Today was the day Herdin returned to the townhouse after almost a year.
It was the first time since Aziel was born.
Blair personally chose the dress and jewelry she would wear today.
It was something that didn't happen often.
There was a small crib.
The child in the crib, without a single moan, played alone, clumsily moving his little hands like ferns towards the mobile.
Blair reflexively smiled softly and took him into her arms.
—My baby, were you awake playing so quietly without crying?
—Uung.
Woo-hoo!
Ububu!
In his mother's arms, the child smiled broadly and let out incessant, unintelligible babbling.
As if he knew it was the day he would meet his dad, he seemed in a good mood.
However, the eyes of Blair, who was looking out the window with the child in her arms, were immersed in a bitter calm.
Herdin had left for the north, where the main residence of the Duchy of Delmark was located, shortly after Blair became pregnant.
Officially, under the pretext of subjugating the demonic beasts that ravaged the region every summer, but Blair was aware that he was actually fleeing the wife he had obtained in an unwanted marriage.
Still, she caressed her growing belly and prayed that Herdin would not be hurt.
Although her husband was a man strong enough to be recognized as the continent's only magic swordsman blessed by the power of divine beasts and a war hero, she couldn't help but worry.
Blair, every night she couldn't sleep because of worry, every day he appeared in her dreams, she sent him letters.
That the child in her womb grew healthy.
That he hoped that he would also return safely, without a scratch...
But he never received a response.
He thought no news was good news.
He was the lord of the vast north, it was only natural that he was busy.
…I had to think it was like that.
Time passed, the summer and autumn in which the demonic beasts roamed freely passed, and winter suddenly stood before their noses.
By then, Herdin had not yet returned to the capital.
Meanwhile, the child in her womb grew healthy and strong and began to kick.
From that moment on, Blair spent many more sleepless nights crying.
With each stronger kick, the boy who claimed his presence seemed to search for his father.
I'm sorry, my little one...>He felt sorry for the child who did not receive his father's love.
He felt like everything was his fault and his heart broke.
Thus, one winter day, half a year after his departure, Herdin went down to the capital.
He expressed his intention that he had only come to the Imperial Palace for a matter and would return directly to the main residence without passing through the house.
Upon hearing the news, Blair, with an advanced state of pregnancy that made it difficult for her to even leave the house, went to see him without prior notice.
It was a meeting after no less than half a year.
But his blue eyes, which looked at his wife after half a year, were only cold as a frozen winter lake.
«—Why did you come here?
"It must already feel heavy."
Faced with that icy indifference, he did not dare to utter the words “I have missed you” that were hovering in his mouth.
Before him, she always ended up becoming a sinner.
Forgetting the accumulated resentment and sadness, her heart that still beat for him was miserable.
Blair held back her emotions and opened her mouth with a forcefully calm expression.
«—Herdin.
Couldn't you give me an hour...
no, thirty minutes...?
The voice that finished the sentence that began with serenity trembled subtly.
Herdin, who was staring at her, nodded reluctantly.
They both got into the carriage together.
Blair was given the time it would take to get from the Imperial Palace to the Duke of Delmark's residence.
In the silence, broken only by the noise of the carriage, Blair kept fidgeting nervously with her own fingers.
She was sure he had a lot of things to say, but when he was in front of her, her mind went blank.
That's when the child in her womb started kicking.
Strong kicks, as if he wanted to announce his presence to his father.
Blair frowned and rubbed her belly.
«—It seems that he is healthy like his father.
The kicks are so strong that sometimes it is difficult for me to sleep at night.
«—Oh, yes?»
«—Do you want to… touch it?»
«—…No, it's not necessary.»
At his dry response as if it were someone else's child, Blair closed her mouth in silence.
She hoped he would understand her pain a little.
Perhaps, out of character, she wanted a little pampering.
Although it had always been like this throughout the pregnancy, as the due date approached, the fear of giving birth grew.
Hearing that other nobles had their mothers by their side, he carefully asked his mother too.
It was a request that Blair, knowing her character, would not normally have made, but the fear of childbirth was so great that she couldn't help but tell him despite knowing it.
But his mother refused as expected.
She received a response that said: 'It's something every woman goes through once, what's there to fear?' What could I do even if I went there?' Along with the Imperial Palace midwife she sent.
That's why she wanted to ask her husband.
That he would be by her side, at least for a few days, when the child was born.
However, in the face of his indifferent reaction, Blair could not say anything.
The movements of the boy, who had been very active, also stopped.
He felt tears coming suddenly.
It would be terribly pathetic.
Blair held back the emotions rising in her throat and looked out the window.
The carriage had already arrived at the residence.
Herdin stared at Blair's belly with an impassive face and said goodbye with a greeting he would give to a complete stranger.
«—Have a good birth.»
The butler opened the carriage door.
It was time to really separate from him, but Blair hesitated.
He had many things he wanted to say to her, but there were only so many words he couldn't pronounce.
Blair, who only moved her lips looking at him, barely remembered one thing she could ask him.
