Chapter 3
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Chapter 3 Tears streamed down Lucian's face as he wailed at the top of his lungs. It was clear he despised me for scolding him despite claiming to love him.
"Aunt may be awful, but what you did was still wrong."
His piercing cries made my head throb.
"Once you're done crying, call for Aunt. We're going to apologize to Count Chernin."
I pressed my throbbing temples with my fingers and rose from my seat.
"Waahhh! Aunt's stupid! A pig! A jerk!"
Even after I closed the door and left the room, Lucian's voice echoed shrilly through the halls. I warned the servants never to take his side before heading to my own quarters.
"Sigh..."
The moment I returned to my room, I collapsed into a chair. Had there not been one right beside me, I would have fallen flat on my backside.
"What am I going to do with this troublemaker?"
If I hadn't known what future awaited Lucian, I would have left him alone. He's still young—wouldn't he grow wiser with age? But Lucian never changes. If anything, he only grows more wicked.
"How did things come to this?"
"From Bastard to Patriarch" wasn't a novel that conveniently explained the villain's backstory. The Lucian described in its pages was simply a child born with an aggressive and greedy nature. So before my possession, I'd thought vaguely: the author must have simply wanted to create a villain. But now, having witnessed this child from birth to the present without missing a moment, I realized that assumption was wrong. Lucian lost his mother at barely two years old. His father, who should have filled that void, was too busy with work to be there for him. As a result, Lucian never received the love and attention that any child deserves.
"He must crave attention."
Perhaps that's why he causes trouble. To gain the attention he never received from his parents.
"But every time, I scolded him."
The words Lucian had spoken to me just moments ago echoed in my mind.
"You said you were on my side! You said you'd love me even if the heavens split in two! Why won't you take my side? Why do you always scold me?"
Perhaps what Lucian truly wanted was someone who would unconditionally support him, no matter what he did—someone truly on his side. If his parents had his back, he wouldn't need to struggle to secure allies. But Lucian didn't have that. Knowing he had no one truly on his side, perhaps he was desperately trying to find someone who would love him unconditionally. Someone who would love him no matter what happened. Yet I had no choice but to scold Lucian. No matter how dear my nephew was, I couldn't condone his wrongdoings. But Lucian was too young to understand my true intentions.
"If you love someone, you shouldn't scold them! You should adore them no matter what!"
Perhaps he thought I wasn't truly on his side. That I claimed to love him with words but showed the opposite through my actions.
"Should I find him a friend?"
I wondered if having a peer to relate to might help, but I quickly shook my head.
"How many children has Lucian made cry?"
Lucian was the only young child in the Duke's Mansion. Feeling sorry for him playing alone without friends, I often brought him to gatherings. All to help him make peers his own age. But precious Lucian never disappointed my expectations.
"Waaaah!"
"Lucian bullied me!"
He'd catch spiders and release them on people, break decorative vases. When he shot a slingshot at the heir of House of Rilprey, I nearly saw white from shock.
"There's not a single six-year-old who can handle Lucian."
It would be different if the heroine were Amelia. But Amelia was destined to become Edwin's lover. That meant Lucian and I could never grow close.
"Should I run away with Lucian?"
Part of me wanted to do exactly that. But it was far from a viable solution. My family, House of Rilprey, was in my uncle's hands. I would leave with neither money nor power. I had been born and raised as a noblewoman my entire life—I had no ability to earn my own bread. Of course, if I used my memories from before the possession, I might manage somehow... But could I, with nothing to my name, truly leave this house and raise Lucian well? He had been born as the Duke's heir and lived in comfort his entire life. If we lived together, he might struggle to afford new clothes, let alone have three meals a day.
"This is impossible. How could I possibly spirit away the Duke's heir?"
I might face capital punishment for kidnapping the Duke's only successor. Even though I was the Duke of Bellomen's sister-in-law, he was a man without mercy or tears.
"Then what about preventing Edwin from coming to the Duke's Mansion...?"
The moment that thought crossed my mind, I shook my head firmly. Edwin, like Lucian, had lost his mother at a young age. But unlike Lucian, who was raised in comfort at the Duke's Mansion, Edwin had spent a miserable childhood wandering between orphanages. Even as a bastard, Edwin was the Duke of Bellomen's blood. Though the saying goes that the arm bends inward, I couldn't make an innocent child suffer just to protect my nephew.
"I can't run away with him, I can't stop the heroine... so what can I do...?"
As frustration threatened to make me tear out my hair, a brilliant idea suddenly flashed through my mind.
"Come to think of it, Edwin is at the Orphanage right now, isn't he?"
Like a lamp that casts no light beneath itself, the Orphanage where Edwin stayed was located within the Duke's territory. But the Duke of Bellomen wouldn't find Edwin for another three years. Until then, Edwin would spend lonely days at the Orphanage.
