I Faked a Pregnancy, but My Husband Returned - Chapter 14

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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 sent that letter through a servant from the Duke’s Mansion. Since she mentioned the garden, the Duke’s wife would naturally prepare teatime in the garden.

After the servant left, Judith looked at the Master and asked.

“Master. Is there perhaps a secret passage in the garden as well?”

“There isn’t.”

It was the answer she had expected, since the secret passages seemed to exist only inside the manor. As Judith slowly nodded, the Master crossed his arms and said.

“However, after approaching the vicinity, it would be possible to hide among the trees and conceal one’s presence.”

“Oh?”

“By myself, that is. Taking Judith along would be too difficult.”

Before Judith could respond with ‘I didn’t even ask you to take me,’ the Master spoke in a voice filled with killing intent.

“I thought about it last night, and it seems like infiltrating and killing Sera would also be a viable method.”

As she opened her mouth to say something, the Master shook his head firmly.

“Please don’t think I’m being too harsh.”

“Ah, that’s…”

“If we don’t stop that woman, Karl might die, you know.”

“What I’m trying to say is…”

“To do such vicious things to a child – she deserves to die.”

His tone was so resolute it was as if he was heading to a battlefield. Judith, who kept getting interrupted and couldn’t say what she wanted to, finally shouted.

“Ah, enough! I understand well that Master casually disregards life and all that!”

Then she looked him straight in the eye and said.

“Do you think killing Sera would free Young Lord Karl from such thoughts?”

“…Pardon?”

“What Young Lord Karl needs is the thought that ‘Sera’s words were wrong.’ Even if Sera dies, if Young Lord Karl still acts according to Sera’s words, what meaning would that have?”

The Master flinched as if struck at a vital point.

After a moment of silence, the Master, who had been staring intently at Judith, slowly began to speak.

“Judith.”

“Yes.”

“You…”

The Master rested his chin on his hand above his mask. Judith gazed at that elegant gesture as if entranced for a moment.

She hadn’t been conscious of it before, but after their physical contact in the secret passage, she could newly feel that he too was a human with blood and body temperature.

Only now could she see again how elegant his gestures and manner of speaking were, and for the first time, she became curious about the face behind the mask.

“…It seems you’re right.”

As Judith hastily averted her gaze, the Master spoke in a cracked voice.

“I got excited. I showed an unseemly side of myself.”

“Ah, yes.”

Judith cleared her throat and fidgeted with her fingers. Though the Master called it ‘unseemly,’ she actually found him more approachable when he showed his emotions.

‘Certainly, though it’s a bit embarrassing, we seem to have become much closer since going through the secret passage together. Even though I still don’t know his face or name.’

Sharing anger at the same things and thinking of solutions together made it feel like they were really close friends or colleagues. For Judith, who had always lived alone since her father’s death, it was a warmth she hadn’t felt in a long time.

As she was lost in such thoughts, the Master suddenly said.

“I will follow your will, Judith. Whatever plan that may be.”

“Yes.”

At her halfhearted response, the Master playfully touched her arm lightly.

“Judith, you should understand the weight of these words.”

“What weight?”

“I usually don’t follow anyone’s will. Since I trust no one, I act directly myself. Yet I’m saying I won’t step forward and will just quietly watch what Judith does.”

Since he was putting so much emphasis on something so obvious, Judith couldn’t help but giggle.

“Then what exactly would Master do? If you don’t just quietly watch what I’m doing?”

Even at Judith’s incredulous words, the Master didn’t laugh. He only slowly added.

“I’m saying I trust you, Judith. Both rationally and emotionally.”

“Oh… suddenly, what. Haven’t we been conducting business based on such trust for three years?”

“Exactly.”

The Master leisurely crossed his legs and agreed with composure. Though the mask he wore always had no expression, she could feel a more intense gaze than ever from within it.

“Suddenly, that’s what I mean.”

