Chapter 43
Episode 43. Since I'm Leaving Soon
2023.10.13.
The portrait depicted a strikingly handsome man and beautiful woman seated side by side. And on the woman's lap sat a boy who appeared to be three or four years old.
They were people Blair already knew, but Russ, unaware of that fact, quickly explained.
“This is the previous Duke and Duchess. And this child is His Excellency now.”
The family of three in the painting smiled happily, utterly oblivious to the future tragedy awaiting them. The portrait struck even deeper because she knew of that tragedy.
But the reason Blair couldn't tear her eyes from the painting was different.
Blair gazed at the baby Herdin in the portrait with longing eyes.
The slightly curly black and soft hair, the milky plump cheeks, the clear large eyes, even the curve of his lips when smiling.
Asiel had taken after his father Herdin completely, except for the eye color inherited from his mother.
‘Asiel…….’
How her heart had ached each time she struggled to recall the child fading from her memories day by day.
‘I'm glad you take after your father.’
So she could picture you like this, at least.
As Blair was lost in longing,
Russ, guessing her lingering gaze had another reason, bluntly interjected tactlessly.
“The previous Duchess was truly a beauty, wasn't she? And the previous Duke goes without saying. He looks just like His Excellency now.”
“…….”
“His Excellency's atmosphere is completely different now, but strangely, doesn't it feel like some of that face from back then remains?”
Russ's expression as he spoke of the previous Duke and Duchess and Herdin visibly brimmed with joy.
To show such emotion even before her, whom he found uncomfortable.
Blair realized it stemmed not from mere loyalty, but deep human trust and love. His pure feelings were so endearing that she smiled.
“You truly served the previous Duke and Duchess with sincerity.”
Only then did Russ snap to attention and hastily wrap up his words.
“Well, they were my benefactors, after all.”
“You find me uncomfortable, don't you?”
At Blair's sudden direct question, Russ choked and coughed.
‘Did she hear my sigh from earlier……?’
He checked if she seemed offended, but Blair looked at him with clear eyes, showing no displeasure. That only made him feel more uneasy.
After briefly debating whether to be honest or offer an obvious lie, Russ scratched his cheek and replied.
“It's…… not Madam's fault.”
Just her background.
Blair immediately caught what he left unsaid.
Blair understood Russ.
Rina disliked Herdin too. Simply because she liked Blair more.
Russ was the same. Simply because he liked Herdin more than her.
Of course, she knew shunning someone for their background was never right.
‘But at least he's different from those who badmouthed me behind my back.’
Most people disliked her not out of loyalty to Herdin, but simply because they disliked her.
But Russ's feelings were purely from loyalty. The kind that would cleanly vanish once her relationship with Herdin was sorted.
Not that she intended to embrace him for it.
“I know.”
Blair spoke calmly with a faint smile.
“Still, don't be so wary. I'll leave cleanly without causing any harm to del Mark.”
“Leave?”
As Russ asked in bewilderment, Blair blinked wide-eyed and asked back.
“Ah. He didn't tell you?”
“I don't know what you're referring to……”
“That ours is a contractual marriage.”
“Contractual…… marriage?”
Blair nodded, seeing Russ's expression as if hearing it for the first time.
Russ mulled over the word's meaning and grasped it a beat late, reacting with shock.
‘Hmm, that lounge did feel a bit stark earlier, so maybe hang a few more paintings there.’
Blair, who had dropped the bombshell on Russ, remained oblivious to his reaction as she left the gallery, thinking it was about time to meet Mikhail.
* * *
That evening, Herdin returned to the residence after subjugating magical beasts and found Russ still in the office.
It was well past the usual time he would have gone home, so he must have something to say.
‘Or maybe some issue with Blair.’
Herdin calmly asked Russ, who approached with a serious expression.
“Not heading home?”
“Your Excellency. Is what Madam said true?”
“What.”
“That the two of you have a contractual marriage.”
Herdin's hand paused as he roughly wiped the moisture from his hair with the towel draped over his head. His eyes sharpened in an instant.
“……She told you that?”
“Good heavens, it's true? You didn't tell me something this important! That contractual marriage means, once the promised term ends……”
Herdin's ears were deaf to Russ's nagging.
“Wait, where are you going mid-conversation?”
Ignoring Russ, Herdin stormed out of the office. The towel fell in the process, but he paid it no mind.
His footsteps led to Blair's bedroom.
Barging in without knocking, Herdin caught sight of Blair, who had just removed her bathrobe and was changing into a bedrobe.
He froze at the glimpse of her bare skin through the untied bedrobe.
“Ky…… Eep.”
Rina, attending her, nearly screamed at the sudden intrusion but clamped her mouth shut upon realizing it was Blair's husband.
There was no issue with a husband seeing his wife's bare body.
She hastily tied Blair's robe for her.
The person exposed herself seemed merely startled by his appearance, not particularly shocked at being seen.
“Rina, you may go.”
Rina bowed to the two and quietly withdrew. Only Blair and Herdin remained in the room.
About to immediately reprimand Blair, Herdin fell silent upon seeing her looking up at him with clear eyes. Memories surfaced of once seeing tears pooled in those eyes.
Suppressing his agitated emotions, which he couldn't even understand himself, Herdin spoke in a lowered voice.
“……I heard you told Russ about our contract.”
“Ah……. I thought Sir Russ already knew. I figured it would be fine if he did.”
It wasn't something that shouldn't be said.
As she said, Russ was his close aide who wouldn't blab such a weakness to outsiders, even on pain of death.
As Herdin swallowed emotions he couldn't define, his eyes fell on Blair's lips.
Only then did he grasp the reason for his anger.
He was furious that those lips had so casually spoken of the contract's end.
‘We're getting divorced. As per the contract.’
Just like when he had heard those words before.
The woman right before his eyes, within arm's reach, suddenly felt so distant.
……As if she might vanish just like this.
That couldn't happen. It would breach the contract.
None of the conditions he had set remained unfulfilled yet. He couldn't even claim the faint warmth of this woman that came as a minor bonus of that contract, as he wished.
That must be the name of these uncontrollable emotions shaking him now—anger at that.
Having finally named his feelings, he cupped Blair's cheek and met her gaze. His downward stare was twisted.
“Do you think this contract is a joke?”
Blair's eyes trembled faintly at his icy tone. But Herdin didn't stop.
No, he couldn't stop precisely because of that.
He never wanted to hear those lips speak of the contract's end again.
“In case you've forgotten, this is a grand fraud deceiving the Emperor. Not child's play.”
“…….”
“Never mention the contract in front of others again.”
His chilling voice halted. Blair's trembling eyes steadied.
She seemed briefly shaken but soon nodded calmly, as always.
“I'll be careful from now on.”
She appeared to accept his words.
That was surely the response he wanted.
Yet Herdin felt a parched thirst rising again, unquenched. His throat burned with emptiness.
But with the woman acquiescing before him, he had no further grounds for anger.
“……Rest.”
Herdin suppressed his emotions and left the bedroom. A sigh escaped between his lips as he raked a hand through his hair roughly.
His wildly rampaging emotions lately felt utterly unpleasant.
* * *
“We've arrived.”
The hired carriage carrying Blair stopped before the art gallery.
Today's meeting place with Mikhail was here, a private art gallery.
The theater last time was a public spot for secret liaisons, so they met covertly, but this time it was an art gallery, so they planned to meet openly. If recognized, she could pass him off as someone helping with auctions.
Still wishing to avoid unnecessary attention, Blair checked her veiled hat once more and opened the carriage door.
At the same time, a large hand extended before her.
