Chapter 1. The Second Wedding Night
2023.09.01.
Late at night, Blair stood before the bedroom door.
Today was her wedding day, and this was the room where she would spend her wedding night with her husband.
After standing there blankly for a long time, she covered her thin nightgown—which clearly revealed the curves of her body—with a shawl, then knocked.
“…….”
It seemed her husband had not yet come to the bedroom.
Blair let out a small sigh of relief, then entered the room and sat on the sofa.
And waited for her husband.
Ten minutes passed like that.
Then thirty minutes, and another thirty minutes.
Even after an hour, her husband did not come. Unlike in the past.
'Is he not going to come?'
Staring at the firmly closed door, Blair suddenly remembered what kind of promise this marriage was built upon.
'Then again, this isn't a real marriage, but a one-year contract marriage.'
A marriage arranged solely for their respective purposes.
There was no need to fulfill marital duties on their wedding night like a real married couple.
'It's better this way.'
If she were to face that handsome face, press her skin against his, and share his warmth once more, she might fall into the illusion that he loved her.
Just as she had in the past.
'I only need to spend one night with him—the night Asiel is conceived.'
Since today was not that day, it didn't matter.
Concluding that her husband would not visit her room tonight, Blair took out some paper and a quill from the drawer.
She then calmly began to draft a contract to validate this marriage of convenience.
It was right as she finished the final sentence of the contract.
Suddenly, she felt warmth behind her, and a large male hand abruptly planted itself on the desk.
Startled, Blair turned around and saw the man who had somehow approached her from behind.
He was considerably taller than ordinary men, and through the gap of his robe, a solidly built, masculine body was visible.
Beneath his softly flowing black hair were cold eyes, reminiscent of a blue summer night sky.
A man with a face so beautiful that anyone, regardless of gender, would momentarily hold their breath upon meeting his gaze.
Duke Herdin Delmark.
As of today, officially her husband.
As if reading her mind from her startled gaze, he asked,
"Why do you look so surprised? Today is our wedding night; it is only natural for a husband and wife to spend the night together."
"……I didn't think you would come."
"Even though you've been waiting without sleeping?"
Hit right on the mark by his words, Blair tightly sealed her lips.
"I was only waiting just in case. Your Gr... no, since you are here, it would be rude to be asleep."
At the word "you" slipping from Blair’s lips, Herdin’s gaze deepened.
"That makes it sound like you were prepared to spend our wedding night together."
Blair flinched at the touch of his hand caressing her cheek and his low voice ringing in her ear.
But what surprised her more was what he said.
'Why on earth?'
In her past life, Herdin had accepted the unwanted marriage proposed by her brother in order to extract the truth from her.
The wedding night, the affection—it was all just an act to bind Blair and extract the truth from her.
That was why, in this life, to avoid being swayed by his act, she had proposed to him first before their marriage.
'If you accept my proposal, I will fully cooperate in uncovering the truth of that day.'
She promised to give him what he wanted even without him deceiving her.
She thought he would no longer put on an act to seduce her, so why...
'Once he uncovers that truth, he would have no reason to see me anymore, wouldn't he?'
Just as he had in the past.
But his reaction was the exact opposite of her expectations. It was a rather baffling situation for Blair, who had thought he wouldn't even step into the bedroom.
"There is no absolute need to consummate our wedding night—"
"I want to."
His gaze, as he whispered low, was fixed on her red lips. The hand cupping her cheek stroked her lips with his thumb.
At the heat radiating from his fingertips, her heart began to pound rapidly.
At that moment, Herdin, who had been staring at Blair's lips, lifted his gaze, and their eyes met.
"Right now."
Unrefined, intense desire was swirling in his blue eyes.
Before Blair could even retreat from the shock of his raw desire, his descending lips swallowed hers.
Blair suddenly recalled that he, too, was a man.
'They say men can share their bodies with someone they hold no feelings for.'
Right, this isn't love. Nor is it an act of feigned love for some other purpose.
It was merely a momentary desire.
