Chapter 74

The destination was a park a little far from downtown.

It was a quiet park with flower beds and trails surrounding a wide lake.

As soon as they entered the fence, there was a walking path full of fresh grass and flowers.

“Young Master, there are fish here.”

Hannah took Theor near the lake.

Carps with colorful patterns were swimming leisurely in the clear water.

Feeling a person approaching, the carps flocked to the surface in unison.

“This is how you feed them.”

Hannah threw a handful of dried breadcrumbs from the basket onto the surface of the water.

Theor sprinkled breadcrumbs over the pond with his little hands.

A flock of carp gathered and struggled to eat breadcrumbs.

Colorful scales of red, black, and yellow waved on the surface of the water.

“Aunt, look at this. Fish!”

Astelle, holding back the laughter, tried to approach Theor.

At that moment, a cheerful voice stopped Astelle’s footsteps.

“Oh my, Lady Astelle?”

She saw familiar faces at the entrance of the park.

Florin in a light pink dress and the Marchioness Croiychen in a purple dress.

They were both wearing outdoor clothes.

“Hello, Marchioness, Miss Florin.”

‘Why do I have to meet this mother and daughter here?’

Astelle hid her annoyance and politely greeted them.

Florin said, “I am very lucky to meet Lady Astelle in a place like this.”

As she looked at Florin speaking with happy eyes, Astelle realized that this young lady was watching her.

‘What a useless effort.’

The marchioness nodded with a stiff expression.

“It’s been a while.”

“Yes, long time no see.”

Astelle greeted the mother and daughter with a friendly smile, but inside her heart, there was a little concern.

Tonight my grandfather and Theor were due to leave the capital.

If I make a mistake, I might be caught by the spy attached by these ladies.

I’ll have to be more careful.

“Aunt Astelle?”

Theor, which was by the pond, ran to Astelle. Hannah followed with a worried look.

Theor hung on the Astelle’s skirt and asked, “What’s up?”

“It’s nothing. I just meet people I know.”

“Oh my gosh, you are a cute young master.”

Florin looked at Theor with curiosity.

“He is my nephew.”

Theor also liked the cute and pretty Florin, so he politely bowed his head.

“Hello, Lady.”

“You’re also a polite young master. How cute.”

Florin lightly stroked Theor’s head, then she turned to Astelle.

Doll-like cute features and a bright smile like a flower blooming looked at Astelle.

“Your nephew looks a lot like you, Lady Astelle.”

***

Astelle looked at Florin’s cute face and had a gut feeling.

This young girl knows who Theor’s birth mother is.

‘How did you know?’

You didn’t notice because of the Lintail fruit, did you?

Kaizen was the only one who doubted Theor’s birth mother.

Did the information leak from there?

If Kaizen knew about Theor’s birth mother, the subordinates close to him would also know. The first one that came to mind was Vellian.

‘Could he have told Florin?’

I don’t think so, but I don’t know, though. Maybe it came from someone else’s mouth.

Several assumptions came to mind, but there was nothing I could be sure of.

Astelle, hiding her confused mind, smiled softly.

“I heard a lot of people say that,” she said.

Astelle looked at Florin and responded with a calm smile,

“Since we are relatives, we have no choice but to look alike, right? They say blood is thicker than water.”

“Is that so?”

Florin added, “I don’t know because I don’t have children yet.”

“……”

Astelle, who was hiding her tension, realized one more thing.

Fortunately, even the clever Florin didn’t know who the child’s father was.

‘If she had known that Theor was the prince, she would have tried to get rid of him somehow without making fun of me in this way.’

A smile naturally leaked out of a deep sense of relief.

Astelle smiled, then turned to Florin’s mother.

“The Marchioness will understand. Because she had three daughters. The eldest daughter, Lady Marianne, resembles her mother a lot.”

“What did you just say?”

The Marchioness, who was watching beside her daughter, raised her eyebrows.

When she heard the name Marianne from Astelle, her anger seemed to increase.

