One Day, I Picked Up a Mom - Chapter 16

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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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One Day I Picked Up a Mother – Episode 16

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Tap, tap, tap.

Ludrio Rharhart’s fingers drummed the paper on his desk in a steady rhythm.

Iban.

Luna, who claimed to be Iban’s mother.

And Marharan Village, which they had left behind.

Tap, tap, tap.

They were a mother and child whose true desires remained stubbornly hidden.

In fact, this kind of situation wasn’t new to Ludrio.

Women coming alone, or arriving with pregnant bellies. Sometimes mother and child pairs like these would visit together.

While those who sought him out were bothersome, they had never once been difficult to handle.

Money, love, information, and so on. Though what they wanted varied, uncovering their hidden desires was always quite simple.

If you dangled something within their grasp then snatched it away, they would inevitably lose patience and reveal their true desires.

But this time wasn’t easy.

It was clearly a lie, it had to be a lie…

The woman who wept as if the world had gone dark when the child collapsed, asking only that the child be raised well, and the child who even fainted on purpose because he wanted to live with such a mother.

The affection they portrayed seemed quite genuine, making it difficult to discern the truth this time.

What the two said showed no major inconsistencies, as if there wasn’t a trace of falsehood.

“…Is this Uncle’s doing after all?”

That was the conclusion Ludrio reached after considerable thought.

How else could this brooch have ended up in their hands?

The way she trembled with fear that the child might be harmed, and even the small hand extended over the peacefully sleeping face, worried that anger might fall upon his mother – it all seemed so real it troubled his mind.

Nevertheless, that was his conclusion.

Ludrio thought they had prepared quite thoroughly this time, to the point where he couldn’t even gauge how much of it was scripted.

First, when the sleeping woman woke up, he would assign someone to escort her out of the estate and see how she behaved.

If he waited another day or so, the person he’d sent to Marharan, where the two claimed to have lived, would return with information…

Ludrio’s gaze turned to the red brooch placed beside the paper.

He might never know how the brooch he’d lost about ten years ago ended up in his uncle’s – no, the Regent’s – hands.

But by tomorrow, the truth would become much clearer.

* * *

It was just past eight o’clock when he instructed that the woman who had spent the night by the child’s side be awakened.

After sending a servant, Ludrio soon made his way back to the infirmary where they would be.

The main reason he personally took the trouble to go, when he could have received a report about the mother and child’s separation later, was simply because he had some time before breakfast.

“Iban, were you very scared yesterday?”

“…No.”

It was also easier to catch momentary lapses by observing directly rather than receiving others’ reports.

“Really? The doctor said Iban collapsed from being very nervous. You really weren’t scared?”

“No. I wasn’t scared at all.”

The woman, who had said she would just say her final goodbye and leave the estate, kept stroking the child’s face.

Was this the farewell she had wanted to make?

“That’s right, there’s nothing to be scared of.”

Though her tone was gentle, Ludrio couldn’t see the woman’s or child’s expressions.

“Count Roderich said he would raise Iban well from now on.”

Perhaps she was using the final goodbye as a pretext to give warnings, so the child left alone wouldn’t ruin the plan.

Just as he was thinking this, the woman spoke again.

“He promised to do anything Iban needs.”

The woman stroked the child’s face again.

“…Really?”

“Of course. Now Iban can live here as you wanted. Are you happy?”

The child seemed to nod his head slowly.

“Yes. Now our Iban can eat lots of delicious food, learn to read, and wear pretty clothes to your heart’s content.”

“But did Count Roderich really say that? To you, Mother?”

“Yes.”

The woman answered briefly, then immediately pulled the child into her arms.

“He promised like that. That he would take good care of Iban.”

“…Huh?”

“So Iban, if anything difficult or upsetting happens while you’re living here, you must go and tell him. Don’t endure it alone.”

The child squirmed as if wanting to break free.

