~Chapter 3~
I could hardly breathe, and my heart pounded painfully.
The sorrow of not being able to give birth to Bliss myself overwhelmed me, and I felt unbearably lonely, as if I were shivering from the pain.
Then I remembered.
Calm down.
At this age, Bliss doesn’t know that his real mother gave birth to him and died. He doesn’t even know that I’m not his biological mother.
In truth, 8‑year‑old Bliss believed I was his real mother, while he actually followed his stepmother, Julia, much more closely.
My husband’s mistress, who had appeared three years ago.
Julia.
She introduced herself as a courtesan, but in truth, she was just a ten-year-old concubine.
She stole not just my husband but also my son’s heart.
Well, any man would fall for her.
Julia was beautiful, even in my eyes too.
In fact, the late Marquis Arista was crazy about her too.
What’s worse, she was kinder to Bliss than I ever was, even when Bliss grabbed an innocent maid by the hair.
She didn’t care what happened to Bliss because she wasn’t his mother.
Her goal was simply to stay with my husband until he lost interest, then leave the Arista family with a large sum of money.
As I thought about the hard years raising Bliss, I couldn’t stop my hands from trembling.
I wish I could just throw that boy out of here.
The truth is, Bliss wasn’t even my real son, and I didn’t marry my husband out of love.
To my husband, I was just a replacement for Bliss’s real mother, who had died.
At 20, I was kidnapped by my widowed husband because Bliss’s new stepmother had to be from a noble family.
Any noblewoman with a sane mind would never marry a man like him.
So, he kidnapped me instead.
Luckily, nothing serious happened, but the scandal never left me.
My parents forced me to marry him to quell the rumors.
It was all part of my husband’s plan.
But didn’t I struggle to escape this miserable fate?
I even ran away before our wedding, but I couldn’t get the image of little Bliss out of my mind and ended up going back home.
I comforted myself with words from a fortune teller I met on the street.
“Once you marry, everything you desire will come easily.”
Yeah, easy…
What I wanted wasn’t some easy life.
I just wanted a family I could trust and rely on.
That’s why I loved Bliss so much.
But in the end, all my devotion and love led to death.
Death at the hands of my son.
I struggled to steady my trembling voice and said,
“Bliss, why do you call me a fake mother? I suffered so much raising you!”
“You are a fake! You didn’t even get my real mother’s room; you’re just a replacement!”
My pride was hurt, and I felt like crying.
But, truth be told, Bliss and I had barely seen each other in the past three years.
I had only been able to raise him for five years before Julia took him away when he was five.
My eyes welled up, but I knew a better way than to cry.
Crying wouldn’t change anything.
Besides, if I cried now, what would Bliss think of me?
Even though I was once afraid of beating him, I’d rather face a few slaps than be treated like an insect as before.
I started to see that Bliss was starting to notice that I wasn’t going to sit idly by and take the insults like I used to.
This is something that never happened before the regression.
It was complicated.
‘I didn’t hit him because I liked it.’
Every time I saw Bliss’s young face, it hurt terribly.
I wondered if I should have disciplined him from the start.
All the tears and effort I spent raising him couldn’t compare to a single lash of the whip.
I swallowed the rising tears again.
“You know what, Bliss? I never wanted you to grow up feeling like you had to earn every bruise. My precious child, I never wanted you to live in fear. You… we are human beings, not animals.”
“Stop talking weird and get out of my room!”
If voices could have shapes, Bliss’s would be full of sharp thorns.
I bit my trembling lip hard and forced my voice out.
“Bliss. There’s only one way for you to get me out of your room.”
“…”
“Don’t disgrace me, and just attend the funeral. Then I’ll leave.”
Seeing me standing there like a nail stuck in place, Bliss stomped his feet in irritation.
“You’ll get hit by my real mother!”
“I’m not scared! You think I’ll still care about Julia at this age?”
“You didn’t say a word when my real mother slapped you!”
For a moment, my spine frozen.
It was something I’d never gotten used to.
To think that a child I raised could hate me so much…
Bliss thought I was speechless because I was scared of Julia, and he grinned cruelly.
“It’s too late for regrets. Just wait and see! I’ll ask my real mother to hit you again!”
I frowned and twisted my lips.
“No, Julia can’t hit me anymore. Your father, who allowed her to do whatever she wanted, isn’t around anymore.”
“Damn!”
“Same goes for you, Bliss. From now on, there’s nothing left for you.”
I chuckled as I grabbed the clothes off the shelf and started removing Bliss’s clothes.
Bliss struggled, trying to escape my grip, but it was all in vain.
I handed him the mourning clothes I’d gotten from the wardrobe.
“Put this on. Every moment and place has its appropriate attire.”
“No!”
Bliss scowled, showing resistance.
His face was full of defiance, and my heart ached.
But I couldn’t waste any more time fighting with him.
I forced the mourning shirt onto his arms.
I had promised myself not to raise a hand against him again.
Finally, after putting the clothes on him, I took his hand.
I was going to drag him to the funeral, no matter what.
But then… SLAP!
Bliss harshly slapped my hand when I tried to hold it.
“Aren’t you embarrassed?”
I was about to respond, but I stopped when I saw the expression on Bliss’s face—it was unfamiliar. His eyes were fierce, his nostrils flaring, and his twisted lips looked like they were about to burst into tears.
Bliss shouted.
