I Faked a Pregnancy, but My Husband Returned - Chapter 96

On a dark night, Judith rode a hired carriage toward the Shrine of the Last Priestess.

‘Please, let me hide somewhere no one knows.’

Not wanting anyone to find out her destination, she got off near the shrine just in case.

As she walked alone to the shrine, Judith prayed with every step she took.

‘So that I may protect my child.’

Would Master be able to find her? She had left a letter in the place they had once shared, but there was no guarantee they would meet again.

Because even she didn’t know her final destination.

Even so, she had no choice but to leave a letter for Master. Just as he had conveyed his sincerity to her, she wanted to express hers as well.

She had confessed her feelings to him, even pleaded for them to stay together, yet still, there were things left unsaid. Not just that she was carrying his child, but also the heart with which she was leaving with that child.

There was a chance that Master might not want the baby. So she wrote her thoughts calmly, prepared for that possibility.

That he bore no responsibility, that this was a child she had wanted from a relationship she had chosen, and that she intended to quietly give birth and raise the child on her own.

‘Then he might choose not to come looking for me.’

Judith thought with composure.

‘If the child is truly a burden to him, he might deliberately choose not to search.’

Even so, it couldn’t be helped. Judith steadied her heart that kept swaying restlessly.

By the time she arrived at the Shrine of the Last Priestess, midnight had already passed.

The shrine, still wrecked by the chaos it had suffered, remained in ruins. No one had been able to clean it up. It looked just as it had when it collapsed with her inside not long ago.

‘I remember Master raising a ruckus, saying he had to get inside.’

That thought brought a smile to her lips. She also recalled how someone had widened their eyes and asked if the Marquis of Soden was her lover.

‘Then…’

Judith stood among the ruins and looked around.

‘What should I do here?’

Touching her belly, her gaze moved around the area—then fixed on something. Somehow, she felt she knew what to do.

“Priestess.”

The last portrait she had seen of the priestess.

The large painting that had once hung on the wall—its serene and beautiful expression slightly faded—was now on the floor, still capturing the priestess’s likeness in life.

As if she could speak to her, Judith walked slowly and carefully toward it.

“Priestess… I know I have no right, but…”

Her eyes darted briefly before she broke into a shy smile.

“To be honest… you were expecting me, weren’t you?”

Before Judith could finish her sentence, a fierce gust of wind swept into the shrine.

“Whoa, whoa—wait a minute!”

Judith hurriedly grabbed the portrait as it flew up. At that moment, the world spun around.

Under the full moonlit sky.

***

“Gah, kugh! Khah!”

Ekian took out the Lord of Arten on the spot. The lord and his followers were formidable, as befitted close aides of the emperor.

But they couldn’t defeat Ekian. A royal blessed by moonlight does not stay wounded. Even when injured once, even when fatally struck twice, he would instantly recover. There was no one who could defeat Ekian.

“Y-you… so then…!”

In his final moment, the Lord of Arten looked at Ekian with shock.

He was horrified by Ekian’s jet-black hair, the wounds that healed in the moonlight, and the features that looked just like the emperor’s. But he died before he could confirm his suspicions.

“Uwaaahhhhh!”

“Advance! Advance! Advannnnnce!”

Meanwhile, the barbarians recruited by Alteion were all charging into Castle Arten.

Alteion was certainly clever. There was a reason the emperor kept him in check. The barbarian invasion required neither justification nor cause. The advantage of this plan lay in the fact that an unprovoked attack was possible.

Ekian watched the invasion unfold from afar.

After all, the emperor too was a member of the imperial family, and so long as he was under the moonlight, he could not die. Therefore, Ekian had to wait. When the morning sun rose, he would stand before that man once more.

His biological father, the one who had brought this cursed life into the world and mocked the House of Mayus.

It was going to be a long night. Throughout that long night, Ekian thought only of Judith.

He hoped she was quietly waiting at the mansion. She was a woman who excelled at doing nothing, who could live peacefully satisfied with the smallest of things—so he wished she would keep her promise to him.

Elizabeth had been restrained, and even if Ron Dale were to try anything foolish—just in case—his men would stop it from the outside. Inside the duke’s residence, she was safe.

No matter how much he thought about it, there were no gaps in the plan. But in this world, there were always variables.

Like falling in love with Judith.

When she had boldly come to him at seventeen and said she wanted to sell information, he never imagined they would come to be like this.

‘Judith, please, just stay right there.’

Ekian murmured as he looked over the vast lands of Arten. Alteion had promised him this land.

Even if Ekian killed the emperor, officially, the records would say that the emperor was slain during a barbarian raid. Alteion would ascend the throne not by treason but by rightful succession, and no one would ever know about this dangerous night Ekian endured.

No one would acknowledge his deeds—but Ekian had no regrets. It had all started as a fight to protect Judith, and he was content with having secured a safe home as a result.

Judith had said she had liked him since she was young. Surely, his background had played a part.

When other women admired him for that background, it used to disgust him. But hearing that young Judith had felt the same gave him an odd sense of relief. Even he had to admit he was hopelessly deep in.

Though he couldn’t remain a member of the House of Mayus to the end, he could still make her the lady of a new ducal house.

‘Judith.’

When the long night passed and dawn broke, Ekian began to walk—to sever his father’s head.

‘My biological father used me, and my biological mother cursed me. From the moment I learned that truth, I wanted to disappear from this world.’

Judith had been just as unfortunate in terms of parents. But if it were with her, maybe they could become good parents.

‘Because of you, I wanted to live a little longer in this world.’

How wonderful it would be to see children who looked like Judith running around a small fortress.

Ben Mayus, though only his foster father, had been the best father to him. Ekian believed he could be just as good a father, especially to a child with Judith.

‘To do that, I’ll cut away the past and take all the truth with me.’

Sunlight began to pour down. Ekian rose swiftly and gripped his sword.

He had already taken care of all the key forces during the night. Killing one middle-aged man might be the easiest part. He could even do it by ambush or in secret, the difficulty was low.

Yet he had a hunch that once this was over, a deep wound would remain in his heart. Because it meant killing his own father.

But if Judith would be by his side…

With shadowed eyes, Ekian strode into the fortress where his father awaited. Thinking that each step ultimately led to Judith, all hesitation melted like snow.