I Won't Go Back to My Family Who Abandoned Me

***

“The Countess is pregnant?”

“That’s right.”

With a happy smile, Leticia reported the good news about the Aster couple to Keena, who’d shown up for a visit after a long time.

“They’ve never said anything, but they’ve always wanted to be parents.”

When children happened to pass by, the Countess couldn’t take her eyes off them, but she deliberately pretended not to notice them.

“I’m sure they’ll be good parents.”

Leticia said happily as she sipped her tea. Keena was watching Leticia, and numbly rested her chin on her hand.

‘It’s a good thing I’m not the only one who forgets what she’s capable of.’

It seemed that Leticia had influenced things, but didn’t seem to have noticed.

‘Is it for the best?’

Maybe because she didn’t recognize it, people around her just thought that good things happened from just being around Leticia, instead of her being capable of influencing things.

Then someone snuggled Leticia from behind.

“Hey!”

“Oh, my!”

Elle smiled brightly at Leticia, who turned around in surprise, then she frowned as soon as she saw Keena.

“You’re back?”

Even though Elle didn’t like her, Keena didn’t feel uncomfortable, and just shrugged her shoulders slowly.

“I know you’re saying things you don’t mean.”

“I’m serious.”

“You and Ian look alike. Is it because you’re twins?”

“Why are you bringing up Ian here?”

Elle stared as if she didn’t understand, but Keena’s gaze turned towards Leticia.

As soon as their eyes met, Keena asked.

“I know it’s a rude question, but can I ask?”

She seemed to be cautious about asking, and seemed to be a little nervous, but she was more curious.

“What is it?”

“Don’t you want kids?”

“Huh?”

Leticia’s mouth shut automatically at Keena’s unexpected words. Elle was listening next to them, and began to focus on the conversation curiously.

When both their eyes were focused on her, Leticia felt embarrassed, but tried to speak calmly.

“It’s not that I don’t want to…”

“I want you to have a daughter, who looks like you. No, a son would be nice too.”

“Really?”

“Oh! But I hope they don’t look like my brother.”

Elle crossed her arms, and frowned as if she was unhappy.

She’d been in a constant state of frustration lately because Enoch had been constantly stealing Leticia away from her, annoying her on purpose, and just acting like a jerk.

Keena, who was not aware of the situation, looked at Elle strangely.

“What’s wrong with looking like Duke Achilles?”

“He’s ugly.”

“Really? He looked like you.”

“What did you say?”

Before Leticia knew it, Keena and Elle began to bicker. Elle yelled unilaterally, but Keena took it in stride.

Seeing the two of them looking so friendly, Leticia couldn’t help but laugh. At that moment, Keena’s gaze returned to Leticia.

“Hmm…”

As soon as she saw Keena smiling suspiciously at her, Leticia somehow felt uneasy. She thought she was imagining it, but Keena softly muttered.

“You’re going to have a baby…”

As soon as she heard that, Leticia blushed.

“You just said something weird, didn’t you?”

“Are you sure about that?”

“You just said something weird!”

“So, you’re not going to?”

“No, I’m not!”

Leticia raised her voice as Keena was deliberately being provocative with her words.

“I’ll just give you another gift!”

“What present? You call that a present?”

Elle, who was quietly listening to their conversation, alternated between Leticia and Keena.

“Oh, is that what you’re going to say?”

Keena laughed and slowly leaned towards Elle, while she looked at Leticia. Leticia felt like screaming because Keena was already whispering in Elle’s ears before she could stop her.

Elle, who didn’t know how to feel, blushed but looked at Leticia unexpectedly. Leticia couldn’t stand the gaze and shouted.

“I didn’t use the candle!”

She couldn’t return the candle, so she hid it somewhere no one could see, but Enoch still found it. Enoch was surprised when he tried to light it, thinking that it was a normal candle.

Just thinking about that time, she already felt lightheaded.

However, Elle bowed her head a little bit.

“Candle? What does that mean?”

“I wasn’t talking about the candle…?”

“Were you talking about the wedding gift?”

At that, Leticia slumped down on the tea table with a desperate look. In front of her, Keena couldn’t hold it in anymore, and burst into laughed.

In the meantime, Elle asked with a curious expression.

“But did you wear it?”

“Yes, I was wondering the same thing. Did you really wear it?”

“….”

With gazes that demanded an answer, Leticia just stared at the two silently.

Only then did Keena and Elle catch each other’s eyes. When Elle made eye contact with Keena, she said.

“Is there a place that sells clothes like that?”

“I bought it for her from a store. Why? Did you want to buy one?”

“What? No, that…”

Elle, who avoided her gaze, mumbled and replied.

“I thought my friend might be interested in it…”

“You don’t have friends.”

“I have one!”

Before she knew it, Keena and Elle were bickering again. Leticia, who was embarrassed at first, was used to it by now, and just laughed.

She just wondered when they’d gotten so close.

***

They were sitting at the dining room table that day. It had been a long time since she and Enoch had shared a meal together, and Leticia took a bite of her stew with a bright look.

Somehow, the taste of the stew was strange today.

‘Why does it seem so fishy?’

It was so disgusting that she felt nauseous and only ended up eating a bit of the salad.

