Reunion with the Duke and Duchess of Artin 2

Ceres looked like a deranged person.

If not for her elegant dress befitting the Duchess of House Artin, one could hardly find any trace of a duchess in her current appearance.

“Ah! Theodore! It’s Mom! Sob, it’s Mom!”

Ceres looked at Theodore like a madwoman, pleading that she was his mother.

“I’m sorry, madam, but my parents are at the Skyroad mansion in the Arcan Empire. You seem to have confused me with someone else, so I think it would be best for you to calm down.”

Theodore again suggested that she calm down with a gentle smile, but by now, Elliot, who was also looking at him, murmured blankly:

“Are you really not our son?”

Elliot had doubts whether he might actually be Theodore, the son he had been looking for, seeing Theodore who resembled himself so much.

However, unlike Ceres, he maintained more composure and couldn’t immediately be certain that Theodore was his son, even though he saw that Theodore had an appearance extremely similar to himself and William.

“Yes, I am Theodore Skyroad. You are Duke Artin, correct?”

“…That’s right. I am indeed Duke Artin, Lord Skyroad.”

Elliot spoke in a manner befitting addressing a child of a ducal house from another country. But his gaze, still examining Theodore, showed that he was not convinced that Theodore was truly not his son.

“Theodore! It’s Mom, don’t you recognize Mom?”

Ceres, who couldn’t approach Theodore because Elliot was holding her, was desperately reaching out her hands and pleading to Theodore.

Headmaster Albert and Yuria, who were suddenly caught in this situation, had awkward expressions, and Yuria in particular was constantly watching Theodore’s gaze.

To Elliot’s eyes, she looked like a fiancée worried about her fiancé who was in an embarrassing situation.

“As it happens, I was looking for Duke Artin as I had something to discuss, so this is fortunate.”

Elliot initially questioned why an exchange student who had just arrived from a foreign country would have something to say to him, but soon ominous thoughts came to mind.

“What do you mean?”

“The headmaster here has already apologized… but as the fiancé, I wish to address the rudeness that William of House Artin committed toward my fiancée, Lady Yuria Arsein.”

As expected, it was William!

Duke Artin, who had thought he had arrived before William, realized he was too late.

Ceres also momentarily stopped moving.

“William… Haah! What on earth has my son done?”

Elliot asked while suppressing the throbbing headache.

The thought of what kind of trouble he had caused now in front of the exchange students, who always got into trouble, was frightening.

Looking at him, who was hoping it wasn’t a major incident, Theodore asked Yuria:

“What do you want to do? Shall I speak? Or would you like to?”

“I’ll do it, Lord Theodore.”

Yuria stepped forward first.

“I pay my respects to Duke Artin of the Britannia Empire. I am Yuria Arsein of House Arsein of the Arcan Empire.”

Yuria bowed politely.

Though she was dressed in casual attire as a swordswoman rather than a dress, her appearance as she put her hands together and bowed with a modest posture seemed more elegant than any woman in a dress.

“…As you already know, I am Duke Artin.”

“Yes, Lord William of House Artin, that person committed a truly intolerable rudeness. I will speak honestly to Duke Artin.”

Yuria’s voice turned cold.

Though she had been holding it in, the insult she suffered today was truly infuriating as she had never imagined experiencing such a thing.

“As soon as he saw me, he blurted out that I was to die for, that my big melons and tight ass looked delicious. Then he tried to forcibly grab me while spewing crude words about making me bear his child.”

The faces of the Duke and Duchess of Artin hardened.

What could they say to this?

To insult the eldest daughter of House Arsein, a ducal house of another country, in front of her fiancé, of all people?

“If Lord Theodore beside me hadn’t stopped him, I was about to draw my sword to defend myself.”

Yuria spoke with a cold voice, as if giving a warning.

“I will inform House Arsein of this matter and lodge a formal protest.”

“Sigh, I understand. I will formally apologize and provide appropriate compensation.”

Duke Artin sighed, nodded his head, and spoke.

“By the way, do you perhaps know where William, that child, went? I need to catch that boy…”

“I don’t know. He pointed his finger at Lord Theodore and then suddenly ran away screaming.”

“That is true, Your Grace.”

As Headmaster Albert also supported Yuria’s words, Duke Artin found it absurd but had no choice but to believe that Yuria’s words were true.

“Darling… even if William causes trouble, what about Theodore? Theodore is right in front of us!”

Once the discussion about the trouble William had caused ended, Ceres again desperately called out Theodore’s name as if having a fit.

“Calm down, wife.”

As Elliot struggled to comfort Ceres, Theodore asked:

“By Theodore, do you mean the son you lost long ago?”

At Theodore’s question, Elliot nodded with a pained expression.

“Yes. It’s been about 10 years now… about 11 years now.”

When Elliot finished speaking, Ceres burst into tears.

With a tearful face, she looked at Theodore and spoke as if complaining:

“Sob! Theodore! Why do you pretend not to know your mother? I’m your mother! The mother who gave birth to you!”

“Wife, calm down! Calm down!”

As Elliot tried to comfort her, Theodore asked:

“It seems the Duchess continues to mistake me for your son… though it was 11 years ago, do I really resemble your son Theodore that much?”

Elliot thought Theodore’s question was a natural one to ask.

However, neither the crying Ceres nor Elliot could immediately answer that question.

“Why are you silent?”

When Theodore asked why they were suddenly silent, Ceres began to sob.

“Theodore… sob, Mom is sorry…”

“Why are you suddenly like this?”

Seeing Theodore’s questioning reaction, Elliot erased the suspicion that he might be his son.

‘Yes, he must just be someone who looks similar.’

If he were Theodore, he would never have been able to ask so calmly what was going on.

“Sigh, it’s an embarrassing story… but my wife and I don’t know what Theodore looks like.”

“Pardon? How is that possible? If it was 11 years ago… wouldn’t he have been 10 years old? At 10 years old, you would have spent some time together.”

“…We never looked for him. We never even tried to see his face. We might have seen him in passing occasionally, but we never paid attention.”

“Sob, Theodore…”

Ceres began to cry again.

“Even so, he’s the son of a ducal house, isn’t he? Aren’t there any photographs? Aren’t there any portraits based on the descriptions of servants who might remember his appearance?”

“…Embarrassingly, there are none. It’s truly shameful to say this… but back then, both my wife and I seemed to have gone mad with the fact that our son was the Chosen One. We didn’t take any photos of Theodore after he was two years old, never had meals with him, and didn’t try to find out how he was doing. I heard that from a young age, he survived by picking up leftover food from the kitchen or by cooking with ingredients himself to fill his stomach.”

At those words, Yuria’s blue eyes widened in shock.

The fact that Theodore, the eldest son of House Artin, had run away unable to endure the discriminatory treatment would have been somewhat known even in the Arcan Empire.

But for her, it was incomprehensible that a place like House Artin didn’t even provide proper meals to their own son, and hadn’t even looked at his face.

“I can’t understand. He was your own son, wasn’t he? After the age of two, he couldn’t have done anything wrong.”

“…Indeed. What’s even more shameful is that we don’t even know exactly when our son disappeared. Because we committed such a terrible sin… my wife is like this… please understand the rudeness.”

“I understand.”

“…Thank you. Because you look so much like my son William, it seems my wife sees you as overlapping with Theodore. I apologize once again.”

“Yes, Duke Artin. But is William truly the Chosen One? Seeing his behavior toward my fiancée today, it’s hard to believe that such a person could be the one to save the world.”