Chapter 120. What He Wants
2023.12.29.
After two rounds of making love, Blair, who had fallen asleep as if fainting, opened her eyes to find dusk falling.
Absently tossing her heavy body, Blair belatedly noticed the presence of a large hand wrapped around her belly and froze.
At that moment, along with the firm body temperature of a solid chest pressing against her back, his low, deep voice flowed into her ear.
"Does it usually not move much?"
She could easily guess who the subject of that murmuring, which sounded like a monologue, was just from his hand caressing her belly.
"I've been feeling it more often lately, but there are quiet days sometimes. Like today. Maybe because Daddy..."
Blair, who had absentmindedly called him 'Daddy,' belatedly closed her mouth.
It was the first time she had acknowledged him as the child's father in front of him.
Because she hated him for being indifferent to the child throughout her past life, she had deliberately avoided acknowledging him as the child's father.
Blair glossed over the title and added.
"...It might be hiding because it's unfamiliar."
"Then we'll have to get familiar from now on."
Blair didn't respond to his words.
She hated herself for naturally dreaming of a future with him at his single remark about needing to get closer to the child.
How many times have I already been hurt by you, yet what am I still expecting?
Herdin, who couldn't possibly know Blair's feelings, pressed his lips to her ear and asked.
"Blair."
"Yes."
"Shall we go see the square tomorrow?"
"..."
"It's the harvest festival."
"...If you want to, then let's do that."
As soon as Blair's answer fell, his hand that had been caressing her belly rose up and grasped her desirable body. Then his firm leg overlapped between her legs.
Startled by his heat that had already grown hot again, Blair flinched and looked back at him.
"Her—"
But before Blair could say anything, his lips swallowed hers.
Sucking her lower lip and upper lip in turn, he released her lips and pressed his body closer, whispering.
"I won't put it in this time. Let's do it just one more time."
Blair, who was about to push him away, froze when she met his face looking down at her.
The blue eyes that contained her image swayed like those of a demon.
Gazing at those eyes as if bewitched, Blair belatedly remembered that a dinner banquet was scheduled at the mansion today, but that thought was swallowed up by his lips overlapping hers again.
* * *
The next day, afternoon after lunchtime.
A carriage bearing the crest of the Delmark Ducal House arrived in front of a building.
It was the largest boutique in Nerha and also the flagship store of the most famous boutique in the Clania Kingdom.
Since coming to Nerha, Blair had lived as a commoner woman all along, so she didn't have a single dress befitting a noble lady.
If they were in the Empire, she would have commissioned custom-made clothes, but since they would only stay in Nerha for a short time, she came to buy ready-to-wear dresses.
As Herdin and Blair stepped down from the carriage, the boutique staff who had been notified in advance and were waiting bowed their heads in unison.
At the center was the boutique's owner.
"Welcome, Your Grace the Duke! I've always wanted to meet you, and now I finally have the honor. Thank you for visiting."
The boutique owner, dreaming of opening a branch in the neighboring city of Livren Territory by winning Herdin's favor with this opportunity, showed the extraordinary step of personally coming out to greet him.
Receiving his warm welcome, the two entered the boutique and were guided to the VIP room.
When Blair went straight in to try on dresses, the boutique owner brought a catalog and presented it to Herdin.
"Our boutique also handles jewelry so you can browse accessories that match the clothes all at once."
"..."
"Since the Madam would find it inconvenient to move around, if Your Grace selects suitable items in advance, we'll prepare them right away."
Herdin, sitting deep in the sofa with his long legs crossed, opened the catalog handed to him by the boutique owner.
Just as he selected a few pieces of jewelry that would suit Blair and told the boutique owner, Blair came out after finishing trying on her dress.
"The saying 'clothes make the person' seems to exist for the Madam. How can it suit her so perfectly?"
"It's my first time seeing someone who looks so good in maternity clothes. She looks just like a statue of the Virgin Mary."
The staff who had helped Blair dress made a fuss.
If they had said the same thing to someone else, it would have sounded like simple salesmanship, but Herdin agreed with their fuss over Blair.
"It suits you well."
When he gave a small nod, the staff took Blair and went back into the dressing room.
While repeating the process of trying on and showing off several dresses, Herdin spoke up.
"That's enough."
The boutique owner nervously observed his expression, wondering if he had offended him in some way.
