‘Did I apologize again when I told him not to say sorry?’

I felt conflicted seeing Aaron’s slumped shoulders as he walked away.

‘This situation happened in the first place because I rejected Aaron’s confession.’

But it also felt strange to follow and comfort him.

“… If uncle were here, I wonder what he would have advised me to do.”

I turned to look at Earl Boston’s grave.

‘I was so busy right after waking up, I forgot I had dreamed about uncle.’

The memory of meeting him in the dream vividly unfolded belatedly. Originally, dreams were manifestations of missed subjects in the subconscious.

So Earl Boston appearing in my dream must be because I wanted to see him.

‘However, what uncle said was rather unusual.’

Earl Boston had placed his hand on my belly and said.

That the Boston lineage would continue unbroken.

‘He said there would be some hurdles until I meet this child, but that I must endure them.’

He worried that I shouldn’t give up no matter how difficult it gets.

There was only one thing that could mean.

That a child who would manifest as a sparrow beastman and become Boston’s heir had been conceived.

Somehow, lately I’ve been sleeping a lot like when I was pregnant with Blanche.

I had no motivation for anything and felt lethargic. I just thought my body was relaxed after being tense for a long time.

‘When I was pregnant with Blanche, I had severe morning sickness. Since I don’t have symptoms like that now, I didn’t think much of it.’

I recalled the most suspicious day recently when I spent the night with Jade.

‘Was it because of the candy.’

‘…Jade. You.’

‘Sweet.’

After accepting Jade like that, I couldn’t take contraceptives afterwards.

When I realized he had pretended not to see to deceive me, I was overwhelmed with a sense of betrayal. I didn’t even have time to think about it.

‘Surely not.’

Even though I didn’t take contraceptives, the probability of pregnancy was low based on the dates.

‘Right. Dreams are just dreams. Maybe uncle said those things in my dream because I was subconsciously worried about that night I spent with Jade.’

Still, the uneasy feeling wouldn’t go away.

Even when I was pregnant with Blanche, I naively thought there was no way I could have a baby with Jade, who was of a different species.

‘But the symptoms are quite similar to last time…’

There was a doctor’s cabin at the bottom of the hill.

‘I’d better go ask the doctor if I’m really pregnant.’

I came down from the hill and went to find the cabin.

“My lady? I heard you came to Lurkah, is Lady Blanche ill by any chance?”

The doctor who opened the door to greet me warmly wore a worried expression.

It must be because I had brought Blanche when she was suffering from a high fever before.

“No, it’s not that. I just have something to ask.”

I smiled slightly as I entered.

“Is it possible… to check if I’m pregnant?”

“Ah, um, yes. Please wait a moment.”

The doctor looked flustered for a moment, then rolled up my sleeve and felt my pulse.

“I can’t detect anything yet… I’ll do a blood test to check.”

They had also confirmed with a blood test when I was pregnant with Blanche. Nodding that anything definitive would be good.

The doctor preparing things for the blood test asked,

“May I ask when you had intercourse?”

I counted on my fingers.

It had just been a week.

“About a week ago.”

“Oh dear. Even if you are pregnant, the blood test may not show accurate results this early.”

“Then there’s no use doing the blood test right now.”

“Yes. It’s better to do it after about a month of pregnancy.”

I placed my hand on my belly and considered internally. About the things that would happen if I was indeed pregnant.

‘Blanche isn’t even registered to Rowe yet, what if another baby is born in this situation.’

The situation was different from when I was worried after getting pregnant with Blanche.

Back then, the fact that Blanche was Jade’s biological daughter hadn’t been discovered.

I also didn’t have the capacity to handle another baby on my own.

Now things were better than that time.

Even if I was pregnant, it clearly wasn’t a situation to be just discouraged about, so why did my chest feel so tight?

‘No. Stop thinking about it.’

If a baby had been conceived, I wanted to welcome it.

“I’ll be going now. Sorry for coming suddenly.”

“Not at all. It’s my responsibility to care for all life.”

I decided to stop the complicated thoughts.

It wasn’t something to blame anyone for since I wasn’t careful, and I knew how thirsty it made one feel to not be loved by parents.