Thinking of it that way actually put her mind at ease. Blair reined in her confused heart and closed her eyes in resignation.
In the past, she had trembled in fear at the unfamiliar and intimate acts with him.
His large physique had felt like a beast trying to devour her, or a prison locking her in.
Despite that, she had loved the way he looked only at her, and loved the warmth of his tight embrace, so she mistook it for love and fell for him in an instant.
'But I won't be deceived by that warmth anymore.'
Spending the night with him is solely to meet her child.
'Asiel, my baby.'
If only she could see the child she had loved more than her own life once again.
She could spend night after night with the husband who might have killed her before her regression.
Today was the day Herdin returned to the townhouse after nearly a year.
It was his first time returning since Asiel was born.
Blair personally selected the dress and accessories she would wear today. It was a rare occasion.
After finishing her preparations, Blair stepped into the room adjoining the bedroom. There sat a small cradle.
The child in the cradle was playing alone, awkwardly reaching out fern-like hands toward the mobile without making a single fuss.
A soft smile naturally formed on Blair’s face as she scooped the child into her arms.
"Was our baby playing well without crying after waking up?"
"Oong. Uheu! Ububu!"
Nestled in his mother’s arms, the baby smiled radiantly, continuously babbling incomprehensible sounds. He seemed to be in a good mood, as if he knew it was the day he would meet his father.
However, Blair’s eyes, as she held the child and gazed out the window, darkened with bitterness.
Herdin had left for the main estate of the Delmark Duchy in the north not long after Blair became pregnant.
On the surface, he claimed the excuse of subjugating the demonic beasts that ran rampant every summer, but Blair knew he was leaving to avoid the wife he had gained through an unwanted marriage.
Even so, she stroked her swelling belly day by day and prayed that Herdin would return unharmed.
Her husband was a strong man, renowned as the continent's only magic swordsman blessed by the Divine Beast and a hero of the war, but she still couldn't help but worry.
Every night she couldn't sleep from worry, every day he appeared in her dreams, Blair sent him a letter.
She wrote that the child in her womb was growing healthily, and that she hoped he would also return safely, without a single injury...
But a reply never came.
She convinced herself that no news was good news. He was the lord of the vast northern territory, so it was only natural he was busy.
...She had to think that way.
Time flowed on, the summer and autumn of rampaging demonic beasts passed, and winter crept right up to their doorstep.
Even then, Herdin still had not returned to the capital.
In the meantime, the child in her womb grew robustly and began to kick. Around that time, the nights Blair spent crying grew more frequent.
The child, asserting its presence with increasingly strong kicks, seemed to be searching for its father.
'I'm sorry. I'm sorry, my baby...'
She pitied the child who was unloved by its father. It tore her apart inside, feeling like it was all her fault.
Then, one winter day, half a year after he had left, Herdin came down to the capital.
He stated that he was only here briefly for imperial business and would return straight to the main estate without stopping by the townhouse.
Hearing the news, Blair, heavily pregnant and struggling to even go out, abruptly went to see him.
It was their first meeting in half a year.
But the blue eyes that looked at his wife after half a year were as frigid as a frozen winter lake.
"Why did you come here? It must be hard enough for you to move around as it is."
In the face of his quiet hostility, the words 'I missed you' that had been hovering in her mouth could not be spoken.
In front of him, she always became a sinner.
Forgetting all her resentment and sorrow, her heart still raced for him—it was miserable.
Blair composed herself and opened her mouth, trying hard to maintain a calm expression.
"Herdin. Could you not spare even an hour? No... just thirty minutes...?"
The voice concluding the words she had started so calmly was trembling subtly.
Staring blankly at Blair, Herdin reluctantly nodded.
The two boarded the carriage together. Blair was given the time it took to travel from the imperial palace to the Delmark ducal residence.
In the silence, broken only by the sound of the carriage, Blair fidgeted with her fingers. She clearly had so much to say, but facing him, her mind went completely blank.
Then, the child in her womb began to kick. It was a violent movement, as if trying to announce its existence to its father.
Blair frowned, rubbing her belly.
