I Faked a Pregnancy, but My Husband Returned - Chapter 52

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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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It was a smooth and gentlemanly voice. Judith took a deep breath, feeling like she might hiccup, and hastily answered.

“Y-yes, of course.”

The door opened and a man entered.

A man with brilliant blonde hair and red eyes quietly surveyed the room. His expression suggested he found it strangely surreal to be entering this room through this door.

Judith smiled awkwardly while fidgeting with her fingers.

“Ah… ha. Hello… there.”

Ekian’s eyes looked at her with interest. Judith swallowed dryly and said.

“Well, it’s late at night. Should I sleep somewhere else? I think I can explain it well to the maids. As you know, there are many spare rooms here.”

“I wonder about that.”

Ekian answered in a leisurely voice.

“First, I think we should have a conversation.”

“Well… yes, I suppose so.”

Judith sat back down in her chair somewhat awkwardly. Ekian walked over with his long legs and sat across from her.

“You must have been quite bewildered, right?”

The man’s presence was overwhelming. It felt like the spacious room was completely filled. Strangely intimidated, Judith instinctively shrank back.

I’ve done nothing wrong, this was all agreed upon – Judith kept repeating these thoughts to herself as she spoke with forced brightness.

“A wife that suddenly appeared… You must be very displeased, but the reason this happened is, well.”

“I’m not particularly displeased.”

Ekian propped his chin and smiled. His gaze interestedly swept over the book resting on Judith’s knees before returning to her face.

“You don’t need to explain either. I came here knowing the full situation.”

“Ah, yes. I see.”

Judith smiled awkwardly. It seemed the Marquis and his wife had explained things well.

“Even so, our conversation will likely be long. Shall we talk over some tea?”

Ekian pulled the bell cord to request tea from a maid.

The maid looked at them sitting across from each other and whispered things like “Kyaaaah!” and “You look so good together!” Judith wanted to cry instead.

Late at night.

“So.”

A dark and sinister voice filled the luxurious room.

“Ekian Meius has returned.”

In the room where silence had briefly flowed, suddenly the loud sound of a vase breaking rang out.

Crash, crash, crash…

The servants and maids couldn’t move for a while as the shattering sounds continued. Because the person currently destroying all the furniture in the room was none other than the Emperor.

Black hair, and blood-red eyes.

After the Crown Prince’s birthday banquet ended without incident, the Emperor’s mood had reached its worst. The assassination he had believed would surely succeed had failed.

Even if Alteon’s reflexes were outstanding and prevented immediate assassination, he had expected to at least inflict fatal wounds. But Alteon wasn’t hurt at all.

He had even put his arm around the shoulder of the guard knight who attacked him and laughed it off saying “This is an event we prepared.”

‘How much does he know?’

The Emperor thought while breathing roughly.

‘He definitely knew in advance and prepared for it. Where exactly did the information leak from?’

The guard knight who had attempted the assassination was secretly eliminated immediately during the banquet. He had no choice but to suspect that knight first.

He was a knight the Emperor had personally assigned to the Crown Prince since childhood just in case, so how exactly had this happened…

And now Ekian Meius’s return on top of that.

He knew well that Ekian was his son. The Meius Ducal House was essentially raising a tiger cub without knowing anything.

‘A bloodline of destruction anyway.’

He too vividly remembered the last priestess’s curse. If Ekian brought down the Meius Ducal House because of that curse, he would be quite pleased as well.

The Emperor found the Meius Ducal House extremely irritating.

It was a prestigious and renowned noble family, but they didn’t listen well to the Emperor. They maintained their center without forming any particular factions.

That uprightness ultimately served as a guidepost for other nobles. They didn’t submit to the Emperor’s words, meticulously questioned laws and regulations, and even had the invisible support of the empire’s citizens behind them.

He hated them because they seemed to prove that one could live well without currying favor with the Imperial Family. He wanted to bring about their downfall somehow and show the result to the noble families. What happens when you displease the Emperor.

‘Does that bastard know he’s not the real son of Meius? He must know, right? Seeing how he appeared again with blonde hair?’

The Emperor disliked cards he couldn’t predict. He instinctively found Ekian Meius unpleasant as well.

At this point when things weren’t going as planned and he was already irritated, it bothered him that this unpredictable bastard had returned.

Moreover, Ekian Meius’s return was good news for the Meius Ducal House. The Meius Ducal House was currently investing tremendous budget and manpower to find Ekian.

Conversely, this meant Ekian had been able to completely hide himself despite such massive-scale tracking. His individual capabilities had also exceeded the Emperor’s estimates.

‘This doesn’t feel good.’

He had a feeling that Alteon would now confront him head-on. If Meius became the Crown Prince’s close family and joined forces at a time like this, it would be troublesome.

‘I should quickly eliminate one of them.’

Come to think of it, today a woman who claimed to be pregnant with Ekian’s child had come. He wanted to hear a detailed report from Bart, but Bart had already died in the Ducal House’s underground prison.

‘That didn’t go as planned either.’

Now that even the assassination of the Marquis couple had come to nothing.

The Emperor was lost in thought for a moment. That’s when it happened.

“Your Majesty.”

Someone entered the ruined room. It was Anais, Countess Anitas, one of the Emperor’s mistresses.

Anais had ambitions as great as her seductive appearance, and also possessed the political acumen to move like the Emperor’s hands and feet within high society. That’s why despite being in her early twenties, she received the Emperor’s favor.

“What’s bothering you?”

She sat beside the Emperor with a bright smile. Then she spoke in a voice mixed with coquetry.

“Then I’ll help you until you’re satisfied.”

Actually, even before Anais entered, the Emperor had already calmed his excitement. He had finished venting his anger, and now it was time to think about the future.

His grown sons who seemed likely to threaten his safety, well past adulthood.

Even if it wouldn’t be easy, he absolutely had to break them.

The Emperor kept Anais by his side and rang the bell to summon his close subordinate. Then he commanded in a cracked voice.

“Assign people to the Crown Princess.”

Alteon’s wife, the Crown Princess, was Alteon’s greatest weakness. Therefore, she was the first target he needed to get into his grasp.

“She’s the one who can psychologically break Alteon the most. Since she often goes outside the palace, it would be easy to trap her in schemes.”

Right now, Alteon was likely filled with determination to protect his wife and children. The easiest way to break that momentum would be to shatter his faith in his family.

The Emperor planned to target his son’s other weakness in this way.

“That’s right.”

Anais quickly smiled and agreed.

“Just assign the people, and I’ll handle the rest. I have a very good idea for driving that couple apart.”

“Yes. You’d be good at that sort of thing.”

At the same time, using a similar method, there was something else he needed to find out.

“And one more thing.”

About the opponent who bothered him more because he couldn’t grasp them.

“Ekian’s wife, Judith Meius.”

He hadn’t seen that woman directly today. Until just now, she hadn’t even been on his radar.

But now that Ekian Meius had returned, the situation was different.

“Find out about that woman.”

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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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