Chapter 11
Lincia glared at Tereo.
A faint smile lingered on his face.
“That uptight man would never touch a princess like you. Who does the child belong to?”
The man leaned closer, as if urging her to share some secret.
The sudden closeness made her skin crawl.
Lincia shoved him away, but his solid body only caused her to stumble.
“My, you should be careful.”
Tereo caught her slender waist gently.
An indescribable chill ran through her, and she thrashed in his arms.
“…Let me go!”
“If you lose the child you barely managed to conceive, you’ll be of no use again.”
Lincia struggled with all her strength to escape him, but the more she resisted, the tighter his hold became.
Only when she gave up did he release her.
“Don’t be so wary. I’ve always been on Your Highness’s side.”
Lincia glared at Tereo as if she could kill him, but he only lifted both hands as though to prove his innocence.
“Even if you look at me like that, I won’t break.”
“Shut up.”
Tereo always spoke as though he cared for Lincia, yet his words constantly scraped at her nerves.
“Stop pretending you care about me.”
Back when she lived in the palace, unaccustomed to the malice of the world, Lincia had foolishly believed Tereo was on her side.
Because he was the only man who reminded her of Harvich.
“Do you need something? I’ll help you.”
Every time, he asked what she needed, and every time he said he would help, she believed such a man could never harm her.
“When the knight comes tomorrow night, could you tell him I went to bed early?”
“…Why would you need that? If it puts Your Highness in danger, I cannot help.”
“If I tell you the truth, will you help me then?”
“When have I ever acted to harm Your Highness?”
She fell for those words.
Believed, just for a moment, that Tereo was truly her knight.
But at the crucial moment, the man betrayed her.
Tereo reported to Yulias that Lincia had attempted to flee the palace.
The jewels she had saved as escape funds were confiscated, and even the short breaths of freedom she had stolen were taken from her.
Three more knights were assigned to watch her every hour.
Except for the rare times she attended a royal banquet, Lincia was never allowed outside.
And the very man who had isolated her so completely, Tereo, never again served as her guard after that day.
Word spread that he had been promoted to Captain of the Knights.
The next time Lincia saw Tereo was at a palace banquet.
“You cannot survive outside the palace.”
“…”
“How could someone raised in such luxury possibly endure life beyond these walls?”
The memory twisted inside her, leaving a bitter taste.
Lincia wanted nothing more than to escape this place.
“To think you left the palace only to end up in the North. True, it can’t compare to the palace, but at least it’s better than living among peasants.”
Tereo slowly brushed his fingers along the stone wall.
“I couldn’t grant you the escape you wanted from the palace, but I can help you leave the North.”
“…What? You think I’d believe you?”
Lincia stepped back, but Tereo caught her wrist.
“How many here want you to bear a child in the North, do you think?”
His grip on her wrist tightened, yanking her as if daring her to resist.
“With someone as frail as Your Highness, of course you cannot protect the child.”
His black eyes gleamed with a chilling light.
“And I, too, do not wish for you to give birth.”
His gaze slid slowly to her belly, making her shudder.
It was as though he might harm her child at any moment.
Instinctively, Lincia wrapped her arms around her stomach.
“But you need the child, don’t you? So if you happen to miscarry, come to me. I’ll personally help you.”
The words dripped with cruelty.
“…If you’d rather not, then leave the North. That much, I can help with.”
Lincia could endure no more.
She raised her hand to strike Tereo across the face—
“No matter how close you may have once been, don’t you think you’re standing a bit too close to my wife?”
A voice came from just behind her, close enough that she felt his breath.
Her heart plummeted.
“What were you talking about? If it’s not urgent, perhaps it’s best to leave it for tomorrow.”
***
Harvich escorted Lincia to her chambers without a word.
She thought he would leave immediately, but instead he strode inside.
At his gesture, the attendants standing guard withdrew.
When the door shut and only the two of them remained, a quiet sigh slipped from Harvich’s lips.
“Did you have more to say to that man?”
“No.”
“What were you talking about?”
Lincia turned her head away.
She had no desire to answer.
“You’re keeping silent because you’re worried for him, aren’t you?”
“…What?”
“He asked if he was the father of the child.”
Lincia’s eyes shook violently.
“Speak honestly. The truth is, the child has already been declared the Grand Duke’s heir in the palace. If you committed adultery, I’m the only one who knows.”
“…”
Her lips trembled.
The deeper his suspicion grew, the more unbearable the weight pressed on her chest.
If she had known that night she thought of as a gift would return to her this way, she would never have reached for it.
She had been greedy, and now she was paying the price.
“What is it you want me to say?”
“I only want the truth.”
Lincia bit down hard on her lip.
The answer Harvich wanted was not the truth, and so she could never give it to him.
“…The child is yours.”
Harvich slowly rose from his seat.
“Rest. I expect I’ll be busy for a while.”
***
Preparations for the banquet began.
Contrary to Harvich’s words about being busy, Lincia had nothing at all to do with the preparations.
Banquet work was a matter of governance.
With her set aside from such duties, there was nothing she could be asked to do.
She watched as the ducal gardens were dressed up for the event.
Flowers, forced to bloom in barren soil, swayed in the wind.
When Lincia opened the window, a faint fragrance drifted in, along with the sound of the orchestra tuning in the distance.
Only a day had passed since the banquet was announced, yet the progress was astonishing.
It was hard to believe the man who suspected her so firmly of infidelity was the same one putting such care into the arrangements.
In truth, Lincia knew better than anyone that without imperial suppression, the North would never have faced a food shortage.
And if that had been the case, Harvich would never have married her.
The thought made her stomach churn.
Her very existence was a loss to him.
She was the emperor’s only blood relative, and the woman Harvich had never wanted.
…Which meant even the feelings she held for him were nothing but a
burden.
Lincia knew exactly what that burden was.
The night she had dared to want him because she loved him.
The child she had conceived because of it.
And now, all of it had come back as a threat against him.
