After the banquet dinner, the day’s events began to spread fiercely through the mouths of the nobles.

The news of the Duke’s mistress’s pregnancy had already become an established fact.

Men’s gossip is worse than women’s. Casius was realizing this truth as he read the letter sent from the imperial palace.

[She’s the Duke’s lifesaver, and now she’s carrying the child of the Duke’s rare bloodline. Wouldn’t it be right to give her the position of Duchess?

There’s going to be a precious welcoming banquet for the Duke. It would be good to announce the good news together then.

The imperial family wishes for her, who saved the country’s only Duke, to become the Duchess. And I’d like to meet you and your mistress together as soon as possible.

Ah. Since the Duke is not yet fully recovered, he need not attend the banquet.]

He carefully folded the letter he received from Crown Prince Trashi and put it in the drawer of his office desk.

Then he raised his fingers and tapped them on the desk.

‘…He wants to meet my mistress.’

His mistress who is in the countryside, no less.

Thinking of the Crown Prince who would be sneering at his situation in the imperial palace right now, the Duke’s lips twisted.

The sight of him trying so hard to match him with the daughter of a count’s family who had fled from the Crown Prince, without knowing who she was.

The Duke quite liked this situation.

‘Since His Highness the Crown Prince personally wants to meet her, I should show her to him soon.’

The moment he confirmed that Del, whom he thought was a commoner, was Adeline. He could almost see the Crown Prince’s face contorting. An enigmatic smile, whether a smile or a sneer, bloomed on Casius’s lips.

He stopped tapping his fingers.

Then he asked the butler standing at the door of the office.

“Does my Del have no intention of going to the dining room today either?”

“Yes. She says she’s not feeling well and can’t attend.”

“Is that so? If she’s not feeling well, I should go see her.”

He immediately got up from his office desk. Then, putting on the jacket he had hung up, he said.

“Your Grace.”

Casius, who was about to leave the office, turned around at the butler’s low voice calling him.

“Do you… know about the rumors circulating about the Lady?”

The butler’s expression was very dark as he asked him.

“Rumors?”

At the butler’s words, asking as if concerned, Casius’s mouth corners curled up.

“Ah. You mean the talk that the mistress is using pregnancy as an excuse to aim for the position of Duchess?”

“For Lady Del’s sake as well, you should correct these false rumors.”

The butler added cautiously.

Casius seemed to stroke his chin, then patted the butler’s shoulder a couple of times.

And then.

“Hmm. Who knows? That rumor might become reality.”

His lips curved gently as he spoke as if it were no big deal.

“What will you do about Lady Del’s treatment now that she’s pregnant?”

At the butler’s continued concern, Casius recalled the events of the previous night.

“We can feel a pulse, but…”

After Adeline repeatedly dry heaved at the banquet, the Duke hurriedly ended the dinner.

Everyone immediately thought of pregnancy upon seeing Adeline’s condition. The Duke was no exception.

That night, the Duke immediately called for the court physician to examine Adeline.

“The Lady’s body is in poor condition, so it’s not certain. We’ll need to do more examinations later. However, the probability of pregnancy is high, so she needs to take good care of her body.”

Since then, Casius had not had a chance to talk with Adeline. He knew well that he should go to her and have a conversation.

But seeing Adeline’s frightened reaction whenever she saw him, he couldn’t approach her carelessly for fear of worsening her condition.

Reports came in that she ate well when he wasn’t around, but strangely, Adeline would dry heave like clockwork whenever Casius was in the vicinity. Casius found it increasingly difficult to approach Adeline.

However, it wasn’t right to keep avoiding her forever.

Casius, who had only half-opened the door while lost in thought, asked the butler.

“Where is Del now?”

“The Lady is in the greenhouse, sir.”

[This is the timeline separator]

Adeline was sitting at a table in the greenhouse, intending to have tea time and fill her stomach with sandwiches.

Adeline had not entered the dining room once since the banquet.

Although Casius invited Adeline to every meal time, she still did not respond. Not only did food get stuck in her throat when she was with Casius, but she also kept feeling nauseous.

She still couldn’t believe the doctor’s words.

This was because her intimate night with Casius had been just that one night at Horn’s villa.

The Duke, who always shared the bedroom with her, mentioning that she should fulfill her role as a mistress, actually never touched Adeline to the end.

‘But morning sickness due to pregnancy?’

While thinking it couldn’t be possible, Adeline couldn’t erase that single night from her mind.

Her head was filled with unending confused thoughts.

