Chapter 136. A Misstep
In my past life, I didn't know exactly what the magic circle did, so I blindly kept my distance from Blair. Just being together made me fear it would disrupt my mana, that it would cause me to lose control.
Because of that, I left for the Delmark main estate, leaving her behind while she was pregnant.
Even after I began investigating in earnest and learned it was an imprint related to the second constraint, I still had to keep my distance from her to sever her feelings for me after returning to the capital.
Now I know that simply being by her side won't make me lose control.
I also know that hurting her cannot sever her feelings for me.
Of course, until the imprint is completely erased, the anxiety lingering at my feet won't entirely disappear.
But now, I didn't want to make her shiver in the cold for such a petty reason. Once was enough for such foolishness.
Upon returning to the bedroom, the chill of the cool room washed over me. The maids seemed to have warmed the room in advance, but it had now mostly cooled down.
Herdin turned on the fireplace and approached Blair. As expected, she was asleep.
He blankly stared at Blair's peaceful sleeping face, then carefully reached out his hand toward her cheek. That hand trembled ever so slightly.
Her soft cheek, barely grazed by the back of his hand, was warm. The breath leaking through her slightly parted lips was vivid.
She was alive.
Like a miracle.
At the sudden memory of the day Blair died, Herdin's breath hitched for a moment before returning.
In the past, he couldn't bring himself to touch her, fearing his power might hurt her. The endless nightmares that tormented him took the form of his father, then his mother.
But that horrific nightmare was a weight he had to bear alone. Nothing could serve as an excuse to make her shiver in the cold.
He realized that truth too late. Only after losing her.
In this life, he would not shatter this miracle.
Herdin, who had been gazing endlessly at the sleeping Blair, finally closed his eyes only when the dim light of dawn began to spread. Holding her in his arms.
After his eyes closed, Blair quietly opened hers in the dawn landscape.
"……."
Her eyes, holding the blue-gray of twilight, looked cold, yet also seemed sad.
Feeling the warmth at her back, Blair blinked slowly, then closed her eyes again.
* * *
Early in the morning, Miela visited the suburban villa with the knights of Nerha. It was because of the villa collapse accident reported yesterday.
The knights who arrived at the scene clicked their tongues.
"Wow……. It's completely demolished. No one could survive being buried under this."
Yesterday, due to the sudden attack of the undead, all the knights had been mobilized for that, so the news of the villa accident didn't arrive until night.
However, cleaning up a collapse site at night could potentially cause more casualties, so the knights were only dispatched this morning.
Hearing the news, Miela read Raymond's intention of wanting her help and voluntarily came to the scene.
People tended to view someone favorably when you acted according to their intentions before they even spoke.
Raymond was the most influential person in Nerha, and to establish her footing there, there was no better way than to earn his trust.
Miela pushed through the devastatingly collapsed debris of the villa and approached the site. The knights who saw her tried to stop her.
"Uh, hey! Priestess, please just stay there. There probably aren't any survivors anyway. You'll get hurt."
"It's alright. If there are those who returned to the Lord's side prematurely, finding them and praying for their repose is also my duty."
An angel, truly an angel.
The same praise as always followed behind Miela.
Leaving behind those words that were now too familiar and natural, Miela began to inspect the building debris with the knights.
Not long after, one of the searching knights raised his hand and shouted.
"One body found!"
Then a voice came from another direction.
"There are two over here as well!"
"Collect them for now, and confirm their identities first."
The knights carefully sifted through the building debris and collected the bodies. At that moment, something else was discovered beneath the debris.
It was part of a magic circle with black residual mana left on it.
Even the knights, ignorant of magic, could tell at a glance that it was no ordinary magic circle.
"……A black magic circle?"
Only a tiny portion of the magic circle was revealed due to the building debris covering the ground, but judging by the size of that portion, one could guess how large the original circle was. It was comparable in scale to the collapsed villa itself.
A sudden attack of undead in a place where they shouldn't have appeared, and a black magic circle discovered in the outskirts the next day.
As the knight pieced together the circumstances from yesterday to today, he deduced one possibility.
"Vice-Captain, could this possibly be……."
The vice-captain, who guessed what his subordinate was thinking, also furrowed his brow with a stiff expression.
"……Yeah. Perhaps this incident isn't a simple collapse accident, but might be related to the undead from yesterday."
Around the time the knights were distracted by the black magic circle they discovered, something caught Miela's eye as she continued examining the building debris.
It was a man's hand sticking out from between the wreckage.
"H-here too……!"
Just as Miela was about to shout upon discovering it, the hand of the man presumed dead twitched.
