Chapter 863
Chapter 863: Reliving The Past (1)
The Baron was clueless about the trickery that had been going on behind his back, orchestrated by none other than his wife who was laying on the bed with a sickly pallor.
When the Baroness had finally recovered after resting in the same room for a week or so, the noble couple decided that they should return to their ancestral house where the other members of their family resided.
However, before leaving the noblewoman decided to deal with a few matters while her husband was making sure that the carriages for their trip back home were ready.
Making use of the time he wasn’t around, the Baroness gave out strict instructions to the servants who had accompanied her in this play that they had enacted.
No one was allowed to utter a single word about the truth of the incident to any outsider.
If rumors got out then she vowed to make life difficult for them.
Since they were equally at fault and also received sufficient monetary funds in order to keep their silence, they promised to not even speak a word about this incident to any other soul.
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They would not even dare to repeat what they had seen to their family members back at home.
Only after inflicting enough terror in their hearts about the consequences of betraying her did the Baroness make a move from the room.
On her way to the carriages where her husband was waiting for her, she met the guards who had been looking around for the wicked maid all this time.
They had been working in shifts to ensure that the Baron would not suspect their absence from their assigned posts.
To their relief, the Baron was entirely under the belief that his firstborn had already died and was too busy mourning her sad demise to pay attention to what they were up to.
Thanks to his inattention, they were able to search in the vicinity for the maid who had run away with the child.
However, they could not openly ask the people residing in the neighboring homes if they had seen a woman escaping with a child as that would gain a lot of attention and might reach the ears of the Baron.
Therefore, they simply stated that a maid had escaped with a few precious gems of their Madame and they were investigating where she could have run off to.
They also made sure to not reveal the identity of the Baroness as that too might lead to troublesome outcomes for them to explain properly.
Sadly, despite taking so many precautions, all they gained was a negative response.
The closest neighbor from the place where the Baroness stayed had many miles of distance separating the two houses.
There were paths that led to different directions between the two houses as well so it was difficult to gain a useful answer from them.
When the Baroness heard this news from the guards before she left, she wished to curse them but her husband was not too far away so she could only hold her anger in.
Ordering them to continue their search, she left them behind and began walking towards the carriage where her husband stood.
Seeing that the Baroness had lost a lot of weight due to the tragic experiences she had undergone, the husband’s heart ached for her and he tried his best to keep her happy so that she regained her strength and vitality once again.
Once their journey began, the couple sat in silence until they reached the Baron’s ancestral home.
The Baron’s family members were exceptionally attentive towards the young Madame when she returned and did everything they could to ensure that she did not dwell in the past.
No one ever brought up the topic of the dead child before the woman and also never pressured her for anything.
This was an era where it wasn’t too uncommon for a child to die at birth or even before birth.
Therefore, no one thought too much or was suspicious after hearing about the tragedy that had taken place in their family this time.
The Baroness had previously expected to hear a lot of insults from her mother-in-law who prided herself on giving birth to three beautiful, talented, and healthy children.
However, to her surprise, everyone was considerate and never let her feel depressed.
Except for the nanny and the maidservant initially sent by the Baron’s mother to help out with the funeral preparations, no other servant in this house had any idea about the truth of the child’s disappearance.
These two servants also kept their mouths shut and pretended to be saddened by the death of the child.
The Baroness too did her part to display her downcast mood but did not let go of the anger and hatred simmering in her heart towards the woman who stole her child.
When the news of her failed pregnancy reached the ears of her father, he rushed over to the South despite his old age.
He also brought along with him even more money and other items that he thought would help ease her pain.
The Baroness was especially grateful for the excess money he had accumulated for her this time.
Once their daily life resumed how it had been in the past, she put that large amount of money to good use.
The nanny had become her liaison with the guards who had helped her look for the wicked maid in the past.
Using those guards, the Baroness commissioned more men to look for the maid and the stolen child in secret.
Even after taking the large sum of money to maintain their silence and also work towards her cause, these men weren’t able to succeed in their task.
Weeks had turned to months and months went on to become years yet she heard no word about either the maid or the child.
The nanny had later dissuaded her from spending all of her earnings on this fruitless endeavor.
As disheartened as she was, the Baroness had to face the truth that she might not meet her child ever again in this life.
There was no saying whether the baby was still alive or had been dealt with after she had been stolen back then.
Therefore, after three years of looking for the child, the Baroness called back the men and asked them to stop their searches.
There was another reason which had spurred her to make this decision but that wasn’t necessary right now.
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The Baroness sighed with deep sadness at the thought of how she had given up all hopes of finding her firstborn child back then.
Her husband and his family did not make things difficult for her but she could tell that they were deeply disturbed by what had taken place.
It was not that she had not tried but finding the child had become an impossible task as time went by.
Therefore, she had decided to seal away that portion of her heart to avoid dwelling in the past.
However, things changed one fine day when she was drinking tea, just like she was right now, in one of the rooms where she stored the items her father had sent her.
More than a year ago, she had sat in that room, reminiscing about the good days she had before she had gotten married.
Having lost her mother at a very young age, her father had been her biggest supporter and her best source of comfort.
Though he was busy, he always made it a point to check in on her and ensure that she was doing well.
Her days in her maiden family had been comfortable and enjoyable just due to the existence of her father.
Though she also had an elder brother in the same family, she never had a very close and pleasant relationship with him during their childhood.
As they grew older, he was occupied with training to become the heir while she was busy learning how to be a lady of noble upbringing.
Therefore, the siblings did not have much love and contact with each other.
In the eyes of the public, they were kind and considerate towards each other but she was well aware of the truth that was concealed from the rest.
This was especially emphasized when their father died in a tragic accident and the first thing her elder brother did was to cut off her financial support.
Since she had married into the Baron’s family, there was no longer any need for him to support her through monetary means.
His immediate action once he came to power had thus ended her days of living in leisure, also indirectly contributing to the search mission for her child being stopped before it could gain any fruitful results.