Rachel looked at Blair with disdain and said:

“Why should I listen to you? Everyone has the right to love freely, and I don’t need your permission.”

Her attitude was completely different from when she had asked for Blair’s permission earlier.

Blair felt neither angry nor humiliated by her behavior. Those emotions had already passed once in the past.

Now, she just found her cousin pathetic for boldly spouting such nonsense.

“It seems you prioritize your rights over morality.”

“Don’t act so noble. Who in this ballroom would find fault with that? Everyone lives like that behind closed doors.”

“Just because it’s common doesn’t make it honorable. If you’re so proud of it, why don’t you say it in front of those people? That you want to be the Duke of Delmark’s mistress.”

Blair gestured with her eyes towards the people in the ballroom.

Rachel hesitated upon seeing them.

As Blair said, even if everyone lived that way, being in an affair wasn’t something to boast about.

Blair looked at Rachel steadily and added in an even voice:

“How you live your life is your freedom, but you should at least not cross certain lines.”

At Blair’s calm admonishment, Rachel took a sharp breath as if dumbfounded, but could only open and close her mouth without rebutting.

Blair turned away from Rachel.

Perhaps it was the alcohol, but for some reason, she felt like laughing.

* * *

Herdin, who had been talking with other nobles, turned his gaze and met eyes with the Count who was about to leave the ballroom.

Beside him was his wife, who was visibly pregnant at a glance.

The Count, meeting Herdin’s eyes, explained sheepishly:

“My wife is feeling tired, so we thought it would be more polite to leave quietly rather than dampen the mood…”

“It’s a shame we can’t enjoy this delightful party longer.”

“We’re grateful you attended despite your condition. I hope you’ll join us again after the delivery.”

Herdin responded graciously to the guest who had made the difficult journey. It was an unusually gentle attitude from someone who usually exuded a cold, imposing aura.

His wife blushed and smiled shyly in response.

“Yes, we’ll certainly do that. I hope by then there will be good news for you and your wife as well.”

Good news.

Hearing those words, Herdin’s gaze lowered to her swollen belly. A chill briefly passed through his eyes, which had momentarily softened. But it was just for an instant.

Not noticing this, the couple paid their respects to Herdin.

“Then we’ll see you at the hunting event, Your Grace.”

After bidding farewell, the couple passed by him.

Herdin watched the Count’s retreating figure, carefully supporting his wife’s waist as if carrying the world’s most precious treasure, then turned his gaze away.

At the end of his redirected gaze, as if by natural progression, Blair’s figure came into view. Dressed in a navy blue dress that matched his, Blair stood out wherever she was in the ballroom.

Not just to his eyes, but likely to others as well.

Mine. My wife.

But that was only until this contract ended.

‘Good news, huh.’

Herdin smirked as he looked at Blair’s slender waist.

She was diligently taking contraceptives, as if they were a lifeline, so there was no chance of her belly swelling.

At least, not with his child.

…Unless it was another man’s child.

As his thoughts unconsciously wandered there, his blood ran cold. Just from the imagination alone.

Erasing the unpleasant thought, he looked for Blair again, but in that brief moment, she was no longer visible and someone else caught his attention.

Wesley Baldwin.

The guy who had been hitting on Blair at Katrina’s birthday party.

‘…Why is that bastard here?’

Blair had selected and sent out the invitations.

She probably didn’t want to invite him either, and likely just sent a formal invitation.

It wouldn’t look good to invite all the other high-ranking noble families but exclude only the Baldwin Viscount family, and Wesley wasn’t the only one in the Baldwin family.

The day after the unsavory rumors spread, his father, Viscount Baldwin, had personally come to apologize.

‘I thought he’d have the decency not to attend, but…’

It seemed the thick-skinned fool had slithered in again without any sense of shame.

Seeing Wesley brought back memories of the last party, making Herdin feel uneasy. Moreover, Blair was currently not visible in the ballroom.

Judging from past experience, his wife had a habit of hiding from others’ eyes when under the influence of alcohol.

