I Became The Mother Of the Male Lead Who Lives With An Adulterous Man

Seeing Dolorosa show curtesy, Rachel quickly came to her senses and responded appropriately as well.

“Hello, greetings to His Royal Highness the Crown Prince.”

Graham turned around, confused at the mention of the Crown Prince. He saw Dolorosa clutched tightly in Rachel’s arms, and his face drained of color.

“Mom!”

Graham shouted, running over, putting himself between Rachel and Dolorosa.

“Hey Kid! My mom is mine! Go away!”

Rachel’s eyes widened as Graham hugged her.

This was the first time Graham had raised his voice like this, other than when he’d been angry with Theodore. It was embarrassing and terrifying at the same time. How dare he speak to a princess like this!

“Graham, you shouldn’t call the princess a kid? Apologize right away.”

Dolorosa, who’d just been pushed out of Rachel’s arms by Graham, shook her head in disbelief.

“It’s okay, Lady Rachel. I did something wrong. I’m sorry, Graham. That… It was a mistake.”

“No, princess, you did nothing wrong. Don’t apologize.”

“Uh, Mom?”

“Graham. Quickly apologize to the princess. Your behavior was rude.”

Tears welled up in Graham’s eyes.

“Mom… Scolded me.”

“Of course. If someone does something wrong, they should be scolded and taught how to behave properly. That’s what a mother does.”

“Does mom hate me?”

“I’m not doing it because I hate you, I’m doing it because I love you. I don’t want Graham to grow up to be a bad adult. Now, hurry, you need to apologize.”

“Uh… Hmph. I’m sorry, princess…”

Dolorosa, stunned by the half-crying apology, nodded quickly.

“Yes, you apologized, so it’s okay. You can stop scolding him Lady Rachel.”

“All right.”

“Mom scolded me…”

Graham must’ve been so shocked at being scolded that he squatted down and sobbed.

Dolorosa squatted down next to him and patted Graham’s back with her small hand.

“It’s okay. My dad also scolds me sometimes.”

“Huu. That’s a lie.”

“It’s true. I once got scolded for folding origami with important paper in my dad’s study. Do you know how scary it was? I’ve never seen anything scarier, not even a ghost. It felt like fire was shooting out of his eyes!”

“There’s no way Master would be angry. He’s such an awesome person.”

“Even if he’s cool, he still gets angry. Your mom is a great person too, but she gets angry as well. Didn’t you hear what she said earlier? They all do this because they love us.”

“Hmm.”

“You were upset, right? I understand.”

It was an incredibly heartwarming sight.

After all, Dolorosa was the female protagonist. Rachel thought this was the power of Dolorosa, the power that made it possible to melt the heart of the murderous Graham. Even though she was only seven years old, her skills in soothing Graham were top-notch.

Atreille’s eyes twinkled as he watched from behind.

“So, this is what it’s like to be scolded, huh? I want to be scolded by my uncle, too, because he’s so cool, and him scolding me would be the coolest thing in the world, right?”

Dolorosa sighed heavily. She had that ‘I can’t believe I have two kids to take care of’ look on her face.

“Dad will not scold His Highness the Crown Prince for speaking. You’re different from us.”

“Tsk. That’s boring. Well, my dad scolded everyone who scolded me, so if my uncle scolds me, he will also get his throat slit. He scolds me all the time, but he never slits his own neck.”

…Wow…

Atreille’s words caused goosebumps to rise on Rachel’s forearms.

Atreille scratched his head with the branch he was holding.

“I’m jealous, Dooly! I want to see my uncle angry! I want to be loved by him too!”

“It’s Dolly, not Dooley. And His Majesty the Emperor loves you.”

“Ewww. Would you want that?”

Instead of saying ‘I don’t’, Dolorosa wisely kept her mouth shut.

Dolorosa soothed Graham and Atreille for a long time, repeating, ‘Adults scold us and make us feel sad because they love us.’

Four-year-old Graham and ten-year-old Atreille nodded, listening intently to Dolorosa.

Graham was soon back to his usual good spirits.

“Mom, I’m sorry for making you feel sad. Mom had a hard time raising me and I didn’t realize it.”

“Uhh, no. You must be disappointed. I’m sorry for scolding you too.”

“And I’m sorry, Princess. I won’t call you a kid anymore.”

“It’s okay, I don’t care.”

Rachel grinned at Dolorosa.

“You behave wonderfully, Princess. How can you be so mature?”

“I’m usually like this.”

Oh, my.

Rachel burst into laughter again at the cute and lovely response from the princess of extremely high status.

Dolorosa blushed as she stared at Rachel.

‘Lady Rachel’s embrace is so soft and gentle. She gets angry when you do something wrong, she smiles at you kindly, and she feels so different from my father.’

Her heart was pounding, she suddenly felt envious of Graham.

It wasn’t that there weren’t adult women around Dolorosa, but they all treated her with respect, like the ‘princess’ she was. It seemed like they tried to keep their distance.

