Chapter 4.6

Hearing that Aness and Joseph’s marriage had not been legally recognized, the Duke immediately brightened.

“In that case, all I have to do is get rid of that child.”

He came to a quick conclusion and smiled grimly. Aness had to live looking only at him, so it was best to remove any troublesome obstacles early.

“Commander, perhaps you don’t realize…”

Volteman, his subordinate and longtime friend, quickly caught on to the Duke’s thoughts and interrupted.

“When women have their children taken from them, they become scarier than bears. Unless you want a relationship of hate and obsession, you should never touch her child…”

“Hm, first, I should confirm if it’s really Joseph’s child. Maybe I can persuade that little one to leave on his own.”

“No, Your Grace. The child is barely a year old—do you really think persuasion is possible?”

Volteman was so stunned he nearly fainted.

“Our family, of course, could do it. I started talking with my mother when I was one, and by two, I was already rebelling in meaningful ways. I was at the age to start debating vegetables with my father.”

“No, but isn’t that because of a special gene in the House of Perschtmann? For ordinary babies, not only can they not speak or understand, but it’s the age when they just start fussing and crying. My son is two now, and although he’s just started to speak, he still cries first when he’s hungry—he’s just a baby.”

Volteman, aghast and dumbfounded, dared to argue with the Duke. It felt like arrogance born of superior genes had gone too far.

To persuade and expel such a young child—no matter how infamous Caron was for his lack of empathy, this was going too far. As a moralist, Volteman felt he had to stop him somehow.

“Commander, as a father myself, I just can’t agree with that…”

But Caron, always quick to decide and act, left Volteman behind with a whoosh of air. His only rising passion was to have Aness all to himself.

Aness, who had spent the night in a heated embrace, was fast asleep, completely unaware of anything.

***

Ian woke up in the middle of the night and realized that the mother who always held him close was gone.

‘Where did she go?’

At just one year old, the baby began to talk to himself fluently once he noticed his mother was missing. In fact, he had learned to speak two months ago.

On the first day he arrived at this huge ducal mansion, the baby’s eyes had widened as he clung to his mother, exclaiming inwardly,

‘Mom, I love this!’

But he held back from saying it out loud, worried he might startle her. He had learned to speak by watching his mother’s mouth and listening to her voice, gradually piecing together words until he could speak quite well.

Even before he realized he was a genius, the baby was deeply concerned for his frail mother. He’d understood his circumstances ever since he was in her womb.

His mother, Aness, always had the habit of talking to herself, and for a baby in the womb, that had been the best possible education.

Learning to speak early and becoming mature, he began to understand what his mother worried about and started to think about how they would live in the future.

‘Mom seems to be afraid of the master of this house, the Duke! He must be a scary person.’

Jumping off the bed, baby Ian grabbed a cookie from the low table with his chubby arm and chewed on it thoughtfully.

In any case, there was only one conclusion. He needed to start crying now to wake the maids, and then, hearing the commotion, his mother would come running.

And baby Ian’s prediction proved correct. The maids sleeping in the next room rushed in all at once and began to take turns soothing him.

Through their conversation, he learned where his mother had gone.

– “His Grace called for her in the middle of the night? For what?”

– “Who knows? But isn’t it obvious? If a man calls a woman at this hour…”

– “Oh my, no way. Why would His Grace, who’s about to be married, call for Aness?”

– “You don’t know? His Grace has been looking at Aness differently lately.”

– “Really? Oh my, what’s going on… They say a woman’s beauty is everything after all.”

– “But I thought His Grace had high standards. Seems he wants a rather ordinary woman.”

– “Then maybe I should have hope too? Isn’t this a chance to become the Duke’s concubine?”

Listening to their conversation, baby Ian pondered. He didn’t know what the word ‘concubine’ meant, but it was clear something bad had happened to his mother. If that bad Duke made his mother cry again, even as a baby, he wouldn’t be able to stand it.

While the maids who came to comfort him got lost in their own conversation, Ian worked his short legs as hard as he could and made his way out to the hallway.

‘Is it that way?’

