The Duke Only Needs My Child (Completed Main Story) - Chapter 36

Herdin pulled out the cigar he had been holding.

“I was so out of my mind back then that I failed to properly greet you, and it’s been weighing on my mind—”

“Your Grace.”

“Yes?”

“Your concern is appreciated, but this hardly seems the time for idle greetings.”

Herdin gestured with his eyes toward where the injured from the recent incident had gathered. Miera’s face flushed with embarrassment.

“Oh… I’m sorry. I got carried away by how happy I was to see you…”

Instead of leaving immediately, Miera hesitated briefly before bowing slightly and adding,

“Then I’ll see you again next time.”

She turned and walked away, unable to take her eyes off Herdin until the very end.

Ruth watched her retreating figure with wistful eyes. It was a scene he’d witnessed countless times already, serving as Herdin’s aide.

‘Still, unlike others, there’s something just a bit regrettable about that woman…’

The fact that she was a priestess blessed with divine power.

After all, anyone possessing divine power was rare and valuable—and keeping such a person close could prove useful.

Though his own lord hadn’t spared her even a single glance despite her considerable worth.

“Still, she’s the one who treated you, Your Grace. Couldn’t you have been a little kinder to her?”

“That’s why I told her what needed doing before she got dragged off for neglecting her duties.”

Ruth was speechless at Herdin’s indifferent reply, but it was already water under the bridge.

“Yes, yes. How terribly affectionate of you.”

Leaving Ruth muttering halfheartedly behind him, Herdin headed toward his tethered horse.

His patience had run dry; the longing for the woman waiting in the mansion far outweighed any desire to wait until matters were settled.

[This is the timeline separator]

Back in Herdin’s private study-turned-bedroom, Blair handed Mikhail’s letter to Rina.

“Rina, burn this for me.”

“Oh! Yes.”

Blair turned away from Rina, who was lighting a candle, and walked toward the window. Her gaze, fixed on the scenery outside, flickered uneasily.

[I have discovered the origin of the phrase you previously asked me to investigate.

That phrase is engraved upon the daggers His Grace the Duke—your husband—bestowed after the war upon several knights who shared life and death with him.]

‘So the man who killed me was one of Delmarque’s knights…’

And not just any knight—one directly under Herdin himself…

Blair recalled visiting the training grounds right after the wedding to inspect the knights’ faces.

‘But none among them bore a scar across the bridge of his nose.’

Had she missed something?

Restlessly pacing her room, Blair checked the clock and immediately left, heading down to the first floor of the mansion.

At this hour, the knights would be having their lunchtime drills at the training grounds. Though she wasn’t the type of mistress who doted on her knights, it wouldn’t seem odd for her to check on them.

Just as Blair reached the bottom of the stairs and turned toward the rear entrance, a commotion sounded from the front hall.

‘Could Herdin be back already?’

As she wondered this, she happened to meet Mason coming out from the first floor.

“Oh, milady. You’ve come down just in time.”

“Who’s arrived outside?”

“A few guests from the main estate. They likely wish to pay their respects to you—if you’re not too busy, might you spare them a moment?”

She longed to go straight to the training grounds, but walking past them without acknowledgment would look terribly rude.

‘A few minutes’ delay won’t change anything.’

Blair gave a small nod.

“Very well.”

Accompanied by Mason, Blair stepped out to the mansion’s front entrance. Five mounted knights approached and dismounted before her and Mason.

All of them had cloaked their faces to shield against the biting winter wind.

The man standing in the center swaggered forward with an easy grin.

“Oh dear! I never imagined milady herself would come out to greet us on our first meeting… What an honor! Had I known, I’d have brought a gift on the way.”

Blair absentmindedly watched as the man lowered his cloak—and froze. The eyes visible beneath were familiar.

‘This person…’

Recognition struck her like lightning; her pupils trembled violently.

They were the eyes of the very assassin who had killed her.

Though no scar marked the bridge of his nose, it was unmistakably him.

“We meet for the first time, milady. I am Caligo Elparind, a knight of Delmarque.”

He brazenly kissed the back of Blair’s hand. His lips felt horrifyingly cold against her skin.

‘I never even considered the possibility he might be a knight from the main estate.’

Blair’s hand, trapped in his grasp, trembled uncontrollably. She wanted to say something—but her breath caught in her throat as if someone were strangling her.

Just then, the sound of approaching hoofbeats broke the silence. Herdin, Ruth, and several knights had returned ahead of the others.

