The soft spring sunlight seeped through the window.

Herdin, who awoke first, quietly watched Blair still deep in sweet slumber.

Though it seemed past time to wake up, she showed no signs of stirring. It appeared he had troubled her later than usual.

Blair probably didn’t know, but he tended to push her more intensely on days they attended parties together. It was because the glances that clung to her all day long had grated on his nerves.

Marriage and childbirth had not diminished her charm in the slightest.

His wife was still beautiful, elegant, and captivated the gaze of every man in the ballroom.

In the aristocratic society where everyone secretly kept mistresses, there were plenty of men who wished to become her lover.

While he understood the natural inclination to be drawn to beauty, understanding was separate from acceptance.

Blair’s fingertips, her gentle voice, even the smile she gave others.

It irritated him that they had touched others even briefly, so he had to cover each spot with his own lips and traces to be satisfied.

Only when he physically felt that he alone possessed this woman’s thoroughly disheveled appearance could his twisted mood finally subside.

As he self-deprecatingly reflected on his intense possessiveness and desire for exclusivity, he suddenly recalled what she had said last night.

‘Herdin, what do you think about… us having a second child?’

Herdin caressed Blair’s flat stomach.

‘If a child were to grow in this belly again.’

Then other pups wouldn’t dare set their eyes on a woman carrying my child.

Moreover, if she became pregnant, she would be emotionally and physically weaker, so Blair would rely on him more than usual.

‘It was cute watching her walk carefully with her swollen belly.’

However, that imagination stopped there.

Because he belatedly realized that thinking about impregnating his wife for such reasons made him feel like trash.

It wouldn’t do even if Blair wanted it.

He couldn’t put his wife through that difficult and painful process again when she was struggling to even open her eyes at this hour after being tormented for just one night.

His hand, which had suppressed the lecherous thoughts, moved up past her slender stomach and waist. The soft flesh fit perfectly in his hand.

Embracing her from behind while playing with his hands, he called out to her in a low, husky voice.

“Blair.”

“Mmm…”

“Aren’t you going to get up?”

He woke her by nuzzling her white shoulder exposed outside the blanket with his lips. Blair’s body twitched at the stimulation, but she still couldn’t open her eyes.

“Herdin… stop…”

“You need to eat breakfast.”

“I want to sleep a little more…”

Blair turned her body and burrowed into his arms with a sleepy protest.

Herdin chuckled at her action. The place she fled to escape his teasing hands was, after all, the arms of the very person who had made her cry and tormented her all night.

“Then are you going to skip the meal?”

She seemed to have difficulty shaking off her drowsiness and didn’t answer for a while. Only when he kissed her did she finally mumble a response.

“You… feed me.”

At her answer, Herdin suddenly recalled her from the past and let out a hollow laugh.

Not long after they were married.

The first time he tried to feed her when she was exhausted, she had refused, saying it was undignified and insisting on eating with her own hands.

Now she had become quite the coquette, even saying such sly things.

Of course, if she had been in her right mind rather than half-asleep, she would never have said such a thing.

“Don’t regret those words.”

Today was a holiday with no particular schedule.

He thought he would eat breakfast first, then come back to feed her something, and then devour her while sitting her on his lap as he got up.

Blair had fallen asleep again, showing no response.

Herdin barely suppressed the desire that welled up just from briefly touching her skin and put on his robe. Then he walked leisurely out of the bedroom and headed for the dining room.

Unless there was something special, he always had breakfast and dinner with the child. He didn’t want Asiel to eat breakfast alone. Above all, Blair wouldn’t want that.

As he entered the dining room, Asiel, who was already there, greeted him.

“Dad!”

The pretty violet eyes that resembled his wife’s filled with delight. Seeing those eyes, Herdin suddenly thought this scene was like a miracle.

Until he married Blair, mornings were always something he had to face alone.

Waking up alone, eating meals alone, with no family to welcome him when he returned – a terribly lonely life.

That life had changed. Because of her.

The wife who nestled in his arms when he opened his eyes, the child who welcomed him when he returned home – all of it was miraculous happiness given by Blair.