“Is that so? Then I’ll have to live up to the value of that trust.”

Judith smiled gently while looking at that mask that was like a barrier.

“This afternoon, everything will be over. Don’t worry.”

“Yes.”

The clouds outside the window drifted by as the sun peeked out.

Through the Master’s brief response came sunlight that seemed the same as usual yet somehow different.

“I’ll watch.”

Though it was a voice that, as always, evaporated upon hearing and didn’t even remain in memory, the sunlight that slanted between them like diagonal lines strangely remained as a weight in her heart.

‘I wanted to have lunch together.’

Isabella sighed while having lunch with Karl.

‘I was a bit harsh to her, but…’

Still, she wanted to show that there was value in living at the Meius Mansion.

Inviting Judith to lunch was because of such ulterior motives.

She liked Judith. Her crisp way of speaking, the noble refinement that showed she had received a noble family’s education, and even her proper values. In a way, it was no different from selling herself for money, yet her detached attitude of viewing it with dignity was very impressive.

‘If Ekian returns, she’s truly a child I’d want as a daughter-in-law.’

At the same time, she kept sighing. That child who dreamed of the future had firmly stated that Ekian would not return. Even if they did all this futile work.

Still, Isabella wanted to do that futile work.

‘She’s gotten quite thin too… It must have been hard living alone for three years.’

She was a child who had lived such a difficult life that it was truly miraculous she had endured this far.

Honestly speaking, she was amazed at how a young woman raised as a noble family’s daughter could live so tenaciously alone. She also had the desire to quickly feed such a child something delicious and see her reaction.

“Karl, you’re eating well.”

Anyway, while having lunch without Judith, Isabella smiled at her eight-year-old son Karl and said.

“That’s right. During your growth period, you must eat well.”

“Yes.”

Since he had been picking at his food just a few days ago, her words seemed to have had an effect as Karl’s spoon busily moved toward his mouth.

After watching something go into her child’s mouth for quite a while, Isabella finally felt relieved. Though his complexion still wasn’t very good, she thought he would gradually get better if he ate and slept well.

Karl had been called a genius since he was young. He could read at two years old and showed adult-level intelligence at three. So even though he was only three, Karl remembered Ekian.

Since Ekian had cherished Karl so much, his running away was also a shock to Karl. Perhaps because of that, Karl, now eight years old, still hadn’t forgotten Ekian.

The Duke and his wife were slowly waiting for him to be able to accept that shock.

Watching Karl quickly empty his plate, Isabella carefully changed the subject.

“I heard you sent away all your tutors lately, and you’re not going to the Knights’ Order either…”

Karl answered while keeping his head down and stuffing steak into his mouth.

“I don’t feel motivated.”

Isabella nodded without saying anything more.

He had always been her second son who developed quickly. It wouldn’t be surprising if he was going through an early adolescence. Nevertheless, she couldn’t help but have the vague feeling that it might have been better if Ekian had been there.

“Well, at least you have Sera…”

Karl, who had monopolized the entire household’s affection, was gradually letting go of everything as he grew up. She wondered if it might be because of Ekian’s absence.

Still, it was fortunate that Sera was there. From childhood, the three of them – Sera, Ekian, and Karl – had often been together. So Karl followed Sera well, and she thought it was fortunate if that brought him comfort.

“Yes. Don’t worry too much, Mother.”

Karl answered maturely.

“That’s right. What would we have done without at least Sera.”

Isabella wasn’t the type to pay special attention to maids, so she didn’t particularly favor Sera.

She only thought fondly of her as the maid Karl especially followed, and she had heard from the head maid that Sera was an unusually clever child for a maid.

‘If Judith hadn’t come, I would have asked Sera if she couldn’t become a temporary daughter-in-law.’

Though she hadn’t told the person involved yet, naturally Sera was her first choice for that role.

She had been close to Ekian since childhood, and being quite pretty, she would be good for deceiving others too.

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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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