I Faked a Pregnancy, but My Husband Returned - Chapter 155

While Judith and Ekian were enjoying their time, Karl was also getting ready with Alex.

“Alright, Alex.”

Karl dressed Alex in clothes that commoner children wore.

“It suits you really well.”

He himself had also changed into simple clothes. Alex smiled brightly and held his uncle’s hand.

“It suits you too, Uncle. We really look like brothers.”

“Wow, did you hear that?” Karl exclaimed and asked the knight, “Is that something a kid who just turned four would say? Seriously, he’s exactly like me. A genius, a genius.”

Used to hearing the word genius, Alex smiled and nodded. “Yeah, so you don’t have to worry about me or Uncle. We’ll go have fun.”

The knights were quite worried inwardly, but since nothing had gone wrong so far, they quietly followed behind Karl and Alex.

“Alright, from now on, call me Kal. I’ll call you Lex.”

“Okay. We’re using aliases?”

“Wow, did you hear that? He even knows the word alias. A four-year-old, seriously.”

Like that, Karl held Alex’s hand and skillfully made his way through the alleys of the capital.

Studying was boring and the social scene wasn’t fun, so this had become his greatest source of enjoyment lately.

And recently….

There was also a girl he found a little interesting.

As he turned through the alleys and arrived near the academy.

“Ah, it’s Kal!”

The commoner academy operated dormitories. So after classes ended, the children would spend time playing nearby until evening. Kal usually mingled with them.

“Kal! You really brought your nephew?”

A girl with a clear voice was playing jump rope with her friends, then ran over.

“Wow, he’s so cute.”

Karl cleared his throat.

The girl with short hair, neatly pinned, reached out to Alex and asked, “My name is Rose. You look about the same age as my little sibling. How old are you?”

“I’m four, Rose.”

“Oh my!”

Rose smiled with her eyes crinkling.

“My little sibling is four too!”

Watching her, Karl felt his ears grow warm. It was a strange feeling he was experiencing for the first time.

Rose Aurora. He’d heard she was the top entrant to the academy and placed first every term.

“Wow, Kal, you read Etrosde’s ‘State and Capital’ too? I thought Mebiloscus’s opinion there was the most surprising.”

“I thought so too the first time I read it. But the more I read, the more Anematos’s view resonated with me.”

“In what way? To be honest, I don’t really understand what Anematos means by a ‘microscopic perspective.’ It feels like there’s a contradiction in the logic.”

They ended up talking by chance, and Karl was genuinely surprised. As expected of the academy’s top student, Rose was extremely intelligent.

Since Sarah, he had thought smart commoner girls were the worst….

“It can feel that way. But Anematos’s argument is limited to the unique economic conditions of coastal cities. If you consider that context, it reads differently.”

“Oh my, you’re right! Thinking of it that way, everything makes sense. Kal, you’re really smart.”

Rose looked at him with sincere admiration. After hearing that from her, Karl had kept slipping out of the ducal estate.

“Do you want to transfer into our academy? Let’s study together.”

“Th-that’s difficult.”

From Rose’s perspective, it was a natural suggestion.

“Why? Is it because you don’t have tuition? If it’s you, you could attend on a scholarship… then who on earth taught you things like this?”

“…My brother!”

Karl blurted out an excuse.

“I learned from my brother. I’m going to live just like him. My brother didn’t go to the academy either.”

And so Rose came to believe that Karl had a brother much older than him. She clasped her hands together and admired him with pure amazement.

“I see! So you’re from a family of scholars? I’m jealous… I’m the only one in my family who can read. I love my family, but, um, I’ve always… envied those intellectual and refined families.”

“Yeah. My family is kind of… like that.”

“That must be why you’re so smart! Is everyone in your family as clever as you?”

“M-mostly.”

So when Karl said a few days ago that ‘my nephew is coming to visit,’ Rose showed quite a bit of interest. Karl had eagerly bragged, saying, ‘My nephew is really smart too.’

Every time he saw Rose’s admiring gaze, it felt good.

‘It must be because no one knows who I am that it feels so thrilling.’

When he stood before the world as Karl Mayus, everyone bowed and scraped, calling him ‘that distinguished young master.’ No matter what he said, people would follow it up with, ‘As expected, how perceptive of you.’

