The Male Lead’s Father Refuses to Break Off Our Engagement

Chapter 65

 

8. The name ‘mother’ and the word ‘family’

News of Evelia and Cassis’ marriage quickly spread throughout the capital’s social circles. Thanks to this, Evelia, who had not yet officially debuted in the social world, suddenly became a star.

Naturally, the number of people looking for her increased.

“Miss, no, ma’am. I brought you a letter.”

Annie put down a bunch of letters on the table, saying a title that was still awkward.

Evelia was left speechless at the enormous amount, but she checked each and every letter without missing a single one.

Most of them were invitations to tea.

She had politely declined all of them, but now that she became Duchess of Adelhard, there was a need to engage in external activities.

‘Where should we go?’

She chose carefully.

‘If possible, to a place where I can take Ruth.’

As I was picking and choosing, there was one place that caught my eye. It was from the Marchioness Evans.

‘It says to bring Ruth.’

The letter said that they regularly have tea time with their children, and that they would like to invite Evelia and Ruth this time.

‘Now that I think about it, I heard that Marchioness Evans is influential in social circles.’

It seemed like there was no harm in becoming friends with her as long as she was friendly.

But before I could write a reply, there was something I had to do. Evelia went to see Cassis and Ruth, who were currently taking a swordsmanship class.

Of course, she also brought drinks for the two of them who must have been tired from the heat.

“Eve!”

As if class had just ended, Ruth, who was organizing his wooden sword, came rushing over. While Evelia was handing the drink to Ruth, Cassis also approached.

Evelia asked, handing the drink to Cassis as well.

“Oh, by the way, Cas..is.”

When Evelia called her name awkwardly, Ruth, who was gulping down his drink, made a wow sound.

On the other hand, the person involved, Cassis, froze while trying to drink his drink.

Evelia hurriedly asked in embarrassment.

“Marchioness Evans has invited me to tea, and I was wondering if I could come?”

“You don’t have to ask me about that, it’s your decision, wife.”

This time, Evelia, who had been smiling brightly, stiffened.

‘Wife… What do you mean?’

It was a correct title, but it was very awkward. Evelia bit her lip for no reason before opening her mouth.

“But I was wondering if she was on bad terms with the Adelhard family. If possible, I want to first build a relationship with a family that is friendly to Adelhard.”

“As for the Evans family, we manage to maintain a close relationship with them. To Logan later…”

He hesitated for a moment and then corrected himself.

“No. I will help you with that later.”

“No. Sir Logan can do it…

Evelia quickly changed her words when she saw the slight disappointment on Cassis’ face.

“No, I like it when the Duke does it.”

“All right.”

She squatted down this time and asked Ruth.

“How are you, young master?”

“Me?”

“Would you like to go to tea time with me? If you go, there will be a lot of friends around your age.”

“Friend….”

Ruth blushed slightly.

“I just need Aria as a friend.”

“Oh my goodness.”

Evelia smiled brightly.

‘It looks like they have become closer than I thought.’

But he can’t just stay with Aria. Evelia calmly persuaded.

“If you don’t want to go, you don’t have to go. But the more friends you have, the better. Don’t you like it?”

Ruth shook his head.

“It’s not that I don’t like it. No, I’d like to go with Eve!”

“Okay.”

Evelia and Ruth smiled at the same time.

 

1. *****

 

It was Evelia’s first external activity as ‘Evelia Adelhard’. Besides, Ruth was also there.

Evelia tried to prepare more perfectly than ever.

What she put special effort into was her clothes. I made a special request to Madame Olette and created a couple look with Ruth.

Madame Olette, who received the request, said, ‘Oh my god, this looks so cute! She shouted ‘Bravo!’ and worked as hard on designing the wedding dress.

In this way, Ruth and Evelia’s clothes were completed. It was a white fabric with accents of blue fabric like the autumn sky.

“Wow, it’s pretty!”

Annie and Laura also made a fuss. Evelia felt embarrassed for some reason and quickly went to Ruth.

Ruth, who, like her, was wearing a white outfit accented with blue fabric, was as cute as an angel.

Evelia hugged Ruth without realizing it.

“Young master, you look so cute today.”

Ruth blinked in her arms.

“Really?”

“Yes. I think you will be popular today.”

“Eve, you’re really pretty too! You will be the prettiest today.”