"It seems like it's becoming too much for my wife, so let's stop trying on here, and I'd like to decide on the purchases now."
Fortunately, Herdin didn't seem to be in a bad mood.
The boutique owner swallowed a sigh of relief and quickly agreed with his opinion.
"Certainly, trying on clothes consumes a lot of energy. The Madam has a considerate husband. By the way, which clothes caught your eye?"
"How many maternity dresses in her size does this store sell in total?"
When the boutique owner glanced at the general manager standing behind him, she answered instead.
"It's not exact, but I'd say about thirty dresses."
"All of them."
"Excuse me?"
"I said I'll purchase all thirty dresses."
Everyone in the boutique was surprised by Herdin's bold purchase. The most surprised among them was none other than Blair.
"Herdin, I don't need that many. A few dresses will be enough."
"It will take quite some time to return to the Empire, so shouldn't you have around thirty dresses?"
"But..."
"Send all of them to the Nerha lord's villa."
Herdin ignored Blair's objections and ordered the manager.
The boutique owner marveled at his wealth while inwardly smacking his lips in regret.
'If I had known this would happen, I should have made a lot more maternity clothes.'
Maternity clothes can only be worn during pregnancy, so they were seasonal garments; truly precious and expensive fabrics were used when making regular dresses. Therefore, the boutique didn't make that many maternity clothes.
This wasn't just about immediate sales; it was regrettable when thinking about the impact that Blair, as the Duchess of Delmark, would bring after returning to the Empire wearing their dresses.
On second thought, it was fortunate that they could at least sell thirty dresses.
Unlike the owner whose mouth stretched to his ears at the thought of raising his boutique's prestige, Blair swallowed a sigh.
Just then, the staff who had gone to fetch the jewelry returned.
They placed the jewelry in front of Herdin and Blair, explained each piece one by one, and then helped with trying them on.
"Your skin is so fair that any jewel suits you well. Which one do you like the best, Madam?"
"I like this one the best."
What Blair chose after trying on all the jewelry brought was the most modestly designed necklace and earrings with small jewels as accents.
Herdin gazed intently at Blair, who was using polite speech to the staff.
It seemed the noble imperial princess who used to only take the most precious things in the world had grown accustomed to the status of a commoner. Both in her manner of speaking and her tastes.
But Herdin had no intention of leaving things that way.
It was time to return to being not the commoner Arwen Hales, but Blair Delmark, the Duchess of Delmark.
"I'll purchase everything we've seen so far."
"You're as magnanimous as they say!"
Once again, joy and sorrow crossed paths.
The boutique owner beamed with a wide smile and rubbed his hands together, while Blair's expression looking at Herdin grew even darker.
"This one is enough for me. There won't be any major events until we return to the Empire anyway, so I don't need this many."
"You are my wife, and the lady of House Delmark."
Herdin firmly established the most certain justification to Blair, who was refusing adamantly.
"These are rightfully necessary for maintaining the dignity of a duchess, so just accept them. If it truly bothers you, think of it as an emergency fund in case you're short on travel money on the way back."
Blair closed her mouth without further arguing against his words.
Meanwhile, the boutique owner, only thinking of currying favor with Herdin, praised him saying, "To think you'd use it as travel money—Your Grace is quite the joker."
Having finished their shopping, the two boarded the carriage while receiving farewells from all the staff and the owner, just as when they had arrived at the boutique.
Soon, the carriage departed for its next destination.
Herdin looked at the silent Blair. She was gazing out the window as she always did. With a darker expression than when they had first arrived at the boutique.
Watching her, Herdin tapped his fingers on the windowsill and asked.
"How is your physical condition?"
Only then did Blair turn to look at him.
"...I'm fine."
Realizing a beat late that he had asked because of her expression, Blair added quietly.
"Thank you, Herdin."
Having expressed gratitude with a face that didn't look grateful at all, she turned her gaze back out the window. Herdin gazed intently at her.
The woman who used to smile at a mere piece of roasted marshmallow doesn't smile even when given things so precious and valuable that they can't be measured in marshmallows.
The price of that smile was a standard beyond comprehension.
But he was certain he could buy that expensive smile at the next place they were going.
* * *
"Blair."
Blair, who had accidentally fallen asleep, woke up at the sound of her husband calling her.
Still not fully awake, Blair stepped down from the carriage with his escort and froze at the sight before her eyes.
"This place..."