Chapter 67
Raylenne immediately went to see the Marchioness and told her that they would need to postpone dinner.
The Marchioness was visibly disappointed but didn’t say anything more, noticing Raylenne’s urgent expression.
As Raylenne was about to leave, the Marchioness asked, “Shall I prepare a carriage for you?”
“No, that’s alright. My brother has already sent one.”
At that moment, Lavita interjected, “Mother… I’ll see Lady Raylenne off and return. On the way back, I’ll stop by the dressmaker’s to try on the dress I ordered.”
Lavita’s eyes were slightly red, but the Marchioness didn’t seem to notice.
“Alright, do that.”
“Don’t wait for me to eat. The dressmaker’s has been busy lately, so I might have to wait a while.”
“I understand. Just be careful not to return too late. People might gossip if a noble young lady is out late at night.”
“Yes…”
With that conversation concluded, Raylenne called for Janie and told her to return to the Duke’s mansion first. She made up an excuse about touring the city’s dressmakers with Lavita.
After leaving the mansion with Lavita, Raylenne hailed a public carriage on the street.
“Where to?” the driver asked.
Lavita replied in a small voice, “The Catbas Monastery on the outskirts of the capital.”
The driver seemed surprised. “That far?”
“Yes… Please go as fast as you can.”
As the carriage set off, Lavita’s anxious demeanor subsided somewhat.
“Are you feeling a bit better, Lavita?”
“I think I’m a bit better now… Earlier, my mind went completely blank…”
Lavita swallowed once before speaking again.
“Lady Raylenne, thank you for helping me… If I had been alone earlier, I wouldn’t have been able to avoid my mother’s questions.”
“I’m glad I was there with you.”
Raylenne gave her a gentle smile.
While outwardly comforting Lavita calmly, inwardly Raylenne was quite curious. Who was that middle-aged woman from earlier? Why was Lavita rushing to a monastery on the outskirts? What news had shocked her so much?
However, believing that Lavita would speak when ready, she didn’t ask.
Lavita finally opened up when the world outside the window had turned completely dark.
“…The person who came looking for me at the mansion was my nanny.”
Raylenne’s mouth fell open. That middle-aged woman was a nanny…
‘Then…!’
“The nanny is taking care of the child I left at the monastery.”
Lavita raised her eyes to look at Raylenne.
“The child at the monastery is mine… A child I gave birth to.”
Raylenne was shocked by this sudden revelation. She hadn’t expected to hear about Lavita’s child in this way.
Lavita continued, surprisingly composed.
“It’s a child born from a single night with His Highness Harbian.”
Raylenne’s lips parted slightly.
Even though she knew the story, hearing it directly had a different impact.
“The nanny came to the house urgently because there’s a problem with the child.”
“What kind of problem…?”
“The child has had a fever for a few days, but today it became severe enough that the child lost consciousness. The nanny said the child hasn’t stopped crying for hours.”
That explained why Lavita had looked like she might collapse after talking with the nanny.
“I feel so sorry for my child… To have such an unfortunate mother, who can’t even be by their side when they’re sick…”
The tip of Lavita’s nose turned red. Soon, tears welled up in her eyes. Her attempt at composure crumbled quickly.
Raylenne gently rubbed Lavita’s back.
“From what I saw, the Marchioness seemed completely unaware of the child… Do your parents not know about this?”
“No… I gave birth to the child without anyone knowing. I met a kind person who helped me leave home when my belly started to show. I gave birth elsewhere too.”
The kind person Lavita mentioned was Merian, Aiden’s birth mother.
“Do you have any plans to reveal the child’s existence to your family in the future?”
Raylenne asked what she had been curious about. Lavita barely managed to nod.
“My parents must never know that I had a child. They would cast me out as a disgrace to the family… Of course, I don’t care what happens to me, but… If I’m cast out, I won’t have any means to raise the child… I absolutely can’t reveal it.”
Lavita wiped away her unceasing tears.
“The same goes for His Highness Harbian. I don’t know how he would react if he found out I secretly gave birth to a child…”
As Lavita finished speaking, the carriage came to a stop. It seemed they had arrived at the monastery Lavita mentioned.
Realizing they had arrived, Lavita hurriedly wiped away her tears.
“I’ll go ahead. Please take your time, Lady Raylenne.”
Anxious, Lavita ran off as soon as the carriage door opened.
It was hard to believe this was the same person who had been weeping moments ago.
Raylenne quickened her pace to follow Lavita. There was a small building next to the monastery, from which a child’s cry could be heard.
“Waaah!”
Entering the building, they found Lavita already there, holding the child.
“It’s okay, David. Mommy’s here.”
Raylenne approached and asked, “Lavita, is the child alright?”
“He doesn’t seem to have a high fever now… but I’m not sure.”
Though the child’s fever had subsided, Lavita still seemed worried. A shadow spread across her face.
Just then, the nanny they had seen earlier in front of Lavita’s house walked in. She must have arrived earlier in another carriage.
“Lady Lavita, I asked the priest who looked after David while I was away. He said they called for a doctor who examined him and gave him new medicine, which has significantly reduced the fever.”
“So is he alright now…?”
“Yes, the crisis has passed.”
