Chapter 3
Lucian cried at the top of his lungs, tears streaming from his eyes. He had believed me when I said I loved him, so being scolded by me must have hurt him deeply.
“Whether you’re angry at me or not, what’s wrong is still wrong.”
His loud wailing made my head throb.
“When you’re done crying, call for me. We’re going to apologize to Viscount Chernin.”
Pressing my aching temple, I stood up.
“Waaah! Auntie is stupid! Pig! Butt-face!”
Even after I closed the door behind me, Lucian’s shouting echoed through the hallway. Before returning to my room, I warned the servants not to take Lucian’s side no matter what.
“Ha…”
The moment I stepped inside, I collapsed into the nearest chair. If there hadn’t been one beside me, I would have fallen flat on the floor.
“What am I supposed to do with that little troublemaker?”
If I didn’t know the future waiting for Lucian, I probably would have left him alone. He was still young. Most people would say children naturally mature as they grow older.
But Lucian never changed.
If anything, he only became more vicious.
“How did things end up like this?”
From Bastard to Family Head wasn’t the kind of novel that carefully explained the villains’ pasts. The Lucian described in its pages was simply a naturally aggressive and greedy child.
Before I possessed this body, I had vaguely thought:
The author probably just wanted a villain.
But after witnessing every moment of his life from the day he was born until now, I realized how wrong that assumption had been.
Lucian lost his mother when he was only two years old.
His father, who should have filled that empty place, was too busy with work to stay by his side.
As a result, Lucian never received the love and attention every child deserved.
“He must want someone to pay attention to him.”
Maybe that was why he kept causing trouble.
To get the attention he never received from his parents.
“And every time, I scolded him.”
The words Lucian had shouted at me earlier came back to mind.
“You said you’re on my side! You said you’d love me no matter what! Then why aren’t you on my side? Why do you always scold me?”
Maybe what Lucian truly wanted was someone who would support him unconditionally, no matter what he did.
If his parents had always stood behind him, he wouldn’t have needed to search for someone to be “his person.”
But Lucian wasn’t that fortunate.
Perhaps he already knew he had no one completely on his side, so he desperately searched for that person.
Someone who would love him no matter what happened.
But I couldn’t help scolding him.
No matter how much I adored my nephew, I couldn’t overlook his mistakes.
The problem was that Lucian was still too young to understand what I really meant.
“If you love me, you shouldn’t scold me! You should think everything I do is wonderful!”
Maybe he believed I wasn’t really on his side.
Maybe he thought I only claimed to love him while my actions said otherwise.
“Should I find him a friend?”
For a moment, I wondered if having children his own age around him would help.
Then I shook my head.
“How many children has Lucian already made cry?”
There were no other young children living in the duke’s estate.
Feeling sorry that he always played alone, I often took him to social gatherings in hopes that he would make friends.
Lucian, however, never failed to destroy my expectations.
“Waaah!”
“Lucian bullied me!”
He caught spiders and threw them at people.
He smashed expensive decorative flower vases.
The day he fired a slingshot at Count Robent’s heir, I nearly fainted from shock.
“There isn’t a single six-year-old who can handle Lucian.”
Well…
Except perhaps Amelia.
But Amelia was destined to become Edwin’s lover.
Which meant she and Lucian were never meant to become close.
“Should I just run away with Lucian?”
I truly wanted to.
But that wasn’t a realistic solution either.
My family, the Lilfrey Count’s household, was completely under my uncle’s control.
That meant I couldn’t take any money or authority with me.
Having spent my entire life as a noble lady, there was no way I could suddenly earn a living on my own.
Of course, I still had memories from my previous life, so perhaps I could manage somehow…
But could someone with absolutely nothing really raise Lucian properly after leaving this place?
Lucian had been born as the heir to a duke’s family and had never known anything but luxury.
If we lived together alone, he might not even be able to eat three proper meals a day, let alone wear new clothes.
“That’s impossible. Besides, how could I possibly kidnap the duke’s heir?”
I might even be sentenced to death for abducting the only successor of the Duke’s family.
I might be Duke Bellomon’s sister-in-law, but that man wasn’t known for mercy.
“Then… what if I stop Edwin from ever coming to the duke’s estate…”
The moment that thought crossed my mind, I immediately shook my head.
Edwin, like Lucian, had also lost his mother at a young age.
But unlike Lucian, who grew up surrounded by wealth in the duke’s estate, Edwin spent his childhood moving from one orphanage to another.
Even as an illegitimate child, Edwin was still Duke Bellomon’s own son.
No matter how much I wanted to protect my nephew, I couldn’t make an innocent child suffer for it.
“So I can’t run away. I can’t stop the protagonist either. Then what can I do…?”
Just as frustration made me want to pull my hair out, an idea suddenly flashed through my mind.
“Come to think of it… Edwin is in an orphanage right now, isn’t he?”
The answer had been right under my nose.
The orphanage where Edwin lived was located within the Duke’s territory.
However, Duke Bellomon wouldn’t discover Edwin until three years later.
Until then, Edwin would spend those years alone in the orphanage.
