The Secret Affairs of the Fake Duke Couple (Completed Main Story) - Chapter 3
“Please let me see him. I beg you!”
“He’s not inside.”
“I’ll go in and wait. Okay?”
“Go back.”
Jane had been arguing with the Hastings manor gatekeeper for several minutes. In her hand was a newspaper carrying the news of the execution of Earl and Countess Whitney.
“It’s urgent. Every second counts.”
Jane clutched her dress hem and stubbornly tried to force her way in.
“Just leave already!”
The angry gatekeeper pushed Jane. She fell and cried out,
“What do you think you’re doing!”
“What about you, miss? Do you really not understand why we’re acting like this? Were you just raised too gently to know, or are you pretending not to know? No matter what happens, you will not take even a single step into the Hastings household.”
Jane’s pupils trembled.
“What… do you mean?”
“It means His Grace has ordered us not to let you in.”
“That can’t be. His Grace told me…”
She had done exactly as instructed. She broke things off when told to, and stayed quietly at home because causing a fuss elsewhere might worsen the verdict.
Jane muttered in stunned disbelief. The gatekeepers clicked their tongues as they watched her.
She truly had been a lovely, kind-hearted young lady—always opening her carriage window to thank passersby for their hard work.
Everyone had firmly believed she would one day become mistress of the Hastings household.
Yet now she was being turned away at the door.
How fickle life could be.
“There must be some misunderstanding. Please. Let me in. I promise I won’t tell anyone you let me through. If you need money…”
Jane’s hand, searching through her pockets, dropped limply. She didn’t have a single coin.
The day after the order to confiscate her family’s assets and return them to the state, even her allowance and personal property had been seized by the treasury.
All she had left were a few articles of clothing and the few pieces of jewelry she wore on her person.
‘Right—the jewelry!’
Jane pulled out an earring—a ruby pair her father, Earl Whitney, had given her for her seventeenth birthday.
“It’s not much, but please take this.”
She held out the earring.
“Please stop this.”
Even the gatekeepers were reaching their limit.
They’d been ordered from above to drive her away, even if they had to draw swords—but they still didn’t want to go that far.
Yet if Jane persisted, they would have no choice but to draw their blades. Their hands hovered near their sword hilts.
“Hold it.”
A deep, resonant voice came from behind the gatekeepers. They immediately withdrew their hands from their hilts.
“Just a moment.”
“Oh! Advisor Phil!”
Jane’s eyes lit up. The voice belonged to Duke Hastings’ personal advisor.
“It’s been a while, Phil! I need to see the Duke, but something seems misunderstood—they won’t let me in. It’s such a relief you came out. Is His Grace inside?”
Instead of answering, Phil scanned Jane from head to toe. Seeing her disheveled hair and the dirt-stained dress from where she’d sat on the ground, he frowned.
“Do you really intend to meet His Grace looking like that?”
Jane’s eyebrows shot up.
“I’m sorry, but His Grace is away on business.”
It was clearly a lie. Whenever Duke Hastings traveled, Advisor Phil always accompanied him. If Phil was here, that meant the Duke was home too.
“Phil…”
“However, His Grace did give me something to deliver to you.”
Phil handed her a heavy pouch. Jane, taking it instinctively, silently asked with her eyes what it was. Phil replied in an irritated tone,
“Considering you nearly became part of the Hastings family, he says don’t stoop to begging. What else could it be?”
Money, then.
Realizing what was inside, Jane’s hands trembled violently.
“Don’t even think about refusing it, miss. Without that money, you’ll be sleeping on the streets tonight, won’t you? You’ll need to secure a carriage to leave the capital by tomorrow.”
“T-tomorrow?”
“Didn’t you know? I suppose the newspapers didn’t mention that detail. Your exile date has been decided—it’s tomorrow. You must leave the capital by then.”
“B-but… if I appeal…”
Phil adjusted his glasses and stepped closer to Jane. He lowered his eyebrows, putting on a look of deep, regretful sympathy.
“Who would take on your appeal? And do you even have the money to pay for it? Don’t waste your time, miss. If I were you, I’d leave at dawn tomorrow. No child, however dutiful, would want to see their parents’ heads hanging from the city walls.”
Jane froze stiff. It took her a moment to process what she’d just heard.
“His Grace clearly promised he’d prevent that from happening…”
“How naïve of you to believe that.”
Phil laughed, then quickly hurried away before Jane could grab him. But Jane couldn’t even move a step to stop him.
A cold sensation touched Jane’s neck.
The guards had finally drawn their swords against her throat—because Phil had said, as he passed by, “Deal with her quickly.”
“Please go back, miss.”
The utterly emotionless words pushed Jane away once more. Her vision went black.
[This is the timeline separator]The sun rose again without fail. Jane, sitting blankly on her bed, came to her senses as sunlight streamed through the window.
She’d spent all of yesterday afternoon searching for a way to stop her parents’ execution, but gained nothing—only wounds.
