The Maid With a Child - Chapter 67

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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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67. On the Verge of Marriage
The Shop Clerk hardly belonged to High Society, and wasn’t a man Adlen would ever meet—there was no need to make a point of the truth.
Yet she couldn’t simply let the misunderstanding stand.
“So we’re not married, we’re—”
“About to be.”
“?!”
That’s when Racalte stepped in with a remark so strange it caught her completely off guard.
Adlen spun around to face him, astounded.
“Why, why—why on earth are you saying that…?”
Racalte let out a low chuckle and wrapped an arm around Adlen’s shoulders. Her armor creaked loudly in protest, but he paid it no mind and addressed the clerk instead.
“We’re already family, but the ceremony hasn’t happened yet.”
“Ah? Ah…? Ah…!”
The clerk’s expression shifted through three distinct states.
What on earth is he saying?
…Wait, no—one doesn’t need to be married to have a child, do they?
…Oh! So perhaps the woman refuses to marry for some reason, or can’t because of circumstances, and she’s upset about it? Is that why this man and the young lady emphasized they had no connection, why they made such a point of it to a total stranger?
That must be it.
“Ah, my goodness… I’ve made a terrible mistake. I sincerely apologize, miss. I got far ahead of myself and created quite the misunderstanding. Please, forgive me.”
“…Yes? No, I…?”
“You’re absolutely not married to this gentleman! You’re not his wife, and you’re not his lover either!”
“No, that’s—”
That part was true, even if the reasoning behind it seemed rather muddled. The misunderstanding appeared to be cleared up, so why did something still feel wrong?
“Is the bill settled?”
“Ah, yes! I’ll have the goods loaded into your Carriage right away!”
Racalte wrapped up the situation with perfect efficiency and turned toward the door.
Adlen could only stammer helplessly as she found herself following him through it.
Before climbing back into the Carriage, Racalte enfolded her in his arms just as he had when they’d arrived, his entire frame sheltering her.
“Oh my, oh my! Safe travels!”
The clerk’s cheerful farewell trailed after them.
All attempts at clarification had failed—utterly, completely, and beyond any doubt.
The moment the Carriage door closed, Adlen’s face burned crimson and she let out a shriek.
“What on earth were you doing! If that clerk spreads some ridiculous rumor, what then?!”
She’d learned about the Store itself through a noblewoman’s nursemaid. The clerk hadn’t seemed to recognize them, nor did he appear to know the gossip circulating in High Society—but it was only a matter of time.
“There’s already every kind of rumor imaginable spreading about us. Does one more really matter?”
“W-well, perhaps, but when someone sees it with their own eyes, it’s different—”
“They’re already inventing children that don’t exist.”
At Racalte’s calm acceptance, Adlen gradually quieted.
True. She’d long since become that notorious woman who spread scandal alongside her master and even gave birth to his child—or so they said.
Surrendering would at least bring her some peace.
Adlen turned her attention to the Carriage, brimming with purchases.
The haul from today’s outing made her happy all over again.
“So, now that you’re family, how does it feel?”
“Pardon?”
Racalte spoke suddenly into the silence.
“You’ve always wished for it—a family of your own has been your lifelong desire. I’m far prettier than a toad, and the Crown Prince is kinder than a stubborn mule, so the conditions match, don’t they?”
“I…?”
It took Adlen a moment to understand what he was saying.
So… what her master had said to the clerk, the way he’d spoken—that was him offering her a taste of family, a gift of kindness?
“Ha, ha, ha…”
It was an unexpected kindness, far more than she’d asked for. If he’d meant to do this, he should have arranged it beforehand and told her.
“Goodness…”
What good would it do to complain now? The moment had passed.
Adlen let the tension drain from her eyes and slumped back against her seat. She’d had no chance to savor the moment, so how could she offer any real impression? All she’d felt was shock.
But if she’d known in advance, if she hadn’t been taken aback…
She would have felt proud.
Her master would have been a husband anyone would admire, and the Baby would be as adorable as any child could be—she’d have stood with her shoulders thrown back with satisfaction.
She’d thought external things and conditions didn’t matter, but imagining it now, she realized it was unexpectedly meaningful.
‘Wouldn’t we have looked like a family worth envying?’
Then, suddenly, the clerk’s parting words echoed in her mind.
How he’d never seen a couple so tender with each other while working. Of course, he’d mixed in some flattery to please his customers, but he wouldn’t have invented something entirely from nothing.
Then it meant other customers weren’t treated the same way.
Not married, merely a master-servant relationship — yet their bond was deeper than a husband and wife who weren’t even wed.
Another corner of her fantasy about family crumbled away.
“Perhaps harmonious households were rarer than I thought…….”
Either what she’d witnessed was only a tiny fraction of families in the Heavenly Realm, or only the ones that seemed happy.
Like a lifelong destination that turned out to be nothing but a mirage, disappointment hollowed her out.
“I suppose. Each family’s circumstances are only known to those living in it.”
Racalte, who carried a family history that seemed nothing but miserable yet showed no particular concern about it, spoke without emotion.
Adlen looked at Racalte and tried to sort through the tangle of her own feelings. But once her heart had been shaken, it could barely find its center again.
“I never thought that a married couple could be unhappy…….”
She’d believed that if you married and built a home, you’d inevitably live happily. She’d sworn she would do exactly that.
But she was now forced to admit that no amount of effort from one person alone could make it happen.
And so anxiety crept in.
What if she failed? When that time came, how would she even live?
“But what did you actually want to do with a harmonious home?”
Racalte had long since noticed Adlen’s fixation on a happy family.
Yet she always spoke only of harmony itself, never of anything concrete.
“You can want to do something just as you want to own something. Surely you had something like that in mind?”
“Not really…… I never thought about it.”
For Adlen, family had been closer to possession.
My side, my family, my place to belong.
Beyond that, she’d never really dreamed of anything.
“Hmm…….”
Adlen sifted through her memories.
A child whining for sweets, and parents scolding them gently while gazing with affection. A couple holding each child’s hand in one of theirs, swinging them as they walked along laughing. People so intent on feeding each other bits of fruit that they forgot to eat themselves.
Such beautiful families were everywhere once you stepped into the street.
That was the kind of family Adlen had wanted.
“So…… you wanted to scold a child in the street while gazing at them with love?”
But it felt odd to say she wanted that. Somehow…… it sounded strange.
Racalte’s brow furrowed with similar reservation.
“……Is that the kind of wish that requires you to ask a child to cooperate by throwing a tantrum in the street?”
“……No.”
It wasn’t the ‘actions’ themselves she craved — it was the parents’ gaze as they looked even at a tantruming child with love, the warmth of affection blooming between them, the relationship itself that mattered.
Such things couldn’t be achieved through effort alone. They couldn’t be filled with performance, couldn’t be constructed.
“In the end, I think it’s just about the heart. Loving each other, cherishing each other, always taking each other’s side, believing you’ll face whatever comes together…….”
Wait.
As Adlen spoke what came to mind, a strange sense of déjà vu washed over her.
Remove the label of ‘family,’ drop the word ‘love,’ and it was exactly what her master was already giving her.
Always willing to do anything for her, never grudging what he gave, always taking her side, moving through everything together when it concerned the Baby…….
Adlen blinked and looked at Racalte.
But between her master and herself, there was only a master-servant relationship.

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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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