I Faked a Pregnancy, but My Husband Returned - Chapter 146

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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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Ekian was the man who inevitably appeared in young girls’ exchange diaries and always occupied a place in countless fantasies.

Ekian had good manners with everyone but maintained boundaries. Teenage girls who had just entered puberty tried to interpret the boundaries he maintained in whatever way favored them. This always caused trouble.

Judith was actually not interested in any of that and simply didn’t want to get tired from it. The difference in social status was too great anyway. She didn’t have parents pushing her from behind, telling her to make an early impression on the Empire’s best marriage prospect.

So Judith had never properly greeted Ekian and had no intention of doing so in the future.

‘I should be especially careful since it’s a masquerade ball.’

Judith resolved to herself once again.

‘If I unknowingly dance or talk to someone and it turns out to be the young duke, I’d just get bombarded with aggressive questions for no reason.’

Of course, even at a masquerade ball, people couldn’t hide their identities just by putting on masks.

There were many ways to guess someone’s identity: real hair color peeking through wigs, body shape, belongings, or other distinctive physical features.

However, since Judith didn’t know Ekian well, she probably wouldn’t be able to distinguish him either. That’s why she had to be careful.

“Hmph, her intentions are so obvious.”

Anais was irritated right up until Garnet’s masquerade ball was about to begin.

This was because news that Ekian would also attend the masquerade ball to celebrate Garnet’s birthday had spread throughout the capital in an instant.

“She’s probably going to find out what mask Young Duke Ekian is wearing beforehand, then approach him pretending not to know. She probably bribed the fortune teller too. To say things like ‘this man is your destined one’ or something. But I won’t be the one to watch that happen.”

Judith neither affirmed nor denied, just tilted her head. Anais clenched her fists and said,

“I already know what mask Young Duke Ekian is wearing.”

“Oh, really? How?”

“The shop where the Meius Marquis’ servant bought the mask is run by our head maid’s nephew. They said to just buy any popular one since it doesn’t really matter.”

Anais grinned and crossed her arms.

“How about it, Judith? Aren’t you curious too? What mask Young Duke Ekian will appear in?”

“I’m extremely curious.”

Judith answered seriously. She needed to know so she could avoid him.

“Please tell me, Anais.”

“Then let me ask you a favor in exchange for telling you.”

Anais knew well that Judith wasn’t particularly interested in Ekian. So Anais made a proposal with sparkling eyes.

“If you spot Young Duke Ekian before I do, bring him over to me. Got it?”

“Yes, I will.”

Judith answered immediately. Of course, she had no intention of actually fulfilling Anais’s request from the start, and it would be easy since she could just pretend not to spot him.

“It’s a lion mask.”

Anais whispered as if revealing a great secret.

“He bought a lion mask.”

“I see, that’s easy. I’ll definitely remember.”

Judith nodded. So she just had to avoid lion masks at the masquerade ball. Having gathered information to keep her life from becoming troublesome, Judith quietly listened to Anais’s continued chatter.

The day of the masquerade ball.

Anais and Judith, who had come to the ball with their respective resolutions, both wore expressions of dismay. Because…

“What the…”

Anais, wearing a butterfly-shaped mask, muttered with a tearful expression.

“Why are there so many lions?”

More than half of the noble young men were wearing lion masks. Judith also concluded internally that avoiding lion masks would be impossible.

One of the noble young men wearing a lion mask who was passing by answered Anais’s irritation.

“Because men don’t find masquerade balls like this particularly fun.”

Garnet was now fifteen years old, and all the invited young nobles were also teenagers.

So the still-young boys seemed to think, ‘We’ll go since we’re invited, but we’re not really interested.’

“We have no enthusiasm for masks and it’s bothersome… So we just told our servants to buy whatever others are buying, and they brought these.”

Another lion mask nearby chimed in.

“Suffocating and bothersome masquerade balls… We can’t even see pretty girls’ faces, so what’s the fun in this?”

So Ekian wasn’t the only one who had instructed, ‘It doesn’t really matter, so just buy something popular.’

Judith shrugged and muttered,

“I didn’t think of that. Since they ordered popular ones, there couldn’t be just one lion mask. This has become a truly perfect masquerade ball, hasn’t it?”

Though she had thought she should avoid him, since she didn’t have a desperate resolve to stay far away, Judith’s tone was relaxed. Of course, Anais was not relaxed at all.

“Well then, there’s no choice. I’ll have to deduce from height and such. Garnet’s side will be the same.”

Anais looked around and spoke resolutely. That’s when it happened.

“Oh my, young ladies!”

A young lady wearing a rabbit-shaped mask approached. Though she wore a white wig and covered her entire face with a mask, just from her voice alone, it was clearly Garnet.

“Won’t you come get your fortunes told? I called the capital’s best fortune teller!”

“No thanks.”

Anais said primly.

“It’ll probably be predetermined fortunes anyway.”

Garnet’s side also seemed to have recognized that it was Anais from her voice. Garnet chuckled and replied,

“Don’t you know what ‘the best fortune teller’ means? If they were someone who told fake fortunes for money, they never would have reached that position in the first place. I didn’t call them to say nice things for the party’s entertainment.”

Then she turned around sharply and added,

“Well, don’t get your fortune told if you don’t want to. They’re leaving soon anyway. They said they could only stay for an hour because their fee is too expensive.”

Anais flinched at the mention of ‘one hour.’

She could take her time looking for Ekian in his lion mask, but if she missed the capital’s best fortune teller now, it would be hard to get another chance.

Only parents like Garnet’s, who doted on their only daughter, would call such a fortune teller to their home; ordinary noble parents considered ‘children’s superstitious games’ unwholesome.

And it wasn’t common for a girl who had just passed her mid-teens to personally go to dark, damp alleys to meet fortune tellers.

“…Let’s go.”

Anais grabbed Judith’s wrist and pulled her along.

“Since we came this far, we should get our fortunes told.”

Judith didn’t care whether she got her fortune told or not. But since she had no reason to oppose Anais’s words, she joined the long line near the fortune teller.

Everyone in that line was girls. This was because the boys who wanted to act like gentlemen had yielded their places.

“We can’t compete with ladies over something like this.”

Still curious about the fortunes though, they were lingering nearby, listening intently to the fortune teller’s words. It also had the effect of trying to figure out who was who by deducing from the young ladies’ voices in front of the fortune teller.

Since Judith and Anais had come relatively early, girls began lining up behind them. After a while, almost all the girls had flocked over to stand in line.

“You go first.”

Anais, who had become a bit scared now that they were actually in front of the fortune teller, whispered to Judith. Judith nodded without much thought and sat in front of the fortune teller.

‘Wow. Even here, there are an incredible number of lion masks.’

The girls lined up behind weren’t visible, and only the lion masks watching from around made her feel like she was being hunted.

“Hmm, young lady… Let me see. Show me your hand.”

The fortune teller carefully examined Judith’s palm lines. Then they took out a pouch full of beads and asked her to pick one.

She casually picked any bead and handed it over, causing the fortune teller to frown.

“Oh? Wait a moment… There are signs of divorce here?”

The atmosphere around them instantly turned cold. Divorce was truly shameful and uncommon in noble society.

“Is that so?”

But the voice of Judith, the person in question, was calm.

“That’s good. If I really do get divorced later, I can rationalize that it wasn’t my fault but an unavoidable destiny.”

“Hmm. Both the fortune and this young lady are quite unusual.”

The fortune teller, who had been tilting their head, now took out cards from their robes and spread them in front of Judith. These were cards they hadn’t brought out when telling the fortunes of the previous young ladies.

“Pick one more.”

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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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