I Faked a Pregnancy, but My Husband Returned - Chapter 143

A stunned silence fell over the room.

After a moment, Karl bit his lower lip and said to Judith, “Ah, I’m sorry. I forgot. I was supposed to keep it a secret from big brother…”

At that moment, Judith realized it. In the future shown in the form of a book by the Last Priestess, Karl had become quite the villain.

Now, of course, he was growing up stable and well-loved, but with his intelligence and wit, if he had lacked even this much awareness, it was easy to imagine how troubled his growth could have been. It was the perfect environment for turning villainous.

“Ahem, ahem!”

Alteion quickly cleared his throat.

“Then I suppose I must return to the Empress…”

He muttered aloud, making sure everyone could hear, then whisked himself out of the room. In any case, not needing to mind anyone and being able to flee the scene was a privilege granted by his status as Emperor.

“Yaaawn.”

Karl, who had narrowly escaped a villainous future, gave an exaggerated yawn.

“I’m feeling sleepy now… Good night, everyone.”

Speaking very clearly with a face that showed no signs of sleepiness, the boy gave a polite bow and walked out of the room.

Isabella, suddenly snapping back to attention, followed him out.

“Karl? Just a moment. Didn’t I promise to read you a bedtime story tonight?”

That was a lie. Karl could read on his own, and it had been years since he dismissed fairy tales as childish. Isabella, too, was not the type to sit beside a bed and read aloud softly.

“Oh dear.”

Amid the frozen atmosphere, Ben suddenly pretended to fumble.

“Now, where had I gotten to with those documents… If the servants rearranged them while I was gone, it’ll be a disaster.”

Without meeting Ekian’s eyes once, he exited the room. He even closed the door gently behind him.

Judith, with her hand firmly held by Ekian, was left alone in the room with him. The air felt heavy, as if it had weight.

Ekian took a deep breath and asked, “So, to sum it up, am I the only one who didn’t know our baby’s gender?”

She quickly replied, “That’s true, but— It was a matter of timing. Right before the bridal procession, Castin told me… and then the ceremony kept us busy greeting guests.”

“Judith.”

Ekian furrowed his brow and called her name in a low voice.

“Even so, there were plenty of chances to tell me. Be honest. Don’t hide anything else from me. Do you really think it makes sense that I, the father, am the last in the entire family to find out our baby’s gender?”

“B-but really, nothing so far has gone normally…”

That was true enough. Judith replied in a downcast voice, “I was going to tell you when we were alone. I was waiting for the right moment. The others found out because of little slip-ups… I didn’t expect things to turn out like this…”

At her words, Ekian sighed and murmured faintly, “I see, so that’s what happened…”

Earlier, he had confessed to Alteion his worry that Judith accepted him because she loved his family.

It was a private anguish he hadn’t shared with Judith. The nagging doubt that perhaps he was simply ‘the most rational choice.’ Of course, Judith would be a faithful wife, a good mother, and a fine Grand Duchess…

But wasn’t all of that fundamentally no different from when she was simply ‘a good tutor’?

Still, voicing such doubts wouldn’t change anything. Kind-hearted Judith would just deny it, and it would only strain things between them.

So he had chosen not to speak. Instead, he had told himself that even if it was just ‘those many conditions’ that bound her to him, it was still fortunate.

If he could hold onto her with those, he would use even more conditions if necessary.

Yet now, faced with this very situation, the vague black doubts he harbored seemed to take form.

There was no problem. She would stay by his side. Already, sweet Judith was watching him anxiously.

And yet, why did his heart burn and his blood seem to boil like this? It must be because he was too greedy.

Unlike Judith, he just couldn’t ‘accept things as they were,’ couldn’t simply go with the flow…

“All right, Judith.”

Even so, Ekian slowly lifted the corners of his mouth. No matter how his heart burned to ashes, if Judith was by his side as a ‘rational choice for her family,’ then it was his position to cling to that desperately.

“I found out a bit late due to the circumstances, but it can’t be helped.”

In truth, he didn’t think it was something that couldn’t be helped. There were more than enough moments when Judith could have whispered to him at the banquet, ‘I have something to tell you. Our child is a boy.’

It was obvious. He’d just been pushed down the list of priorities. She must’ve kept putting it off with, ‘I’ll tell Ekian later.’

Even so, truly, it couldn’t be helped. No matter what happened, he couldn’t let go of her hand.

Taking a deep breath, Ekian looked at Judith’s belly and said gently, “So it’s a boy, our baby. I’ll think long and hard about what name to give him.”

Apart from the hurt feelings, the affection he felt for the child surged up all the more. Until now, he had just thought of the baby as a tiny being, but now that he had a clearer image, he could begin to imagine a future.

“His first time wielding a sword, his first time riding a horse, his first time playing ball… I’ll do it all with him.”

Judith quietly watched him. Sensing the slightly stiff expression that contrasted with his tender voice, she gently adjusted her grip and interlaced their fingers.

“Ekian, are you upset?”

Ekian shook his head. “Of course not. Mother, Father, His Majesty, Her Majesty, Karl, me… I was the sixth. Why would I be upset? I didn’t even make it into the top five, but I’m honored to be in the top ten. Not upset at all.”

“If you’re not upset, then you’re angry, aren’t you?”

“Absolutely not. How could someone like me possibly be angry? This is just where I’ve always stood, so there’s no reason to be angry.”

At his sulky words, Judith narrowed her eyes. “Ekian, that’s a bit of a leap. It’s not a logical conclusion.”

“It can’t be helped. In front of the woman I love, I can’t help but worry and imagine all sorts of foolish things.”

Who could be rational and logical in the face of love? With every small gesture, every light remark, floods of thoughts would rush in—that’s love.

As he confidently admitted his irrationality, Judith sighed deeply and slowly said, “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you earlier. I just thought you’d want the baby to be a girl. I was afraid you wouldn’t be able to hide your reaction in front of the guests and might get upset.”

“…What?”

“It’s possible to feel a bit disappointed in the moment, right? You said you didn’t want a son who resembled you.”

That was a reason Ekian couldn’t have imagined. Come to think of it, he had said something like that before.

But that was because he had killed his own father with his own hands, and there was no way he wouldn’t truly want a son born between him and Judith.

Honestly, the reasoning was so irrational he was left speechless.

Seeing his slightly shocked expression, Judith awkwardly drooped her shoulders.

“To the rest of the family, it didn’t matter whether it was a boy or a girl. But you’re the most important person to me. Even tiny things bother me because of that. Even if you said it without meaning anything, I ended up overthinking.”

Ekian couldn’t believe she had just called him ‘the most important person.’

She let out a sigh and muttered, “It can’t be helped. In front of the man I love, I can’t help but worry and imagine all sorts of foolish things.”

As if she already knew exactly what Ekian had been thinking, she added with a gentle smile, “Ekian, when I got divorced last time, I made up my mind. That I would never marry someone I didn’t love again.”