The reason the nurses and maids kept their distance from Dolorosa was because of the child’s origins. She was brought in from somewhere by Cian, who wasn’t even married, and made a princess. It was true that they looked after her, but they looked down on her as well.

Not knowing the details, Dolorosa could only think, ‘Everyone other than Dad acts strange.’

Rachel was the first person who had ever hugged her, protected her, and she wanted to hug her again, even though Graham would hate it.

She was surprised at how easy it was for her to be held by someone other than her dad, and at how different it felt from her dad.

She wanted to get closer to Rachel and hated it when she distanced herself from her by calling her ‘Princess’ like everyone else. She wanted Rachel to call her by her nickname ‘Dolly’.

It was a name she’d only ever allowed her father to call her.

‘I hope one day Lady Rachel will call me Dolly too. That would make me so happy.’

Atreille cocked his head.

“Dooly? What are you thinking about? Dooly? Dooooollllyyyyy?”

“…”

Atreille changed her name at will, without her permission.

“It’s nothing. By the way, don’t call me Dooly.”

“Oh, why not? Is it because you don’t like people calling you by a nickname? Then you can shorten mine too! You can just call me ‘Ayu’!”

“Your Highness, is your nickname Ayu?”

Atreille shook his head in response to Dolorosa’s question.

“Nickname? I don’t have anything like that. Ayu is just for fun! When teachers see me, they always say, ‘Aww’. So, I thought it would be cool for you to call me ‘Ayu’.”

“…Okay. Ayu, Your Highness.”

“Oh, okay, okay. Lady Rachel, please call me Ayu too!”

Having no idea what to do, Rachel laughed awkwardly.

“His Royal Highness Crown Prince Ayu.”

“Hahaha! Isn’t it refreshing?”

Atreille chuckled.

Graham puffed out his cheeks.

“Mom, don’t just play with the Princess and His Highness the Crown Prince, please play with me too!”

“Oh. Are you upset that your mom only talked to the Princess and His Royal Highness the Crown Prince? Graham, you’re mom’s favorite person in the world, come here.”

“Yayy!”

Graham jumped up, into Rachel’s arms.

Dolorosa looked at Graham and Rachel with envy, while Atreille giggled and wiped under his nose with his finger, which was then pierced by a tree branch he was still holding, causing his nose to bleed.

 

After cleaning up Atreille’s bleeding nose, she sat down with the children in the parlor. A wound on His Highness the Crown Prince’s nose! For a moment, she thought her head was going to be cut off by the emperor.

” It’s okay, it happens often!”

Atreille chuckled as if it was no big deal and held up his leg. A bandage was tightly wrapped around his leg.

She recalled the time when Cian was applying medicine in the imperial palace drawing room. He said, ‘The crown prince gets injured often, so we keep medicine in every room.’ She thought he was just saying that, but it turns out it was true.

After taking a sip of the sweet drink, Dolorosa asked Atreille.

“Your Highness, how did you get all the way here with an injured leg?”

“The teacher carried me halfway, and then I crawled the rest!”

“…You’re amazing.”

” Of course I’m amazing. I’m fast and I’m good at hiding!”

It was a flimsy disguise, but one that would’ve gone unnoticed if it weren’t for his sneeze.

“This mansion has been empty for a while, but I heard Lady Rachel moved in! They said you were married to Theodore, the one who ruined my banquet? I couldn’t hold back my curiosity, wondering what kind of person you were.”

Atreille didn’t seem at all upset that his tenth birthday banquet had been ruined. He just looked at Rachel with genuine curiosity in his eyes.

“I just came here because I was curious, but Lady Rachel is a pretty and interesting person, so I’m very happy I came.”

“I’m glad you’re enjoying yourself.”

“But you can’t tell anyone that I’m here! If I get caught by my dad, I’ll get slapped.”

Get slapped?

Even if he is an emperor, would he really slap his own son?

Rachel was startled, but Atreille seemed unconcerned.

“They’re little kids so nobody’ll believe anything they say, but Lady Rachel is an adult. Dad might believe the words of another adults.”

She didn’t think there was any point in telling the emperor about her meeting with the Crown Prince, but nodded anyway.

“This is a request from His Highness the Crown Prince, so of course I must grant it.”

“Good, good.”

Then, Atreille searched his pocket and took out a neatly folded piece of paper.

“For keeping my secret, I’ll give you a gift. Here, a special gift I only give to those who do me a favor.”

It was a very luxurious piece of paper. It was thin, soft, smooth, and straight, and the imperial emblem was drawn in gold on the outside.

“Thank you, Your Highness the Crown Prince.”

“Yes, yes.”

What kind of gift was this?

She carefully unfolded the paper that was neatly folded in half. The following words were written in messy, crooked letters:

 

[Wish Coupon

Atreille will grant your wish]

 

“…”

Rachel was speechless and Atreille shrugged his shoulders proudly.

She didn’t know at the time and never would’ve thought that a note written in playful handwriting would be a crucial instrument in healing Atreille’s broken heart.