Obviously, It’s My Child - Chapter 205

“You really seem desperate to manipulate me.”

“Tell me whether it’s a failure or a success.”

Before Claire finished speaking, Erich brushed his thumb across her lower lip. A hint of soft pink smeared onto his fingertip.

Thus, he begrudgingly settled for marking her neck and collarbone with his fingerprints instead of kissing her.

“Having dinner isn’t such a bad idea, once you take off your clothes.”

“I don’t want to. I put so much effort into getting ready, and you expect me to mess it all up in less than an hour?”

“It’ll end up like that anyway.”

“Then why do you eat at every meal, Your Grace, knowing you’ll be hungry later?”

At the title of ‘Your Grace,’ Erich’s expression soured again.

“How about we skip dinner and go out to the sea instead? It might be nice to have dinner while looking at the winter ocean.”

“It’s too cold. If we go out like this, you’ll freeze to death in less than a minute.”

Erich said this while gently caressing her exposed arm.

“Let’s just stay on the terrace on the first floor. We can close the glass doors.”

“That sounds reasonable. It’ll take some time to prepare.”

“We have plenty to do in the meantime, so it shouldn’t matter.”

He said this and finally pressed his lips against Claire’s.

* * *

“The master has requested that we light more lamps as the path is dark.”

The young assistant butler appeared, holding a gas lantern in front of the carriage. Following him were other servants, holding gas lamps to brighten the way.

“Please convey my gratitude for His Grace’s thoughtfulness.”

Augusta said this as she accepted assistance to climb into the carriage.

The lady-in-waiting who followed her climbed in and closed the door. The Klausener servants lit up the path with their bright lanterns from the front and back of the carriage.

“Is there something they wish to hide from us?”

“Whatever it is, there must be something. Just look at the child situation.”

Today’s visit had many unexpected aspects.

“Does it seem like the Duke isn’t sincere?”

“Given how famous their love marriage is, it felt more genuine to me, even if I had initially dismissed it because of all the media coverage.”

The lady-in-waiting spoke, unable to hide her jealousy.

Augusta watched the disgruntled lady-in-waiting with a soft smile.

What she had said to Claire was true. The girl was not particularly entrusted with important matters.

She was straightforward with her feelings and well-connected in society, making it easy for her to gauge the opinions of young ladies, which was why Augusta kept her around.

“That’s true. It’s rare for someone like Duke Klausener to reveal his true feelings.”

This was quite surprising. And very significant.

Up until now, the Empress had been making the wrong judgments.

Initially, she thought it was out of responsibility or a means to win over the Arren faction.

And after deducing that the child was Crown Prince Jared’s son, she became convinced that it was an alliance aimed at protecting the child.

[There must be some level of trust. There’s likely some fondness as well. Yet, I always thought it was strange. Erich isn’t that foolish.]

But this time, what Augusta saw in Erich’s eyes was different.

Erich Klausener had fallen in love. It was clear that he was at least consumed by passion.

This was something common among young men.

Both the Empress and Augusta were not unfamiliar with feelings of affection, attraction, or excitement. However, they did not choose people based on those feelings.

There were far more important things that took precedence over such emotions.

And by the time one reached Augusta’s age, those feelings seemed far too fleeting to stake one’s life on.

But Erich was still not yet thirty. He possessed dignity and composure, which made them wonder if they were mistaken about him.

‘Or perhaps it’s because he’s a Duke.’

He was someone who did not need to give up one thing to hold onto another.

After all, what would he need to sacrifice to obtain an object of his passion? He could simply pull the person to his side and have them beside him.

Augusta was too old to be envious of that.

The lady-in-waiting standing before her could not hide her jealousy toward the person being raised up.

“Thinking about it, there seems to be a certain temperament in the Klausener line.”

“Temperament?”

“I’ve heard that the late Duke only had eyes for the Elder Madam after remarrying.”

Since it was already about someone who had been cast aside, the maid spoke in a hushed voice.

“He didn’t take on any mistress, either. Of course, the Elder Lady was a Marquis’s daughter, so she came from a much better family than the current Duchess, but it was still a marriage with quite a disparity.”

“That does seem to be the case.”

Augusta brushed it off nonchalantly.

That was indeed a decision made amid a complicated political situation entangled with the excellent firstborn of a princess and a stable succession plan, not to mention broader implications for the imperial succession. However, it seemed the lady-in-waiting was unaware of that context.

As if she thought that the Duke’s feelings started from somewhere other than Claire Delford, the lady-in-waiting nodded in agreement, content with her own understanding.

Augusta was thinking about something far more significant.

If Erich was truly infatuated with his wife, the Empress’s political decisions would need to be re-evaluated from the start.

In other words, it would be necessary to categorize the Duchess as an Arren and separate her from Klausener before launching an attack in conjunction with Grand Prince Arren.

This would be sufficient for today’s findings. Although she hadn’t properly probed into Linus, she had learned something even more crucial.

With a change in judgment regarding the Duke, she would need to interpret the movements of the Klausener agents, who had been deployed en masse in Ludendorff and its surroundings, differently as well.

Just as she was contemplating this, the carriage came to a stop.

“What’s the matter?”

“I’m sorry, Lady Augusta. There is someone here to see you.”

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