“Oh my, really?”

“Yes, hehe.”

The two complimented each other and headed to the Marquis Evans residence.

Tea time was held outdoors. Quite a few people had already gathered in the Marquis’s garden.

Among them, Evelia could easily recognize the Marchioness Evans.

This is because, as expected of a person who sets trends in the social world, she stood out.

Blonde hair that shines brilliantly under the sunlight, a beautiful appearance, and a natural dress that looks as if it is not made up or put on.

Evelia held Ruth’s hand and approached her.

Marchioness Evans also recognized Evelia immediately.

“Duchess Adelhard.”

It was still an unfamiliar name. Evelia smiled awkwardly and greeted.

“Thank you for the invitation.”

Ruth followed suit and said hello.

“Thank you.”

“No. Rather, I am honored that you came. Come over here. I prepared a place for madam. Young master, would you like to play with the children over there? My son, Anthony, was really waiting for the young master.”

“Yes.”

Ruth waved hello to Evelia and then walked proudly to where the children were.

‘Ruth will have to play well.’

Evelia looked at the child with concern and then sat down in the seat that the Marchioness Evans had shown her.

 

*****

 

Ruth stood ambiguously among the children, unable to do one thing or another.

The children who attended today’s tea time already knew each other, except for Ruth.

Ruth, who was timid, could not properly join in with the children talking among themselves.

Originally, Ruth, Adelhard’s successor, should have received the children’s attention. But the children subtly avoided him.

‘Is it because I’m an illegitimate child?’

Ruth became even more depressed.

Still, there were children who said hello.

“Hi? What is your name? My name is Anthony Evans.”

“Uh, hello. My name is Lucius Adelhard.”

“Ah, you are Lucius! I heard the story from my mother. Nice to meet you.”

But the conversation didn’t last long. A group of children gathered together called out to Anthony.

“Anthony, what are you doing! Let’s play hide and seek!”

“Huh? Yes. Ruth, can I call you Ruth?”

“Huh.”

“Ruth, do you want to go too?”

Ruth looked at the children beckoning to Anthony. The child intuitively sensed it. They don’t want him to come.

After thinking about it, Ruth shook his head.

“No. I’m okay.”

“Why? Let’s go together. It will be fun.”

“But….”

“It’s okay, it’s okay.”

Anthony carefully took Ruth’s hand. Ruth said, “Huh, huh?” In the meantime, he was led by Anthony and approached the children.

Some children welcomed Ruth, but others did not.

“Ah, why is he…”

A boy named Thomas openly showed his displeasure. Anthony scolded the child.

“You can’t do that, Thomas. We are all friends.”

“I don’t plan on being friends with him.”

Anthony caught Ruth’s eye and smiled.

“Don’t do that. Let’s all play hide and seek together. I’ll play tag. Everyone hides!”

Anthony leaned against a tree and started counting. The children were screaming, “Waaaaa,” and everyone was looking for a place to hide.

Ruth didn’t know what to do, so he circled around Anthony and barely found a place to hide.

But there was already a passenger behind the grass that Ruth found. It was Thomas, who had openly ignored him earlier.

Thomas opened his eyes.

“What?”

“Oh sorry. I didn’t realize you were there.”

“Go away.”

“Ah.”

Ruth obediently tried to go somewhere else. But that was then.

“An illegitimate bastard that doesn’t even know about his own mother.”

Those words became a dagger and pierced Ruth’s heart. Ruth thought he had heard wrong and looked at Thomas and asked.

“What did you say just now?”

“I said you’re a bastard, and that if Duchess Adelhard has a son, you’re no longer an heir.”

“You….”

“Oh, by the way, Duchess Adelhard was also an illegitimate child, right?”

Thomas smirked. He didn’t mind being teased, but he couldn’t stand Evelia being teased.

Ruth was clenching his fists, but Thomas, oblivious, kept making fun of him.

“You and the Duchess are a good match.”

“Have you said everything now?”

“No, there’s more to say…”

“Stop it!”

Ruth rushed at Thomas first. Thomas said “Huh?” While he was falling, Ruth climbed on top of him and started hitting him in the face.

The children came running to the sudden commotion and started whispering, but no one stopped them.

“Ugh!”

In the end, it was only after Thomas started crying that the adults started running.