One Day, I Picked Up a Mom - Chapter 45

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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 45

 

“She’s twenty-seven years old.”

 

That was the first thing that flowed from Ludrio’s mouth.

 

“Since Iban has an age.”

 

“Ah….”

 

“Her father passed away five years ago, and her mother passed away early this year.”

 

Detailed personal information about Luciana Oren.

 

Twenty-seven years old, Luciana Oren who was left with only Iban as family after her mother’s passing.

 

She lived in the outskirts of Hapen village, on the southern edge of the Verdien region, with nothing but an old house and a small field.

 

Legally not nobility, but a descendant of hollow nobility with only bloodline remaining.

 

Her father, Lenod Oren, managed estates in his youth, but later barely maintained his livelihood as a low-level administrative position as a territorial record keeper.

 

There wasn’t even a single maid in the house, so her mother and Luciana had to take care of the household directly.

 

Since they weren’t financially well-off, she never attended school, but even so, her father personally taught her basic grammar, etiquette, and letter writing for the family’s dignity.

 

Then around her early teens, she learned a bit of history and arithmetic from a nun at a nearby church.

 

After her father passed away, she and her mother made a living through handicrafts and such.

 

I had already heard all this from Hark….

 

“He won’t ask in detail, but just in case. You just need to know this much.”

 

Whether he hadn’t received the report or not, Ludrio told me the basic information I had already memorized once more.

 

“Yes. I learned well from Hark.”

 

“…Right.”

 

He slowly turned his gaze and cleared his throat, adjusting his voice.

 

After a bit more time passed, Ludrio opened his mouth again.

 

“…And as you saw yesterday, I don’t have a good relationship with them.”

 

His gaze turned away uncomfortably and his awkward hand rubbed his shoulder.

 

I immediately realized this was what Ludrio really wanted to say, and the reason he called me out to walk together.

 

“I thought this might be among the things you hoped to hear about. …Was this something you didn’t know?”

 

He carefully observed my expression.

 

‘He’s deliberately bringing this up because he thought I might want to hear it?’

 

Had he been thinking about it alone even after yesterday’s conversation ended?

 

And then decided that more explanation was needed about the cold relationship between him and the Previous Count and Countess?

 

I had already thoroughly realized what their relationship was like last night, but still, him telling me directly… somehow felt different.

 

When I quietly nodded, he silently let out a breath and slowly continued speaking.

 

“The rumors spread so widely that I thought you would already know.”

 

“…I don’t think I heard such rumors.”

 

I quickly traced back my memories, but I had no recollection of hearing such stories.

 

Someone might have mentioned it while I was going around gathering information about Ludrio.

 

In any case, it was content I hadn’t been aware of.

 

“So that’s why your expression was so frozen.”

 

“Mine?”

 

“It’s understandable to be surprised.”

 

I thought I had managed my expression quite well.

 

Ludrio replied lightly to my question.

 

“It’s not a common case of unfilial conduct.”

 

A self-deprecating smile hung at the corner of his mouth. Though it disappeared very quickly.

 

“…Count Roderich is a good person.”

 

The moment I saw that smile, these words suddenly burst out of my mouth.

 

“What?”

 

Ludrio looked as flustered as I was.

 

“…I said you’re a good person.”

 

Unable to take back the words I had already spoken, I repeated them while feeling very confused.

 

‘No, what was that all of a sudden….’

 

It must have been because I wasn’t fully awake yet.

 

Maybe I was still in an emotional state due to the aftermath of crying shamefully in front of him yesterday.

 

Or maybe I had mistakenly thought we had become close because he had apologized.

 

Ludrio frowned as if at a loss for words for a moment, then soon averted his gaze.

 

As if he couldn’t understand me saying such things at all.

 

“Even after seeing that scene yesterday.”

 

“If Count Roderich acts so coldly, those people must have done something wrong.”

 

However, the moment I saw Ludrio’s expression freeze again, I impulsively blurted out words again, making my previous regret meaningless.

