WOFSTF 10

Chapter 10

“Who is it?”

Another one of Hallara’s followers?

I put down the gift in my hands and approached the door.

“Miss Halara Seheb? I’d like to have a word with you.”

As expected, it was a man.

“I’m sorry, but I don’t want to meet anyone I had connections with.”

I politely declined.

“We have no connections, but the Duchess of Bloodmere has come to see you personally.”

Wait.

Who?

“The Duchess of Bloodmere?”

“Yes.”

That person is the prospective mother-in-law I met right after I first possessed this body.

“Please come in.”

Whatever the matter was, she wasn’t someone I could pretend not to know.

A noble person entered through the shabby door.

She looked a bit thinner than a few days ago—was that just my imagination? But the intimidating presence and dignity radiating from her entire being was still impressive.

Her elegant appearance was the complete opposite of me, who had become like a country woman after wandering the market for the past few days.

“Please sit here.”

The man standing beside her as she sat on the shabby wooden chair gestured to the seat across from her.

Who is he? A servant?

He looked familiar somehow.

Since I first possessed this body in the Ducal Residence Reception Room, I must have seen him then?

“I’ll bring some tea.”

“No need.”

The male lead’s mother curtly rejected my courtesy.

I was slightly grateful.

Tea was precious, so I needed to save even a single cup.

“I came because I have something to say.”

“What is it?”

Did she have more to say to me?

“If you were offended by my visit to the Duchess’ Castle the other day, I formally apologize. Someone of lowly status like me committed a great sin by not knowing my place and offending such a noble person.”

True, I did apologize too carelessly back then.

It was a life-or-death situation with the male lead’s mother right in front of me immediately after possessing this body.

“Is that all you have to say?”

Francesca’s brow furrowed openly.

“I ask you one last time. Answer carefully.”

“Yes. My apology may not be enough, but please forgive me.”

As expected of the fearsome lady of a renowned swordsmanship family.

Francesca looked around the house with sharp eyes. Then her gaze fell on the knitting materials pushed to one side of the table.

“What is that?”

“Socks. And a hat.”

She reached out and touched what I had made.

Her expression, which had seemed curious for a moment, quickly hardened, and her fingertips began to tremble.

“Ha! You were going to put such things on a weak and precious baby.”

“Excuse me?”

That was unpleasant.

I didn’t want to make things with such rough fabric either.

“Enough.”

What’s enough?

“Pack your things immediately.”

“Excuse me?”

“You win.”

“What? What did we compete over…”

That determined victory and defeat?

“You said you loved my son. Fine, I’ll grant your wish to be with our son.”

What??

“Surely you won’t say now that those words were also lies to mock me?”

***

Francesca had many questions prepared until Carlos knocked on Hallara’s door.

But as soon as she entered the house, she was speechless from the savory aroma that filled the air.

As the mistress of a ducal house, a high-ranking noble who had lived eating all kinds of luxurious cuisine, she was amazed. To think such a savory and flavorful smell could come from a mere commoner’s house.

‘Surely Docheop must have had the ducal house’s chef make it and brought it here.’

To go to such troublesome lengths, Docheop must definitely be deeply infatuated with this woman.

Feeling troubled, she turned her gaze and surveyed the inside of the house. The suffocatingly small house contained only a few shabby, old pieces of furniture.

‘That is…’

Among them, what caught her attention were baby hats and socks.

Seeing that made it even more certain.

Hallara was indeed pregnant with Docheop’s child.

From the physician’s diagnosis to the baby items, the evidence was so clear, yet what was that woman thinking when she said she wasn’t pregnant?

She couldn’t understand her intentions at all.

But now, the shabby baby items drew her attention more than anything else.

‘Did she buy these at the market?’

Whether it was cheap linen that had been cut, loose threads were sticking out everywhere.

But soon, noticing Hallara’s reddened fingertips and the basket placed to one side, she quickly realized.

‘She made them herself?’

She had made the baby hat and socks herself.

This young woman before her.

For the child in her womb.

Stitch by stitch.

Staring blankly at that, Francesca felt her heart sink.

‘I used to be like that once too.’

Nikolai, Docheop, Helbern.

She had carried all three children with love in her heart.

As her belly grew, she had tried making things for those children too.

‘Back then, I only wished for the child to be healthy.’

But she had been harsh to Docheop, who grew up healthy.

Perhaps she had unilaterally taken out her frustrations on Docheop.

The expectation that Docheop would become an excellent knight like Nikolai.

The disappointment when he failed to awaken his power.

