I Had the Enemy's Baby - Chapter 24

“An expression of regret for not being able to die.”

Claude was perplexed.

An expression of regret for not being able to die? What kind of statement is that? Of course, it’s better to be alive if possible.

Provided that one is not in pain.

“Th-that’s not it. I’m surprised to be alive.”

“Surprised to be alive?”

“I thought I was dead, but how…”

“I can’t listen to any more of this.”

Kaian said to Hannah.

“From what I hear your mistress say, she sounds exactly the same as before she collapsed. Seeing her talk nonsense, she doesn’t seem to have lost her mind. Go fetch a doctor.”

Hannah simply had a delighted look on her face.

“Yes, my lord.”

As she left to call for the steward after receiving the order, Kaian sat back down in his chair.

“You won’t die. I won’t allow it either.”

“Why? I’m a Vermonté.”

Kaian glared at her with apparent displeasure.

“I cannot allow any blemishes in my life. Do I look like someone who would live with the dishonor of holding my bride’s funeral three months after marriage?”

So it seems he didn’t particularly save her for her own sake, despite everything.

Still, it appears he provided some kind of treatment.

Claude felt as if her mind had grown wings, the sensation of being pain-free was so unfamiliar.

Her body and mind felt light and transparent, devoid of any thoughts.

She was too moved to even express it as mere happiness.

“Thank you.”

“My leniency ends here. Don’t think you can lounge around in my castle playing the lady, using illness as an excuse.”

Claude quickly nodded.

Goodness!

She could nod her head up and down without coughing.

Just then, Hannah, the steward, and the doctor entered the bedroom.

Seeing Claude sitting up, the doctor beamed with joy.

“Oh! She’s finally awake. I was worried as she remained unconscious for so long.”

“Really? How long was I lying down?”

“Three days before taking the medicine, then a day to brew the medicine after the lord brought it, and then ten more days after that.”

Hannah interrupted the doctor’s words.

“Two weeks.”

“Two weeks?”

“But after you took the medicine, you improved tremendously, gradually stopping coughing and breathing comfortably.”

“I see.”

More importantly, did he say that person brought the medicine?

Claude tried to look past those around her to see Kaian again, but he had already disappeared.

[This is the timeline separator]

Recovery was smooth and quick.

Before lunch, Claude practiced walking in the spacious bedroom.

The place where she had been bitten by the crocodile had healed cleanly, leaving only scars from large teeth like a few fallen pink petals.

At that time, she couldn’t even remove the bandages or walk properly, but after the Herzol healed, she was weak for the first few days due to lying unconscious, but gradually regained strength.

Not only was the chest pain gone, but her legs didn’t feel sore either. When she lifted the blanket, the bandages were already removed and it had healed better than expected.

“I think you can stop this practice now.”

“But still. I need to practice to know if it’s okay or not.”

Hannah’s eyes sparkled as she watched Claude walk slowly and steadily without limping.

“They say that medicine was such an amazing tonic.”

The doctor said that the remarkable improvement in her leg was probably due to the heart of a wild buffalo calf that Kaian had obtained, which was an extraordinary elixir.

He excitedly rambled on about how the injured area had poor circulation, but the medicine somehow improved blood flow.

“The lord is truly a good person.”

“Hannah, since when did you start calling the duke ‘my lord’?”

Hannah narrowed her eyes into delicate triangles.

“I will serve Temnes from now on. The Duke of Vermonté who did this to you is now practically my enemy. Being able to pursue both personal vengeance and family honor makes Rowen Castle the best workplace.”

Hannah, who had seemed to have many grievances against Kaian, was now completely loyal to him after Claude woke up.

“Compared to him, how wonderful and admirable our lord is. Tsk. If only you could have seen it yourself. You were unfortunately unconscious.”

How Kaian looked at Claude with deep eyes and said ‘Claude, open your eyes’ in a regretful voice.

How he carefully laid her on the bed as if handling something precious and valuable when she collapsed on the floor.

‘If I can’t obtain it, who else could!’

Of course, the subject was not Claude but the medicine. Apparently, no one else in Oberon could obtain a buffalo heart if he couldn’t. He was a man who knew all too well how great he was.

And what did he say at the end?

To Hannah, who insisted on going to get the medicine, he said something like ‘Hannah. Protect my wife while I’m gone. You’re the only one I can trust with Claude.’ Was that it?

Anyway, after regaining consciousness and overcoming the illness, Claude heard this story from Hannah over and over for days, but couldn’t believe it.

To Hannah, who loved Claude so much, Kaian’s act of saving her seemed to have tremendous meaning, causing him to appear greatly embellished.

Hannah wouldn’t think that he saved her to avoid the disgraceful end of a marriage that would tarnish his life.

Claude kept her mouth shut, thinking it was better left unsaid, worried that Hannah might get into serious trouble for not hiding her negative words and actions towards Kaian while staying at Rowen Castle.

“Such a medicine that could save you like this. That Vermonté duke bastard didn’t even think to look for it.”

As Kaian went from being “Duke” to “my lord”, the Duke of Vermonté was demoted to “that duke bastard”.

As Hannah started grinding her teeth at the thought of Claude’s uncle, she sighed.

“Hannah.”

