I Became My Son's First Love - Chapter 1

Prologue

On the night she received a notice of divorce from her husband, Eve was visited by her husband’s eldest son, a man just one year older than her and, legally, her son.

Azazel Hound Seratine.

The heir to the ducal family who inherited his mother’s surname, Seratine, instead of his father’s, Count Hound. The young Duke of Seratine, who resembled his father, Count Hound, once called the most beautiful man in the Empire, was said to make many young ladies’ hearts ache.

With short, radiant blonde hair, a smooth forehead, sharp eyes, a perfectly straight and attractive nose, and a well-defined jaw, his clear, almost glowing blue eyes were especially striking. His full lips parted, and in the same cold manner he always directed at Eve, he spoke with a sweet voice.

“How about marrying me?”

There was no mistaking his soft tone—it wasn’t a joke. Moreover, they weren’t close enough to make jokes. During the past three years, their only interactions had been the awkward meals they occasionally shared.

Eve narrowed her eyes and looked at Azazel. Though he wasn’t smiling, his eyes gleamed with amusement. Eve swallowed a sigh and, with a tired expression, spoke while staring at him.

“Azazel, I know I wasn’t the mother you wanted, but there’s no need to mock me like this.”

Azazel’s eyes narrowed at Eve’s response. He had matured significantly since their first meeting three years ago. Even with just a slight furrowing of his brow, he now appeared more dangerous and sharp. Trying her best to relax in the suddenly tense atmosphere, Eve flinched when Azazel abruptly stepped toward her.

To her surprise, her reaction seemed to amuse him. For the first time since they had met, Eve saw him smile. The once sharp lines around his eyes softened, and his lips curled into a perfectly smooth, beautiful smile. Eve found herself staring, mesmerized by his strikingly handsome face.

Even without being told, anyone could see that his looks surpassed the handsome of Count Hound. Yet, Eve had never admired him, as the Azazel she knew was emotionless, except when expressing contempt or hostility towards his father, Count Hound. Though she had acknowledged his handsome, she had never marveled at it.

‘It’s not just his face… it’s his whole aura…’

As she stared at him, mesmerized by his almost otherworldly beauty, she suddenly realized how close his face was to hers. She tried to step back, but Azazel grabbed her arms and whispered softly.

“Why do you think you’re not someone I would like?”

His voice, laced with emotion, had a strange allure, as if it could ensnare anyone who heard it. Ignoring the tingling sensation in her ears, Eve fought to maintain her composure as she replied.

“…Because you’ve always looked at me like you hated me.”

Azazel smiled slightly and nodded, his nose brushing against hers due to their proximity. As Eve tried to step back again, Azazel gripped her arms tighter.

“That’s right. I hated that you were my mother.”

Though this wasn’t surprising, as Eve had known for a long time, their current closeness was so overwhelming that she hurriedly responded.

“Yes, I know that. So, could you let me go now?”

“You knew? Then did you know this too?”

“Ah!”

Eve gasped as his hot hand slid boldly under her thin slip. The same hand she had admired for its beauty during their shared meals was now sliding beneath her slip, touching her between her legs. At that moment, Eve realized she was wearing only a thin slip.

The white slip, which seemed modest, reaching down to her ankles, was so thin and sheer that even the slightest movement caused the waist tie to loosen, revealing her body completely. Eve, now almost fully exposed, was too shocked to think about covering herself. She looked at Azazel in disbelief, and he smiled sweetly.

“I’ve always wanted to shove my thing inside here.”

“What…?”

“A mother? That’s ridiculous. What kind of son would think of his mother like this?”

After her contract marriage ended, what followed was beyond anything Eve had ever expected.

Chapter 1: The Beginning of a Contract Marriage

For Eve, the second daughter of a poor rural barony, there was no other choice but this marriage. In fact, given her situation, it wasn’t a particularly bad deal.

The man she was to marry had no lacking qualities. Despite being forty, he still looked to be in his thirties, and when he was younger, he had been called the most beautiful man in the Empire, surpassing even the most eligible noble ladies. Even now, he was widely admired for his refined, mature charm.

Moreover, it wasn’t as if his family lacked prestige. The Hound family was one of the most prominent in the Empire. Since the Empire’s founding, the family had managed to stay clear of the succession and political struggles that often plagued noble houses, which is why they had remained intact for over a thousand years.

With the reputation the family had garnered over centuries, combined with the lands and mines that generated consistent income, Count Hound was a man who had both looks and wealth, and came from a distinguished family.

However, he wasn’t without flaws. The reason Count Hound, with all his favorable traits, had sent a marriage proposal to the second daughter of an insignificant family was that he was notorious for being a playboy, with numerous children. While officially, he had five children with his first wife, it was rumored that he had fathered dozens of others. Furthermore, this would be his fourth marriage.

Still, Eve did not find his offer unfair. This was because her own circumstances were far from ideal. As the second daughter of Baron Jenna, who governed a small, nearly forgotten estate on the fringes of the Empire, she lived a life that bore little resemblance to the one typically enjoyed by noble ladies.

Though she didn’t starve, thanks to the small estate, there were no grand ballgowns, parties, or leisurely activities such as painting or playing instruments. Eve’s life had been anything but luxurious.

Yet, she was fortunate in some ways. When Eve was five, her older sister, Cynthia, realized that Eve was not unintelligent. At the time, Cynthia was working as a maid for a viscountess in a nearby estate, earning a small wage, which she decided to use to educate her younger sister. Cynthia’s income was modest, and so the education Eve received was equally modest.  Noble etiquette, a basic understanding of the Empire’s history, simple writing, and arithmetic—this was all Cynthia could afford to teach her sister. But she sacrificed a lot to provide even that.

Thanks to the education she received, Eve grew into a noble lady, and her parents were pleased. It wasn’t because they were proud of how well Eve had matured in such difficult circumstances. Rather, they were glad that they could sell her off in the marriage market at a decent price. At the age of fifteen, her parents began searching eagerly for a suitable husband for her.

However, strange events continued to occur. A wealthy old count, delighted by her portrait, invited her to his estate only to die of a heart attack the very evening of her arrival. A plump baron, who had come all the way to Jenna to personally meet her, agreed to set a wedding date but soon called off the engagement, claiming he had found his true love.

After these repeated failures, Eve’s parents became deeply discouraged. Despite their efforts, five years had passed, and now, at the age of twenty, Eve had yet to be married due to a variety of bizarre circumstances: runaway lovers, financial ruin, sudden outbreaks of disease in estates—all sorts of strange things had happened.

Yet, her parents hadn’t given up. As Eve blossomed like a summer rose with each passing year, they kept searching diligently for a match. But their attempts were in vain. Every suitor withdrew for one reason or another, even a bedridden seventy-year-old lord who had been her most recent prospect. He suddenly regained his strength and announced he wanted to go on a journey to fulfill his lifelong dreams, sending Eve a small consolation fee along with the notice of his broken engagement.

By this point, Baron Jenna and his wife had almost given up on marrying off Eve. Despite five years of effort, at the age of twenty, she was still single, having faced rejection from every suitor for various, often peculiar, reasons. But then, unlike any of the previous suitors, a man of immense stature—someone far beyond her expectations—proposed to her, not through her family, but directly to her.