The name of the woman Herdin brought was Miela, a face Blair had seen once or twice coming and going from the temple.

Her profession was priestess. It was a fitting job for her angelic face.

Miela, who had gone on a mission to the north by the will of the goddess, happened to discover the Delmark Knights who had suffered great damage from the attack of beasts and helped them.

From that incident, Herdin highly valued her skills and employed her as an assistant for beast subjugation, keeping her by his side, and brought her back to the island when he returned.

A lord with excellent talent and an eye for recognizing it.

On the surface, that was all their relationship was, but the servants gossiped about the two at will.

“You know, about His Lordship and Lady Miela, don’t you think there’s something between them?”

“His Lordship and Lady Miela? I’m not sure about that.”

“His Lordship is like that. He’s the type who doesn’t show his emotions. But can’t you see that Lady Miela likes him?”

“Well… that’s true. Just look at the fact that she’s staying here instead of returning to the temple even though we’re back on the island.”

“His Lordship will fall for Lady Miela soon enough. With such a pretty and capable woman showing interest in him.”

“I guess. Anyway, she’s better than the enemy’s daughter.”

The voices of the maids chattering as they cleaned reached Blair’s ears as well.

But Blair pretended not to hear, covering her ears. She was afraid that if she reacted, it would be like admitting that the rumors were true.

So the suffocating summer passed, autumn went by, and the bleak winter returned.

Herdin, who had returned from the main castle, never sought out Blair first, as he had always done since she became pregnant.

He was always busy with outside work, and even when Blair occasionally went to see him, he rarely met with her.

At first, Blair tried to mend her relationship with him, but eventually stopped going to see him.

If there was one fortunate thing, it was that he occasionally showed interest in Asiel. Of course, Asiel didn’t seem to recognize the unfamiliar man as his father.

That day, Blair went to Herdin’s office, betting on that slight interest with hope.

In two weeks, it would be Asiel’s birthday. Blair planned to suggest that they go down to the Holstein villa to spend time as a family for Asiel’s birthday.

Blair hesitated as she was about to knock on the door of Herdin’s office. The office door was slightly open.

“Herd—”

At the sight visible through the open door, Blair swallowed her words as she was about to call him.

Miela was in Herdin’s arms.

Blair’s eyes began to waver aimlessly as she looked at the two of them.

“Ah…”

Blair instinctively stepped back to escape the unbelievable reality. At that moment, her eyes met Herdin’s, who was looking towards the door.

He seemed surprised for a moment, but he didn’t avoid Blair’s gaze. He didn’t even seem to think of avoiding it.

He pulled Miela closer, who was leaning against him. His cold gaze still fixed on Blair beyond the door.

As if to show her.

Stumbling backwards, Blair returned to her room. She couldn’t remember how she had made it back.

Looking at the floor because her feet felt cold, she noticed that one of her slippers was missing, probably dropped on the way, and her breath was caught up to her chin.

“Haa, haa…”

As soon as she closed the door, the tears she had been holding back burst forth.

She couldn’t forget the look in Herdin’s eyes as he held Miela while looking at her.

It took her breath away to imagine him embracing another woman with the gentle hands that once held her, whispering to another woman with the languid voice that once whispered to her.

Even though his kindness had been but a fleeting moment right after their marriage, she still loved him.

Though she had run away from that place, she couldn’t run away from the reality she faced.

“Ha, ugh… Heuuk…”

Her respiratory system, which had suffered great damage from the fire incident a decade ago, couldn’t withstand even that brief run and crying, and gasped.

Blair cried, beating her chest that couldn’t even breathe properly.

Her heart hurt more than her chest, which she had beaten until it bruised.

* * *

The next day, Blair left a message through the butler saying, “I want to spend Asiel’s birthday at the villa, so please come without fail on his birthday even if you’re busy,” and fled to Holstein with Asiel.

Yet, deep down, she hoped. That he would come and explain that what she saw that day was nothing, that it was a misunderstanding.

But until the day of Asiel’s birthday, not even a letter came from Herdin.

A small shadow approached Blair, who couldn’t leave the window overlooking the main gate of the villa, even with lifeless eyes.

“Momma! Momma!”

It was Asiel, all dressed up for his birthday.

Blair smiled at Asiel as if she hadn’t just been wearing a worried expression, and picked him up.

“My son, you’re wearing such pretty clothes today? Oh, how lovely.”

