The Maid With a Child - Chapter 65

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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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65. Strong and Warm Embrace
The nobility married young, or so the saying went, but could a two-year-old marry? Was such a thing even permitted? Was it legally possible?
“My goodness, what can we do about this, Count? Do you think it’s possible?”
But Adlen’s concern proved unfounded.
At the words of Marquis Jelent’s Wife, who tossed them out with a smile, Adlen felt her chest lighten.
Yet there was no room for complacency.
“We would need His Majesty’s approval first.”
Racalte answered gravely.
“Ah yes, then I suppose I’ll have to ask him separately.”
Marquis Jelent’s Wife replied in a tone that suggested she wasn’t entirely joking either.
“?”
Only Adlen found herself adrift in a sea of confusion, unable to distinguish whether they were joking or not.
“Me too, me too!”
But nothing seemed to pass without incident.
One baby meant a bundle of cuteness and one incident. Ten babies meant ten bundles of cuteness and a hundred incidents.
Another child who had been clinging to Havel suddenly burst into tears.
She was a girl slightly older than the Marquis’s young daughter, and she had understood the adults’ words well enough.
“I wanna marry Havel too!”
The moment one child began to cry, the other competitors clustered around Havel followed suit.
“Me too, me too!”
“Wahhh! Pick me instead!”
This was hardly our young master’s fault at all.
If there was a fault to be found, it was only that he was far too adorable.
Amid the storm of tears, Havel alone tilted his head with bright, puzzled eyes.
Then he caught sight of Adlen and broke into a smile.
“Adlen too! Marry?”
“…….”
Suddenly she found herself sharing the blame.
No matter how innocent the baby’s words were, it caught her off guard in this atmosphere.
If they were at home, she would have eagerly kissed him and cried out, “Yes, let’s get married right now, young master! We’ll live together forever!” But doing that here risked being literally beaten to death by the other children.
“So you’ve chosen carefully, then?”
That was when Racalte suddenly posed the question from beside her.
“Ah ha, sir—when did you become one for jokes?”
“It’s not unheard of in history. Strategic marriages with fifty-year gaps happen from time to time.”
“…….”
He had not been joking.
Adlen’s entire face contorted. It was a horrifying notion she didn’t even want to imagine.
“Count, you’ll have to stay strong through this.”
Just then, someone beside her—who had been laughing along—casually struck up a conversation.
It was someone who had been subtly trying to befriend her since entering, showing eager signs of wanting to grow closer.
People who once shunned association with swordsmen, calling them human butchers and worse, now began approaching of their own accord.
It was thanks to the King’s open display of favor on his birthday celebration and the rumor that Racalte would receive a Promotion of Rank once the War ended.
The standing of Sigelion House had shifted considerably.
Even those who had rejected and envied them as mere upstart nobility now rushed forward, eager to cultivate connections.
“What if His Highness the Crown Prince were to marry first?”
It was said with a laugh, but Adlen grew serious. What if that actually happened? It seemed like something her master might indeed do.
If so, her entire life would be locked down for at least twenty years or more.
“I suppose I’ll have to make an effort as well.”
Racalte’s reply was clipped, as if he couldn’t be bothered to draw out the conversation. But his interlocutor was persistent.
“Oh my, I’ve been hearing all sorts of rumors lately, so it seems your intentions are genuine.”
“All sorts of rumors?”
“Yes, word is that His Majesty is quite eager to connect you with the Lady Maeltina by any means, and recently there’s been talk linking you to her as well. Spring seems to have come early for you, sir.”
Adlen had gone from being “the maid” to simply “her.”
The woman’s eye for reading the room was uncanny.
It wasn’t just that she was the Crown Prince’s nursemaid—the King had summoned her directly, granted her an audience, learned her name, and spoken to her before all assembled. There was real power behind it, regardless of station.
Yet it would be difficult in many ways to view Adlen as a potential marriage partner.
From the very beginning, the relationship had been master and servant; now they were colleagues, but above all, Adlen dreamed not of a proud count but of an ordinary life with an ordinary man.
Her view of marriage was one of simple, comfortable domesticity.
