The party in the palace garden was slowly coming to an end.

While the young lords and ladies were thoroughly enjoying the social event that began long after midnight, the elderly and tired nobles were gradually looking for hints about when Henri would leave.

Valier, too, felt fatigue, perhaps due to being part of the crowd with her pregnant body.

“No, I organized this event. I must stay until the end and fulfill the duties of the host!”

Valier, who was forcing herself to manage the perfect conclusion of the perfectly started party, suddenly felt dizzy, and her vision darkened.

“Ah, being pregnant is exhausting. How many hours has it been?”

Attempting to rise again, Valier found that she couldn’t muster strength in her body.

Suddenly, a surge of something came up from within her.

“Aaahhhh!!”

Witnessing Valier vomit a deep red substance, an attendant nearby screamed in horror.

“What is this? Did I just vomit?”

Countless eyes looked at her with shocked expressions when she raised her head.

However, among them, no one extended a helping hand to Valier.

Even Henri, standing at a distance, was giving instructions to the attendants, seemingly indicating a troublesome situation rather than expressing concern for Valier’s pain.

A difficult expression on Henri’s face, not expressing concern for the pain but rather indicating a problem as if saying that something inconvenient had happened.

That was the last scene Valier saw before losing consciousness.

“It has been definitively purified. It’s not a symptom of the pandemic, but it seems that there was considerable strain on the body during the purification process.”

“Is it different from the symptoms of the pandemic?”

“Yes. Fortunately, it’s not. It seems to be a digestive system-related illness.”

Henri sighed deeply in relief at the words of Louise, the veteran priest.

“Thank goodness. That’s a relief.”

“Yes. It’s not a rare illness, so you should recover quickly if you rest well, but the child in your belly…”

Looking at Valier lying unconscious with a pitiful expression, Louise’s words faded at the end.

“The child is unfortunate. I will take care of the news, so you should return now.”

“Yes.”

Henri sighed deeply and sat down beside Valier.

Wiping her forehead with her hand, there was a slight warmth, but it didn’t feel excessively hot.

It felt like seeing the face of someone who was once seen when they were asleep.

When they shared the same bed every day, he used to deliberately endure until Valier fell asleep, then quietly watch her face for a long time.

It was her face, covering her faint freckles, the blurry spot on her nose, long hazel eyelashes, and her prominent forehead.

Everything was just as it used to be when he loved her.

But now, even when seeing her in pain, there was no tremendous fear or sadness, as before.

“You look the most lovely when you’re asleep.”

When she wakes up, she will once again say and do things that will rapidly freeze his heart.

He has no idea what reaction she will show now that she has lost even the child.

In the past, he could predict what she would do.

Henri was too tired.

The dream of the family that he secretly hoped for disappeared, and the effort of actively participating in the party with the nonexistent ladies and dancing simultaneously, calculating the possibilities, exhausted him.

He had no energy left to respond to Valier’s unpredictable reactions.

“We need absolute stability. So, until my orders, you cannot leave the residence.”

“Yes. I understand.”

The guards responded with expressionless faces to Henri’s command.

“Because absolute stability is necessary for health. You must rest for the sake of your health.”
The palace guards didn’t really have any thoughts about Henri’s orders, but Henri still made unnecessary excuses.

“Oh, and make sure to deliver the news about the child.”

Leaving Valier’s residence, Henri even passed on the promise he made to Louise to the maids.

News of Valier’s inheritance spread rapidly through the acquaintances of the maids.

Upon hearing the news, the people lamented karma, and the nobles who aspired to the position of the next empress were pleased that there was no need to intervene.

“In the end, that matter became a stumbling block.”

Rune spoke in a creeping voice, looking at Ermeline.

“True. In one way or another, she pays the price.”

“Everyone is in an uproar. Even when the maids were dying, they didn’t care, and now they’ve killed a person, claiming it was divine punishment.”

Ermeline only responded with a bitter smile to Rune’s words, offering no other reply.

“And why did the Empress retire a viscount? It’s not even a pandemic…”

Ermeline’s feelings were complicated upon hearing about Valier’s news.

Certainly, the thought of turning Valier’s heart had disappeared, but as a fellow woman, her unhappiness didn’t seem entirely satisfying.

Even though she couldn’t go out into the world and had no family from the beginning, didn’t Valier have a family in her past life?

Perhaps she longed for their embrace.