Herdin, who had been watching the barely lit cigar burn with the firewood, headed for the table with the water jug. His throat felt dry.

Through the drinking glass, he could see Blair sleeping soundly. It was then, as he was quietly observing her.

Along with a dizzying sensation, a hazy vision unfolded before his eyes.

The bed before him was stained with bright red blood, and Blair lay collapsed on it. Bleeding profusely from her back.

Herdin’s heart sank at the sight. He felt as if all the blood was draining from his body. The hand holding the glass suddenly lost its strength.

‘What…’

At that moment, the vision disappeared.

In place of the vision was Blair, sleeping in the same position as before.

Herdin quickly caught the glass he had almost dropped.

What was that just now?

Even though the vision had vanished, his startled heart refused to calm down.

Herdin strode over to the sleeping Blair and placed his index finger between her lips and nose. He could feel her exhaled breath.

When he gently placed his finger on Blair’s cheek, he felt warmth. Perhaps sensing it, Blair slightly furrowed her brow.

“Mmm…”

Only then did Herdin release the breath he had been holding.

‘It seems my mental state is quite disturbed.’

During the New Year’s festival and now today. Seeing things that aren’t there.

The vision had disappeared, but the emotion felt in that moment lingered like an afterimage, leaving him unsettled.

Just as Herdin was about to withdraw his hand from Blair, her eyelids trembled and opened. Her violet eyes, infused with the sunlight seeping into the room, blinked slowly.

As her gaze gradually focused, she stared at him.

“…Herdin?”

Her breath, escaping with her voice, tickled his finger.

As he gazed at Blair intently, tracing her lips with his index finger, he leaned down and consumed her lips.

The trembling lips, the moan of suffering, the intertwining hot breaths – as he felt these, the unpleasant afterimage of the vision finally disappeared.

The woman was alive. In his arms.

* * *

“His Excellency is still in the bedroom.”

Luth, who had arrived at the Delmark mansion at the usual time, heard this news from Mason instead of a greeting.

Knowing what that meant, Luth slightly furrowed his brow.

It had been ten days already. Since Herdin started spending the night in Blair’s bedroom and staying until morning.

It was precisely since that afternoon when he had been chased out of the office.

‘Back then, I was glad to have some time off.’

At that moment, Mason asked Luth, who was heading to the reception room.

“Shall I bring some tea?”

“That sounds good. Then please, the same as yesterday.”

While Luth was reviewing Herdin’s schedule and the main issues that needed to be decided by today in his personal notebook after arriving at the reception room, Mason brought the tea.

He set the tea down in front of Luth.

“How about adjusting your work hours for a while? After all, they are newlyweds.”

“It’s fine. My commuting hours are fixed anyway. Well, he’ll probably get tired of it soon.”

Luth spoke as if it wasn’t a big deal, but inwardly he was uneasy about Herdin’s interest in Blair.

For his lord, who had never shown such behavior before, to suddenly take an interest in a woman.

It should have been a joyous occasion for a family where heirs were scarce, but the problem was the partner. Of all people, Katrina’s daughter.

As Luth was lost in thought with his notebook open, Herdin suddenly appeared from behind and leisurely walked over to sit across from him. He was in a robe, as if he had just finished bathing.

‘Goodness, that startled me.’

Usually, when he woke up, he would call Luth to his office, so Luth hadn’t expected him to come to the reception room directly.

Moreover, Herdin, having lived on battlefields for a long time, was unintentionally skilled at concealing his presence. Because of this, Luth would often be startled when he appeared suddenly.

Especially when he had been thinking about him, like just now.

“Good morning, Your Excellency.”

In response to Luth’s greeting, Herdin merely nodded his head while crossing his long legs. Just then, a servant brought Herdin’s tea and cigar, lit the cigar for him, and left the reception room.

Herdin inhaled the cigar smoke and exhaled it while picking up one of the documents Luth had brought.

“Is this the magicore mine development project we talked about before?”

“Yes. Please review and approve it by today. And I’ve compiled these related projects that I think would be good to review together.”

Luth handed over the documents summarizing the proposals for projects linked to the development while looking at Herdin.

The well-toned body glimpsed through the loosely tied robe and the face that one couldn’t help but admire. Add to that the sight of him with a cigar in his mouth, and it was sensual even to Luth, a man.

