She's Not Our Daughter! Ch 19

A Handsome Man in Tears Is Quite a Problem

Sierra swallowed hard and brainwashed herself again. She recalled the massive gap between him, a Duke, and herself, a commoner.

A Duke and a commoner. Under Imperial law, they shared a destiny where they would rarely meet, nor should they meet. Unless she became a mistress or a courtesan, they had no reason to intertwine.

He is an unreachable fruit.

He is a poisonous apple I must not eat, salty seawater, a destiny bound to fall apart anyway once the misunderstanding clears.

She lifted her head and stared at Cassius. He clenched his lips, whether because he touched her or from tension.

He rolled his shirt up to his wrists, revealing blue veins bulging on his forearms. He gave off the strong impression of a grown man, not a twenty-year-old greenhorn.

Since we are close anyway, can we have an honest conversation?

Tense and biting her lip, Sierra unconsciously buried her face in his chest. He flinched.

Crazy, I made a mistake.

She quickly raised her head and spoke to salvage the situation.

[Sierra] "Cassius, I have a question."

[Cassius] "Ask me anything."

[Sierra] "So...... I want you to answer honestly."

[Cassius] "......Yes, I will."

She put pressure on her aching ankle and spoke quietly.

[Sierra] "When exactly did you...... think I ran away because I was preg......nant?"

This approach differed entirely from her previous attempts. She had to change her route to discover the truth.

Yelling 'She is not your daughter!' at him, and the Grand Madam no longer worked. They firmly believed Hanael belonged to Cassius and Sierra.

Therefore, she needed to find out 'why they thought so'.......

I must probe to find out exactly when this disaster began.

Cassius bit his lip quietly at her words. He nearly missed the implication in her question because he considered her low voice a sweet hum.

[Cassius] "......I found out right after you left."

Sierra narrowed her eyes at his words. Did he mean the time she finished the graduation ceremony and party, broke up cleanly with him, and left for Sufe Village?

Did he mean the time her sister said, 'No one will ever find you,' and left Hanael in her care?

What happened right after I ran away? Something that would make him misunderstand that I was pregnant......?

She decided to probe further.

[Sierra] "How did you...... think I was pregnant right after I left?"

He paused his steps. She caught the fine tremors in his breath. He looked deeply tormented.

[Cassius] "When you...…"

[Sierra] "......?"

[Cassius] "When you left, I visited the cafe you frequented."

[Sierra] "The cafe I frequented......"

Did he mean the cafe where she received the envelope from the Grand Madam?

[Cassius] "The cafe is run by a person named Cindy. The place we went together back when we dated."

She listened quietly. What exactly happened at that cafe?

---

Time rewound to five years ago.

It returned to the exact moment the Grand Madam demanded Sierra break up with Cassius, and Sierra contacted him to end things.

Misfortunes always multiply. Cassius never received her breakup letter. He remained incredibly busy preparing for the military deployment. Instead, he wrote and sent a letter asking Sierra to wait for him.

He only checked the breakup letter much later.

After receiving the delayed letter, he sought Sierra out, but her house stood empty. He asked her friends, but they remained silent. She evaporated without a trace.

The only remaining clue was the cafe run by Sierra's close friend, Cindy, a place they visited frequently.

Cassius, unwilling to break up like this, visited the cafe, grasping at straws.

Arriving with staggering steps, he met the owner, Cindy, who was just closing up. He had an acquaintance with Cindy because he often did assignments at this cafe.

Back then, Cindy looked at Cassius with pity and served a cup of coffee on the table. They sat across from each other and shared a brief conversation.

[Cindy] "Did you come looking for Sierra?"

[Cassius] "......Yes."

Cindy was a commoner, and Cassius was the heir to a ducal family, yet he used formal language with her. It was a habit. He used formal speech with anyone Sierra respected.

Noticing this, Cindy spoke awkwardly and carefully.

[Cindy] "Sierra mentioned she was going somewhere. She hasn't visited our cafe for over a week. On her last day, she looked exhausted. She sighed heavily and said she wouldn't be around anymore...…"

[Cassius] "What does that...…"

[Cindy] "I don't know either. Oh, and this!"

She hurried to the cafe's counter and rummaged through the nearby drawers. A baby shoe, half the size of a palm, emerged in her hand.

[Cindy] "Take this."

It was a pink baby shoe.

Unable to understand the situation, he stared blankly down at the tiny baby shoe.

[Cindy] "Sierra cherished this, but she left it behind for some reason. If you happen to meet her, please give it to her!"

She smiled brightly without any malice.

If you happen to......?

At that moment, his heart sank to the floor.

---

Sierra froze as she listened to the past story flowing from his mouth.

[Cassius] "She handed me the baby shoes you left behind."

Oh, crazy.......

Sierra struggled back then simply because her sister refused to give her travel expenses for Sufe Village, forcing her to negotiate! And she naturally bought baby supplies to raise Hanael......!

Sierra left them at Cindy's cafe by mistake because she rushed, and this sparked a massive butterfly effect.

Wait, he wouldn't misunderstand based solely on baby shoes, right?

The Cassius that Sierra knew possessed a sensitive heart, but he also held brilliant intelligence. He never lost his position as the top student in the swordsmanship department. He would never misunderstand just by seeing baby supplies left at a cafe.

