I felt everyone’s eyes on me, and I calmly met Margaret’s gaze.

Margaret’s belly was much larger than before, but thanks to the Emperor’s good care, her complexion looked healthy. It was a big change considering how miserable she looked the last time I saw her.

“…You say I’m doing well? You think you have the right to say that to me?”

“You’re in no position to question my right.”

“What are you talking about?”

“You’re the one claiming to carry my husband’s child.”

“It’s not a claim. It’s a fact. And you know it as well as I do. You remember everything. That’s why you kidnapped me.”

Despite the failure.

Margaret defiantly tilted her head back and thrust out her chest. Her body language seemed to portray her as a victor, but I saw the tension in her throat first.

Margaret knew her position. She was merely bluffing, like a cat puffing its fur to avoid being found out.

That’s when it happened. Beke, who had been silently sitting next to me, straightened his posture.

“I don’t understand why Lady Fisher would frame me. But if I’ve done something to offend you, I want to apologize.”

“…”

“Of course, I am fully prepared to compensate you as well.”

“…Do you think I’m doing this for compensation?”

“Lady Fisher.”

His voice, full of intensity, was almost a warning.

Margaret flinched under Beke’s piercing gaze but didn’t back down. At that moment, her hand covered her swollen belly, a natural action to protect her child.

Regrettably.

I cut into the conversation while observing the increasingly sensitive Margaret.

“I don’t want to talk about this for long. Just tell me this. Is that child really my husband’s? So, is that why you told me that my husband is my enemy? That I should seek revenge?”

“I’m your enemy, what are you talking about?”

Beke, surprised, tried to stop me. But instead of responding, I kept my gaze on Margaret.

“Right now, I can’t trust anyone. So, we need to make sure here. Who the father of the child in your belly is.”

“So, that was your goal. You pretended to remember nothing to corner me.”

With her hands covering her face, Margaret let out a weary sigh.

Whether she took his side according to Beke’s words or went the opposite way, neither was a good choice for her. But now, she had to choose.

“…And if it’s your husband’s child?”

“Lady Fisher!”

“Call me Margaret. You usually do. You kissed me, caressed my skin, loved me passionately.”

“That never happened.”

“If it hadn’t, this child wouldn’t exist.”

Margaret’s clenched fist wrinkled the hem of her dress. Her face was flushing red.

She was angry as well.

However, the difference was that her anger was directed at me, not at Beke, the one involved.

“How long do you think we’ve known each other? A year? Two years? No, no. None of that. I knew him first, I loved him first.”

“…”

“So, please don’t misunderstand. The intruder isn’t me, it’s you. You stole my man.”

Margaret’s body shivered like a frostcovered tree.

Even though she seemed stable on the surface, she couldn’t fully hide it. The time spent in the dark was not enough to recover, and the palace was not a place where she could find stability.

She was psychologically shrunken and unstable. A little stimulus could easily break her down.

“If that was the case, you should have said so from the beginning.”

“From the beginning? Ha, right. You’ve always been like that. Speaking as if you know everything. The only fortunate thing about you is that you were born in Creighton.”

“…”

“It’s all because of you. If you hadn’t taken what was mine first, I wouldn’t have ended up like this.”

“So, all of this is my fault?”

“Yes. It’s your fault. All your fault.”

Emotions burst out like water overflowing a filledtothelimit container, flowing freely without regard to will. I looked at Margaret’s face turning redder and redder, and then I looked up at the duke.

I knew from long experience.

The husband was angry. Very much so.

And Margaret, too, knew this fact very well.

“Please stop. I am not idle enough to be fooled by the nonsense of my wife.”

“It’s not nonsense.”

“No. It is nonsense. I am not the kind of man who would cheat while having a wife.”

“Stop it. Even if you say so, Liviana does not love you.”

“……”

“That woman didn’t forget anything from the beginning. Only Mary.”

“Margaret!”

Duke Pieren, who couldn’t stand it, stood up from his seat and yelled. But Margaret, on the other hand, only laughed emptily.

“Do you only look at me now? You look at me only when I’m like this.”

“……”

“I know. If I leave here, you’ll abandon me. You’ve always been like that. There are plenty of women who can bear your child.”

“If you keep defaming me.”

“But do you know? You can never abandon me.”

You can’t have children anymore.

With those words, silence descended for a moment.

Margaret pushed her stomach out, looking at the duke scrunching his face as if he had heard something he shouldn’t have.