* * *
The woman Headrin brought back was named Miella, a face Blair had seen once or twice while visiting the temple.
She was a priestess, a role that suited her angelic features.
It was said that while Miella was in the North on a mission by the goddess’s will, she discovered the Del Marc Knights, who had suffered heavy losses from a magical beast attack, and provided her assistance.
Following that incident, Headrin—having recognized her competence—hired her as an aide for magical beast subjugation and kept her by his side, even bringing her along when he returned to the Capital.
A talented individual and a master with the eye to recognize one.
On the surface, that was the extent of their relationship, but the servants whispered amongst themselves.
“About His Grace and Lady Miella—don’t you think there’s something going on between them?”
“His Grace and Lady Miella? I’m not so sure.”
“Well, His Grace is, of course, a man who never shows his emotions. But isn’t it obvious that Lady Miella likes him?”
“That… is true. Just look at how she hasn’t returned to the temple and has stayed here even after coming back to the Capital.”
“His Grace will fall for Lady Miella soon enough. A woman that pretty and capable is telling him she likes him.”
“True. In any case, she’s better than the daughter of an enemy.”
The giggling voices of the maids reached Blair’s ears, but she feigned ignorance and blocked it out. She feared that if she reacted, it would be the same as admitting that the rumors were true.
Just like that, the stifling summer passed, autumn went by, and the bleak winter returned.
Having returned from the main castle, Headrin did not seek Blair out, just as he hadn’t since she became pregnant.
He was always busy with outside work, and even when Blair occasionally sought him out, he rarely met with her.
Blair, who had initially struggled to restore their relationship, eventually gave up.
If there was one silver lining, it was that he occasionally showed interest in Aziel. Of course, Aziel didn’t seem to recognize the stranger as his father.
That day, Blair pinned her hopes on that faint interest and visited Headrin’s office.
Aziel’s birthday was in a fortnight. Blair intended to propose that they spend time together as a family at Holstein Villa for his birthday.
She hesitated as she was about to knock on the door of Headrin’s office. The door was slightly ajar.
“Headrin—”
Seeing the scene through the open crack, Blair swallowed the words she was about to call out.
Miella was cradled in Headrin’s arms.
Blair’s eyes began to tremble uncontrollably.
“Ah….”
Blair instinctively stepped back, trying to flee from the unbelievable reality. At that moment, she locked eyes with Headrin, who was looking toward the door.
He seemed momentarily surprised, but he did not avert his gaze. He didn’t even seem to have the intention to do so.
He pulled Miella, who was leaning against his chest, closer. His cold gaze remained fixed on Blair beyond the door.
As if to show her.
Stumbling backward, Blair turned and retreated to her room. She didn’t remember in what state of mind she had returned.
Feeling the coldness in her feet, she looked down and realized she was missing a slipper, perhaps having dropped it on the way. She was gasping for breath.
“Haa, haa….”
As soon as she closed the door, the tears she had been holding back burst forth.
She could not forget the look in Headrin’s eyes as he held Miella while looking at her.
The thought of him holding another woman with the same tender touch that had once held her, and whispering to her with the lazy voice he used to use for her, made it hard to breathe.
Even if that tenderness was only a fleeting moment just after their marriage, she still loved him.
Though she had fled that room, she could not escape the reality she had faced.
“Ha, ugh…. H-huk….”
Her respiratory system, severely damaged from the fire incident over a decade ago, could not withstand that brief dash and her sobbing, leaving her wheezing.
Blair wept, beating her own chest, unable to even breathe properly.
The pain in her heart was far greater than the physical ache of her bruised chest.
* * *
The next day, Blair left a message with the butler saying, “I want to spend Aziel’s birthday at the villa, so please come on the day of his birthday even if you are busy,” and fled to Holstein with Aziel.
Deep down, she hoped. She hoped he would come and explain that what she saw that day was nothing, just a misunderstanding.
But not even a single letter arrived from Headrin by the day of Aziel’s birthday.
To Blair, who stood by the window with dead eyes, unable to leave the spot where the villa’s front gate could be seen, a small shadow toddled toward her.
“Momma! Momma!”
It was Aziel, dressed up for his birthday.
As if she hadn’t been wearing a sorrowful expression just a moment ago, Blair smiled and picked him up.
“Our son, you’re wearing such pretty clothes today? Oh, you’re so beautiful.”
