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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 47
Chapter Title: A Mother's Scheme
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✵ ✵ ✵
Helena returned to the manor, her face puffy and swollen.
Philip, horrified at the sight of her, exclaimed.
“What happened! Don't tell me Eric hit you. Or did he say something cruel?”
“Please, stop making such a fuss. I think my ears are going to fall off, son.”
With a weary expression, Helena scratched her ear, removed her robe, and tossed it onto the sofa. Then, she poured a drink from the cabinet and gulped it down. It was the kind of liquor she normally avoided, at least at the manor, to maintain her image in front of the servants.
“Hah…”
She let out a deep sigh.
“Damn it… Damn, damn, damn!”
She even swore.
Philip slapped his forehead as if he’d just had a revelation.
“Ah, I get it! It was Imeline, wasn't it? That little brat talked back to you, didn't she? Want me to teach her a lesson?”
It was a simple line of thought: if not Eric, then it must have been Imeline. Helena could see right into her son's head.
“…Just make sure you don't get a scolding from Imeline… You're no match for her…”
Helena swept her red hair back.
Philip tilted his head.
“Then what is it? What's wrong? Why are you making that face? Mom, your beauty is completely fading.”
“You want me to kill you?”
Helena glared at Philip, a murderous glint in her eyes. Philip immediately backed down.
“Of course, you're still beautiful, but…”
“They like each other.”
Averting her gaze from Philip, Helena set down her glass and said.
“Huh?”
Philip asked, his expression clueless.
“You didn't know that, Mom? Imeline wrote it in her letter. That she likes him because he's handsome.”
“She didn't say she *liked* him. She wrote that he was handsome, kind, and an honest person.”
“Come on, that's the same thing.”
Philip waved his hand dismissively, as if Helena were saying something ridiculous.
*Why is Mom, who's usually so quick on the uptake, suddenly saying such strange things?* Philip wondered, slightly baffled.
“Now that I've seen them, I think they like each other. In fact… they might even be falling in love.”
Helena said with a bitter expression.
She recalled her earlier encounter with Eric at the princess's palace.
‘Well… nothing to be done about it, then. It's a shame, but it's not like I'll die without that money.’
‘Excuse me.’
‘Let's reconsider the interest.’
‘You're charging interest, too?’
Eric hadn't yielded to Helena's threats in the slightest. He'd even brought up interest.
‘It is a loan, after all.’
‘Young Lord! Are you forgetting that my marriage fell through because of you?’
‘And what of it? It wasn't a marriage for love, was it? It was for money.’
Eric had said, his expression firm.
‘If you're about to say something about marriage being sacred…’
‘My point is that you, Madam Helena, need to be happy. Because if you aren't, Imeline won't be happy either.’
Having said that, Eric had clamped his mouth shut as if he'd misspoken.
Watching his face flush, Helena had asked with a bewildered expression.
‘If Imeline isn't happy, does that mean you won't be happy either, Young Lord?’
Eric never answered her question. But she felt she had already received an answer from his expression alone.
“Haaa…”
Helena buried her face in her hands, recalling the final look on Eric's face.
Philip found it utterly impossible to understand his mother's anguish.
“Why are you so worried? One way or another, if they live happily ever after, the chances of Eric giving us money will increase, and Imeline will become a duchess. Isn't that a good thing?”
“There's a problem. A big one…”
Helena looked at Philip, her expression hardening. Whenever his mother looked at him like that, Philip felt like an idiot.
The two women in this house knew far too much, leaving him as the only one in the dark.
“What on earth is the problem?”
“The fact that Imeline's pregnancy is a lie.”
Helena grabbed Philip's cheeks. With his face squished in her grasp, Philip's expression shifted to one of dawning realization.
“Ah…”
“From what I saw, their dynamic suggests they haven't even spent their first night together.”
Helena said sharply.
In truth, she had considered the possibility that Imeline might refuse to leave with her.
So the note telling her to just extort some money and leave was a sort of test.
It was a test to see if this was just about money, a fleeting emotion, or some ulterior motive—a test that meant, *Mom will help you set your life straight*.
But now, it was clear that Imeline…
‘I want to protect him.’
She genuinely liked that frustrating man.
“Come on, how would you know that, Mom? Heh heh. I guarantee, kids these days are quite wild…”
Helena's eyes widened as she made a sharp hissing sound through her teeth. Philip immediately shut his mouth.
“That's you we're talking about. They're different. Now, what should we do?”
“W-Well…?”
In that case, there's only one path left.
“We have to get her pregnant! Pregnant! In ten months, she needs to have a baby bump! Otherwise, she'll be kicked out of the ducal house!”
In the course of a single day, Helena's objective had changed in an instant—and several times at that.
From becoming a duchess herself, to marrying her daughter off to a 'good-natured, handsome, rich, and powerful' man!
And now, to maintaining that marriage by getting Imeline pregnant as soon as possible!
“Get her…? Pregnant?”
As a dumbfounded Philip muttered to himself, Helena set down her glass and flashed a wicked smile.
“That's right. One way or another, we have to get those two to sleep together!”
