Adeline paused while cutting her steak and lifted her head.

The far end of the long wooden table was empty. The man who should have been sitting there was absent.

Perhaps it was for the best. Even sitting so far apart, Adeline felt breathless whenever he looked at her.

But seeing the empty seat now, she felt her breath return.

How strange that the dining room felt so peaceful, even vast, with Casius’s absence.

She realized anew how heavy his presence had been.

As Adeline put a piece of steak in her mouth, the savory aroma of the meat spread.

Perhaps because she had been subsisting on sandwiches for days, it went down smoothly.

Adeline continued eating and glanced around.

The attitude of the servants had changed after hearing she was pregnant.

Until now, the maids had whispered that the mistress was extravagant whenever they saw her.

But now they showed a friendly attitude towards Adeline as if nothing had happened.

“Lady Del, try this tea. It’s good for morning sickness.”

“How about taking a half-body bath in warm water today? It might help ease the morning sickness.”

Perhaps they were trying to get on her good side early, not knowing when the favored mistress might secure the position of duchess.

Adeline stopped eating and set down her cutlery.

Then she carefully raised her hand and stroked her belly.

To think that his child was growing in this still-flat belly.

For a moment, despair clouded Adeline’s face.

Shouldn’t all children be born amidst everyone’s blessings?

But if the pregnancy was real, no one would welcome this child.

It was obvious how the Marquis of Credion would react if his runaway daughter was carrying the child of Duke Torpeo.

And would the duke cherish her for bearing his child?

‘If that were the case, he would have done so already.’

A sneer escaped as Adeline’s lips twisted.

Hopefully, she wasn’t really pregnant.

The more she thought about it, the more Adeline lost her appetite.

She was about to pick up the napkin beside her when:

“Is today’s meal not to your liking?”

The butler Gwen, who had been waiting by the dining room door, approached and asked.

As Adeline looked at him hesitantly, Gwen turned around. Towards the servants.

“You may withdraw for a moment.”

At the dismissal, the maids and chef who had been waiting in the back left the dining room.

Only Gwen and Adeline remained in the large dining room.

“If it doesn’t suit your taste, I’ll have them prepare something new.”

He was about to go out and call the chef when:

“It’s fine, Gwen. I just don’t have an appetite. It’s because I’m eating a proper meal after so long.”

“Lady Del, you must eat now even if you don’t have an appetite.”

He brought a fruit plate from the trolley and placed it in front of Adeline.

“You know better than anyone that you’re not alone now, don’t you, Lady Del?”

Gwen’s words to Adeline were incomparably gentle.

It was quite a different atmosphere from when Gwen had first guided her to meet Duke Torpeo when she arrived at the duke’s castle.

“You never spoke to me before, and now you’re even calling me by name, Gwen.”

Until now, Gwen had only addressed Adeline as ‘Lady’.

His form of address calling her ‘Lady Del’ felt unfamiliar enough to be ticklish.

His eyes widened at her direct words.

“I understand the butler’s feelings. It must have been awkward to be on friendly terms with me, a mistress.”

With the position of duchess vacant for now. No butler would want to get close to a mistress when an unknown duchess might arrive at any time.

So from his position, he had simply made the most natural choice.

Thinking of it that way, she felt no resentment.

She had never expected to be treated well in this duke’s castle in the first place.

Adeline stared blankly at the plate of fruit.

“Do you resent the duke?”

Adeline raised her gaze at the low voice that seeped into her ear.

She couldn’t bring herself to deny that she didn’t resent him. Wasn’t he the one who had driven her into such a predicament?

But she didn’t purely resent him either. At times when that man showed inexplicable kindness, he overlapped with Mel.

Lingering attachment breeds strange emotions. It was a subtle feeling, neither affection nor hatred.

‘What am I thinking….’

Adeline shook her head.

That man is self-centered. It’s only natural to resent a man so intent on tormenting her.

The butler seemed to have read Adeline’s ever-changing expressions and briefly raised the corners of his mouth.

