Chapter 3

Tears streamed down Lucian's face as he screamed at the top of his lungs.

He looked as though he truly hated me for scolding him after telling him I loved him.

"Hating me is one thing, but what you did was still wrong."

His shrill cries pounded against my temples.

"When you've finished crying, call for me. We're going to apologize to Baron Chernin together."

Pressing a hand against my throbbing temple, I rose from my seat.

"Waaah! Auntie's stupid! Fatty! Poophead!"

Even after I shut the door behind me, Lucian's voice echoed loudly through the hallway. Before returning to my room, I warned every servant not to indulge him or take his side.

"Ha..."

The moment I stepped inside, my legs gave out and I collapsed into the nearest chair. Had there not been one beside me, I would have landed flat on the floor.

"What am I supposed to do with that little troublemaker?"

If I didn't know the future awaiting Lucian, perhaps I would have simply left him alone, telling myself that he was still young and would mature with age.

But he wouldn't.

He never changed.

If anything, he only became crueler.

"How did things end up like this?"

From Bastard to Family Head wasn't the kind of novel that carefully explored its villains' backstories. The Lucian described in its pages was simply a naturally aggressive, greedy child.

Before transmigrating into this world, I'd casually assumed the author had just wanted a villain.

But after witnessing every moment of the boy's life from birth until now, I realized I'd been wrong.

Lucian had lost his mother when he was only two years old.

His father, who should have filled that void, was consumed by work and rarely stayed by his side. As a result, Lucian grew up without the love and attention every child deserved.

"He must want someone to notice him."

Maybe that was why he caused so much trouble.

Maybe all of it was a desperate attempt to earn the attention his parents never gave him.

"And every time, I only scolded him."

His words from earlier echoed in my mind.

"You said you were on my side! You said you'd love me no matter what! Then why don't you defend me? Why do you always yell at me?"

Perhaps what Lucian truly wanted was someone who would stand by him unconditionally, no matter what he did.

Children whose parents protected them never needed to search for allies.

But Lucian wasn't one of those children.

Maybe he understood, somewhere deep inside, that he had no one completely on his side, and desperately sought someone who would love him regardless of his mistakes.

Someone who would never abandon him.

Unfortunately, I couldn't be that person.

No matter how dearly I loved my nephew, I couldn't excuse wrongdoing simply because he was adorable.

The problem was that Lucian was still too young to understand my intentions.

"If you love me, you shouldn't scold me! You should think everything I do is wonderful!"

Perhaps he believed I wasn't really on his side at all.

Perhaps he thought my words and actions contradicted each other.

"Maybe I should find him some friends."

If he had children his own age to bond with, perhaps things would improve.

But I quickly shook my head.

"He's already made so many kids cry."

Lucian was the only young child living in the ducal estate. Feeling sorry that he always played alone, I'd often taken him to social gatherings, hoping he'd make friends.

Needless to say, my precious nephew had never failed to shatter my expectations.

"Waaah!"

"Lucian bullied me!"

He released spiders onto other children, smashed decorative vases, and generally wreaked havoc wherever he went.

The day he fired a slingshot at the heir of House Robent, my vision had nearly gone white from shock.

"There's no six-year-old alive who can handle Lucian."

Except perhaps Amelia.

But Amelia was destined to become Edwin's lover in the future. That meant she and Lucian would never grow close.

"Should I just run away with Lucian?"

Part of me genuinely wanted to.

But that wasn't a realistic solution either.

My own family, the County of Lilfrey, was effectively controlled by my uncle. I had neither money nor authority of my own.

Having lived my entire life as a noblewoman, there was no way I could suddenly support myself independently. Perhaps my memories from before transmigration would help me survive somehow...

But with nothing to my name, could I really provide for Lucian after leaving this estate?

He had been born heir to a duke and had known nothing but luxury.

If he lived with me, buying new clothes would become impossible. We might even struggle to eat three proper meals a day.

"No, that's impossible. Besides, kidnapping the heir to a duchy? I'd never get away with it."

I'd likely be sentenced to death for abducting the duke's only successor.

I might be Duke Bellomon's sister-in-law, but the man was utterly merciless.

"Then maybe I should stop Edwin from ever coming to the duchy..."

The thought barely formed before I shook my head.

Like Lucian, Edwin had also lost his mother at a young age.

Unlike Lucian, however, he hadn't grown up in privilege. He'd spent his childhood drifting through orphanages, enduring a harsh and lonely life.

Even if he was born out of wedlock, Edwin was still Duke Bellomon's flesh and blood.

I couldn't make an innocent child suffer simply to protect my nephew.

"So I can't run away, and I can't stop the protagonist. Then what can I do...?"

As frustration drove me to tug at my own hair, inspiration suddenly struck.

"Come to think of it... Edwin is in the orphanage right now, isn't he?"

The answer had been right under my nose.

The orphanage where Edwin lived was actually located within the duke's own territory.