Miela opened her eyes wide in surprise and corrected herself.
"A survivor! There's a survivor!"
* * *
Early in the morning, what woke Herdin was, as expected, a nightmare.
The image of his father dying by his hand turned into his mother, and his mother's image transformed back into Blair.
And so, the one he killed became Blair.
The dream of the day his parents died had become so familiar it was almost tedious, but the dream of Blair dying was something he could never get used to.
"……Damn it."
Herdin, who was cursing while irritably sweeping back his front hair, fell silent upon seeing Blair sleeping soundly.
He swallowed a sigh and quietly rose from the bed. Then, taking the lighter and cigar from the side table, he stepped out onto the balcony.
As he inhaled the smoke, the dreadful feeling subsided a little. His cooled head naturally gravitated toward a single thought.
'Who could it be?'
The culprit who killed Blair in her past life.
As of now, he could only think of two people.
The one who had kept Delmark in check for a long time and orchestrated the political marriage to absorb Delmark's prestige.
'……The Imperial family?'
Of course, targeting the Delmark ducal house—which held power equal to the Imperial family—let alone some weak household, and aiming for both the Duke and Duchess no less, was a highly risky endeavor just to keep a political rival in check.
Especially since, even if it were just him and Blair, touching his parents as well felt like the tail wagging the dog.
Thinking that way, there were some dubious aspects, but considering Katrina's disposition of even using her own daughter's life, it wasn't an entirely impossible scenario.
Herdin's eyes turned icy cold as that possibility crossed his mind.
'If the Imperial family is truly involved…….'
Rather than anger toward his parents' enemy, concern for Blair came first.
Again.
Her family would once again inflict an indelible wound on her in this manner.
In the past life, he had covered up the truth about Esmeralda's death, worried about the shock she would receive.
Then what about this time?
While agonizing at the same crossroads as his past life, the balcony door opened.
Herdin, who reflexively turned toward the sound, saw Blair stepping onto the balcony and rubbed the cigar he was holding into the ashtray to extinguish it. However, he couldn't get rid of the smoke that had already filled the air.
"Herdin. Let's talk for a moment."
As Blair, walking toward him, coughed from the smoke, Herdin furrowed his brow and approached her.
"The wind is cold. Let's talk inside."
He led Blair into the room. However, Blair pulled her hand free from his grasp and looked up at him.
"No. I want to go out and walk a bit."
Even though she thought it was a pointless, meaningless stubbornness, when he told her to stay inside, she wanted to go out.
But he would dismiss her opinion anyway. Because he was someone who always considered his own feelings, his own love, to be the most important.
Herdin, who had been quietly watching Blair stand her ground, let out a sigh. And just as she expected, he walked over to the sofa.
The moment Blair's eyes sank painfully, Herdin approached her again. In his hand, he held a thick blanket.
He draped the blanket over Blair's shoulders and stood facing her.
"Let's go out."
Blair blinked in slight surprise at his unexpected action, staring at him before following him out of the room together.
The early morning walk was a bit chilly due to the sea breeze, but the refreshing scent of grass mixed in made it pleasant.
After walking for a while, Blair brought up the main topic.
"You said you'd find the person who killed me, right? Let's talk about it together. I'm tired of only relying on you."
At that moment, Blair's rounded belly caught Herdin's eye. Simultaneously, his expression hardened.
As expected, this wasn't something she should worry about. He had to handle this alone.
Just as Herdin was about to dissuade Blair with that thought, she spoke.
"I know who killed me."
As the conversation turned to the murderer who killed her, unconcealed killing intent appeared on Herdin's face.
"Who is it?"
"It's Lord Kalido. That person killed me."
At the unexpected name that slipped from Blair's lips, Herdin's eyes shook violently.
But soon, those eyes filled with fierce killing intent once more. Mana laced with murderous aura began to ripple around him.
As if to stop him, Blair added.
"But there must be a separate mastermind behind it."
"……."
"I think the one who moved him could be my mother or my brother."
Herdin had also suspected the Imperial family first.
But it was a conjecture he couldn't bring himself to say out loud, fearing it would wound her. From her perspective, it would mean being abandoned by her mother once again.
However, Blair, saying those words, was calm without any sign of hurt. Just like when she confronted Katrina head-on while clearing Esmeralda's false charges.
Seeing Blair like that, Herdin let out a hollow laugh.
He had underestimated his wife. She was more upright and stronger than anyone.
At the same time, he realized.
Perhaps, if he had told her all the truth back then.
If he had, maybe she wouldn't have been hurt.
Underestimating her had been his misstep in his past life.