One Day, I Picked Up a Mom - Chapter 32

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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 32

 

“I’m being completely serious.”

 

His face still showed not a trace of a smile.

 

“You’d be able to enjoy what you deserve as a duchess and live with the child, so isn’t that good?”

 

“…Then what would you gain from marrying me, Your Grace?”

 

“For me, I’d be free from having to worry about in-laws, and liberated from my retainers’ nagging about taking a wife.”

 

I persistently studied Ludrio’s expression.

 

It was a proposal I had never once imagined. What on earth was he thinking to bring up such a thing?

 

Aside from frequently leaving the estate to go out and play, he was quite different from the rumors.

 

Though he might be indifferent or arrogant, he wasn’t a cruel or brutal person.

 

I had thought he might be a person with more good points than the rumors suggested.

 

“Even if I live somewhat dissolutely, you wouldn’t question or complain about it, and you couldn’t anyway. I needed a wife regardless.”

 

“…”

 

“Just a facade to ward off interference from others. You, with no background or power, seem most suitable for that position.”

 

Yet Ludrio was saying he would take me, who had worked in a tavern, as his wife for his own convenience, just like the rumors floating around the marketplace.

 

‘…Like someone who wants to deliberately appear bad.’

 

Had I been seeing him in too positive a light?

 

“But I wouldn’t be of help to either Iban or Your Grace. I told you where I’ve been working all this time.”

 

The bride candidates his retainers had suggested bringing in would never have been a tavern woman.

 

As Ludrio had said before, my origins and existence wouldn’t be of much help to him or Iban.

 

He already knew all of this, and that’s why he had tried to drive me away.

 

Again arbitrarily reversing his words, Ludrio was impossible to understand.

 

“A plausible past and status are things I can provide.”

 

His tone was very light, as if it were nothing special. As if there would be no problems at all.

 

But would that really be the case?

 

“What if there’s someone who recognizes me?”

 

I had no memories of the past, so I didn’t know what I should be careful of.

 

So even if someone connected to me appeared, I couldn’t recognize them first and protect myself.

 

“If I’m lucky, I won’t be caught, but it’s not something I can guarantee.”

 

“Well. I don’t think there would be many who would dare voice such doubts about a duchess.”

 

He shrugged his shoulders lightly as he spoke.

 

At his confidence—who would dare raise problems with him—the certainty of someone who had lived his entire life as heir to House Rharhart, I let out a small sigh.

 

‘That would be true.’

 

As long as Ludrio hid me, it seemed I would be safe. As he said, without separating from Iban and receiving the duchy’s protection…

 

“Are those all the obstacles to marriage?”

 

He leaned his upper body closer and studied my expression.

 

“In any case, I’ve taken a liking to you.”

 

Ludrio, saying he had taken a liking to me, had a completely emotionless face.

 

Like someone choosing decorative items to bring into the estate.

 

‘Just how is this situation unfolding?’

 

Iban, the Count’s illegitimate son.

 

The Count, rumored to be dissolute.

 

And a marriage of convenience between me and the Count.

 

…A fake marriage.

 

‘Wait, could this be.’

 

A fleeting thought crossed my mind.

 

“Is it a contract marriage? Then.”

 

Soon the thought spilled out of my mouth.

 

“I mean, the marriage we would have.”

 

Contract marriage was a theme that appeared without fail in romance genre novels.

 

Especially contract marriages to escape family pressure usually appeared in peaceful romantic comedies rather than revenge stories or political intrigue.

 

Then could the genre of this world be Ropan?

 

“Well, that’s right.”

 

At the Count’s brief affirmation, I sighed once more.

 

It felt like a puzzle piece I had long pondered had finally found its place.

 

The setting of reuniting using belongings left by a birth father was also a common development in Ropan.

 

‘Then is it a childcare story? Or baby messenger?’

 

But most childcare stories have girls as protagonists. And to call it baby messenger…

 

Suddenly bending at the waist, he studied my expression.

