Chapter 57
“My parents… are pregnant.”
Harvich let out a sharp breath.
“Your parents are also Chaesters, aren’t they?”
“After my father retired, he didn’t renew his medical license… They’re quite old now, so I got it instead.”
Ethan’s words didn’t sound like a lie.
In fact, his parents were sixty years old and had retired from work more than a decade ago.
“They were embarrassed… so they told me not to tell anyone… Could you please keep it a secret?”
“I understand for now. You may go.”
Harvich pressed his temple with one hand and dismissed Ethan.
Ethan bowed and left the office.
Maybe it was just his nerves, but Harvich found Ethan suspicious.
Still, the man’s face was flushed with shame, and he couldn’t exactly interrogate him over it.
Nor could he summon Ethan’s supposedly pregnant parents to the Grand Duke’s estate.
He’d have to look into it later…
A familiar headache began to throb.
Harvich pressed a finger against his temple.
He took some medicine from his desk drawer and swallowed it before sinking into thought.
Just then, someone banged loudly on his office door.
“Y-your Grace! His Majesty the Emperor is making a scene in front of the underground prison!”
Suppressing his fatigue, Harvich stood up.
Even though the grounds had been cleared earlier, snow had already started to pile up again.
The season’s first heavy snow was coming soon.
He sighed quietly.
When the snowfall worsened into a blizzard, even seasoned riders often lost their way and fell from cliffs.
He needed to send the man away before the week ended.
When Harvich reached the underground prison, the man was standing there with a surprisingly calm face.
“I heard you were causing trouble.”
“I figured you wouldn’t come otherwise.”
Yulias’s face was flushed as if he’d been drinking, but his eyes were clear.
“What do you need from me?”
“Ah, I was thinking of heading back to the palace soon.”
Yulias’s gaze turned toward the prison cell.
“I’ll be satisfied if you let me take that one with me.”
“That won’t be possible.”
“I’m leaving without even seeing my sister. Can’t you grant such a small request? I won’t go unless you give him to me.”
Harvich studied Yulias’s face.
He couldn’t guess what purpose he had in taking Oberok.
“Why? Is that man so precious to you?”
“…What?”
Yulias glared at him, as if Harvich had just deeply insulted him.
Harvich met the angry stare with a calm expression.
Why is he getting angry?
After all, Oberok is his man.
Harvich’s attention shifted when he saw Lincia’s maid limping toward them.
Leaving Yulias behind, he walked to Anna.
“Y-your Highness has collapsed.”
***
With Oberok gone, Harvich had no choice but to use Ethan as a substitute.
He still doubted the man, but Ethan was the only one in the estate capable of treating a pregnant woman.
Erna, who had been guarding the room, bowed and left when Harvich entered with Ethan.
Ethan turned to Anna.
“Has Her Highness overexerted herself recently?”
“She hasn’t left the studio. She said she was painting… and told us not to disturb her or come in.”
“How many meals did she have per day?”
“She ate… but only once a day. She stayed in the studio all the time.”
“Did she experience any nausea?”
“No, none.”
Ethan made a small thoughtful sound.
“Has she been under emotional stress lately?”
“Ah…”
Anna’s gaze dropped to the bandages on her own arm.
She bit her lip and lowered her head.
“Yes.”
“I believe Her Highness’s refusal to eat is due to stress.
Also, her collapse was caused by nutritional deficiency.
The fetus is growing faster than the mother’s intake can sustain.
It’s mild anemia for now, but it could become life-threatening.
She must start eating properly.”
Harvich felt a twist in his stomach.
A child whose father he didn’t even know was slowly consuming Lincia.
“Will childbirth be dangerous?”
“At this rate, yes. The mother’s body is weakening rapidly.”
“If the child were to be…”
Aborted?
He bit the inside of his cheek before finishing the sentence.
After dismissing everyone, Harvich sat alone by Lincia’s bedside.
The woman lay drenched in cold sweat, looking fragile.
He gently wiped her forehead with his hand.
Then, unable to resist, he went to her studio to see the paintings she had worked on all day.
What was he hoping to find?
He didn’t know, but he couldn’t rest until he saw them.
What could she have painted so obsessively that she forgot to eat or rest?
Two easels stood covered in dry cloth.
Without hesitation, he lifted the first one.
The unfinished painting showed a man smiling brightly.
It didn’t take long to realize the man was him — Harvich.
Lincia had painted him as he was in their academy days.
A small hut, a rabbit in his arms, and a smile that looked painfully sincere.
His chest tightened until it hurt to breathe.
He wanted to ask her.
What were you thinking when you painted this?
Were you trying to show me what love looks like?
With trembling hands, Harvich pulled the cloth from the second easel.
This one was finished.
The man in the painting looked peaceful, bathed in sunlight, wearing a gentle smile.
All his attempts to practice smiling suddenly felt meaningless.
If this was the kind of expression and gaze Lincia wanted, he knew he’d never be able to imitate it in his lifetime.
***
When Lincia opened her eyes, it was already late at night.
She turned her head toward the faint shadow by her bed and saw Harvich sitting there.
His silver hair shimmered in the moonlight.
She thought she’d once wanted to touch it, but now she wasn’t sure.
Lincia still didn’t know how to face him.
She knew his confession was a lie, yet every time he whispered “I love you,” she couldn’t help but believe him.
She was that lonely.
And it was the confession she had longed to hear all her life.
So… she wanted to avoid him for as long as she could.
To delay falling into that foolish love.
“I told you… I didn’t want to see you.”
“If that’s what you wanted, you shouldn’t have collapsed.”
“I… collapsed?”
Lincia tried to recall her last memory.
The studio — that was the last place she remembered.
She must not have made it back to bed.
“I shouldn’t have given you that studio.”
His tone carried quiet self-blame.
Something in his voice trembled.
Lincia pushed herself up and saw his hand shaking on his knee.
“Are you crying?”
