Chapter 53: Christian and Zachery Swap Identities

Chapter 53: Chapter 53: Christian and Zachery Swap Identities

Twenty minutes later, Zane Grant was stopped in the living room.

He looked at "Christian" in front of him and asked in surprise, "Christian, has your fever broken?"

The young master, who had been lethargic just earlier at noon, was now bursting with energy. His cheeks were rosy, and he looked incredibly healthy.

Zane touched his forehead and muttered in a daze, "It’s a miracle..."

Christian had always been frail. Normally, even a minor cold would put all of Imperial Crest on high alert for fear that he wouldn’t pull through. When he suddenly spiked a fever at noon, Zane had truly been startled. However, after a thorough checkup revealed no underlying issues, he agreed to Christian’s request not to tell Nathaniel Sloan about the fever.

And now, after just one nap, Christian was perfectly fine?

Zachery, who was disguised as Christian, was speechless. His eyes darted around, unable to hide his guilty conscience. "Yes, m-my fever is gone. Uncle Grant, I need a favor from you."

Zane sensed that something was off about "Christian," but he couldn’t quite put his finger on it. "What kind of favor?"

Zachery cleared his throat and said, "Daddy is going to be at Rosalind Manor for a few days, and I kind of miss him. Uncle Grant, can you take me to Rosalind Garden?"

Zane looked utterly shell-shocked, his pupils dilating in disbelief. "You’re saying you miss Nathaniel?"

Christian had always been quite aloof, cut from the exact same cloth as Nathaniel. A person like that would never admit to missing someone, no matter how much they actually did. Especially Christian—due to his chronic poor health, he had no friends his own age and always kept his feelings bottled up.

When had he ever expressed his inner thoughts so straightforwardly?

Zachery was startled by Zane’s flabbergasted expression. For a moment, he panicked. He thought, "Oh no, am I going to fail my disguise as the young master on the very first day?"

He was just about to say something to salvage the situation when Zane suddenly crouched down in front of him. With a look of deep emotion and a hint of heartache, Zane said firmly, "Alright, Uncle Grant will take you!"

Zane thought, "If even someone as inarticulate as Christian is saying he misses his daddy, just how much must he be missing him? He might just be saying ’I miss Daddy’ out loud, but who knows, maybe our precious Christian is secretly wiping away tears under his blanket in the dead of night!"

Letting his imagination run wild, Zane’s heart ached even more for the boy. He secretly cursed Nathaniel’s ridiculous luck for having such a well-behaved son.

"But it’s too late today. How about this, precious Christian? I’ll take you to Rosalind Garden first thing tomorrow morning. Sound good?"

Zachery agreed guiltily. "Okay, but you can’t tell Daddy, Uncle Grant. I want to give him a surprise."

Zane’s face beamed with paternal affection. "Alright, alright. Not a problem."

The next day.

Zachery applied his disguise and skillfully altered Christian’s appearance as well. Looking at Christian wearing his face, Zachery didn’t feel weirded out at all. Instead, an inexplicable sense of closeness welled up from the bottom of his heart.

It was so strange.

His disguise skills usually weren’t this flawless, but for some reason, after swapping his and the young master’s appearances, not a single person in Imperial Crest had noticed a thing.

Perhaps it was because the two of them naturally looked a bit alike. After all, they were both that scumbag daddy’s sons.

Zachery patted Christian’s shoulder. "Young Master, I’m off then. Rest well at home and recover from your sickness, and while you’re at it, take good care of that little dummy Mia!"

Christian nodded solemnly. "Don’t worry."

Standing off to the side, Mia looked entirely unconvinced. She wondered if this would actually work.

Christian, wearing Zachery’s face, was being impossibly obedient, while Zachery, wearing the young master’s face, was bouncing off the walls. Were all the adults here blind? How could they not see through this?

Still, the two of them really did look so much alike. For a brief moment, even Mia herself had been dazed by the resemblance.

"Mia." As soon as Zachery left, Christian turned to her. "Don’t you guys have a video call with Mommy every day? Isn’t it about time?"

