After spending two more weeks together in Icar, the couple arrived in Livren. It was less than a month before Blair’s due date.

As the carriage passed through the mansion’s main gate and entered, the servants could be seen lined up waiting for the return of their master and mistress.

Seeing this, Blair’s expression darkened. Noticing her change in mood, Herdin asked with a puzzled look.

“What’s wrong?”

“I just feel a bit embarrassed. It was only two months ago that I said goodbye to everyone, saying we were getting divorced…”

Ah. Realizing that Blair was feeling shy, Herdin chuckled.

His outwardly elegant and graceful princess of a wife actually had such a cute side to her. Knowing that only he was aware of this aspect filled him with a strange sense of elation.

“Should we turn the carriage around and go back to Icar then? I wouldn’t mind.”

“Let’s not do that.”

Blair hastily stopped him, worried he might actually turn the carriage around. By then, the carriage had arrived at the front entrance of the mansion.

“Welcome back, my lord and lady.”

The butler in charge of the Livren estate opened the carriage door and greeted the two.

Herdin got out of the carriage first, then helped Blair descend.

As the two headed towards the mansion entrance, the lined-up servants all bowed their heads in unison.

Herdin couldn’t take his eyes off Blair as he matched his pace to hers. Due to her swollen belly, Blair was walking slowly with small steps.

The sight tugged at his heartstrings, yet even that looked adorable to him. It seemed he was quite besotted with her.

As he watched Blair carefully placing her feet, Herdin suddenly felt playful and picked her up in his arms. Startled, Blair clung to his neck.

“Herdin?”

Herdin answered by kissing the lips of his wife, who was looking at him with wide, surprised eyes.

“Because you’re cute.”

Blair’s face turned as red as a ripe apple at his bold kiss. Finding that cute as well, Herdin was about to kiss her again when Blair’s hand stopped him.

Looking around with a rather flustered expression, Blair furrowed her brow slightly and whispered.

“The servants are watching.”

“Let them watch.”

“It’s undignified.”

“Is it undignified for a husband to love his wife?”

Blair, who had been looking at him with a stern expression, finally burst out laughing as if conceding defeat. Herdin carried her in his arms and strode into the mansion.

The servants watching the couple with knowing smiles all had the same thought.

That the Duke was thoroughly smitten with the Duchess.

* * *

Standing in front of the mirror, Herdin was fastening his cufflinks when he suddenly glanced out the window.

He could see servants clearing snow from various parts of the estate’s garden and the coachman preparing the carriage.

Out of guilt for not being by her side in his past life, Herdin tried to stay with her as much as possible, but as expected, they had less time together compared to when they were in Icar.

Moreover, today he had to personally inspect the harbor, and he felt uneasy about leaving the mansion for a long time without Blair, which hadn’t happened in a while.

Even though he knew there were no more forces targeting him and Blair, and the due date was still about a month away, so the baby wouldn’t be born in the meantime.

The guilt from his past life remained in a corner of his heart like a stone buried in ice, not melting away no matter how much time passed.

After fidgeting with his cufflinks, putting them on and taking them off repeatedly, Herdin finally gave up and left the dressing room.

He hoped his wife, who had become even more of a sleepyhead since becoming pregnant, would be awake by now, but sadly, Blair was still sound asleep.

As Herdin quietly sat down by the bed, he remembered why she was still unable to wake up.

‘Right. She fell asleep late last night too.’

Last night, as they had been doing since Icar, Herdin had teased and tormented Blair with his mouth and tongue.

Of course, he avoided directly joining their bodies since she was in her final month, but there were many ways to satisfy each other’s desires even without that. In fact, it was more stimulating because it wasn’t direct.

On top of that, whether due to pregnancy hormones or not, Blair’s attitude had become a bit more honest despite her shyness, which fueled his desire.

After exploring her for a long time like that, Herdin finally let her go late into the night.

As he quietly gazed at his wife, who was sleeping with a completely defenseless expression, unlike the seductive appearance that had provoked him last night, Herdin quietly rose from his seat.

Even he thought it would be too greedy to expect her to see him off after tormenting her all night.

