Standard Contract Guidelines for a Fraudulent Marriage - Chapter 64

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 64

Loerston laughed, a touch of embarrassment crossing his face.

“I feel rather foolish showing off old photographs like this.”
“But I’d love to see them. Don’t you have any others besides this one?”
“I do. There are a few kept at the Villa. Do you really want to see them?”
“Really, truly!”
“Then come along.”

Adelia, her delight evident in every step, followed Loerston with an almost weightless gait.

As they climbed the gently curving staircase to the second floor, white curtains billowed through every open doorway they passed.

This must be what it looks like when angels descend, Adelia thought.

“Here it is. This was my room when I was a child.”

Loerston led her to a cozy bedroom deep in the corridor.

It had a small desk and chair clearly made for a young child, and a sturdy toy chest built from wooden crates.

A telescope and a Sailor Badge were displayed on the shelf, among other things.

Thinking of how the small hands of young Loerston must have touched each of these treasures, she felt her heart tighten.

“What a beautiful room.”

Adelia whispered, taking in the curtains dyed in shades of blue and white that resembled the sea itself.

“Such a tiny bed! I can hardly believe you slept in something so small.”

She continued softly.

Everything in the room bore the traces of time, yet was kept meticulously clean—clean enough that a young child could move in and live here without a day’s notice.

Loerston opened drawer after drawer beside the bed before withdrawing two small photo albums.

“These are the ones. Albums with my photographs in them.”
“Please, give them to me. I want to see. I really do.”

Adelia took the albums and immediately opened to the first page.

On paper filled with white space, elegant handwriting read: “Roy’s Photographs, from Colbet.”

“Roy.”
“It’s my childhood nickname.”
“It sounds so boyish—like a spirited little troublemaker.”

Adelia carefully traced the name with her finger before turning the page.

There was a photograph of a very small Loerston, perhaps four years old, playing in the sand on the Beach.

He wore a blue cape across his shoulders, and his fine hair was pinned with a clasp.

“Senior, didn’t people ask you quite often when you were young if you were a girl?”
“According to my mother, it happened fairly often. Why? Do you think I looked like one?”
“A little, perhaps.”

Adelia smiled as she spoke.

“It’s because you were so beautiful. My goodness, I’ve never seen such a precious baby with such chubby cheeks and such adorable features!”

Struggling to contain her urge to coo with delight, she turned the next page and found a photograph of someone in a boat.

It was a small rowing dinghy, and Adelia’s eyes widened at the sight of the young man rowing.

“This person…”
“Yes. That’s my father.”

Adelia blinked slowly, her voice falling to a whisper.

“So he was my Summer’s Friend.”

When Adelia was at the Academy, writing letters to a patron whose name and face she did not know, she had used the salutation “Summer’s Friend.”

She had first learned of receiving this patronage just before summer break.

“Father was very fond of your letters.”

There was longing in Loerston’s voice.

As everyone had said, his parents had passed away far too young.

He wondered what his father and mother would have said upon meeting Adelia. They would likely have called her a most lovely young lady.

Adelia remained absorbed in the albums for a long while.

She was so focused that she did not notice when Loerston briefly stepped away.

When she discovered a photograph of a young woman holding the hand of a young Loerston, she let out a small sigh.

This must be the mother who had passed away in Loerston’s childhood.

‘Senior resembles his father, I thought, but he’s nearly a mirror image of his mother as well.’

It was strangely amusing. But before the smile could fade from her lips, a wave of bitter emotion swept through her.

‘Where is my mother now?’

The face of the mother who had abandoned her as a child was now difficult to recall.

In the hazy remnants of memory, only two things remained vivid: the long fingers that had braided her hair the night before the departure, and the silhouette of her back as she turned away and left.

Until just before she turned ten, she had sworn she would find her mother once she was grown, but now that she was an adult, she lacked the courage to do so—that was her honest feeling.

“Adelia?”

Loerston called to her from the doorway. Seeing her lost in thought, her shoulders drooping, his expression grew tender with concern.

“What’s wrong? You look tired. Are you exhausted?”
“No, it’s nothing. I was just thinking about something.”

As Adelia was about to close the album, Loerston knew exactly which photograph she had been looking at.

He could easily deduce what thoughts it must have stirred in her.

He said nothing, but came to sit beside her, gently taking the album from her hands and placing it on top of the dresser.

Then he tenderly caressed the back of her hand.

“I’m asking because it occurred to me…”

Adelia looked up at him. Her green eyes, wider than usual, seemed to hold many unspoken thoughts.

“…that if you wish it, and only if you wish it, I could help you find where your mother is.”

Though she knew what he was about to say, Adelia felt something strange. His words seemed somehow unreal.

To find her mother.

The thought had always existed somewhere in her mind, but it was nothing more than a vague fantasy—like daydreaming of becoming wealthy someday.

But if Loerston were involved, everything would change entirely. With the resources of the Insel Duchy behind him, finding one person would be child’s play.

“I have always thought I should find my mother.”

“But she might not think that way. She might want to meet you.”

I don’t know, Adelia thought.

In the photograph, Loerston’s mother’s love for her son was plainly visible.

The brightness in her eyes as she gazed down at him, the way she held him, the shape of her firmly clasped hand—it all overflowed with affection.

But Adelia herself had never known such love from her own mother.

When she thought of her mother, the woman’s face was almost always angry. She had smiled occasionally, but Adelia could hardly remember those moments.

“I’m curious whether she’s living well.”
“But wouldn’t you want to see her?”
“That’s… something I’d need to think about more. But if my mother is somewhere living a good life, it would ease my mind a little.”
“Has your mind been uneasy all this time?”
“A little, yes.”

Understanding how much meaning lay behind Adelia’s brief answer, Loerston patted her shoulder in comfort.

“Then would it be all right if I looked into it for you?”
“I’m worried it might be too much trouble for you.”
“That’s hardly any trouble at all.”

Loerston said this softly.

As Adelia broke into a faint smile, he could not help but kiss her lips gently.

The moment the brief kiss ended, Adelia’s expression shifted to one of surprise, her fingertips touching her lips. Then she laughed, a flush creeping across her face.

“You said we didn’t need to pretend to be a married couple here.”
“Call it an expression of affection, then. Did you dislike it?”
“It’s not that, but…”

I really wonder why Senior insists on doing such things, Adelia muttered to herself.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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