Before she could answer, he added, "Since I am Zachery now, let me handle today’s call."

Mia shot him a bewildered look.

Had he already completely immersed himself in the role? Why did the word "Mommy" roll off his tongue so naturally?

7:00 AM, Rosalind Manor.

Estelle Lockwood was jolted awake by her alarm. She rubbed her temples. Yesterday’s meetings had dragged on until nine at night. Neither side was willing to budge on the raw material prices, leading to endless arguments. Once they had finally settled on a mutually satisfactory price, she had to rush off to inspect the raw material base.

By the time she returned to her room, it was already midnight. Estelle had been so exhausted she didn’t want to move a muscle, but since she still had an inspection at Rosalind Farm today, she immediately forced herself out of bed to wash up as soon as the alarm went off.

It wasn’t long before her phone rang with a video call from Mia. As soon as the call connected, two little munchkins appeared on the screen. "Good morning, my precious Zachery, my precious Mia."

"Good morning, Mommy!" Mia chirped happily.

Only hearing Mia’s voice, Estelle was a bit surprised. "Why is my precious Zachery so quiet today?"

No sooner had she asked than she noticed something was wrong. Her expression instantly turned serious. "Zachery, why is your face so red? Do you have a fever?"

Pretending to be someone else should logically make Christian feel guilty. Yet, he handled the situation effortlessly, not acting like a novice at all. "Mommy, I just have a little cold. It’s nothing serious, so please don’t worry."

Estelle was quite surprised. Zachery was usually very headstrong and never cared if he got sick. Even with a fever, he would still be running around outside all day. Why was he being so... well-behaved today?

Her heart softened. "Since you’re sick, make sure you rest properly. Mommy will be home by the day after tomorrow at the latest."

Given Christian’s current physical condition, there was no way he could leave the house. Looking slightly apologetic, he said, "Mommy, I can’t go to kindergarten today either. I’m sorry."

Estelle was even more shocked, half-suspecting her son’s fever had fried his brain. "You want to go to kindergarten when you’re sick? My precious little Zachery, since when did you become so diligent and studious? Alright now, your health is the most important thing. Be a good boy. Put school out of your mind for today and just focus on recovering at home, understood?"

Christian bit his lip, suddenly feeling an inexplicable sense of envy toward Zachery.

He wondered, "So when you get sick, you can actually receive care from others? You can also skip studying and not have to force a smile?"

He asked in a small voice, "But Mommy... won’t you think I’m not being mature enough this way?"

Estelle had a sudden urge to pinch his cheeks. Who knew Zachery could be this adorable when he was being clingy?

"You’re only five years old. What do you need to be mature for? Play when you want to play, and sleep when you want to sleep. Besides, even if my baby boy doesn’t go to class, he’s still the most amazing kid in the entire kindergarten."

It felt as if something had struck Christian’s heart. His eyes grew hot, and he felt a sudden urge to cry, alongside a welling up of unexplainable grievance. He envied Zachery so, so much.

Why had no one ever said these things to him?

Daddy was always busy. And for Noelle Lockwood’s sake, completely disregarding his own wishes, Daddy had handed him over to Noelle and Rose Lowell. Growing up, the thing he received the most was harsh criticism.

He thought, "If only I could be Mommy’s son forever... Is there any way to make her my legitimate mommy?"

In stark contrast to Christian’s effortless performance, Zachery had been squirming in his seat with sheer guilt ever since he got into the car.

Zane glanced at the hyperactive "Christian." "What’s wrong? Are you feeling unwell somewhere?"

BEEP BEEP BEEP.

Just then, Zane’s phone rang. He glanced down and saw that it was Nathaniel calling.

"Hello?"

Nathaniel’s voice was a bit hoarse. "Are you still at Imperial Crest? How is Christian?"

Zane immediately looked at Zachery in the backseat. Overcome with guilt, Zachery slumped down into the seat, speechless.

He hadn’t prepared for this yet! Why was the scumbag daddy calling already? Was his cover about to be blown?