How To Hide Emperor's Child

Chapter 3

"Your nephew?"

Kaizen frowned as if he doubted it.

It was worth it.

Fritz, Astelle's brother, used to stay beside Kaizen as the Vice Commander of the Knight Guards a few years ago.

"Not my brother's, but Sigmund's son...... So he's my cousin's child."

Sigmund was the only child of her maternal uncle, who, unfortunately, died during the civil war in the north, precisely six months before Theor was born.

Astelle asked her maternal grandfather, Marquis Carlenberg, who had lost his heir, to register Theor as Sigmund's son.

As a child who was born from a maid who was known as Sigmund's lover.

The maid, who had been working in her mother's house for her entire life, registered as the child's mother on official documents, and then left on a condition that she will continue receiving Sigmund's death pension until her death.

Astelle heard that she married a rich merchant and was living well now.

"I thought Your Majesty knew about it too?"

Astelle looked at Kaizen with a calm expression. And as if she was surprised, she opened her eyes wide.

"My grandfather sent me documents to obtain permission for this child to be approved as a successor to the Carlenberg family... with a birth certificate and blood ties."

Of course, it was Astelle who sent those documents.

Astelle did everything flawlessly to make it seem that Theor was Sigmund's son.

As though her cousin really did have an illegitimate child with a maid, she also commissioned a temple to conduct a blood test with her grandfather.

The result was, of course, matching blood ties.

To her grandfather, Sigmund was his real grandson, and Astelle was his granddaughter, both of them were still his grandchildren but only held different titles.

Whether he is Sigmund's son or Astelle's son, he will still be considered as a grandchild to her grandfather.

Therefore, there was no problem with the test results.

Astelle pretended to hold Theor's hand, by gently clasping the child's little finger.

This was their own prearranged secret code.

Theor, who had kept his mouth shut as promised, grabbed Astelle's hem and looked up.

"Aunt Astelle...?"

"Yes, Theor. It's okay. Everything will be okay."

Astelle pretended to soothe Theor, by hugging him and patting his back.

Theor was following well, as they had practiced several times.

The rules of the 'play' that Astelle taught were simple enough to suit the child's level.

Instead of calling her Mother, he has to call her Aunt Astelle.

Don't talk a lot unless someone asks, and if she holds his little finger, he should say Aunt Astelle.

Astelle had practiced several times with the child, step-by-step, in a calm manner so that he could understand and adapt to it well.

She made sure not to scold him for making mistakes so that it wouldn't backfire when he was nervous, and she gave him a snack as a prize whenever he did well.

When watching them, her grandfather would laugh bitterly while saying, 'It seems like we're doing some kind of emergency evacuation drill.'

Everyone would be suspicious if a divorced empress was taking care of a child who had no connection to her, but no one would be suspicious if she stayed with her maternal grandfather and cared for the child of her deceased cousin.