I Faked a Pregnancy, but My Husband Returned - Chapter 164

Of course, Rose only stared in shock without answering.

The Grand Duke being his older brother was also something difficult for a commoner girl to accept.

So Karl had no choice but to use his nephew too.

‘I think Alex wants to see you too.’

Of course, Alex didn’t even remember Rose Aurora from three years ago.

‘He’s never actually said that to me, but well, anyway.’

Even if it would never be expressed in words forever, wouldn’t there still be a good memory left somewhere in his heart?

Unlike Alex, who had no memory of Rose at all, Rose fortunately remembered Rex, the commoner child whose maternal and paternal grandmothers were supposedly the same person.

‘Ah, that cute child….’

‘Yeah. He’s such a smart kid that he likes older brothers and sisters more than friends his own age.’

Karl apologized to Alex inwardly.

He also promised himself he’d play hard with him the next time he visited.

Then he casually tossed Rose a book about the geological characteristics of the Grand Duchy.

‘I just want to look at fossils and strata with you, that’s all.’

In the end, Rose stayed up all night reading the entire book before shyly admitting that she wanted to go.

As the daughter of a flower shop owner, Rose simply didn’t have the financial freedom to travel to such a place.

And when she heard that if they received permission from the Grand Duke and Grand Duchess, she could dig for fossils as much as she wanted, she truly couldn’t resist anymore.

Of course, Karl was thinking, ‘We’ll ask for permission once we get there.’

Because he didn’t want unnecessary comments, he didn’t tell his parents anything until right before departure, and to Ekian he only sent a letter saying that he would be bringing one friend along.

And that was how things ended up like this.

Well, regardless, the first event in the Grand Duchy, afternoon tea, was perfect.

It was obvious Ekian would immediately write a letter to the Duke and Duchess of Mayus, but Karl thought perhaps his mother and father already knew.

There was no way the great Mayus Ducal House wouldn’t have any information at all about the private life of their heir and son.

The fact that they hadn’t said a single word until now was practically permission in its own way, wasn’t it?

Right now, Judith was happily chatting with Rose, while Ekian was doing his very best to play with Alex. Wearing a lion mask and chasing him around while making realistic growling sounds of “Grrrrrrr!” made Alex laugh loudly in delight.

‘Hmm, did he originally like things like that?’

Karl tilted his head.

‘Alex’s mental age is high, so he graduated from stuff like that when he was five.’

Only after running around playing with his father for quite a while did Alex collapse onto the grass, panting.

“Father, I’m hot.”

“Alright. Then how about taking a bath before dinner?” Ekian said while gently stroking Alex’s hair.

“Let’s do it together with Father.”

“Ah, okay!”

After that, he turned to Judith and suggested, “Judith, shouldn’t you rest a bit too? Let’s leave the tour of the estate to Karl.”

Karl’s ears instantly turned bright red.

No matter how he looked at it, Ekian really seemed to think Rose was Karl’s girlfriend!

Otherwise, was there any reason to specifically leave the tour of the estate to him?

Naturally, it would be more appropriate for Judith, the lady of the house, to guide her around!

Anyone could see he was deliberately creating an opportunity for the two of them to be alone together!

However, Rose, who had never lived in a mansion large enough to require a guide, didn’t seem to know such customs at all.

“Thank you for your consideration.”

The girl’s voice carried excitement and anticipation.

“I already wanted to look around because the mansion is so elegant and antique-looking.”

“Karl is practically family here too,” Ekian said while lifting Alex into his arms. Alex was already seven and well-built, so he was fairly heavy, but there wasn’t even the slightest hesitation in Ekian’s movements as he picked up his son.

“So he’ll be able to show you to the guest room just fine. We’ve prepared a banquet for dinner, so let’s meet again in the dining hall then, Miss Aurora.”

After speaking kindly to Rose, Ekian added to Karl, “You’ll naturally escort her to dinner as well, Karl.”

