Episode 006
“My child,” Eleanor declared swiftly.
Until now, she had never definitively stated her relationship with the baby to anyone.
Even when Sophie asked, she had dodged the question, letting others assume what they wanted.
But this was no time for such ambiguity.
She instinctively knew what Matthias was planning to do with the child.
‘He’s definitely going to use the baby as leverage to find Charlotte.’
Whether through humane methods or outright threats, the possibilities for exploiting the child were endless.
And she didn’t believe for a second that any of those methods would be safe for her nephew.
Worse still, if Charlotte didn’t respond, Matthias was likely to take extreme measures.
Exactly like the cruel villain he was in the original story.
“This is my child, the one I gave birth to,” Eleanor insisted firmly.
From the moment she fled the Winston estate with her nephew, she had vowed to protect and raise him safely.
She was determined to reunite him with Charlotte.
Being abandoned by one’s mother was a pain she had experienced in her previous life, and that was enough.
Eleanor stood her ground.
“As someone who made a name for herself at the academy, Your Grace must be able to guess why I’m raising a child alone in a small village like this.”
“Hmm. The information I received tells a different story.”
“Not all information is accurate. I find this misunderstanding rather offensive, Your Grace.”
“Haha, is that so? A child you haven’t even named is your child?”
Matthias smiled brightly.
It seemed he had overheard her entire conversation with Sophie.
Caught off guard, Eleanor bit the inside of her cheek in frustration.
“Sure, that could be the case. Maybe, as the innkeeper said, you’re waiting for the father to name the child.”
“…”
“Or perhaps you’re waiting for the mother to name them?”
“Your Grace…!”
“Waaaah!”
As Eleanor raised her voice unwittingly, the startled baby began to cry.
“Waaaah, waaaah!”
“Oh, I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”
Eleanor hurriedly tried to soothe the baby.
But the cries didn’t stop easily.
Matthias smirked, raising one corner of his mouth.
“You seem busy, so I’ll take my leave for now.”
Eleanor glared at him.
“I plan to stay here for a while. Let’s get along well in the meantime, honey.”
With a mocking laugh, Matthias left the room without hesitation.
* * *
It took Eleanor an hour to calm the crying baby.
Holding the now-sleeping child, she paced the room anxiously.
“What do I do?”
Of all people, she had to cross paths with Matthias, the villain.
His obsession was terrifying.
In the original story, Matthias was even more fixated on Charlotte than the main male lead.
Even the kind and gentle Charlotte refused to meet him at the story’s end.
“Should I ask the Magic Tower for help again?”
Eleanor shook her head.
No matter how close she was to the Magic Tower, their goodwill wasn’t something she could exploit endlessly.
If she asked for more help, they would surely demand something in return.
Like a lifelong contract with the Tower…
She loved research by nature.
The Magic Tower, which always paid generously for her inventions, was an ideal business partner.
But that didn’t mean she wanted to be tied to one place for the rest of her life.
She wanted to protect her nephew, but not at the cost of sacrificing her entire existence.
“Besides, there’s no guarantee the villain won’t track me down if I flee to another place.”
She had taken every precaution, yet he found this village in just two months.
It was the power of Matthias’s information network.
Next time, he might find her even faster.
No, he almost certainly would.
For now, he was maintaining a gentlemanly facade, but if she let the baby out of her sight, he might resort to kidnapping.
‘If the baby is taken, I have no way to get them back.’
This wasn’t about money.
Eleanor was merely the baby’s aunt.
If the grandparents and parents didn’t care to claim the child, what could an aunt do to demand their return?
“No.”
Eleanor shook her head obsessively.
“Charlotte isn’t like my mother. I believe in the heroine.”
Charlotte surely wouldn’t abandon her child.
“I need to think rationally.”
She had to find a solution that wouldn’t harm either herself or the baby.
* * *
Fortunately for Eleanor, Matthias didn’t seem intent on doing anything to her or the baby immediately.
After their encounter at dawn, he hadn’t returned to her room.
Was he giving her time to think?
It was a relief, but Eleanor still hadn’t made any decisions.
“Haa.”
Sighing, she glanced out the darkened window.
“Just holding out isn’t the answer…”
Matthias, the villainous duke, wouldn’t have come to this remote village alone.
He likely had guards lurking in the shadows.
‘How long will the duke’s patience last?’
She felt uneasy.
It was as if he might barge in at any moment and take the baby by force.
If she left the baby alone even briefly, they might vanish without a trace.
Scrape.
Eleanor dragged a chair next to the crib and sat down.
The baby was sleeping peacefully.
“You’re not crying much today.”
Are you giving me time to think?
Normally, the baby cried at all hours.
With no knowledge of childcare, Eleanor had no idea why.
Unlike the modern world overflowing with information, there weren’t even proper parenting books here.
So, she often relied on Sophie’s help.
On a day like today, when she was holed up in her room avoiding the duke, she was grateful the baby wasn’t crying.
“I hope your mom comes back soon,” Eleanor murmured, leaning against the crib.
“You need to meet her, and the duke would at least pretend to listen if it’s about Charlotte.”
Come to think of it, the Crown Prince probably wasn’t sitting idle either.
Was he, like the duke, searching for Charlotte somewhere?
In the original story, since the male lead was the Crown Prince, there wasn’t much opposition.
The duke, his only rival, was defeated by the Crown Prince, and the holy knight Alexis didn’t have the standing to challenge him.
Yet, for some reason, Charlotte chose the weakest contender, the holy knight.
It didn’t seem likely that the other two, the stronger contenders, would quietly accept their defeat.
“Maybe your dad will end up changing.”
Eleanor jokingly poked the baby’s cheek.
That’s when she noticed something odd.
“Little one?”
Eleanor abruptly stood up.
She touched the baby’s cheek again.
It was burning, as if scorched by fire.
She quickly checked the forehead—it was the same.
The arms, the torso, all were radiating heat.
Even accounting for a child’s higher body temperature compared to an adult, this was alarmingly hot.
“Sophie! Sophie!”
Panicked, Eleanor scooped up the baby and burst out the door.
She rushed down the stairs, making a clattering noise, and shouted, “Sophie! Help!”
“What’s wrong?”
Sophie, who had been cooking in the kitchen, came out holding a ladle.
Eleanor said urgently, “The baby has a fever.”
“What?”
“They’re burning up. They’ve never had a fever this bad before…!”
“Let me see.”
Sophie set down the ladle and approached.
Placing a hand on the baby’s forehead, she gasped.
“They’re like a fireball! When did this start?”
“I-I don’t know. Four hours ago, when I fed them, they seemed fine…”
“Let me take a look.”
Suddenly, Matthias appeared and swiftly took the baby from Eleanor’s arms.