To thrust upon such a woman a life laden with duty as a Countess would be impossible.
“Neither is true.”
Racalte, who had been about to add that he wasn’t interested, found his eyes meeting Adlen’s as she spun around to face him. The intensity of her gaze was enough to stop the words forming on his lips.
‘Please!’
That was what Adlen’s eyes were crying out.
Racalte recalled, in that moment, the reason he had temporarily forgotten for accompanying her.
“…So I’m doing my best to search as well.”
“Oh! Is that so? Oh, I see…”
A smile whose meaning escaped him bloomed across the speaker’s face.
Racalte, irritated for no clear reason, excused himself to fetch a drink.
As he left, Adlen caught his eye and threw both hands together in a gesture of thumbs up toward him.
Master is the best!
Despite his strange mood worsening at her moved and overjoyed reaction, Racalte could do nothing about it.
* * *
Adlen was normally skilled at reading the room, but her excitement had apparently blinded her to Racalte’s true state of mind.
“It seems our little one is destined to become a great star that will dazzle high society.”
Havel’s popularity showed no signs of waning until the birthday party came to an end.
Even the children who had hesitated and observed cautiously were drawn in one by one, eager to befriend him.
Because of this, it took quite some time for everyone to say their goodbyes when the party finally ended.
“My goodness, they all have an eye for a beautiful child, it seems.”
“Marry me, okay?”
“Yes, little one. Let’s get married.”
Though the children seemed not to understand what marriage even meant, their innocence drew laughter.
What Adlen had been unable to fully enjoy in the presence of all those people, she savored belatedly now.
“Still, it seems everyone behaved far better than I expected. Surely it’s because our little one is so beautiful, don’t you think?”
“They were watching the Crown Prince.”
“Ah, that’s true. And we have you to thank for that as well. If I’d been alone…”
Even if the little one had been beautiful, people wouldn’t have shown such kindness without his presence.
“I’m so grateful you were there. I never knew it could feel this reassuring to have someone in my corner.”
She had worked in various places over the years, but never had she found somewhere that truly protected and supported her.
Racalte was different.
He had actually protected her. And so, merely being at his side gave her a sense of security.
“I hope we can keep going together like this, always…”
Adlen made her appeal almost as if speaking to herself.
Racalte let out a soft scoff at her transparent ploy and turned his gaze toward the window.
Though the attempt had failed, Adlen didn’t lose heart and laughed good-naturedly.
Following his gaze out the window, Adlen suddenly caught sight of a signboard and let out a small sound of recognition.
“Master, that shop!”
Today’s gains had been quite substantial.
The little one’s beauty had been acknowledged before all of society, they had drawn the affection of other children, and it had been made clear that she and Racalte were nothing more than business associates.
And the greatest unexpected gain of all was discovering the existence of childcare tools.
“Couldn’t we just look in for a moment?”
Adlen clasped her hands in entreaty.
Those nannies who appeared so businesslike were, in fact, experts in child-rearing.
They had shown her that one need not exhaust oneself, but could instead rely on the right tools.
Things like rattling pacifiers, for instance, or rocking beds that swayed as if held in human arms.
She had been so fascinated and envious that she’d asked where such items could be obtained, and the nannies had all unanimously pointed to that very shop.
That they had stumbled upon it by chance, without even searching, could only be a sign from above that they must stop there.
“That shop apparently has every tool in the world to make raising the little one easier. Please, just once!”
“…Stop.”
There was no way Racalte could ignore her plea.
The carriage that had been moving turned sharply and came to a halt before the shop.
Adlen, eager to leap out first, was stopped by Racalte’s arm.
“Master?”
“We’re in public. We must watch for attack.”
“…Ah.”
Racalte first surveyed the area outside the carriage carefully, then wrapped his arm around Adlen’s shoulders, shielding her entirely with his own body.
“…”
Finding herself suddenly nestled in his embrace, Adlen’s eager chatter died on her lips.
Though he had only wrapped his arm around her shoulders, her heart clenched as if gripped in a fist, leaving her unable to move.
His embrace was so solid, so warm, that she could not do anything but yield to it.

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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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