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

Chapter 87

 

“Mom, Mom!”

Ruth was very excited. He seemed intent on showing Evelia, who was visiting the Duchy of Adelhard for the first time, a tour around the place.

Evelia headed to the greenhouse in the garden with Ruth.

“There are a lot of flowers here!”

As Ruth said, unlike the cold outside, flowers were still blooming in the warm greenhouse.

Ruth rushed over and picked a flower. It was a pink flower that resembled the color of Evelia’s hair.

“Mom, this!”

“Are you giving it to mom?”

“Yes! Haha.”

Ruth stretched his hands up to the sky. Evelia realized the child’s purpose and bowed.

When their eyes were at similar level, Ruth placed a flower in her ear.

“You are pretty!”

“Thank you.”

Evelia suddenly remembered something and whispered it in Ruth’s ear.

“Give them to your dad, too.”

Ruth was puzzled.

“Oh, for Daddy too?”

Evelia smiled somewhat mischievously.

“Yes. Put it in Dad’s ears too.”

“Yes….”

Ruth hesitated and wiggled his fingers. Then he nodded his head with a stern face and ran away.

This time Ruth picked a white flower and hesitantly approached Cassis.

“……?”

“Uh, father.”

“What’s going on?”

Evelia looked at him and strengthened her eyes.

‘Try speaking a little more kindly.’

As she mumbled, Cassis cleared his throat.

“What… happen?”

It was a similar yet slightly different voice from before. Evelia wanted to praise his efforts.

“I want to give this to father.”

Cassis stretched out his hand. Ruth whined.

Evelia, who saw that, added a word.

“Bend down a little.”

“Like this… You mean?”

Cassis bowed.

“Yes. Like that. Come on, Ruth.”

Ruth, receiving Evelia’s signal, placed a flower in Cassis’ ear. The black hair contrasted with the white flowers.

Cassis leaned back in embarrassment. Ruth fidgeted with his hands, not knowing what to do.

Evelia, looking at the two, burst out laughing. Her sonorous laughter echoed throughout the greenhouse.

“Wife.”

“Mom!”

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry. I just thought it looked nice.”

Evelia muttered, wiping away the tears from the corners of her eyes.

“It’s really nice to see.”

She approached the two and stretched out her arms. Ruth stepped into her arms, Cassis hugged them both.

The scenery was warmer than a warm greenhouse.

 

*****

 

“Mom Mom! Can I invite Aria?”

Ruth, who had eaten dinner, asked cautiously.

“Aria?”

“Yes!”

Evelia narrowed her eyes with a face full of mischief.

“Do you miss her already? You just saw her a while ago.”

“Oh, that’s not it…”

Ruth hesitated.

“Aria said she wanted to travel.”

“I see.”

“Can I invite her?”

“Of course.”

“Yeay.”

“Then shall we send a letter?”

“Yes!”

Ruth quickly brought stationery and writing materials from the room. The child plunged the quill into the inkwell and began to write a letter.

“To Aria…”

Evelia rested her chin on one side and quietly watched the child write the letter.

“Hi, I’m Ruth. I am at our territory now.”

The child actually wrote, ‘To our territory’.

As Evelia laughed breathlessly, the child became upset.

“Isn’t it right?”

“It’s okay.”

“Ugh, I don’t like it.”

“Then shall we try writing it again? Let’s practice with mom. You can use this stationery for practice.”

“Yes.”

Ruth started writing letters again. Evelia corrected him every time he made a mistake.

The child rewrote the completed letter on clean new stationery.

 

[To Aria.

Hi, I’m Ruth. I am now in our Adelhard territory.

It’s very cold here. It’s going to snow soon.

So, why don’t you come and have fun too? There is also a snow festival here in winter. Let’s go see it together.

Got it? You must come.

Ruth.]

 

Evelia sealed the letter with the seal of the Adelhard family on behalf of the child.

“Now, Mom will send this for you, so shall we go to sleep now?”

“Yes!”

