Obviously, It’s My Child

As he smiled happily, a soft voice asked from the side.

“Is he that cute?”

“Kuhmm.”

As James cleared his throat to hide his embarrassment, Iris, the daughter of Count Schneider, who was sitting across the table, put a hand over her mouth and smiled.

James’s face reddened. Anyone who’d see it at this age would say it’s a joke, but instinct was something he couldn’t hide.

Even Charles, who had been sulking without hiding his displeasure since meeting Duke Klausener, blushed at the nape of his neck.

Iris gestured affectionately towards Elliot.

“Come this way. Sister will give you cookies.”

Elliot hesitated and hid behind James’ legs. “Oohh,” said James in an exaggerated voice.

“Doesn’t she say she will give you cookies? Go ahead, take it and say ‘thank you’.” 

“Uuu-ungg…”¹

“This kid must be feeling shy.”

James chuckled. Iris smiled.

He was a lovely child. Ever since she heard that he looked exactly like Erich, she thought he would be adorable, but he was much cuter than she had vaguely imagined.

There was almost no trace of the child’s mother in his appearance, so she had no other objection.

She seemed able to give him affection.

‘I’m glad I came to check.’

Iris thought to herself. It was fortunate indeed. Her mother said she could just send the child to a boarding school or to the countryside, but Iris didn’t want to do that to an innocent child.

She needed an heir more than anything else, so it worked out. Because Iris didn’t want to give birth to a baby.

She intended to be a good stepmother.

* * *

Claire took a deep breath as she held the doorknob. As she came down, the maid told her the situation.

‘Lady Schneider came to visit?’

Why did she come? Only one such question plagued her mind. 

It’s probably because she’s curious about Elliot.

She didn’t expect Iris to be such a curious person in this way, but it was clear that she liked to attract attention.

Claire’s marriage and Elliot’s presence are probably the biggest buzz in the social world. For Iris to reach out to James first to preempt the topic, she could guess how much Iris loved attention.

And this could be an opportunity for Claire as well.

The youngest daughter of Count Schneider was a celebrity. She was a rare beauty, and as a soprano soloist in the choir of Sanctus Populi. That aside, thanks to her beauty and her popularity, she even took the place of the opera house’s prima donna.

Normally, when the daughter of a noble was an opera singer, she would disgrace the family’s name.

But the count did not oppose it. He had sired Iris at a late age, born to the woman he truly loved, and so he raised her to do whatever she wanted to do.

Above all, the Count himself was an undisputed opera lover, he used to entertain those around him by singing himself in private settings.

It was unusual for a lady from an environment like Iris to become a singer as the trend of noble careers arose, but she was not to be criticized as such.

Above all, she wasn’t singing for money. Her job is to be a choir soprano, and she was only occasionally invited to perform on stage.

In a way, she too was a symbol of a new era in which status was blurred.

‘If I can catch her, she’s a top-notch model!’

A new marketing plan unfolded in Claire’s mind.

She opened the door with a throbbing heart.

“Auntie!”

Elliot was the first to exclaim at her, running up to her and hiding behind her legs.

A beautiful woman sitting on the sofa slowly stood up.

“Nice to meet you, Baron. I am Iris of the Schneider household.”

“Welcome, Lady Schneider. Seeing you in person like this, I know that no matter how high your reputation is, it’s not enough to shine in the Lady’s glory.”

Claire said with a capitalistic smile on her lips.

Iris covered her mouth with her hand and smiled at her.

“I am grateful to Baron Delford for welcoming me with such exaggerated words even though I have visited so suddenly without a letter of introduction. Please do not reproach me for being too curious.”

“It’s not a reproach…”

Claire couldn’t continue her words because Iris spoke first.

“I was very curious. Who was the one who took my light blue dress?”

Iris looked at her and smiled softly.

Claire’s mind froze for a moment. She remembered once taking someone else’s light blue dress.

Five years ago, in Erich’s bedroom.²

Claire almost revealed her momentary shaken heart. She couldn’t do that because she felt Iris watching her.

‘Hey, what is it?’

Iris had a knack for turning her words around or shaking people up, but it was not to the point of avoiding the well-trained observations that a family’s eldest son or a chief director would.

She’s obviously trying to see how Claire would react to her words.

‘You don’t even know the dress for sure?’

Claire was sure.

Come to think of it, that was five years ago. There was no way it would have been so easy to know who had been to Erich’s bedroom.

If that was true, everyone from the butler to the guards of the Klausener family would have been decapitated.

Or, did Erich himself say it? That too was unlikely.

If he had been in such a deep relationship with this woman, he couldn’t have done this now.

Not being known for the past five years means no one knows. So this woman was bluffing.

“What do you mean?”

“My dress. Obviously to the Duke…”

Iris said only that far and trailed off her words. Claire tilted her head and asked again.

“It is strange. What did Erich do with the Lady’s dress?”

“Don’t keep pretending you don’t know.”

Iris’ lips twitched. Just by looking at her face, it seemed that she just wanted to talk about a common topic with Claire.

—

t/n:

¹ (Elliot can detect sus people!)

² (WHY WOULD ERICH HAVE IRIS’ DRESS IN HIS HOUSEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE I THOUGHT HE ORDERED HIS SERVANT TO BUY IT) [edit: reading ahead, it’s not iris’ dress]