I Faked a Pregnancy, but My Husband Returned - Chapter 58

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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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This can’t be!

‘Get it together, Karl!’

Actually, when he woke up this morning and heard the news that Ekian had returned, Karl felt like he was walking on clouds.

Wasn’t he his most beloved brother in the world?

With his exceptional memory and intelligence that was unusual for his age since he was a baby, he remembered every day spent with Ekian. That’s why he missed him every single day.

So after facing Ekian, he cried loudly and expressed his joy.

But the moment he saw Judith’s face, he suddenly came to his senses with a jolt.

To Judith, he was the world’s most terrible brother!

Wasn’t he the person who got her pregnant and then abandoned her, only to come back belatedly now?

He had definitely shouted boldly, ‘I’ll educate him properly. Isn’t he complete trash?’ and said every day, ‘I’ll protect my sister-in-law!’

And as a result of living with Judith, she was a kind and pure person. He didn’t know exactly how babies were made, but anyway, this was definitely Ekian’s fault.

‘Sorry, Judith!’

Karl raised both hands and slapped his chubby cheeks.

‘She must have resented him every day in her heart, yet I held onto my brother and expressed such joy!’

How betrayed must Judith feel from her perspective!

For the sake of his nephew in Judith’s belly, he couldn’t let this slide so carelessly.

Looking at Ekian’s very good complexion, it was clear that their parents hadn’t scolded him.

Could it be that the people who had been hoping for Ekian’s return every day had covered everything up saying ‘it’s fine since he’s back’?

‘But I shouldn’t do that.’

Karl widened his eyes.

‘Judith saved me from Sera.’

Even if their parents were being lenient, he couldn’t spoil his brother like that too. Karl snorted and moved away from Ekian.

Then he ran to Judith, who was tilting her head in confusion.

“Sister-in-law! Did you receive an apology?”

“…Pardon?”

“Don’t accept it easily! He needs to learn what responsibility means!”

Karl scolded with the most solemn expression he could manage.

“Don’t even let him in your room until he kneels and begs desperately! Our nephew won’t need an irresponsible father like that either!”

Ekian and Judith were dumbfounded and could only look at each other’s faces awkwardly. Karl stamped his feet and shouted.

“Calling himself the Meius Marquis, running away from home and then just making babies carelessly, who raised you like that? Huh? And then you just come back like nothing happened? Is that a proper father?”

“K-Karl… well, um, there are circumstances, it’s a misunderstanding…”

While Ekian was flustered, Judith hurriedly stepped forward.

“Um, well, there was a misunderstanding. Lord Ekian is, um, not that kind of person. The young master is still young, so there are circumstances the adults couldn’t fully explain…”

“Still! How could he leave alone a woman pregnant with his child!”

Like that, Ekian’s plan to have a peaceful tea time with Karl and create a happy moment turned to bubbles.

Ekian and Judith had to spend a long time soothing the fuming Karl.

“Hmm.”

Anais crossed her legs and flipped through the report.

“So this is how she lived in the meantime.”

It was a report about Judith that came up after the Emperor’s instruction. Since it was hastily written overnight, only basic information was included for now.

“Well, I know well about when she lived at the Ailan Baronial Family, so let’s skip that.”

Anais’s gaze slowly scanned through Judith’s life after age seventeen.

She lived in a small boarding room and did an enormous amount of tutoring work. Anais raised her eyebrows.

“This is quite good.”

She muttered with an interested expression.

“It would be good to create a scandal from among these.”

“Pardon? A scandal?”

“Yes. A stimulating, dirty, sordid scandal.”

Anais chuckled.

“The more filthy that scandal is, the more it makes fools of the Meius Ducal House who took her as a daughter-in-law and bragged about her beauty everywhere.”

A story was already complete in Anais’s mind.

“Say she had a child with one of the parents she tutored when she was a minor. So the child in her belly now would be the second one.”

At Anais’s words, her subordinate tilted his head.

“So you’re saying we should fabricate that there’s a first child?”

“Right. Anyway, unless it’s special bloodlines like Meius or the Imperial Family, there’s no way to tell if it’s legitimate or not, right?”

Anais said with a sneer.

“So we say there’s already an illegitimate child. It would be easy to bring a two or three-year-old child with red hair and green eyes from an orphanage.”

“Wouldn’t Judith Meius desperately deny it?”

“That’s why we need to bribe someone.”

Anais waved the report gently.

“Bribe one of the houses where Judith worked for a long time. So they can testify that Judith gave birth to an illegitimate child two years ago, and that they’re raising that child.”

Naturally, Judith’s side would jump up and down saying there’s no evidence. But just the fact that such rumors were circulating would obviously greatly damage the Meius Ducal House’s prestige. It wasn’t for nothing that nobles were sensitive about such matters.

“After that, if we cause a miscarriage…”

Anais added with a chuckle.

“Won’t she get divorced appropriately?”

She had told the Emperor she would ‘investigate Judith’s background while damaging the Meius Ducal House’s honor,’ but in truth, Anais had a strong desire to bring down Judith herself.

“Pick out a few houses among these that seem to be in financial need.”

Anais said with a wicked smile.

“Aren’t they all commoners anyway? If there are no houses that seem financially desperate, we’ll make them financially desperate.”

Ten days.

That was the time Ekian had given Judith until ‘the date to meet the Master.’

In the meantime, Ekian planned to organize the Grey Information Guild.

Of course, he didn’t plan to disband the information guild itself, but planned to transfer the information network built up so far and the spider web-like informants spread throughout the capital to the personal possession of the Meius Marquis.

‘I’ll meet Judith after a week and tell her that the Grey Information Guild is now closing. I’ll say goodbye, saying I’m returning to my hometown or leaving for a foreign country.’

So the Grey Information Trading House began to be known externally as closing, but in reality, nothing was being disbanded.

‘Is this working out well in the end?’

Ekian thought while organizing the interior of the information guild.

‘Information power is essential to deal with the Emperor.’

Of course, due to the nature of the Capital Information Guild, he couldn’t know detailed information inside the Imperial Palace. But there was a way to obtain information from the Imperial Palace. That was Alteon.

Alteon had secretly sent him a letter.

[There’s a woman named Anais Anitas, the wife of Baron Anitas. She’s currently the most favored among the Emperor’s mistresses, and she’s a capable woman who controls high society. That woman is acting as the Emperor’s right hand, so be careful.]

He knew Anais was the Emperor’s mistress, but he didn’t know she was acting as his right hand to that extent. So Ekian secretly assigned someone to Anais.

Two days later.

“Anais’s subordinates are secretly meeting with someone.”

A report came in immediately.

“But there’s a characteristic. The targets are houses where Baroness Judith Ailan provided private tutoring for a long time.”

Ekian’s face darkened rapidly.

The Emperor’s mistress was digging around for information related to Judith…

The Emperor knew that Ekian was his biological son. He was just not revealing it specifically in order to use that fact.

Then could this be interpreted as the Emperor touching Judith to exploit Ekian’s weakness?

“In that case.”

Ekian raised his eyebrows and gave instructions.

“Handle it like this.”

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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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