Episode 7
“Now, are you truly serious about this?”
Count Nuarose, who had been glancing between the two of them as if gauging the situation, finally revealed his true intentions.
“Father!”
She raised her voice in irritation. However, he instead tried to calm Dalia down and continued persuading her.
“But Dalia, think carefully. It’s already been five months. Wouldn’t it be better for the child to grow up with its biological parents rather than being sent to some distant relative and living an unhappy life? This is by no means a bad option for you…!”
“No, Father!”
It seemed he intended to air everything out in the open.
Unless he was insane, how could he say something like that in front of Leonhard?
Her face turned deathly pale as she shouted.
“I cannot marry Lancaster. I told you already. I cannot get married!”
Leonhard’s expression, upon hearing Count Nuarose’s words, also froze over like ice.
Seeing his face, Dalia’s shoulders flinched.
She had known Leonhard since childhood, but this was the first time she had ever seen him this angry.
‘Well… he has every right to be…!’
Her mind, overwhelmed by panic, went completely blank.
Dizziness washed over her, but Dalia barely managed to steady herself by gripping the wall.
“Stop it.”
Leonhard frowned deeply as he met her gaze.
“If we just get married, this problem is solved.”
Dalia could not bring herself to meet his eyes.
Of all people, she knew Leonhard best.
She knew what he liked most, what he hated most, and even what he utterly despised.
Marriage, having a child, and that child continuing the family line.
To think that the very thing Leonhard had once said he detested so much was now being forced upon him because he felt responsible for her—she felt sick to her stomach.
“Stop it. I’m not marrying you. I told you I’d handle it myself!”
“How exactly am I supposed to make you agree to marry me?”
He grabbed her hand firmly and forced her to meet his eyes.
“If I kneel and beg, will you marry me? Should I kneel right now?”
Her vision spun.
Leonhard was saying he would kneel for her, asking her to marry him—but in truth, the power dynamic here was painfully obvious.
And she was acutely aware of exactly where she stood beneath him.
“Don’t do this, Lancaster!”
Don’t pity me, please…
Being pitied by someone was worse than death itself. Dalia had endured everything until now purely on her pride.
At that moment, a sharp ringing filled her ears.
She pressed her fingers to her temple and blinked slowly.
Her father’s lips were moving, and Leonhard’s were as well, speaking something slowly—but she could no longer hear their words.
“Ugh…”
A groan escaped her as she swayed heavily.
“Dalia…!”
“Dalia!”
Both men reached out toward her.
Beneath the hem of her skirt, faint traces of blood began to seep through.
If only this were all a dream.
Wishing for that, she lost consciousness.
How long had she been asleep?
Dalia slowly blinked her eyes open and pushed herself up.
Leonhard was sitting near the bed, reading an extremely thick book.
“…You’re awake?”
Even as he closed the book, his eyes quickly checked her condition.
A look of relief crossed his face as he confirmed her complexion had returned from its earlier ghostly pallor.
“…The baby?”
Her voice trembled without her intending it to.
Leonhard handed her a cup of lukewarm water before speaking.
“Fortunately, it seems to be healthy.”
She felt relieved that the baby was safe, yet at the same time, her heart sank.
“…Fortunately?”
Her eyes slowly rolled toward him.
“Do you really think so, Lancaster?”
She lifted one corner of her lips into a bitter smile and spoke words she did not truly mean.
“I wish it had just left me. It would’ve been better if it had never been born rather than growing up under someone like me as its mother. Don’t you think so? Is it really a good thing for a child to be born into a relationship like ours?”
It was true she had once tried everything to end the pregnancy, but her feelings had already changed.
However, this marriage still had to be stopped.
And there was only one way to break his stubborn resolve.
“You know, Lancaster. You know better than anyone.”
She was deliberately digging into his wounds.
“You know it very well, don’t you…!”
There was another reason he despised her father so much.
“You were born that way, weren’t you, Lancaster?”
He was a child born out of wedlock.
Even Dalia herself had not known this until before their deaths.
After his parents were executed for treason, Leonhard only discovered the truth when he inherited the dukedom and found the previous Duke Lancaster’s journal.
The former duke had a mistress, and Leonhard was born from her.
However, she had abandoned the child immediately after birth, refusing to be tied down.
Left behind by his biological mother, a child born from his father’s affair—the late Duchess of Lancaster had still raised him with love.
“You’re confident, aren’t you?”
Dalia looked as though she might cry at any moment as she raised the end of her sentence.
“Confident that you can love this child?”
He did not answer.
She swallowed her tears with difficulty and drove in the final blow.
“I don’t have that confidence, Lancaster. I was already going to give birth because I had no choice, but to be tied to a marriage I never wanted and act like a parent…!”
“Dalia.”
Leonhard, who had been silent for a long time, finally spoke.
“What I want…”
He carefully chose his words before continuing slowly.
“Is just for you not to suffer.”
At his sincere words, she could not retort and only parted her lips slightly.
She had endured constant nausea alone, with no one to care for her, while also struggling to maintain a livelihood—her mind had been pushed to its limits, calculating and working endlessly just to survive.
How exhausting the past five months had been.
“I’ve made up my mind.”
His understanding of her suffering made her throat tighten.
“I’ve already spoken with Count Nuarose.”
Even if his feelings were rooted in pity and a sense of duty, she desperately wanted to pretend she knew nothing and lean on him.
“You will move into the Lancaster ducal estate with me today.”
“…What?”
“I won’t announce it to society. It would only cause unnecessary chaos. We’ll begin preparing for the wedding. If we start now, it’ll take at least two months…”
Dalia’s mouth fell open in shock. It was absurd.
“I’ve already been pregnant for five months! Everyone will find out!”
“There are ways to handle that. Don’t worry.”
“What do you mean there are ways? Lancaster, why are you deciding everything without even asking for my opinion…?”
“You were always the one acting without permission.”
Somehow, his face looked more exhausted than when he first arrived here, yet he managed a faint, tired smile.
“So just this once, I’ll do things my way, Dalia.”
Leonhard gently pressed her shoulders and laid her back down.
“Rest. We’ll have to move in a little while.”
Then, as if unwilling to discuss it further, he picked up his book again.
Only then did Dalia see the title.
[Comprehensive Encyclopedia of Pregnancy, Birth, and Childcare]
She let out a disbelieving, hollow laugh.
Of all places—this shabby room, this cramped space—and he was reading something like that.
Was this really the right choice?
She pulled the blanket over her head and turned away.
Guilt toward Leonhard, gratitude, and overwhelming remorse toward the child all swirled violently in her chest.
She could no longer hold back her tears.
Biting her lip tightly, she sobbed silently.
Then, without a word, Leonhard stood up and opened the window wide.
The quiet room was filled with the sound of birdsong and a gentle breeze.
And he simply stayed by her side—without saying anything at all.
