When they were young, he had a beautiful voice, but it was not this high.
But his voice did not matter now. That wasn’t important now.
“Of course I have to be considerate. We have something short, but we can still call it a relationship.”
Leila could barely hold back the laughter that was about to burst out of her mouth.
“Can the word relationship be used for something like this?”
If Harsian orders Leila to go to work right now, Leila has to kneel on the floor and bow her head without saying a word. Leila has become a commoner, and Harsian is the high-status Duke Serios.
Still, the reason that Leila was not at all shy was not because of the poor ‘relationship’ that Harsian said.
Don’t look shallow.
Don’t be discouraged.
The other party wants her child, and only Leila can protect it.
She even risked her life on this, so there was nothing scarier than this.
“You must have been very angry. I understand.”
Harsian leaned against the back of the sofa and folded his arms.
“The reason why you came here even though you’re so angry is because you’re going to accept the deal, right?”
“There are a lot of things I want to ask. Something that needs to be confirmed.”
She didn’t call in Harsian just to say this.
Leila had to confirm that her thoughts were not mere delusions.
“Ask me anything. I have no intention of coming all the way here and telling lies.”
Leila began to bring up the questions she had put together in her head one by one before coming here.
Harsian kindly answered her question. The more he answered, the more confident Leila became.
Her thoughts were not delusions. Harsian was planning something outrageous.
A plan to welcome Leila’s, another person who has nothing to do with him, child as his own. But the most important thing for Leila was the safety of the child.
If all of his answers were true, her child would be safer and happier than any other child in the world. Even if it’s a girl.
Between growing up under a single mother who lives in danger every day and can’t even give them love, and growing up as a child of a duke family.
Does anyone see the answer? But Leila was not easily reassured.
“If you later have a child from another wife…”
“It will never happen.”
Before Leila’s concern could be finished, Harsian answered firmly.
“It can never happen.”
He said it again, as if in confirmation.
‘Is he infertile?’
A small possibility flashed through Leila’s mind. If so, it was very reassuring.
“Do you think it’s fine now? You can always check how your child is growing if you want to.”
It is. It will be easy to check whether the duke has other children, what her child looks like, and how comfortable the child is.
“I will ask you one more thing.”
Harsian looked tired.
“Of course, this child will not have the power of a duke, but perhaps the power of a marquis.”
“… …”
“Does it really matter if the child can become the head of the duke’s family?”
When a family that had had power from generation to generation lost that power, Leila knew well what those words would mean.
Because that’s what happened to the Elantre family.
But doesn’t it really matter for Harsian?
If you adopt a child within the family, the blood will fade, but the power will not be lost.
“You already know enough.”
Harsian sharply opened his eyes and said.
“Are you unaware of the simple fact that the more you know, the more dangerous it becomes?”
Leila laughed lightly.
She wouldn’t know if she had given up on the child without appearing here, but after seeing Harsian, it became clearer.
Knowing that, she came here. Therefore, such a threat was not scary.
“It’s okay. Please tell me.”
Harsian twisted one corner of his lips and smiled.
Leila was very used to that look. In the past, Nivera used to smile like that often.
“It doesn’t matter what the title is going to be. An opportunity is needed to express the power of blood, but as long as you live in a peasant family, there will be no opportunity to develop that power.”
She thought he wouldn’t answer, but Harsian answered quite in detail.
“And you don’t have to worry about the work of the duke.”
“Why?”
“Because you don’t need to know.”
“I need to know. What if the child’s cornered or persecuted just because they don’t have the strength?”
Harsian clicked his tongue as if displeased.
“If a child with no roots becomes a child of a duke, shouldn’t they be treated like that?”
Leila kept her mouth shut.
A child with no roots.
Yes, Leila’s child was an illegitimate child.
Her illegitimate child changes status and becomes the duke’s child. That in itself was something she should be grateful for.
It doesn’t matter if they’re not the heir. If they become a child of a duke, they will be able to live a prosperous life on their own.
Much more than living with herself or living in a nursery.
“Are you satisfied now?”
“To some extent. Now…”
“Is it because you believe in the Marquis that you are so proud?”
Leila reflexively frowned at Theon’s name, which appeared out of nowhere.
“You have a face that looks comfortable without any worries about meeting me face-to-face and asking questions about things that shouldn’t be mentioned. It looks like you’ve done something?”
“Isn’t it stupid to come without thinking?”
“Right. That’s right. I wonder if you’re a woman who is not scared to die.”
“Perhaps.”
“If you believe in the Marquis…”
Harsian, who was stroking his chin, looked straight at Leila and raised one corner of his mouth again and smiled.
“I want to tell you that more than anyone in the world, he is the person you shouldn’t trust.”
“I know what I’m doing…”
“Do you think it was a coincidence that you met the Marquis that day?”
Leila hardened her body.
That day. The day she met Theon.
Memories of that day always ate Leila. Terrible memories that cannot be shaken and cannot be erased.
Just mentioning it made her body stiff in fear.
“Is your godfather really such a person?”