“Count Roderich said he would make Iban his heir. That means he’ll treat Iban very preciously. So Iban, if other adults bully you, be sure to tell Count Roderich. Understand?”

“…Mother will live here too, right?”

The child who had escaped from her embrace asked as if something was strange.

“Not Mother. Just Iban.”

“Then, then what about Mother?”

At the child’s urgent question, the woman shook her head and said once more that it wasn’t her.

“…Money.”

“What?”

“Did you get money?”

The child, with his head hung low, asked in a very faint voice.

“What are you talking about. Iban, it’s not like that.”

The flustered woman grabbed the child’s shoulders and lowered her head. As if trying to meet his eyes.

“I didn’t receive any money at all. I’m not handing Iban over because of money.”

“Then? Mother has no family either. You only have me.”

Thick tears rolled down the child’s cheeks drop by drop.

“That’s right. I only have Iban. I only have you, but… originally Mother can’t stay. Because Count Roderich only wants Iban.”

The woman’s voice may have slowed a bit, but it never wavered in the end.

She was very composed, yet somehow it looked heartbreakingly sad.

Ludrio frowned and quietly observed what part of the woman made her appear that way.

“Then I don’t want to be here either.”

“Why? You said you wanted to live with your father.”

“I thought Mother would be together too!”

The child, clenching his fists tightly, burst out shouting.

“What?”

A powerless voice escaped from the woman’s mouth as if she was flustered. The strength gradually left the hands that had been holding the child.

Ludrio, who had been watching the two while concealing his presence, took a few steps closer to them.

Now he could see both the woman’s and Iban’s expressions at a glance.

“But Iban clearly…”

The woman seemed to want to ask back, but ultimately closed her mouth.

The woman, who wrinkled her eyebrows as if she no longer knew what to do, hugged the child again.

“I thought Iban wanted to live with his father. So, not with Mother but with his father…”

“I want to live with Mother. I don’t need a father. If Mother isn’t there, I don’t need a father.”

“…”

“Okay?”

The woman couldn’t easily open her mouth to the child who was crying sadly, as if he didn’t want to be separated from his mother.

“Alright. Let’s do that.”

But in the end.

The woman, who had been chewing her lips, nodded at the child’s words as if she had made up her mind.

“Mother will try talking to Count Roderich. So don’t cry, Iban.”

Having heard up to that point, a hollow laugh escaped through Ludrio’s lips.

“Let’s live together, Mother.”

So suddenly, irritation flared up.

“If that’s your farewell, then that’s enough.”

Contrary to the rumors circulating in society, Roderich had never once embraced a woman. So there was no way his child could exist anywhere.

Roderich paid no attention to the two people who looked up at him in shock, and firmly reached out to lift the woman up.

“Mother!”

The child hurriedly grabbed her skirt, but Roderich didn’t let go of the woman’s arm.

“Count, sir…!”

“Take the child to the room.”

The Count who had left the infirmary gave a brief order to the employee standing in the corridor.

Then the employee hurried over and picked up the child who was clinging to the woman’s skirt.

“Ah! Mother!”

The child’s shrill voice echoed chaotically through the corridor.

He would have liked to drive away that child as well, but there were still things to confirm about the child.

Thud.

As the door closed, the child’s screams were muffled by a layer.

Only then did Roderich release the woman’s arm as if throwing it away.

“Now get out.”

“…But, Count.”

The woman’s head turned toward where the child’s voice was flowing from. As if she couldn’t bear to part with her child like this.

Moisture quickly filled the woman’s large eyes.

Her gaze trembled anxiously, and her lips that seemed unsure of what to say were full of lingering attachment.

Right. She had said she would obediently leave the child and go.

‘As expected, there’s no way that would happen.’

His uncle seemed to think that he wouldn’t be able to separate the mother and child.

As if hoping he would recall his own childhood from that child who was crying sadly, not wanting to be separated from his mother.

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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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