“Yes?”

“I think I’m hungry.”

Claude uttered the magic words to make Hannah forget her anger.

“Oh! It’s already this time. Wait just a moment. I’ll prepare quickly.”

Hannah went out humming.

“She’s really incorrigible.”

Claude smiled as she watched her leave.

Indeed, as she thought it was time to eat, hunger washed over her.

Since Herzol didn’t come on suddenly, Claude had felt her appetite decreasing a month before knowing she was sick.

Then when the illness started, the sensation of wanting to eat something completely disappeared, and later, whenever she tried to swallow even a little, her throat and chest hurt so much that she gradually couldn’t eat properly.

Now, when she thought it was mealtime, her stomach suddenly churned, demanding to be filled.

“There’s a beggar in my stomach.”

It was to the extent that she became energetic with just a few spoonfuls of soup that Kaian had forced her to eat.

These days, Claude felt herself getting healthier with each meal.

Moreover, she hadn’t realized it because she couldn’t eat properly for nearly two months after coming to Rowen, but honestly, the food at Rowen Castle was much more delicious than at Vermonté Castle.

Of course, as it was the lord’s castle, the dishes from Valmont Castle were also excellent.

Claude realized for the first time after coming here that even the same dish could taste so different depending on the ingredients.

The Valmont domain was located in the northern wasteland, flanked by mines and a port.

The reason they couldn’t become independent from the Kingdom of Oberon despite their wealth was that what was cultivated on Valmont land was far from enough to feed the domain’s people.

Those who worked in the mines and forests needed to eat very well because they used a lot of strength.

After becoming enemies with Temnes, known as the kingdom’s granary, in the time of their ancestors, they couldn’t procure food without the mediation of the King of Oberon.

Even after Kaian blocked food exports during a drought to pressure Vermonté, they were barely able to hold on because King Oberon intervened to divert just enough food to the north to keep them from starving.

Anyway, at least in the lord’s castle, no one went hungry.

It would take at least two weeks for harvests from Rowen to reach Valmont quickly.

It was natural for goods that traveled such a long distance to wilt or spoil to some extent.

At Rowen Castle, whether it was grains, fruits, or vegetables, they offered the best of everything to the lord when it was freshest, so even a sip of water with a slice of lemon tasted different here.

These days, Claude self-deprecatingly said she was like a newborn.

Because she did nothing but eat and sleep.

But perhaps because she had starved so much, she was inwardly ashamed of her undignified fixation on food.

I seem to live just waiting for mealtimes.

No matter how you look at it, it was too far from the etiquette a duke’s daughter should maintain.

‘But it’s so delicious.’

Ever since her eyes met Kaian’s while eating the other day, Claude had been strangely self-conscious.

It was because he had stared at her for cleaning her plate too thoroughly.

Claude hadn’t realized until then that she had devoured everything placed in front of her.

When she lowered her head at Kaian’s gaze, she only then noticed how clean she had left the plate and her face flushed.

Any properly educated young lady would know it was common sense to leave more than half of the food on the plate.

“My lady. The lord has arrived.”

At Hannah’s words, Kaian reprimanded her.

“How long do you intend to call the madam ‘my lady’?”

“Ah. I’m sorry, my lord.”

The reason Hannah had called Claude ‘my lady’ until now was because she didn’t want to acknowledge Kaian as her husband.

Hannah, who had continued to call her ‘my lady’ even after becoming devoted to the lord, immediately corrected herself in front of the master she had sworn allegiance to.

“Madam. The meal is ready.”

Claude sat down feeling a strange sense of betrayal.

‘Wow.’

Today, the table was laden with only the dishes Claude had found delicious among what she had eaten so far, as if they had been carefully selected.

‘If I eat all of this, he’ll think I’m unsightly, right? I must leave some today.’

Claude waited for Kaian to start eating first before picking up her fork.

“You have no problems walking?”

It seemed Hannah had already reported.

“Yes.”

“No other discomforts?”

“No. Not yet.”

She asked about something that had been bothering her.

“I have no problems walking, but I haven’t tried running yet.”

“What reason would a duchess have to run?”

“I’m not sure if I can… dance.”

In the Kingdom of Oberon, grand festivals were held in each domain every autumn.

The lord and his wife dancing in front of the domain’s people was an event that signaled the start of the festival.

That dance included movements of jumping with both feet together, so now that she had recovered, she worried about such things.

He had told her not to think about lounging around in the castle, so she wondered what he would think of a wife who couldn’t even do such basic things.

“You can practice slowly. I’ll get you a dance instructor.”

“Thank you.”

Claude relaxed and focused on her meal again.

“…Delicious.”

Claude unconsciously muttered at the mashed potato dish mixed with butter that melted in her mouth.

Suddenly feeling a gaze, she looked up and met Kaian’s eyes staring at her again.

When she snapped back to her senses, she had already cleaned her plate after thinking she would definitely leave some today.

Claude’s face flushed.

‘He must think it’s unsightly.’

If she had done this while dining with other nobles, it would have been embarrassing.

However, Kaian cut a large piece of the meat dish in front of him, speared it with his fork, and held it out to her.

“Here.”

Claude blinked, not knowing what to do.

“What are you doing not opening your mouth?”