I Faked a Pregnancy, but My Husband Returned - Chapter 23

That night, in Ekian’s room where Judith was staying.

Judith sat facing the Master, who had come to visit her late at night.

The Master had played a significant role in notifying her of the right moment that day. He could have left after completing his task, but he chose to stay, insisting on having a conversation with her.

“How did you know?” he asked.

Judith just shrugged her shoulders. “I think I saw that Bart person while wandering the streets a long time ago. I overheard something about him being undercover for poisoning.”

As usual, the Master’s face was hidden behind a mask, making it impossible to read his expression. However, he seemed more subdued than usual.

“…I thought he was truly loyal to the Mayus family.”

“I doubt it,” she replied, shaking her head. “He probably didn’t have any real loyalty to the Mayus family from the moment he arrived.”

“What?”

“I don’t know why he was evaluated as being loyal, but it was all lies, wasn’t it? If not lies, then he had malicious intent from the start.”

Judith yawned and waved her hand dismissively. “Anyway, you should go. You must be tired, and you need rest.”

“I’m not particularly tired.”

“But it’s strange to be in a lady’s room, just the two of us like this. It feels like you’re trying to flirt.”

“What…? If a man and a woman are alone in a room at night, does it always mean flirting?”

At that moment, there was a knock on the door.

“Judith?” a voice called from outside. “Do you have a moment?”

It was Hud’s voice.

The voice outside the door belonged to someone unexpected.

“I’d like to talk for a bit.”

“Oh, yes,” Judith quickly responded, flustered. “Give me a moment. I’ll just tidy up.”

She hurriedly gestured at the Master to leave, but the Master, looking somewhat incredulous, whispered, “You’re going to let him in?”

“What? What are you talking about?”

“There’s no one else in the room right now. Are you really going to be alone with him?”

“So what?”

“He knows you’re not really married to Ekian, doesn’t he?”

“And what about that?”

“What if he tries to flirt with you…?”

“Oh, what nonsense.”

Judith, flustered, hit the Master’s back multiple times. “You just said that talking at night doesn’t necessarily mean flirting.”

She was throwing his words back at him, but even so, the Master showed no intention of leaving. Judith finally stomped on his foot in frustration.

“Aren’t you going to leave? Hud probably just wants to talk with me. Things have gotten serious, after all.”

Hud, an elite physician, hadn’t noticed the poisoning, but Judith, who had no medical expertise, had. Naturally, he would want to talk to her. If nothing else, he probably wanted to learn about the herbalist she had worked for. There was enough reason for Hud’s visit not to seem surprising to her.

However, the Master didn’t seem pleased as Judith tried to usher him out. He glared at her and muttered, “Put on something more modest. Where’s that dress you used to wear? It would be perfect.”

“The Duchess threw it out.”

Just then, Hud’s voice sounded again from outside. “Is something the matter, Baroness?”

Hearing that, the Master let out an exasperated chuckle. “Baroness? Baaaroness? He calls you Baroness, yet you’re staying in Ekian’s room, and he doesn’t call you madam… Baroness?”

Judith started to push the Master toward the secret passage. “Why are you acting like a jealous husband? Stop being so clingy and just go.”

The word “clingy” seemed to shock the Master. Seeing his confidence waver, Judith seized the opportunity to shove him into the secret passage and slam the bookshelf shut.

Only then did Judith take a deep breath and straighten her clothes.

“Come in, Hud.”

A handsome young man with brown hair and green eyes cautiously opened the door and stepped in.

“Excuse me, Baroness.”

As the Master had pointed out earlier, Hud seemed a bit awkward when addressing her. He hesitated, as if unsure what to call her, since he knew she wasn’t truly the young duke’s wife.

Judith gave him a warm smile to ease his discomfort. “I’m still not used to being called ‘madam’ either. Until the marriage registration is completed, just call me Judith. Feel free.”

“Oh, alright then.”

Hud’s face brightened with a smile, clearly relieved. Judith blinked and asked, “Has Bart confessed to anything yet?”

“No. The Duke has just finished interrogating him. Well, maybe it’s not over yet. Knowing the Duke, he might start again in an hour.”

“I see. Have a seat here.”

Judith gestured for him to sit at the table where she had been sitting with the Master earlier.

She had always thought Hud was quite handsome, but up close, he had a gentle and respectable aura. His fair skin, slender frame, and tall stature suited his physician’s coat perfectly.

“I wanted to thank you first, Judith.”

Hud continued with a serious expression, “In hindsight, I’m ashamed. I’m the personal physician of the Mayus family, yet I didn’t even know what they were drinking.”

“Oh, analyzing Bart’s prescriptions couldn’t have been easy. You’ve only been here two years. How could a junior physician question the senior’s prescriptions?”

“Ha… Thank you for your understanding, but…”

Hud’s face grew somber, as expected. Then, just as Judith had predicted, he asked the question she had been waiting for.

“But could I know more about that herbalist you mentioned? If he shared such knowledge with a layperson, I’d like to meet him.”

“Ah… well…” Judith smiled softly, having anticipated this. “He’s already moved abroad. He made a lot of money, you see. As you know, no matter how much wealth a commoner amasses in the empire, they can’t become nobility. He moved to a place where he could buy a title.”

“Oh.”

Hud looked slightly disappointed but continued to smile warmly at her.

“It might sound like an excuse, but Bart gave me a hard time and excluded me from the prescriptions. It wasn’t easy to take the lead in such matters.”

Well, that made sense. Judith nodded slowly, imagining the situation.

Bart, wanting to handle everything on his own, must have found Hud’s presence troublesome and would have tried to get rid of him.

“Oh my, that must have been difficult… But with your talent, Hud, you could have gone anywhere, even if you left the Mayus family.”

“Well…” Hud smiled bashfully. “It’s because of the money. No other place pays as well as the Mayus family.”

True. Judith agreed completely. Nowhere else treated its subordinates as generously as the Mayus.

“To be honest, signing your pregnancy confirmation was… in a way, it felt like a betrayal of my conscience as a physician…”

Judith, the one who had asked him to betray his conscience, felt a pang of guilt. Hud continued, looking somewhat regretful, “Still, I couldn’t refuse the hush money. I have seven younger siblings to care for…”

“What?”

“They sold the farm to pay for my medical academy tuition, and during my studies, my second sibling had to take care of the others. Now it’s my turn to repay them.”

“Ah… I see. But where are your parents?”

“They had a small farm but passed away when I was young.”

Judith was taken aback by the unexpected revelation and stared at Hud in surprise.

Seven younger siblings, taking responsibility for their care, parents who had passed away…

Oh, wait.

Judith tried to keep her smile, though her thoughts were racing.

‘Could it be… this man…?’

She quickly recalled the original story.

A male character slightly older than Karl, with a lost older brother—this Hud seemed to match that description. In the original, the text had said:

Many years later, the Marquisate of Soden discovered a clue about their missing eldest son.

He had been taken in by a farming couple who raised him as their own child.

However, when the farming couple passed away, the eldest son had to care for seven younger siblings.

As a result, the eldest son, originally a skilled physician, had already left for a foreign land where they offered higher pay.