Chapter 21. The Woman You Will Come to Love
2023.09.21.
Blair blankly watched Miella step into the room following the priest.
'Could it be... were the two of them already acquainted from this point?'
She had heard that in the past, Herdin wasn't injured, but perhaps it wasn't an injury visible on the surface, and he had simply gotten treated and made up some excuse.
When her thoughts reached that point, the blood in her entire body seemed to run cold.
"Then, Lady Miella, please treat him promptly. The service is scheduled to begin shortly."
The priest who had brought Miella requested.
Herdin's gaze naturally shifted to Miella. His gaze upon Miella was utterly indifferent. The exact opposite of Miella's gaze, which watched him as if bewitched.
Those eyes were unmistakably the eyes of a woman in love.
When Miella stood blankly for a moment with her eyes stolen by Herdin, the priest looked at her quizzically and called out.
"Priest Miella?"
"...Ah. I-I'm sorry!"
Miella startled and hurriedly approached Herdin. However, she hesitated, unable to even bring herself to touch his torso or look at him properly.
Then, as if finally making up her mind, she parted her lips.
"T-Then, please excuse me for a moment. Your Grace."
With a face flushed red beyond hiding, Miella placed her hand on his firm abdomen. She couldn't bring herself to look at his stomach, nor his face, appearing completely at a loss.
Watching that sight, a memory from before the regression suddenly surfaced in Blair's mind.
The sight of Herdin embracing Miella, his cold eyes that didn't avoid her even when he saw her.
Blair's body trembled uncontrollably as she recalled that memory. Her heart beat so fast she felt like she might throw up.
'...No.'
Blair pressed her clenched fist hard against her upper chest. As if doing so could somehow suppress the surging emotions. Then she scoffed at herself for acting this way.
It was laughable that even after being hurt by him so deeply, she was getting hurt again for the exact same reason.
Because the fact that she was hurt and shaken by his relationship with Miella meant she still loved him.
Blair bit her lip hard and turned her gaze away from the two.
She hated him.
She hated herself for still being unable to let go of him.
Presently, a radiant light emanated from Miella's fingertips touching Herdin and seeped into his abdomen.
After repeating the process a couple more times, Miella observed Herdin's complexion and asked.
"It seems to be done. How do you feel?"
"It seems fine."
"I'm glad I could be of help."
As if forgetting her earlier bashfulness, Miella smiled brightly at Herdin.
The priest who had been watching spoke to Herdin.
"The service will begin shortly, so it would be best to hurry and prepare."
"I shall."
The priest bowed first and left the lounge. Miella, who hesitated instead of leaving readily, bowed her head to Herdin.
"I will always pray that the Goddess grants you her protection, Your Grace."
Miella departed after finishing her greeting.
Herdin, who was putting on the shirt he had taken off, suddenly noticed that Blair had been quiet and turned to look at her.
Her originally pale face seemed even more ashen than usual. She looked precarious, as if she might collapse at any moment.
Herdin approached her.
"Did you perhaps get injured at the hunting grounds earlier?"
Feeling like she might collapse at this rate, he instinctively reached out to support her, but Blair pushed him away.
"...I'm fine."
Before he could say anything more, Blair changed the subject.
"More importantly, you asked earlier what I saw in the future."
Talk of the future, of premonitions—she needed to stop that. She had no intention of telling him everything about the future.
But the moment she saw herself being shaken by him, she thought she needed to draw a line.
So this was—
"That priest from earlier is the woman you will come to love."
It was words spoken to him, and at the same time, words she repeated to herself to completely push him out of her heart.
"...What?"
"She'll certainly make a fine partner for you, but bringing her in as a mistress already is problematic. As I said before, there must be no blemish on you when we divorce."
An incredulous laugh escaped Herdin's lips.
"However, if the rumors can be contained—"
Before Blair could finish her words, Herdin's lips suddenly closed in and swallowed hers.
Having cut off her words, he pulled away before a startled Blair could push him back. However, the arm wrapped around her waist remained.
From a distance close enough for their breaths to touch, he looked at her with cold eyes and spoke.
"Even if that were true, why would I bother taking in a mistress?"
"...."
"When I have you."