“Why should I attend the funeral of someone who drunkenly got kicked by a horse and died? That’s not my dad!”
It felt like someone had hit me with a hammer on the back of my head.
‘Bliss knew how her father died!’
And…
‘Oh my God. For an 8-year-old to know such a cruel truth!’
I wanted to grab the dead Marquis Arista by the collar and shake him with all my might.
‘Crazy bastard! If you’re going to die, die properly! Why did you have to die like that and make the family so embarrassed?’
He had always lived a life being scorned by the people in the territory, and now he couldn’t even die gracefully.
That was my husband and Bliss’s biological father.
But what could I do? The situation was already beyond my control.
A tense silence filled the air, so quiet that I could almost hear a pin drop.
I remembered that little Bliss had always been stubborn and proud, even from a young age.
My throat tightened.
Even though I couldn’t fully understand it, I felt pity for him.
He was still my child, and I couldn’t help but love him despite everything.
Yes, I hated Bliss at times, but I also loved him.
I wondered if this child might have had a better life if he hadn’t been raised by me and the Marquis—though I knew that was a foolish thought.
It couldn’t be helped.
From the moment I met the one-year-old Bliss, after being kidnapped by the Marquis, I had fallen in love with him.
I could still clearly remember that day as if it had been yesterday.
That was the day when the child, who had been crying loudly, stopped crying and smiled when he was in my arms.
Bliss smelled like milk and sunshine, just like a baby, and he was warm to the touch.
I had forgotten how scared I was when I was suddenly dragged away.
Until I got back home, Bliss wouldn’t eat or sleep unless he was in my arms.
Bliss needed me, his mother, back then, and even now.
That’s probably why.
I had no intention of sacrificing for Bliss, but I couldn’t let him grow up as a reckless troublemaker like in his past life.
I took a deep breath and steel myself.
“Bliss, listen. I don’t know where you heard that, but your father died of a heart attack. The fall happened after he passed.”
“Don’t lie!”
“It’s not a lie.”
“…Really?”
No, it was a lie.
“I’m sorry, Bliss. Actually, your father was drunk even before he got on the horse, and he drank more while riding. He blamed the horse for his fall, and the horse kicked him in anger.”
The worst part was that people had seen the whole thing.
‘Given the rumors, it’s not surprising that Bliss knows about it.’
But as his mother, I had to try to spin the story in a way that wouldn’t damage his self-esteem. I had to protect his future, especially since he still had a long life ahead of him.
After all, nothing hurts a child more than hearing their parents talk badly about each other.
In the end, my persistent persuasion seemed to have softened Bliss’s mood.
He pouted and muttered.
“But everyone thinks Dad died like an idiot.”
“That’s why you should be proud. We did nothing wrong.”
“…”
“Let’s go. Let’s see Dad off.”
Bliss rolled his blue eyes to the side.
Finally, my child pouted even more.
“Move aside. I’ll go on my own!”
With a shove, Bliss pushed me with his shoulder and stormed out of the room.
I rubbed my sore side, where he hit me.
I forced a smile, though my lips were trembling.
“My side hurts a bit, but at least I persuaded Bliss. Ha… ha… Do you think that’ll work?”
That kid—always so violent!
“Look at his temper, he’s just like his dad!”
I resisted the urge to grab him and smack him on the back of the head.
My fist clenched.
***
To cut to the chase, I did attend the funeral service with Bliss.
And surprisingly, Bliss—looking more mature than usual—helped me greet the guests at the funeral.
It was a surprising change.
But that wasn’t the only shocking thing.
In the banquet hall set up as the chapel for the Arista family funeral, Bliss, sitting in the very front next to the priest, suddenly began sniffing and crying.
While I quietly dabbed at my own dry eyes with a handkerchief, Bliss was truly crying.
‘He refused to attend the funeral earlier, but now he’s behaving so calmly.’
My heart was bitter.
‘Bliss, in 45 years, will you cry at my funeral? Will you regret poisoning me, even just a little?’
I felt dizzy at the thought of that question, one I would never have an answer to.
But I had to brace myself.
I didn’t know what awaited me after all my sacrifices for my son, but I couldn’t let that make me falter now.
‘So no more feeling sorry for myself; focus on the funeral.’
More than anything, this was the perfect chance to pay one final respectful farewell to the late Marquis Arista.
I let out in my heart everything I had suppressed for decades.
“Hey, you disgraceful bastard! I should have behaved better instead of living so disgracefully that I deserve such a shameful entrance at the temple!”
The funeral service for nobles is held at the temple of the family’s religion.
But the Marquis of Arista’s funeral wasn’t held there.
The temple refused the service due to his reputation and the manner of his death.
So I ended up stealing three golden candlesticks from his room.
The golden candlesticks went straight into the priest’s pocket.
‘We couldn’t have a funeral without a priest. Honestly, stealing the candlesticks was the only choice I had. I don’t have the key to a treasure chest.’
Anyway, buying the priest for the service was something I would have been mocked for if Bliss and I were ever cast out of the family.
‘But that won’t happen this time.’
It’s not that I’m no longer ashamed of buying the priest.
‘This time, I won’t get kicked out of the Arista family!’
Just wait.
No one will mock Bliss and me anymore.
A newfound confidence surged within me.
Of course, things hadn’t been easy, but as a mother with a child to protect, I could do anything.
Now, it was time to inherit the Marquis of Arista’s legacy.
