52

“Hmm. I wouldn’t say the two of you are exactly young anymore. And youth is no excuse for carelessness.”

“There’s still down on this one’s face. She’s young enough, Father-in-law.”

“One must prepare and plan for everything in advance.”

It was a battle of spear and shield.

Neither of them yielded a single point.

“We’re still newlyweds. I’m too selfish to share her with a child just yet.”

“I worry she may be too fragile for it. She was sickly often as a child. That’s why I had her trained, of course.”

“She hasn’t been ill once since coming to live with me. I did hear she studied dance and horseback riding. Oh, and gymnastics too, didn’t you say?”

“……Yes, I did.”

Lavian answered Klen’s question with effort.

She had studied all of it.

It was the very reason she had ended up at the academy.

She had thought school meant nothing more than a bridal academy for lessons in becoming a wife. She had wanted to learn foreign languages, but Count Elder had never shown any sign of allowing it.

Then one day, the unexpected news came. She was to enroll at the academy and study there.

Lavian had believed she would finally be able to study what she wanted.

I was so happy, not knowing anything. Not knowing it would end at the second year, once the etiquette courses were done. Foolishly happy, knowing nothing at all.

Lavian listened to the conversation between Klen and her father with half an ear and let her mind drift back.

「Even a girl shouldn’t be too frail and delicate. Firm but flexible is what you want. If her body can’t hold up, how is she supposed to bear children. She’ll need to give us a son.」

Her father’s voice, clear as ever.

Her mother answering with nothing but “Yes.”

Lavian had understood it then. She had imitated the ballet dancers she saw perform as a child, only to be scolded that such things were for lowly people. Yet at the academy, she was told to study dance and gymnastics. She had finally understood why.

The horseback riding too. Her father had been fiercely opposed, saying a fall could leave a permanent scar and treatment would cost too much. And yet he had told her to learn it.

I was so excited just to be going to the academy, without understanding any of it……

The humiliation of standing outside her father’s study with the enrollment papers in hand was something she could not put into words.

In that moment, she had felt to her bones the purpose for which she had been raised, and she had wanted to collapse and sob. But she hadn’t broken. Whatever the purpose, she had told herself that if she just did well enough, something might change.

Now, in this moment, she felt to her bones that no matter how hard she tried, she had never moved an inch from that purpose.

Everything I do is pointless in the end.

Staying upright today felt harder than usual, in every way.

“Speaking of dance and horseback riding, I’ve heard that Lena’s mother and Seian’s mother were a dancer and a riding instructor, respectively. Is that their influence, perhaps?”

“Cough!“

The words had barely left Klen’s mouth when Lilian choked on her black tea and fell into a fit of coughing.

She brought out her handkerchief, covered her lips, and patted her chest with a delicate hand.

“Are you all right?”

Klen asked with a gracious smile.

She composed herself quickly, cleared her throat, and resumed the role of an elegant lady without missing a beat.

“Of course. I must have drunk too quickly.”

“Take your time. That’s what tea is for, I’m told.”

“Indeed.”

Lilian smiled with a touch of awkwardness and lifted her tea again, and her gaze drifted to Lavian.

The blank look in her daughter’s eyes made her temper flare instantly.

“Lavian. Lavian!”

“Oh, yes.”

“What on earth are you thinking about. How rude. Is that how I raised you?”

The sharp voice snapped Lavian back to attention.

This was no place to let her mind wander. She had let her guard down.

“I’m sorry.”

The apology came out immediately, and Klen’s brow twitched.

“You’re still getting nosebleeds?”

Lilian clasped her handkerchief in both hands, set them on her lap, and asked with a serious expression.

“Sometimes……”

“How have you been managing yourself. I told you not to be careless……”

“That’s entirely my fault. I’ve been so busy I haven’t been looking after her properly. I’ll do better.”

Klen redirected the blame to himself before it could land on Lavian.

Thanks to that, Lavian was able to swallow the sorry she had been about to say.

“I worry I raised her too delicately. I’m sorry for that.”

Lilian met Klen’s eyes briefly, then looked away with a faintly embarrassed air.

But Klen waved it off with an easy, genial expression.

“She’s far stronger and more resilient than you might think. We’re simply enjoying our newlywed days, so please don’t worry.”

He finished with a bright smile.

The smile spreading across his handsome face was a firm, unmistakable line: say no more.

Count Elder understood the meaning perfectly and chose to ignore it.

“We can’t know how many years we have left. Heirs are rare in this family, and I’d love to see a little one soon. Wouldn’t it be good for you too, to have more family?”

