36

“Father scares me.”

“Stepmother will be worried.”

“But.”

“Don’t worry. It’ll be fine. Let’s go together.”

Lavian spoke gently to Seian. Seian held out a little longer, but a child’s stubbornness doesn’t last.

Taking Seian’s hand, she stepped out of the sitting room and asked.

“Camilla, the letter hasn’t gone out yet?”

“No, my lady.”

“I need to go…… to my family home.”

“I’ll have things prepared.”

Camilla gave a small bow and slipped away, and Lena pulled Lavian by the shoulder and said breezily.

“I’ve got somewhere to be. Can I have a carriage?”

“I’d have to ask.”

“Ugh. Ask what. Just give the order. Don’t you have that much authority?”

“Of course she does. I’ll have one prepared.”

Ethan, who had been quietly listening nearby, stepped in and smoothed things over. Lavian thanked him with a look, then waited for the carriage to come around to the front and set off for her family home.

˗ˋˏ ♡ ˎˊ˗

Lavian saw the child safely in through the back gate of the count’s residence first, then entered through the front.

“My lord, your daughter has arrived.”

“Send her in.”

The chief chamberlain had barely finished speaking before Count Elder’s cold voice came from the study.

The chief chamberlain offered an awkward smile and led Lavian inside.

“Please come in, Miss.”

“The tea…… might be better left for later.”

“Yes. I know.”

The chief chamberlain read the room and withdrew first, and Lavian stepped into the study.

“Lavian.”

“Yes.”

Chelino looked at her coldly and beckoned with a finger.

The chill in the air made Lavian’s spine stiffen. Small mercy that her mother wasn’t there.

“What exactly have you been doing with yourself. The whole capital is talking about how well you and the Baron get along.”

“Please tell me what this is about.”

“Your maternal cousin’s brother recently had a son.”

The news that had been in the letter from her cousin now came from her father’s mouth.

Lavian thought, so this reached home too, and replied without particular feeling.

“That’s something to celebrate.”

She had thought that once she was safely sold off to a wealthy household, it would all be over. She had been wrong.

Chelino had been thinking ahead to the day Klen might no longer need the Elder name. A month after the wedding, he had started pressing her about pregnancy.

Lavian had suspected today would be about the same thing, and it was. She had known this was coming and had lived through it before, so she didn’t let herself react. She simply focused on staying composed, bracing herself for harsher words than usual.

“Celebrate?!”

The Count’s face twisted immediately.

“Your cousin, who married around the same time as you, is already pregnant. Should I be celebrating that too?”

“……”

“Why am I always the one congratulating everyone else?”

“……”

“Why aren’t you answering?!”

He had seemed to be holding himself together with cold restraint, but the anger broke through and he shoved himself to his feet.

The Count’s footsteps were heavy as he crossed the room and seized Lavian by the shoulder.

“I’m sorry about that.”

“There’s nothing wrong with you, I hope.”

“The examination before the wedding showed no problems.”

“Then why is it taking so long?!”

Lavian fought to keep herself steady. She had been through this before, many times, but discussing something like this openly with her father was mortifying every single time. Her breathing threatened to become uneven.

But even a small slip might reveal that she was using contraception, so she kept her face calm and played the part of a wife genuinely trying.

“They say being too anxious about it makes it harder. I am trying. I’ll make sure you have something to celebrate too.”

“Trying isn’t enough! You have to do better. You have to be useful.”

“It’s only been four months since the wedding. Father, that’s too……”

“Only four months? Is that what you call an answer? Then what about the Cantus couple! What about your cousin and her husband!”

Chelino tightened his grip, as though he couldn’t contain his fury.

Lavian bit the inside of her cheek hard to keep from showing the pain on her face.

“If your husband decides he doesn’t need us and casts us aside, what then. You need to give him a son while he still needs us.”

“I’m sorry. I’m sorry, but that’s not something that can be forced by……”

“Nagging you alone won’t do it. I’ve had enough. I’ll call that Klen in and have it out with all three of us. I need to find out whether he’s been straying as well.”

“Father!”

At the mention of calling Klen, Lavian dropped to her knees and grabbed the hem of her father’s trousers.

