Chapter 19

“He resembles my older brother so much when he was younger.”

His lips being sealed up until now seemed like a blatant lie, as he continued to make conversation with me.

But then again, there was a lot to be curious about and there was a lot to ask too.

To be honest, Rüdiger was basically forced to be silent after he got on the carriage.

The reason was that when Rüdiger was trying to talk with Luca, he didn’t respond well, and when he tried to talk with me, Luca kept on interrupting.

Rüdiger watched the sleeping Luca as he kept on mumbling that he resembled his older brother. Somehow, there was a disheartening sense of restraint in his murmuring that I understood.

“…But are you certain that you are not his real mother?”

“I am not?”

I jumped in surprise.

Rüdiger’s gaze revealed slight puzzledness, he was still confused whether or not I was his mom or aunt.

“Seriously, think about it! I’m 27 years old! Luca is 10 years old. You are saying that I got pregnant at 16 years old then. Is your brother that much of a knave?”

“My brother is most certainly that kind of a person… He openly stated that he had no preference for women regarding age. He even was caught secretly meeting with a woman who was older than my mother…”

Of course… He was such a scoundrel in society, it’s almost awful that I expected such common sense and morals from a Casanova like that.

So then, how can I prove my innocence to Rüdiger?

“Can’t we go back to the village and ask the villagers? Everyone there would say that I’m Luca’s aunt. And Luca’s midwife is still alive.”

While asking the villagers, Judith’s abuse of Luca may be brought up though, which I was slightly concerned about… But there was no other solution.

As I suffered in silence, Rüdiger answered with his typical expressionless face,

“No need to bother with that. When I think about it, I am certain that you are not Luca’s mother, Lady Maybaum.”

“Really?”

“Indeed. Do not worry. I will definitely notify my family about that.”

With Rüdiger’s considerate assurance, my face lit up.

Even then, it’s still somewhat worrisome if he thought that Luca was a liar… Maybe I wanted to make sure that Rüdiger didn’t have a negative first impression of Luca, so I noted.

“Luca isn’t a liar, it’s just that…”

“He’s not, I know. He called you his mom so that he could travel together, as he wanted. It seemed that he did not want to be separated from you, Lady Maybaum.”

“Thank you for understanding it like that.”

Now, I can finally put my mind at ease.

Is this like the mindset of a mother? Not only do I care about how he thinks of me, but also how he thinks of Luca…

I wondered if the small, witty child was aware of my internal struggle or not.

I let out a small sigh and I gently pinched Luca’s cheek, whose head was resting on my knee.

“Mmmh…”

Again, I couldn’t be upset with his peaceful angelic appearance. I released his cheek and stroked his cheek with the back of my hand.

Rüdiger staring at my hand, as he shattered the silence,

“I believe I could understand the reason why Luca likes you now.”

“Pardon?”

“It is obvious that you raised him like your real son.”

“I-it’s not quite like that…”

Because of Rüdiger’s compliment, a pang of guilt grew inside of me.

Even if Judith’s wrongdoings were disregarded, I did good deeds for only a month.

It almost felt as if I wasn’t worthy of hearing such praise.

I didn’t know how to take the compliment, so my body squirmed; Rüdiger just took it as if I was being modest. He suddenly made a promise with determination.

“I will think of Luca like my own, modeling after you. We could be Luca’s mom and dad and raise him well.”

Are you joking with me right now…?

With his handsome face, he said such bullcrap, I gawked at him, bewildered.

I mean, thinking of Luca like his son is alright, and looking after him like Luca’s dad is ok too… But now that I’m involved… This is really…