very good opportunity.

‘In that case, knowing the secret passage is much better!’

After the Master said he knew a ‘secret passage’ leading to the Duke’s Mansion, the method Judith chose was ‘surveillance.’

She could secretly lurk near Karl’s room and eavesdrop on conversations between Karl and Sera! Sera would surely tell Karl ‘come to such and such place at such and such time.’

According to the Master, through the secret passage, you could hear all conversations in spaces separated by just one wall. Judith asked in both joy and surprise.

“But Master, how did you come to know such information?”

“Well, it just happened.”

“Right. It was foolish of me to ask such a thing to the Master of the Information Guild.”

If he knew such detailed secret passages, it made sense that he wouldn’t need to place informants. He could infiltrate anytime to obtain information. The Master spoke in a stiff voice.

“Please keep this secret from the Duke and Duchess.”

“But I’m worried. To think security is so terrible that outsiders can freely come and go like this.”

“It’s not terrible. I swear that only I know of this passage, and I had no intention of using this passage.”

“There must be someone who taught you about this passage, Master.”

“They’re already dead.”

“Oh my.”

Judith vaguely thought that person might be a descendant of the craftsman who designed the Duke’s Mansion.

Since such passages didn’t appear in the original work either, it didn’t seem to be a place of great significance.

Anyway, according to the Master, that secret passage was too complex and couldn’t be expressed in a map. So the method he proposed was simple.

“We have to go together, you and I.”

Judith was also reluctant to infiltrate an unfamiliar mansion alone. Still, it was reassuring that the Master, with whom she had consistently dealt for three years, would accompany her. Though it was the first time they would do something together just the two of them, she thought he surely wouldn’t do anything bad to his life’s savior.

“We just need to lurk near young master Karl’s room, right?”

“For now, yes.”

So they decided right then and there to go together to the Secret Passage of the Marquis’ Palace. Somehow, the Master seemed more hurried than Judith.

“Then let’s depart immediately.”

“Right now?”

“Do you have other things to do?”

“Well, not really, but…”

“You said a child is being abused without others knowing. Isn’t it urgent?”

Thinking that the Master also had a personality that cherished children more than expected, Judith brushed it off lightly. Or perhaps the Master had been abused as a child. Though his expression was unreadable because of the mask, he seemed to consider this matter very important.

So while walking through the secret passage connected to the Basement of the Dilapidated Cottage with the Master…

‘Wait.’

It was extremely dark. When Judith began to fumble around, the Master whispered ‘Excuse me’ and took her hand.

The Master’s hand, which she was holding for the first time, was very large and even hot.

‘This is…’

Moreover, the dark secret passage was extremely narrow, barely enough for one person to enter.

Before she knew it, Judith was almost pressed against the Master’s body. Due to their considerable size difference, it somehow looked like she was being embraced by him as they walked.

But it was scary to move away from him, so she had no choice but to stay close somehow. She tried her best to calm her fluttering heart and inwardly made a tearful face.

‘Why is it so close?’

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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