Aziel, who had been grinning while receiving a flurry of kisses, suddenly seemed to remember something and pointed out the window with his tiny hand.
“Dada?”
He remembered his mother holding him and pacing by the window every evening, waiting for his father.
At the name spoken from Aziel’s lips, the face of Blair, who had been pretending everything was fine, crumbled for an instant.
“…Yes, Daddy will be here soon. It’s our baby’s birthday, so he will definitely come.”
Just as she was repeating the hope she wanted to believe, a knock sounded.
It was the butler. Seeing Aziel in Blair’s arms, he delivered the news with a troubled expression.
“Your Grace, His Grace says his schedule has been delayed beyond what was planned. So, for this birthday, only the two of you shall…”
At that news, the light vanished from the eyes of Blair, who had been harboring a shred of hope.
* * *
“Sweet dreams, my baby.”
Blair kissed the small head of Aziel, who had fallen asleep in her arms, and laid him down in his cradle.
The child was sleeping with a peaceful face, sucking on his finger.
Blair, with a faint smile, fiddled with the child’s small hands and feet before returning to her own room.
Only then did the smile disappear from her lips.
The room she always stayed in alone felt lonelier and more desolate than ever.
Sometimes, when that emptiness grew, she would bring Aziel to her room to hold him as she slept, but today she had deliberately left the child in his room.
Because the tears she had been holding back felt like they were going to burst.
Because she didn’t want to show this side of herself to Aziel.
Because she wanted that lovely child to remain ignorant of his mother’s state.
“Haa….”
Blair slumped onto the sofa.
The child had a simple but happy second birthday. He was surrounded by servants who celebrated him, ate delicious food, and received a mountain of birthday gifts.
It was a perfect birthday.
Except for the fact that his father, Headrin, was not there.
The child giggled as if he were happy just to have his mother, but whenever the door opened, he looked for Headrin, wondering if his father had come.
Every time she saw that, Blair’s heart shattered.
She could understand Headrin mistreating her. But she could not bear him being indifferent even to Aziel.
‘Aziel knows nothing. He’s at an age where he should only be receiving love from his mother and father….’
Her heart broke, feeling as if Headrin’s cold treatment of Aziel was entirely her fault.
Once again, she regretted having loved that indifferent man.
‘If I could go back to the past, I wouldn’t love that man.’
Just as Blair was swallowing her rising sobs—*creak*—a sound of a door opening echoed in the quiet room.
Blair lifted her head, wondering if it could be him.
“…Headrin?”
But what she faced upon looking toward the doorway was a masked man in black.
The man’s face was hidden, but his black eyes, reflecting the moonlight against his blade, and the hideous scar across the bridge of his nose were clearly visible.
Blair’s heart sank.
Seeing the man striding toward her, Blair almost screamed, but she clamped her mouth shut, thinking of Aziel sleeping in the next room.
If she screamed, the child would wake up.
If the child cried, this man might notice his existence and go to kill him. That must never happen.
Blair turned her trembling body and ran toward the bell cord next to the bed.
But at that moment.
*Thud—*
Cold, biting metal was plunged into her back.
“Ah….”
Along with excruciating pain, something hot surged from her mouth.
It was bright red blood.
But Blair, staggering, gritted her teeth and approached the bed.
She desperately pulled the bell cord.
*Help me.*
*Please, someone, protect my baby.*
Blair did not let go of the cord even as she collapsed onto the bed, no longer able to hold herself up.
Not even when the intruder, who had approached a beat late, pulled out the dagger buried in her.
At the same time, the sound of many footsteps could be heard from the hallway.
The intruder, having retrieved his dagger, disappeared over the balcony.
Blair stared blankly at the intruder as he climbed over the railing.
The unique emblem engraved on the hilt of the dagger the intruder was putting away shimmered under the moonlight before vanishing from sight.
Only after his form had completely disappeared did Blair let go of the bell cord she had been clutching with a death grip.
‘Thank goodness. That I didn’t have Aziel sleep in my room today….’
Gradually, she felt the shadow of death drawing near.
*I shouldn’t die like this.*
*Our baby, what will he do, my poor baby who will come looking for his mother.*
*There is still so much I want to do for him….*
Blair thought of Aziel’s face, flickering like an afterimage, and finally lowered her eyelids, which she had been struggling to keep open.