Chapter 12

By the time Railly finally opened her door and stepped outside, the atmosphere in the ducal residence had changed considerably. There was a certain bustle in the air, and everyone seemed unusually excited.

“……What’s going on?”

“G-Gasp! M-My Lady!”

Railly leaned against the wall and stared at the maid.

It had been a long time since the maid had seen her, but Railly’s face was still as beautiful as ever. Even so, she looked like someone trapped beneath the shadow of deep sorrow.

“W-Well, you see……”

The maid faltered, unable to bring herself to speak.

Just then, a passing butler hurried over and called out to her.

“What are you doing? Lady Anna is looking for you!”

“Ah……”

The butler turned toward the maid, who looked utterly flustered. But the moment his eyes met Railly’s unwavering gaze, he drew in a sharp breath.

“M-My Lady.”

“……Everyone looks so happy. What’s all the commotion about?”

“……”

Despite Railly’s question, the butler and the maid clamped their mouths shut as though they had swallowed their tongues.

Railly slowly approached the butler. As her icy gaze swept over him, the hairs on his body seemed to stand on end.

I-I can’t breathe.

Seeing the two of them bow their heads in silence, Railly tilted her head to one side.

“If you keep your mouths shut like that, you’ll only make things harder for yourselves.”

Flinch!

The butler trembled as Railly raised her hand.

Her voice was soft and gentle, yet there was an unmistakable force behind it. Cold sweat trickled down his spine, and he squeezed his eyes shut.

“What is everyone so happy about? It’s all right. Go on and tell me.”

Railly smiled as she brushed a speck of dust from the butler’s shoulder.

The moment her eyes curved into a smile, the butler finally felt as though he could breathe again.

“W-Well…… Lady Anna is pregnant.”

In the end, the maid confessed the truth, her face crumpling with distress.

The butler turned to glare at her, but the words had already been spoken. There was no taking them back.

Railly’s vision spun.

My child had barely died, and now she was pregnant……

It felt as though rage had clouded her eyes and sealed her ears. The guilt she had been suppressing—the guilt of failing to protect her own child—slowly rose to the surface before eventually wrapping itself around her like a suffocating shroud.

“Duchess?”

Anna appeared just then, approaching Railly with a radiant smile.

The triumphant expression with which she looked Railly up and down was more than enough to ignite her fury.

The moment the two women came face-to-face, everyone around them looked horrified.

I need to bring the Duke here. Quickly.

The butler glanced nervously at the two women before backing away. Once he confirmed that everyone’s attention was fixed on Anna, he hurried toward the study.

“Oh, have you heard? How perfectly timed, isn’t it? I became pregnant just like that. You have no idea how troubled His Grace and I were when the scandal broke out.”

Despite her words, Anna looked positively delighted.

Just as Railly had expected, articles about Theo’s scandal had plastered the entire empire a few days later. Yet the uproar had died down almost as quickly as it had begun.

That was because Theo had been running around everywhere, pleading his case.

He had more connections than Railly had expected, and since he enjoyed a fairly good reputation among people, winning them over had not been particularly difficult.

On top of that, because Railly was unable to bear children, the duchy supposedly needed an heir. Thus, the absurd excuse that Theo had been forced to take a mistress out of necessity had somehow worked.

And, above all, Anna’s pregnancy had come at the most convenient possible time.

Anna slowly stroked her belly as she stared straight at Railly.

Railly clenched both fists so tightly that her fingernails dug into her palms, drawing blood.

Even after killing my child……

But no one would believe her.

Theo had been too busy defending Anna that day as well.

Railly heard something snap inside her heart.

Snap.

The strength drained from her hands, and an overwhelming sense of emptiness washed over her.

Only now did she feel that everything was truly over.

Nothing had gone the way she wanted.

She had submitted a divorce petition to the imperial family, but because of this latest scandal, there would undoubtedly be even more matters to review.

In the end, Railly—the victim of this entire affair—could do nothing but let out a hollow laugh.

She hated Anna so much that she wanted to kill her.

But the child growing inside Anna’s womb had done nothing wrong.

“I see…… So that’s how it is.”