His large hand around her waist stroked along her spine. The touch was gentle, but confronting the emotions flickering in his cool blue eyes simultaneously made her skin prickle.
"Until this contract ends, you are my wife. I will do things like this, and things even worse than this, only with you."
As the low voice laden with coolness settled by her ear, his lips approached once more as if to swallow hers again. It was then.
"Your Excellency. The service is about to begin."
Along with a knock, Ruth's voice was heard.
Herdin let out a low sigh and released Blair, then grabbed his coat and left the lounge first.
Blair blankly stared at his retreating back with confused eyes for a moment before understanding his emotions.
Anyone who heard that they would fall in love with someone they just met would find it absurd. They wouldn't believe it and would want to deny it.
But ultimately, just as he had in the time before the regression, the current him would also come to love Miella.
Now, she was the only one who remembered the future that no longer existed, and the only one who remembered the memories and wounds within that recollection. Therefore, she was the only one who could change the future.
Blair had no intention of changing his future.
'Even if his future changes and he comes to love someone else, that person won't be me.'
So in this life, she would disappear from his life. For both their sakes.
Having gathered her emotions and about to follow Herdin out, Blair suddenly felt something catch at her foot and stopped.
It was Herdin's cravat.
* * *
Leaving the lounge, Herdin headed toward the main temple building. Ruth had returned early, having been tasked with something by Herdin, and Blair was following behind him.
Feeling Blair's presence pursuing him, Herdin recalled her words from earlier.
'That priest from earlier is the woman you will come to love.'
The content of that 'future' she claimed to have seen was absurd enough, but what angered him more was her expression.
The face and voice of someone for whom the notion of him loving another woman was of no consequence, as if it were entirely someone else's story.
Even her reason against him taking a mistress immediately was merely for the sake of divorcing him safely.
But that was—originally, that was the contract they had made.
He didn't understand why that made him so angry.
"Her...din."
He heard Blair's voice calling him from behind. Perhaps from chasing after his long strides, her voice was mixed with short breaths.
Herdin swallowed a languid sigh and swept his bangs back haphazardly. His stride gradually shortened.
Having finally caught up to him, Blair caught her breath and held out the cravat to him.
"You dropped this."
Herdin stared blankly at his cravat in her hand, then leaned his upper body toward her.
"Tie it for me."
Caught off guard by his unexpected demand, Blair blinked. Then, seeing the coat in his right hand, she understood.
A wife's duty to tie her husband's cravat was something learned during bridal lessons before marriage. Assisting with the attire of a husband heading out for his work was one of a wife's duties.
Blair had known this even before taking bridal lessons prior to this marriage. In her previous life, she had tied his cravat countless times.
He would often ask Blair to tie his cravat. Using that as an excuse to draw close, he would pull her into his arms even on busy mornings.
...In the end, all of that had been lies, too.
She knew there was no meaning to his demands anymore. But because of what happened earlier, it was difficult to readily approach him. Yet telling him to tie it himself also made her uncomfortable.
After hesitating briefly, Blair stepped close as if to embrace his neck.
As the distance between them closed, the pale nape of her neck revealed beneath her upswept hair also drew nearer. Simultaneously, her uniquely sweet scent washed over him.
Suddenly, the memory of their wedding night ransacked his mind. The sensation of burying his lips in that soft nape, her body temperature trembling in his arms, and...
That beautiful face looking up at him.
'...I've truly gone mad.'
What possessed him to ask her to tie his cravat? He regretted it belatedly.
The desire he had struggled to suppress scraped down his throat as he swallowed. Even so, his gaze remained fixed on her.
Blair, completely unaware of his thoughts, was engrossed in tying the cravat.
Her slightly furrowed brows of concentration and her pursed lips loosened slightly each time her fingers accidentally brushed his nape.
"It's done."
Blair gently smoothed out the cravat as a finishing touch and took a step back from him. At that moment, Herdin caught her hand.
Blair's questioning eyes met Herdin's as he looked down at her.
Only then did Herdin realize he had grabbed her hand unconsciously and briefly frowned. But it was fleeting. Soon, his blue eyes captured Blair's image.
As if he might devour her at any moment.