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~Chapter 33~
Be Careful When Sharing a Bed
Watching the cigar that had not even been properly lit burn away together with the firewood, Herdin walked toward the table where the water kettle sat.
His throat felt dry.
Through the glass he was drinking from, he could see Blair sleeping soundly.
He was quietly watching her when it happened.
A dizzying sensation overtook him, and a pale illusion unfolded before his eyes.
The bed before him was drenched in bright red blood, and Blair was collapsed on top of it.
A large amount of blood was flowing from her back.
Seeing that sight, Herdin’s heart dropped.
It felt as if all the blood in his body had drained away.
The hand holding the glass suddenly lost its strength.
‘What the….’
At that moment, the illusion disappeared.
In the place where the vision had vanished, Blair lay sleeping just as she had been moments before.
Herdin quickly caught the glass he had nearly dropped.
What was that just now?
Even though the vision had disappeared, the heart that had been startled refused to calm down.
Herdin strode over to the sleeping Blair and placed his index finger between her lips and nose.
He could feel her breathing.
When he gently touched her cheek with his finger, warmth spread beneath it.
As if sensing it, Blair slightly furrowed her brows.
“Mm….”
Only then did Herdin release the breath he had been holding.
‘My mental state must be quite disturbed.’
It had happened during the New Year Festival as well, and today too.
Seeing things that weren’t there.
Even though the illusion had disappeared, the emotions he had felt at that moment lingered unpleasantly like an afterimage.
Just as Herdin was about to withdraw the hand he had placed on Blair, her eyelids trembled and she opened her eyes.
Her violet eyes, filled with the sunlight filtering into the room, blinked slowly.
As her gaze gradually focused, her eyes settled on him.
“…Herdin?”
The breath that slipped out with her voice tickled his finger.
Watching Blair quietly, his index finger traced over her lips before he lowered his body and swallowed them with his own.
The trembling lips, the faint groan, the hot breaths intertwining—
Only then did the unpleasant afterimage of the illusion finally disappear.
The woman was alive.
In his arms.
* * *
“His Grace is still in the bedroom.”
When Ruth arrived at the Delmark ducal residence at his usual time, that was the news Mason gave him before even greeting him.
Knowing what that meant, Ruth frowned slightly.
It had already been ten days.
Ten days since Herdin had started spending the night in Blair’s bedroom and remaining there until morning.
Precisely since the day he himself had been chased out of the office around noon.
‘Back then I was happy to suddenly have free time.’
At that moment, Mason asked Ruth as he headed toward the reception room.
“Shall I bring tea?”
“That sounds good.
Then please bring the same one as yesterday.”
While Ruth sat in the reception room reviewing Herdin’s schedule and the important matters that had to be decided today in his personal notebook, Mason returned with tea.
He set the cup down in front of Ruth.
“Wouldn’t it be better to adjust your work hours for the time being?
After all, they are newlyweds.”
“It’s fine.
My commuting hours are fixed anyway.
Well, I suppose he’ll come eventually.”
Ruth said it as if it were nothing, but inwardly he felt uneasy about Herdin’s interest in Blair.
A lord who had never shown interest in women suddenly becoming interested in one.
Since the family lacked heirs, it should have been something to celebrate—but the problem was who that woman was.
Of all people, Katrina’s daughter.
While Ruth sat there with his notebook open, lost in thought, Herdin suddenly appeared behind him and casually walked over to sit across from him.
He seemed to have just finished washing, wearing only a robe.
‘That startled me.’
Normally, when he woke up he would summon people to the office, so Ruth had never expected him to come to the reception room himself.
Moreover, having lived long on the battlefield, Herdin had unintentionally become skilled at concealing his presence.
Because of that, Ruth was often startled when he appeared suddenly.
Especially when he had just been thinking about him like moments ago.
“Good morning, Your Grace.”
At Ruth’s greeting, Herdin merely nodded while crossing his long legs.
Just then, a servant brought Herdin’s tea and cigar, lit the cigar for him, and left the reception room.
Herdin inhaled the cigar smoke and exhaled before picking up one of the documents Ruth had brought.
“Is this the mana crystal mine development project you mentioned before?”
“Yes.
Please review and approve it by today.
And I selected these as well since it would be good to review them together.”
Ruth handed him documents summarizing the related projects and looked at Herdin.
Through the loosely tied robe, the well-trained body visible beneath and the face that made one stare in admiration.
Even to him, a man, the sight of Herdin with a cigar between his lips looked sensual.