Fortunately, she did receive her parents’ final message through a kind guard during shift change:
〈Jane, you must live. We love you, Jane.〉
The moment she heard those words, Jane forgot all decorum and burst into tears right there in the street. Her crying was so heartbroken and desperate it moved even onlookers to tears.
Jane had sat on the dirt ground outside the prison until late into the night. She didn’t return home until well past midnight.
Then she stayed awake all night, packing her belongings.
It was time to leave the place she loved.
“Miss, I’m sorry I can’t accompany you.”
“I’m the one who should apologize. You didn’t even receive this month’s wages, and now we part after only hardship.”
El and a few other servants who had remained loyal to the Whitney family until the end wiped away tears.
“We’ll manage somehow, but what about you, miss?”
“I’ll find a way. For now, I plan to visit my mother’s distant relative.”
She’d likely be turned away there too, but she couldn’t think of anywhere else to go.
“This isn’t much, but please take it, miss.”
El fumbled out a small pouch. It looked similar to the one Jane had received yesterday from the Hastings manor—though noticeably smaller.
The servants had pooled their meager savings, knowing Jane had nothing left.
It was about the same amount Jane used to casually hand out as pocket money to them.
Jane clenched her fist tightly.
“I’ll accept only your kindness. I couldn’t possibly take this after failing to pay even your last month’s wages.”
El bit her lip. Seeing Jane’s pale, exhausted face, she simply couldn’t bring herself to leave.
“You must take at least this, miss, or we won’t be able to go.”
El placed the pouch on the nightstand. Jane’s gaze lingered on it for a long while.
“El, instead of the money… could you do me one favor?”
“A favor? Of course! Anything!”
Jane fetched a letter from her desk drawer.
“I’d like you to deliver this letter to Cain.”
Last night, after much hesitation, Jane had written it—not an impudent plea from a traitor’s daughter asking to meet again.
It contained an apology for the pain she’d caused him, and blessings for his future.
“Yes, I’ll make sure he gets it.”
El squeezed both the letter and Jane’s hand tightly. Then she bowed deeply one last time before Jane.
Jane was left alone.
The bustling sounds of morning preparations, warm smiles—everything had vanished. Only silence remained in the mansion.
But even this silence, she now had to let go of.
Jane’s heart had burned black. The end of a child once blessed by God was truly this wretched.
Jane Whitney—she was a woman who had lost everything. No, correction: she still had much.
Chains now filled the mud where she stood.
Parents executed for treason, astronomical debts, public contempt, the disgrace of a broken engagement.
Every day of Jane’s life was miserable.
Her relatives, whom she’d begged for shelter, threw her out after barely a month.
Jane had no choice but to spend the money Duke Hastings had tossed her—money she’d kept intending to return someday.
Each time she spent it, it felt like a blade scraping her heart—but survival left her no alternative.
With that money, she settled in Rouen, a small coastal town known for its thriving maritime trade.
Settling in wasn’t easy. Not long after her arrival, rumors from the capital began spreading.
Daughter of a traitor. Enemy of the nobility.
Because of these labels, finding work was nearly impossible. Even when she did find jobs, employers often refused to pay her wages.
〈You expect payment after working like this? I should be the one getting paid—look at the damage you caused! Do you even know how to do anything properly?〉
〈Did you glue your mouth shut? Say something! Why do you keep your lips sealed so mysteriously? Got a problem? Do you, huh?〉
If she spoke, she was scolded; if she stayed silent, she was criticized.
Still, Jane struggled to live cheerfully and resiliently.
Living as a fallen noblewoman, she finally came to understand her parents’ choices.
The world was not fair.
From that moment on, she regained her will to live. Jane fought desperately just to live like a human being.
Seven years passed.
Much had changed since then.
Jane, once eighteen, was now twenty-five. With a special pardon, her exile order was lifted, and she returned to the capital.
Having done only menial labor before, Jane began working as a governess once her exile ended.
She soon gained a reputation as a capable and respected governess.
“The breeze feels nice.”
Jane was teaching in the garden, where a cool spring wind blew.
“Yes, teacher! You promised we’d play chess today, remember?”
The little gentleman sitting across from Jane, diligently solving problems, brightened with excitement.
Male lead says he’s pregnant — and it’s female lead’s child
Something seems a bit off about this world.
Wang Zhao thought as she watched a pregnant man walking towards her…
Intro
Female lead finds herself in a world where the men who possess the ability to bear children.
As she navigates this unfamiliar reality, she is caught off guard by the sudden appearance of her boyfriend, who reveals that he is pregnant.
Is this truly her boyfriend?
Why can’t she recall any details about their time together?
She begins to doubt whether the child her boyfriend is carrying is even hers.
Is there a hidden reason behind her amnesia, or could it be a side effect of her sudden arrival in this strange new world?
Just when it seems the protagonist’s life couldn’t become any more entangled, her ex-boyfriend makes an unexpected appearance, raising questions about the protagonist’s past.
__________
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I feel like Cain has been working behind the scenes to get Jane back. I bet he sent the loan sharks to harass her too so she woild take him up on his offer
Sure later Cain wil regret everything he’s done to jane..he only looked the bad side from opposite but never looked inside