I Only Want Your Child - Chapter 15

Even if I had conceived his child, my longing for Denion would probably have remained unchanged.

‘Juliana. I’ll try even harder for our child’s share too. I’ll love you even more, so don’t think about anything else, please…’

In the end, I abandoned him as he desperately clung to me and chose my twelfth life of my own accord. I hadn’t intended to throw away my life in front of him.

Out of guilt, I had wanted to hide away and quietly end my life, but somehow, Lloyd found me as though by instinct and ultimately held me in his arms as he screamed in anguish.

I couldn’t forget that sorrowful voice. Nor his face, twisted painfully with grief…

It was something I should never have done to him.

Thinking about it now, I felt so sorry and guilty that I couldn’t even bring myself to face him.

Seeing me hurriedly lower my head, Layla looked out the window in puzzlement.

“Do you know him?”

I answered her stiffly.

“No. I’ve never seen him before.”

Contrary to my intentions, the end of my voice trembled faintly.

The Lloyd of this life didn’t know me.

Even knowing that, I couldn’t bring myself to look at him. Guilt rose within me at the thought that such a gentle and warm man had met a woman like me and lived such a life.

I was sorry that I hadn’t been able to return his tender love, and I resented myself for it.

It had become something that no longer existed, but I alone still remembered it vividly.

And so, I quietly held my breath and wished.

‘Don’t forgive me. And in this life, please be happy with another woman.’

I squeezed my eyes shut as I sincerely wished for it.

Like a sinful believer repenting before God, I prayed silently in my heart.

“Madam, aren’t you getting out?”

Perhaps she found me strange, because Layla opened the carriage door and asked in a puzzled tone.

Only then did I slowly open my eyes and return to my usual cold expression.

“Let’s get out.”

I slowly stepped down from the carriage and walked away without even looking toward Lloyd.

I could feel Lloyd’s gaze turn toward me without thinking.

The Lloyd of this life didn’t even know me, yet for a while, I could feel his gaze following my back like a magnet.

But I never once turned around.

Only after entering the building did I glance out the window and see him climbing into his carriage.

I watched his retreating figure for only a moment, then became conscious of Layla’s suspicious gaze and immediately turned away.

* * *

“You wish to do business with our guild?”

Vas Donaldo, the master of the Vas Guild, looked at me suspiciously.

“That’s right.”

“Why would the lady of Baldomer take an interest in such a humble guild as ours…”

At his probing tone, I pressed my lips together and held out a sheet of paper.

It was a list of the supplies needed for the banquet, from decorations to food ingredients. The sheer quantity was enough to make anyone’s jaw drop, befitting the great House Baldomer.

“This is…”

Vas’s eyes gleamed as he quickly scanned the list.

It was an amount that a small to mid-sized guild wouldn’t even dare attempt to handle.

But if they managed to secure all the goods successfully, it was also enough to promise an enormous profit.

After confirming the greed blazing in his eyes, I continued evenly.

“Prepare all of those items within a budget of two hundred million gold.”

Vas’s expression immediately stiffened.

In that brief moment, I could almost hear the gears turning in his head.

With Vas’s abilities, he could certainly acquire all these goods for two hundred million gold, but it wouldn’t leave the guild with much profit.

“Madam, I apologize, but even by a rough estimate, two hundred million gold is nowhere near enough to prepare this quantity. Even if you went to another major guild, they would probably demand at least four hundred million gold.”

At the sight of him smiling like a merchant and exaggerating theatrically, I smiled leisurely.

“That’s why I came here. To give you an opportunity.”

“Pardon…?”

“If I intended to prepare this amount of goods at the usual price, I would’ve gone to the major guild we normally do business with.”

Vas still wore a blank expression, as though he didn’t understand what I meant, so I kindly continued.

“Your deal with Silverstel must have fallen through, didn’t it?”

“How did you…”

The fact that Lloyd, the second son of Silverstel, had walked out of this guild meant Silverstel had attempted to do business with them.

But there was a high chance Lloyd had deliberately allowed the first deal to fall through. In the past, he had broken off negotiations several times like that before eventually securing the terms he wanted.

“If this transaction goes smoothly, you have my word that Baldomer will continue doing business with this guild.”