Philip clapped his hands over his ears, his face a mask of horror.
“Ugh! Mom, please! I do not want to hear those words coming out of your mouth!”
✵ ✵ ✵
The next morning.
Eric and I were summoned to the princess's office the moment we woke.
The princess had us take a seat and spoke with an air of arrogance.
“In any case, it is a great relief that you are both healthy… And since I was merely looking after my own people, you needn't be too grateful for the money I spent on the royal physician and the healing mages…”
“I'm not grateful in the slightest.”
I replied firmly to Ella's shameless suggestion that I should be grateful to her for treating me after she was the one who locked me up.
Ella, seemingly surprised yet again by my resolve, nudged Eric and said.
“How impudent… Your wife is remarkably impudent…”
*I can hear you, you know?!*
I suppressed my anger, barely managing to remember that we were in the royal palace, and that if Princess Ella let something slip, the whole 'Rose in my belly' sham would be exposed, and I'd lose my head for deceiving the king.
Eric, his expression not much different from mine, said.
“Please refrain from locking up myself and Imel… no, my wife, ever again. Don't you realize what could have happened?”
*Wife.*
*Oh, right. He really has to call me his wife now.*
I fidgeted with my fingers, feeling awkward at the unfamiliar title.
Ella pouted for a moment before nodding.
“Yes, a great deal could have happened. Thanks to someone breaking down the door, the repair costs will be quite substantial, and a magnificent Aura Knight's body was nearly ruined, was it not?”
*Who broke what? And an Aura Knight's body was ruined?*
I tilted my head. *Did he use his aura to open the door?*
I was about to question the princess further when…
A servant pouring tea into my cup trembled, spilling it on the back of Eric's hand. The moment the tea touched Eric's skin, the servant dropped to his knees in terror.
“…”
The servant boy was trembling violently, but Eric unwrapped his bandages with little reaction. Underneath, his skin was marked by a thin, hairline scar.
“Huh? It's not that bad, is it?”
“The healing potion worked well.”
“I… I see…”
“It was worse yesterday.”
“…I suppose it was…”
I replied hesitantly, looking at the servant. *Eric doesn't even seem that hurt. What's with this servant?*
My gaze fell upon the servant's purple hair and the beautiful face beneath it.
Just then, Ella spoke up.
“Ah, he can't speak. He's a new servant, and, well…”
When Ella hesitated, another, more familiar servant behind her spoke up. He had the same hair color as the one currently kneeling.
“He's related to my wife's in-laws…”
“That's basically a stranger, isn't it?”
I said, looking back and forth between the two servants.
“But why is your hair color the same? Your eye color, too.”
At my words, the kneeling servant began to tremble even more violently.
Seeing this, Ella grunted and gestured to the standing servant, who then led the kneeling one out of the room.
“Well, pay it no mind. In any case, it's a relief that you're both leaving my palace in good health. I've also just received word that my dear brother is well on his way to the North, so…”
The moment Ella said the word 'brother,' she gritted her teeth, her expression turning sour.
“…I must resolve this matter with the duke swiftly. Before that dolt Robert returns having accomplished something of merit.”
“E-Excuse me…”
I waited for a pause, worried Ella would accuse me of interrupting again, before speaking up. I intended to tell her about the diary Eric had taken last night.
But before I could say anything, Eric took my hand.
“…?”
*Even though I said he could hold my hand, he grabs it at every possible opportunity.*
“What is it? What were you about to say?”
Ella looked at me.
I glanced at Eric. He must have sensed what I was about to say, because he shook his head, signaling me not to mention the diary.
*True. It's not like we can do anything immediately with that diary alone…*
Besides, much of the diary was written in terrible handwriting, making large portions of it difficult to decipher. Since it belonged to Eric's mother, it was important for him to be the first to read it properly.
When I nodded in understanding, Eric spoke.
“It means we will figure out a way to retrieve the Mermaids' Tomb before the ten months are up.”
Ella licked her lips.
“You know, you could just get pregnant instead. It's not that hard, is it?”
*It is hard. It's very hard.*
*Ugh, no matter how I look at it, a punk like that should not be king…*
*But it's not like I can support Prince Robert, who's in league with the duke…*
Feeling a deep sense of turmoil, I gritted my teeth. Oblivious to my inner conflict—or perhaps not—Ella simply smiled and said.
“For now, the two of you are to gather information from within the ducal house. To do that, it will be important for Imeline Wedgwood… ah, no, Madam Imeline, to hold her own, won't it? Judging by her behavior, she's the perfect candidate to be immediately kicked out for being a troublemaker.”
*Who's calling whom… a troublemaker…?*
Then, Ella's eyes gleamed as she muttered.
“It seems I've found a new source of information myself…”
*I wonder what she's thinking.*
*Good grief, I can't keep up with the minds of these nobles.*
*More importantly, are we really going to the ducal estate now?*
Not as Imeline Wedgwood, but as Imeline Orleans.
I clenched my fists without realizing it.
*Can I really survive this? In this strange nation run by aristocrats?*