“What do you mean…”
Leila stopped her speech.
What if it wasn’t a coincidence that she met Theon? What if the godfather wasn’t like that?
Harsian, no, Nivera, who lives the life that her brother must live in the name of her brother, was content to see Leila stiffened and being thoughtful.
She only wanted one thing from Leila. Therefore, she wanted to tell her that she would be safe if the child went to the Duchy. So she told her what she wanted to know to assure her.
‘I don’t know what will happen in the future.’
Wouldn’t it be easier to get rid of a weak woman than to eat cold soup?
[Eating cold soup is a Korean idiom, something like a piece of cake if I’m not mistaken]
Problem only arises if Leila does not hand over her child and leans on the Marquis.
She used to monitor Leila’s actions, but she didn’t know if Leila had a way to communicate with the Marquis secretly.
It’s unlikely she will, as she’s trying to hide her child and leave, but it’s better to rule out the danger. If the only corner of this stringless woman’s belief is that hateful marquis, Nivera just has to make him untrustworthy.
“It would be easy to see how your godfather is doing now.”
Leila closed her eyes for a moment. Seeing that, Nivera thought.
Now I just need to pull out a few more. No matter how strong your faith may be, it will be utterly broken.
“How do you feel about my stomach now?”
But Leila, who opened her eyes, said something very out of the ordinary.
“It looks normal, isn’t it? You can’t believe that I’m going to have a child, right? Me too. I still don’t know if this is life.”
The fear that had engulfed her in Leila’s blue eyes vanished.
Now Leila was calm and rational.
“That’s why I was trying to get rid of this. Even at the cost of my life.”
“What do you want to say?”
“I don’t care if I die or if this dies, so let’s not talk nonsense and talk about how we’re going to handle things in the future.”
Leila smiled brightly and uttered threatening words.
It was the perfect threat to die with the child at any time if Harsian went against her heart.
“If I want to play a part in selling this, you will take care of me, right?”
So Leila spit out words that didn’t even make sense to her.
She had to shut Harsian’s mouth so he would not disturb her by saying another useless word. Leila now had no time to get agitated.
Whatever the reason she came here. She had to make one more sure thing for the child.
“… Alright. Keep talking.”
Despite Leila’s threats, Nivera spoke slowly and smiled.
Leila seemed unaware, and her hands were trembling finely as they gripped the hem of her dress.
That was good enough. She knew very well that her words were false.
If she had really wanted to sell her child and live her life, she would have asked the price first.
The two of them chatted for quite some time after that.
The conversation ended only after Leila was willing to comply with the demands given to her.
***
Leila returned home and shivered inside the blanket.
It cannot be explained other than that it was a miracle that she was able to remain calm on the spot.
‘It’s okay. It’s okay. It must be a lie!’
Leila constantly muttered under the blanket.
If Harsian’s words were true, it seemed that she would never be able to stand up again.
The resentment also faded. All that was left was fear.
Now, she didn’t have the strength to resent other people again. She couldn’t afford to suffer.
Leila decided to believe what he said was a lie. She had to believe.
Because now was not the time to collapse.
“Miss Leila.”
As Leila barely came out of the blanket and wiped her sweat with a handkerchief, the middle-aged maid knocked in.
“It’s time to go home, what should we do with the things you left?”
She pulled out a letter from her arms.
“Give it to me.”
Leila took it and drove her maid off work.
That maid doesn’t know her writing, so she probably wouldn’t have recognized the address on this envelope.
All she knew was that if Leila didn’t come back today, this letter was to be sent in a month.
—To the Karsha March.
[A March is what you call a marquis’ territory.]
The address was to the Marquis’ wife, not anyone else.
In this letter, Leila wrote about her situation, the proposal she had received, and the fact that she was meeting Duke Serios.
In any case, if Harsian kidnapped her today and forced her to give birth to her child, or if she had been killed for some other reason, or if he had devious plans for her child.
This letter must have reached the Marquis’s wife.
She didn’t want to be saved. She didn’t even want to save the child.
It was a kind of atonement. Atonement for playing with her husband all this time.
She hoped that the other party would gain any benefit from this information.
Just having one weakness of Duke Serios would be an advantage.
“… …”
Leila lit a candle and burned the letter. She was unharmed, and the conversation with Harsian gained confidence.
There is no need to worry about the well-being of her child. Also, for the sake of her child’s future, she shouldn’t have revealed this to anyone.
Leila never thought that the Duke knew all this.
If her maid had left work with the letter, the maid would have died.
The letter had already been burned, and Leila stared blankly at the light of the candle.
After she had the child, she agreed to get money from Harsian, but she really didn’t want to.
She said that she would sell her child with her own mouth, so she just kept up with the beat.
She didn’t want a single penny of money. Because if she gets paid, then she’s really selling a child.
She just hoped that the Duke would show her mercy and wait until Leila found the traces left by her mother after giving birth to her child.
‘If I die before then, there’s nothing I can do about it.’
Leila was sure she was going to die.