Lavita exhaled deeply while holding the child.
“Thank goodness…”
The nanny sat down next to Lavita with a warm smile.
“You must have had a hard time coming all the way here. I thought you should know about this, so I went to your home unannounced. I was worried I might have put you in an awkward situation.”
“You did the right thing. Of course I should know about anything concerning David.”
Lavita gazed down at David, stroking him for a while.
Her eyes were so warm that even from the side, one could feel the love, but at the same time, there was a hint of sorrow.
The child had fallen asleep, his crying ceased, replaced by soft, peaceful breaths.
Lavita carefully laid the child on the bed and quietly slipped out with the nanny.
“Lady Lavita… We managed to get through this incident, but I’m worried about how to handle such situations in the future.”
Lavita couldn’t answer the nanny’s concern easily. Biting her lip, she looked deeply troubled.
“I’ll… think about it. For now, since I’ve seen that David is okay, I should return home.”
“What? Already?”
The nanny’s eyes widened in surprise.
“Yes… I told my mother I was just going to the dressmaker’s. Please take good care of David.”
“Oh my… Alright. Please hurry back then.”
The nanny’s expression was full of sympathy.
She seemed to feel sorry for Lavita’s situation, having to leave after only seeing her child briefly.
Raylenne felt the same way.
Concerned, she asked Lavita again, “Are you sure it’s okay to leave right away, Lavita…?”
“I’ve seen that David is safe, so it’s fine now.”
“But still…”
“There’s no other way… As I said, if I’m late, my mother might become suspicious.”
At Lavita’s urging, Raylenne reluctantly boarded the carriage again.
Lavita, perhaps having exhausted her tears, was no longer crying.
“Is the child’s name David?”
“Yes… David. Since I can’t give him a family name, I at least put thought into his given name.”
Lavita seemed to feel guilty whenever David was mentioned.
It was truly ironic. While Crown Prince Harbian, who was equally responsible for this situation, continued to live well as before, only Lavita was suffering.
“What are your plans for the future, Lavita?”
“What do you mean…?”
“I mean about David. Will you continue to raise him like this?”
“For now, there’s no other way… As you probably noticed from David’s hair color earlier, David has inherited the royal bloodline.”
Raylenne remembered David’s appearance, though she had only seen him briefly.
Not only the golden hair, but also the peculiar golden eyes with a reddish tint, just as Aiden had described, resembling Harbian.
Lavita’s eyelashes trembled slightly.
“At least by raising him in this remote monastery, no one notices that David has inherited royal blood.”
“What about when David grows up…?”
“I’m saving money. With this money… I should be able to send David to a foreign country.”
In the end, as time passes, the only option left would be separation.
Seeing David in person made Raylenne think deeply.
Originally, her plan was simply to use Lavita’s child as leverage against Harbian.
However, as she grew closer to Lavita, she felt that Lavita should also gain something from this process.
After all, it was Lavita who was taking the risk.
What might she need… Revenge against Harbian?
No, something more practical was necessary.
‘For example…’
Raylenne’s head snapped up. She realized what Lavita needed and would find most appealing.
Something very basic, but the more the better.
Good, let’s go with that.
Raylenne firmly decided on a compensation that could sway Lavita’s heart.
* * *
After dropping Lavita off at her home, Raylenne hurried back to the Duke’s mansion.
She met Caverion at the main gate.
“Raylenne. Where have you been?”
“I visited Lady Lavita’s mansion.”
Caverion nodded as if he understood.
“Has there been any progress in persuading Lavita?”
“Actually, I wanted to talk about that… Could we take a walk near the mansion and discuss it?”
“Certainly.”
Caverion nodded without hesitation.
Raylenne and Caverion slowly walked along the path in the Duke’s mansion grounds. Though it was night and a bit chilly, it wasn’t unbearable.
“Today, I learned that Lavita has a child.”
“Is that so? It seems you’ve managed to gain Lavita’s trust well.”
“As I approached her sincerely, Lavita opened up to me.”
But the problem started here.
“Brother, I’ve been thinking deeply… Revealing the child to Harbian might be too dangerous for Lavita. Harbian might retaliate against her.”
“With Crown Prince Harbian, that’s certainly a possibility.”
Caverion readily agreed with Raylenne’s concerns.
“So, I was thinking… It might be better to show only the child to Crown Prince Harbian without revealing Lavita. If he’s led a promiscuous life, he might not be able to guess who the mother is even if we show him the child.”
Caverion seemed to be considering it.
“That would certainly be better for Lady Lavita. But showing only the child to Harbian might be less convincing.”
This was a point that Raylenne had worried about as well.
The impact would be different if the birth mother appeared with the child versus just the child appearing alone.
Having the birth mother appear together would put much more pressure on Harbian.
“I can persuade him well with just Lavita’s child, Brother.”
Caverion stared at Raylenne’s determined eyes for a while, then finally replied as if giving in.
“…Alright. If you say so.”
Good. But there was one more important point left.
“And Brother, the most important thing is persuading Lavita. Even if we only show the child to Harbian, Lavita will still be afraid.”
“Do you have a good method?”
“Yes.”
Raylenne nodded.
“I plan to persuade Lavita with money.”