Wherever he went, there were many women who wished to exchange even a word with him. This fact gave Luth quite a sense of pride as well.

His relationship with Blair should have been like that with other women. A relationship where the other party unilaterally liked him, and he remained indifferent.

But the relationship between the two seemed a little different from what he had hoped. Since Herdin wasn’t one to discuss private matters, Luth couldn’t know the details, but he instinctively felt it.

Perhaps, when he had suggested that Herdin marry a suitable woman before an imperial order came down.

Along with the uneasiness that Herdin’s inaction might have been related to that.

“Your Excellency.”

Herdin raised his gaze from the documents to look at Luth, substituting this action for a verbal response.

“I’m sure you know what you’re doing, but… just in case. Please be careful when you consummate.”

As Blair’s name came from Luth’s lips, Herdin’s gaze turned cold. It was the eyes of a beast looking at an intruder touching its prey.

“Are you warning me to be wary in case she’s hidden a dagger to stab me?”

“As if Your Excellency would fall victim to such a clumsy attack. What I mean is, besides that…”

Trailing off and clearing his throat, Luth added in a lowered voice.

“Contraception. The imperial family might be waiting for your wife to bear an heir to Delmark.”

This statement expressed concern that after seeing an heir to Delmark from Blair, the imperial family, her maternal side, might kill Herdin and absorb Delmark’s power.

That’s why Luth had previously suggested having an illegitimate child instead.

He had no ill feelings towards Blair. The woman he had actually met seemed to be a different type of person from her mother.

But blood is thicker than water.

From Luth’s standpoint, serving Delmark, the fact that she was a person of the imperial family alone made her someone he couldn’t let his guard down against.

Although he knew that having an illegitimate child was immoral and would shake the family’s prestige, to Luth, Herdin’s well-being was more important than anything else.

Because that’s what the previous Duchess, who had given him a second life, would have wanted.

As he listened to Luth’s words, Herdin thought of Blair. And the contraceptive pills that were always on her bedside table.

She was a woman who only thought about ending this contract marriage and leaving his side somehow. So it would be troublesome for her if she became pregnant.

But Luth didn’t know what kind of contract had been made between them, so it was understandable for him to worry.

Herdin ran his hand through his still-damp hair, put out his cigar, and declared,

“That won’t happen.”

Things with Blair will end cleanly. For the sake of the lover she desperately loves, if nothing else.

Why that fact made him feel so unpleasant, he didn’t know.

* * *

Blair finally opened her eyes around lunchtime.

It had already been ten days since that day when she had been embraced by him in the office. For the past ten days, she had barely left the bedroom.

The clause in the contract stating ‘maximum twice a month’ had no effect whatsoever.

He had interpreted the contract as he pleased.

‘Since only intercourse is valid, kisses don’t matter, right?’

Saying such things, he would kiss her all over her body, making her desperate.

‘If the other party desires it, then in cases where both parties want it, there’s no specific number mentioned in the contract.’

After making it so that Blair could only want him, he would embrace her as if he had been waiting for it.

At first, Blair had protested, but eventually gave up.

Every night like that, starting from as early as late afternoon when his work was finished, she would be tormented by him all night. She would fall asleep as if fainting, and even when she barely regained consciousness, she was still in his arms.

And then again, she would be…

He tormented her so persistently throughout the night that now it felt strange when she couldn’t feel his warmth.

After being tormented by him all night like that, even during the day when he went to work, she couldn’t gather her wits at all.

It felt as if he had taken all her energy away.

‘How can a human’s stamina be like that?’

Thinking about it, it was the same in her past life.

In her past life, Herdin had been like this until late spring after their marriage, when their relationship had soured. He had clung to her like a beast every night.

‘I thought that was an act too…’

This time, because it was a contract marriage, she thought he wouldn’t spend nights with an unwanted wife anymore. But it seemed his desire for her body, at least, was genuine.

Although she knew this interest would cool off soon, there was no need to confront him about it. She liked their current relationship where they were cooperative with each other.

As it was, she had been feeling uneasy because there was no visible progress in finding memories of the fire incident. Thinking that she could give him something else he wanted made her feel more at ease.

‘Since I’ve decided not to be suspicious anymore, I should be able to move more freely now.’

Blair forced her aching body to rise and pulled the bell rope.

She couldn’t just lie in bed all day today. There was much to do.

Planning for after the divorce, tracking down the assailant who had killed her…