Chapter 10

“ If that child hadn’t existed, I could have become the Duchess! If you hadn’t gotten pregnant, that place would have been mine!”

Raleigh wrapped an arm around her belly and spoke to Anna in a frigid voice.

“Shut your mouth, Anna. I can tolerate anything else, but I will not tolerate you saying such things about my child.”

She forced herself to swallow the harsh words threatening to spill from her lips before speaking.

“Ha!”

Anna glared at Raleigh with bloodshot eyes, unable to control her trembling body. Her gaze shifted to Raleigh’s slightly rounded belly.

“If you try to harm my child again, like you did last time, I won’t let you get away with it.”

“Do you really think you’ll still be able to stay here even after giving birth, Duchess?”

Anna raised the corners of her lips and spoke softly to Raleigh.

Raleigh furrowed her brows before turning away and walking past her.

Once I give birth, will I have to leave this place with my child? Where will I go? I have some money saved, but…

A throbbing pain spread through Raleigh’s head.

Watching Raleigh walk away, Anna burst into mocking laughter behind her.

“It’s not as though the mother herself has to raise the child, is it?”

Anna spoke with such confidence that it seemed she had already decided she would take on that role.

“Don’t be ridiculous. There’s no guarantee it would be you.”

Even if Theo prevented Raleigh from taking the child away, Anna hardly seemed like the sort of person who would raise his child as her own.

“You’re nothing more than a Duchess in name, yet you still want to hold on to that position? Have you no pride? If only you were gone, Theo and I—and the child we’re going to have—could all be happy.”

Even if Raleigh left the ducal residence, Theo would bring in a woman from a powerful family to take her place.

In other words, Anna would never be allowed to have that position.

“So, Anna, no matter what happens, it won’t be you.”

Perhaps Anna failed to understand what Raleigh meant, because her face twisted in anger. Her fingers remained tightly clenched around her skirt.

“They say the first time is the hardest. The second time is easy.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Do I really have to explain such a simple saying to you?”

I’m leaving this place.

No one will ever be allowed to take my child’s happiness away.

Before Theo could take her happiness from her again, Raleigh was even prepared to be the one to abandon him first.

…!

The baby had moved.

Overwhelmed by the sensation of feeling her child move for the first time, Raleigh’s heart swelled with emotion.

It was as though the little one were comforting her, telling her that everything would be all right. Tears threatened to spill from her eyes.

It’s all right, my baby. I’ve been looking forward to the day you’re born. For your sake, I can endure anything.

She was certain that Theo would at least love their child. Every day, he examined Raleigh’s condition and asked questions about the baby, eager to learn everything he could.

I’m sorry. I’m sorry you have to hear such things in a place like this, when you shouldn’t have to hear them at all.

Raleigh swallowed the words she couldn’t bring herself to say aloud.

…I was foolish.

She had been certain Theo would never change and would continue to love her.

But that love had been nothing more than a lie.

At first, he had checked on her every day, carefully tending to her health and doing everything he could to help her conceive as soon as possible. He had treated her with extraordinary care.

Now that she had realized she had been nothing more than a means for him to obtain a child, everything he had done suddenly made sense.

Raleigh headed upstairs to the study, where she intended to write in the diary she had kept since becoming pregnant and record what had happened that day.

“Ugh.”

She could feel her mana moving erratically within her body.

Just as Ren said, the time is approaching. I may not be able to postpone the contract any longer…

Ever since discovering her pregnancy, she had been recording the changes in her body alongside her thoughts about the baby. She couldn’t keep her abilities hidden forever.

Carefully gripping the banister, she began to climb the stairs one step at a time.

The staircase leading to the upper floor was rather steep. Afraid that she might lose her footing, she held tightly to the railing and moved forward as slowly as she could.

Her legs trembled. She could barely muster enough strength to support herself.

“Stop right there! I’m not finished talking to you!”

When Raleigh had climbed more than halfway up the stairs, Anna’s furious voice rang out behind her.

A moment later, a rough hand seized Raleigh and forcefully spun her around.

“What do you think you’re doing? This is a staircase! You could cause an accident!”

Raleigh barely managed to regain her balance before she shouted at Anna.

But Anna ignored her warning completely and continued her tirade.

“He’s completely infatuated with me! He won’t look at another woman ever again!”

“Fine. Keep telling yourself that. Now, if you’ll excuse me…”

What did any of that matter now?

Raleigh no longer held even the slightest hope for Theo.

She truly had loved him.

And even now, she still couldn’t let him go completely.

After all, despite the possibility that everything he had done for her had been a lie, Theo was the one who had rescued her from the hellish home she had once lived in.

A part of her still wondered whether he might come back to her, whether perhaps he really had loved her after all.

She knew how foolish it was to cling to such thoughts, but being abandoned and forced to give up hope was always painful.

It was something she could never grow accustomed to.

Becoming numb to the pain didn’t mean she would stop getting hurt.

She simply learned to live as though nothing was wrong.

