Chapter 4.7

Seeing her son, soaked in tears, trembling and bawling, Aness nearly lost consciousness. But she couldn’t collapse now. She had to save her child.

Like a madwoman, Aness rushed over and grabbed onto the Duke’s leg, clinging to him. She didn’t care who he was. To her, he was nothing but a terrible monster trying to harm her young son.

“Put my son down! You wretched man!”

With the crazed mother attacking him from behind, the Duke lost his balance and staggered, eventually setting Ian down on the ground.

“Oh, Ian! My baby.”

Seeing his mother, the baby cried even harder, and Aness clutched him tightly to her chest, sobbing. She had gone to the Duke’s room to protect her child, but she never imagined things would become this dangerous.

Meanwhile, the Duke just stared blankly at the tearful reunion between mother and son. He wasn’t some villain tormenting a child. He had only tried to persuade and negotiate—surely, that wasn’t a crime.

At some point, Volteman had stepped forward to protect the Duke, letting out a low sigh as he silently looked at Caron. His eyes seemed to say, ‘Why are you messing with someone else’s baby?’

After comforting the baby and regaining her composure, Aness finally realized it. The person who had grabbed her child like an animal and made him cry was none other than the Duke.

“You!!! How could you do this? How could you treat your own son…”

Aness couldn’t hold back any longer. She had tried to keep it secret to the end, but now, no matter what happened to her, she had to protect Ian.

“Son? Who?”

The Duke, as if it were absurd, glared at the still-sobbing baby clinging to Aness’s arms. Ian, with a triumphant look, stuck out his tongue at him.

“Come on, Duke. Isn’t it obvious? No one can steal a seed without a trace. Are you saying you can’t recognize your own face, the one that looks just like you?”

Aness was furious that he didn’t even recognize his own son. She grabbed Ian’s face and thrust it toward the Duke.

Ian, his face held firmly by his mother, blinked his green eyes and muttered,

“Daddy?”

The Duke, scoffing at first, turned and stared intently at the baby’s face Aness pushed toward him.

Looking closely, it really was a face he’d seen somewhere before. Looking again, it was unmistakably the same face he saw every morning in the mirror.

“No way…?”

The Duke muttered weakly, unable to believe it. Ian felt the same shock. He’d thought his mother was just missing her departed husband, his father. But to find out this awful Duke was his father—it was unbelievable.

“How… How could you hide this from me? Was it that night you got pregnant? Did Joseph know about this too?”

The Duke, now out of control, grabbed Aness’s shoulders tightly in excitement.

“Daddy, bad! Bad!”

When the Duke grabbed his mother, Ian, startled, clung to one of the Duke’s legs. The tiny, weak baby had to try his best.

He scratched fiercely with his small hands, but it was useless. With no other choice, the baby opened his little mouth and bit into the Duke’s pant leg.

But the Duke barely felt it, like a mosquito bite, and paid no attention to the child, focusing only on Aness.

“Tell me, Aness. What were you thinking, marrying Joseph? Why did you hide my child and pretend he was Joseph’s? Answer me!”

Caron, excited, brought his face close to Aness’s. Now Aness finally felt fear, but she also had plenty to say.

“Why did I hide it? Isn’t it obvious? You’re the one who destroyed my family. Who mercilessly condemned my older sister for getting pregnant? Is it always the woman’s fault when she’s pregnant? You can’t clap with one hand, can you?”

“!”

As tears welled up in Aness’s eyes, the Duke let go of her shoulders in confusion. While the Duke regained his composure, Aness’s emotions overflowed.

“I was scared—of you! Everything was terrifying because it was my first time. Watching my family collapse because of my sister, I decided I had to hide it to the end. Even though we slept together, only I, the woman, would be blamed.”

“……”

“They’d say I was an evil woman who seduced the successful Duke into bed. My already ruined family would be cursed even more. And you expect me to bear all that? No! Even if I had to hide your child for the rest of my life, I had to survive!”

Barely finishing her words, Aness couldn’t hold back her emotions any longer and burst into tears. The Duke staggered at the sight of her tears.

Now that he knew everything, he was deeply shocked and could barely support himself. In front of him, Aness was sobbing in sorrow, and below, the baby who looked just like him was clinging to his leg, desperately biting.

“Daddy bad, bad man!”

Ian, following his mother’s lead, started crying too. Seeing his mother sad made the baby sad as well. In front of the two loudly crying people, the Duke just stood there, stunned, as if he couldn’t believe it.

***

The very next day, shocking news struck the Marquis Marieclaire household. The Duke of Perschtmann had suddenly sent notice to break off the engagement.

Hariel, who had been counting the days until her wedding to the Duke, clung to her father in tears.

“Father, you know how deeply I care for His Grace! Please, go to His Majesty and petition on my behalf. This can’t be happening.”

The Marquis’s influence at the Imperial Council was not insignificant, and the Emperor trusted him as his left hand, so it was a matter that could easily become a public issue. For the Duke to break off an engagement that the Emperor himself was to officiate, and without reason, was unthinkable.

