The Words I Wanted to Hear
Rachel looked at Blair as if she were ridiculous and said,
“Why should I listen to you?
Everyone has the right to love freely, and I don’t need your permission.”
Her attitude was completely different from when she had asked Blair for permission earlier.
Blair felt neither anger nor humiliation at her behavior.
Those emotions had already passed once in the past.
Now she only found her cousin pitiful for confidently spouting such foolish words.
“It seems your rights matter more to you than morality.”
“Don’t act so noble.
Who at this banquet would consider that a flaw?
Everyone lives like that behind the scenes anyway.”
“Just because it’s common doesn’t mean it’s honorable.
If you’re so proud of it, say it in front of those people.
Say that you want to become the Duke of Delmark’s mistress.”
Blair gestured toward the people in the banquet hall.
Rachel hesitated when she looked at them.
Just because everyone lived that way didn’t mean an affair was something to boast about.
Blair watched Rachel quietly and added in an even voice,
“How you live your life is your freedom, but at least don’t cross certain lines.”
At Blair’s calm rebuke, Rachel sucked in a breath as if incredulous, but she only opened and closed her mouth without managing a rebuttal.
Blair turned away, leaving Rachel behind.
Perhaps it was the alcohol, but for some reason she felt like laughing.
* * *
While talking with other nobles, Herdin turned his gaze and happened to meet the eyes of a count who was about to leave the banquet hall.
Beside him was his wife, who was clearly pregnant at a glance.
When their eyes met, the man explained awkwardly,
“My wife is tired, so rather than spoil the atmosphere it seemed more polite to leave quietly…”
“I regret and feel apologetic that we cannot enjoy this pleasant banquet longer.”
“You must be uncomfortable already, so we’re grateful you attended at all.
I hope you will join us again after the birth.”
Herdin responded warmly to the guest who had come despite the difficulty.
It was an unusually gentle attitude from the man who normally radiated cold authority.
The wife blushed and smiled shyly.
“Yes, we will.
By then, I hope there will be good news for you and the Duchess as well.”
Good news.
At that phrase, Herdin’s gaze dropped to her swollen belly.
The warmth that had briefly appeared in his eyes was replaced by a chill.
But it lasted only a moment.
The couple, not noticing it, bowed politely.
“Then we’ll see you at the hunting tournament, Your Grace.”
After their farewell, the couple passed him by.
Herdin watched the count’s back as he carefully wrapped his arm around his wife’s waist as though protecting the most precious thing in the world.
Then he turned his gaze.
At the end of that gaze, as if naturally, he saw Blair.
Wearing the deep navy dress that matched his own, Blair stood out wherever she was in the hall.
Not only to his eyes, but to everyone else’s as well.
Mine.
My wife.
But that was only true until this contract ended.
‘Good news, huh.’
Herdin sneered as he looked at Blair’s slender waist.
Since she was diligently taking contraceptive pills as if they were a lifeline, her belly would never swell.
At least not with his child.
…Unless it was some other bastard’s.
The thought reached that point before he realized it, and the blood in his body turned cold.
Just imagining it.
Erasing the unpleasant thought, he looked for Blair again, but in that brief moment she had disappeared.
Instead, someone else caught his attention.
Wesley Baldwin.
The man who had bothered Blair at Katrina’s birthday banquet.
‘…What is that bastard doing here?’
Blair had personally selected and sent the invitations.
She likely hadn’t wanted to invite him, but it must have been sent as a formality.
Inviting all the high-ranking noble families except the Baldwin Marquisate would look strange, and Wesley wasn’t the only member of the Baldwin house.
Besides, the day after that unpleasant rumor spread, Wesley’s father, the Marquis Baldwin, had come personally to apologize.
‘Still, if he had any sense of shame, he shouldn’t have attended.’
Apparently that fool hadn’t learned his lesson and crawled back here without shame.
Seeing Wesley reminded Herdin of the previous banquet and made him uneasy.
And Blair was nowhere to be seen.
Based on the last banquet, his wife had a habit of hiding away from others when she became tipsy.
