Crash.
The small, sunlit room turned into a chaotic mess in a blink.
The silent servants faithfully executed their orders.
The elegant furniture was overturned, and items carefully hidden inside the drawers poured out with a rustle.
[Lennox, please.]
Lennox glanced indifferently at the objects being tossed around on the floor.
Since when did it all begin?
Childish toys, thin, soft handkerchiefs, and neatly folded baby clothes.
Every time such trivial things fell to the floor, Juliet alternately glanced at him, clueless about what to do.
[I didn’t mean to deceive you!]
The terrified woman clung to his feet, begging.
[So please, stop this… okay?]
She clung desperately as if these simple and crude trinkets were precious treasures.
Lennox looked at her quietly. He was afraid of losing her affection.
She was affection-starved and showed compassion even to worthless stray animals.
How excited she must have been, decorating the small room like a squirrel and diligently filling the empty drawers.
He felt like suffocating due to the love that seeped through every nook and cranny.
But there was something Juliet didn’t know.
The damn curse of the family would snatch her away.
Before he could even make a rational judgement, he had already come to a conclusion.
He couldn’t lose Juliet.
Ignoring the gazing eyes of others, the sound of Juliet’s cries grew louder.
[You promised not to get angry…]
[I’m not angry.]
Although his mind was blank, he managed to respond, moving his stationary lips.
He knelt down to match the eye level of Juliet, who was sitting on the floor.
He brushed Juliet’s tear-streaked cheeks.
[Juliet.]
He thought he smiled, but he wasn’t sure.
[You can’t leave me.]
He gripped her shoulders forcefully.
No matter the cost, he couldn’t lose her.
* * *
[I have prescribed a sedative.]
The hurriedly called doctor was Lord Hilbery.
[She’s finally asleep. It would be better to keep her relaxed for a while…]
Juliet stopped crying only when she ran out of tears.
Frightened Juliet would burst into tears just at the sight of his face, so Lennox was sent out of the bedroom, following the physician’s order.
[How serious is it?]
[Your Highness.]
After checking the solitary study, the doctor opened his mouth heavily.
[Does Miss Juliet…?]
[She knows nothing.]
The elderly doctor sighed.
[I’m seeing it for the first time, but… it’s typical.]
Being a confidant of the secret passed only among the heads of the Carlyle family, the doctor was extremely tense.
He, who was an assistant to a doctor during the time of the predecessor Duke, possessed all of his master’s records.
[She thinks it’s morning sickness.]
[…]
[It might feel a bit severe, but in reality, it’s draining magic and nutrients.]
Lennox recalled Juliet who couldn’t even swallow a sip of tea properly.
The symptoms were similar to morning sickness, but different. The damn bloodline that slowly drains magic and nutrients, and kills the mother’s body once it becomes unnecessary.
[…There’s a way.]
The doctor cautiously interrupted his thoughts.
[According to the records, there have been such cases. You only have to give up on the first child.]
[…]
Just give up on the first child.
Lennox understood what it meant.
Taking away the first child, the curse of the eldest.
The heads of their family were forced to choose. To lose the first child, or to lose the wife.
But for him, it was a question not even worth considering.
[I’ll try to find Silphium flowers.]
Walking through the silent corridor, he was lost in thought.
‘It can be corrected.’
It was an unfortunate accident, but it was still correctable.
By persuading Juliet to give up on the child.
[…]
But how could he convince her?
Even if he told her the truth, it would be fortunate if she didn’t get scared and run away or despise him.
He hesitated.
He cautiously opened the bedroom door. Instead of the bed, Juliet had curled up uncomfortably on the couch and was asleep.
[…]
Looking around for something to cover her with, he picked up a thin sheet from the bed reluctantly.
Rustle.
But as he turned around holding the white sheet, he locked eyes with Juliet, who had woken up with a frightened face.
He extended his hand with an uneasy heart.
[Come here.]
[I… I don’t want to.]
Juliet only glared at him with cautious eyes.
She didn’t realize she was this stubborn.
[The baby…]
[I won’t do anything, so come.]
His anger surged. It’s not like she regarded him as some lust-driven brute.
[…]
With suspicious eyes, Juliet hesitantly approached the bed.
He quickly caught her slender shoulders, wrapped them with a sheet, and pulled her close, leaning against the bed headboard.
Seemingly uncomfortable with the embraced position, Juliet squirmed for a while, but she didn’t run away.
Holding her from behind, her warm body temperature and the beating heart calmed him down.
Then he noticed her slender shoulder line and frail wrists.
[You know it’s morning sickness.]
[…]
[I’m sorry for not telling you earlier.]
Juliet said out of the blue, as she rubbed her reddened eyes.
[But I thought you wouldn’t like it…]
Her attitude of watching his reaction was pitiful.
[When did you find out?]
[Not long ago…]
Juliet hesitated before confessing.
[I’ve been feeling drowsy and listless, so I intended to consult with Madam Ursula, but she was not around. So instead…]
His eyes narrowed in displeasure.
[Did you seek out that doctor?]
[No, he’s a stranger. We’re not that close… so I just looked it up in a book.]
She had been diligently tucked away in the library, chasing after a doctor named Randel, asking around – it seemed it was for that reason.
Lennox suddenly got curious.
Would Juliet be terrified first if he told the truth, or would she despise him first?
[Ah.]
Something on the bedside table fell to the floor with a thud.
[It’s nothing-]
Juliet quickly reached out, but he was faster.
[…It’s baby shoes.]
Juliet said nervously.
He looked down at the small shoes that seemed utterly useless.
[They were just cute… I picked them up secretly.]
Seeing her hastily explaining, surely one of the pitiful maids secretly handed them to her.
[Please don’t get angry.]
[I’ve told you many times, I’m not angry.]
If he were to be angry, there was only one target.
His cursed bloodline that dried her up day by day.
The entity, even smaller than a walnut, was devouring her vitality, growing inside her belly, and he couldn’t feel a shred of affection for it.
However, Juliet, who couldn’t even dream of this fact, cautiously said while gauging his reaction.
[It will surely be cute if it resembles Your Highness.]
[Don’t give birth.]
[…]
At the sudden confession, Juliet’s body froze.
With wide-open blue eyes, he pleaded earnestly.
[Don’t give birth, stay by my side.]
He could neither tell the truth nor deceive forever.
Frightened, he chose a modest compromise.
[The doctor said you’re not healthy enough to have a baby.]
[…You’re lying.]
[So just give up this one time.]
He knelt down and pleaded for the first time.
[I will grant whatever you want.]
And he meant it.
If Juliet just speaks, just nods, he was ready to even give up the throne for her.
Give up the baby inside you and choose me.
Just give up this one time, and I can give in to anything, children or whatever, next time.
[Just give up this one time-]
[Don’t say it like that.]
With a wounded look, Juliet silenced him.
[Don’t negotiate… like that.]
She was busy wiping the tears streaming down her cheeks, resembling a child who didn’t know how to cry properly.
He was already half out of his mind. He forcibly lifted his head, and Juliet stubbornly avoided his gaze.
[I hate you to death…]
[Juliet.]
[Get out.]
Looking into the utterly frightened blue eyes, his heart sank.
Even as he left the bedroom to her weak expulsion, he didn’t let go of a glimmer of hope.
Somehow, if he could soothe and coax, with time, he could fully persuade…
[Your Highness.]
Turning around, Milan, who was hastily following, was standing there, catching his breath.
[There’s an urgent message from Baron Teer.]
[…]
Inside the envelope handed over by the knight, only one sentence was hurriedly scribbled down.