Wherever he went, there were many women who wanted to exchange at least a word with him.
That fact gave Ruth a certain sense of pride.
His relationship with Blair should have been like that with any other woman.
She would like him one-sidedly, and he would remain indifferent.
But their relationship seemed a little different from what he had hoped.
Herdin was not the type to speak about personal matters, so it was impossible to know the details, but Ruth instinctively felt it.
Perhaps when he had once suggested that Herdin marry a suitable woman before an imperial order forced him to—
Perhaps the fact that Herdin had taken no action had something to do with this.
With that uneasy thought lingering in his mind.
“Your Grace.”
Herdin answered simply by lifting his gaze from the document and looking at Ruth.
“You’ll surely handle things well on your own… but just in case.”
Ruth cleared his throat slightly before continuing.
“Be careful when you share a bed.”
The moment Blair was mentioned, Herdin’s eyes turned icy.
Like a beast glaring at someone interfering with its prey.
“Are you telling me to watch out in case she hides a dagger and tries to stab me?”
“Your Grace wouldn’t fall for such a clumsy attack.
What I meant was… not that.”
Trailing off, Ruth coughed and lowered his voice further.
“Contraception.
The imperial family might be waiting for Madam to give birth to Delmark’s heir.”
What he meant was this: after obtaining Delmark’s heir through Blair, the imperial family might kill Herdin and absorb the power of Delmark into the imperial side.
That was why Ruth had previously suggested he produce an illegitimate child first.
He held no resentment toward Blair.
The woman he had met seemed like a completely different type of person from her mother.
But blood was thicker than water.
From Ruth’s perspective as someone serving Delmark, the fact that she belonged to the imperial family alone was enough to prevent him from lowering his guard.
He knew having an illegitimate child would be immoral and damage the family’s reputation.
But to Ruth, Herdin’s safety was more important than anything else.
The late Duchess—the one who had given him a second life—would have wished the same.
Listening to Ruth’s words, Herdin thought of Blair.
And of the contraceptive pills that were always placed on the bedside table beside her bed.
She was a woman whose only intention was to finish this contract marriage and leave his side somehow.
So if a child were conceived, it would be inconvenient for her.
But Ruth did not know about the contract between them, so it was understandable that he worried.
Herdin brushed back his still-damp hair, extinguished his cigar, and stated firmly.
“That won’t happen.”
Things would end cleanly with Blair.
Especially for the sake of the lover she loved so desperately.
He didn’t know why that fact made him feel so unpleasant.
* * *
Blair only managed to open her eyes around noon.
It had already been ten days since the day he had taken her in his arms in the office.
During those ten days, she had hardly left the bedroom.
The clause written in the contract—“a maximum of two times per month”—had proven completely useless.
He had interpreted the contract however he pleased.
‘Only intercourse counts, so kissing shouldn’t matter, right?’
He would say things like that while kissing every part of her body and driving her mad.
And then—
‘It says if the other party wants it. If both parties want it, the contract doesn’t specify a limit to the number of times.’
After making it impossible for Blair not to want him, he embraced her as if he had been waiting for that moment.
At first Blair protested, but eventually she gave up.
And so every night, sometimes starting as early as the late afternoon when his work ended, she was tormented by him until dawn.
She would fall asleep as if fainting, only to regain consciousness and still find herself in his arms.
And then once again, he would…
All night long he tormented her so persistently that now the absence of his warmth felt strangely empty.
After enduring him throughout the night like that, she could hardly regain her senses even during the day when he went to work.
It felt as though he had drained all her strength.
‘How can a human being have that kind of stamina?’
Thinking about it, it had been the same in her previous life.
After their marriage in that life, until late spring when their relationship began to break down, Herdin had been just like this and never let her go.
Every night they had clung to each other like beasts.
‘I thought even that had been an act….’
This time it was a contract marriage, so she had assumed he would no longer spend nights with a wife he didn’t want.
But the desire he showed toward her body seemed genuine.
She knew this interest would cool quickly anyway, but there was no need to confront him over it.
She liked the cooperative relationship they currently had.
Besides, she had been feeling uneasy lately because there had been no visible progress in recovering her memories of the fire incident.
Thinking that she could give him something else he wanted made her feel a little more at ease.
‘Now that he said he won’t suspect me anymore, I should be able to move more freely.’
Blair forced herself to sit up despite the dull pain in her body and pulled the bell rope.
She couldn’t spend the whole day lying down again.
There was a lot to do.
Planning for life after the divorce, and tracking down the man who had killed her.