Asiel, who was smiling brightly while receiving a shower of kisses from his mother, suddenly seemed to remember something and pointed outside the window with his tiny hand.

“Papa?”

He remembered how his mother would pace by the window every evening, holding him and waiting for his father.

At that word from Asiel’s mouth, Blair’s face, which had been smiling as if nothing was wrong, suddenly contorted.

“…Yes, Papa will come soon. He’ll definitely come because it’s our baby’s birthday.”

Just as she was repeating the hope she wanted to believe, as if to comfort herself, there was a knock.

It was the butler.

He looked at Asiel in Blair’s arms with a troubled expression and delivered the news.

“My lady, His Lordship says his schedule has been delayed more than expected. So for this birthday, just the two of you…”

At this news, the light disappeared from Blair’s eyes, which had held a glimmer of hope.

* * *

“Sweet dreams, my darling.”

Blair gently kissed the small head of Asiel, who had fallen asleep in her arms, and laid him in his cradle.

The child was sleeping peacefully, sucking his finger.

Blair touched the child’s small hands and feet with a faint smile, then returned to her room.

Only then did the smile disappear from Blair’s lips, which she had been consciously maintaining in front of the child.

The room where she always stayed alone suddenly felt lonely and desolate.

Sometimes when that emptiness grew, she would bring Asiel to her room and sleep holding him, but today she deliberately left the child in his room.

Because she felt like she was about to burst into tears that she had been holding back.

Because she didn’t want to show this side of herself to Asiel.

Because she hoped that lovely child would never know this side of his mother.

“Haah…”

Blair collapsed onto the sofa.

The child had his second birthday, modest but happy. Surrounded by servants who congratulated him, eating delicious food, and receiving plenty of birthday gifts sent by vassals.

It was a perfect birthday.

Except for the fact that Herdin, his father, wasn’t there.

The child would laugh happily as if just having his mother was enough, but whenever the door opened as servants came and went, he would look for Herdin, wondering if his father had come.

Every time she saw this, Blair’s heart shattered miserably.

She could understand Herdin neglecting her. But she couldn’t bear him being indifferent even to Asiel.

‘Asiel doesn’t know anything. At his age, he should be receiving nothing but love from his parents…’

It broke her heart to think that Herdin’s neglect of Asiel was all her fault.

Suddenly, she regretted loving that indifferent man.

‘If I could go back to the past, I wouldn’t love that person then.’

Just as Blair was swallowing the rising tears, a sound broke the silence of the room — creeak.

Blair raised her head, thinking, could it be?

“…Herdin?”

But what she faced when she looked towards the door was an intruder wearing a black mask.

The man’s face, hidden by the mask and darkness, wasn’t clearly visible. However, the black eyes reflected in the sword under the moonlight and the hideous scar on the bridge of his nose were clearly visible.

Blair’s heart sank as she faced the intruder.

As the man approached her, Blair instinctively tried to scream, but remembering Asiel sleeping in the next room, she clamped her mouth shut.

If she screamed, the child would wake up.

If the child cried, this man might notice the child’s existence and go to kill him. That absolutely must not happen.

Blair turned her trembling body and ran towards the bell pull beside the bed.

But at that moment.

Thud—

A cold, chilling metal pierced her back.

“Ah…”

Along with the terrible pain, something hot burst from her mouth.

It was bright red blood.

But Blair, even while staggering, gritted her teeth and approached the bed.

And desperately shook the bell pull.

Help.

Please, someone protect my baby.

Even as she collapsed onto the bed, no longer able to endure, Blair didn’t let go of the bell pull she had grabbed.

Even until the intruder, who had approached a step late, pulled out the dagger stuck in her.

At the same time, the sound of multiple footsteps was heard from the corridor.

The intruder who had retrieved the dagger disappeared over the balcony.

Blair blankly watched the back of the intruder as he crossed the balcony.

The unique pattern engraved on the handle of the dagger the intruder was sheathing glinted in the moonlight before disappearing.

Only after his figure had completely vanished did Blair release the bell pull she had been clutching so desperately.

‘Thank goodness. I didn’t let Asiel sleep in my room tonight…’

Gradually, she felt the shadow of death drawing closer.

She couldn’t die like this.

What would happen to her poor baby who would look for his mother?

There were still so many things she wanted to do for him…

Blair recalled Asiel’s face, flickering like an afterimage, and finally let her eyelids, which had been struggling to stay open, close.