But just as Herdin was about to get up from the bed.

“…Herdin?”

As if sensing his wish, Blair opened her eyes.

“Where are you going?”

“I have to go inspect the harbor. I’ll be back soon.”

Blair then remembered that Herdin had mentioned last night that he would be inspecting the harbor today.

Meanwhile, Herdin climbed onto the bed. Blair looked at him quizzically as he subtly lay down beside her, despite saying he had to leave.

“Didn’t you say you had to leave?”

Herdin drew close to Blair as if to kiss her and whispered.

“Tell me not to go.”

As his lips moved, almost but not quite touching hers, his hot breath fell on her lips. But they didn’t overlap. As if demanding the answer he wanted from her.

At the same time, Herdin’s hand slipped under the blanket and caressed Blair’s round belly. His heated touch rose boldly yet secretly, enveloping and stimulating her swollen breasts. It was an explicit seduction.

Dazed by his touch, memories of last night flashed through Blair’s mind. She had a feeling that if she gave in to his seduction now, they would end up tumbling in bed indecently in broad daylight.

Blair stopped him by grasping his hand.

“You should be a role model father for the baby.”

“I can also be a role model as a husband.”

“Neglecting work isn’t exemplary as a husband either.”

At Blair’s firm words, Herdin let out a dissatisfied sigh. However, he didn’t budge and just fiddled with her hair. He still seemed reluctant to leave.

Finally, Blair pulled out her trump card.

“I’ll praise you when you come back.”

Praise.

Herdin’s eyes narrowed, knowing what that meant. Over the past fortnight, his clever wife seemed to have figured out how to train him.

Of course, it was a very accurate method.

“Twice.”

Herdin proposed a negotiation to Blair and suddenly kissed her. Blair hesitated for a moment, then accepted her unreasonable husband who had already won.

As her closed lips parted, Herdin seized the opportunity and entangled her. He caressed her soft body hidden under the blanket.

“Mmm…”

Their lips overlapped, hot breaths and saliva intertwined, making wet, obscene sounds.

The two delved deeper into each other as if unsatisfied despite exploring each other all night long. The heat between them quickly rose along with the intensifying contact.

Into their world where only the two of them seemed to exist, a third party suddenly intruded.

“Your Grace, the preparations are complete.”

It was Luth’s voice.

Herdin, whose body was already heated with desire, tried to ignore it and continue kissing, but Blair pushed him away.

“Herdin.”

Only then did Herdin sigh and pull back. He wiped the saliva off Blair’s lips with his thumb, whose it was unclear, and whispered softly.

“I’ll receive the rest of my praise when I return, my lady.”

As he got up from the bed and straightened his clothes, Herdin noticed that Blair’s expression wasn’t good.

“Blair?”

“Ah…”

“Are you in pain somewhere?”

At his worried question, Blair hastily shook her head.

“I think I’m not fully awake yet. Be careful on your way.”

Herdin examined his wife’s complexion as she smiled brightly at him, then kissed her round forehead before getting up.

“I’ll be back.”

Not long after he left the bedroom, the sound of the door closing was heard. At the same time, the smile disappeared from Blair’s face and contorted in pain.

“Ah…”

Blair clutched her belly where she felt contractions.

In fact, she had felt mild contractions right after their kiss ended. But she deliberately didn’t show it, not wanting to worry Herdin who had to leave.

Blair sat up, cradling her belly which felt unusually hard and tense.

It was common to have false contractions as the due date approached, but it was difficult to distinguish them precisely from real contractions.

‘There’s still more than two weeks until the due date…’

In her past life, Asiel was born more than two weeks from now, but there was no guarantee he would be born on the same day in this life.

In fact, Asiel was born about two weeks earlier than originally expected, and at this point, with about a month left until the due date, it wouldn’t be strange for the baby to be born anytime.

Feeling anxious, Blair pulled the bell cord. While lying in bed waiting for the contractions to subside, Melly entered the room.

“My lady, did you sleep we– Are you not feeling well?”

Blair asked Melly, who was hurriedly approaching her.

“Melly, could you call the physician?”