She had vented her own greed on that child.

But what about this child?

Francesca looked at Hallara.

According to rumors, she was supposed to be a selfish courtesan who only cared about money.

But neither then nor now could she find any trace of such malice.

‘Now I understand why she hid it.’

Francesca realized.

No, it’s an emotion any mother would know.

‘It’s obvious the child will be taken away. She must want to secretly bear the child away from the family and stay together. She wants to raise it with love in a mother’s embrace.’

The answer was clear.

Perhaps it might even be sincere.

Docheop and this child.

Hallara had even directly said she liked him, hadn’t she?

Then why did she dare come into the ducal house and request a private audience with the duchess, only to hide the child’s existence later?

‘She must have thought she wouldn’t survive after actually seeing the duchess’ castle.’

That feeling. Francesca knew it well enough herself.

Though she too was born into a noble family and raised with strict education, she had suffered for years under the pressure of the Bloodmere family’s aura.

How could a commoner not know such things?

Francesca threw down the child’s socks and hat she had been touching.

But something like this… how dare she bring something like this…!

“You were going to put something like this on our baby!”

Her inner thoughts burst out without her realizing.

While it was admirable that she made them herself, Docheop’s child would soon be her grandchild.

Even dressing the child in only precious, splendid things wouldn’t be enough.

“Pardon?”

At those words, Hallara’s eyes widened.

Seeing her quickly put away what she had made, it seemed she too realized her mistake.

At this point, hiding it wouldn’t make the fact of her pregnancy disappear.

‘When everything’s already been exposed.’

Yes, go ahead and hide it.

If the fact that she was pregnant before even entering the family leaked out, that would be trouble in its own way.

If they both pretended not to know, and Hallara pretended she had no child, it would be appreciated on this side.

“Come into the mansion. You’re the only person my son likes, so I’ll allow it.”

***

Come into the duchess’ castle? What does that mean?

Am I failing to grasp the context here?

“Wait a moment. Duchess, just because I like him, is this really something that can happen…?”

“Enough with the endless chatter. We’ve finished all the preparations on our end, so just bring yourself.”

“Pardon?”

Her tone suggested my intentions didn’t matter at all.

What kind of person is this!

“You said you like my son. Come in and live here.”

Even if he’s a scoundrel son, she’d so easily let him be with a commoner?

“Even so… I’m a commoner.”

That was just an excuse to escape the situation then—I have absolutely no intention of getting entangled with Docheop and dying together.

I don’t even know what Docheop looks like in the first place.

I just want to do business here.

Bloodmere will fall, but the domain’s people won’t die.

For commoners like us, only the master’s name changes—nothing else does.

That’s the only advantage of being reincarnated as a commoner.

“Didn’t you clearly say you liked our son?”

“That’s true, but…”

If I said no here, she looked ready to kill someone.

“It’s better than my son living alone.”

“Pardon?”

What’s this?

This development that’s different from the original?

In the original, Hallara was treated poorly for being a commoner.

Of course, she had gotten pregnant before marriage and came demanding money out of nowhere, so it would have been hard to view her favorably, but fundamentally, she was despised more because she was a commoner.

“Don’t tell me you dislike it?”

Francesca asked with stern eyes.

It wasn’t a tone like ‘How dare someone like you reject our family?’ but rather eyes that said ‘Are you playing games with my son and me?’

How frightening.

These are really people who could kill someone.

‘Should I say it’s burdensome? That I want to keep it as fan feelings?’

As I hesitated over what to say, Francesca spoke sharply in a much lowered voice.

“The story about spending a night with my second son wasn’t a lie.”

Good thing I hesitated.

If I had babbled about fan feelings or whatever, my head might have flown off.

“I already know everything, so don’t think about glossing over it.”

“Ah…”

I had nothing to say.

I too had only read what Hallara babbled about in the original, but I hadn’t actually seen what the relationship between Hallara and Docheop was really like.

“What if I keep my mouth shut and live quietly…?”

“I understand your feelings, but that won’t do.”

What exactly does she think she understands?

That I’m reincarnated, that her family will be destroyed, that at this rate both she and I will die entangled with Docheop. She doesn’t know anything.

Frustration washed over me since I couldn’t reveal these various circumstances.

“How could that not work?”

“No, it won’t. Not as long as I’m against it.”

It was a fight with no room for compromise.

“What if I create a new identity and leave?”

With my brain, this was the best solution.

I really don’t want to die in that family.

Even if Francesca slaps me and screams about who would want this!