“What if I go find him myself?”
I couldn’t simply march up to the duke and say,
“Your son is over here!”
He would naturally question how I had learned Edwin’s whereabouts.
Besides, I couldn’t ignore the original story’s flow of fate.
“But visiting the orphanage as a volunteer would be perfectly natural.”
I could use volunteer work as an excuse to visit the orphanage.
Spend time with Edwin.
Become close to him.
“And then…”
I would tell the duke.
That among the children at the orphanage where I volunteered, there was a little boy who looked like he might be his son.
“I’ll become Edwin’s benefactor while becoming close to him.”
The person who not only helped him leave the orphanage…
…but also reunited him with his real father.
Then surely Edwin would spare Lucian’s life, if only out of gratitude.
After all, we’d have spent years seeing each other.
* * *
Once a plan was made, it needed to be carried out immediately.
As soon as morning arrived, I got dressed and climbed into a carriage.
“Auntie, where are you going?”
“I’m going to meet someone.”
“I want to come too!”
“Did you apologize to Viscount Chernin?”
“…”
“Then no.”
The moment I answered firmly, Lucian frowned.
If he wanted to come with me so badly, all he had to do was apologize.
Was saying “I’m sorry” really that difficult?
“Make sure you apologize before I get back.”
Without looking back, I closed the carriage door.
“Shall I take you to Busnier Street, my lady?”
“Yes. The orphanage on Second Street.”
After giving the coachman the exact address, I leaned back against the seat.
I’d already explained my destination to the maids.
“I think I need to meet more children if I want to understand Lucian better.”
“You’re visiting an orphanage?”
“Yes. The children there all lost their parents at a young age, just like Lucian. Maybe if I become close to them, I’ll understand him better.”
That was the explanation I’d given.
Fortunately, none of the maids became suspicious.
Instead, they were so touched by how devoted I was to caring for a nephew who wasn’t even my own child that some of them nearly cried.
“But why Busnier Street? It’s quite far from here.”
“That part of the duke’s territory is especially poor. The orphanage is probably short on supplies, so I thought I’d see what they need and help.”
I had made up the excuse on the spot.
I worried it wouldn’t convince anyone.
Instead, the maids only praised me.
“Lady Ruchella has such a kind heart!”
Their reaction made me feel rather embarrassed.
In truth, all I had been thinking about was how to save Lucian.
Of course, the servants who weren’t assigned to me looked at me with obvious disapproval.
As far as they were concerned, I was merely a guest stirring up unnecessary trouble.
Still, at least everything went smoothly.
Looking out the carriage window, I thought about Edwin, whom I would soon meet.
The boy with red eyes inherited from his mother…
…and black hair inherited from Duke Bellomon.
When Edwin first met the duke in the original story, he was utterly shocked.
The duke looked exactly like an older version of himself.
So much so that Edwin couldn’t help thinking,
“When I grow up… I’ll probably look exactly like that.”
If he had ever seen the duke before, he wouldn’t have been so surprised.
But sadly, Edwin never saw his father’s face before leaving the orphanage.
Because Iris, Duke Bellomon’s lover, had broken up with him.
As a commoner, Iris could never become the Duchess.
The only thing she could do was watch another woman become the wife of the man she loved.
She endured it for years.
But everything changed when she learned that Layla—my older sister and the Duchess of Bellomon—had given birth to a child.
At last, she reached her limit.
“I accepted living in the shadows for the rest of my life because I loved you, Dehart. But I can’t bear to watch the man I love raise a child with another woman.”
With those words, Iris left Duke Bellomon.
What she didn’t know…
…was that she was already carrying Edwin.
She only discovered she was pregnant two months after leaving him.
Even then, she never went back.
She knew exactly how an illegitimate child with commoner blood would be treated.
Perhaps those supporting Lucian would even try to eliminate him.
So Iris raised Edwin alone.
The reason she remained within the duke’s territory instead of leaving entirely…
…was because she secretly hoped that one day the duke would learn of Edwin’s existence.
But tragedy struck.
When Edwin was four years old, Iris died of pneumonia.
With no father to care for him and no relatives to take him in, Edwin naturally ended up in an orphanage.
“Edwin is six now…”
“So he’s been living there for about two years.”
If only those years had been peaceful.
Unfortunately, the orphanage where Edwin lived was far from a good place.
The building was old.
Cold winds blew through the cracks every winter.
During summer, the unbearable heat caused several children to collapse.
There weren’t even enough clothes.
Many children wore garments patched over and over again because they had no replacements.
And that wasn’t the worst part.
To make matters even worse, the cruel orphanage director forced the children to work.
Cleaning.
Laundry.
Every chore that adults should have handled…
…was pushed onto small children instead.
“Edwin isn’t the only one.”
“I can’t just stand by and watch children that tiny suffer.”
If I hadn’t known, that would have been one thing.
But now that I did know…
…I had to act.
That was what adults were supposed to do.
To let children grow up as children.
That was the responsibility of adults.
And that was exactly why I had hurried toward the orphanage.
