Chapter 84. Even Crazier Things Than This
2023.11.23.
Drip. Drip.
Only the sound of water droplets falling echoed through the quiet bathroom.
Stepping into the bath, Blair curled her exhausted body slightly at the sound.
'It's warm…….'
Closing her eyes while soaking in the warm water, her body relaxed languidly. It felt like she could fall asleep like this.
It was peace she hadn't felt in a very long time.
She didn't know how many days had passed since she started being tormented by Herdin day and night.
Now, waking up without feeling his warmth, without having her skin pressed against his, felt awkward.
When she opened her eyes a little while ago, he was nowhere to be seen for the first time in days.
Blair took that opportunity to come to the bathroom. She wanted to wash her sticky body covered in various bodily fluids. Wanting time alone, she even sent away Mellie and Lina who offered to attend to her bath.
When Herdin was present, they bathed together, so bathing had no meaning. She would get dirty again right after washing.
Nevertheless, she didn't refuse him in order to make the pregnancy more certain.
In her previous life, Asiel was conceived in just that one day, but there was a one-in-ten-thousand chance things might be slightly different this life.
For the same reason, she accepted his proposal to maintain the contract until the trial to clear Esmeralda's false charges was held. By then, symptoms that would confirm the pregnancy would likely appear.
Blair covered her lower abdomen with her hand and gently stroked it. It was a habit that formed after the day she conceived Asiel.
'Come to think of it, I haven't had my monthly courses yet this month.'
Calculating the dates carefully, Blair realized that her usually regular monthly courses were late.
Being a few days late was something that happened often enough, but knowing that Asiel was conceived around this time made her more sensitive to it.
'I hope morning sickness starts soon too.'
Of course, she knew that once definite symptoms appeared, she would struggle to hide the fact of her pregnancy, but her desire to quickly confirm the pregnancy was also great.
Only then would she feel at ease. It was an ambivalent feeling.
'Should I slowly get up now.'
Just as Blair, who had caught her breath for a moment, was about to wash herself, the bathroom door suddenly flew open without warning.
Startled, Blair turned around and saw Herdin entering through the arched doorway connected to the bath.
"……Herdin?"
Blair looked at him with considerably flustered eyes at the unexpected intrusion.
His blue eyes, standing still beneath the arched doorway and looking at her, felt somehow cold.
A quiet silence hung between the two. Even the surrounding air seemed to hold its breath.
The moment Blair, made self-conscious by his persistent gaze, subtly hid her body below the bath and opened her mouth, her breath caught—perhaps due to the humid heat.
Blair steadied her breathing and spoke.
"I was going to wash quickly and return……. Were you looking for me?"
"……."
He merely stared blankly, offering no reply.
Despite his slightly disheveled hair, his chest rising and falling through the loosely tied robe—clear signs that he had come looking for her.
After observing his demeanor for a moment, Blair changed the subject.
"It seemed like something urgent—did the work go well?"
"……."
"Ah, did you perhaps find the evidence?"
Blair thought he had urgently come looking for her because of that. Because it was good news, because it was the news they'd been waiting for, so he wanted to tell her quickly.
Not knowing that her naive question, as if she had been waiting only for that news, would grate on his nerves.
Herdin replied with a twisted smile.
"No."
"Ah……. I see."
Then why did he look for her so urgently.
That question was resolved the moment she met his gaze openly staring at her naked body.
It was the eyes of a beast.
Eyes that looked like they would pounce and tear at her throat if she moved even slightly, if she even let out a breath.
Blair averted his gaze and said.
"I'll wash quickly and come back. You go back first and res—"
But before Blair could finish speaking, Herdin closed the distance in long strides. Before Blair could even try to avoid him, a large hand grabbed the back of her neck and his lips pressed against hers.
"Hah……."
Blair's hands pushing against him were easily restrained by Herdin's.
A rough, devouring kiss continued, and the sound of wet friction echoed through the quiet bathroom.
Perhaps because of the hazy steam filling the bathroom, her mind also grew hazy.
Only after Blair, suffocating, grabbed the lapel of his robe and pushed him away once more did their lips finally separate.
But he wasn't someone who would stop there.
Herdin entered the bath still wearing his robe.
Realizing what that meant, Blair tried to escape by rising to her knees, but Herdin was faster.
He snatched Blair's waist as she was holding onto the edge of the bath and pulled her into an embrace. Then he trapped the resisting Blair between his body and the edge of the bath.
His large hand covering her flat belly gradually moved downward. At that, Blair twisted her body.
"Not here, Herdin. Let's go back to the bedroom……."