At that moment, Railly hated herself for being unable to do anything.

And yet, she could not bring herself to commit the same kind of cruelty as Anna.

Those who watched her turn around and walk back to her room looked at her with pity. None of them could even begin to imagine what was going through her mind as she turned her back on Anna and walked away.

“No matter how I look at it, the timing is far too suspicious.”

The divorce proceedings were taking longer than expected. Railly had sent a letter to the imperial family asking what the problem was, but no reply had arrived.

Ren could only tell her to wait a little longer.

They said it would take some time because they were trying to change the terms to give Railly a much more favorable outcome.

The matter could have been settled immediately if they used their authority. However, if the emperor found out, Railly might be forced to return under the imperial family’s control once again.

As a result, Kaber was having a rather difficult time.

He was hiding his identity and pursuing Railly’s divorce petition behind his father’s back.

“What am I missing?”

Railly tapped her fingers against the table, her brows furrowing in thought.

Some time had passed since Anna announced her pregnancy. Throughout that period, Railly had kept a low profile while carefully observing both Anna and Theo.

They continued to behave as they always had, while Railly remained nothing more than a duchess in name.

After thinking for a while, she spread out her fingers and began folding them one by one.

……Four months have passed.

She was still trapped in this wretched ducal residence, unable to escape.

She wanted to leave as soon as possible, but the moment she walked out of here, she would lose any chance of taking even a single thing away from him.

That was why Railly was desperately enduring her circumstances.

Above all, she needed to figure out what Anna was up to.

Not long ago, she had caught a fleeting glimpse of Anna’s belly as they passed each other. It looked exactly the same as before. Her stomach had hardly grown at all, and there was little indication that she was pregnant.

“Anna’s belly looks unchanged.”

“There’s nothing wrong with her getting pregnant, but the timing is just too convenient. That’s what bothers me.”

“Her belly? Now that you mention it, has it really been four months already?”

“It has. By this point, her stomach should be noticeably bigger.”

Even after picturing Anna’s appearance again, Railly could not recall seeing any significant change in her belly.

“Something is wrong. Even if we overlook the timing, how could her stomach still look the same after four months of pregnancy?”

“I wouldn’t know much about that. But I’m sure that bastard was going in and out of that woman’s room while you were pregnant.”

Ren shrugged at Railly’s words.

He had no idea what she was thinking, but as far as he was concerned, Theo was exactly the sort of man who would do something like that.

Railly nodded at his response.

He hasn’t spent a single night with me since Anna arrived.

If Theo had been constantly visiting Anna’s room while Railly was pregnant, then it would hardly be surprising if Anna had conceived a child of her own.

But why did something about it still feel so wrong?

It was not simply because Anna—the woman who had killed her child—was now pregnant.

Railly could no longer believe a single word that came out of Anna’s mouth.

Not that she had ever truly trusted her in the first place.

There’s definitely something going on. What am I overlooking?

No matter how shameless her husband was, once he had a legitimate heir, he would have had little reason to want another child.

What Theo wanted was a child who carried the bloodline of House Traila.

And yet, Anna’s belly had remained unchanged for some time.

What on earth is that woman planning?

Overwhelmed by her tangled thoughts, Railly opened the window and looked outside.

Then she suddenly sprang to her feet.

Ren, startled by her abrupt movement, quickly stepped in front of her.

“What’s wrong?”

“There! There’s a man I’ve never seen before.”

Railly raised her hand and pointed toward a suspicious-looking man outside.

Judging by the direction he had come from, he must have emerged from the main building where Anna was staying.

Moreover, there was something strange about the way he kept his face hidden while looking around warily.

Railly was certain of it.

If she followed that man, she would find the answers to her questions.

“He must be connected to Anna somehow. Please follow him.”

Ren looked out the window at her request. The man’s face was concealed by a cloak, making it impossible to identify him clearly.

Did that idiot get caught?

Ren swallowed nervously, wondering whether the man might have discovered Kaber.

As far as he was concerned, if Railly found out that he had been in regular contact with the crown prince, she would never let him get away with it.

“What the hell is that guy doing?”

Fortunately, it wasn’t Kaber.

