I Faked a Pregnancy, but My Husband Returned - Chapter 94

Judith hurriedly spoke to the maid who had approached her again.

“Who delivered this letter? Could I see them quickly?”

The maid answered, flustered, “I’m sorry, young madam. They handed the letter to the gatekeeper saying it was urgent and disappeared, so I honestly don’t know who it was.”

Judith, though a bit agitated, responded calmly, “Is that so? Then could you prepare for me to go out? There’s a place I need to drop by.”

Ron was targeting her. She wasn’t sure of the exact circumstances, but since Anais had previously targeted her, it crossed her mind that it could be the emperor’s influence. If that were the case, it would be far too difficult for her to handle alone.

‘Ah.’

Judith thought desolately.

‘All this time, I did everything together with Master.’

In every moment up to now, Master had been with her. She claimed to know the future and take the lead, but in truth, she couldn’t manage anything properly without him.

And so now, she was realizing what it meant to be truly alone.

Just because Master had left her side.

“Understood. Will it take long?”

“No. It’s nearby. Just prepare a carriage.”

Judith simply adorned herself and slowly stepped out of her room.

If not for the child in her belly, she would have stayed in the ducal estate, secluded, just as the letter from the Grey Information Guild suggested. That had been her practice until now, and it wasn’t anything difficult for her.

But things were different now.

The child in her womb was growing well day by day, and she had to leave the duke’s residence as soon as possible in order to quell the scandal trailing behind the House of Mayus.

‘It’s an emergency. I can’t just wait blindly. Master is the baby’s father, so I have to contact him no matter what.’

She understood that Master had departed to carry out something important, but that had been before he knew about the pregnancy.

As the child’s father, he had the right to be informed that the baby was in danger. No—more than a right, it was closer to a duty. After all, this child wasn’t made by her alone.

Unlike other times, Judith did not refuse the escort knight and carefully headed to the Grey Information Guild.

It was an alley and shop she had been frequenting since she was seventeen—truly familiar and genuinely felt like ‘home.’ But then—

“Pardon? Oh, this place has been closed for quite a while.”

Judith had to hear an utterly shocking piece of news right in front of it. The information guild had turned into a restaurant in the meantime.

“The store was put on the market a long time ago.”

“…What? A long time ago, you say?”

When she inquired persistently about the dates, they said the shop had been up for sale since around the time of the imperial banquet due to financial hardship. That really was quite a while ago.

Judith, as if possessed, simply stared at the restaurant. She could still vividly remember discussing Anais’s garden party in this very place not long ago. Did that mean they were already closing the information guild at that time?

The real estate agent and the new restaurant owner both just gave her confused looks.

“We don’t really know where they went either. They were quite the mysterious people from the start…”

“Ah, I see.”

Judith smiled calmly, not revealing anything.

“Thank you. I understand.”

Without asking further, she got into the carriage returning to the ducal estate.

But on the way back, her mind was in turmoil.

It was finally starting to feel real—that she had made a deal with a man who had no substance, that she had loved a man who was like a mirage.

She didn’t know his face, name, whereabouts—nothing. There was no way to contact him, no way to find him. If she wanted to see him again, all she could do was wait.

But until when?

He said he’d come back as soon as possible, but until when?

‘I can’t wait.’

Now that she was with child, she couldn’t just heed Master’s words anymore. She had to protect this child no matter what. Originally, she had planned to go to the Marquisate of Soden where Hud was, but now that, too, didn’t seem like a good idea.

‘Traveling all the way to that distant region alone would be nothing short of suicide.’

If she left the capital alone after the divorce, Ron would rejoice and kill her on the spot. She placed a hand on her belly and took a deep breath.

‘For now, I can’t go that way…’

With Ekian’s whereabouts unknown, she couldn’t add more worries to the already anxious Isabella. Revealing her pregnancy was absolutely out of the question, and she didn’t want to cancel her plan to leave the ducal estate either.

‘Even if I wait at the ducal estate, there’s no telling when Master will come. In nine months, the child will be born—then what about the child?’

If she was going to make a move, it had to be now, while no one knew she was pregnant. Of course, she had to be extremely careful since it was still early in the pregnancy…

In the end, Judith swallowed dryly in the rattling carriage.

‘I need to hide. Ron will surely continue to target me. No—someone even worse than Ron may now come after me in some way.’

Whether she could meet Master later or not, she had to protect this child by her own judgment.

She could feel herself growing extremely sensitive just thinking about the baby. Once she became anxious, it was hard to calm down.

‘The duke’s residence? Is that really safe?’

That thought now crept in.

‘Is it really okay? Bart worked there as the personal physician for a long time. And there was even a servant who deceived others at a critical moment because he wanted to become a foster son of the Marquis of Soden. Who’s to say the staff won’t be bribed?’

There were an enormous number of servants in the duke’s residence. That meant many eyes watching her. Judith found that fact suddenly terrifying.

‘I want to be alone… everything makes me uneasy.’

Due to what happened during the imperial banquet, Alteion had fortunately awakened and was now opposing the emperor. Surely, Alteion was systematically preparing a plan to strike the emperor, and Ekian was likely cooperating with him in an important role. In that case, it might be worth betting on the emperor’s downfall.

If only she could hide in a place unknown to anyone until then.

‘Baby.’

Judith swallowed hard and thought,

‘If it’s for you, I can be excessively cautious about anything.’

But then, where on earth could she go?

Where could she possibly hide her body without being discovered by anyone? On this continent still under the emperor’s rule, surrounded by his agents—Ron among them—could she remain well hidden until the end?

And how could she ensure Master would be able to find her?

Tears suddenly welled up in her eyes. Strangely, what came to mind was Melanie’s gentle words.

“Judith, I was just one of those ordinary women you can find anywhere in the world. But I came this far by becoming a mother and wanting to protect my child.”

Melanie had said she was never that kind of person. But she did what she had to do to protect her children.

Judith, too, had never been the kind to cling to anything. To be honest, she was used to letting things go. But for the sake of her child, she could do things completely unlike herself.

“It must be very lonely being pregnant without the child’s father by your side…”

Those words pierced her skin. Until now, she had buried her sorrow with thoughts like “It’s okay,” “It can’t be helped,” “He must have his reasons,” but now all that sorrow surged up.

She just wanted him to be there by her side. She didn’t even want to think logically anymore—she just wanted that one thing. With no place to go, she was scared, anxious, and lonely, with no one to confide in.

Then it happened.

Judith suddenly remembered something and opened her eyes wide.

‘Ah, no way!’

Suddenly, she felt like she knew where she had to go.