Adeline paused her steak cutting and looked up.
The end of the long wooden table was empty. The man who should have been sitting there was absent.
Was it a relief? Even at this distance, she felt suffocated whenever he looked her way. Yet the vacant chair seemed to open her breathing.
The dining room felt unexpectedly peaceful and vast in Cassis’s absence.
When Adeline put a piece of steak in her mouth, the savory flavor of the meat spread out.
Having subsisted on sandwiches for days, the steak went down easily.
Glancing around, she noticed a change in the servants’ behavior since the rumor of her pregnancy.
Before, they whispered about her luxurious lifestyle as a mistress. But now, they were unexpectedly kind.
“Lady Dell, try this tea. It’s good for morning sickness.”
“How about a warm bath today? It might ease the nausea.”
Probably they were currying favor, anticipating her possible rise to duchess.
Adeline put down her cutlery and gently stroked her flat belly.
The thought of carrying his child in this still-flat belly was daunting.
A child should be born into a world of blessings. But if she really was pregnant, no one would welcome this child.
The Count of Credion would certainly react predictably upon learning his runaway daughter carried the Duke of Thorpeo’s child.
And would Cassis cherish her for carrying his child?
‘He would have done so already if he cared.’
A sarcastic smile crept on Adeline’s lips.
She hoped she wasn’t pregnant.
The more she thought, the less her appetite became.
As she reached for a napkin:
“Is the meal not to your liking today?”
Gwen, the butler waiting by the door, approached and asked.
As Adeline hesitated, Gwen turned to the staff.
“Let’s step out for a moment.”
Following his cue, the waiting maids and chef left the dining room.
Now alone with Gwen, she said:
“If you don’t like it, I’ll have something else prepared.”
As he was about to call the chef, Adeline stopped him.
“No, Gwen. It’s just a lack of appetite. I haven’t had a proper meal in a while.”
“Lady Dell, even if you don’t feel like eating, you should eat, especially now.”
Gwen brought a plate of fruit from the trolley and placed it before her.
“Dell, you’re not alone now, you know?”
His tone was gentle, quite different from when he first escorted her to meet Duke Thorpeo.
“You’ve started calling me by my name now, Gwen.”
Gwen had always addressed her as ‘Lady.’
‘Dell’ felt unfamiliarly intimate.
Gwen looked surprised at her direct comment.
“I understand a butler’s heart. It’s awkward to be friendly with a mistress like me.”
In the absence of an official duchess, no butler would want to get too close to a mistress.
It was a perfectly natural choice from his perspective.
Realizing this, Adeline felt no resentment; she had never expected special treatment in the duchy.
She looked pensively at the fruit plate.
“Do you dislike the Duke?”
Adeline was staring thoughtfully at the plate of fruit.
“Do you despise the Duke?” a soft voice whispered near her ear, causing Adeline to lift her gaze.
She couldn’t deny it. It was the Duke who had driven her into such a tight corner.
Yet, it wasn’t just hatred she felt. Occasionally, when he showed an inexplicable tenderness, she saw Mel in him.
Regret fostered strange emotions. It wasn’t love, nor was it pure hatred, but a subtle mix of feelings.
‘What am I thinking right now…’
Adeline shook her head, dismissing the thoughts.
The man was unpredictable. A man fixated on tormenting her was naturally detestable.
The butler, having read the changing expressions on Adeline’s face, briefly lifted the corners of his mouth.
Then, as if nothing happened, he wiped his smile and spoke.
“Still, the Duke’s concern for you is sincere. Have you noticed any changes in the maids around you?”
The thought, ‘His sincerity is in tormenting me,’ nearly escaped her lips, but Adeline restrained herself.
They were probably just maids tired of attending to a mistress.
“Yes, I did notice they’ve changed.”
“No one at the duchy will mistreat you now, Miss Dell.”
Adeline thought back to the maids who had recently turned friendly.
They were different from before, kinder.
‘Because of the pregnancy?’
Did that mean if she wasn’t pregnant, all this kindness would vanish?
Such a thought cast a shadow over her face, considering the possibility of facing an even worse situation than before.
Adeline withdrew her hand from the fruit.
She stood up, wanting to retreat to her bedroom to rest.
“Lady Dell, the Duke has returned,” a maid reported, referring to the Duke’s unexpectedly early return.
Adeline stiffened at the news, feeling uneasy about the Duke’s quicker-than-expected return.
Glancing at the dinner table, she saw that most of the food was untouched.
“My goodness, most of the food is left. Lady, would you like me to prepare something else for you?”
“No, thank you. It’s fine.”
Adeline quickly exited the dining room, fearing the Duke might whimsically suggest they dine together.
Ignoring Becky’s offer to assist her with a bath, Adeline immediately headed to her bedroom.
She worried about encountering the Duke on the way up or being coaxed back to the dining room to continue her meal.
Once inside her bedroom and alone, she exhaled a sigh of relief.
She walked straight into the bedroom.
She needed to fall asleep before the Duke returned, to avoid any awkward face-to-face encounters.
Approaching the center of the room, Adeline noticed something on the table.
‘A candle?’
She remembered sensing a faint fragrance upon entering, likely from this candle.
Curiously examining the candle she hadn’t noticed before dinner, Adeline tilted her head.
Was it placed by a maid?
“…The scent is nice.”
Adeline put it back on the table.
Recalling what the maids had mentioned earlier, she sighed.
There were candles often used in bedrooms, said to be good for seducing men.
This type of candle, perhaps?
Adeline sighed, thinking about the recent avoidance of Cassis.
Feeling like a real mistress would be too much to bear.
Adeline sighed, suspecting the candle might be one of those meant to allure.
She had been avoiding Cassis, fearing the unbearable thought of actually becoming his mistress.
‘It seems I can’t avoid it any longer,’ she thought.
Though a maid might have placed it, the candle undoubtedly reflected Cassis’s intentions.
As she was about to throw it away, engulfed in negative thoughts, the door opened. Footsteps echoed from the en-suite bathroom.
Adeline instinctively turned towards the sound.
There stood Cassis, unexpectedly present, shaking his wet hair, his face remarkably clean.
With each step he took, the shower gown’s front parted, revealing his well-defined muscles flexing rhythmically.
Cassis stopped right before her, holding the towel he was shaking in one hand, and gazed down at her.
His dark hair, resembling the night sky, seemed even darker today, damp with moisture.
He brushed back his wet hair, revealing his eyes that had been hidden. They sparkled like embers, capturing Adeline’s reflection.
Frozen by his intense gaze, Adeline couldn’t move.
Cassis, noticing her discomfort, smirked subtly.
He leaned in slowly towards her.
Adeline closed her eyes tightly, anticipating his lips that seemed about to touch hers. Her heart tightened with suspense.
“The scent is nice,” he murmured in a low voice, his breath lingering near her ear.
Male lead says he’s pregnant — and it’s female lead’s child
Something seems a bit off about this world.
Wang Zhao thought as she watched a pregnant man walking towards her…
Intro
Female lead finds herself in a world where the men who possess the ability to bear children.
As she navigates this unfamiliar reality, she is caught off guard by the sudden appearance of her boyfriend, who reveals that he is pregnant.
Is this truly her boyfriend?
Why can’t she recall any details about their time together?
She begins to doubt whether the child her boyfriend is carrying is even hers.
Is there a hidden reason behind her amnesia, or could it be a side effect of her sudden arrival in this strange new world?
Just when it seems the protagonist’s life couldn’t become any more entangled, her ex-boyfriend makes an unexpected appearance, raising questions about the protagonist’s past.
__________
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