Herdin’s gaze turned cold as he faced her. He had become sensitive to her every move since the kidnapping incident.

“Where are you going?”

“Oh, I was just on my way for a walk in the garden.”

“Peep!”

As if to confirm her words weren’t a lie, Pipi chirped from Blair’s arms. Melly was with her as well.

Herdin searched Blair’s expression, wondering if she had overheard the conversation with the elders, but as always, it was difficult to read any emotion in her calm demeanor.

Just then, the voices of the approaching elders could be heard from the open reception room door.

“Surely His Excellency hasn’t fallen for the Imperial Princess? To be honest, she does take after her mother’s exceptional beauty.”

“Indeed. Her mother bewitched the Emperor in a similar fashion—”

Thinking Herdin had already left, the elders emerging from the reception room were startled to see Herdin and Blair, and quickly shut their mouths.

“We, we apologize, Your Excellency.”

They glanced nervously at Herdin before bowing and turning away, completely ignoring Blair.

Herdin’s eyes grew cold as he watched them.

“It seems the lords have grown old. Their eyesight must be failing if they can’t even see the person right beside them.”

“Herdin.”

Surprised by his sharp words, Blair tried to stop him by grabbing his arm, but Herdin didn’t pause.

“Or perhaps their neck bones have rotted to the point they can no longer bow.”

Realizing his words were pointing out their rudeness in not showing proper respect to the Duchess, the elders cried out indignantly.

“Your Excellency, are you insulting us old men? We who have served since your grandfather’s time?”

“Just because you’ve grown old doesn’t make me your grandson.”

The elders fell silent at Herdin’s biting words. As he said, even if Herdin was of an age to be their grandson, he was still undeniably their lord.

“Show proper respect to the Duchess. Unless you intend to insult me.”

“…”

“Ah, and of course, apologize for the nonsense that just came out of your mouths.”

His cold, oppressive voice weighed heavily on the quiet atmosphere of the corridor.

Overwhelmed by his intensity, the elders flinched and glanced around nervously before reluctantly bowing their heads to Blair.

“…We have been discourteous to the Duchess. We humbly ask for your gracious forgiveness.”

“It’s all right.”

Herdin was displeased with their insincere apology, but seeing Blair’s reaction, he decided to let it go quietly.

The elders bowed once more to the couple before hurrying away as if fleeing.

The silence left in the wake of the frozen atmosphere was broken by an oblivious young creature.

“Peep!”

Pipi chirped at Blair as if urging her to hurry and go for their walk. Herdin stared blankly at Pipi for a moment before addressing Melly.

“I’ll accompany the Duchess on her walk. Go see to your duties.”

“Ah… Yes, Your Excellency.”

Herdin dismissed Luth with a gesture as well, then turned to Blair, who was standing there blinking in confusion.

“Shall we go?”

Blair stepped out into the mansion’s garden with Herdin.

Pipi, who had been fidgeting since feeling the outside air, darted into the bushes as soon as Blair set him down. The marten’s fine fur was quickly stained with dirt.

Watching the small creature explore the garden with boundless energy, Herdin spoke.

“That little one has grown a lot. I thought it would die soon.”

“Thank you. It’s thanks to you saving him.”

At Blair’s words, Herdin felt self-deprecating.

To say it was his doing, when he had killed the creature’s mother and tried to kill the tiny thing as well. It sounded ridiculous even to his own ears.

“No. That it survived was purely due to your stubbornness.”

“Then let’s say it’s thanks to both of us, since you allowed that stubbornness.”

Herdin smirked as if conceding defeat to her persistence in giving him credit. He rather liked the phrase ‘both of us’ as well.

Blair gazed up at him thoughtfully, his earlier ferocious aura now much softened, and carefully broached a subject.

“Herdin, you don’t have to do that for my sake anymore.”

Realizing Blair was referring to the incident with the elders, Herdin’s expression quickly hardened again.

“So you want me to just stand by and listen while those old men insult you to my face?”

“I’m saying this out of concern for you.”

Blair spoke calmly, but Herdin didn’t like her attitude.

He knew the reason for her indifference to hearing herself insulted—the underlying premise that she would soon be leaving this place.

She was telling him now to side with his loyal subjects instead of a fake wife of one year.

Though he knew her words were right from a rational standpoint, uncontrollable emotions seethed in his heart.

“You knew too, didn’t you? That this would happen when the truth came out.”

“…”

“I expected it as well. It’s just that the timing was a bit earlier than anticipated. So it’s fine.”

Those words, devoid of even a hint of resentment, made him unable to bear the fact that he had put her in this situation where everyone condemned her.

“Peep!”

