As Blair’s labor pains began, the mansion’s servants were momentarily flustered but soon started preparing for the birth in an orderly manner, just as they had rehearsed.

Except for one person, Herdin.

Unlike Herdin, who had turned pale, Blair was still smiling at him, as her intense labor pains had not yet begun.

“Why do you look like that? We’ll be able to meet our baby soon.”

“You’re in pain. Aren’t you scared?”

“Not at all.”

Her calm smile in this situation both relieved and worried him.

Though Herdin was ignorant about childbirth, he knew that the real pain had not yet begun, and that the actual labor pains would be beyond imagination.

However, the person who would actually experience that pain was smiling lovingly as always, comforting him who was worried.

“We’ll be able to meet our baby soon, and you’re by my side, so I’m fine. I’m not scared at all. So…”

Blair, who was about to continue speaking, stopped and gritted her teeth. At the same time, her small hand gripping his tightened. It seemed the contractions that came at regular intervals had started again.

“Blair.”

His heart sank at the sight of Blair in pain. Herdin stood there dazed, not knowing what to do as he watched her.

Of course, from his memories of his past life, he knew Blair wouldn’t die during childbirth. But just because she wouldn’t die didn’t mean it wouldn’t hurt.

There was nothing he could do for her as she endured this terrible pain.

It was Blair who woke him from his sense of helplessness.

As the contraction subsided momentarily, Blair smiled as if she had never been in pain and caressed Herdin’s hand that she was holding.

“I’m alright. Really.”

“…”

“So you should smile too. We should welcome our baby with smiling faces.”

Blair’s worried eyes examined his complexion. Seeing this, Herdin felt self-deprecating. Even in a situation where she was in pain, his wife tried to reassure him first.

Herdin gave a bitter smile as he looked at Blair. Then, while tidying her hair that was sticking to her forehead beaded with sweat, he replied.

“…Alright, I will.”

Only then did Blair seem relieved and smiled.

Herdin stayed by Blair’s side as her contractions gradually became more frequent. He tidied her hair, kissed the back of her hand, and comforted her saying she was doing well.

The intense labor pains began well past midnight. Finally, when her water broke, Herdin was sent out of the delivery room. It was Blair’s decision.

Soon after, Blair’s agonized screams could be heard from behind the closed door.

Herdin, who had been pretending to be calm in front of his wife who was only worried about him even as she faced childbirth, completely broke down as soon as he left the delivery room.

Blair was in so much pain, but there was nothing he could do for her. Nothing at all.

The guilt that had been lurking in a corner of his heart, which he had forgotten for a while due to his wife’s words to forget, stabbed at his heart.

As time passed, Blair’s screams grew louder. Eventually, her voice became hoarse and she began to sob.

Is she really not going to die when she’s in so much pain?

Although it was painful to hear those screams as if his heart was being torn apart, when the screams momentarily stopped, his heart sank worrying if something had gone wrong. He felt like he was going crazy either way.

Herdin alternated between sitting on the floor and getting up to pace anxiously in front of the door.

At first, Luth tried to somehow separate Herdin from the delivery room, but realizing it was impossible to separate him from Blair no matter what he did, he gave up.

Then, as if he had thought of something, he briefly left and soon returned, holding out something to Herdin.

“Your Grace, how about calming down a bit?”

What Luth handed over was a cigar.

Herdin’s steps faltered at the sight of it. At the same time, his eyes narrowed. There was nothing as useful as that for suppressing emotions.

Herdin, who had habitually picked up the cigar he had quit for the past two months, suddenly remembered Blair’s words and hesitated.

‘So you should smile too. We should welcome our baby with smiling faces.’

He couldn’t greet the child meeting their father for the first time reeking of cigar smoke.

In the end, he put down the cigar he had picked up.

The terrible time that seemed to last an eternity finally ended as the morning sunlight began to fill the corridor, with Blair’s screams ceasing.

Herdin, who had been pacing the corridor anxiously, stopped abruptly and raised his head. Luth, who had been dozing off next to him, also opened his eyes feeling Herdin’s footsteps stop.

