Chapter 165.
Soft spring sunlight seeped through the window.
Herdin, who woke first, quietly watched Blair, still lost in sweet slumber.
Though it seemed past time to wake up, she showed no signs of rising. It was likely because he had tormented her longer than usual last night.
Blair probably didn't know, but on days they attended banquets together, he tended to push her even harder. It was because the glances clinging to her all day had grated on his nerves.
Marriage and childbirth had not diminished her charm in the least.
His wife was still beautiful, still elegant, and still captivated the gaze of every man in the banquet hall.
In aristocratic society where everyone kept mistresses in secret, there was no shortage of men who wanted to become hers.
He understood the natural inclination to be drawn to beauty, but understanding was separate from tolerating it.
The tips of Blair's fingers, her gentle voice, even the smiles she directed at others.
He was so bothered by even the briefest contact with another man that he couldn't be satisfied unless he covered every inch with his own lips, his own marks.
Only when he physically felt that he alone possessed this woman's thoroughly disheveled state did his twisted mood finally subside.
As he ridiculed himself for his fierce possessiveness and obsession, the words she had spoken last night suddenly came to mind.
'Herdin, how about we... have a second child?'
Herdin stroked Blair's flat stomach.
'If a child grows in this belly again.'
Then other bastards wouldn't dare eye the woman who bore my child.
Moreover, if she became pregnant, she would weaken both emotionally and physically, so Blair would rely on him more than usual.
'Her waddling around carefully with a round belly was cute too.'
But that imagination stopped there.
The realization that he was trash for considering impregnating his wife for such petty reasons belatedly crossed his mind.
Even if Blair wanted it, it couldn't happen.
He couldn't put his wife—who struggled just to open her eyes at this hour after merely being tormented for one night—through that arduous and painful process again.
His hand, having gathered those dark thoughts, traveled up past her delicate stomach and waist. The soft flesh filled his palm perfectly.
Holding her from behind, he played with her while calling her name in a low, husky voice.
"Blair."
"Mmm..."
"Aren't you going to get up?"
He nibbled at her pale shoulder exposed above the covers, waking her. At the stimulation, Blair's body flinched, but she still couldn't open her eyes.
"Herding... stop..."
"You need to eat breakfast."
"I want to sleep a little more..."
Blair whined in her sleep and turned around, burrowing into his arms.
Herding chuckled at her action. The place she fled to escape his wandering hands was none other than the embrace of the very man who had made her cry and tormented her all night.
"Then are you going to skip breakfast?"
She seemed unable to shake off the drowsiness, remaining silent for a long while until he kissed her, only then mumbling a response.
"You... feed me."
At her answer, Herding suddenly recalled how she used to be and let out a hollow laugh.
When they hadn't been married long.
When he first fed her after she was completely exhausted, she had protested that it was beneath her dignity and insisted on eating with her own hands.
Now she had become a vixen who said rather cheeky things.
Of course, even now, if she were in her right mind and not half-asleep, she would never have said such a thing.
"Don't regret those words."
Today was a holiday with no particular schedule.
He decided to eat breakfast first, then feed her something, and then sit her on his lap and devour her. With that thought, he rose from the bed.
Blair had already fallen back asleep, showing no reaction.
Herding barely suppressed the desire that surged from merely having his skin against hers and put on a robe. Then he left the bedroom with leisurely steps and headed to the dining room.
Unless there was a special occasion, they had always had breakfast and dinner with their child. He didn't want Asiel to eat breakfast alone. Above all, Blair wouldn't want that either.
As he entered the dining room, Asiel, who had arrived first, greeted him.
"Dad!"
Her beautiful violet eyes, which resembled his wife's, filled with delight. Seeing those eyes, Herding suddenly thought this scene was like a miracle.
Before marrying Blair, mornings were always something he had to face alone.
Waking up alone, eating alone, with no family to welcome him home—it had been a bitterly lonely life.
That life had changed. Because of her.