Struck anew by that realization, he smiled slightly as he approached the child.

“Did you sleep well, Asiel?”

“Yes. How about you, Dad?”

“Thanks to you.”

Herdin’s large hand gently stroked the child’s soft hair as it passed by.

The child, who had grinned at his father’s affectionate touch, noticed his mother’s absence and tilted his head.

“Where’s Mom?”

“She seems very tired. She said she wants to sleep more.”

“Because you went to the party yesterday?”

Feeling mischievous, he put down the glass he had been sipping from and replied nonchalantly.

“No. She played with Dad all night.”

“What did you do?”

“It’s a secret.”

“Tch, leaving me out again.”

Herdin answered his son’s grumbling with a meaningful smile.

Soon, a simple breakfast was served.

Father and son began their meal, talking about what had happened at yesterday’s party.

Though Blair’s empty seat felt lonely, the atmosphere remained cheerful since Asiel was usually the chatty one anyway.

It was near the end of the meal when the child’s incessant chatter decreased.

Herdin noticed Asiel glancing at him. He seemed to have something important to say.

“Asiel, do you have something to say?”

When Herdin asked, Asiel flinched. Herdin chuckled at the sight.

Even though the child had grown quite a bit, he was still a child, unable to hide his emotions, which Herdin found utterly adorable.

The question the child asked after hesitating for a moment, with a rather serious expression, was unexpected.

“Hey, Dad. When do you want to kiss Mom?”

Asiel recalled the conversation he had with his friends at yesterday’s party as he asked.

‘That’s for Asiel to figure out.’

Unlike her confident exclamation, Senica had left finding a solution up to Asiel.

After returning home from the party, Asiel had thought all night.

‘How can I make Mom and Dad kiss more often?’

He knew that the kisses he shared with his parents were fundamentally different from the kisses his parents shared with each other.

But Asiel, who had never liked a girl before, didn’t know what that difference was or when one would want to kiss.

In the end, Asiel’s choice was to ask the person directly.

Herdin’s eyes widened briefly at his son’s unexpected question, but he soon answered shamelessly.

“Whenever your mother looks pretty.”

“But Mom is always pretty.”

“That means I always want to kiss her.”

Asiel involuntarily shuddered at his father’s brazen response.

Although he loved his mother dearly too, he sometimes felt that his father’s affection for his mother was excessive. Like now.

“Then why don’t you do it often usually?”

“I do it secretly. Your mother gets embarrassed in front of you.”

Relief spread across Asiel’s face upon hearing this.

The fact that his parents often kissed when he wasn’t around meant there was a possibility of having a sibling.

“But why are you asking that?”

“Oh, um… In fairy tales, princesses and princes kiss. I was curious why they do that.”

Asiel fumbled through an answer to Herdin’s sharp question.

He had already been rejected once when he told Herdin he wanted a sibling. He didn’t want to appear like a child throwing a tantrum by revealing his true intentions.

“Well then, I’ll go study now.”

Asiel quickly left the dining room before Herdin could notice anything more and ask further questions. Herdin’s eyes narrowed as he watched the child’s retreating figure with his chin resting on his hand.

Could it be that he has a girlfriend?

He pondered his son’s suspicious behavior, thinking that perhaps it might be good to start sex education early.

* * *

Back in his room, Asiel was lost in thought.

“So, Mom is too embarrassed to kiss in front of me?”

Thinking about it that way, it made sense.

The reason he hadn’t been able to see his parents kiss since witnessing them kissing in the greenhouse a few years ago.

“If that’s the case…”

As Asiel was contemplating ways to increase the possibility of having a sibling, his eyes suddenly lit up as if something had occurred to him. He then pulled the bell rope to send a maid on an errand.

A moment later, the returning maid brought writing paper, an envelope, and sealing wax.

Asiel sat at the table and began to write a letter.

After meticulously writing the letter following proper etiquette, the child sealed it in the envelope and handed it to the maid.

“Please send this to the Arbon Count’s residence.”