Seeing Herdin, Caligo brightened instantly and released Blair’s hand.

“Well now! Even His Grace himself comes out to welcome us!”

But Herdin, stepping down from his horse, bypassed Caligo entirely and went straight to Blair.

Even with Herdin’s arrival, Blair couldn’t tear her eyes away from Caligo.

Noticing this, Herdin dismissed Caligo curtly.

“That’s enough greeting for now. Caligo, you’ve traveled far—go rest.”

“Right-o! Then I shall see you again soon, milady.”

Caligo cheerfully bowed and departed with the other knights.

Blair stared blankly after his retreating figure. She looked strangely unsteady.

Herdin instinctively moved to embrace her—but paused upon noticing the dirt on his clothes. He removed his leather gloves and took her hand bare-handed.

Feeling his warmth, Blair finally lifted her gaze, which had been frozen in place like a startled bird.

“Are you unwell?”

His hand, as always, was warm—but his warmth now filled her with dread.

What if he suddenly changed and strangled her?

Gently withdrawing her hand from his grasp, Blair replied,

“…I’m fine.”

Herdin frowned. Despite her words, her expression looked anything but fine.

He turned to Rina beside him and ordered,

“Escort milady to her room.”

As Blair ascended the stairs leaning on Rina’s arm, she glanced back. Herdin was speaking quietly with Mason.

Words she couldn’t ask—and answers she couldn’t hear—scratched painfully at her throat.

[This is the timeline separator]

Back in her room, Blair sat numbly on her bed.

As her emotions settled and her mind cooled, questions and hypotheses began surfacing one by one.

‘Why did that man kill me?’

They’d had little interaction, so it couldn’t have been personal animosity—and likely not for his own gain either. A mere knight stood to gain nothing by killing her.

It must be Herdin, after all…

But Blair halted that thought mid-course.

‘…No, no. Perhaps Knight Caligo believed I was an obstacle to Delmarque.’

He’d approached her amiably today, but given his deep loyalty to Herdin, he might have acted alone, deciding to eliminate her on his own initiative.

Yet something still didn’t sit right with that theory.

‘Before becoming Duchess, I was an Imperial Princess. Any harm to me would spark discord between the Imperial family and House Delmarque. Would he really risk that?’

Hitting a dead end, another hypothesis emerged.

‘Perhaps he’s a spy planted by a third party hoping to incite conflict between the Empire and Delmarque.’

Thus, Herdin might truly have nothing to do with her death. But…

‘…No. I can’t trust anyone.’

She couldn’t entirely rule out the possibility that Herdin himself was behind it.

On reflection, Herdin had plenty of reasons to dislike her.

She was a wife forced upon him by his enemies’ house, held no memory that could clear Esmeralda’s unjust disgrace, and he already had another woman he loved.

Blinded by love, he might have decided to kill a useless, inconvenient wife who served no purpose.

How foolish she’d been to even briefly believe he had nothing to do with her death.

Blair smoothed her restless hands and began planning her next move.

‘Simply running away without understanding anything won’t solve a thing.’

If Caligo acted out of personal feeling or misguided loyalty, relinquishing her title as Duchess or fleeing might resolve everything. But if someone else stood behind him, the situation changed entirely.

As long as there was a mastermind with a clear motive behind her murder, they might keep trying to kill her.

To escape death, she first needed to understand why she had to die—and to uncover that, she needed to learn everything about Caligo.

‘Who he’s colluding with, and why he killed me.’

Blair resolved to ask Mikhail to investigate Caligo and began writing a letter.

Just then, she sensed someone behind her.

“I didn’t hear a knock, so I wondered if you’d dozed off.”

Startled by Herdin’s sudden appearance, Blair quickly covered her letter and turned to face him.

Herdin appeared freshly bathed, dressed in a robe. His eyes drifted toward the letter.

Only then did she realize her actions might seem suspicious—but fortunately, he merely glanced at it briefly and asked nothing.

He gently lifted Blair into his arms and sat down in a chair, then loosened the ties of her dress. The gesture felt unnervingly natural.

As the dress slackened, her pale, rounded shoulders were revealed. Herdin pressed his lips to them and murmured,

“How is your body?”

His warm breath, accompanied by a languid baritone, tickled her shoulder. Though his uninhibited touch should have grown familiar by now, it still felt foreign to Blair.

Realizing he was asking because he remembered her earlier pallor, Blair answered a beat too late,

“…I’m fine.”

Taking her words as permission, his hand—previously resting at her waist—slid upward to cup the soft swell of her breast.