“Oh, you should be careful with food and stressful situations for a while. If you are pregnant, miscarriages happen easily in the early stages.”

After listening to the doctor’s various instructions, I left the cabin.

When I returned to the villa, Mary had already packed and moved all the luggage.

As if she had been waiting for me, she said the boat had already been launched. Aaron was nowhere to be seen in the hall.

Jade was tempting Blanche, who was reluctant to leave Lurkah, with macarons.

I thought it wouldn’t work since there were macarons here too, but…

Whatever he said, Blanche suddenly became obedient, saying she wanted to go back quickly.

“Mary. Take Blanche to the port first.”

“Yes, my lady.”

Jade sent Blanche off with Mary and approached me.

“Larien. Why did it take so long?”

The conversation with Aaron hadn’t been much, but it seemed quite some time had passed while meeting the doctor.

‘Since it’s not certain if I’m pregnant yet, I should hide it from Jade.’

It wasn’t even confirmed for sure, and if I said I met the doctor he would worry.

It wouldn’t be too late to tell him when everything was certain.

“What did you talk about for so long.”

Jade pulled my waist close and whispered lowly, bringing his face right up to mine.

Since I didn’t mention meeting the doctor, Jade misunderstood that I had been with Aaron all this time.

“I was late dealing with the accident you caused instead.”

I teased him, amused by his jealous appearance.

“I can give you compensation for the damage.”

“You might go bankrupt someday from compensating for damage.”

“Bankrupt? Me?”

The meaningless banter going back and forth was subtly fun.

“By the way Jade, did Aaron come to the villa? I can’t find him anywhere. We should say goodbye and leave soon…”

“After talking like that, you still want more? Don’t see him. Don’t look at him.”

“Seriously. Your personality is so mean.”

I gave up trying to find and see Aaron before leaving.

Seeing him now would only give false hope and make things harder.

I went to Agricce Port with Jade and returned to Langlangsha.

After returning to the Boston mansion, I felt tired more often than before.

I became subtly sensitive and spent more days alone.

“I don’t have morning sickness, but looking at my condition, it seems like I might be pregnant…”

I muttered to myself as I entered the greenhouse alone and slowly looked around when I sensed someone’s presence.

“…!”

Startled, I first covered my belly as I turned around. Strangely, once I thought I might be pregnant, I instinctively protected my belly at times like this.

“It’s me, miss. Did I startle you?”

“Mary?”

“I’m sorry. I thought you might be in the greenhouse so I came in…”

The person who entered the greenhouse was Mary.

“It’s alright. I was just startled for a moment. What is it?”

Mary carefully broached the subject while gauging my reaction.

“Um, miss. Duke and Duchess Belaste have arrived.”

I had been expecting them to visit. That’s why I hurriedly returned from Lurkah.

“They wish to see you. What… should we do?”

Now that they knew I was alive, it was right to settle things with them at some point.

“Tell them to come to the greenhouse.”

“Yes, miss.”

As Mary left the greenhouse, I took off the pendant I was wearing and placed it on the table.

‘There’s no point in meeting as Diane, they’ll just make a fuss about taking me away.’

I wanted to keep the meeting as short as possible.

Not long after, the sound of a cane dragging gradually grew closer.

It was the signal that Duke Belaste was coming.

“Larien…?”

I turned around at the sound of Duke Belaste calling me.

“You really… were alive…”

His legs gave out and he sank down. The Duchess Belaste who came with him supported him while shedding tears.

“Larien. Come here. I want to see you up close. I want to confirm that I’m not seeing an illusion. Is it really… you?”

“…”

“Larien Belaste, are you really my daughter…?”

It was laughable. For this question to come from someone who had denied me as his daughter all his life.

“You came to confirm if I’m alive?”

I had no intention of having a tearful reunion with Duke Belaste.

“Larien, you’re still angry with me. I’m sorry…”

“You’ve seen my face, now please leave. Don’t come to the mansion again.”

Seeing him act like this often as Diane anyway, I didn’t feel much emotion.

“…Let’s go back, to Belaste. This is not your home. Larien. Come with your father.”