Chapter 55
“Where is my wife right now?”
“She seemed quite exhausted, so she retired early for the night.”
Killian nodded.
After what she had endured last night—and then again this morning—it was only natural she would be tired.
“She’s done something rather commendable… perhaps I’ll let her rest today.”
He muttered to himself as he turned toward the bedroom.
It was true—the physician who examined Adelaide had said that if they wanted a child, they needed to increase the frequency of their time together.
But the doctor had also added that her body was nearing its limit. Even without being told, Killian was well aware of her condition. It was true that, on their first night, he had deliberately pushed her to the brink.
But after that…
Killian let out a quiet, humorless laugh. He had always considered himself a rational man, but when it came to Adelaide, that control slipped. Even knowing she needed rest, he found it difficult to restrain his desire.
“Alright. You may go.”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
“Oh—and have my bedding prepared in the room next to the study. I’ll be working tonight. I don’t want to disturb my wife’s deep sleep.”
“Understood.”
The head maid accepted his orders without comment and withdrew.
Once she left, Killian lingered for a moment, looking toward the bedroom before finally opening the door.
A thin line of light slipped into the darkened room. At the end of it, just as the maid had said, Adelaide lay asleep.
He had told himself he wouldn’t touch her today. Yet before he realized it, his steps had already carried him to her side.
She was completely defenseless in sleep. Her body lay relaxed, turned gently on her side. He watched her for a long time.
There had been a time like this before. A time when she didn’t glare at him as though she loathed him, didn’t force a strained smile with a stiff, tense body, but instead greeted him with genuine warmth and ease.
Seven years was not a short time. And yet, the memories of the past month had been enough to overwrite everything that came before.
He told himself not to dwell on what had already passed. But whenever he saw her like this, a strange frustration tightened in his chest. He had obtained Adelaide as she was now—obedient, devoted only to him.
But in doing so, he had also lost the Adelaide she once was.
Human greed had no end. It was something he had long realized, watching Fabian Nachtmann, who, even after securing his life, still reached for the throne.
But he hadn’t expected that truth to apply to himself as well.
‘Perhaps it’s not human greed that has no end… but the blood of the imperial family that cannot be satisfied.’
With that thought, Killian gently ran his fingers through Adelaide’s hair. Her soft brown locks slipped through his hand like silk. He repeated the motion several times, before finally rising with a faint look of regret.
There was no point in lingering.
From the moment he had approached her in childhood under a false identity, their ending had already been set on this path. It had always been only a matter of time.
There was never a way for a crown prince and a count’s daughter of common birth to exist together in anything resembling a normal relationship.
He had known she would come to hate him and still, he had taken her. He had driven her into a corner, forced her into his grasp, content to own even just the shell of her. He had taken her family hostage, compelling her to at least pretend to love him.
It was all his choice. So he decided not to think about what he had lost.
“I hope a baby comes soon.”
Killian’s gaze drifted to Adelaide’s flat abdomen.
He knew her well. She might come to hate him, but she would never be able to hate an innocent child.
A child between them would become the perfect shackle. Binding not just her family, but the rest of her as well.
“Two… no, three would be better. Then you wouldn’t even dream of running away.”
With three children, escaping the palace would be impossible.
Kind-hearted Adelaide would never abandon even one child behind. Rather than flee with only some of them, she would choose to endure everything, clinging to her misery.
And when that time came, when he was certain she would never leave him. Then, perhaps, he could stop relying on threats like these.
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