‘So maybe today as well…’
What if Blair, drunk like last time, had been caught by some other man?
What if she was showing that cute drunken behavior to that bastard?
If that happened, he would want to kill him.
Before anything like that could occur, he felt he had to find her and keep her in his sight.
Herdin left the banquet hall and began checking the balconies and empty rooms.
The banquet hadn’t ended yet, so as the host she wouldn’t have returned to the bedroom.
After accidentally discovering several couples in secret meetings, Herdin finally found Blair on a secluded balcony.
Fortunately, she was alone.
Tap. Tap.
Herdin knocked on the glass door leading to the balcony.
Blair, who had been looking out at the garden, turned at the sound.
Herdin stepped onto the balcony.
“What are you doing here?”
“I was sobering up.”
“Then what’s that?”
Herdin gestured toward the wine glass in Blair’s hand.
Only then did Blair realize her answer and action might seem contradictory, and she explained,
“It’s water.”
Indeed, it was almost colorless for white wine.
“That’s wise.
It wouldn’t look good to show that sort of behavior in front of the guests.”
Herdin deliberately emphasized “that sort of behavior.”
Then he naturally took Blair’s glass and brought it to his lips.
A faint scent of wine lingered where her lips had touched.
The water tasted sweet.
Realizing he was teasing her about the drunken behavior at the last banquet, Blair closed her lips in dissatisfaction.
Since she didn’t have the shamelessness to speak openly about that embarrassing moment, she changed the subject.
“Were you looking for me?”
“Yes.”
“Did someone ask for me?”
She naturally excluded Herdin himself as the reason.
That irritated him, but since it was a banquet and a reasonable assumption, he decided to overlook it.
“No.
I had something to say.”
Blair looked up at him as if asking what it was.
Seeing his own reflection filling her large violet eyes pleased him.
Herdin gazed at those eyes for a moment before speaking.
“You worked hard today.”
Blair blinked at the unexpected praise.
She had believed she didn’t need anyone’s recognition for this banquet.
Even the compliments from noble ladies and young ladies hadn’t meant much to her.
She had been satisfied herself, and that was enough.
But the moment she heard his simple yet sincere praise, her chest tightened.
And at the same time she realized something.
‘I wanted to hear those words from this man.’
The sudden realization left a bitter taste.
It was praise she had never heard in the past.
In her previous life, Blair had once accidentally overheard the servants on this balcony speaking ill of her.
After that, she had returned to the banquet hall like someone fleeing, and she couldn’t remember how she managed to finish it.
She had forced herself to see the guests off as if nothing was wrong and returned to the bedroom.
And Herdin had embraced her as usual without saying anything.
That had been natural.
She had simply done what was expected of the lady of the house, and he hadn’t known what she had heard.
Still, if that day—at that moment—
If she had heard those words from him.
‘…Then everything would have been fine.’
Only now did she realize that those were the words Blair of the past had desperately wanted to hear.
Hearing them too late made the praise bittersweet rather than joyful.
“Thank you.”
Blair answered softly and took her glass back from his hand.
Their fingertips brushed as she did.
“You’re not hiccupping today.”
“Well, that’s because I’m not drunk today.”
After moistening her throat, Blair lowered the glass.
Her small crimson lips, glistening with moisture, shone in the moonlight.
Herdin’s gaze deepened as he watched them.
At that moment, their eyes met.
A long-burning thirst flared like fire.
Herdin cupped her cheek and pressed his lips against hers.
Startled, Blair gripped the glass tightly so she wouldn’t drop it.
Herdin took it from her hand and pulled away.
Blair stared at him blankly.
His eyes, paused just close enough for their breaths to mingle, were filled with desire for her.
He wanted her.
The desire flickering within him looked as if it could devour her at any moment.
She was afraid of it, yet for some reason she didn’t want to push him away.
‘Is it because I don’t want to fight with him anymore?’
Or perhaps…
Unable to find the answer to her feelings, Blair let go of the glass she had been holding.
His hand took it as if he had been waiting, and then their lips met again.
Their hot breaths intertwined more deeply.
Unaware that there was a shadow watching the two of them