“Hm, it won’t be easy to go against the Duke of Perschtmann, but what wouldn’t I do for my only daughter?”

The Marquis prepared himself and made his way to the palace with a heavy heart. Although the Duke was young, Caron was not someone to take lightly.

Soon the trumpets of the campaign would sound, and the real battles would begin. At this very moment, no one in the Empire would dare provoke the Duke of Perschtmann, the hero of the battlefield—not even the Emperor himself watched him lightly.

But for his daughter’s sake, the Marquis decided to appeal to the Emperor with tears. There was no other way to stand against the young power-holder, the Duke.

Handkerchief in hand, the Marquis approached the Emperor—only to realize he was already too late.

The Duke of Perschtmann was already in the palace, having an audience with the Emperor. And he had a powerful weapon.

“What… What is the meaning of this?”

Entering the Emperor’s office, the Marquis was so shocked he was left speechless. The Duke of Perschtmann was holding a baby in one arm, standing beside His Majesty.

And, for some reason, the Emperor’s face was overflowing with laughter.

“Welcome, Marquis. I was just about to send for you. You must be deeply troubled by this matter of the broken engagement.”

“Ah, Your Majesty…”

The Emperor took the initiative to comfort the Marquis. The Duke stood upright and composed, saying nothing. The Marquis felt even more resentful seeing that Caron showed no sign of remorse toward him.

“But Marquis, there are deep circumstances here, so I ask for your understanding. Haha, just look at this baby. What do you think?”

The Emperor couldn’t suppress his laughter and spread his arms wide. At that, Ian, who had been in the Duke’s embrace, immediately switched over to the Emperor’s arms as if he’d been waiting for it.

It was clear he had been carefully trained in advance. The baby clung tightly to the Emperor’s neck, acting cute as if greeting his grandfather, and stared straight at the Marquis.

“Marquis! Nice to meet you!”

The Marquis’s eyes widened in shock when the little child spoke. The baby looked exactly like the Duke of Perschtmann.

The Emperor burst into even greater laughter at the baby’s greeting, hugging Ian tightly and kissing his cheek. It was obvious he was completely charmed.

Watching this, the Duke gave a bitter smile to himself. A baby who looked just like him—if this child really carried the blood of his house, he was surely plotting clever schemes in that tiny head.

He was doing exactly as he had been thoroughly taught before coming here. He was doing his best to win the Emperor’s favor, all for the promise that his mother Aness would be made happy through marriage.

To Caron, his young son wasn’t so much cute and lovable as he was a rival for Aness’s affection.

He had only just found Aness, and now it was finally time to truly love her. But Aness seemed to think only of her son, and that little brat was clearly scheming to monopolize his mother as well. Caron, recalling his own childhood, felt a strong sense of déjà vu. If his instincts were right, he wanted nothing more than to snatch Aness away from that cunning son and keep her all to himself.

Meanwhile, the Marquis, upon hearing that this young child was the Duke’s son and that the Duke already had a woman he loved, gave up cleanly. There was nothing more he could desire here. He would simply have to persuade his poor daughter.

***

Thanks to Ian’s dazzling performance, the Duke was able to formally take Aness as his bride. The Emperor had granted his permission.

As soon as the carriage arrived at the Duke’s estate, the Duke set Ian down, whom he had been holding since leaving the palace, and strode off briskly. Even in the carriage, he had held his son in his arms with a blank expression, while Ian, for his part, openly scowled to show his displeasure.

Volteman, sitting across from them, struggled to suppress his laughter at the sight. The two looked exactly alike, yet didn’t seem to like each other much.

Of course, it was understandable in the Duke’s case. He had always been so lacking in warmth that Volteman had guessed he wouldn’t find his own child particularly adorable either.

What was funny, though, was Ian, who looked just like his father. Clearly a genius like his father, Ian also seemed to thoroughly dislike him, which made Volteman want to laugh.

It was just like watching the Duke and the Grand Duke in their own father-son days. The two had also competed over the Duchess. But as time went on, their relationship had deepened, so no one could know what the future would hold.

“Aness!”

“Mama!”

The two of them walked almost simultaneously toward the room where Aness was, calling out at the same time. The Duke shook off the bothersome Ian and walked ahead alone, while Ian, whose legs were too short, waddled along and, realizing he couldn’t keep up, sought help from someone else. He begged Volteman, who picked him up, and together they hurried after the Duke.

Aness was sitting by the window, waiting for them. She had been waiting for the two who had gone to the palace to get permission for their marriage. More than anyone, she hoped that the father and son who looked so much alike would become close. She loved them both more than anyone.

“Ah, you’re back!”

Aness, who had been tending to the flowerpots by the window, turned her head and smiled brightly. She spread her arms wide toward the two men who were almost racing each other to reach her.

Sunlight streaming through the window lit up Aness’s face, making her look beautiful, and both men, captivated, opened their mouths at the same time.

Thus, the three of them enjoyed a blissful afternoon together as a family.

– Main Story END

[The Chaste Knight Commander]