Ren had received a letter saying that Kaber would be too busy with the task he had recently requested and would not be visiting the ducal residence for a while.

He had never seen this man before.

Could he have been sent by Kaber?

Ren examined the man’s clothes, but he was clearly not affiliated with the imperial family. His movements were clumsy, suggesting that he was an inexperienced novice.

“That man definitely received something from Anna.”

When did she even notice that?

Ren let out a relieved sigh, deciding that he would need to be more careful from now on.

He had assumed Railly was paying little attention to her surroundings, but she had actually been keeping an eye on everything.

“All right. I’ll look into it.”

“Thank you.”

Ren quickly left the room and followed the man from above, keeping watch from the sky.

The man certainly looked suspicious, just as Railly had said. His hat was pulled so low that it nearly covered his face, and the pouch bulging with gold coins practically screamed, I’m up to no good!

Ren watched him leave the ducal residence and head into the forest before following him.

“That woman’s greed really knows no bounds.”

The man took a gold coin from the pouch in his hand, grinned, and began humming to himself.

Ren silently followed him, concealing his presence as he strained to listen.

“If it were me, I’d be terrified to pull off something like that. Giving someone infertility drugs wasn’t enough for her—now she’s faking a pregnancy, too.”

The man shuddered as though the very thought sent chills down his spine.

A sudden, ominous feeling crept over him. Just as he turned to look behind him, a massive hand clamped over his face.

“AAARGH!”

With brutal force, the man’s head was slammed straight into a tree. He struggled desperately, but Ren’s hand covered his face so completely that he could barely see anything.

Then he felt something warm trickling down the back of his head.

The man trembled with terror. Through the gaps between Ren’s fingers, he caught a glimpse of crimson eyes—and in them, he saw the chilling shadow of death.

“Ugh!”

In the end, the man wet himself like a frightened child.

His trousers grew damp, and liquid dripped onto the ground.

“What was it you just said?”

“P-Please! P-Please spare me! S-S-Save me!”

His voice was muffled, and he could barely force the words out. He stammered like a little child who had never learned how to speak properly.

Instinctively, the man knew that the person standing before him could kill him at any moment.

Was he sent by the ducal residence? No…… She told me that nobody else knew anything about this.

No matter how desperately he tried to think, he could not come up with an answer.

Ren leaned closer, pressing himself against the man as he whispered into his ear.

“This is your last chance. What did that woman ask you for?”

“Eek! I-I’ll tell you everything!”

Ren loosened his grip slightly.

As soon as his feet touched the ground, the man crumpled downward, his body sliding toward the forest floor.

If he refused to talk, he would die. He had no choice.

Ren’s crimson eyes gleamed as though they were about to snuff out the man’s life right then and there.

“A-Anna! That woman, Anna, asked me to get her some medicine! She wanted something that would make her infertile! She came to me for it quite a while ago, but this time, she made another request. She bought some medicine that could make her look pregnant, along with several other items!”

The man poured out the entire story in a frantic rush, as though a dam had burst.

“Other items?”

“M-Medicine and supplies to make it look like she was pregnant!”

The things coming out of his mouth were almost too outrageous to believe.

The strange, foul odor that had once come from Anna’s food had been caused by none other than infertility drugs.

So all that effort was pointless.

Railly had already been unlikely to conceive because of her unstable mana.

“Wouldn’t she get caught? The medicine, I mean.”

“W-Well, it’s a specially formulated medicine. It’s made with a scent that men can’t detect.”

At last, all the pieces fell into place in Ren’s mind.

That was why Theo had never noticed anything.

“Now that I’ve told you everything…… y-you’ll let me live, right?”

“Of course I’ll let you live.”

The man breathed a sigh of relief.

But the relief lasted only a moment.

Ren kept one hand firmly over the man’s face and reached out with the other to grab his tongue.

The man’s terrified eyes darted wildly from side to side.

“Y-You said you’d let me g-go!”

“However, I can’t just let you leave when you might go around telling people what happened.”

“AAARGH!”

The man’s screams echoed through the forest.

Startled birds burst from the branches, flapping their wings as they scattered into the sky.