Knock. Knock.

Only the sound of water droplets falling echoed in the quiet bathroom.

Blair, who had entered the bathtub, curled her tired body slightly as she listened to that sound.

‘It’s warm…’

As she closed her eyes while soaking in the warm water, her body relaxed comfortably. It felt like she could fall asleep like this.

It was a peace she hadn’t felt in a very long time.

She wasn’t sure how many days had passed since Herdin started tormenting her day and night.

Now, it felt strange not to feel his warmth when she opened her eyes, not to have her skin pressed against his.

When she woke up a little while ago, it was the first time in days that she didn’t see him.

Blair took advantage of this opportunity to come to the bathroom. She wanted to wash her body, which felt unpleasant from all sorts of bodily fluids. She even turned away Melly and Lina who offered to assist with her bath, wanting some time alone.

When Herdin was around, they bathed together, so bathing essentially lost its meaning. As soon as she washed, she would quickly become dirty again.

The reason she didn’t refuse him was to make the pregnancy more certain.

In her past life, Asiel was conceived on that one day, but just in case things were a little different in this life.

For the same reason, she accepted his opinion to maintain the contract until the trial to clear Esmeralda’s false charges. By then, symptoms confirming the pregnancy would appear.

Blair covered her lower abdomen with her hand and gently caressed it. It was a habit she had developed since the day she conceived Asiel.

‘Come to think of it, I haven’t had my monthly bleeding this month yet.’

As Blair carefully calculated the dates, she realized that her usually regular monthly bleeding was delayed.

While it was common for it to be a few days late sometimes, knowing that Asiel was conceived during this period made her react more sensitively.

‘I hope morning sickness starts soon too.’

Of course, she knew that once clear symptoms appeared, it would be troublesome to hide the fact of pregnancy, but she also had a strong desire to be certain about the pregnancy quickly.

It felt like that would put her mind at ease. It was an ambivalent feeling.

‘Should I get up now?’

Just as Blair, who had caught her breath for a moment, was about to start washing herself, the bathroom door suddenly burst open without warning.

Startled by this, Blair turned around to see Herdin entering through the arched doorway connected to the bathtub.

“…Herdin?”

Blair looked at him with considerably surprised eyes at the unexpected intrusion.

His blue eyes, which stopped under the arched doorway and gazed at her, somehow felt chilly.

A quiet silence fell between the two. Even the surrounding air seemed to hold its breath.

As Blair, feeling embarrassed by his intense gaze, subtly hid her body under the bathtub and opened her mouth, her breath suddenly caught, perhaps due to the humid heat.

Blair composed her breathing and spoke.

“I was about to finish washing and go back… Were you looking for me?”

“…”

He just stared blankly, without answering.

Despite his slightly disheveled hair, the chest rising and falling between his loose robe, and his appearance clearly indicating he had been looking for her.

After briefly observing his demeanor, Blair changed the subject.

“It seemed urgent, did you finish your work well?”

“…”

“Ah, did you perhaps find evidence?”

Blair thought that was why he had urgently sought her out. Because it was good news, news they had been waiting for, he wanted to tell her quickly.

Not knowing that her innocent question, as if she had only been waiting for that news, was irritating his mood.

Herdin answered, twisting his lips.

“No.”

“Ah… I see.”

Then why did he search for me so urgently like that?

That question was answered as soon as she met his gaze, which was blatantly staring at her naked body.

It was the eyes of a beast.

As if he would pounce and bite her neck at the slightest movement, at the sound of a breath.

Blair avoided his gaze and said,

“I’ll wash up quickly and go back. You can go back first and rest—”

But before Blair could finish speaking, Herdin closed the distance in big strides. Without giving Blair time to avoid him, his large hand grabbed the back of her neck and their lips overlapped.

“Hm…”

Blair’s hand pushing him away was easily stopped by Herdin’s grasp.

As the rough kiss continued as if he would devour her, the sound of wet friction echoed throughout the quiet bathroom.

Perhaps due to the misty humidity filling the bathtub, her mind became hazy as well.

Only after Blair gasped for air and pushed away his robe lapel once more did their lips finally part.

However, he was not one to stop there.

Herdin entered the bathtub with his robe still on.

Realizing what this meant, Blair tried to escape from him by raising her knees to stand up, but Herdin was faster.

He grabbed Blair’s waist, which was gripping the edge of the bathtub, and embraced her. Then he trapped the resisting Blair between his body and the edge of the tub.

His large hand covering her flat stomach gradually moved downward. Blair twisted her body in response.

“I don’t want to here, Herdin. Let’s go back to the bedroom…”

“Then you should have waited obediently in bed.”