After putting Ruth to sleep, Evelia headed to the Duchess’ room. Unlike the rooms in the capital, the rooms in the estate had a more stately and old-fashioned style. The overall color of the room was a bit dark.

‘I don’t really like the dark, but this is okay in its own way.’

It was when Evelia was looking around the room where she would be staying for the next three months. The door opened and Cassis came in.

“Do you like it?”

“Ah, Cassis.”

Evelia smiled and took his hand.

“Yes, I like it.”

“We have continued to maintain it, but since it has been empty for a long time, there are many things that are out of fashion. If necessary, you can change it to suit your taste at any time.”

The words were uncharacteristically long. To anyone watching, it looked as if Evelia was planning to run away because she didn’t like the room.

Evelia waved the hand she was holding.

“This is okay too. Oh, but I wish you would change the curtains to a lighter color. The days are short, even in winter, and the darkness of the curtains makes me feel depressed.”

“I will do that.”

“But what’s going on?”

Evelia asked, looking into Cassis’ face. He was no different from usual, but Evelia was now able to read his facial expressions closely.

He was currently worried about something.

Cassis seemed a little surprised.

“Did you notice it?”

“Yes.”

He tried to control his expression at her words. Evelia shook her head.

“There is no need for that. I said it. Don’t try to hide your feelings.”

She sat on the bed, holding Cassis’ hand.

“But what happened?”

“They say Great Aunt Alexandra will be coming in a few days.”

“Great aunt… Are you saying great aunt?”

“Yes, it is.”

Evelia also became more serious.

‘She’s the adult of the family…’

Evelia had never met Adelhard’s elders until now. Cassis’s parents and grandparents were dead, and the collateral did not care about the family’s affairs.

To be precise, Cassis completely excluded those who did not like Ruth from the family’s affairs.

But his great-aunt.

‘But you don’t think you’re nervous simply because someone difficult is here, do you?’

Evelia seemed to have a general idea of why he was worried.

“Are you worried about Ruth?”

“… Yes.”

Cassis explained, holding Evelia’s hand tightly.

“The great-aunt doesn’t like Ruth.”

“Ah…”

“To be exact, she doesn’t like Ruth, who is my illegitimate son, as successor.”

“But why….”

I couldn’t bring myself to ask if they still interacted. Somehow it sounded like I was disrespecting her.

However, Cassis frowned slightly as if he fully understood what she meant.

“My great-aunt cared for me and Julia very much.”

Evelia looked at Cassis in surprise. It was the first time the name ‘Julia’ came out of his mouth since the portrait incident.

Even though their relationship was much better than before, that name was still a taboo word.

However, Cassis was the first to break that taboo.

“She was very sad when Julia passed away. Maybe Ruth….”

Evelia rephrased what he had failed to say.

“If she knew about Ruth’s birth, it means she would have cared a lot about Ruth, right?”

“Yes…”

Evelia felt strange.

“Then shouldn’t you also protect your child, Ruth?”

“My great-aunt has a strong lineage mentality.”

“Ah…”

Julia’s lover was a prince of the Kingdom of Cesia, a nobler person than anyone else. Although he was an illegitimate child, his status as a royal was originally higher than that of an illegitimate child.

If Great Aunt Alexandra found out that the child born between those two was Ruth, she would not ignore Ruth.

But Ruth, now known as Cassis’s illegitimate child, had a commoner mother. Cassis has never said so, but everyone believes it.

So that explains Great Aunt Alexandra’s attitude.

If Great Aunt Alexandra still cared for Ruth, we might have tried to tell the truth.

“Then what should we do? We can’t tell her not to come…”

“Are you okay?”

“Yes? Ah…”

Only after hearing Cassis’ question did Evelia realize what he was really worried about.

“You’re worried that Great-aunt Alexandra will ignore me.”

The daughter of a Count who does not fit into a Duke’s family, a Count that is now extinct. Moreover, she is an illegitimate child from a commoner.

In the eyes of Great Aunt Alexandra, it was naturally displeasing for Evelia to sit in the position of Duchess.