Then, as if nothing had happened, he erased his smile and opened his mouth.

“Still, his feelings for you are sincere, my lady. Have you noticed the maids around you changing?”

The words ‘He’s sincere about tormenting me’ rose to her throat, but Adeline didn’t show it.

Surely they were just maids who had left because they disliked attending to a mistress.

“Come to think of it, they have changed.”

“There’s no one in the duke’s castle who would dare treat you carelessly now, Lady Del.”

Adeline recalled the servants who had become friendly towards her.

The staff who were kind, unlike at first.

‘Because of the pregnancy?’

Then would all this kindness disappear if she wasn’t pregnant?

As that thought occurred to her, shadows fell across Adeline’s face.

Because she thought she might face an even worse situation than before.

Adeline withdrew her hand that was about to take some fruit.

She stood up, wanting to return to her bedroom to rest, when:

“Lady Del, the duke has returned.”

Adeline froze at the maid’s message that the duke, who had left for a banquet, had returned.

It was because of the duke’s unexpectedly quick return.

Adeline glanced at the plates on the table. They were new dishes that could be mistaken for a freshly set dinner table.

“Oh my, most of the food is left. My lady, if it doesn’t suit your taste, shall I prepare something else?”

“No, it’s fine.”

Adeline hurriedly left the dining room.

It was because she was afraid the duke might whimsically ask to dine together.

Adeline entered the bedroom directly, disregarding Becky’s offer to help with her bath.

Her heart was pounding, worried she might encounter the duke while climbing to the second floor where the bedroom was, or that he might hear she had left her meal and drag her back to the dining room to continue eating.

Only after entering the bedroom and being alone did Adeline exhale a deep breath.

She walked straight into the bedroom.

She needed to fall asleep quickly before he returned to the bedroom.

That way, she could avoid the awkward situation of facing each other.

It was when she approached the center of the bedroom.

Adeline noticed something placed on the table.

‘A scented candle?’

She had thought she smelled a faint fragrance when entering the bedroom…

It seemed to be from this candle burning.

Adeline picked up the unfamiliar candle, examining it with a tilted head.

She hadn’t seen it before going to the dining room.

Did a maid leave it here?

“…It smells nice.”

Adeline set it back down on the table.

Seeing the captivating scent, she recalled what the maids had been chattering about before.

They said there were candles often placed in bedrooms. Candles good for seducing men, they said.

Thinking it might be that kind of candle, Adeline sighed.

She had been avoiding Casius because she felt it would be unbearable to spend the night together.

It felt like she would experience the frustration of truly becoming a mistress.

‘But does this mean I can no longer avoid it?’

Though a maid may have placed the candle, this was undoubtedly Casius’s intention.

She wanted to throw it away. Just as Adeline, overcome by dark thoughts, reached towards the table:

The sound of a door opening was heard, followed by footsteps from the inner bathroom of the bedroom.

Adeline instinctively turned towards the source of the sound.

There was…

“Have you finished dinner already?”

He stood there, his face impeccably clean as if he had arrived unnoticed, shaking out his wet hair.

With each step he took closer, the front of his shower robe opened, revealing his muscles.

His taut muscles, as if sculpted, rose and fell with his movements.

His slow approach stopped in front of Adeline.

He looked down at her, holding the towel he had been using to dry himself in one hand.

The color of his hair was like the night sky plucked out.

His pitch-black hair, glistening with moisture, looked even darker than usual today.

He raised his hand to sweep his wet hair back.

The wet strands followed the direction he brushed them, revealing the eyes that had been hidden.

Adeline was reflected in those red eyes, like embers.

She was frozen, unable to move an inch under his gaze.

Casius looked at her like that and raised the corner of his mouth in a smirk.

He must have sensed her bewilderment.

He slowly lowered his head towards her.

Adeline tightly closed her eyes as she watched him approach as if he might kiss her at any moment.

Her heart constricted as she imagined his lips that might touch her at any time.

“It smells nice.”

His low voice and breath pooled in the shell of her ear.