I Faked a Pregnancy, but My Husband Returned - Chapter 155
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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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While Judith and Ekian were having a pleasant time, Karl was also getting ready with Alex.
“Now, our Alex.”
Karl dressed Alex in clothes that commoner children would wear.
“It suits you really well.”
He had also changed into ordinary clothes himself. Alex smiled brightly and took his uncle’s hand.
“Uncle looks good too. We really look like brothers.”
“Wow, did you hear that?”
Karl asked the guard knight in admiration.
“Is this something a child past his fourth birthday should be saying? Really, this kid takes after me exactly. He’s a genius, a genius.”
Alex, who was used to being called a genius, grinned and nodded.
“Yeah, so uncle and I don’t need to worry much. We’ll have fun and come back.”
The guard knights were quite worried internally, but since there had been no problems so far, they quietly followed behind Karl and Alex.
“Now, from now on call uncle Karl. I’ll call you Rex too.”
“Okay. Are we using aliases?”
“Wow, did you see that? He even knows the word alias. My goodness, a four-year-old.”
Thus Karl took Alex’s hand and skillfully navigated through the alleys of the capital.
When studying was boring and social circles were uninteresting, this had become his greatest pleasure lately.
And these days…
There was also a girl he was somewhat fond of.
As he wound through the alleyways and reached near the academy.
“Oh, it’s Karl!”
The Commoner’s Academy operated dormitories. So after classes ended, the children would play nearby until evening. Karl usually mingled with those children.
“Karl! You really brought your nephew?”
A girl with a clear voice who had been jumping rope with her friends came running over.
“Wow, he’s so cute.”
Karl cleared his throat with a cough. The girl with short hair and a pretty pin reached out her hand to Alex and asked.
“My name is Rose. You look about the same age as my little brother, how old are you?”
“I’m four years old, sister Rose.”
“Oh my!”
Rose smiled with her eyes crinkling.
“My little brother is four too!”
Watching this, Karl felt his ears burning. It was a strange emotion he was feeling for the first time.
Rose Arora. He had heard she was the academy’s top entrance student and a girl who ranked first every semester.
‘Wow, Karl, you’ve read Etrosdae’s 【Nation and Capital】 too? I was most surprised by Mevilosukus’s opinion there.’
‘I felt that way when I first read it too. But as I kept reading, Anematos’s opinion resonated more with me.’
‘In what way? To be honest, I don’t really understand the ‘microscopic perspective’ that Anematos talks about. There seem to be contradictions in the logic.’
When they happened to have a conversation, Karl was amazed. True to being the academy’s top student, Rose was quite intelligent.
Since Sera, he had thought smart commoner women were the worst…
‘You could feel that way. But Anematos’s argument is limited to the special economic situation of coastal cities. If you think about that background, it might read differently?’
‘Oh my, goodness! When I think of it that way, it all makes sense. Karl, you’re really smart.’
Rose admired him with sincere eyes. Ever since hearing those words from her, Karl had been consistently sneaking out of the duke’s mansion.
‘Won’t you transfer to our academy? Let’s study together.’
‘Th-that would be difficult.’
For Rose, it was a natural suggestion.
‘Why? Do you not have tuition money? Someone like you could attend on a scholarship… Then who exactly are you learning this from?’
‘…My brother!’
Karl hastily made an excuse.
‘I learned from my brother. I’m going to live exactly like my brother. My brother didn’t go to academy either.’
So Rose learned that Karl had a brother with a very large age gap. Rose clasped her hands together and admired purely.
‘Aha! You’re a scholarly family, aren’t you? I’m envious… I’m the only one in my family who can read. I do love my family, but I, um, always… envy such intellectual and noble families.’
‘Yeah. Our house is kind of… like that.’
‘So that’s why you’re clever! Are all your family members as smart as you?’
‘Th-that’s right.’
So when Karl said a few days ago that ‘my nephew is coming to visit,’ Rose showed quite a bit of interest. Karl enthusiastically bragged, ‘My nephew is incredibly smart too.’
He felt good every time he saw Rose’s admiring gaze.
‘It must be thrilling that no one knows who I am, that’s why I do this?’
When he stood before the world with the name Karl Meius, everyone would bow and scrape saying ‘that brilliant young master.’ Whatever he said was followed by ‘as expected, you’re so gifted.’
