16.
The ominous black potion inside the vial seeped directly into the lawn.
Karl stumbled back, muttering in shock.
“M, M, Mother?”
Before Karl could recover, Isabella, who had rushed over from nowhere, struck Sarah across the cheek.
“You…… you!”
Isabella’s strength was as formidable as the sharp crack that tore through the air. Sarah collapsed, face-down on the grass.
Overcome with fury, Isabella grabbed Sarah by her hair and yanked her head back.
“You, you…… how dare you do this……!”
The knights of the Mayous Ducal Mansion came running from the distance. Isabella shoved Sarah toward them and barked, “Lock her up!”
Perhaps due to the shock and the searing pain of the blow, Sarah was trembling, unable to utter a single word. The knights dragged her away.
Karl stood on the swing, his face a mask of bewilderment.
“Mother, why are you doing this to Sarah?”
“Is that even a question, Karl?”
Isabella gripped his shoulder. Karl’s body tilted, and the swing let out a jagged, metal screech.
“What? That you should dismiss your tutor and stop going to the Knights Division just because she said so? That you’ll starve yourself until you throw up?”
“B, but Mother……”
“You’ve been believing and following such nonsense until now? Huh?”
Karl flinched at the look of raw rage in Isabella’s eyes—a look he had never seen before. Though she was known for being cold and icy, Isabella had always managed her temper in front of him. Having just witnessed such a betrayal, she could no longer hold back.
Facing his mother’s glares, the boy stammered.
“B, but if I do that, Hyung will return, and others won’t point fingers at me……”
“You still don’t get it! Do you think Ekian would be happy to see you like this? Huh?”
Isabella shook his shoulders.
“My Lady, please stop.”
A woman stepped forward and pulled Isabella away. Only then did Karl take a deep breath and blink. The stranger holding Isabella back had vibrant red hair and sharp green eyes.
Dressed in a simple, worn dress, the young woman said calmly, “If you are going to blame someone, blame Sarah. The Young Duke is still just a child……”
“Judith, he’s not just a child! He’s a genius who remembers things from when he was two or three years old; his intellect is already at an adult level!”
Isabella shouted, panting. The woman named Judith took Karl’s hand and replied with composure.
“What does it matter if his intelligence is adult-level? He is still eight years old.”
“……What?”
“Even if his mind is advanced, he hasn’t lived as long as an adult. It is natural that other things are still immature.”
Isabella froze. Judith spoke softly, yet her words rang with clarity.
“Even if he reads difficult books and solves complex problems…… he is still a child who has only walked this earth for eight years.”
Tears welled in Karl’s eyes.
*Smart, clever, a genius, he’s already an adult.* These were the labels that had defined him since he was small.
Sarah, too, would warn him: *“Everyone knows you are clever, Young Duke, so you must not act like other children. Do not study or eat like you want to; you must pretend to be naive.”*
But for the first time, someone had called him a ‘child.’
“So, if there is something the Young Duke doesn’t know, we adults can teach you.”
Isabella stood rooted to the spot. Judith, having patted Isabella’s arm, bent down to meet Karl’s gaze.
“Young Duke. It is nice to meet you. I am Baron Aylan, Judith.”
He had wondered who she was, given her plain attire, but she was a noble after all. Karl calmed his racing heart and offered a formal nod.
“……It is nice to meet you. I am Karl Mayous.”
Her green eyes curved at the corners. Up close, her face was not a peerless beauty, but it was vivid and alive.
Judith held his hand. “Sarah’s words are not the truth. Young Duke, your mother is likely more upset right now than you have ever seen her.”
“But, Hyung……”
“Young Duke Mayous would be deeply heartbroken to see you living like this.” Judith continued softly. “Leaving the Mayous Ducal Mansion meant he entrusted his parents to you. How could you let them become so devastated?”
Karl’s eyes widened, his mind reeling. He gasped, “But who are you to know our Hyung’s heart so well?”
Wariness crept back into his gaze. “What do you know about Hyung? Sarah is someone who was extremely close to him when they were young!”
At the mention of Sarah, Isabella’s composure shattered again.
“That damn Sarah, Sarah, Sarah, Sarah!”
Isabella was the type to lose all reason once ignited. It was why, despite her status, her social standing remained precarious.
“If Ekian truly valued her, do you think he would have left without a word?”
“A, and what makes Baron Aylan any different? How can I trust you!”
As Judith’s expression flickered, Isabella screamed the truth.
“She is the one carrying your nephew!”
“……What?”
Even Judith was taken aback. She hadn’t imagined Isabella would reveal the pregnancy to a child in such a crude way. But Isabella was past the point of restraint.
“She was your brother’s lover! Do you understand?”
Even if he possessed the soul of a child, Karl—a genius—grasped the implication in an instant.
“My goodness.”
Karl widened his eyes, staring at Judith’s flat stomach.
“Then…… you mean you and my Hyung did that kind of thing and made a baby?”
Judith, rarely flustered, blinked at Karl, then at her own stomach, and muttered, “Ah, um, I suppose that’s about right……”
Karl jumped up from the swing. He stepped close to her, eyes burning with sudden intensity.
“Where is my Hyung? Huh?”
Judith could only offer the bitter truth. “Um, he left again, so……”
A heavy silence followed. Karl looked to Isabella, who simply coughed and looked away.
After a moment, Karl clenched his fists and shouted, “What a crazy person!”
“H, huh?”
“He irresponsibly gets a woman in the prime of her life pregnant, and then abandons his own child and runs off?”
“……Huh?”
“This is crossing the line, even for Hyung! I can’t possibly take his side!”
Anger replaced the longing that had once filled his eyes.
“Isn’t this guy a hopeless lunatic? Why did he grow up like that? Huh?”
Behind them, hidden in the shadows of the large tree that had swayed earlier, a man watched.
Master Ekian had been lurking there for some time. Judith had told him to leave it to her, but he could not simply stand by while his brother was involved.
He looked out at the garden, dazed.
‘Judith…… handled it wisely, but…….’
She had raided the scene to catch Sarah and had mended the strained relationship between mother and son. She had even said the words he hadn’t known how to say: *“You are still a child.”* She had effectively reframed his departure as a trust placed in Karl.
It was all good, but……
“Did he turn into some hopeless thug after leaving home? Right, Mother?”
Karl’s scathing assessment was completely unexpected.
Ekian groaned to himself from the branches.
‘Is this…… really handled well?’
The image of the perfect, kind brother in his younger brother’s mind was being dismantled, piece by agonizing piece.