 

I couldn’t tell exactly what I had seen in the expressionless Ludrio.

 

But somehow Ludrio, who was much bigger than me, felt like young Iban.

 

When I remembered that child who had silently lain down on the floor full of trash, any hesitation disappeared instantly.

 

“I certainly wasn’t a good guardian to Iban. I was probably the worst.”

 

Right, yesterday’s Ludrio had worried whether I might have been physically assaulted by them.

 

‘What if you got hit! What did you think would happen to you going out there!’

 

Those words kept circling in my head. They made me imagine Ludrio’s childhood that I had never seen.

 

“I should be hated for that, but the child still… loves me.”

 

“….”

 

“I thought he was temporarily forgiving me because he’s still young and needs a guardian. Now that Count Roderich said he would become his guardian, I’m no longer needed and he could hate me freely….”

 

Iban was like that, and as I was like that, surely young Ludrio must have been the same.

 

“Children are quick to forgive, enough to understand.”

 

How sad it must have been to forgive so much and wait so long, only to eventually give up.

 

“I also was raised by my grand….”

 

I was raised by my grandmother.

 

I quickly shut my mouth tight.

 

I had almost brought up my personal story.

 

I had almost rattled off that story that would give me a headache if he started prying into it.

 

“What?”

 

“…I said I’ll treat him as well as I can. So, I’ll treat Iban even better to make up for what I couldn’t do.”

 

Ludrio laughed out loud as if dumbfounded.

 

‘Why…. It wasn’t something funny to say.’

 

He rubbed the corner of his mouth and asked, tilting his head slightly.

 

“I thought you were talking about why I’m a good person?”

 

“I told you everything.”

 

I organized the story once more, folding my fingers one by one as if reasoning logically.

 

“Count Roderich is a good person. But if you’re particularly harsh only to the Previous Count and Countess, then surely the fault lies with them.”

 

I quietly looked at my three folded fingers and shrugged lightly.

 

“…That’s the first time I’ve heard such words.”

 

“It’s quite biased, but that’s what I think.”

 

From around age eight, I was raised very earnestly by my maternal grandmother, in her house.

 

Grandmother loved me more than enough.

 

I also loved and followed grandmother more than anyone in the world, but that didn’t mean I thought all her words were right.

 

‘You have to understand.’

 

One of those words was to understand the mother who abandoned me. Saying there must have been unavoidable circumstances.

 

So if grandmother heard these words of mine, she would let out another sad sigh.

 

“And yesterday, because of Iban and me, you were particularly more….”

 

I was about to ask if he had lashed out more severely, but closed my mouth.

 

Seeing Ludrio frown as if asking what I meant, it seemed that was my misunderstanding.

 

“Right, you’re also the first to say I’m a good person.”

 

Ludrio examined my face once more as if confirming my sincerity.

 

“…I don’t recall being a good person to you either.”

 

At the topic that had once again returned to square one, I tilted my head to the side.

 

Because Ludrio seemed like someone who wanted to deny my words.

 

Did my words feel like flattery to him?

 

“You provided me with a tutor, and when I collapsed after eating shrimp, you personally carried me.”

 

Since there would be nothing good about appearing to flatter him, I hurriedly added an explanation.

 

“And ever since then, things like shrimp don’t appear in our meals anymore.”

 

After that incident, not just for me but for all of us, things like crab or shrimp stopped appearing on our plates.

 

It might have just happened by chance, but thinking about it now, it seemed like his consideration.

 

“Last time, when an employee broke a teacup, you didn’t get angry or even scold them once.”

 

Iban was his son, so setting aside what he did for the child, he was a good person.

 

“And you personally apologized to me too. I’m truly grateful for that. I really mean it.”

 

When I raised my head, I could see Ludrio quietly looking down at me.

 

He didn’t say anything, but the look in his eyes as he gazed at me was strangely calm.

 

After a moment of hesitation.

 

…Soon his large hand completely enveloped my cheek.

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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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