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

Chapter 2

Relatives of the family argued that Ruth shouldn’t be recognized as a successor.

—The family’s relatives insisted that Ruth couldn’t be recognized as the successor.

―You must quickly welcome the Duchess. An illegitimate child from a commoner as a Duke. It was nonsense.

―I understand that you care for the young master, but you will change your mind when you see your child with the duchess. How can you compare an illegitimate child to that child?

Ruth stood alone in the storm.

―I have already decided that Adelhard’s successor will be Lucius. If anyone dares to disagree with me, I will slit his throat.

Cassis pushed hard and the story about a successor ended but the child’s wounds didn’t disappear.

Even the elders of the family who pushed for marriage talks with Cassis, looked at Ruth like a bug.

―If I were to marry the Duke, I would send that child to the boarding academy right away. You can’t keep the illegitimate son in the mansion.

―Oh, it’s an academy. The young lady is also merciful. If it were me, I’d just send him to a monastery and tell him to live there for the rest of his life.

Even Cassis, who was able to protect the child, couldn’t warmly embrace Ruth.

―Do I look free enough to accept your foolishness?

—Not at all…

—I see.

It was impossible for a child to grow up bright and childlike in a world where there were only people who were hostile to him.

‘Too bad. It’s not Ruth’s fault…’

A child should be loved for who they are. Evelia could only feel sorry for Ruth, who was looking downcast.

‘I decided to break off the engagement with Cassis, but wouldn’t it be okay to greet Ruth?’

It seemed like it would be okay since it could be done by anyone.

So I smiled softly and said hello.

“Hello, young master Adelhard.”

Then Ruth opened his eyes wide and asked.

“Do you know me?”

“Sure. You look just like the Duke.”

A blush ran across Ruth’s chubby cheeks. Ruth admired Cassis, his father, and to say that he resembled his father was the highest compliment.

“Master, you should say hello.”

At the words of the nanny who stood behind him, Ruth stiffened and bowed. It was a clumsy but lovely gesture.

“Nice to meet you. My name is Lucius Adelhard.”

“As I’m sure you know, my name is Evelia Venion, young master.”

When I smiled, Ruth’s cheeks, which had been red, were now as red as tomatoes.

The child stared blankly into Evelia’s blue eyes, then lowered his head.

The little hand, not knowing what to do, wriggled and squeezed his pants.

“Then I’ll…”

Evelia was about to say goodbye, but Ruth suddenly closed his eyes and shouted,

“La-lady Evelia! Would you like to have teatime with me?”

Evelia didn’t answer right away. She wanted to say yes in her heart, but her reason stopped her.

‘I have to refuse.’

Greetings can be accepted. It was the least favor that could be shown when human to human face to face.

But the moment they share teatime, Ruth may have hopes for her. He hopes that she will be his stepmother.

I hated that. Evelia wished Ruth hadn’t felt the same loss she had suffered herself.

So this time I had to refuse. However, be careful not to hurt the child.

Evelia took a deep breath and smiled slightly.

“I’m sorry, young master. I don’t think I can be with young master because I have a prior promise.”

Ruth widened his eyes with a look of regret, then lowered his head.

“I’m sorry. Please excuse me.”

“No. I’m more sorry.”

Evelia tried to stroke the child’s sullen back of the head without realizing it, but withdrew her hand.

“Then I’ll be back.”

“Yes.”

Evelia walked down the hallway past the child, who still had his head down.

It seemed to me that I could hear the cry of a child behind me.

 

* * *

 

After Evelia left the mansion, Ruth, who was barely holding back his tears, eventually shed tears.

The child cried bitterly and was carried into the arms of the nanny.

“Nanny, I think I was wrong.”

The child belatedly recalled the etiquette he had learned from the tutor. He said that when inviting someone to tea time, they had to ask for permission by sending an invitation in advance.

According to the tutor, it was rude to make an invitation out of the blue.

But he forgot that and suddenly invited Evelia.

In a way, it was understandable that Evelia had refused and left, by saying she has a prior promise t as an excuse.

The child, who had been living in the mansion since he was a little boy, was quick to recognize people’s eyes.

He also quickly realized that Evelia’s statement, ‘There is a prior promise’, was a lie.

‘Maybe lady Evelia hates me.’

Being rejected by someone you wanted to look good in is hard, even for an adult.

What about Ruth, a seven-year-old kid? No wonder he cried because the child couldn’t control his emotions.

‘Lady Evelia was different from the other young ladies.’

Even before Evelia, many young ladies had come to the mansion. According to the nanny, they might become ‘stepmothers’.

Ruth, who had no mother since he was born, always wanted a stepmother.

On her last birthday, he prayed to the moon and said, ‘Please let me have a mother.’

However, the ladies who came to the mansion were mean to Ruth.

Their cold attitude made Ruth lose hope.

The mothers he saw in fairy tales were kind and loving people… I’d rather not have a mother than such people would become my stepmother.

—Young master, today the real stepmother will come.

So, when Nanny said that an hour ago, Ruth decided not to have any expectations.

Anyway, the person named Evelia Venion must be the same as the young ladies I’ve seen.

However, even though he thought so, there was a hope of ‘just in case’ on the other side of the child’s heart.

Lady Evelia Venion I met was as pretty as a fairy from the sky.

Her hair was pink, like the cotton candy he once ate, and her eyes were light blue, resembling the blue autumn sky.

But Ruth decided not to be fooled by that appearance. The young ladies he had seen so far had good faces like Evelia.

She will hate me again. When I gripped my pants tight with such an ominous feeling.

―Hello, young master Adelhard.

Evelia greeted me first. It was the first time.

Ruth looked up at Evelia with a startled, bewildered face. When his eyes met, Evelia grinned.

At that moment, the thought that it would be nice if someone like that could become his stepmother sprouted in Ruth’s mind.

So the child said loudly without even knowing it.

―La-lady Evelia! Would you like to have tea time with me?

But the answer that came back was disastrous. Ruth was so caught up in the thought that he had ruined everything and he couldn’t stop crying.

Long after Evelia had left.

 

* * *

 

Sweet cookies and white milk that melt in your mouth.

Ruth remained alone in the drawing room and bravely finished the dessert.

Eating something sweet seemed to make him feel a little better.

Ruth said to Margaret, patting his stomach, which was now a little fuller than before.

“Nanny, I will send an invitation to Lady Evelia!”

I didn’t know what to do before and invited her to tea time, but now it’s different. This time he thought of inviting her to tea time by sending out a formal invitation.

“Nanny, paper and pen!”

“Yes, It’s here.”

With the encouragement of his nanny, Ruth wrote down the invitation bit by bit.

I didn’t like the curly letters like earthworms, so I changed the stationery three times.

“I wrote everything!”

Ruth held up the letter, written in his inked hand, high into the sky. The nanny then sealed the letter with a wax seal on his behalf.

“I will send a letter to the Venion family.”

“No, I’ll do it.”

Ruth took the letter and gallantly left the room. His goal was to become the butler in charge of the mansion.

That was when he was walking down the hallway as if he were jumping. He could hear the maids whispering from the stairs.

“Did you hear? The lady of Venion asked for a breakup.”

“What? How do you know?”

“Anne must have heard it while passing by.”

‘Lady of Venion’ meant Lady Evelia. Ruth stumbled into the next room in a panic.

Two maids in dry clothes continued to talk as they passed the door.

“Then why does she want to break up? Wouldn’t it be nice to marry the Duke?”

“What do you think? It must be because of the young master.”

Glup. Ruth swallowed his saliva at those words that came out of nowhere.