With his reply, he bit her soft earlobe. Blair couldn’t help but let out a moan at the stimulation of his large hands moving up and down.

She couldn’t escape from him. Even if she twisted her body, it only disheveled his robe blocking her back.

After kissing her white shoulders and back to relax her body, he soon loosened his messy robe and overlapped their bodies.

“Ah!”

Embracing the trembling Blair, Herdin whispered softly.

“From now on, don’t go anywhere, don’t wear anything, just wait in the bedroom.”

The moment she heard his voice settling coldly by her ear, Blair instinctively felt:

“You don’t have anything else to do anyway.”

That something had gone seriously wrong.

But her thoughts couldn’t continue any further.

As his movements soon became more intense, the hot water in the bathtub began to splash. Eventually, Blair moaned as if sobbing.

It was quite a long time before the surging waves calmed down.

Herdin poured out his heat. At the same time, Blair’s body, overlapped with his, trembled and collapsed.

“Ah…”

Only then did Herdin feel the uncontrollable anxiety that had surged when he entered the empty bedroom subside.

As well as his anger towards the woman who was only thinking of leaving his side and waiting for news of evidence.

Only after filling her insides with traces of himself did he feel a strange sense of relief.

Herdin caressed Blair’s flat stomach in his arms, then sneered at himself for doing so.

Even though he knew he was going completely mad, he couldn’t stop.

If he could only possess every single breath of this woman, he felt he could do even crazier things than this.

* * *

The next morning, when Blair woke up, Herdin was gone.

Remembering what he had said last night, she waited, but even though quite some time seemed to have passed, he didn’t return.

Blair, who had been drifting in and out of sleep while lying in bed, raised her tired body.

‘There’s no need to listen to those words exactly.’

She is not his mistress. There’s no reason to wait obediently in bed as he said.

Blair pulled the bell cord and waited for a moment, then Lina entered with a knock.

The tray held more food than Blair usually ate for breakfast.

“My lady!”

Lina’s face was full of delight upon seeing Blair.

It was understandable, as it had been a while since she had properly seen her face, having been unable to leave the bedroom for some time.

Lina chattered as she set down the meal she had brought on the bed table.

“I was just wondering if I should try to get you to eat a lot while the lord is away, or if I should let you sleep. You’ll really end up with just bones at this rate. You are eating properly, aren’t you?”

Blair burst into laughter at Lina’s excessive worry.

“Don’t worry. I’m eating my meals properly.”

Even while tormenting her like that, Herdin couldn’t stand to see Blair skip meals.

He would force food into Blair’s mouth even when she said she wanted to sleep instead of eating.

The problem was that she moved much more than she ate…

Blair picked up an appetizing green grape from among the food on the tray and asked.

“By the way, where did he go?”

“Oh, I guess he didn’t tell you because you were sound asleep, my lady. Knights came from the imperial palace this morning, and he went with them to subdue monsters.”

Blair’s expression hardened as she was chewing the grape.

Maintaining public order around the empire is clearly the role of the imperial knights. Yet Ivan had deployed Herdin for that task again.

Simply because he was ‘family’.

Blair chewed and swallowed the grape in her mouth, then called Lina who was beside her.

“Lina, could you tell them to prepare the carriage and knights?”

“What? Where are you going?”

Blair answered with a determined expression.

“I need to go see my brother.”

* * *

Mason greeted Herdin with a somewhat surprised expression.

It was a much earlier return than expected.

Whatever was urgent, he had come back alone, leaving behind the knights who had gone with him.

“Welcome back, my lord.”

“Where’s my wife?”

“The lady has gone to the imperial palace.”

Herdin, who had entered the mansion thinking Blair would surely be in the bedroom, stopped in his tracks.

“…The imperial palace?”

“Yes. She said she was going to see His Majesty the Emperor. She took knights with her as well.”

Mason emphasized that ‘she took knights with her’.

It was said knowing that Herdin was on edge about Blair’s outings due to two kidnapping incidents.

Herdin’s lips twisted upon hearing this news.

It was just yesterday that he had told her to wait obediently in the bedroom.

‘Yet she went out again.’

And to meet the Emperor at that.

Recalling his last conversation with Ivan, Herdin’s eyes sank coldly.

Reading Herdin’s subtly sharpened demeanor, Mason hurriedly added,

“It’s been quite a while since she left, so she should be back soon—”

“No need to come out.”

Before Mason could finish speaking, Herdin turned and left the mansion. The mana that overflowed from his body, unable to be contained, flickered for a moment before disappearing.