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Chapter 09
It seemed Morena’s diagnosis had immediately been reported to Zekron as well.
He sent me a letter that read:
I do not know how much faith should be placed in the words of a folk healer, but since Matthew strongly requested it, I will at least give it a try. We agreed to work together, after all. I will make time so that we can spend thirty minutes together once a day.
‘But exchanging letters while living in the same house….’
At first, it was hard to understand, but after hearing that he had left early in the morning for business in the capital, it made sense.
“…What’s this supposed to mean? Matthew’s strong request?”
Reading the letter again, I frowned.
Apparently our handsome physician had been working very hard behind the scenes.
Heavy sighs escaped me one after another.
“This kind of stress… is bad for my health.”
Shaking my head, I tried to reason with myself.
“In the end… this is all for my health anyway. Even if they asked me to do something far worse, I’d have to grit my teeth and do it. So thirty minutes with a handsome husband… right, let’s just think of it that way.”
I carefully folded the letter and slipped it back into the envelope while muttering to myself.
I decided to change my mindset.
There was no need to force awkward conversation. If I treated it like appreciating a beautiful pictorial spread, then okay!
If it happened every day, maybe I’d gradually become more comfortable.
Yeah. That must be how it’d go.
‘Besides, Zekron is an insanely busy person, right? It’s probably close to impossible for him to actually make time every single day for thirty minutes.’
There were many days like today where he went to the capital because of state affairs, and there were also times he had to travel to provincial territories for estate management.
And on the rare occasions he stayed at the castle, he seemed buried under mountains of paperwork.
The moment that thought crossed my mind, I suddenly felt refreshed.
Like a lump of food that had been sitting heavily in my stomach had finally gone down all at once.
As expected, changing one’s perspective was extremely important for mental and physical stability.
“Zekron’s too swamped with his schedule to even remember this promise anyway. I’d bet my—”
My wrist?
No, no!
My body is precious!
Then what should I bet?
Why bet anything at all?
Honestly, I wasn’t really the type to enjoy gambling anyway.
Shaking my head, I shoved the letter carelessly into the pile of newspapers on the table.
Far away from my sight.
I felt incredibly uncomfortable around Zekron.
I’d thought meeting the protagonist of a novel I’d stayed up all night obsessively reading would make me feel thrilled, like a successful fan meeting their idol.
But it wasn’t like that at all.
‘Sorry, Mr. Protagonist. But you… make me uncomfortable. Sob.’
The real Elfwyn may have loved her cold husband, but I couldn’t.
Because…
I knew all too well where the end station of our tangled destinies lay.
Right now, it looked like we were tied together by the same fate as husband and wife.
But that was all.
The single path of fate would eventually split into two.
My fate was death.
His fate was Veronica.
‘Of course, I’m going to fight against this trashy fate and win in the end, hmph!’
I widened my eyes fiercely.
Now was not the time to sit around like this.
Suddenly, my mind snapped awake.
I strengthened my legs and shot up to my feet.
“I need to exercise, exercise! I’m definitely going to become healthy!”
I spoke boldly, but realistically, the only exercise I could currently manage was walking.
Indoor walking, at that.
Dragging along my fragile body, I began walking through the hallways.
After completing a lap around the third floor where the bedroom was located, I headed up to the fourth floor.
The long staircase connecting the two floors was difficult, but the higher I went, the fewer people there were, which made it easier to focus on walking peacefully.
As I slowly walked down the corridor, I abruptly stopped at the sight before me.
A portrait of the real Elfwyn and Zekron hung there.
Elfwyn sat in a chair while Zekron stood beside her, one arm resting against the back of the chair.
Both wore expressionless faces.
Depending on how one looked at them, they appeared dignified and elegant.
Or cold and lifeless.
They were a young and beautiful couple.
And also a tragic one.
“Ah?”
That was when it happened.
I felt movement from the baby.
‘So this… is what fetal movement feels like!’
I gently caressed my softly rounded belly.
The movement continued for quite a while.
“First, you must acknowledge the child who clearly exists within your body, and love the child. You must feel the child, communicate with the child, and live life together.”
I recalled the words of the folk healer Morena.
Then I gently placed both hands over my belly and spoke.
“Right, baby. You’re doing well in there. Mommy’s doing well here too.”
The word “Mommy” felt incredibly awkward the first time I said it aloud.
So awkward it nearly gave me goosebumps.
Mommy.
Me… a mommy.
There was really a child growing inside me.
“Let’s get along well together. Mommy will definitely protect you with a healthy body.”
But something strange happened.
Suddenly my nose stung, and the final syllables of my words trembled faintly.
My eyes even began to well with tears.