After walking through the garden for a long time and nearly exhausting his strength, the baby panted as he looked up at the entrance of a building sparkling with jewels.

With his baby stamina, he couldn’t move any farther and hesitated—just as someone inside began to walk out slowly.

Illuminated by the moonlight, the person looked dignified and wore fine clothes, even to a baby’s eyes. Instinctively, Ian knew this was the bad Duke.

Meanwhile, Caron, who had come out briskly to drive out Joseph’s child, initially thought the little figure in front of him was a stray cat, and frowned, intending to just pass by.

But Ian was a very brave baby.

“Are you the Dook? (Are you the Duke?)”

Caron, feeling something cling to his leg unpleasantly, thought it was a cat and tried to shake it off, but was startled to see a baby clinging to him instead.

In the darkness, the baby’s round, white face shone like the moon. In the middle, his green eyes sparkled like jewels.

“What is this?”

Caron bent down and grabbed the baby by the scruff of the neck. As his body lifted into the air, baby Ian flailed his short arms and legs in fierce resistance.

“Hm?”

Caron brushed the baby’s bright golden hair with one hand. The texture was incredibly soft. In the unfamiliar baby’s face, he saw something oddly familiar.

“Give me my mama! (Give me back my mom!)”

Ian was frustrated that he couldn’t speak as well as he wanted. He could do much better, but he was upset and angry. Meanwhile, Caron, seeing the baby dangling from his hand, instinctively realized—this must be Joseph’s son.

‘But? Was his hair always golden? Joseph, did you dye your hair?’

Well, considering how Aness had changed her hair and eye color so completely that day, it was entirely possible.

‘That face looks familiar—probably just my imagination. Where else would I have seen that wretched man’s child?’

Humiliated, Ian, held by the scruff by the Duke, desperately stretched his short legs to kick at Caron’s face, but it was impossible. Sadly, in size or anything else, Ian was no match for the Duke.

“Hmph, unlucky brat.”

The Duke, unable to bring himself to throw the baby, gently set him on the ground and spoke coldly.

“If you leave on your own, I’ll let you have one of the maids as a nanny, so you’ll be cared for until you’re old enough.”

Heartlessly, the Duke was hoping the baby would leave on his own. After all, if he’d managed to walk this far on those short legs, leaving on his own shouldn’t be too hard.

“!!!”

Shocked by the words that he was being expelled, the baby stared up at the Duke. Looking down at the pale-faced child, the Duke said nothing.

For some reason, he felt uneasy. Whether adult or child, he’d never shown mercy or consideration to anyone. But now, seeing the baby’s desperate face, his heart felt unsettled.

‘He really is too young to survive on his own. Even I, at that age, could rebel, but I couldn’t leave my parents’ side.’

Just as the Duke was about to turn away to avoid facing reality, feeling troubled—

“Waaah!”

Suddenly terrified by the thought of being driven out, Ian burst into tears. He began to cry so hard that tears and snot ran down his face, and Caron was thrown into confusion.

He’d never had the chance to hear a baby cry before. Startled by the tremendous wailing, he instinctively grabbed the crying baby by the scruff of the neck again.

When their eyes met, Ian’s small face was already covered in tears.

“Waaah!”

The baby did not stop his sorrowful crying. At the sound of his loud wails, the maids poured out from the servants’ quarters, and Butler Volteman also rushed over quickly to check the situation.

Just as the Duke, in his awkwardness, was about to roughly cover the crying baby’s mouth with one hand, someone shot out at lightning speed.

Aness, who had been sleeping in the Duke’s bed until late morning due to exhaustion, heard her baby Ian’s crying in her dreams.

At first, she thought it was just a dream. But as the sound continued, she realized it wasn’t. Mother Aness, shocked and terrified, dashed out at full speed.

It didn’t matter that she was still in her nightgown. The sound of her beloved son crying squeezed her heart so tightly she could barely breathe.

“Ian!”

Right in the middle of the garden, she saw it. Her beloved son Ian, like some livestock, was pitifully dangling in midair, gripped by someone’s rough hand at the scruff of his neck.