But when he hid his identity and blended in among commoners, what he got in return was genuine admiration like, ‘Wow, why are you so smart?’

Among children without prejudice, he could truly show off his superiority.

A place where, even without the blood of Mayus, he could feel proud of himself for being exceptional.

‘Especially, I keep coming back because I like being able to show off like this in front of the academy’s top student.’

And bringing Alex was an excellent choice.

Because all of Rose’s friends gathered around to see the cute four-year-old.

Among them was also a boy named Tom who constantly hovered around Rose.

Karl had found him extremely irritating lately. He kept bragging that his grades had improved in the last exam, so now he sat next to Rose in class.

‘Hmph.’

Karl stroked Alex’s head and lifted his chin.

‘Even so, Rose will think more highly of me, someone who belongs to a truly intelligent family.’

That family didn’t even exist, but Karl was already deeply immersed in his role.

“You’re so cute.”

“Rose Aurora… your name is really pretty, Miss!”

“Hmm? How do you know my last name?”

“It was written on your name tag.”

“What? You can already read? At four?”

Rose was genuinely shocked. Used to such reactions, Alex shrugged and answered, “I’ve been reading since last year.”

“Wow… as expected of Kal’s little brother… even the way you speak is different from my sibling. Your pronunciation is so clear.”

Karl smiled in satisfaction. Bringing Alex really was the right choice.

‘My brother and sister-in-law are really raising him on easy mode. Smart kids are helpful to their guardians no matter where they go.’

Not just Rose, but everyone was admiring him. Now even children who only knew Karl’s face had gathered around.

“What? You even know that three sixes make eighteen?”

“If there are four sixes, that makes twenty-four.”

“My goodness, how is that possible?”

As the children tossed questions one after another, Alex answered each one skillfully. Alex was also used to being the center of attention, so he didn’t get nervous.

Rose said with a gentle smile, “Wow… Kal, your family is really amazing. They must all be so smart. My little sibling still gets confused between maternal grandmother and paternal grandmother.”

Alex replied with a confident expression, “I know them well. They’re the same thing anyway.”

Karl froze in shock for a moment. The children blinked once, then burst into laughter.

“Ahahahaha, what is that! You can read and do math, but you don’t know family relationships?”

“Still four years old. So like a four-year-old!”

Because Alex was smart, he quickly realized they were laughing at him. But since he had never given a wrong answer before, his pride was hurt, and he shouted.

“My mom and dad both call my grandmother Mother!”

“Right, right. But… there’s an easy way to tell. If the last name is the same, it’s the paternal grandmother. If the last name is different, it’s the maternal grandmother. Paternal grandmother is your father’s mother, maternal grandmother is your mother’s mother.”

“My grandma is my dad’s mom, but her last name is different,” Alex replied innocently. “They said we’re not related by blood. So every time Grandma meets us, she says she wants to adopt Mom, but Dad is against it.”

For a moment, the children were at a loss for words at the overly heavy family situation coming from a child’s mouth. Karl hurriedly stepped in to fix it.

“L-Lex. I think you’re getting a bit confused right now. Adoption… that kind of thing is a joke, and, um, when my brother and sister-in-law got married, we all became family.”

“R-right.”

Rose quickly backed him up.

“That’s why marriage is a good thing. You gain a new family.”

“That’s right. So Dad got married twice,” Alex said excitedly.

The situation that had barely brightened turned dark again. While Karl stood there with his mouth agape, Alex grinned and continued.

“My mom too! And I even went to that wedding.”

“Uh, um?”

“My mom and dad’s wedding date and my birthday are way less than nine months apart… mmph!”

In the end, Karl hurriedly covered Alex’s mouth.

“We’ll head out first, guys.”

The boy’s ears were burning red.

He had proudly declared to Rose that he would live like his brother! His heart pounded in panic.

“Th-then.”

Rose waved awkwardly.

“Bye….”

From that day on.

Karl never again asked the Duke and Duchess of Mayus something like, ‘Wasn’t it easy raising a smart kid like me?’

Because he realized that even a smart child would never move exactly as their guardian wished.

Special Side Story <End>