The name of the woman Herdin brought was Miela, a face Blair had seen once or twice coming and going from the temple.
Her profession was priestess. It was a fitting job for her angelic face.
Miela, who had gone on a mission to the north by the will of the goddess, happened to discover the Delmark Knights who had suffered great damage from the attack of beasts and helped them.
From that incident, Herdin highly valued her skills and employed her as an assistant for beast subjugation, keeping her by his side, and brought her back to the island when he returned.
A lord with excellent talent and an eye for recognizing it.
On the surface, that was all their relationship was, but the servants gossiped about the two at will.
"You know, about His Lordship and Lady Miela, don't you think there's something between them?"
"His Lordship and Lady Miela? I'm not sure about that."
"His Lordship is like that. He's the type who doesn't show his emotions. But can't you see that Lady Miela likes him?"
"Well… that's true. Just look at the fact that she's staying here instead of returning to the temple even though we're back on the island."
"His Lordship will fall for Lady Miela soon enough. With such a pretty and capable woman showing interest in him."
"I guess. Anyway, she's better than the enemy's daughter."
The voices of the maids chattering as they cleaned reached Blair's ears as well.
But Blair pretended not to hear, covering her ears. She was afraid that if she reacted, it would be like admitting that the rumors were true.
So the suffocating summer passed, autumn went by, and the bleak winter returned.
Herdin, who had returned from the main castle, never sought out Blair first, as he had always done since she became pregnant.
He was always busy with outside work, and even when Blair occasionally went to see him, he rarely met with her.
At first, Blair tried to mend her relationship with him, but eventually stopped going to see him.
If there was one fortunate thing, it was that he occasionally showed interest in Asiel. Of course, Asiel didn't seem to recognize the unfamiliar man as his father.
That day, Blair went to Herdin's office, betting on that slight interest with hope.
In two weeks, it would be Asiel's birthday. Blair planned to suggest that they go down to the Holstein villa to spend time as a family for Asiel's birthday.
Blair hesitated as she was about to knock on the door of Herdin's office. The office door was slightly open.
"Herd—"
At the sight visible through the open door, Blair swallowed her words as she was about to call him.
Miela was in Herdin's arms.
Blair's eyes began to waver aimlessly as she looked at the two of them.
"Ah…"
Blair instinctively stepped back to escape the unbelievable reality. At that moment, her eyes met Herdin's, who was looking towards the door.
He seemed surprised for a moment, but he didn't avoid Blair's gaze. He didn't even seem to think of avoiding it.
He pulled Miela closer, who was leaning against him. His cold gaze still fixed on Blair beyond the door.
As if to show her.
Stumbling backwards, Blair returned to her room. She couldn't remember how she had made it back.
Looking at the floor because her feet felt cold, she noticed that one of her slippers was missing, probably dropped on the way, and her breath was caught up to her chin.
"Haa, haa…"
As soon as she closed the door, the tears she had been holding back burst forth.
She couldn't forget the look in Herdin's eyes as he held Miela while looking at her.
It took her breath away to imagine him embracing another woman with the gentle hands that once held her, whispering to another woman with the languid voice that once whispered to her.
Even though his kindness had been but a fleeting moment right after their marriage, she still loved him.
Though she had run away from that place, she couldn't run away from the reality she faced.
"Ha, ugh… Heuuk…"
Her respiratory system, which had suffered great damage from the fire incident a decade ago, couldn't withstand even that brief run and crying, and gasped.
Blair cried, beating her chest that couldn't even breathe properly.
Her heart hurt more than her chest, which she had beaten until it bruised.
* * *
The next day, Blair left a message through the butler saying, "I want to spend Asiel's birthday at the villa, so please come without fail on his birthday even if you're busy," and fled to Holstein with Asiel.
Yet, deep down, she hoped. That he would come and explain that what she saw that day was nothing, that it was a misunderstanding.
But until the day of Asiel's birthday, not even a letter came from Herdin.
A small shadow approached Blair, who couldn't leave the window overlooking the main gate of the villa, even with lifeless eyes.
"Momma! Momma!"
It was Asiel, all dressed up for his birthday.
Blair smiled at Asiel as if she hadn't just been wearing a worried expression, and picked him up.
"My son, you're wearing such pretty clothes today? Oh, how lovely."
Asiel, who was smiling brightly while receiving a shower of kisses from his mother, suddenly seemed to remember something and pointed outside the window with his tiny hand.
"Papa?"
He remembered how his mother would pace by the window every evening, holding him and waiting for his father.
At that word from Asiel's mouth, Blair's face, which had been smiling as if nothing was wrong, suddenly contorted.
"…Yes, Papa will come soon. He'll definitely come because it's our baby's birthday."
Just as she was repeating the hope she wanted to believe, as if to comfort herself, there was a knock.
It was the butler.
He looked at Asiel in Blair's arms with a troubled expression and delivered the news.
"My lady, His Lordship says his schedule has been delayed more than expected. So for this birthday, just the two of you…"
At this news, the light disappeared from Blair's eyes, which had held a glimmer of hope.
* * *