A relationship she couldn’t let go of was nothing but another source of suffering, yet Raleigh continued to conceal her feelings and bury them deep inside.

In any case, she intended to leave Theo as soon as the baby was born.

You know that’s not true. A relationship that’s already been twisted beyond recognition can never be repaired…

Raleigh shook off Anna’s hand and tried to continue climbing.

“Where are you going? Right now? You’re going to see the Duke, aren’t you?”

“Anna, you know where he is far better than I do.”

Raleigh had little knowledge of Theo’s schedule. Not only did he rarely tell her anything, but he had also forbidden her from involving herself in the affairs of the ducal residence, insisting that she simply rest in her room.

Anna’s head suddenly drooped. Then, in a quiet whisper, she spoke.

“…All we have to do is get rid of that child, don’t we?”

“What did you just—?”

As Raleigh turned around, Anna suddenly grabbed her hand and yanked it with all her strength.

Raleigh lost her footing and tumbled down the stairs.

At that instant, Anna covered her face with both hands, her eyes widening in apparent shock.

But soon, the corners of her mouth curled upward behind her fingers.

Beneath her feigned astonishment lay unmistakable delight.

Ah… No!

Raleigh desperately reached out, but her hands grasped nothing.

She tumbled down the staircase without even managing to scream.

“Ahhh! Somebody, please help me!”

As Anna’s shrieks rang through the ducal residence, Raleigh lay collapsed on the floor.

She felt warm liquid flowing from beneath her.

Every part of her body was in agony.

Ah… M-my… baby…

Red blood spread across the floor around Raleigh.

As her consciousness began to fade, she caught sight of Theo rushing toward her in a panic.

When Raleigh opened her eyes, she immediately sensed that something was terribly wrong.

She placed a hand on her stomach, then shook her head in disbelief.

“…No. My… my baby… My child… That can’t be. No, it can’t be true.”

She struck her chest with her fist.

Her strangled voice soon dissolved into sobs.

“Sniff… Sob… Ah… Ahhh! No!”

Her heart felt as though it were being crushed. The unbearable tightness in her chest drove her to keep pounding her fists against it.

Her baby…

Her baby was gone.

Now that she was awake, all she could feel inside her womb was emptiness.

Her bones and joints, not yet fully healed, ached as though they were crumbling apart.

Perhaps startled by the sounds coming from the room, Theo hurriedly opened the door and entered.

Raleigh struggled to climb out of bed and staggered toward him.

“No, right…? That’s not true, is it? Where is my baby? I’m asking you where my child is!”

“Duchess, you haven’t recovered yet.”

Theo caught Raleigh by the shoulders and gently rubbed her back, his movements somewhat cautious, as though he were trying to calm her down.

Through the slightly open door, Raleigh caught sight of Anna.

She shoved Theo away, broke free of his embrace, and flung the door open before rushing toward Anna.

Before Theo could stop her, Raleigh’s hands closed around Anna’s throat.

“Eek!”

“You killed my baby! Bring my child back! Bring my baby back! I warned you, didn’t I? I told you I’d never forgive you if you laid a hand on my child!”

“C-Cough…!”

Theo hurriedly pulled Raleigh away from Anna.

Pale-faced, Anna clutched her throat and gasped desperately for air.

“You! You! Aaaaaah!”

Raleigh shoved Theo aside, grabbed Anna by the shoulders, and shook her violently as she screamed like a woman driven mad.

Helplessly shaken by Raleigh’s hands, Anna shook her head and burst into tears.

“D-Duchess… It wasn’t intentional. It was an accident. Sob… I’m suffering so much, too.”

“…Suffering? You? More than me, who lost my child? Hahahaha!”

Raleigh burst into laughter as she looked at Anna, who stood before her with tearful eyes and flushed cheeks, cradling herself.

Tears streamed down Raleigh’s face.

“That’s enough! Anna has been suffering terribly over what happened. She hasn’t even been sleeping because she’s so tormented by what she did to you—”

Smack!

“Everything is your fault. If it weren’t for you, my child wouldn’t have died.”

“…Ha. Duchess, I, too, am deeply saddened by what happened to the child… So please, calm down.”

“Calm down…? You’re telling me to calm down?”

Raleigh stared at Theo in disbelief.

“How can any parent remain so indifferent when their child has died?”

The moment she saw Theo’s composed expression, all the strength drained from her body.

Perhaps he hadn’t even loved his own child all that much.

Despite the fact that the baby had been theirs, she was the only one who felt as though her entire world had collapsed.

Raleigh pulled her hand free from Theo’s grasp and slowly sank to the floor.

“My baby… Just give me back my child. Bring my baby back… Please, tell me this is a dream.”

Clutching her stomach, Raleigh let out a piercing scream.

“Ahhh! Aaaaaaaah!”

She was sick of it all.

Everything was horrifying.

She no longer even wanted to breathe in this place.

The one thing that had kept Raleigh going was gone.

And with it, her world—and everything surrounding her—came crashing down.