I Faked a Pregnancy, but My Husband Returned - Chapter 166

There was one more thing too.

The more affectionately he treated the baby in Judith’s womb, the guiltier he felt toward Alex. Of course, Alex wouldn’t even remember it.

So Ekian was doing his best to play with him. He even sought advice from the knights around him.

‘Ah, kids love it as long as you play energetically with them! Especially boys!’

‘Books or paintings? Hmm… maybe he’s just naturally quiet? Sons absolutely love it when their fathers play physically with them! They don’t even think about going to their mothers!’

Alex liked books and paintings, but those were things he could also do with Judith.

If he started enjoying active play, he might discover a whole new kind of fun and end up only looking for Ekian!

Since Judith’s body would continue growing heavier from now on, Ekian started playing hard with Alex because he wanted Alex to like playing with him the most.

Fortunately, Alex responded.

‘Of course, Young Master! We can play tag and hide-and-seek too!’

Seeing him immediately nod at Rose’s words, Alex clearly liked those kinds of things.

So this time too, Ekian played with him with all his effort and even bathed together with him. He splashed around in the water as much as possible to make Alex laugh brightly.

Of course, there was theoretical reasoning behind all of this too.

Ekian diligently read childcare books.

Because with the new baby who would soon be born, he truly wanted to do everything right.

But unexpectedly, there were quite a lot of firstborn children who struggled when a younger sibling was born.

Especially in cases like Alex, who had spent a long time growing up as an only child while receiving everyone’s love.

Long ago, Isabella and Alex once had a conversation like this.

‘Alex, wouldn’t it be nice to have a younger sibling?’

‘No sibling. Mama Papa only like me.’

Was he three years old back then?

Anyway, it was obvious Alex had disliked the idea of losing his parents’ love even from that age. And even until now, he’d never once said he wanted them to have another baby.

After that, the adults around him became worried that a second child still hadn’t come, so they also stopped asking Alex those kinds of questions.

That was why Ekian told Alex over and over again.

That he loved him, that his father treasured him dearly, that he was his most precious treasure.

Again and again, truly countless times.

So that when the pregnancy became stable later and they told him he would have a younger sibling, the child wouldn’t be too shocked.

Whenever that happened, Alex would stare at him intently before answering like this.

‘Yes…. I love you very much too, Father.’

Then he would hug him tightly while carrying countless emotions in his expression.

As though holding some strange kind of resignation that didn’t suit a child.

Whenever that happened, Ekian felt dizzy wondering whether Alex had been born carrying some kind of sorrow from the very beginning.

Because he hadn’t cherished him while speaking to him in the womb the way he was doing now with their second child….

Could it be that he sensed his mother’s sadness while inside her womb and it affected him emotionally…….

“Anyway, I feel sorry for Miss Aurora.”

Judith drank some water and ate the fruit Ekian had prepared before speaking.

“As the lady of the house, I should’ve taken better care of her.”

Originally, things like introducing the mansion and guiding guests around the dining hall were supposed to be Judith’s responsibility. But Ekian shoved all those duties onto Karl.

To be honest, he wasn’t very concerned about the relationship between Karl and Rose.

Thinking about it now, the Duke and Duchess of Mayus must’ve noticed something too and sent the two of them here together.

Interfering in his younger brother’s love life would be overstepping. Especially in a situation where they lived apart and spent long periods of time separated, making it difficult to properly understand what was going on.

However, since he truly hadn’t expected the guest Karl brought to be a young girl, Ekian believed that no matter what happened, Karl needed to handle it himself.

“Karl will understand,” said Ekian sincerely.

“When he finds out later that you were pregnant, he’ll naturally say it was something he should’ve done anyway. If I’d ignored it and sent you out instead, wouldn’t Karl have been even angrier?”

That was true.

“Anyway, let’s tell the family after we safely get through the regular checkup about a week from now.”

The Grand Duke’s attending physician was originally supposed to return a week later.

They secretly sent a letter saying, ‘She’s pregnant,’ and the attending physician immediately booked passage back to the Grand Duchy.

Their plan was to inform the family once the physician returned and began proper examinations.

“Still, it’s really fortunate that Karl came. You were struggling too.”

Judith smiled softly.

“Playing with Alex every day, reading childcare books, working…. And on top of that, taking care of me too.”

“It’s only natural.”

Ekian shook his head while holding her hand.

To be honest, when it came to Karl and Rose… he simply wasn’t very interested.

Right now, Judith was in the early stages of pregnancy and needed to be careful, and on top of that, she was suffering from morning sickness, so he didn’t even have the spare attention to worry about them. On top of that, he also had to take care of Alex’s emotional state, so Ekian’s mind was already completely full with just those concerns.

As for healthy sixteen-year-olds, surely they could manage to enjoy themselves just fine on their own.

But Judith seemed worried about them.

“Still, Ekian, Karl and Rose… they’ll be alright, won’t they?”

Recalling Rose, who had seemed quiet but bright-eyed, Ekian said, “Why? Miss Aurora seemed quite decent. The fact that she’s a commoner is a bit concerning, but that’s an issue for Mother and Father to seriously consider.”

“No, the one I’m worried about isn’t Miss Aurora. Rose Aurora… hmm, she’s probably a very good girl.”

After hesitating quite a bit, Judith finally said this.

“Actually, if I hadn’t changed the future, Karl would’ve become obsessively attached to Rose… um, he would’ve stopped her from doing the things she wanted and things like that. Honestly, that’s why I hoped they’d just never meet… but somehow, they became connected again.”

Ekian looked quite surprised by Judith’s confession.

“Karl?”

“Yes. Because he grows up twisted due to Sarah…. I think he couldn’t help growing up warped after losing both his parents and his older brother at such a young age.”

“I’m not so sure.”

At Judith’s thoughtful words, Ekian shook his head.

“There are many children who grow up well even in bad environments. Karl probably already had that kind of tendency. The environment merely caused it to surface.”

It was the result of recently becoming deeply absorbed in childcare books.

“That’s why when raising children, you have to create the best environment possible with love, devotion, and strict discipline so those bad tendencies don’t emerge. But not every child raised in such an environment will necessarily grow up the same way.”

“Ah… well, that’s true too, but….”

Judith couldn’t refute that.

Separate from the fact that Karl had been incredibly adorable when they first met, it was still true that he’d destroyed himself because of Sarah’s words… and that tendency could’ve turned toward destroying others instead.

“But even so, all of that disappeared. Mother and Father are doing their very best raising Karl, and he has grown up really well now.”

Judith gently continued while holding Ekian’s hand, “Whatever feelings he may have for Miss Rose, I think there’s still a chance things could progress properly in the right direction.”

“Ha….”

Ekian quietly shifted his gaze.

No matter what, Karl was still Ekian’s one and only precious younger brother. Naturally, he mattered more than Rose, whom he’d only met today.

With a complicated expression, Ekian said, “Just in case, I’ll look for an opportunity and have a serious talk with Karl. About obsession and suffering, or things like that.”