I Faked a Pregnancy, but My Husband Returned - Chapter 168

The outing was enjoyable.

“This place used to be the sea a very long time ago. Then the land rose up and became mountains like these,” Rose excitedly explained to Alex.

Alex widened his eyes in amazement. “Wow, so that’s why shell-shaped stones come out here?”

Even though he’d been born and raised in the Grand Duchy his entire life, it was something he’d never known.

Alex couldn’t stop smiling, apparently finding Rose’s explanation incredibly fascinating.

“Sister, you’re really smart!”

The seven-year-old’s face was filled with delight.

“I’m really happy Uncle and Sister came to visit…. Can’t you stay for a really long time before leaving? And come play again next time too!”

“Hearing you say that makes me happy, Alex. I want to come again too,” said Rose kindly.

Alex beamed brightly. “It’s really fun when the three of us play together!”

At that moment.

Karl saw himself overlapping with Alex.

‘It’s really nice when the three of us are together!’

It was his childhood.

His older brother Ekian, whom he’d loved dearly, and the maid Sarah beside him.

Sarah was smart and pretty. She was clearly different from the other maids who only said things like, ‘I’m not really sure….’

So whenever he was with Ekian and Sarah, it felt like the three of them, who understood each other well, were tightly bound together.

He’d never realized that Sarah liked Ekian and had been using Karl.

After all the truth was revealed, Karl forcibly buried those days deep inside his heart. They were memories he never wanted to recall again.

But looking at Rose and Alex now naturally brought those thoughts back to mind.

Because he understood far too well the fulfillment and joy Alex was feeling right now….

‘But Sarah and Rose are different.’

Karl looked at the two of them and fell into deep thought.

‘Sarah was obsessed with Brother, and it only manifested in the wrong direction. Rose, on the other hand, doesn’t even have feelings for me to begin with.’

On the way to the Grand Duchy.

When Karl vaguely asked Rose whether there was a man she liked at the academy, Rose answered like this.

‘I’m too busy studying as it is. No, you ordered me to speak casually, right? Hmm, yeah, I’m just busy with studying…. I don’t even have time to think about things like that.’

She didn’t seem to be lying.

‘I’m planning to think about marriage much later in life. There are too many things I want to do and too many things I want to learn, so I don’t want to be tied down anywhere.’

She was completely different from Sarah, who tried to shine through someone else somehow.

The fact that they were both pretty and kind commoner girls was the same, but the way they approached life was entirely different.

‘I think living alone wouldn’t be bad either. There’s a geology professor at our academy, and apparently she missed her chance to marry because she lived such a busy life traveling all around the world. But she said she doesn’t regret it at all. I think I can understand how she feels.’

A girl who desired not social advancement, but simply the advancement of knowledge.

Karl even liked that attitude of Rose’s. Since childhood, he’d liked intelligent women, which was why he’d given his heart even to someone like Sarah, but in any case, Rose clearly seemed different from Sarah.

And so, for the first time in a very long while, Karl thought about Sarah. It truly had been a long time.

And simply being able to think about her like this made him feel that he’d finally overcome what happened with Sarah.

‘Sarah probably liked me too.’

Watching Rose smile brightly at Alex, Karl sank deeper into old memories.

His childhood spent together with Ekian and Sarah.

The times they read books, looked at paintings together, rode swings, and picked flowers.

Sarah probably liked Karl too, even if her excessive greed twisted everything.

Whenever Karl said he was scared back then, she would sing lullabies for him even longer than usual, push the swing only just enough, and when giving him flowers, she would check beforehand to make sure there were no bugs on them.

If there hadn’t been moments where he genuinely felt her sincerity, Karl probably never would’ve fallen so deeply into Sarah’s grasp without any suspicion.

‘But then Brother disappeared… and all of it became twisted in the wrong way. That’s why obsession and delusion are terrifying.’

Karl smiled bitterly.

Just realizing that made him feel like he’d matured tremendously.

“Uncle, Uncle!”

Alex hugged him while thrusting over a shell-shaped fossil.

“This is the second prettiest one. I’ll give it to you!”

“Hm? You’re keeping the prettiest one for yourself?”

“Ah, no.”

Alex spoke with a slightly guilty face, “I should give it to Father.”

“Hm?”

“Otherwise he might feel sad. Earlier too, he acted so disappointed, like he really didn’t want to send me away.”

Karl rolled his eyes once.

Mature little Alex disliked that obsession, but because he loved his father too, he was getting swept around by those twisted emotions!

Seriously, what exactly happened all of a sudden for such a tragedy to descend upon the Grand Duchy?

‘I’m definitely fixing this before I leave.’

Filled with an overwhelming sense of responsibility, Karl hugged Alex tightly.

Even if it meant fighting with Ekian tonight.

Because Alex was far too precious a nephew to him.

***

That afternoon.

The grand ducal estate became somewhat quieter after the guests and the child went out on their outing.

“Oh my, a letter arrived.”

Judith ran into Ekian’s office with a bright smile.

“It’s from the attending physician. He managed to secure passage on a ship that had cancellations, so he thinks he may be able to arrive earlier than expected!”

“Ah, really?”

Ekian set down the documents he was reading and grabbed Judith by both arms.

“But wait. Is it alright for you to be running around like this?”

“It’s fine. It’s not like I sprinted at full speed.”

“But shouldn’t you still be careful? The office is pretty far from the bedroom. You should’ve just sent a maid instead of crossing the mansion yourself like this.”

“This much is fine.”

“You’re not a doctor though.”

“But when I was pregnant with Alex, I did much more difficult things than this.”

Judith immediately cut off Ekian’s words.

“In early pregnancy, I crossed not just a mansion but an entire continent. Of course, it wasn’t difficult thanks to the Priestess’s help.”

“Ugh….”

Ekian groaned in distress. Judith actually found his pained reaction amusing. Of course, she couldn’t honestly admit that because somehow it felt like she was getting petty revenge.

“He says he’ll try to arrive as early as tomorrow morning if possible? He must really be happy! Well, the attending physician suffered mentally just as much as we did.”

Picking up a fountain pen, Ekian spoke with determination, “Then we should quickly finalize the baby’s nickname. But we can’t choose a nickname that only works if it’s a girl, right?”

Judith raised her brows. “Of course not! What if it turns out to be a boy? Of course, I’d be thrilled to have another son like Alex, but it’s obvious he wouldn’t like a nickname like ‘Rose.’”

“We can’t use Miss Rose’s name as the baby’s nickname. Honestly, it’s too common.”

“Don’t say things like that in front of Miss Rose.”

Unable to deny it, Judith merely snorted.

“Anyway, tell me tomorrow morning.” Even as she said that, because the attending physician still hadn’t arrived yet, she carefully added, “If bad news comes, I think I’d be too heartbroken. So don’t tell me beforehand.”

“We still haven’t decided…. There are too many pretty names.”

“Give up on some of them.” Judith declared proudly, “This pregnancy is the last one. Because I never want to experience morning sickness again.”

“Then I guess I can’t say we should have enough children to use all the candidates. I’d love having many children too, but I’ll give up on that. It’s not like I can experience morning sickness in your place.”

Ekian muttered while stroking his chin, “First, I’ll have a talk with Karl tonight, and if we still can’t decide by then, I suppose we’ll just have to draw lots.”