"Then you should have waited obediently in bed."
With the answer, her soft earlobe was bitten. At the stimulation from his two large hands moving up and down, Blair couldn't hold back a moan.
She couldn't escape him. No matter how she twisted her body, she only managed to dishevel his robe that was blocking her from behind.
Kissing Blair's pale shoulders and back to relax her body, he soon tore open his hopelessly disheveled robe and overlapped their bodies.
"Ah!"
Holding the trembling Blair close, Herdin whispered low.
"From now on, don't go anywhere, don't wear anything, and wait in the bedroom."
The moment she heard his voice settle coldly by her ear, Blair instinctively felt it.
"Since you have nothing else to do anyway."
That something had gone seriously wrong.
But the thought couldn't continue.
As his movements grew more intense, the hot water in the bath began to slosh. Eventually, Blair moaned as if sobbing.
The turbulent waters calmed only after quite a long time had passed.
Herdin poured out his heat. At the same time, Blair's overlapping body flinched and collapsed.
"Ah……."
Only then did Herdin feel the uncontrollable anxiety that had surged the moment he stepped into the empty bedroom fade away.
Along with the anger toward the woman who only thought about leaving his side and waiting for news of the evidence.
Only after filling her inside with his traces did he feel a bizarre sense of relief.
Herdin stroked Blair's flat belly as she lay in his arms, then scoffed at himself.
Even though he knew he was going completely mad, he couldn't stop.
Because if only he could completely possess even this woman's every breath, he felt he could do even crazier things than this.
* * *
The next morning, when Blair woke up, Herdin was gone.
Remembering what he said last night, she waited, but even though quite some time seemed to pass, he didn't return.
Repeatedly dozing off and waking while lying in bed, Blair finally raised her languid body.
'I don't necessarily have to listen to those words.'
She wasn't his mistress. There was no reason to obediently wait in bed as he said.
When Blair pulled the bell cord and waited briefly, Lina entered with a knock.
The tray held a larger amount of food than Blair's usual breakfast.
"My lady!"
Lina's face filled with delight upon seeing Blair.
That was only natural—since she hadn't been able to step out of the bedroom for a while, it had been a long time since they properly saw each other's faces.
Lina chattered as she set down the breakfast she brought on the bed table.
"I was just thinking that while His Excellency is away, should I make you eat more, or should I let you sleep. At this rate you'll really be nothing but bones. You are eating properly, right?"
At Lina's excessive worry, Blair burst out laughing.
"Don't worry. I'm eating properly, every meal."
Even while tormenting her like that, Herdin couldn't stand seeing Blair skip meals.
He insisted on putting food into Blair's mouth when she said she'd rather sleep than eat.
The problem was that she was moving more than she was eating, though…….
Picking up a plump green grape from among the food on the tray, Blair asked.
"But where did he go?"
"Ah, you must not have known because you were sleeping soundly, my lady. Knights from the Imperial Palace came this morning, and he went with them to subjugate magical beasts."
Blair's expression hardened as she chewed the green grape.
Maintaining security around the capital was strictly the Imperial Knights' role. Yet Ivan had once again assigned Herdin to that task.
Simply because he was 'family.'
Having chewed and swallowed the green grape in her mouth, Blair called Lina who was beside her.
"Lina, could you tell them to have the carriage and knights on standby?"
"Huh? Where are you going?"
Blair answered with a resolute expression.
"I need to go see my brother."
* * *
Mason greeted Herdin with a somewhat flustered expression.
It was a much earlier return than planned.
Whatever the urgency was, he had returned alone, leaving behind the knights who went with him.
"Welcome back, Your Excellency."
"The madam?"
"My lady has gone to the Imperial Palace."
Herdin, entering the mansion thinking Blair would naturally be in the bedroom, suddenly stopped in his tracks.
"……The Imperial Palace?"
"Yes. She said she was going to see His Majesty the Emperor. She took the knights with her, too."
Mason emphasized that 'she took the knights with her.'
He said it knowing that Herdin was on full alert regarding Blair's outings due to the two kidnapping incidents.
Herdin's lips twisted at the news.
It was just yesterday that he told her to wait obediently in the bedroom.
'And yet she went out again.'
To meet the Emperor, no less.
Herdin's eyes grew cold as he recalled his last conversation with Ivan.
Reading the subtly sharp change in Herdin's demeanor, Mason hastily added.
"She's been out for quite a while, so she should be back so—"
"No need."
Before Mason could finish speaking, Herdin turned around and left the mansion. The mana that overflowed from his body, unable to be contained, briefly wavered before disappearing.