«—The name...
Name this child.»
As if he couldn't even refuse that, he seemed to think for a moment and then proposed two names.
«—What do you think about Diana if a girl is born, and Aziel if a boy is born?»
He added that if Blair had another name in mind, he wouldn't mind giving him that, but Blair called the child he was born Aziel.
Because it was the first thing his father gave him thinking about his son.
But Herdin didn't go to the townhouse even after Aziel was born.
And now he was back after another half year.
—Madam, they say His Excellency is about to arrive!
The maid Lina entered the room and announced the news.
Blair kissed the boy's chubby cheek and whispered.
—Aziel, dad has come.
—Boo?
Blair went down to the first floor of the mansion with Aziel in her arms.
All the servants had gone out to wait for the master who returned after a long time.
Soon, the carriage appeared in the distance along with the sound of horses' hooves.
Blair, although she knew it was a vain hope, felt her chest swell at the reunion with him.
She knew he held a grudge against her.
She also remembered the countless nights spent awake crying, hugging her growing belly alone.
But now Aziel was among them.
As much as she hated him, he was the child's father, and she was the child's mother.
Blair wanted to make a complete home with him, even if it was now.
Even for this adorable child.
She thought that he too, seeing the boy who was his living image, would willingly agree to his opinion.
Soon, the carriage arrived in front of the mansion, the door opened, and Herdin got out.
Blair, forgetting all the accumulated resentment, approached him excited at the idea of showing Aziel.
—Her…
But Herdin, instead of looking at Blair and Aziel, reached out into the carriage.
The person who got off the carriage holding his hand was a beautiful woman with dazzling silver hair.
The dukedom servants who saw them began to murmur.
A woman who arrived in the same carriage as the man.
Even if they didn't know who he was, just by the treatment he received they could guess that he was someone precious to Herdin.
Blair's footsteps, which were approaching him, stopped dead.
His violet eyes, which were looking at them, began to tremble.
—Nice to meet you, ma'am.
That angelic woman greeted with a smile.
Her gleaming golden eyes shone like jewels.
Blair looked dazedly at the woman her husband had brought.
The humid air of late summer, loaded with heat, suffocated her.
More than the summer a year ago, when he left.
⋅•⋅⋅•⋅⊰⋅•⋅⋅•⋅⋅•⋅⋅•⋅∙∘☽༓☾∘∙•⋅⋅⋅•⋅⋅⊰⋅•⋅⋅•⋅⋅•⋅⋅•⋅
The name of the woman Herdin had brought was Miela, a face Blair had seen a couple of times coming and going from the Temple.
Her profession was that of a priestess.
A profession in keeping with his angelic face.
Miela, who had gone north on a mission by the will of the goddess, discovered the Delmark knights who had suffered serious damage from the attack of the demonic beasts and gave them aid.
Herdin, who highly valued her skill, hired her as a collaborator in the subjugation of the beasts and kept her at his side, and when he returned to the capital, she accompanied him.
An excellent talent and a man with the eye to recognize it.
Officially, that was the whole relationship, but the servants whispered freely about the relationship between the two.
—Hey, about His Excellency and Lady Miela, don't you think there's something between them?
—Your Excellency and Lady Miela?
I don't know what to say.
—Your Excellency is like that.
As is someone who does not show his feelings.
But can't you tell that Lady Miela likes His Excellency?
-That's true.
Just seeing that he has returned to the capital but does not return to the Temple and stays here.
—Sooner or later Your Excellency will fall to Lady Miela.
Being what she is, so pretty and capable, and she also likes him.
-Clear.
Either way, better than the daughter of an enemy.
The whispering voices of the maids also reached Blair's ears.
But Blair pretended not to hear them and covered her ears.
He was afraid that if he reacted, it would be like admitting that those rumors were true.
Thus the sweltering summer passed, then the autumn, and the desolate winter returned.
As always since Blair became pregnant, Herdin never looked for her first.
He was always busy with outside affairs, and the few times Blair came to see him, he barely received her.
Blair, who initially struggled to regain her relationship with him, eventually stopped looking for him.
But if there was something fortunate, it was that he, from time to time, showed interest in Aziel.
Of course, Aziel didn't even seem to recognize him as his dad as he was a stranger to him.
That day, Blair went to Herdin's office with hope pinned on that weak interest.
Aziel's birthday was half a month away.
Blair had planned to propose that they go to Holstein's village and spend the child's birthday with the family.
Blair, who was about to knock on Herdin's office door, stopped.
The office door was slightly ajar.
—Her…
At the sight through the half-open door, Blair swallowed the words she was going to call him.
Miela was hugging Herdin's chest.
Blair's eyes, who were watching the two, began to tremble aimlessly.
—Ah…
Blair stepped back instinctively to escape that incredible reality.
At that moment, his eyes met Herdin's, who was looking towards the door.
He seemed surprised for a moment, but didn't avoid Blair's gaze.
It seemed like he didn't even have the intention to dodge her.
…To be continued