"What if I went to help him?"
I couldn't simply visit the Duke and announce, "Your son is here!"
That would only raise his suspicions about how I'd discovered Edwin's location. Besides, I couldn't ignore the causality of the original story either.
"But volunteering at the Orphanage would be perfectly natural."
I would use volunteering as a pretext to visit the Orphanage where Edwin was. I would spend time with the child and build a bond with him.
"And in the end...?"
I would inform the Duke. I would tell him that while volunteering at the Orphanage, I'd found a small boy who seemed to be his child.
"By becoming close to Edwin, I would also become his benefactor."
Not only would I have freed him from the Orphanage, but I would have reunited him with his biological father. Then wouldn't Edwin spare Lucian's life for my sake? After all, there would be affection between us from spending time together. * * * Once a plan was made, it had to be executed swiftly. As soon as dawn broke, I dressed and climbed into the carriage.
"Aunt, where are you going?"
"Just to meet someone for a moment."
"I want to come too!"
"Have you apologized to Count Chernin?"
"..."
"You can't come until you do."
When I spoke firmly, Lucian's face crumpled. If he wanted to follow me, all he had to do was apologize. Why was saying sorry so difficult?
"Before Aunt returns, you must meet with him and apologize."
I spoke firmly and closed the carriage door without looking back.
"Should I take you to Busniae Street?"
"Yes. Take me to the Orphanage on Second Avenue."
After giving the coachman the detailed address, I leaned back against the seat. I had already informed the maids of my destination beforehand. 'To understand Lucian better, I'll need to meet more children.' 'You're going to the Orphanage?' 'Yes. The children at the Orphanage all lost their parents young, just like Lucian. If I become close with them, perhaps I can understand Lucian better.' That was how I explained it. Fortunately, the maids harbored no suspicion. Rather, they were moved to tears by how carefully I tended to Lucian, despite him not being my own child. 'But why Busniae Street specifically? It's quite a distance from here.' 'Busniae is particularly underdeveloped even within the Duke's territory. It's obvious supplies will be scarce, so I thought I'd look around and provide what's needed.' It was a reason I fabricated on the spot. I worried it wouldn't work, but fortunately the maids were too busy praising me, saying "Lady Lucella has such a kind heart!"
For someone like me, who was only scheming to save Lucian, their response was rather embarrassing. Of course, the other maids—not my personal attendants—gave me disapproving looks, muttering that a guest had no business stirring up trouble. 'In any case, I'm relieved I can get to the Orphanage smoothly.' I gazed out the window, thinking of Edwin, whom I would soon meet. A boy with crimson eyes like his mother's, bearing the Duke of Bellomen's dark hair. When Edwin first meets the Duke of Bellomen, he is startled. The Duke looks almost exactly like him. He thinks that when he grows up, he might look just like that. Had Edwin ever seen the Duke's face even once, he wouldn't have been so shocked. Unfortunately, Edwin could not see his father's face until he left the Orphanage. Iris, the Duke of Bellomen's lover, had said goodbye to him. As a commoner, Iris could never sit in the seat of the Duchess. All she could do was watch as another woman became her lover's wife. Those years of endurance were but a fleeting moment. When Iris learned that my sister Leila, the Duchess of Bellomen, had given birth to a child, she finally broke. ["I resolved to live in the shadows my whole life because I loved you, Dehardt. But I don't think I can bear to watch the child your lover bore with another woman."] With those words, Iris left the Duke of Bellomen's side. But there was one thing she did not know. 'She did it without knowing Edwin was in her womb.' It wasn't until two months after parting from the Duke that Iris discovered she was pregnant. Yet she did not return to the Duke of Bellomen. She could foresee what treatment a bastard with commoner's blood would receive. He might even be eliminated by the faction supporting Lucian. So Iris bore and raised Edwin alone. The fact that she didn't flee far but settled in the Duke's territory was because she hoped that someday the Duke would acknowledge Edwin's existence. But Iris died of pneumonia when Edwin turned four. With no father and no relatives to care for him, Edwin naturally ended up in the Orphanage. 'Edwin is six now, so he's been at the Orphanage for about two years.' I wished the time Edwin spent at the Orphanage had been peaceful. But the Orphanage where Edwin lived was not a good place. The building was old; cold wind seeped in during winter, and in summer, many children collapsed from the stifling heat. With a shortage of clothes, the children often wore patched garments. That wasn't the end of it. To make matters worse, the cruel Orphanage Director exploited the children. Cleaning, laundry—all the work adults should do fell to the young children. 'Edwin is one thing, but I can't stand by and watch children as small as chestnuts suffer.' It's fine when you don't know. But once you know, you must act. It's what any adult should do. Raising a child as a child should be raised—that is the role of an adult. It was also the reason I hurried to the Orphanage.
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