At a late hour, Blair stood in front of the door.

Today was her wedding day, and this room was where she would spend her first night with her husband.

After standing still for a while, she covered her thin nightgown, which revealed the curves of her body, with a shawl and knocked.

“……”

Her husband didn’t seem to have come to the bedroom yet.

Blair let out a small sigh of relief, then entered the room and sat on the sofa.

And waited for her husband.

Ten minutes passed like that.

Thirty minutes, and then another thirty minutes.

Even after an hour, her husband didn’t come. Unlike in the past.

‘Is he not going to come?’

As Blair stared at the tightly closed door, she suddenly remembered how this marriage came to be.

‘Well, this time it’s not a real marriage, but a one-year contract marriage.’

A marriage formed purely for each other’s purposes.

There’s no need to fulfill the duties of a real couple on the first night, is there?

‘Perhaps it’s better this way.’

If she faced that handsome face again, if she shared her body heat with him again, she might fall into the delusion that he loved her.

Just like her past self did.

‘Spending one night with him is enough, just that day when Asiel was conceived.’

Today wasn’t that day, so it didn’t matter.

Blair concluded that her husband wouldn’t come to her room tonight, and took out paper and a quill pen from the drawer.

And she began to calmly write out the contract that would prove this contract marriage.

It was then, just as she finished the last sentence of the contract.

Suddenly, she felt warmth behind her back, and a man’s large hand appeared, resting on the desk.

Startled, Blair turned around to see a man who had approached behind her at some point.

A height much taller than ordinary men, a masculine body tightly built, visible through the robe he wore.

Cool eyes like the blue summer night sky under softly fluttering black hair.

A man with a face so beautiful that it would momentarily take the breath away of anyone who saw it, man or woman.

Duke Herdin Delmark.

From today, officially, he was her husband.

He asked, as if reading her mind from the surprised look in her eyes.

“Why do you look so surprised? It’s our wedding night, so it’s natural for a couple to spend the night together.”

“…I didn’t think you would come.”

“Even though you’ve been waiting up all this time?”

At his words that hit the mark, Blair pursed her lips tightly.

“I was just waiting in case. It wouldn’t be polite to be asleep when you… when you came.”

Herdin’s gaze deepened at the word “you” that flowed from Blair’s lips.

“That sounds like you were prepared to spend the wedding night.”

Blair flinched at his touch caressing her cheek and his low voice resonating in her ear.

But what surprised her more was his words.

‘Why on earth?’

In her past life, Herdin had accepted the unwanted marriage proposed by her brother to uncover the truth from her.

The wedding night, the affection, it was all just an act to trap Blair and extract the truth.

So in this life, to avoid being swayed by his act, she had proposed to him before the marriage.

‘If you accept my proposal, I will cooperate to the fullest in finding out ‘the truth of that day’.’

I will give you what you want without you having to deceive me.

So she thought he wouldn’t put on an act to seduce her anymore, but why.

‘Wasn’t it enough to just find out that truth, with no more business with me?’

Just like you did in the past.

But he showed a reaction completely opposite to Blair’s expectations. It was a somewhat bewildering situation for Blair, who had thought he wouldn’t even come to the bedroom.

“There’s no need to necessarily consummate on the first night—”

“I want to.”

His gaze, whispering lowly, was fixed on her red lips. His hand cupping her cheek stroked those lips with his thumb.

Her heart began to beat rapidly at the heat felt from his fingertips.

At that moment, Herdin, who had been staring at Blair’s lips, raised his gaze and their eyes met.

“Right now.”

In his blue eyes, unrefined intense desire was swirling.

Before Blair, surprised by the raw desire, could pull back, his approaching lips devoured hers.

Blair suddenly remembered that he too was a man.

‘They say men can join bodies even with someone they don’t have feelings for.’

Yes, this isn’t love. It’s not even pretending to love for another purpose.

It’s just a moment’s desire.

