Chapter 101. My Wife, Mine
Staring at the empty bed, Herdin strode over and felt the covers.
The sheets had already lost their warmth and felt cool. That meant she hadn't just stepped out briefly.
An anxiety he had lived forgetting for a while rushed over him. At the same time, the blood in his entire body ran cold.
"Blair."
Herdin searched every place Blair could be—from the dressing room to the bathroom, the library, and finally Pipi's room—but she was nowhere to be found.
Anywhere in his domain.
However, the room of Pipi, whom he had brought back inside last night saying it had grown chilly, being empty told him everything.
That Blair was not here.
"Your Excellency, what's the matter—"
Mason, who had come out to the mansion's central hall early in the morning, spotted Herdin rushing around the mansion radiating a chilling aura and approached him before halting mid-step.
In Herdin's blue eyes as he inspected every corner of the mansion, there was a sharp, murderous intensity.
"Blair has disappeared."
"Pardon?"
"Has no one seen her?"
Mason, who had been about to reassure him by suggesting Blair might have gone for a walk, fell silent upon seeing Herdin's murderous gaze.
Herdin was already certain that Blair was not in this mansion. In such a situation, words meant to reassure him would only be idle chatter.
"I'll check right away."
Mason immediately left the room and gathered the servants in the center of the mansion.
"From midnight until now, has anyone seen the madam?"
The servants, called out early in the morning, shook their heads with sleep-heavy faces at the sudden question.
Among them, only Lina and Melly stood pale, blinking in shock.
"The madam... has disappeared?"
Their faces, looking ready to burst into tears at any moment, showed they hadn't caught even a hint of Blair's escape plan.
Herdin let out a hollow laugh as he watched the two.
In the early days of their marriage, Blair had said she would even ask Lina to make requests to Herdin. That meant from the beginning, she hadn't been included in the escape plan.
If she had intended to leave even her closest attendants behind, she wouldn't have told anyone in this mansion her destination.
"You two, follow me."
Returning to Blair's room with her two closest maids, Herdin commanded them.
"Check if any clothes or accessories are missing."
By looking at the clothes she took, they could roughly guess what climate region she had gone to, and if she sold custom-made accessories, she could be tracked.
But all Blair had taken was one set of clothes she was wearing, and one small, frisky beast that followed her like a mother.
As if declaring she wouldn't take anything he had given her, she truly left with nothing but herself.
And one more thing.
While carrying his child in her womb, no less.
"Um, Your Excellency. I found this on the vanity..."
Lina, who had been suppressing her emotions under Herdin's overwhelming presence, approached hesitantly. In her hand was a letter.
Herdin immediately unfolded the letter.
[Herdin.
I'm sorry to leave like this.
But the contract we first promised has ended, and since you have no intention of fulfilling it, I wish to end our contract in my own way.
For my sake, and for yours, I ask you one last time—please don't come looking for me. I will cherish and love the child, and raise them without lacking anything.
Though we couldn't exchange proper farewells wishing each other well, I will leave holding onto only the good memories, so I hope you will remember it that way too.
May you always be happy.]
A hollow laugh burst from between Herdin's teeth as he read the letter written in neat handwriting.
Happy. Happy, she says.
When she was by his side, she resented him so much, but it seemed she felt considerably relieved when it was time to leave. Given that she wished him happiness.
It made him laugh bitterly, as it seemed to mean she didn't even have emotions like hatred or resentment left for him.
Thinking that way, it also explained why last night, unlike usual, she had been so docile with him. That appearance, which had satisfied him at the time, now tore at his heart like a dagger belatedly.
I couldn't become love, hatred, resentment, or anything to you.
I was truly nothing to you.
That fact struck him anew.
But he had no intention of letting her leave his side easily, as she wished.
Whether hatred, resentment, or any other form of emotion, he would claim a place in her heart.
If only he could become something to her, even like that.
Because she was his wife, who should rightfully have been his.
Herdin crumpled Blair's letter and stuffed it into his inner pocket before immediately leaving the room.
Mason, who had been searching for Blair once more inside the mansion with the servants, approached. Herdin commanded him.
"Tell the knight order. Block all routes leaving the capital, and search everyone entering and leaving."
