I Stole the Child of My War-Mad Husband

3. How to Tell the Truth

The carriage we were riding shook throughout our journey.

Leah, who was sitting across from me, looked out the window and asked, waving her legs.

“Mom, where are we going?”

Leah and I were on our way to the villa in the Yuren Kingdom.

The reason I chose a villa in a foreign country rather than my own was since it was the farthest.

“We are going to play.”

Curiosity rose on the little girl’s face.

“Play?”

“Yes, I will play with my daughter all day from now on.”

Leah rolled her eyes. She asks in disbelief.

“Wow……but Mom is busy.”

“I’m not busy anymore. So if there is anything you want to do, feel free to tell me.”

Leah blinked for a moment as if thinking this was a dream.

Then she whispered softly.

“Really?”

“Mhm.”

As soon as I gave her assurance, Leah’s cheeks gradually grew reddish. A smile like sweet cotton candy spread.

“I am so happy now!”

I laughed at seeing my daughter act like that.

“How happy?”

“Ummm…”

Leah smiled with her red cheeks.

“It is the best thing in my life!”

I also enjoyed her reaction.

“Ah ha ha ha.”

She’s a kid who liked spending time with me.

‘I’m glad Leah is here.’

I was being sincere. I was really comforted by this little girl.

Without Leah, it would have been really difficult for me to endure everything, from the moment when all my memories suddenly came back since no one was on my side.

Leah was very precious to me. I hope she was happy too.

I thought and looked out the window.

We were getting closer and closer to our destination.

***

Rupert has been feeling the stinging gazes of his subordinates recently.

To be exact, from the two ‘Knights of the Ravens’.

“Hillis, Aren, if you have any complaints, speak up.”

Hillis, who was just watching because of his injury, answered coldly.

“Will you listen?”

“I will.”

At that, Hilis thought, will the master hit the me who is wounded? Hillis opened his mouth at the thought.

“When will the madam come back?”

“Why do you care about the day when my wife returns?”

“I’m afraid maybe you will worry……”

Some of the knights said, ‘Is that guy crazy?’ But Hillis endured it.

Rupert responded distastefully.

“I’ve never been in such a relationship.”

To those harsh words, Hillis responded more fiercely.

“If you’re not in such a relationship, why do you poke thorns like a hedgehog every time I talk about your wife—Eup!”

Laurent jumped out hurriedly and covered Hillis’ mouth.

“Sorry, I’m sorry. Master!”

“Ouch!”

Hillis glances at Laurent with a look that says ‘what’s this?’

Laurent exclaimed indifferently.

“It seems that when Sir Hillis injured his leg, his head was also injured!”

“……”

Saying that he dragged the rebellious Hillis away.

It was quite a mess. Rupert sighed.

‘When did the Raven Knights side with Noel?’

Really, she is a woman I can’t understand, Rupert thought.

In the midst of the commotion, the knight commander, Bert, laughed and intervened.

“How about sending a bouquet of flowers to your wife and the young miss?”

Rupert frowned.

He put his sword away. He didn’t want to think about Noel and Leah, but his subordinates weren’t helping at all. Everyone was nosy in this and that.

“I’ll just head back in. I will leave the rest to you.”

“Yes Sir!”

Hearing Bert’s answer, he returned to the office.

Seeing the scene of an empty office, he recalled the incident from a few days ago.

‘Damn it.’

A few days have passed since Noel and Leah left for the villa.

Noel asked if she could use the villa for business purposes, and he answered her as indifferently as possible.

Why are you going? When will you come back? And what are you going to do? No questions were asked of each other, to avoid paying attention to each other, as much as possible.

Every moment since that day has been full of problems.

When he entered a collapsing building, when he saw the faces of Noel and Leah who were unharmed, and when he saw Noel who lost consciousness due to an unknown high fever.

Something had changed in his mind.

He had to protect them. Those thoughts came rushing into his head.

At the same time, he heard a violent impulse from the curse.

‘I thought it would be like this.’

For him, emotions were what he feared the most.