Thinking that way made her feel rather at ease. Blair gathered her confused feelings and closed her eyes as if resigned.

In the past, she had trembled in fear at the unfamiliar and intimate act with him.

His large frame felt like a beast trying to devour her, or a prison trapping her.

Yet she liked his gaze that looked only at her, liked the warmth of his firm embrace, believed it was love and fell for him in an instant.

‘But now I won’t be deceived by that warmth.’

Spending the night with him is only to meet the child.

‘Asiel, my baby.’

If only she could meet the child she loved more than her own life again.

She could spend the night with the husband who might have killed her before her regression, over and over again.

The Second First Night

Today was the day Herdin was returning to the townhouse after nearly a year.

It was the first time since Asiel was born.

Blair personally chose the dress and accessories she would wear today. It had been a while since she’d done so.

Blair, having finished her preparations, entered the room connected to the bedroom. There was a small cradle there.

The child in the cradle was playing alone without even whimpering once, clumsily moving its tiny hands towards the mobile.

Blair reflexively smiled softly as she picked up the child.

“Our baby, you were playing well without crying or waking up?”

“Ung. Eueu! Ububu!”

The child in its mother’s arms smiled brightly and kept babbling incomprehensibly. It seemed to be in a good mood, as if knowing it was the day to meet its father.

But Blair’s eyes, looking out the window while holding the child, were sinking with bitterness.

Herdin had left for the main castle of the Delmark duchy in the north not long after Blair became pregnant.

On the surface, he put forth the pretext of subjugating the magical beasts that were rampant every summer, but Blair knew it was to escape from the wife he had obtained through an unwanted marriage.

Nevertheless, she stroked her growing belly day by day and prayed that Herdin wouldn’t get hurt.

Her husband was renowned as the continent’s only magical swordsman blessed with divine power and a war hero, but she couldn’t help but worry.

Blair sent letters every night she couldn’t sleep due to worry, every day he appeared in her dreams.

That the child in her womb was growing healthily. That she hoped he too would return safely without any injuries…

But a reply never came back.

She thought no news was good news. He was the lord of the vast northern region, so it was natural for him to be busy.

…She had to think that way.

And so time passed, summer and autumn when magical beasts ran rampant went by, and winter was approaching.

Until then, Herdin still hadn’t returned to the capital.

Meanwhile, the child in her womb grew vigorously and started to move. From around that time, Blair spent many nights crying.

The child, asserting its presence with increasingly strong movements day by day, seemed to be looking for its father.

‘I’m sorry. I’m sorry, baby…’

She pitied the child who wouldn’t be loved by its father. It felt like it was all her fault, and her heart ached.

Then one winter day, half a year after he had left, Herdin came down to the capital.

He expressed his intention to return to the main castle right away, without stopping by the mansion, as he only came to the imperial palace for a brief matter.

When Blair heard this news, she abruptly went to see him with her heavily pregnant body that made even going out difficult.

It was a meeting after half a year.

But his blue eyes, looking at the wife he met after half a year, were as cold as a frozen winter lake.

‘Why did you come here? Your body must be heavy enough as it is.’

In front of that quiet coldness, the words “I missed you” that had been lingering in her mouth couldn’t be uttered.

In front of him, she always ends up becoming a sinner.

It was miserable that her heart still raced for him, forgetting all the resentment and sorrow.

Blair composed her emotions and tried to speak with a calm expression.

‘Herdin. Can’t you spare just an hour, no, thirty minutes…?’

Her voice, which started calmly, trembled subtly as she finished her words.

Herdin, who had been staring at Blair, nodded reluctantly.

The two got into the carriage together. Blair was given the time until they arrived at the Delmark mansion from the imperial palace.

In the silence where only the sound of the carriage could be heard, Blair fidgeted with her fingers. She seemed to have had a lot to say, but her mind went blank when she faced him.

At that moment, the child in her womb began to move. As if trying to make its presence known to its father, it was a strong movement.