She shook her head. This absolutely could not happen.

“I was wrong. I’ll be useful. I’ll try harder. So please, please don’t say any of this to him.”

Lavian begged with everything she had.

This was the one thing she didn’t want him to see. This was the one burden she refused to put on him.

Klen was already sending an enormous amount of money to the Elder household. Not just repayment, but monthly living expenses to maintain the count’s residence. The figure she had once overheard was staggering.

The debt I owe him in money is enough.

And Klen himself had never once brought up the subject of having a child. How could she possibly raise this issue now.

Her father’s motives were painfully obvious.

She already had more than enough to be ashamed of in front of Klen. She couldn’t let him see any more of this.

“I sat when you told me to sit. I stood when you told me to stand. I stayed still for hours when you told me not to move. I didn’t go out when you said to stay in. I smiled when you told me to smile. I married when you told me to marry. I didn’t care whether the man was seventy or eighty. And I’m begging you now. Please, just this once.”

“……”

“Father, I would die of shame if he saw me like this. I wouldn’t be able to look him in the face.”

Count Elder was taken aback. He had never seen his daughter like this.

She had always been steady, her emotions contained within a narrow range. Seeing her like this today was so unfamiliar that the fury burning inside him ebbed away without warning.

“……Don’t let it go past the year.”

“I’ll do everything I can.”

Her father stepped back, and Lavian exhaled with relief, still on her knees, and bowed her head low.

It was a promise she could not keep. But for now, it was the only thing she had.

“Don’t forget. You need to give him a son to keep that Klen in line. Don’t disappoint me after everything I put into raising you.”

“……Yes.”

“Go.”

“Yes.”

Lavian watched her father turn away as though nothing had happened, and pulled herself unsteadily to her feet.

The emotional toll had been heavy. The world wavered in front of her and her stomach lurched. But she straightened her back, smoothed her expression, and walked out of the study.

She closed the door carefully so it made no sound. The picture of a well-bred daughter from a noble household.

But the moment the door shut, she swayed.

I can’t.

She caught herself against the wall and breathed in deeply.

A few seconds at most. Yet it felt much longer. Lavian steadied herself and stepped forward with her usual composed grace.

“Are you leaving?”

“My mother……”

“She says she doesn’t wish to see you.”

“……Please give her my regards.”

Lavian replied a beat too slowly, a bitter taste on her lips, and went outside.

She had told them it wouldn’t take long, and the carriage had been waiting at the entrance the whole time. Lavian climbed in and headed home.

“Please travel safely.”

The Elder household staff saw her off, and Lavian made her way back.

In that moment, she felt a quiet relief at having somewhere to return to.

What a mercy, to have somewhere to escape to away from her parents’ eyes. To not have to face them under the same roof.

Her nose stung, and tears threatened to come.

But her heart, though heavy and soft with grief, did not let her cry.

Only a sigh came instead.

“Hah.”

A pained breath filled the carriage, and a look of quiet suffering settled over her face.

But only for a moment. By the time the carriage reached the baron’s residence, she had recovered her usual composure and returned to the rhythm of her days. She gathered what she needed with perfect ease and set off for Klen.

˗ˋˏ ♡ ˎˊ˗

“My lady, mind your step.”

Lavian stepped lightly down from the carriage and set her feet on the ground.

“Oh? Sister!”

She had been about to enter the building, now quite familiar to her, and stopped with a puzzled look.

What was Lena doing here.

“Sister, didn’t you go home? Are you done already? What are you doing here?”

Lavian turned toward Lena, thinking she was the one who ought to be asking that question.

“I could ask you the same thing.”

“I told you earlier I had somewhere to be. I came to see my handsome brother-in-law.”

Lena grinned and shrugged her shoulders.

She looked like someone who had come out for a picnic.

A flood of memories hit Lavian and she tightened her grip on the basket.

Lena’s voice saying she liked Klen was still vivid in her mind, and so were the words she had heard at last night’s banquet.

“So you come sometimes.”

Lavian looked away from Lena and walked into the building, her voice perfectly even.

“Fairly often, actually. I was here yesterday too. I just stepped out to buy something and I’m on my way back.”