Chapter 279
His woman
“You’ll stay here from now on.”
On the first day he brought the woman, he showed her around the residence as if it were nothing special.
During her pregnancy, she could have used a separate room if she wished, but he used the excuse that their house was short-handed.
Even if she had guessed his true intentions, would this quiet woman have dared to say she disliked it?
“Yes, Duke.”
She replied awkwardly, always moving as if she were tiptoeing around, like she was walking only on her toes.
Even if she didn’t like the idea of sharing a space with him, it was already too late.
〈No need for anything bothersome. Please, just do as you wish.〉
That was how she described their relationship, but now that she was carrying a child, it shouldn’t be difficult to grow attached.
‘It’s just a matter of time.’
However, once he actually brought her in, he found that compared to the woman, who bloomed like a white flower, his quarters seemed far too bleak.
He bought comfortable furniture and jewelry to suit her in preparation for the future, but he couldn’t guess how she felt about any of it.
When he brought something new for Electra or the head maid Merope, their reactions were so clear it almost hurt his ears.
But this woman simply widened her eyes, which only made Izar impatient and frustrated. It got so bad he found himself directly asking her.
“Is there anything here you don’t like?”
“They’re all nice…”
Dissatisfied with her answer, he frowned. The woman’s shoulders shrank as she whispered in a small voice.
“Truly, Your Grace. I’m grateful for everything.”
Izar looked displeased at her ambiguous reply.
‘Saying it’s all nice is just another way of saying it’s not bad overall, isn’t it?’
Such vague answers were never satisfying to him. What he wanted was for her to clearly choose a favorite, just one thing she liked most, enough that he could see it on her face.
Still, it wasn’t a bad feeling, for the first time, to have someone else in his bedroom. Sometimes, when he woke to find her at the far edge of the bed, it was surprisingly pleasant to pull her back into her place.
Outside the estate, only news of bloodshed came day after day.
Even when he sent word to House Antares that their long-ago agreement was void and demanded the ring’s return, he couldn’t get a reply. Communication between territories had become that difficult.
But Izar kept all such ominous news from ever reaching the woman’s ears. He didn’t want to see her looking anxious.
When she slept peacefully, it made the world seem all right to him, too.
Still, despite how quickly her belly was swelling, her body remained so small. On the day he worried whether she could give birth safely with such a frame, he saw her curled up, covering her mouth.
His heart silently collapsed.
“What’s going on?”
“D-Duke.”
The woman lowered her thin fingers from her mouth and whispered, looking so uneasy it was as if she was confessing to a crime.
“I-I’m sorry. I didn’t mean for you to find me like this—”
“Don’t say unnecessary things. Just tell me what’s happening.”
“It’s just that, um, I… have morning sickness…”
Her face flushed bright red, and her fingers gripping her skirt trembled thinly. With that miserable look, it seemed a single poke to her cheek would bring tears.
Izar himself felt breathless watching her.
“There’s something I want to eat, but… it’s not in season yet—”
“Don’t drag it out. Just say it.”
“I… I want wild berries…”
“……”
“I’m sorry. Once this passes, I won’t crave them anymore.”
It was easy to see why it had been so hard for her to say.
In the duchy, those damn berries simply weren’t in season yet.
The first thing she’d ever specifically asked for, and he couldn’t provide it. That fact alone was unbearably humiliating.
It wasn’t as if she was asking for some grand piece of jewelry.
“To think I can’t even get her something so simple…”
“My lord, forgive us.”
“Haah.”
When Izar grumbled, face taut with irritation, the retainers who’d received his order only looked around nervously in silence.
At that moment, Van Dike, who had been quietly observing, spoke up.
“My lord, what if we send a request to a region where the weather warms earlier?”
“……”
Izar answered with silence, feeling a prickly sense of defeat.
It was the first time this land, which he’d always been proud of, had disappointed him.
In the end, Izar did as suggested and sent a request to a neighboring territory with a milder climate. Marquis Deneb gladly obliged.
But neither the marquisate nor Izar’s own retainers ever imagined he would go to fetch them himself.
‘They’re looking at me as if I’ve lost my mind.’
The Duke himself was almost raiding the neighboring land’s supply of wild berries.
He paid for them by hunting monsters, but he could imagine how absurd they must have found it.
Even Charles, who came with him, quietly voiced his complaint.
“My lord, you didn’t have to handle this yourself…”
But this wasn’t just any woman’s request. It was the first time that woman—no, his woman—had ever asked him for anything.
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