Blair frowned and stroked her belly.

‘It seems healthy, taking after its father. The kicking is so strong, it’s hard to sleep at night.’

‘Is that so.’

‘Would you like to feel it…?’

‘…No, it’s fine.’

At his curt response, as if dealing with someone else’s child, Blair quietly closed her mouth.

She had hoped he would understand her pain a little. Maybe she even wanted to act spoiled, unlike her usual self.

As it had been throughout her pregnancy, her fear of childbirth grew as her due date approached.

She had heard that other nobles had their mothers by their side, so she carefully asked her mother too.

It was a request that the usual Blair, knowing her mother’s nature, would never have made, but her fear of childbirth was so great that she couldn’t help but ask despite knowing this.

But her mother refused as expected.

A reply came back saying, ‘It’s something every woman goes through once, what’s there to be afraid of? What could I do even if I went there anyway?’ Along with the midwife she sent from the imperial palace.

So she wanted to ask her husband. Even if it was just for a few days around the time the child was born, to stay by her side.

However, in front of his indifferent response, Blair couldn’t say anything. Even the child’s diligent movements stopped. She felt like she was about to burst into tears.

That would be terribly ugly.

Blair tried to swallow the emotions rising to her throat and looked out the window.

The carriage had arrived at the mansion.

Herdin stared blankly at Blair’s belly with an expressionless face, then gave a greeting as if to a complete stranger.

‘I hope you have a safe delivery.’

The butler opened the carriage door.

It was truly time to part with him now, but Blair hesitated.

There was so much she wanted to say, but only things she couldn’t say.

Blair, who had been looking at him and moving her lips, finally thought of one thing she could ask him.

‘…The name. Please name this child.’

As if he couldn’t refuse even that, he seemed to ponder for a moment before suggesting two names.

‘How about Diana if it’s a girl, and Asiel if it’s a boy?’

He added that if Blair had another name she wanted, she could use that name, but Blair named the born child Asiel.

Because it was the first thing the father gave, thinking of his son.

But Herdin didn’t come to the townhouse even after Asiel was born. It was only after another half year that he was returning.

“My lady, His Grace will arrive soon!”

The maid Lina entered the room to announce the news.

Blair whispered, kissing the child’s chubby cheek.

“Asiel, daddy’s coming.”

“Da?”

Blair came down to the first floor of the mansion carrying Asiel. All the servants were out waiting for their master who was returning after a long time.

Soon, the sound of hooves was heard in the distance and a carriage appeared.

Blair’s heart swelled at the reunion with him, knowing it was a vain hope.

She knew he resented her. She too remembered the countless nights she had spent in tears, holding her swollen belly alone.

But now there was Asiel between them.

No matter how much he hated her, he was the child’s father, and she was the child’s mother.

Blair wanted to build a complete family with him now, even if late. For this lovely child’s sake.

It seemed that if he saw the child who was the spitting image of him, he would gladly agree with her thoughts.

Soon the carriage arrived in front of the mansion, the door opened and Herdin got out.

Blair, forgetting all her resentment, approached him excitedly, eager to show him Asiel.

“Herdi—”

But Herdin reached out his hand, looking not at Blair and Asiel, but inside the carriage.

The person who took his hand and got out of the carriage was a beautiful woman with dazzling silver hair. The woman stood next to Herdin.

The Delmark household servants began to murmur at the sight of the two.

A woman who rode in the same carriage as their lord.

Though they didn’t know her identity, it was clear from the way Herdin treated her that she was precious to him.

Blair’s steps toward him came to a halt. Her violet eyes looking at them began to tremble.

Herdin’s cool blue eyes and the beautiful woman’s golden eyes next to him fell on Blair at the same time.

“Hello, madam.”

The angelic woman smiled and greeted. Her golden eyes sparkled like jewels.

Blair stared blankly at the woman her husband had brought.

The humid air of late summer, heavy with heat, was suffocating. More so than the summer a year ago when he had left.