Try Begging - Chapter 169.2

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The agent nodded, looking as if he didn’t understand why such an obvious question was being asked.

“Ha…”

He had learned one more thing. Grace hadn’t abandoned his child. Even though he had narrowly missed her again, he couldn’t help but smile because of that fact.

Indeed, the lonely woman couldn’t bring herself to abandon a child who was no different from her. Even if she ran away from him, the child would be a weight she dragged along with her, and that weight would only grow heavier with time.

Eventually, she would be caught.

Leon saw hope amid his despair.

“You don’t know where she went.”

“I don’t know. I did offer to show her other places nearby, but Mrs. Baker said she changed her mind.”

Where could she have gone?

He knew the final destination. She would probably head to her aunt in Columbia. He was regularly checking with all port immigration offices, but there had been no reports of the wanted woman appearing yet.

When was she planning to leave?

Leon recalled what the doctor had said when he came to the annex around Christmas last year. At six months old, the child could be taken on long journeys by boat.

Could it be that the time for her to walk into the trap was approaching?

He asked a few more questions, but the agent knew very little. He had only met her a few times for lease agreements and gold bar purchases, so it was understandable. Leon dismissed the agent and instructed Campbell.

“Go and inquire with the neighbors.”

Although it was late to knock on doors, everyone who saw the military uniforms relaxed their faces and answered willingly.

“She lived alone and rarely interacted with anyone. I’ve seen her go out occasionally carrying the child, but I don’t know the child’s gender or name. The woman living across said that a maid visited daily, so the maid might know more.”

“You stay here and look for the maid. Also, when the sun rises, go to the registration office and check if there have been any birth registrations under the name Baker since last May.”

However, the woman might not have given the child a name with the surname she had used mockingly.

“Also, check if there is a girl registered under the name Angela with a different surname.”

Leon speculated that Grace, if she was to name a girl, might have chosen a name in honor of her revered mother. He had no idea what name she might have given a boy. Although it was a longstanding tradition for a woman to name her first son after Leon himself, he couldn’t imagine her doing that.

On the other hand, it was also possible that she hadn’t registered the birth at all, but investigating wouldn’t hurt.

After giving the instructions, Leon slowly surveyed the empty house where his child and the woman had lived. The space, cleaned thoroughly to welcome new tenants, showed no trace of the woman.

His stiff lips softened the moment he opened the bedroom door.

The small bedroom contained two beds: a double bed and a crib with a railing. The faint smell of a baby that he sensed as soon as he opened the door wasn’t a figment of his imagination. His lips slowly curved into a smile as he approached the crib.

He ran his hands gently over the crib’s railing, looking down at the empty mattress.

‘This was where my child had been.’

He suddenly turned around and gazed at the bed.

‘And this is where my child was born.’

He sat down on the modest-looking bed. As he stroked the dust-covered mattress, he imagined the moments he couldn’t know and felt a warmth that should no longer be there.

A strange emotion swelled within him. What had started as a tickling sensation soon turned into a whip, striking his heart forcefully.

“Ha…”

The emotion wrapped around his heart and squeezed it tightly, making it ache. It should have hurt, yet laughter kept trying to escape. It wasn’t so bad.

Leon closed his eyes and imagined.

What would his and Grace’s child look like?

While it was nice to think that the child would resemble the woman he loved, he pictured a child who looked just like him. Grace was sitting on this bed, holding a child who had inherited his appearance, soundly asleep in her arms.

A peculiar joy surged within him.

The woman, who couldn’t bear to part with a child so much like him. Perhaps Grace’s love for the child would grow, planting seeds of love in her heart for him.

It was a cowardly flicker of hope.

As Leon was immersed in this bittersweet and somewhat painful fantasy, he suddenly opened his eyes to a faint sound.