But when he hid his identity and blended in among commoners, sincere admiration came back: ‘Wow, why are you so smart?’
Among children without preconceptions, he could truly show off his superiority.
A place where he could feel proud knowing he was this outstanding even without Meius blood.
‘Especially being able to show off like this to the academy’s top student must be why I keep coming.’
And bringing Alex was truly an inspired choice.
Because all of Rose’s friends also flocked over to see the cute four-year-old.
Among them was also a guy named Tom who followed Rose around constantly.
Karl had found him very annoying lately. Because he had bragged about getting to sit next to Rose in the classroom thanks to his improved grades on the recent test.
‘Hmph.’
Karl lifted his chin while patting Alex’s head.
‘Even so, Rose will think more fondly of me, who’s a member of a family where truly smart people gather.’
That family didn’t even exist, but Karl was already immersed in the role-play anyway.
“You’re so cute.”
“Rose Arora… Sister, your name is really pretty!”
“Hmm? How did you know my surname?”
“It was written on the name tag here.”
“What? You can already read? At four years old?”
Rose was genuinely surprised. Alex shrugged at such a common reaction and answered.
“I’ve been reading since last year.”
“Wow… As expected of Karl’s little brother… Even your way of speaking is different from my little brother. Look how precise your pronunciation is.”
Karl smiled contentedly. He had indeed done well to bring Alex.
‘Really, brother and sister-in-law are raising the child for free. Smart kids are helpful to their guardians wherever they go.’
Not only Rose but everyone was admiring him. Now even children who only knew Karl’s face had gathered around.
“What? You know that 6 threes make 18?”
“Four 6s make 24.”
“My goodness, how is this possible?”
Alex skillfully gave correct answers to the questions the children threw at him one by one. Alex was also used to being the center of attention, so he wasn’t nervous.
“Wow… Karl, the people in your family are really amazing. I guess everyone really is smart.”
Rose said with a gentle smile.
“My little brother still confuses maternal grandmother and paternal grandmother.”
“I know them well.”
Alex answered with a confident face.
“They’re both the same thing anyway.”
Karl was momentarily very flustered. The children’s eyes widened once before they burst into laughter.
“Ahahaha, what! He can read and knows numbers but doesn’t know family relationships?”
“He really is four years old. So four-year-old-like!”
Alex was smart, so he keenly realized that this was mockery. However, Alex, who had never given a wrong answer, shouted with hurt pride.
“Both mom and dad call our grandmother ‘mother’!”
“Yes, yes. But you see… There’s an easy way to distinguish them. If the surname is the same, it’s paternal grandmother; if different, it’s maternal grandmother. Paternal grandmother is dad’s mom, maternal grandmother is mom’s mom.”
“Our grandmother is dad’s mom but has a different surname.”
Alex innocently retorted.
“She said there’s no blood relation. So grandmother says she wants to adopt mom every time we meet, but dad opposes it.”
The children were momentarily speechless at the overly heavy family circumstances that came from the baby’s mouth. Karl hurriedly stepped forward to smooth things over.
“L-Lex. I think I’m getting confused about something right now. Adoption… well, that’s just a joke, but, um, when my brother and sister-in-law got married, we all became family.”
“R-right.”
Rose quickly chimed in to help.
“That’s why marriage is good. It’s about gaining new family.”
“That’s right.”
Alex said excitedly.
“That’s why Dad got married twice.”
The ending that had barely brightened turned dark again. While Karl’s jaw dropped, Alex grinned and said.
“Our mom too! But I went to that wedding too.”
“Uh, huh?”
“The time difference between our mom and dad’s wedding and my birthday is much less than nine months… mmph!”
In the end, Karl hastily covered Alex’s mouth.
“We’ll head out first, guys.”
The boy’s ears turned bright red.
He had declared to Rose that he would live like an older brother! His heart pounded with embarrassment.
“T-that’s…”
Rose waved her hand awkwardly.
“Take care…”
After that day.
Karl absolutely never asked the Meius Marquis and his wife questions like ‘Wasn’t it easy raising a smart kid like me?’
Because he realized that even smart children absolutely don’t move according to their guardians’ wishes.
Special Side Story 【Complete】
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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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