Astelle asked innocently, “What’s wrong? I thought you’d be proud of your beautiful daughter for resembling you.”

The marchioness looked like she wanted to slap Astelle immediately, but she couldn’t do it in the public park.

She glared at Astelle as if to kill her.

“Yes, unlike anyone else, my daughters are born with a clear bloodline.”

At a time like this, I wondered what a bloodline was.

The marchioness looked a lot like Marianne, but she did not resemble Florin even from the eyes of an ant.

“Right. Thanks to the great lineage of the Croychen family, your daughters are outstanding.”

Astelle affirmed the marchioness’ words with a relaxed smile.

When her humiliation didn’t work, the marchioness turned around in anger.

“I’ll go back now.”

“Goodbye, Marchioness.”

Astelle stepped aside to tell her to hurry up and go away.

Even after the marchioness had walked quite far, Florin did not leave her place.

“They say that the late Duchess’ charity ball is being held at the imperial palace. Lady Astelle will be attending as an organizer, right?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

The smile on Florin’s pretty face grew deeper.

“I hope to see you again at the ball.”

The marchioness walked towards the entrance to the park, and she shouted at Florin, who was not following her,

“Florin! What are you doing?”

Florin looked at Astelle with sparkly eyes and then gracefully bent her knees.

“Then see you at the ball, Lady Astelle.”

Astelle also replied politely, “Yes, see you at the ball.”

Astelle didn’t lose her smile as the mother and daughter walked out.

“Lady Astelle,” Hannah called Astelle in a worried voice.

“It’s okay. I don’t think they figured it all out.”

“That’s a relief.”

Without further explanation, Hannah understood what she meant.

It doesn’t matter how Florin found out that Astelle was Theor’s biological mother.

The important thing is that Florin has not found out who Theor’s biological father is.

“Auntie, Auntie.”

Theor was holding Astelle’s skirt softly and waving it.

“Theor? Why?”

Theor asked, pointing towards the entrance to the park,

“Why is that madam in a bad mood every day?”

“Pfft.”

Hannah was barely holding back her bursting laughter.

Astelle also laughed, then hugged Theor.

“There are people in the world who are in a bad mood like that every day.”

Theor leaned his face on Astelle’s shoulder and babbled, “His Majesty did the same, but he is not angry anymore.” [T/N: This refers to the scene where Kaizen called all the maids and investigated who tried to kidnap Theor]

“……”

Astelle looked at Theor’s cute face and smiled bitterly at him.

A child who looked like Kaizen in his childhood was looking at her with affectionate eyes.

“Yes, he won’t do that anymore.”

***

Astelle opened a large luggage bag in the middle of the night.

Theor’s luggage was in the bag.

On one side were clothes, and on the other side were toys and shoes.

Astelle double-checked the items in the bag one by one and closed the bag satisfactorily.

“Theor’s luggage is perfectly ready.”

Theor will go alone with the marquis.

Astelle couldn’t miss anything, so she had to prepare it thoroughly.

“Lady Astelle, everything is ready.”

Hannah came inside.

She was wearing a thick, plain overcoat.

Astelle went to the bedroom and woke Theor up.

“Mm……”

“Theor, you have to go now.”

Astelle helped Theor put on the pre-prepared clothes.

After carefully putting on the overcoat, Astelle handed Theor to Hannah.

Theor, who woke up late, wrapped his arms around Astelle’s neck and buried his face.

“Sob, sob, Mom……”

“It’s okay, Theor.”

Astelle gently stroked Theor’s back with her hand to reassure him.

“You are going to see your grandfather, go home with him, and Mom will follow soon.”

Astelle felt that her heart crushed at the sound of the sniffling.

“What about Blynn?”

“Mom will take Blynn later.”

Theor wept and patted Blynn’s head as he sat on the floor.

“Hannah, please take care of Theor.”

“Do not worry, Lady Astelle.”

Hannah hugged Theor tightly and covered him with a wide cloak.

The two went out into the garden through the back door of the annex.