“Don’t you like the food?”

“What?”

Surprised by Enoch’s words, she opened her eyes wide in surprise. Leticia filled her mouth with salad because she didn’t want him to worry.

“No, it’s good.”

Enoch only began to eat comfortably again when she smiled as if it was really delicious.

After she saw that, Leticia quietly brought up something she wanted to ask.

“I wanted to prepare a baby shower gift in advance, but I’m not sure what to get.”

“Do you have something in mind?”

“I was thinking about a gift that was meant to help the baby grow up healthy!”

“Hmm…”

In fact, the gift that Leticia suggested was the most common. However, Enoch had another idea.

“What about a present for Countess Aster?”

“What?”

“When you give birth, it can be really hard, so what about an item that’s meant to help Countess Aster’s health.”

“Ah! You’re right! I like that idea.”

She planned to visit the doctor’s office tomorrow, and she would ask for advice on what foods and medications would be good for her mother.

As she was thanking Enoch, Leticia suddenly realized.

‘Come to think of it…’

She’d never talked to Enoch about children, whether he wanted a son or daughter, or even how many children he wanted.

‘Am I the only one who wants one?’

She wanted to have a child, and thought that it was time to have one.

Leticia glanced at Enoch, who gave her a quizzical look as he said one of the dishes was good and suggested she try it as well.

“Is there something you want to say?”

“What?”

“You keep looking at me.”

“Ah…”

Leticia sighed, then quickly shook her head.

“It’s nothing.”

Enoch looked at her with concern, but Leticia said nothing until the end.

***

No matter what, there was only one person she could ask about this.

“I thought something bad had happened.”

Upon hearing Leticia’s worries, Keena leaned back in her chair with a bored look and a click of her tongue.

“You tend to overthink such trivial things.”

“It’s important to me.”

Leticia frowned at her dismissive attitude. Seeing her like that, Keena spoke like it wasn’t a big deal.

“If you’re that worried about it, then wear that gift I gave you again.”

“Hey, that’s…”

“Or use that candle. You said you haven’t used it yet.”

“….”

As she kept teasing her, Leticia just quietly glared at her, but Keena didn’t care. It had been a long time since her eyes had sparkled playfully.

“If you don’t like it, I can get you something else…”

“You’re dead!”

Leticia couldn’t take it anymore, jumped up, and rushed at Keena. Before she could reach her, Keena got up and avoided her.

“Don’t you know my ability? You can’t beat me in terms of physical strength.”

“Shut up! If I catch you, you’re dead!”

After being teased mercilessly by Keena, Leticia turned away from her. But then she saw that Enoch had returned early, and she paled.

Unfortunately, Leticia wasn’t the only person who spotted Enoch.

“Wait…!”

“Welcome home. You’re just in time, Leticia said…”

“No!”

Keena went to Enoch right away, and tried to confess everything, but Leticia covered her mouth. Enoch looked at the two, and asked curiously.

“What’s wrong?”

“Oh, it’s nothing.”

“I don’t think it’s nothing.”

“It’s true. Haha…”

Leticia smiled awkwardly and poked Keena’s side, hinting that she should hurry up and leave. Keena immediately recognized what she meant, bid farewell to Enoch and Leticia as if she couldn’t win and left.

“Shall we go in now? It’s almost dinner time, so let’s go.”

Enoch wanted to say something, but Leticia was urging him inside with a tug on his arm. There were many questions he wanted to ask Leticia, who was acting strange today, but Enoch had no choice but to let Leticia take him to the dining room.

.

.

.

That day’s meal was also held alone with Enoch. It felt awkward today, so Leticia kept looking at Enoch’s face.

Enoch had noticed her glances, but he spoke up first.

“Is it that hard to tell me what’s wrong?”

Leticia touched her fingertips together at his disappointed tone.

“Well, I mean…”

As expected, no matter how much she thought about it, it was best for her to be honest.

“How about Enoch?”

“What do you mean?”

“I’m talking about children.”

Enoch seemed to hesitate for a moment, as if her words were unexpected. However, the bewildered look soon disappeared.

“If you don’t want children, then I’m fine…”

“No!”

Leticia raised her voice in exasperation.

‘What’s this guy saying now!’

It was so absurd that she quickly began to resolve Enoch’s misunderstanding.

“If I didn’t want to, we wouldn’t have spent the night together. And…”

Leticia stopped speaking for a while, then nodded with a slightly depressed expression.

“I asked because I thought Enoch didn’t want any.”

“Not at all.”

“Then why didn’t you say anything?”

“Well…”

Enoch thought for a while about what to say, then he slowly confessed what was on his mind.

“I didn’t want to burden you.”

Leticia understood what Enoch meant because they’d been thinking the same thing.

They worried that the other one didn’t want to have children.

‘I feel like a fool.’ 𝘧r𝗲𝑒𝔀𝘦𝙗𝓃oν𝑒l.𝐜𝗼m

Leticia was relieved that she’d resolved the misunderstanding with Enoch, and that it wasn’t as burdensome as she’d thought. Only then did Enoch’s face become more relaxed.

But it didn’t last long.

“Ugh…!”

As soon as Leticia took a bite of her well-done steak, she couldn’t stand the taste and spit it out.