Yet Duke Bellomon wouldn't discover him for another three years. Until then, Edwin would spend his days there in loneliness.

"What if I go help him myself?"

I couldn't simply march up to the duke and announce, 'Your son is here!' He'd naturally demand to know how I'd learned such a thing, and suspicion would immediately fall on me.

Besides, there was no ignoring the original story's sense of inevitable causality.

"But volunteering at an orphanage would be perfectly natural."

I could visit under the pretense of charity.

Spend time with Edwin.

Earn his trust.

"And in the end..."

I would tell the duke that there was a boy at the orphanage who seemed as though he might be his son.

"If I become close to Edwin and also become the person who helped reunite him with his father..."

The woman who rescued him from the orphanage and helped him find his real family.

Surely, if that happened, Edwin would spare Lucian's life for my sake.

After all, we'd have shared years together.

* * *

Once a plan was made, there was no reason to delay.

At first light the next morning, I dressed and climbed into a carriage.

"Auntie, where are you going?"

"To meet someone for a little while."

"I want to come too!"

"Have you apologized to Baron Chernin yet?"

"..."

"Not until you do."

My firm answer made Lucian wrinkle his face in displeasure.

If he wanted to accompany me, all he had to do was apologize.

Was saying I'm sorry really that difficult?

"Make sure you apologize before I get back."

Without waiting for a response, I shut the carriage door.

"Shall I take you to Busnier Street, milady?" the coachman asked.

"Yes. To the orphanage on Second Street."

After giving him the exact address, I leaned back against my seat.

I'd already explained my destination to the maids beforehand.

"I think I need to meet more children if I want to understand Lucian better."

"You're going to an orphanage, Lady Ruchella?"

"Yes. The children there all lost their parents young, just like Lucian. Perhaps spending time with them will help me understand him."

That explanation had worked perfectly.

Thankfully, none of the maids questioned me. In fact, seeing how devoted I was to caring for a nephew who wasn't even my own child moved some of them to tears.

"But why Busnier Street? It's quite far from here."

"That district is one of the poorest parts of the duchy. The orphanage is probably short on supplies, so I thought I'd see what they need and offer some assistance."

It had been an excuse I invented on the spot.

I hadn't been sure anyone would believe it, but the maids had only praised me.

"Lady Ruchella is kind-hearted in every way!"

The reaction left me feeling oddly embarrassed.

After all, my true motivation was simply to save Lucian.

Not everyone was impressed, of course. Those outside my personal staff looked at me with clear disapproval, as though an in-law had no business stirring up extra affairs.

At least I'm getting to the orphanage without any trouble.

Looking out the carriage window, I thought about the boy I would soon meet.

Edwin.

The child who had inherited his mother's crimson eyes and Duke Bellomon's black hair.

When Edwin first met the duke in the original story, he'd been stunned.

The resemblance was uncanny.

He'd even thought to himself that he would probably look exactly like that man once he grew up.

Had he ever seen the duke before, it wouldn't have been such a shock.

Unfortunately, until leaving the orphanage, Edwin had never once laid eyes on his father.

That was because Iris, Duke Bellomon's lover, had chosen to leave him.

As a commoner, Iris could never become the duchess.

All she could do was watch another woman marry the man she loved.

She endured it for as long as she could.

But when she learned that Layla—my older sister and the duke's wife—had given birth to a child, something inside her finally broke.

"I chose to spend my life in the shadows because I loved you, Dehart. But I don't think I can bear watching the man I love raise a child he had with another woman."

With those words, Iris left Duke Bellomon.

There was only one thing she didn't know.

She was already carrying Edwin.

It wasn't until two months after the separation that she discovered her pregnancy.

Even then, she never returned.

She knew exactly how an illegitimate child with commoner blood would be treated.

Perhaps Lucian's supporters would even try to eliminate the boy.

So Iris raised Edwin alone.

The only reason she remained within the duke's territory was the faint hope that one day the duke would discover his son's existence.

But fate was cruel.

When Edwin turned four, Iris died of pneumonia.

With neither father nor relatives to care for him, he naturally ended up in an orphanage.

He's six now, so he's probably been there for about two years.

If only those years had been peaceful.

The orphanage was anything but.

The aging building leaked freezing drafts throughout the winter, while in summer the sweltering heat caused children to collapse from exhaustion.

There weren't even enough clothes to go around, forcing many of them to repeatedly mend threadbare garments riddled with holes.

And that wasn't the worst of it.

To make matters worse, the corrupt orphanage director exploited the children as laborers.

Cleaning, laundry, and every chore that should have been handled by adults was instead dumped onto small children.

Edwin isn't the only one suffering. I can't just stand by while kids barely bigger than chestnuts endure lives like that.

Ignorance would have been one thing.

But now that I knew, I couldn't simply do nothing.

Helping them was what any responsible adult ought to do.

Children deserved the chance to grow up as children.

That was the duty of adults—and the very reason I had rushed to the orphanage without delay.