"He seems to be healthy, taking after his father. His kicks are so strong that it's hard to sleep at night."
"Is that so."
"Would you like to feel it...?"
"...No, I am fine."
At his stiff response, as if dealing with a stranger's child, Blair quietly closed her mouth.
She had hoped he would acknowledge her pain even just a little. Perhaps she had even wanted to act spoiled, which was unlike her.
It had been this way throughout her entire pregnancy, but as her due date approached, her fear of childbirth grew.
Hearing that other noblewomen had their birth mothers by their sides, she had cautiously asked the Empress Dowager as well.
Knowing the Empress's temperament, the old Blair would never have made such a request in the first place, but her fear of childbirth was so great that she couldn't keep herself from asking.
But as expected, the Empress Dowager refused.
A reply came stating, "It is something every woman goes through at least once; what is there to be afraid of? It's not as if I could do anything even if I went there." It arrived along with the imperial midwife she had sent.
That was why she wanted to ask her husband. To stay by her side for even just a few days when the child was born.
However, in the face of his indifferent reaction, Blair couldn't say a word. The child's diligent movements also stopped. She felt like she might burst into tears.
That would be incredibly pathetic.
Blair swallowed the emotions rising to the back of her throat and looked out the window.
Before long, the carriage arrived at the townhouse.
Herdin stared blankly at Blair's swollen belly with an indifferent face, then gave a greeting he might offer to a complete stranger.
"I wish you a safe delivery."
The butler opened the carriage door.
It was truly time to part ways with him, but Blair hesitated.
There was so much she wanted to say, yet only things she couldn't say filled her mind.
Just moving her lips as she looked at him, Blair barely managed to think of one thing she could ask of him.
"...A name. Please name this child."
Perhaps he couldn't bring himself to refuse even that; he pondered for a moment before offering two names.
"If it's a girl, Diana. If it's a boy, how about Asiel?"
He added that it was fine to choose another name if she wanted, but Blair named the child Asiel when he was born.
Because it was the first thing his father had given him in thought.
But even after Asiel was born, Herdin did not visit the townhouse. It was only after another half a year had passed that he was finally returning.
"My Lady, His Excellency will be arriving shortly!"
The maid Lina entered the room with the news.
Blair kissed the child's chubby cheek and whispered.
"Asiel, your daddy is here."
"Abu?"
Carrying Asiel, Blair came down to the first floor of the mansion. The servants were all out, awaiting the master who was returning after a long absence.
Before long, a carriage came into view in the distance, accompanied by the sound of hoofbeats.
Even knowing it was a foolish hope, Blair's heart swelled at the thought of reuniting with him.
She knew he resented her. She, too, remembered the countless nights she had spent crying, embracing her swollen belly all alone.
But now, there was Asiel between them.
No matter how much they might resent each other, he was the child's father, and she was the child's mother.
Blair wanted to build a proper family with him, even if it was starting now. If only for the sake of this lovely child.
She thought that if he saw the child who was the spitting image of him, he would gladly agree with her.
As the carriage pulled up in front of the townhouse, the door opened and Herdin stepped out.
Forgetting all her past resentment, Blair approached him, excited to show him Asiel.
"Her—"
But Herdin was not looking at Blair or Asiel; instead, he reached his hand out toward the inside of the carriage.
The person who took his hand and stepped down from the carriage was a beautiful woman with dazzling silver hair. She stood right beside Herdin.
The duke's servants began to buzz at the sight of the two.
A woman who had ridden in the same carriage as their lord.
Though they didn't know her identity, they could guess she was someone precious to Herdin just by the way he treated her.
Blair's steps toward him came to a halt. Her purple eyes, watching them, began to waver.
Herdin's cool blue eyes and the golden eyes of the beautiful woman standing beside him reached Blair at the same time.
"Hello, Madam."
That angelic woman greeted her with a smile. Her radiant golden eyes sparkled like jewels.
Blair stared blankly at the woman her husband had brought.
The humid late-summer air, heavy with residual heat, suffocated her. Even more so than the summer a year ago, when he had left.