SWST 12

Chapter 12

As she looked Docep over carefully, she noticed his dirt‑stained yellowed shirt and worn military boots.
“Have you been walking around outside dressed like that?”
It was exactly the outfit the butler had mentioned.

“Ah, it’s just more comfortable this way.”

Francesca’s expression hardened at once. Remembering how careless she had been toward him just moments ago—and how she had reflected on that—made her irritation all the more bitter as her words came out as stiff as ever.
“Change immediately! What do you think the servants will think?”

She regretted it right away. Docep was never going to wear a uniform anyway.

“I’ll go change,” Docep replied promptly and stepped back out.

Oddly enough, it was Francesca who was flustered by his obedient attitude. She wondered if he was planning some new form of rebellion, but a few minutes later Docep returned, neatly dressed in a black uniform. There wasn’t a speck of dirt on his face.

“Will this do?” he asked politely.

“Ahem.”

There was nothing to criticize, which only made Francesca more uneasy.

“Butler, leave us. And make sure no one approaches this room.”
“Yes, my lady.”

She dismissed everyone as calmly as she could. A heavy silence settled over the study once they were alone—but it was only Francesca who was shaken.

“Do you have nothing to say to me?”

“I was told that you had something to say to me, Mother. That you want me to marry.”

What was this?

His tone wasn’t like the usual Docep at all.
Mother. And such scrupulous politeness.

She had no idea what he was plotting. How could she possibly know the thoughts of a son she had long ignored?

“Well, I suppose you would know better, since you’ve been visiting her home!”
“Are you referring to Halara Seheb?”
“Who else would it be? If there’s another, say it now—unless you mean to kill your own mother twice.”

“You had me followed.”

Francesca bristled, knowing full well this was something he could seize upon.
“And if I did?”

At that, Docep smiled faintly.

“So you were interested in me after all.”
“…What?”
“I thought you’d completely forgotten about me. I assumed you wouldn’t know or care what I was doing.”

Contrary to her expectations, Docep looked genuinely touched. Even being watched and monitored, he took it as concern.

“A-Are you thanking me?”
“Yes. That’s right.”

Docep nodded.

In the past, he might have taken it as interference, but having returned to life, he saw it as interest. He was purely happy about it.

Francesca, who had no way of knowing that, was only bewildered. She wanted to ask how things had come to this and why he had caused such a situation, but faced with his courteous demeanor, the words wouldn’t come out.

“Then I suppose you understand why I intend to bring that girl in.”
“I don’t.”

The smile vanished from Docep’s face. Regardless of her attention, her behavior—so different from the past—was puzzling.

At his answer, Francesca’s expression hardened again.
“They say she’s pregnant with your child. And you still don’t understand?”
“Did that woman say so?”

She hesitated.
Should she say yes, or no?

It was true that the girl had come claiming pregnancy—but she had ultimately denied it.

“No. I found out myself.”
“Are you certain?”
“A physician was seen leaving her house. I had him stopped and questioned—he said she’s pregnant.”

If a physician had confirmed it, then the pregnancy was undeniable.

Pregnant.

It was exactly what she had claimed in the past. Of course, the Docep of that time hadn’t believed her. He had spent only one night with Halara, and even that was in a drunken haze with no memory. Naturally, he’d assumed she was trying to latch onto the family for gain. Because of that, he’d been locked away in the tower… and he alone had survived.

And yet now, the one who should have been shouting about being pregnant—Halara—was calmly cooking meals at home, while Francesca was the one making a fuss.

“Don’t tell me you truly didn’t know?”
How could he have known?

Halara hadn’t even recognized him.

Was she pretending not to know me, or did she really not know?

Everything about her was a mystery. He couldn’t answer rashly.

Frustrated, Francesca spoke first.
“Bring her here and have her give birth.”

“…She’s a commoner. You’re allowing that?”

Docep deliberately raised the very reason she had once rejected Halara.

“What choice do I have? How could she give birth in that rundown house? I absolutely cannot bear to see that.”

The woman who once declared that a commoner could never enter the family now spoke the opposite.

“You mean to bring her into the estate?”
“Yes. Raise the child here—where I can see it.”

As if that weren’t enough, she even permitted them to live together at the estate. With a resigned look, Francesca continued.

“I know you’ve been seeing her. And that girl once came to the ducal castle.”

She recalled the first day she had met Halara.
“She asked the head butler to summon me, saying she had your child and needed to speak with me. She was terribly nervous.”

“She came claiming to be carrying my child?” Docep asked at once. It was exactly the same as in the past.

“But the moment she met me, she changed her story. Said it was a lie. She claimed she had secretly liked you, that her feelings grew too large and caused all this—and then she left.”

“She suddenly changed her story…”
“Yes. The head butler found it suspicious and looked into it. He said she came desperately seeking me, yet suddenly insisted it was a lie—it was very strange.”

As if—

“As if she had become a different person.”

A different person…

He didn’t know why or how, but from that moment on, her actions had diverged from the past.

That day was also the day Docep returned to the past.

“Regardless, the pregnancy is certain. Bring her here, Docep. This is the last mercy I can grant you.”

At Francesca’s ultimatum, Docep closed his eyes once, then opened them.

In the past, she had screamed, throwing everything in the study and shouting, You’re not my son! But this time was different. Even when a commoner woman appeared claiming to be pregnant with his child, she remained composed and spoke of “mercy.”

She even suggested they live together openly in the estate.

Halara Seheb.

The rigid tension in Docep’s face tilted into something else.

Did you, too, return like I did?

I couldn’t tell whether I’d eaten dinner with my mouth or my eyes.

Watching the sky turn yellow and then sink into black darkness made me dizzy—it looked exactly like my future. Only a few hours had passed since Francesca had come and pressured me to marry the male lead immediately.

Marry the male lead? Even ruining the original story has limits.

All I wanted was not to die as in the original—but I’d taken the destruction route head‑on. This genre wasn’t even romance fantasy; it was a full‑blown growth fantasy. And I, a mere extra, was supposed to marry the male lead?

It’s probably because of public perception.

It seemed I really had spent a night with Docep. That must be why everyone was trying to handle it this way.

But who am I?

I was a veteran K‑daughter‑in‑law who had survived ten years in a patriarchal household. I had no intention of creating another in‑law family—or another husband.

“This won’t do. I need to drink something.”

I took out some cold water from the kitchen. I wanted a drink of alcohol, but with no money for it, water would have to calm my nerves.

Tap, tap.

A black bird landed by the window.

“Ugh, is that a crow?”

I like animals, but crows creep me out.

I waved my hands to shoo it away and drew the kitchen curtain. Just as I sat in the living room chair to drink some water—

“Whoa.”

Goosebumps raced up my arm.

A large shadow was cast in front of the door.

I’d even put up a sign—and another man was here? And the way he lingered quietly near the door was highly suspicious. If the door opened, he might slip in and do something.

This is terrifying!

Holding my breath, I crouched low and checked that the latch was firmly fastened.

There really is a stalker.

With Halara’s slender body, I stood no chance if that man broke in.

And if that happened…

My life would be completely ruined.