‘So perhaps today too…’

What if a drunken Blair was again caught by some undeserving man? What if she was showing her cute drunken antics to that bastard?

Then he’d want to kill that son of a bitch.

He felt he needed to find her and keep her in his sight immediately, before such a thing could happen.

Herdin left the ballroom and began searching the balconies and empty rooms. The party wasn’t over yet, so as the hostess, she wouldn’t have returned to the bedroom.

After discovering several couples in trysts, Herdin finally found Blair on a secluded balcony. Thankfully, she was alone.

Tap tap.

Herdin knocked on the glass door leading to the balcony. Blair, who had been looking at the garden, turned at the sound.

Herdin stepped onto the balcony.

“What are you doing here?”

“I was trying to sober up.”

“Then what’s that?”

Herdin gestured with his eyes at the wine glass Blair was holding.

Blair then realized how her words and actions might seem contradictory and explained:

“This is water.”

Indeed, it was too colorless to be white wine.

“That’s wise. It wouldn’t be good to show that kind of behavior in front of guests.”

Herdin deliberately emphasized “that kind of behavior” as he spoke. Then he naturally took Blair’s glass and brought it to his lips.

A faint scent of wine lingered where her lips had touched. The water tasted sweet.

Realizing he was teasing her by mentioning her unseemly behavior at the last party, Blair pressed her lips together in displeasure.

Blair didn’t have the shamelessness to brazenly discuss her embarrassing actions, so she changed the subject.

“Were you looking for me?”

“Yes.”

“Who was looking for me?”

She naturally excluded him as a reason for seeking her out.

Herdin was irritated by this, but decided to let it slide since it was a party today and the situation warranted it.

“No. I had something to tell you.”

Blair’s gaze looking up at him asked what he wanted to say. He was satisfied to see his reflection filling her large violet eyes.

Herdin gazed at those eyes for a moment before speaking.

“You did well today.”

Blair’s eyes blinked at the unexpected praise.

She had thought she didn’t need anyone’s approval for this party. She hadn’t placed much importance on the compliments from the other ladies and young noblewomen.

She was satisfied, and that was enough.

But the moment she heard his simple yet sincere praise, her heart fluttered. And she realized:

‘I wanted to hear these words from this man.’

The sudden realization made her feel bitter.

It was praise from him that she had never heard in the past.

In her previous life, she had accidentally overheard vassals criticizing her on this very balcony and had been shocked.

Afterwards, she had returned to the ballroom as if fleeing, and couldn’t remember how she had managed to wrap up the party. She had pretended nothing was wrong as she saw off the guests and went up to her bedroom.

And Herdin had embraced her as usual, without saying anything.

That was natural. She had only done what was expected of her as the lady of the house, and he had no idea what she had overheard.

Still, if only she had heard these words from him that day, at that time.

‘…Then everything would have been alright.’

The praise she heard now was what the Blair of the past had desperately wanted to hear.

The belated compliment felt more bitter than joyful.

“Thank you.”

Blair answered softly as she took back her glass from his hand. Their fingertips brushed in the process.

“You’re not hiccuping today.”

“Well, I’m not drunk today.”

Blair’s glass was empty as she lowered it from her lips after taking a sip. Her small, crimson lips, moist with water, glistened in the moonlight.

Herdin’s gaze deepened as he looked at them. At that moment, his eyes met Blair’s. A long-suppressed thirst rose like flames.

Herdin cupped her cheek and pressed his lips against hers. Blair, startled, gripped her glass tightly to avoid dropping it. Herdin took it from her as he pulled away.

Blair stared at him blankly. His gaze, paused at a breath’s distance, was yearning for her.

He desired her.

Though she feared his passion that seemed about to devour her, for some reason she didn’t want to push him away.

‘Is it because I no longer want to fight with this man?’

If not that, then…

Blair set down the glass she was holding without resolving her conflicted emotions.

His hand immediately took it away, and soon their lips met again. Hot breaths intertwined deeply as they changed angles.

Unbeknownst to the couple, a shadow was watching them.