 

“If you’re hesitating because you’re worried I might touch you like I mentioned before, I’ll do that part however you want too. Tell me if there’s anything bothering you.”

 

“Will you also draft a contract?”

 

“…Yes.”

 

Ludrio nodded briefly.

 

“Ah…”

 

That later Ludrio Rharhart would come to love Luna.

 

That is, without ever dreaming that this was a question weighing the inevitable fate that he would come to love me.

 

His answer was very light yet firm.

 

“When the contract ends, things we need to cooperate on or things that are forbidden. We’ll write down things like that.”

 

Muttering quietly like talking to myself, I looked at him once more.

 

If this place really was some novel world and a protagonist existed, that would certainly be a role befitting Ludrio. Same with Iban.

 

So it wouldn’t be strange at all if Ludrio or Iban were central figures in this novel.

 

‘But Luna probably isn’t the protagonist.’

 

Of course, Luna was on the pretty side too.

 

Since this was an important moment approaching the truth of the world, to be a bit firm, she definitely wasn’t protagonist material.

 

‘I don’t remember reading any love stories between a libertine and a prostitute.’

 

It wasn’t a story easily forgotten, and I couldn’t even remember works with similar themes.

 

“I thought you’d be happy to be able to live with Iban. You seem to have many concerns.”

 

“Ah… that’s not it.”

 

Ludrio shook his head lightly and soon turned his gaze away from me.

 

Then he opened a drawer next to the couch and took out paper and a pen.

 

“Let’s have your answer by tomorrow morning before breakfast.”

 

He pushed the paper and pen he had placed on the table toward me.

 

“Why the paper…”

 

“Write down any conditions you want.”

 

“…I’m still not very good at writing yet.”

 

Though I picked them up at his urging gesture to take them, I wasn’t confident I could write exactly what Ludrio wanted.

 

However, Ludrio just shrugged as if it didn’t matter at all.

 

“As long as you can read it, that’s enough.”

 

Soon he stood up from his seat.

 

“Let’s go down now.”

 

Where was he going this time?

 

Looking up at him blankly, I belatedly remembered that I had come looking for him almost at dinner time.

 

Hurriedly getting up and following Ludrio out of the bedroom, I continued to watch him.

 

‘Will Ludrio and Luna really come to love each other?’

 

However, for some reason I wasn’t certain.

 

To make hasty conclusions, there were only very flimsy clues.

 

“Ah, suddenly why…?”

 

I almost bumped into his back when Ludrio suddenly stopped. Hurriedly looking up at him, I saw he was pointing to a nearby door.

 

“It would be better to put what you’re holding in your room.”

 

“Ah…”

 

It was my room door.

 

When I opened the door and looked inside the room, Iban wasn’t there.

 

‘He must have gone down to the dining room.’

 

I set down the paper and fountain pen that Ludrio had given me next to the paper where Iban had been practicing diligently.

 

‘I thought Mother would be with him too!’

 

If I told him that I wouldn’t be kicked out anymore, Iban would definitely be very happy.

 

Mother, Father, and me too.

 

That’s what Iban had wanted from the beginning, after all.

 

Then he wouldn’t say nonsense about leaving the estate, and would continue to stay here studying letters diligently.

 

“Luna.”

 

When I turned my head at the low voice calling my name, I saw Ludrio still standing in front of the room door.

 

‘He was waiting.’

 

I naturally thought he would have gone down first.

 

As I approached him with quick steps, having waited quietly for me, I suddenly had such a thought.

 

If this really was a Ropan and Ludrio was truly the male lead of this novel, then the rumors about him might be quite different from the truth.

 

Rumors that circulated in Ropan were originally like that.

 

A character who supposedly had no interest in women actually only looked at one woman, someone who was said to be dead was actually alive, and a person rumored to be a playboy actually had no experience at all.

 

Even while following behind Ludrio as he walked ahead and going down the stairs, my head was filled with such thoughts.

 

Until I saw Iban sitting alone at the large table beyond the dining room door.

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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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