The quiet silence lasted only for a moment, soon followed by the sound of crying from inside the room.

Not Blair’s, but the baby’s cry.

As Herdin stood there staring blankly at the closed door, the delivery room door that had been tightly shut all night opened and Lina, who had been helping inside, came out.

“A healthy young master has been born.”

Lina’s eyes were red and puffy as she delivered the news. Herdin’s eyes, looking at Lina, were not much different in color.

Herdin passed by Lina and entered the delivery room. The room was still in disarray, not yet tidied up, but Herdin’s eyes saw only Blair.

Blair, who was lying down with an obviously exhausted look, opened her eyes as if she felt him approaching. Then she smiled brightly at Herdin.

“Herdin.”

Blair called him and patted the bedside. At that call, Herdin quickly approached and embraced her.

As he held her small warmth, he could finally breathe. Along with it, his slightly trembling body gradually found stability.

Blair, as if understanding all his feelings, hugged him back and whispered while patting his broad back.

“You did well.”

Herdin let out a wry laugh at his wife’s praise. Even at this moment, his wife thought of him first.

“You’re the one who went through a lot.”

By the time Herdin had completely calmed down, the tidying of the delivery room was finished. The midwife returned last, carrying the swaddled baby.

Blair skillfully received the baby handed over by the midwife. It was because she remembered the moment she first held the child in her arms.

Blair whispered to the child in her arms.

“Hello, baby.”

As if answering her call, the child opened its eyes. Brilliant purple eyes that resembled hers sparkled. The sight was so wondrous it brought tears to her eyes.

The child, blinking its eyes while looking at its mother, smiled broadly. It didn’t look like a newborn baby.

Seeing this, Blair’s eyes filled with tears.

The child’s appearance matched Asiel’s exactly. The jet-black hair resembling Herdin’s, and the violet eyes resembling hers.

But Blair knew. This child was not the ‘Asiel’ she had loved.

The Asiel of the past had disappeared into the tricks of time.

She knew that even if she met Herdin again and gave birth to Asiel, that child couldn’t be the ‘Asiel’ she had loved, but at that time, it felt like she couldn’t endure her second life if she didn’t meet Asiel like this.

It was for the same reason that she brought Pipi from the winter forest and ultimately couldn’t return him to the wild.

But now it was time to let go of the Asiel of the past that she could no longer meet. For the sake of the past Asiel, and for the sake of the present Asiel.

Even so, she would love that child unchangingly. Probably forever, with all her heart.

“Thank you for coming to us, Asiel.”

After greeting Asiel, Blair noticed Herdin staring blankly at the child and held out the baby to him.

“You should hold him too.”

“…Is it okay?”

Blair burst into laughter at his question.

“Why wouldn’t it be? You’re the father.”

Come on, hurry.

Herdin, unable to resist his wife’s urging, hastily took the child in his arms.

In his past life, he first met Asiel when the child was over six months old.

Even at that point, Asiel was so small and weak that he worried the child might break if held incorrectly. That was also part of the reason why he couldn’t get close.

But the current Asiel was even smaller. So small that it was amazing that this tiny body could breathe and eat something. Yet despite its appearance, it was quite heavy.

“…Asiel.”

The child blinked its violet eyes at him as if understanding its name. Of course, a newborn’s eyesight isn’t very good, so it probably couldn’t see him properly.

Seeing the child’s eyes, memories of his past life flashed by.

In his past life, he couldn’t treat Asiel well. The child was always with Blair. He could only watch from afar this miraculous child who resembled both him and her exactly.

And in the end, to protect that child, he had to kill himself and return to the past.

But this life would surely be different.

Herdin, with tears in his eyes, looked alternately at the smiling Blair and the child in his arms, then handed the baby back to her. Then he kissed her forehead as she held the child and carefully embraced them both.

And so, they finally became a family of three again.

The story of how the two of them realized that Asiel had memories of his past life would come a little later.

Fin.