I Faked a Pregnancy, but My Husband Returned - Chapter 119

***

Elizabeth was on a freight wagon heading toward Arten.

It was a bumpy, uncomfortable ride, but her eyes shone with more hope than ever before.

“You stay home this time. I’ll take the lead.”

Ron had stayed behind for the sake of their son, Petro.

In effect, the two had switched roles.

Elizabeth was confident she could succeed where Ron had failed.

“Wait, what exactly are you planning to do in Arten?”

“I told you—I’m going to get the Grand Duke’s permission.”

“Why are you going to the Grand Duke in the first place?”

“Because we don’t know where Judith is right now! We don’t know where she went after the divorce! Obviously, we couldn’t find out with our own means.”

Elizabeth had explained in frustration.

“If we knew where Judith was, we’d go there. But since we don’t, I’m saying we should start with the most obvious place. It feels wrong to go ahead with anything without informing the Grand Duke.”

“You mean Judith’s ex-husband?”

Though they didn’t know the details of the situation, Elizabeth, who had once moved in noble society, had crafted a plan:

Ekian had once run away to escape the Mayus family.

If he had been willing to give up his position as heir to the great House of Mayus, even for a time, it must’ve meant he was abused or at least bore deep resentment toward the Mayus couple.

But now, it turned out his lineage was connected to the imperial family, and by revealing this, he had made a grand return as a Grand Duke.

If that was the case, there was no reason for Ekian—now severed from the Mayus family—to care about Judith. That meant they could proceed with their original plan of killing Judith and blaming it on the Mayus family.

“There’s no other explanation. Otherwise, why would he have run away at such a young age? From such a prestigious family, no less. He must’ve truly hated House Mayus.”

Ekian’s presence was so chilling that Elizabeth had no desire to go against him.

But if she could gain his approval, it would connect them to two members of the imperial bloodline.

“The Crown Prince’s people definitely interrogated us harshly. Thinking about it now, they were probably trying to uncover weaknesses about the newly risen Grand Duke. Of course there’d be rivalry between brothers who share the Emperor’s blood.”

If she could inform the Grand Duke of this, he might be immensely grateful.

And in turn, that could become a powerful connection for Petro, who would be a lord in the future.

Of course, it might not turn out that way. But doing nothing felt like a waste of this opportunity.

The future belonged to those who seized it.

‘Our Petro… could become a noble! Ron and I could become nobles again!’

Elizabeth felt no sympathy for Judith.

In fact, she believed Judith had robbed Petro of the resources that rightfully should’ve gone to him. The mindset of a parent who played favorites.

She had abandoned Judith and gained Petro in return.

And now, seeing Judith live better than Petro felt like a direct challenge to her life choices.

Even if she had divorced, she must’ve received a massive settlement.

For the child she never loved or cherished to live better than her precious son—it was something she simply couldn’t accept.

‘That child was a mistake from the start.’

Truthfully, she had once considered an abortion when she found out she was pregnant.

Ron had noticeably grown withdrawn after the news, which had weighed on her. She even bought the pills but never took them. She lacked the courage.

Elizabeth’s eyes glinted coldly inside the freight wagon.

She had lived her whole life without courage. If this was the result, then for Petro’s sake, she had to summon it now.

‘If I had taken that pill back then, maybe Ron and I would’ve run away together. Maybe I stayed in that baron’s mansion out of a flimsy sense of duty because of that child. If she hadn’t been there, we could’ve met Petro earlier, been younger parents…’

Following that train of thought, she began to blame all the miseries and mediocrity of her life on Judith.

‘So this is just undoing the choice I made back then.’

Elizabeth’s eyes glinted coldly inside the rattling freight wagon.

Of course, she hadn’t ruled out other possibilities.

Judith had always acted far beyond her expectations.

Would someone who once became the wife of a Young Duke really fall into disgrace so easily after a divorce?

Ron had worried about that too.

‘If she seduced him once, she could do it again. If it were me, I’d never let that man go.’

If that girl seduced Ekian again and rose to the position of Grand Duchess…

‘Then I deserve a place too.’

Judith was undeniably infuriating—but not to the point where she couldn’t be used.

Elizabeth knew Judith well—she was her daughter, after all.

Judith wasn’t the type who could ignore her birth mother wailing and begging to make amends.

‘Petro is her half-brother by blood. If I ask for even a small estate on the outskirts of the Grand Duchy, she couldn’t refuse.’

If Judith hesitated, she would just break down in tears and wail that she had been threatened by the imperial family because of Judith, and her peaceful life was shattered.

Yes, Ron had tried to kill her—but that was because of an imperial order. What else could he do?

She, too, hadn’t acted of her own will. But she could plead, ‘I couldn’t bring myself to hurt you. I’m your mother, after all.’

‘If I do just that, I become the mother of the Grand Duchess.’

Besides, no one in the territory knew Judith’s past in detail.

People easily forgot things they hadn’t seen with their own eyes.

Yes, Judith had suffered during her childhood because of her—but the people here didn’t know that.

Would a woman who just became Grand Duchess kick out her tearful, ragged birth mother? It would look heartless politically and morally.

‘If she disowns her own mother, it’ll only tarnish her reputation.’

All things considered, heading to Arten was the most rational choice.

Every possibility of returning to noble life lay in that land.

***

After leaving Judith’s room—

Hud looked down at the crushed bouquet of roses at the entrance and sighed.

As he moved to clean up the mess, a sudden thought occurred to him.

‘Surely… he’s not still standing right outside the door, is he?’

If it were him—if he were the Grand Duke—he wouldn’t have been able to leave this house.

Even if Judith had asked for time to think, he wouldn’t have been able to move a single step.

If he was out there, maybe he should say a few more choice words.

More than anything, he needed to at least throw some sarcasm his way for being such a petty man—stomping on someone else’s flowers.

But when Hud impulsively opened the door—

There was no one outside.

‘He left?’

Hud blinked in disbelief.

‘He really… left?’

Of course, Ekian was a busy man. He had, after all, just been appointed the Grand Duke of this territory this very morning.

And while he was here, he’d even announced the Emperor and the former lord’s deaths—he had mountains of tasks ahead.

Still, the fact that he had carved out time from his schedule to secretly follow Hud showed just how high Judith ranked among his priorities.

And yet that Grand Duke… had just left because he was told to?

‘It feels like there’s something we’re missing.’

Ekian had said he left the capital to eliminate someone who posed a threat to Judith.

“I wanted to speak to you face to face. But really… I was in such a rush that I had to leave immediately. I truly had no time.”

That part had always seemed strange to Hud.

‘Who could’ve been that formidable… enough to warrant such urgency? It’s hard to believe Judith ever made such a powerful enemy in her life.’