It felt as if I was struck across the face.

Dumbfounded, I vacantly gaped at Luca.

When I recalled “Judith’s” memory of Judith and Luca’s conversations, I could sense how their conversation typically went, but it was certainly shocking, to say the least.

Basically, the conversations between the two were along the lines of…

“Luca, you filthy pig. Stop eating so much and earn some money already!”

“I earned this bread. You’re the swine around here!

… more or less.

Yep, they normally shot insults back at each other in this fashion. And then all of a sudden Judith becoming kind is obviously suspicious.

You reap what you sow. Judith’s way of talking was so horrendous that it would be odd for Luca to reply calmly.

“Judith’s at fault, it’s all Judith’s fault.”

I tried to side with Luca as if I was his mom.

But there were so many reasons why I couldn’t side with myself…

Luca was the novel’s protagonist, who I favored from the very beginning.

‘It’s obvious that I like him since he’s the main character of the story.’

Fair enough. I didn’t expect him to open up to me after cooking for him once.

Luca’s mom, Larissa, died 5 years ago.

Of course, Judith didn’t abuse him as severely 5 years ago.

At first, it simply started with being annoyed by Luca’s existence, but the neglect quickly escalated.

Notably within the last 3 years, the neglect crept towards abuse.

It became significantly worse when Luca’s looks began to bloom.

Three years isn’t that short of a timespan. But for the young Luca, 3 years felt excruciatingly long.

I have to anticipate that it’ll take a long time for him to open up his heart.

But time is in my favor…

Since Luca’s uncle, Rüdiger Winterwald will come to pick up the 10-year-old Luca on May Day…

Exactly 1 year remained.

‘Come to think of it, did Luca always get sick when May Day rolls around? In the original plot, he was also sick when Rüdiger arrived.’

Rüdiger, a year ago from now, discovered Luca’s existence shortly after Luca’s dad Jonas died after falling off a horse.

And he rushed to the Maybaum residence a year later.

By then, Luca was ill and suffering alone at home.

Whether he was sick or not, Judith didn’t care. She cared more about enjoying her time at the May Day festival.

When Rüdiger arrived at Luca’s house late at night, he saw what kind of treatment Luca was receiving at home and finally confronted Judith.

Beyond furious, he shouted,

[You have no right to be his guardian!

How can an adult act so irresponsibly…!

I will take Luca away from you.]

[You neglected the illegitimate child all this time, so you have no right to say that!

Do you know how hard it was for me to take care of him until now?

As a single guardian, I couldn’t live my own life!

And you can’t just take him for free!

I want proper compensation! Give that child support money to me!

Rüdiger despised that woman for demanding to sell off her nephew Luca.

In the end, Rüdiger caved in to her request of exchanging Luca for payment but added a final term that she should have absolutely no part in Luca’s life anymore.

[As you wish. I should give you some kind of compensation for keeping Luca alive. However, this means that you have no right to interfere with his life anymore.

Understood?]

Judith was so thrilled with the lump sum of money in her hands.

She finally got rid of that thorn from her eye and she got money for it!

There’s absolutely nothing that could have made her happier.

And so Judith sold off Luca like that, a sense of relief washed over her.

But that large sum of money disappeared as easily as it was obtained.

Since her wealth vanished, she decided to leach more money from the Winterwald family. As she circled around Luca like a hyena she was bound to stir up some trouble…

Because of this incident, Luca opened up to Rüdiger and poured out his frustration to him, but completely gave up on Judith.

Well… since I’m Judith now, I won’t let that happen.

In any case, I didn’t want to give Luca the impression that he got sold off when he goes to the Winterwald family.

In the original story, that part left deep scars for Luca.

He’s already going to be faced with difficult hardships, so I don’t want to leave him with more bad memories.

When I think about Luca’s future, tears suddenly well up in my eyes. I wiped my tears away.

It was fun reading the novel!

It overflowed with catharsis!

But since all of this is actually happening in front of my eyes, this life that is unfolding in front of a living, breathing young child, I felt sorry for his foreseeable future.

Sure, Luca was victorious in the end, but if you asked him if his life was happy…