The count put on a benevolent smile, as though this were all for Klen’s benefit.

Klen was not fooled by the pretense for a moment. He found them just as repulsive as they found him beneath them.

But he didn’t let it show. He curved his mouth into a pleasant smile and replied.

“I understand your feelings, and we won’t put it off too long.”

“Glad to hear it.”

“We’re waiting for the right time. We’ll handle the matter of children ourselves.”

His tone was gentle, but the look in his eyes was sharp. The words were soft, but the meaning beneath them was not.

He knew the mention of age was both a threat and a demand. And his answer was: close your mouth. You sold your daughter to me. Now stay out of it.

“The question is when that right time will be.”

“We’ll handle it ourselves. I’ve also heard that outside pressure tends to make these things less likely to happen. Please leave it to us.”

Klen drew the line again, clearly: stay out of my household.

It was also a quiet assertion that Lavian belonged to him now. And to drive the point home, he looked directly at Count and Countess Elder and chewed through the overly sweet dessert he would never ordinarily touch, playing the devoted son-in-law to perfection.

Every bit as shameless as the count himself.

They say a son-in-law who eats heartily is a beloved one.

“We’ll be going now.”

Klen drained his cup and forced down the sweet dessert.

Once the cup and plate were empty, he took Lavian’s hand as a matter of course.

With nothing left to say and no excuse to hold them, Chelino gave a reluctant nod and prepared to let them go.

Then Lilian stopped Klen.

“Just a moment. I have something to say to my daughter. Could you wait a little longer?”

Klen’s brow furrowed slightly with displeasure, and Lilian quickly withdrew her hand as though she had touched something she shouldn’t have.

“Oh, is that not all right?”

“That isn’t a question for me. You should ask my wife.”

“……”

Lilian stared up at Klen and blinked. She clearly didn’t understand why she needed Lavian’s permission.

Surely it was enough for the husband to say yes.

In place of the blinking countess, Klen turned to Lavian himself.

“Lavian. Shall I go ahead?”

“Yes. Please wait just a moment.”

“I’ll wait here. Go on.”

“Yes. Mother.”

Lavian called for her mother in a gentle tone.

Lilian came back to herself and returned to the manner of a proper lady.

She gave Klen a light nod and led Lavian into the bedroom.

“Lavian.”

“Yes.”

“You’ve been taking what I gave you, haven’t you.”

“Of course. I’ve been doing everything as usual.”

“Good……”

Lilian let out a small sigh and lowered her eyes, seeming to think something over.

「The side effects are becoming concerning. Your daughter is clearly feeling the symptoms herself. Today, her husband also asked whether his wife’s health was all right. I gave a vague answer, but I can’t say how much longer we can keep this from him. More importantly, continuing to take it could be dangerous.」

The words of the family physician, who had visited just a short while ago, surfaced in her mind. The doctor, with his greying hair, had spoken with a grave expression and a tone to match.

At the time, Lilian had asked:

「So how long can she hold out. How much longer can she take it?」

「At this rate, three months at most. Any more would be too much. They’re a young couple. Is this really necessary?」

She had answered the doctor’s concern without hesitation or guilt.

“There’s no harm in being quick about it.”

“Mother?”

“Lavian. We need to hurry.”

“Hurry with what……”

“Why is a clever girl pretending not to understand. A child. Have one within three months, at the latest.”

“That isn’t something you can just……”

“Find a way. Take this.”

The countess cut her daughter off coldly and held out a small notebook she had prepared.

“Use it as a reference. There are various methods written inside.”

Lavian couldn’t bring herself to open it.

It was a notebook small enough to fit in a pocket, and yet it felt impossibly heavy and large.

She stared at it for a long moment before finally forcing it into her pocket.

“Let’s go out now. He’ll be waiting.”

“Yes.”

Lilian said it lightly, as though she had no further business here.

Lavian looked at her mother, who seemed almost relieved, then followed her out with a hollow, dried-out expression.

Klen had been sitting in cold silence, exchanging no words with anyone. The moment he saw Lavian, he held out his hand.

“Let’s go.”

Lavian answered by taking his hand softly instead of speaking.

“Take care on your way.”

They had performed the picture of a harmonious family, and now they were seen off by Count and Countess Elder as they boarded the carriage.

The carriage jolted slightly, but the plush cushions made it easy enough to ignore.

Lavian, however, felt as though she were sitting on a bed of thorns.

There were quite a few things she wanted to ask, quite a few things she wanted to say.

But Klen’s profile looked so cold and unreadable that she couldn’t bring herself to say any of it.

Wrapped in silence, the carriage carried them steadily home.