Just then, Pipi, who had been rolling in a mud puddle, disappeared into the bushes again. Blair went after the mischievous little creature.

As he watched her retreating figure, a strange sense of unease shook him, as if she might vanish like this into the warm spring sunlight.

Gazing at her hazy form beneath the sunlight, Herdin unconsciously strode forward and grasped Blair’s hand.

“Blair.”

Blair looked at him in puzzlement but allowed her hand to be held. However, the anxiety that had arisen did not easily subside.

Having finished their afternoon walk, the two returned to the mansion.

As soon as they reached Pipi’s room, Herdin pulled the harness from Blair’s hand and tossed it aside carelessly. Then he trapped her between the closed door and himself, immediately pressing his lips to hers.

Blair flinched in surprise for a moment, but as she always did, she soon closed her eyes and accepted him.

“Mmm…”

Herdin urgently parted Blair’s lips and entwined his tongue with hers, like a man long suffering from thirst.

As their moist flesh tangled and rubbed together, heat rose in his body and his thirst only grew. Even devouring every shallow breath she released wasn’t enough.

Blair was clearly in his arms, their breaths intermingling at this very moment, and yet… the anxiety that she might disappear did not fade.

The unease that had taken hold of him fueled his desire.

He felt he would only be reassured by trapping her beneath him, overlapping their bodies so she couldn’t escape, feeling her warmth.

Herdin’s large hand that had been holding Blair’s waist naturally slid lower. The moment the distance between them closed at that touch, Blair broke the kiss.

“…Herdin.”

Blair instinctively pushed against his firm chest as he tried to press their lips together again, but Herdin captured even that hand and restrained it.

He only managed to stop when Blair turned her face away from his lips.

His blue eyes gazed at her fiercely, as if about to devour her at any moment.

Blair looked at him and pleaded.

“I’m still not feeling well, so I’d like to rest.”

Herdin’s lips twisted as he looked at her saying she wanted to stop.

After their argument over Mikhail’s issue, she never once said she disliked it when he took her as he pleased every night. She even stubbornly kept her lips sealed as if unwilling to say even that much.

Her rejection pronounced in this moment of desperate need was unwelcome, but Herdin barely managed to suppress his desire.

He released her with an anguished sigh. His desire, on the verge of erupting, scraped roughly past his Adam’s apple as he swallowed it down.

“Thank you.”

His mood soured at her gratitude for what should have been her natural right of refusal, when a knock sounded.

“Your Excellency. Are you here?”

It was Mason’s voice.

“You should go.”

Blair moved away from the door she had been leaning against. Herdin gazed at her for a moment before opening the door and stepping out.

“Someone was sent from the Imperial Palace earlier. There was an imperial order for you to enter the palace tomorrow afternoon.”

Mason’s voice could be faintly heard through the door crack, but Blair was lost in thought and didn’t catch the content.

It was already the day before the full moon of May. Hope gleamed in her eyes as she gazed at the lush greenery outside the window.

‘Finally, tomorrow.’

The day Asiel would come into being.

* * *

The late spring garden was filled with the fragrance of blooming flowers.

Just as the scent threatened to overwhelm his senses and make him long for a cigar, a small pond came into view. Ivan was waiting at the pergola in front of it.

“You called for me, Your Majesty?”

“Sit.”

As Herdin sat across from him, a servant pushing a tray set down tea and disappeared.

Ivan studied Herdin’s demeanor over the teacup. With his usual indifferent expression, he silently lifted his cup, following Ivan’s lead.

Any other nobleman would have initiated conversation or tried to flatter him in some way to curry favor, but Herdin seemed to have no such intention.

‘I knew he was that kind of man, but still.’

Ivan inwardly clicked his tongue as he took a sip of tea, then spoke first.

“It’s been nearly half a year since we became family, but I’ve been too busy with affairs of state to find time to see the Duke’s face.”

Had that much time already passed?

Herdin moistened his lips as he gauged the time. Just then, the refreshing sound of wind rustling through the trees in the nearby forest completed the summer scene.

On the day he married his wife who resembled a snow fairy, snow had fallen, so this was a perfectly contrasting scene from that time.

“On a day like this, it would be good for bonding to ride through the forest for a hunt. The weight of state affairs feels especially heavy at times like these.”

“I don’t dare presume to know how arduous it is to lead an empire, but I’m sure you’re far busier than I am. I’ll listen even if you speak briefly.”

Ivan read the underlying meaning in Herdin’s words and smiled crookedly.

In other words, he was telling him to just state his business. He had a talent for packaging his own impudence as consideration for others.

While his words were packaged, it was even more vexing that he had no intention of hiding that impudent attitude.