I Faked a Pregnancy, but My Husband Returned - Chapter 77

Ekian slowly opened his eyes.

His vision was filled with blinding white, and a suffocating sensation pressed down on him. Only after a moment did his memories return.

“Cover yourself with this.”

A gentle voice.

“That way, I won’t be able to see you until the end.”

The warmth of a soft embrace.

“I promise. Until you show yourself to me, I won’t look. I swear. I understand what it means to have a secret you desperately want to keep.”

Holding the unconscious Judith in his arms, he had listened to the sound of her heartbeat. He couldn’t ignore her bold words—how she had brazenly declared that she wanted him. After all, he had already promised to give her everything she wanted. But above all else…

Above all else, he couldn’t stop himself. He had wanted her just as much. Perhaps, ever since that kiss on that night, he had known. That there was no going back to how things were before. That, one day, the desire he had been suppressing would inevitably erupt.

From the moment they were alone in this annex, a burning hunger had simmered within him, barely restrained. Giving himself over to her clumsy demands had been inevitable.

He had been holding her limp body tightly when Judith, with the last of her strength, had lifted a hand and draped a towel over him.

He liked her scent, so he hadn’t resisted. He had simply closed his eyes, embraced her, and drifted into sleep.

But now—

There was nothing in his arms.

Before he even realized it, he shot up from the bed. Judith was gone. Only a single note remained on the bedside table.

[I left first. The coachman might arrive soon.]

Ekian furrowed his brows.

Did she really… just leave like that?

***

“What?”

The emperor swiftly received the report of what had happened at the garden party.

Normally, such matters wouldn’t be of great concern to him, but the rumor that Anais had five lovers had reached his ears quickly.

His interest piqued, the emperor requested a more detailed account. The informant immediately provided a full report on the previous events.

“I see.”

A deep crease formed between the emperor’s brows.

He swiftly grasped the situation. Anais, consumed by jealousy toward Judith, had used the imperial decree as an excuse to publicly humiliate her. However, the plan had backfired spectacularly, leaving Anais as the one disgraced instead.

Listening to the scandalous stories of his favored mistress’s first love and lovers had soured the emperor’s mood considerably.

“…Clever.”

“Pardon?”

“That woman, Judith Mayus.”

The emperor murmured in a low voice.

“She must have calculated everything, even predicting my displeasure. She countered so skillfully at that moment and even managed to win the favor of the Crown Princess. And she was likely connected to that so-called Master of the Grey Information Guild beforehand as well.”

“Ah…”

The informant held their breath, nervously gauging the emperor’s reaction. They feared when his anger would finally erupt.

The emperor, now scowling, abruptly threw his wine glass aside.

“She’s not someone who would be useful to me.”

The emperor muttered darkly. Then, he turned to the informant and demanded, “I told you to gather every bit of information on her.”

“Ah, yes. Here it is.”

As the emperor of the empire, his intelligence network far surpassed anything Anais could have gathered from within the capital.

Scanning the report handed to him, his eyes narrowed.

“So, she once visited the shrine of the last priestess… and something strange happened there?”

“Yes. After Judith Mayus’s visit, the shrine of the last priestesss collapsed.”

The Last Priestess.

To the emperor, that name was unsettling. Just thinking about her always made his nights restless.

He had never feared anything. In fact, he relished the consequences of his most ruthless deeds. However, the curse of the last priestess held an eerie weight.

Even so, his illegitimate child was still worth keeping alive. Would that child truly grow into Ben Mayus’s son and bring his downfall as the curse foretold?

Of course, the term ‘father’ could refer to himself as well. But even if that were the case, the curse would never come to pass.

Because the imperial name held power.

Unless an imperial family member directly acknowledged someone as kin, calling them by name, they would never be bound by blood.

No matter how ominous the curse was, the power embedded in the imperial name would protect him.

Still, the memory of the last priestess’s gaze remained disturbingly vivid. And the thought that Judith might be connected to her unsettled him even more.

Because the last priestess had died wishing for the emperor’s ruin until her final breath.

Her hatred and fury had been so immense that she even cursed his son.

“I have a bad feeling about this.”

At first, he had only meant to investigate lightly, but the more he looked into Judith, the more she unsettled him.

“Ever since this woman entered the Mayus Ducal House, Bart was exposed… and the poisoning incident was also thwarted.”

His sharp eyes traced the dates.

“And now, Ekian Mayus has returned, and she’s even establishing ties with the Crown Princess.”

A union between House Mayus and the Crown Prince’s faction was not welcome news at all.

“I think it’s best to drop a bomb on the Mayus Ducal House. While I’m at it, I should deal with this troublesome woman.”

“Are you saying you want to eliminate Judith Mayus, the Young Duchess?”

“Yes.”

The emperor flipped through the reports nonchalantly.

“This should do just fine.”

His finger landed on a single line of text.

“I will be leaving for Arten soon.”

His eyes narrowed.

“Make sure this matter is resolved before I return to the palace.”

***

“Judith!”

Isabella, who had been anxiously waiting, ran out to the ducal estate’s garden the moment she spotted her.

“Are you alright? Hm?”

“Ah, yes. Of course.”

Judith beamed, lifting the shopping bags in her hands.

“I was in such a great mood that I did a lot of shopping. It felt wonderful to be out again after so long.”

Thankfully, Master had still been asleep in the small room.

Judith had woken up first and quickly slipped away. Her body had been in complete disarray, and she needed to wash up again.

With legs trembling, she had barely managed to bathe. Then, she had waited in the yard, and the moment the coachman arrived with the shopping bags, she left the annex without even stepping back inside.

Afterward, she sent a letter to Hud’s mailbox as she had promised Melanie, and then she headed straight for the ducal estate.

‘That was… absolutely insane…’

The tender, intoxicating kisses had been one thing, but the experience that followed was entirely new. It was as if her whole body had been pierced through, overwhelmed by both pain and pleasure at once.

“P-please… stop… stop…”

“I’m sorry. But just a little more.”

His coaxing voice had been gentle, but he hadn’t relented in the slightest. Unlike the romantic novels she had read, there had been no time for coherent thoughts. By the end, her body had been so thoroughly exhausted that she had nearly lost her mind.

Even now, her legs were trembling beneath her dress. If she had known it would be this physically draining, she would never have recklessly begged, “I want you.”

“Judith… your complexion is awful.”

Isabella sighed as she looked at her face.

“You look absolutely exhausted.”

Yes… I’m completely exhausted…

Judith thought to herself, burdened by an inexplicable sense of guilt.

“What exactly happened? You went shopping, something you never do.”

Well… something else I had never done before happened, too…

“Come inside first. We can talk there.”

Judith nodded and followed Isabella into the mansion.

During the carriage ride home, Judith had already made up her mind.

No, ever since she told Master, “I want you.”

‘I have to tell them I want a divorce.’