This was way too obvious.

Karl’s face now felt hot all the way to the back of his neck.

Shouldn’t Judith be the one sending over a well-trained maid around their age to guide Rose to the dining hall?

However, Rose, who seemed to be hearing the term ‘escort to dinner’ for the first time, immediately expressed her gratitude.

“Thank you.”

Then she let out a relieved sigh and whispered to Karl, “To be honest, I was nervous when they said banquet, but if you’re guiding me, I feel relieved.”

Karl took a moment to steady his breathing.

Of course, Ekian’s ‘completely transparent scheming’ was unbelievably low-level, but!

Still… since Rose didn’t realize it and was accepting it as pure kindness, well, maybe it wasn’t entirely bad.

“Then see you later, Karl. We’ll meet again at dinner, Miss Aurora.”

With that, the family of three disappeared first, leaving only Karl and Rose in the garden.

Of course, the sky was high, the garden was beautiful, the weather was nice, and everything was perfect.

Now that only the two of them remained, Rose glanced at Ekian’s retreating figure as he carried Alex away and spoke in admiration, “Your brother, I mean His Highness the Grand Duke, is really amazing.”

“Hm? Why?” Karl asked, startled for no reason.

For a moment, he wondered if she was mocking how shamelessly his brother supported his younger brother’s romance.

However, Rose spoke with sparkling eyes.

“He loves his wife and son so much.”

“What are you talking about? Loving your family is natural.”

“But I’ve never seen someone so affectionate before.”

Rose looked genuinely moved.

“Do you think it’s easy for a man his age to put on a lion mask and seriously play with his seven-year-old son? Even we, at sixteen, would get tired doing that.”

Karl tilted his head. It really was the first time he’d seen something like that.

Even when Karl was little, Ekian had never played with him that way, and Karl himself had never particularly wanted that either. He’d assumed Alex would be similar.

“And while doing that, he kept taking care of his wife too. He kept checking whether she was sitting in the shade of the canopy, and when it looked like her posture was uncomfortable, he even moved her chair a little. Even in that short time, I could see how busy he was all by himself.”

Was that so?

But Ekian was supposed to spend his whole life treating Judith well. So it didn’t seem particularly special.

“I wish I could marry a man like that too…. Seriously, even if I combined all the men among my relatives, there’s no father or husband like him.”

Rose spoke rapidly as though she was truly impressed.

Maybe because they were experiencing new things together in a new place.

Karl felt relieved, thinking that the awkwardness between them had disappeared and things had returned to how they used to be.

“And he said he’d bathe his son himself instead of leaving it to the nanny. Looks like he’s going to play with him excitedly again too. In my house, from the age of six, whether you washed properly or not, you just washed yourself.”

As far as Karl knew, Alex could wash himself.

After a brief moment of thought, he came to the conclusion that ‘Bathing Alex must be extremely easy.’ So he crossed his arms and replied as though it were nothing special, “To be honest, I think that’s just natural.”

“Hm?”

“I don’t really understand what’s so amazing about what you’re saying. Isn’t that how things are supposed to be once you get married and have children?”

Looking at Rose’s widened eyes, he arrogantly added, “Obviously, when I get married, I’ll act exactly like my brother too.”

“Really?”

“If I had to put it into words, it’s basically… the family tradition or something.”

Karl boasted proudly.

“Even if you didn’t want to become like that, you’d naturally end up that way.”

Rose nodded blankly with an “Ahh….”

***

The banquet was enjoyable. Near the end of the meal, Judith and Ekian disappeared, saying they had something to take care of, so only Karl, Alex, and Rose remained eating dessert together.

But the moment Judith and Ekian left the dining hall, Alex darted his eyes around before lowering his voice dramatically and whispering to Karl and Rose.

“You came at just the right time.”

The seven-year-old boy’s gaze was serious.

“I was already exhausted from entertaining Father.”