Chapter 49
After a moment, Cecile forced a smile anyway.
“When a friend says she wants to stay, how could I not be happy? You can stay as long as you want.”
“Thank you. You were the only safe place I could think of.”
At Julia’s words, Cecile let out a long sigh. It was hard to interpret why. Was she only saying that and not actually welcoming her? Or was she worried about her husband’s reaction?
Meanwhile, Cecile quietly looked Julia over. Compared to when she had sent her off about a month earlier, Julia had put on much more weight and looked better for it, yet her expression was darker than before.
What on earth had happened?
Cecile clicked her tongue inwardly.
‘And what does she mean by saying she feels like she left half of herself there?’
But now wasn’t the time to press Julia to satisfy her curiosity.
“Come here, Julia.”
Cecile led Julia to the guest room. And again, a long sigh slipped out without her noticing. Haah.
Julia pretended not to notice as she went up the stairs.
* * *
Julia recuperated at Cecile’s house for several weeks.
The first day or two were fine. She had to make a conscious effort, but she could sit facing Cecile and laugh and chat. By the third day, however, they had run out of topics, and her motivation dropped as well.
Whenever she closed her eyes, she saw robins. The aquamarine brooch, or the Duke’s blue eyes.
「 Missus… 」
Sometimes she even heard an overtly suggestive voice that sent chills down her spine.
When that happened, Julia couldn’t sleep and tossed and turned. She desperately wanted to pleasure herself, but she deliberately didn’t. If she touched herself and recalled having s*x with Duke Drexton, she felt she would only long for him more.
‘Endure it, Julia. Endure it.’
She bit her tongue and forced herself to endure it. Even so, her body didn’t listen and craved Duke Drexton every day. She didn’t even need to press bodies together. If only she could rub lips and tangle tongues.
She wanted to exchange smiles with him in that hazy state.
From then on, she kept feeling under the weather.
Julia thought it was because of longing. And she thought it was fortunate that Cecile was by her side. Because Cecile was there, Julia didn’t completely collapse and could keep herself together.
But Cecile thought differently. With a suspicious expression, she looked Julia up and down as Julia rubbed her arms.
Julia thought it was a good thing she had come to Cecile.
“Aren’t you pregnant?”
Julia, who had been burrowing under the blanket, widened her eyes.
“No, that can’t be. I’m infertile.”
The denial came out so quickly that Cecile looked dumbfounded.
“How can you be sure?”
“Well…”
Before her husband died, they had relations regularly. Though he complained that s*x with Julia was boring, he still came to her periodically, raised his pathetic thing, and pounced on her.
But not once in ten years had she ever conceived. Her husband had sneered that Julia’s womb was a barren wasteland.
“I haven’t been pregnant once in the past ten years.”
“That’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard. I’m calling a doctor.”
At the word ridiculous, Julia bristled inwardly.
‘It’s probably just a cold.’
Still, since Cecile was showing concern, it seemed rude to refuse outright, so Julia quietly let Cecile call the doctor.
She thought that once she was examined, her claim would be proven.
But then the doctor said something unexpected.
“You’re with child.”
“What?”
Julia was completely taken aback. Meanwhile, Cecile, who had been standing by her side, crossed her arms as if to say I told you so.
“See? I told you so. When I had Robert, it was just like this for me at first, like the start of a cold.”
“N-No. Could you be mistaken?”
The doctor shook his head.
“Have you had your period?”
Julia went ah, her mouth falling open. That.
When she counted on her fingers, it really had been quite a while past the date.
Was she really pregnant?
Julia blankly stroked her belly.
“You may go now. Please prescribe some medicine that’s good for a pregnant woman, so the baby can settle.”
“I will do so, Ma’am.”
Cecile dismissed the doctor and sat down on the edge of the bed where Julia lay.
“It’s the Duke’s child, right?”
Julia’s complexion turned deathly pale.
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