Ch#84
2023.11.23.
Drip. Drip.
The only sound echoing in the quiet bathroom was that of water droplets falling.
Blair, entering the bathtub, curled her weary body small while listening to the sound.
'It's warm......'
With her eyes closed as she immersed herself in the warm water, her body relaxed languidly. She felt like she could fall asleep just like this.
It was a peace she hadn't felt in a very long time.
She didn't even know how many days had passed since she began enduring Herdin's relentless torment day and night.
Now, waking up to the absence of his warmth, not feeling his skin against hers, felt strangely awkward.
When she had opened her eyes just moments ago, for the first time in days, he was nowhere to be seen.
Seizing the opportunity, Blair had come to the bathroom. She wanted to wash away the sticky remnants of all sorts of fluids from her body. Lina and Melli had been turned away when they offered to attend her bath, as she craved time alone.
When Herdin was around, they bathed together, so it hardly counted as bathing. She would be cleaned only to be dirtied again soon after.
Yet she hadn't refused him because she wanted to ensure conception more thoroughly.
In her previous life, Asiel had been conceived that very day, but just in case, things might differ this time.
For the same reason, she had accepted his opinion to maintain the contract until the trial to clear Esmeralda's false accusation. By then, symptoms confirming the pregnancy would appear.
Blair covered her lower abdomen with her hand and caressed it gently. It had become a habit since the day Asiel was conceived.
'Come to think of it, I haven't had my period this month yet.'
Reckoning the dates carefully, Blair realized her usually regular menstruation was delayed.
A few days late happened occasionally, but knowing Asiel had been conceived at this time made her more sensitive to it.
'I hope morning sickness starts soon.'
Of course, she knew definite symptoms would make hiding the pregnancy more difficult, but her desire to confirm it sooner was just as strong.
Only then would her mind be at ease. It was a bittersweet feeling.
'I should get up soon.'
As Blair, having caught her breath, moved to wash herself, the bathroom door suddenly burst open without warning.
Startled, Blair turned to see Herdin entering through the archway connected to the bathtub.
"......Herdin?"
Blair looked at him with considerable surprise at the unexpected intrusion.
His blue eyes, stopping under the archway and gazing at her, felt somehow chillingly cold.
A heavy silence hung between them. Even the surrounding air seemed to hold its breath.
Embarrassed by his persistent gaze, as Blair subtly sank lower into the bathtub to hide herself and opened her mouth, her breath caught in her throat, perhaps due to the humid heat.
Composing herself, Blair spoke.
"I was just about to wash up and return...... Were you looking for me?"
"......"
He merely stared silently, offering no answer.
His slightly tousled hair, the rise and fall of his chest visible through the loose gown—clearly, he had come searching for her.
Gauging his mood for a moment, Blair changed the subject.
"It seemed urgent. Did everything go well?"
"......"
"Ah, did you find evidence, perhaps?"
Blair assumed he had come rushing because of that. Good news, long-awaited news he wanted to share quickly.
Unaware that her innocent question, as if she had been waiting only for that news, was grating on his nerves.
Herdin twisted his lips and replied.
"No."
"Ah....... I see."
Then why had he come searching for her so urgently?
The question dissolved the moment she met his gaze blatantly roaming her naked form.
It was the eyes of a beast.
Just a slight movement, even a breath, and he seemed ready to pounce and tear at her throat.
Avoiding his gaze, Blair said,
"I'll wash up quickly and come back. Go rest first—"
But before she could finish, Herdin closed the distance in strides. Without giving her a chance to evade, a large hand gripped the nape of her neck, overlapping their lips.
"Ngh......"
Blair's hands pushing him away were easily restrained by his.
A fierce kiss as if to devour her echoed with wet friction sounds through the quiet bathtub.
Her mind grew hazy, perhaps due to the misty humidity filling the bath.
Only after Blair gripped his gown hem once more and pushed him away did their lips finally part, her breath ragged.
But he had no intention of stopping there.
Herdin entered the bathtub still in his gown.
Realizing his intent, Blair tried to rise on her knees and flee, but he was faster.
Gripping her waist braced against the tub's edge, he pulled her into his embrace. He then trapped the resisting Blair between himself and the tub's frame.
His large hand covering her flat stomach slowly slid downward. Blair twisted her body at the touch.