A more specific reason definitely existed to solidify this misunderstanding.

Sierra tried to probe further, but Cassius suddenly stopped walking and caught his breath. She assumed holding her tired him, but his dress shoes tapped the floor rhythmically.

[Cassius] "I know well that whatever I say will not heal your wounds."

His heartbeat rang clearly in her ears. The desperate voice of a man who had nothing to regret, yet deeply regretted everything, echoed loudly.

Half-panicked, she whispered calmly toward him.

[Sierra] "No, it is a misunderstanding. So stop this now."

[Cassius] "I......"

He bit the inside of his cheek hard, hiding his pain from her.

[Cassius] "I am sorry. I brought up unpleasant memories for no reason."

She opened her mouth to argue. However, the moment he finished speaking, a drop of water fell onto her face. She dropped her jaw and looked up.

[Cassius] "I am not crying."

No, you are definitely crying......?

Wait, what do I do if he cries!

Sierra stiffened her body and stared at Cassius. Moisture gathered in his eyes as he looked down at her.

[Cassius] "Because I know I have no right to do so."

She recognized her place perfectly as a commoner. She tried to pull her face away from his broad chest. However, he tightened his grip around her first.

[Cassius] "I will not put you down until we go inside."

I never asked you to put me down......?

Deep, sticky power laced his heavy voice.

[Cassius] "Because I will never let you walk alone again."

A chill ran down her spine at his eerie tone. Sierra had to enter the mansion, dangling in his arms.

Just wipe your tears first......

With his sharp, cold face and reddened eyes, he looked even more terrifying.

Naturally, every servant in the mansion witnessed this scene. They lowered their eyes, not daring to whisper, but they all reaffirmed Cassius' love for Sierra.

Afterward, Cassius mobilized every attending physician in the ducal mansion just to treat her minor sprained ankle.

---

Meanwhile, that evening.

Even as the ducal servants broke into a quiet frenzy over Cassius carrying Sierra inside, one place remained peaceful. It was the annex where the doctors resided, a virtually isolated space within the ducal castle.

The doctors from the Hippo Kingdom, who arrived for the paternity test, poured their hearts into manufacturing the kit required for the first examination.

[Kilo] "The fresh potion production is already finished! We can inform the Duke tomorrow. Hmm, did you compile a list of decent doctors?"

Lanya stuck her lips out.

[Lanya] "There is not a single one. It is a sheer drought, an absolute drought!"

Kilo shrugged proudly.

[Kilo] "As expected, a talent drought exists outside our Hippo Kingdom. That is why someone at the level of an Imperial Duke summoned us."

The moment his careless words ended, the laboratory door opened. Hentel warned them sternly.

[Hentel] "Insolent."

He warned them about Lanya's rash remarks and pulled a tiny potion from his pocket. It was the migraine potion Sierra had given him.

[Hentel] "Speaking of talent."

[Kilo] "Yes, Master?"

Kilo clasped his hands together, mimicking a diligent servant.

[Kilo] "Ah...... you saw the doctor list, right? If it looks like this to us, it must look like absolutely nothing to you. It is dismal, right?"

[Hentel] "Even our kingdom lacks good doctors."

[Lanya] "Haa, then we will never meet someone who can solve our kingdom's chronic problem......"

She abruptly covered her mouth before she could say more. Just then, Hentel shook his head quietly.

[Hentel] "No, I saw one."

She widened her eyes in shock.

[Lanya] "What? Someone caught your eye? When did you see them? Are they a doctor? What is their specialty? An Imperial physician?"

[Hentel] "An ordinary pharmacist."

Kilo's jaw dropped.

[Kilo] "The talent you discovered...... is just an ordinary pharmacist?"

Hentel answered firmly.

[Hentel] "Yes."

This was not a remark ignoring pharmacists. The Hippo Kingdom respected both doctors and pharmacists equally. They had a different reason for their shock.

Their master, Hentel, never mentioned anyone unless they possessed extraordinary abilities. He showed zero interest even in doctors renowned as master physicians.

However, his eye for spotting hidden talent outshone anyone else. Hentel once unearthed a physician from the backwoods of the Hippo Kingdom and molded him into a surgical genius.

Thanks to that physician, the King, who suffered a crippling leg injury during a hunting competition, walked again—a legendary tale known throughout the Empire.

If their master, Hentel, wore such a meaningful expression....…

Unable to contain her burning curiosity, Lanya leaped up. The flasks on the table rattled.

[Lanya] "Where did you see this pharmacist? What about their skills?"

[Hentel] "......I don't know yet. I lack certainty."

Looking like an old, noble angel, Hentel stroked his beard and lowered his gaze.

[Hentel] "First, we must handle our assigned mission."

[Lanya] "Ah, yes. Master."

Looking deflated, Lanya flopped into her chair and shrugged.

[Hentel] "Is the kit production finishing successfully?"

[Lanya] "Oh, that! Yes, it is progressing well. We can proceed with the test tomorrow!"

Hentel nodded.

Tomorrow would finally arrive. They would test Sierra, Cassius, and Hanael with the custom-made paternity test kit.

---

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