The wife who would be in his arms when he opened his eyes, the child who would greet him when he came home—all of it was a miraculous happiness that Blair had given him.
Struck anew by this fact, he smiled faintly and approached the child.
"Did you sleep well, Asiel?"
"Yes. What about you, Dad?"
"Thanks to you."
Herding's large hand lightly stroked the child's soft hair before moving on.
The child grinned at his father's affectionate touch, then noticed his mother's absence and tilted his head.
"Where's Mom?"
"She seems very tired. She said she'll sleep more."
"Because you went to the banquet yesterday?"
Feeling mischievous, he set down the glass he had been drinking from and replied smoothly.
"No. She played with Dad all night."
"Doing what?"
"Secret."
"Hmph, leaving me out."
Herding answered his son's grumbling with a meaningful smile.
Soon, a simple breakfast was served.
The father and son began their meal, talking about what had happened at the banquet yesterday.
Blair's empty seat felt a bit lonely, but since Asiel was usually the one who chatted away anyway, a warm atmosphere continued.
It was near the end of the meal that the incessantly chattering child's words decreased.
Herding noticed Asiel glancing at him. It seemed he had something important to say.
"Asiel, is there something you want to say?"
When Herding asked, Asiel flinched. At that reaction, Herding chuckled.
Even though the child had grown quite a bit, he was still young, and his inability to hide his emotions seemed endearingly cute to him.
The question the child posed after some hesitation with a rather serious expression was entirely unexpected.
"Hey, Dad. When do you want to kiss Mom?"
Asiel asked this while recalling the conversation he had with his friends at the banquet yesterday.
'That's for Asiel to figure out.'
Unlike her confident shout, Senika had left finding a solution up to Asiel.
After the banquet ended and he returned home, Asiel had thought about it all night.
'How can I make Mom and Dad kiss more often?'
He knew that the kisses he shared with his parents were distinctly different from the kisses his parents shared with each other.
However, having never liked a girl before, Asiel didn't understand what that difference was, or what made someone want to kiss.
In the end, what Asiel chose was to ask the person directly.
Herding, who had briefly widened his eyes at his son's unexpected question, soon answered shamelessly.
"Every time your mom looks pretty."
"But Mom is always pretty."
"That means I always want to kiss her."
At his father's brazen answer, Asiel unconsciously shuddered.
He loved his mom very much too, but sometimes he thought his dad's affection for her was a bit excessive. Like right now.
"Then why don't you do it much usually?"
"We do it secretly. Mom gets embarrassed in front of you."
Relief spread across Asiel's face upon hearing that.
The fact that his parents kissed often when he wasn't around meant that the possibility of having a sibling wasn't entirely nonexistent.
"But why are you asking?"
"Uh, um... In fairy tale books, princesses and princes kiss, right? I was curious why they do that."
Asiel gave a vague answer to Herding's sharp question.
He already had a record of being rejected after saying he wanted a younger sibling. He didn't want to be caught and look like a whining child.
"T-Then I'll go study now."
Afraid that Herding might notice something more and ask about it, Asiel quickly slipped out of the dining room. Herding's eyes narrowed as he watched the child's retreating back, chin resting on his hand.
Could it be... does he have a girlfriend?
He pondered his son's suspicious behavior.
Perhaps it might be good to start sex education early.
* * *
Returning to his room, Asiel fell into thought.
"So Mom can't kiss easily in front of me because she's embarrassed?"
Thinking of it that way, it made sense.
The reason he hadn't seen the two of them kiss even once since witnessing them kissing in the greenhouse a few years ago.
"Then..."
Asiel, who was agonizing over ways to increase the possibility of having a sibling, seemed to think of something and his eyes sparkled. Then he pulled the bell cord and sent a maid on an errand.
A short while later, the maid returned with stationery, envelopes, and sealing wax.
Asiel sat at the table and began to write a letter.
[To my dear friends Jamie and Senika,]
The child wrote the letter carefully according to proper letter etiquette, then enclosed it and handed it to the maid.
"Please send this to the Arbon Earl's household."