"Not here, Herdin. Let's go back to the bedroom......"
"Then you should have waited obediently in bed."
As he replied, her soft earlobe was nipped. Unable to endure the stimulation from his large hands above and below, Blair let out a moan.
She couldn't escape him. Twisting her body only disheveled his gown blocking her from behind.
Kissing her white shoulder and back to loosen her up, he soon shed his own thoroughly disheveled gown and joined their bodies.
"Ah!"
Embracing the trembling Blair, Herdin whispered lowly.
"From now on, don't go anywhere, don't wear anything—wait in the bedroom."
The moment his chilling voice settled by her ear, Blair instinctively sensed it.
"You have nothing to do anyway."
Something had gone terribly wrong.
But her thoughts couldn't continue.
As his movements intensified soon after, the hot water in the tub began to slosh. Blair moaned like a sob.
The churning waves only calmed after quite a long time.
Herdin poured his heat into her. At the same time, Blair's body shuddered and collapsed.
"Ah......"
Only then did Herdin feel the uncontrollable anxiety that had surged upon entering the empty bedroom subside.
The anger toward the woman thinking only of leaving his side, waiting only for news of the evidence.
Only after filling her completely with his traces did a strange sense of relief wash over him.
Caressing Blair's flat stomach in his arms, Herdin mocked himself at his own appearance.
He knew he was going completely mad, yet he couldn't stop.
If he could fully possess even a single breath of hers, he felt he could do even something more insane than this.
* * *
The next morning, when Blair woke, Herdin was gone.
Recalling his words from the night before, she waited, but even after quite some time, he didn't return.
Having drifted in and out of sleep lying in bed, Blair finally rose her languid body.
'I don't have to heed those words exactly.'
She wasn't his concubine. There was no reason to obediently wait in bed as he commanded.
Pulling the bell cord and waiting briefly, Lina entered with a knock.
The tray held more food than Blair's usual breakfast.
"Madam!"
Lina's face lit up with joy upon seeing Blair.
It was understandable; she hadn't properly seen her face in ages, confined to the bedroom without stepping out.
Setting the food on the bed table, Lina chattered.
"I was wondering if I should feed you something substantial while His Grace is away or let you sleep more. You'll really be left with just bones at this rate. You've been eating properly, right?"
Blair burst into laughter at Lina's excessive worry.
"Don't worry. I've been eating every meal properly."
Even as he tormented her so, Herdin couldn't bear to see her skip meals.
He would force food into her mouth if she insisted on more sleep instead.
The problem was she expended more than she ate......
Picking up a tempting green grape from the tray, Blair asked,
"By the way, where did he go?"
"Ah, you must have been sleeping soundly, Madam, so he didn't mention it. Knights from the Imperial Palace came this morning, and he went with them to subjugate magical beasts."
Blair's expression hardened as she chewed the grape.
Maintaining security around the Capital Isle was strictly the Imperial Palace knights' duty. Yet Ivan had deployed Herdin for it again.
Simply because he was 'family.'
Swallowing the grape in her mouth, Blair called to Lina beside her.
"Lina, can you tell them to prepare the carriage and knights?"
"Pardon? Where are you going?"
Blair replied with a resolute expression.
"I need to see my brother."
* * *
Mason greeted Herdin with a somewhat flustered expression.
It was a return much earlier than planned.
Whatever the urgency, he had come back alone, leaving the accompanying knights behind.
"Welcome back, Your Grace."
"The Duchess."
"Madam has gone to the Imperial Palace."
Herdin, entering the residence assuming Blair would naturally be in the bedroom, halted abruptly.
"......The Imperial Palace?"
"Yes. She said she was going to see His Majesty the Emperor. She took knights with her as well."
Mason emphasized 'took knights with her.'
It was because he knew Herdin was on high alert about Blair's outings after the two kidnapping incidents.
Herdin's lips twisted at the news.
He had told her just yesterday to wait obediently in the bedroom.
'And yet she went out again.'
To see the Emperor, no less.
Recalling his last conversation with Ivan, Herdin's eyes chilled coldly.
Reading the subtly sharpened edge in Herdin's mood, Mason hurriedly added,
"She's been gone quite a while, so she should return soon—"
"No need."
Before Mason could finish, Herdin turned and left the residence. The mana leaking uncontrollably from his body rippled briefly before vanishing.