‘If I’m really pregnant, what should I do?’

She was a person of the Credion Count’s family, and becoming the Duchess, as the maids were whispering, was even more nonsensical.

Casius, who had placed her in the position of mistress to humiliate her, wouldn’t put her in the position of Duchess.

And Adeline herself declined the position of Duchess. If it happened, she would surely have to formally show her face in high society.

‘Then, it would be an immediate death sentence.’

The Crown Prince and her father wouldn’t leave her alone.

Adeline looked at her flat stomach and then shook her head a couple of times as if she had just imagined something terrible.

The only times Adeline had proper meals were after Casius finished eating or when she ate sandwiches like this in the greenhouse. Adeline picked up a sandwich, saying she had too many useless thoughts because she was hungry.

Adeline, who had just started her first meal of the day, was stuffing sandwiches into her mouth.

With her mouth full of sandwich, suddenly an uninvited guest arrived at the greenhouse.

Hiccup. As soon as she saw the intruder’s face, Adeline felt like she was about to choke, as if on cue.

Adeline repeatedly hit her chest as the hiccups wouldn’t stop.

“Now you’re even hiccupping?”

It’s because of you that I’m hiccupping. Adeline glared at Casius, who seemed to choose even a single word to be annoying.

“Ah. Should I be grateful that you’re not vomiting at the sight of me?”

“Do you really think I’m pregnant?”

Adeline, who had barely swallowed the sandwich in her mouth, asked accusingly towards the annoying Casius.

“Of course you’re pregnant. Or is it not my child?”

“What nonsense are you…”

Adeline found it strange that Casius was so tentatively certain about the pregnancy.

He must know that we’ve only had that one night together.

“If you’re carrying my child, keep your body and mind proper. Don’t just eat things like that.”

“But! We haven’t done anything since then, have we?”

At Adeline’s words, Casius’s lips curled up as if something had occurred to him.

“It must be from that time. Or did you wish for it quite a bit while sharing a room?”

At Casius’s provocation, Adeline raised her voice as if wronged.

“No. What…! Is pregnancy such an easy thing? In the first place!”

Adeline lowered her voice, considering the gazes around them, and continued speaking.

“In the first place, I am a person of the Count’s family. If I’m really pregnant…”

“Isn’t it rather a good thing? It would be better to stay by my side like this than with the Crown Prince.”

Adeline felt like she was talking to a wall. No matter what she said, Casius seemed to have completely burned away the premise that Adeline might not be pregnant.

“Ah. A letter came from the imperial family. They highly praise commoner Del’s virtue and say it would be good to take you as the Duchess. I’m thinking of accepting the imperial family’s opinion.”

Casius sat in the empty chair next to Adeline. Casius, who had moved close to Adeline, brought his large hand to Adeline’s flat stomach.

“What do you think?”

Despite the gentle touch and gentle tone, Casius was looking at her as if he would devour her.

“You know better than anyone that it doesn’t make sense.”

At Adeline’s words, Casius just stared at her without changing his expression, as if wondering what doesn’t make sense.

“Does it make you feel good to torment me like this?”

Adeline shouted, pushing Casius’s hand away from her body as far as possible. Casius pulled Adeline even closer, as if he had expected her reaction. Their bodies were pressed together less than a hand’s width apart.

The red pupils were fixed on Adeline’s face as if admiring her distorted expression. Casius’s hand caressing her face showed no sign of stopping.

“Seeing your distorted face makes me feel a bit better.”

Adeline thought that such nonsensical conversation no longer had any meaning.

She felt goosebumps rising at Casius’s touch stroking her face. Adeline coldly pushed away Casius’s remaining hand and abruptly stood up from her seat.

As if she couldn’t stand being in the same space any longer, Adeline quickly left the greenhouse.

Casius didn’t stop Adeline from leaving. Casius leaned on the table and ran his hand through his hair irritably.

Then the sandwiches placed on the table caught Casius’s eye.

Casius stared at the barely half-eaten sandwiches for a while, then spoke to the maid.

“I’m planning to eat out with the nobles for dinner today. Tell your mistress to eat comfortably.”

Casius leaned back in the greenhouse chair and stared into the distant void. When he had come to the greenhouse looking for Adeline, he hadn’t intended to pick a fight like this.

Casius couldn’t stand his own patheticness for spitting out only thorny words again at her face that crumpled up as soon as she saw him.

“Yes. I will convey your message as you said.”

The maid received the Duke’s order and quietly left the greenhouse.