I Faked a Pregnancy, but My Husband Returned - Chapter 89

“Yes, Petro! That’s it! Good job!”

A coastal village in the East.

“One more time! That’s it!”

A young child and his father were enthusiastically playing with a ball. The child, called Petro, kept wriggling his fingers as he struggled to kick the ball. Then—

“Hey! Stop! Stop right there! You can’t play ball here!”

A fisherman shouted irritably.

“If you make too much noise, the sea turtles won’t come ashore to lay their eggs! Go play over by the dock!”

“Tch…”

The father, who had been smiling fondly at his son, suddenly hardened his expression. His endlessly gentle face turned threatening in an instant.

Lifting his son into his arms, he muttered, “Petro.”

Though the little boy held the ball and babbled nonsense, the man whispered as if Petro could understand every word.

“When you become the lord of this region, throw that old man in prison and don’t give him a single drop of water.”

A sly smile crept across the man’s face.

His name was Ron Dale. Formerly Elizabeth’s servant, later her lover, and even after she married, he had remained by her side.

“Just wait, Petro.”

Ron grinned and hugged his son tightly.

“You’ll be a noble again.”

Elizabeth had not lied to the second intruder who came to her. In truth, she had done nothing.

Ron had acted entirely on his own, without Elizabeth’s knowledge.

“Thanks to your sister’s sacrifice.”

Who could have imagined that the child, born in misery and once thought worthless, would bring them such a jackpot?

A lecherous grin spread across Ron’s face.

***

The day the emperor’s agent approached Elizabeth—

He first gave her a brief overview of what had happened in the capital.

Judith, pregnant with the missing Ekian’s child, had entered the ducal estate. After Ekian’s return, she had become recognized as the Young Duchess of House Mayus.

Then, he made his demand to the trembling Elizabeth.

“Judith Mayus is currently the most out-of-place member of House Mayus. At the same time, she’s the easiest target to bring down their reputation.”

“I-I see…”

“His Majesty wishes for Judith Mayus to either expose a scandal or leak vital secrets of House Mayus and cooperate with us. Since you are her birth mother, you may know her weaknesses or be able to use your blood ties to persuade her.”

He continued expressionlessly, “If that’s not possible, we could use you as bait and frame Judith Mayus by staging a kidnapping.”

Elizabeth, lying prostrate on the ground, slowly lifted her head. Truthfully, ever since earlier, her mind had been looping with just one phrase: “Make Petro the lord of this region.”

If refusing the imperial order meant death, and accepting it promised a reward—then the answer was obvious.

Elizabeth had fled after the death of Baron Ailan, but she had once been a noble’s daughter. She had never truly let go of her aristocratic status, even after bearing a child with Ron.

If Petro became the lord of the region, she would once again be the mother of a noble—restored to noble status. Her beloved longtime lover and now husband, Ron, would also become the father of a noble.

Since childhood, she had dreamed of Ron gaining a noble title and marrying her. She had fantasized many times about him discovering hidden noble lineage or earning a title through merit.

If he, a noble, could marry her and start a ‘noble’ family, everything would finally be perfect.

The dream she had long given up on now shimmered before her eyes.

“Th-then…”

Elizabeth swallowed dryly three times before speaking.

“Rather than kidnapping and framing her… what if we kidnapped and killed her, then pinned it on House Mayus?”

Her suggestion made the other party flinch.

“I know Judith well—she’s my daughter, after all… She’s always been the kind of child who craves affection and tries desperately to please. If she truly received love at House Mayus, then there’s no way she’d ever betray them. No matter how much you try to sway her, she’ll never side with His Majesty.”

Elizabeth rolled her green eyes as she continued, “She was a cunning child even from a young age. At seventeen, she inherited an enormous debt, and yet she managed to win over the Young Duke and rise to the position of his wife. Underestimating her could backfire terribly. It would be better to eliminate her and remove any risk.”

After hearing about the events in the capital from the emperor’s agent, Elizabeth genuinely found Judith terrifying.

Ron had always been loyal to her—before and after marriage, even after their first night together, he had poured unwavering affection on her.

But that changed once she became pregnant with Judith. As her belly grew by the day, Ron had grown more and more tormented. From that point on, Elizabeth began to hate the existence of the child.

An unwanted child who had occupied her body for nine months, clinging to her like a parasite.

Even when she saw the newborn Judith for the first time, she had only wanted to erase the entire experience. She couldn’t stand the red hair that resembled her husband, or the green eyes that resembled herself. It was the undeniable proof that this child was a fusion of the two of them—and that made it worse.

After her husband died under a mountain of debt, she left the grand mansion and fled, hand in hand with Ron, leaving Judith behind.

When she happened to glance back, entranced, Judith had been watching her. With those large eyes, as if to say she had expected this all along—and yet her expression betrayed the shock she couldn’t suppress.

Elizabeth had never been able to forget that resigned look.

If only Judith had shown resentment, or screamed for her to take her along, or raged about being abandoned—then perhaps it wouldn’t have haunted her so deeply.

But her daughter had simply stared, wordless, without even once saying “don’t go.” Her gaze had felt like a report card summarizing seventeen years of neglect.

As if to say, I knew you’d do this. You’re that kind of person. I never expected anything different.

Those words seemed to echo strangely in Elizabeth’s ears.

She found all those memories incredibly unsettling. It felt like those memories would one day tighten around her neck like a noose.

But hearing what had become of Judith—that discomfort turned into fear.

‘Judith has become the Young Duchess of House Mayus…? What if she takes revenge on me and my family? She certainly has the skills to do it…’

Now, Elizabeth was in a position where she could only be completely overpowered by Judith.

House Mayus was one of the most prominent noble houses in the empire. Crushing the Dale family, who lived like commoners, would be child’s play for them.

At first, the visit from the emperor’s agent had terrified her. But in hindsight, it might have been a stroke of luck. She could get rid of Judith through someone else’s hand and even receive a tremendous reward.

“You could spread a rumor that, with Young Duke Ekian missing, House Mayus had no choice but to take her as a daughter-in-law. But once he returned, they were displeased with her origins and secretly had her killed… It would be believable, wouldn’t it? Judith is clearly lacking in many ways for a family like that.”

Elizabeth spoke while bowing low. When she sensed hesitation from the agent, she gave a servile smile.

“I’m her birth mother and raised her for seventeen years—I know exactly what kind of bait would lure her in. Please, trust me.”