Objectively speaking, the child in my belly was Elfwyn and Zekron’s child, not mine.
A child unrelated to me.
Yet a child growing inside me.
And I would undeniably be carrying this child for the next five months…
So what was this warm swelling feeling in my chest?
And why was I suddenly crying again?
‘Oh my gosh, what’s wrong with me? How embarrassing.’
I hurriedly wiped at the corners of my eyes with my sleeve and blamed it on hormones.
Time steadily passed.
It had now been about fifteen days since I first woke up in Elfwyn’s body in this world.
Slowly but surely, I adapted to this new world, and the people around me also seemed to be gradually adjusting to the Duchess who had lost her memories.
Now, no matter what I said, they no longer reacted with the same level of shock as before.
Well, that didn’t mean they never reacted at all.
At least once a day, I still had to witness the silent screams hidden in Kate and Judy’s wide eyes:
“Huh?”
“How could you say something like that?!”
The amount of time I spent walking indoors gradually increased too.
At first, even thirty minutes left me breathless and trembling.
But now, I could walk around various parts of the ducal estate for an hour in the morning and another hour in the afternoon.
Matthew praised me brightly, calling it tremendous progress.
‘It’s about time I started going outside too.’
I decided to gradually put the plans I’d made into action.
Matthew, the ducal physician, respectfully handed me a parchment scroll.
“I found the exercise instructor you requested, Madam. There truly is someone who makes a profession out of such things!”
“Oh my, really?”
I quickly opened the scroll and checked the contents.
Name: Meryl Swaid.
Currently teaches basic physical training classes at the Royal Academy.
Founder of the Yosokin Exercise Method.
The Yosokin Exercise Method consisted of various stretching poses and breathing exercises used to train both body and mind.
Recently, it had quietly gained popularity among noblewomen.
As more noble ladies requested private lessons, she had apparently become extremely busy.
“She’s exactly the person I wanted! Thank you, Matthew! As expected, your information network in this field is incredible!”
“Well… yes.”
When I praised him with shining eyes, Matthew smiled shyly.
“I’d like to hire her as my personal exercise instructor.”
“However, that may not be easy. She’s extremely popular. Apparently her schedule is already fully booked for an entire year.”
“A whole year? But I need exercise right now… hmm…”
One year later was far too late.
This was extremely troublesome.
Pregnant women absolutely needed proper exercise.
Especially someone with such terrible stamina as me.
In my previous life, my older sister had been an impressively competent pregnant woman.
I’d spent my entire life far removed from exercise, but she was different.
Every week, she carefully scheduled yoga and swimming classes specifically recommended for pregnant women.
I’d always applauded her diligence, though I never joined her.
Now I regretted it a little.
If I’d learned alongside her back then, maybe I could’ve practiced on my own instead of needing to hire an instructor.
But regrets were pointless now.
‘From now on, I won’t create things to regret. Never.’
I strengthened my resolve.
“I’ll go meet her personally and ask.”
“You intend to travel all the way to the capital yourself?”
“Of course.”
I answered with a bright smile.
After Matthew left, I walked through the corridors during my afternoon exercise while lost in thought.
‘The Yosokin Exercise Method… so my memory wasn’t wrong after all.’
This exercise had only been mentioned briefly in the original novel.
It had appeared so rarely that remembering the name itself would’ve been impossible.
But the exercise resembled yoga from my previous world, so when I explained yoga to Matthew and asked him to find an instructor who taught something similar, he immediately produced results.
The Yosokin Exercise Method had briefly become trendy among noblewomen, but the popularity didn’t last long.
That was because Meryl Swaid, the founder of the method, suddenly abandoned worldly life and became a novice priestess at the Grand Temple.
The novel mentioned it was due to a massive debt, though it never explained what caused the debt.
Later, she became close to the female protagonist Veronica, and the catalyst for their friendship was this very exercise method.
They exercised and meditated together, eventually becoming close enough to share their innermost thoughts.
‘Still, Meryl Swaid is basically just “Female Lead’s Friend #1,” a minor extra. This level of interference should be fine, right?’
Right now, securing my own survival came first.
Since this was before Meryl entered the Grand Temple, it shouldn’t matter at all.
I’d only be taking exercise lessons from her briefly before she met Veronica.
‘But wow, I’m ridiculous.’
I was planning a massive alteration to the original story by trying to save Elfwyn’s life, yet here I was nervously making excuses to myself just for approaching one minor friend character before the heroine did.
Pfft.
I ended up laughing.
‘Come on, me. Don’t chicken out! If you got transmigrated into a novel you read, then using your knowledge of the story to survive is absolutely not a bad thing!’
If anything, it should be encouraged.
I focused on my walking while slowly swinging my arms back and forth.