Though she had entered a stable period, she couldn't ride a horse while pregnant. Traveling by carriage, she couldn't have escaped the capital yet.
Having given that order, Herdin personally went to the stables, took out a horse, and mounted it. There was a place he should check first.
* * *
"Peep? Peep!"
In the dark passage illuminated only by a single lamp, only Pipi's cries and Blair's labored breathing echoed.
"We're almost there now, Pipi. Just endure a little more. Good girl?"
"Peep."
Blair hurried her steps while soothing Pipi, who seemed anxious in the bag. Fortunately, the tiny beast calmed down as if reassured upon hearing its owner's voice.
At that sight, Blair let out a small smile.
When she first planned to escape from the ducal mansion, she hadn't intended to bring Pipi.
It would be safer and more comfortable for the small creature to stay in the lavish ducal mansion than to accompany her on a rather long journey.
But right before leaving, when she went to say goodbye to Pipi—seeing the small beast recognize her and run toward her, her mind changed.
Originally, she had taken in this creature because its appearance overlapped with Asiel, whom she had left behind in vanished time. Just as she couldn't leave Asiel behind, she couldn't leave Pipi, who resembled Asiel, behind either.
So Blair suddenly overturned her plan.
Even though traveling with Pipi would be somewhat more arduous and troublesome than going alone.
However, as she walked through the dark corridor for a long time, she thought it was a good thing she brought Pipi.
Just as Pipi heard her voice and soothed its anxious heart, she too was calming her anxiety through the small existence that relied on her in this darkness.
"...Are we almost there?"
After walking through the endless underground passage for a while, Blair finally hit a dead-end wall.
"They said there should be a latch around here..."
When she held up the lamp and illuminated the ceiling of the wall, she saw a latch that could only be opened from the inside. It was exactly as Mikhail had explained.
Blair undid the latch, then stepped on a nearby wooden box and pushed the door upward. But the door was too heavy to open easily.
After struggling and heaving at the door several times.
Just as Blair was about to push the door harder, the door opened from the outside, and blue dawn light poured in. And...
"You've worked hard coming this far."
In the dim light of dawn, Mikhail reached out his hand toward her.
Blair, blinking at the pouring light, looked around only after her vision cleared. The surroundings were a forest with few signs of people, completely surrounded by trees.
"Where is this?"
"It's the Pahar Forest, located in the north."
Blair first handed over her luggage and the bag containing Pipi, then climbed up to the ground with Mikhail's help. She kept one hand protecting her belly in case she bumped into the wall.
Mikhail's gaze, watching that sight, landed on Blair's belly.
While preparing her plan to escape the ducal mansion, Blair had informed Mikhail of her pregnancy in advance.
Escaping alone and escaping while carrying a child were distinctly different methods.
Upon hearing that news, Mikhail had been puzzled. Why she would try to escape from the man she loved while carrying his child.
But since Blair's resolve to escape the ducal mansion was firm, Mikhail set aside his questions and helped with her escape plan.
However, meeting Blair in person, a thought occurred to him.
Perhaps, even though the child was unwanted, she was choosing to carry it out of a sense of responsibility.
Considering Blair's usual personality, that was certainly a possibility. Seeing that she even brought a small beast while fleeing.
If that were the case, he could offer his help.
Mikhail carefully asked Blair, who was catching her breath.
"Madam, if I may ask about the child in your womb... Is it a child you do not want?"
Blair, blinking at the sudden question, understood the meaning a beat later and answered urgently.
"No, this is a child I wanted."
Then she added, wrapping her arms protectively around her belly.
"Because I am living for this child."
Blair's eyes as she said that were as sharp as a mother beast protecting her young.
Mikhail, momentarily taken aback by her fierce intensity that he had never seen before, quickly accepted her words and stepped back.
"...I presumptuously meddled where I shouldn't have."
He extended his hand to Blair, who had caught her breath somewhat.
"First, let me guide you out of the forest. By now, His Excellency would have arrived at the mansion as well, so he'll likely notice this passage soon and come tracking after us."
Blair took Mikhail's extended hand and stood up.
She had barely escaped the ducal mansion. She couldn't rest easy until she was out of the capital.
Evading pursuit was only just beginning.