The quiet time he spent with the two of them became sweeter than he expected. Like a child who licked a candy with his tongue for the first time in his life.

If we continued to be together, at some point, they would become the most precious existence.

In the end, the day will surely come when you will fall in love with your family rather than your duties as head and lord……

[Grow up to be the worst human being, Rupert.]

……and you will see a tragic ending. According to his mother’s will.

He clearly remembered the day Noel came to the office. It was funny; he was relieved to see that she was safe.

In fact, he often visited her when she lost consciousness. But he hadn’t seen her since she recovered.

Likewise, he never went to see Leah, except when she was sleeping.

He did that on purpose. He didn’t want anyone to see him worrying about Leah and Noel.

If that was the case, both of them would hear about it.

‘Then both of them will come to me smiling again, knowing nothing.’

They didn’t even know it was dangerous.

‘I didn’t want to be any more terrible than this.’

So he made fun of Noel, rudely.

As a result, she was hurt. She left for the farthest villa from the mansion.

She probably won’t be back for a while.

‘No, will you ever come back?’

All of this was for their own safety in the end.

As she said, he was the ‘worst’ and most selfish person.

***

When I came to the villa, I lived a normal daily life and ran into tiny problems.

‘How should I prepare for a divorce?’

Needless to say, this was my first divorce.

‘Am I going to separate first, adjust the property, and then fill out the paperwork?’

Slowly, I write a polite letter to Rupert, asking him what it would be like to think about our divorce.

‘What will happen with the money I earned from the land I invested in last time?’

In fact, the money I was spending here came from there.

Still, I’m not sure if I should get a job or not.

Even if I had money to spend for my whole life, I would still work. This was purely my personality.

If I don’t do anything, I’m afraid I’ll become a really useless person.

‘Since I have money to live on, I can work comfortably without worrying about a living.’

Isn’t this the dream of every office worker? Working as a hobby.

‘Will Rupert claim custody of Leah?’

If that’s the case, I won’t lose this fight.

“Mom, Mom! How is this picture?”

At that moment, Leah ran to me while holding a piece of paper.

I cleared the thoughts in my head.

“Leah, you will fall if you run like that.”

Despite my words, she still showed the picture with a proud look.

It was a drawing of me contemplating by the window. I could see Leah’s hard work in drawing my hair with golden crayons.

“Oh, you drew it well. Is Mom this pretty in Leah’s eyes?”

It was impressive that she could draw such a pretty picture.

“Absolutely!”

In response to the innocent answer, I hugged her tightly.

“I have to put this painting in a frame and put it on display.”

The maid who stood next to me responded seriously to my remarks, without even laughing.

“I’ll bring a picture frame, Madam.”

“Thanks.”

Life at the villa wasn’t bad. It’s not often used, and the number of employees was small, but it was more convenient.

Besides, everyone was very naive. The guests who they met after a long time were genuinely welcomed here.

‘Everyone loves Leah.’

That was the luckiest thing. Thanks to that, Leah didn’t feel uncomfortable with them, unlike the people in the Ainel mansion.

The Yuren Kingdom itself wasn’t bad either. The climate is mild, and the people are friendly.

Besides, if you travel far enough by carriage, there’s the capital of Yuren. There’s so much to see.

To be honest, I felt much more comfortable here than when I was at the Ainel Mansion.

My heart is not made of steel. I tried my best to act casually in the mansion, but it was difficult to live a life of hostility in my heart.

At that moment, Leah approached me.

“Mom, Mom, can’t we go buy some cake?”

Then the maid next to her said,

“Miss, if that’s the case, let us take care of it.”

Leah shook her head.

“No, I want to go with my mom!”

“Do you want to go out with mom?”

One of the things I noticed when I came here is that Leah likes to go out with me.

In fact, since I lost her once, I was worried about what to do if she was afraid to go out, but I was glad that wasn’t the case.

Leah nodded.

“I want to go to the cake shop with my mom!”

“Then we should go.”

I got up and started getting ready to head out.