Everything went dark before his eyes.

Rublier recalled the memory of Satin, pale as a sheet, carefully calling for Larie while watching his reaction.

‘Larie, I think I’m coming down with a cold. Give me some pain medication.’

During that particular period, Satin seemed so unlike herself, lacking energy. He had thoughtlessly dismissed it, thinking she was just withdrawn due to the discord arising from the scandal with Gjorn, but that wasn’t it.

‘You look pale. We should call a doctor.’

‘It’s fine. I just need to take some medicine. Don’t make a fuss over nothing.’

She had been in pain all along. In a house that was like walking on thin ice, she waited for him in the reception room, staying up all night, wanting to talk, without saying a word about being sick.

But what had he done to her, who was wondering how they could avoid regrets? What had he said? He had forcibly kissed her, felt her feverish temperature, yet didn’t realize it. He hadn’t even tried to understand Satin.

“Being pregnant and staying in prison, unable to eat properly due to morning sickness, and experiencing such great emotional distress… The morning sickness probably worsened due to severe stress. That place is no environment for a pregnant woman.”

The doctor glanced at Satin’s bedroom with eyes full of pity.

“She’s sleeping now, so don’t wake her until she gets up on her own. The young lady absolutely needs to eat well, rest well, and stay calm. It’s a miracle that there were no complications after spending what should have been the most crucial period for stability in a cold prison. The child must be very strong.”

The doctor’s consolation was utterly meaningless. Rublier buried his face in his hands.

* * *

The area around the Del Mare mansion was constantly bustling. People who knew that Satin had returned home lingered around the mansion, trying hard to uncover even a fragment of gossip.

There was a limit to how much the servants could chase them away, so Rublier came out to forcibly push them away, and as he turned a corner, he encountered an unwelcome person.

He immediately grabbed the person’s collar and slammed them against the wall.

“Ugh!”

“Why are you here?”

It was Gjorn.

Gjorn, his throat constricted, flailed his legs. After struggling for a while, gripping Rublier’s forearms with both hands, he burst into a fit of rough coughing when Rublier slightly loosened his grip.

Despite Rublier’s display of anger, Gjorn merely complied. Looking thoroughly intimidated, he hesitantly asked about Satin’s well-being.

“…Is Satin alright?”

“Why are you asking that?”

“Because I’ve done so much wrong to Satin…”

Gjorn mumbled.

“If you know you’ve done a lot wrong, what nerve do you have to show up here?”

“You’re right. I know, but…”

His timid gaze fell to the ground.

“I didn’t come to see Satin. I just wanted to ask anyone who came out if Satin was okay. …Really. I don’t have any desire to make things right with Satin now. She won’t forgive me anyway. And I’ve come to understand how much she loves you…”

It was truly strange. Just hearing Gjorn say that Satin loved him made Rublier’s heart ache. Even Gjorn knew, yet he himself had failed to trust Satin. How could he have been so stupid?

“I already thought it was completely over with Satin when I left the necklace there. Tell her I’m sorry. What I said at the trial wasn’t my own will at all. I did it because, having lost everything, all I had left to protect was my family…”

Judging from Gjorn’s attitude, it seemed he had no intention of retracting his false testimony in court. Gjorn was not a person with such courage. Rublier gave up hope. Then suddenly, alerted by something that brushed his ear, he tensed up.

“What necklace are you talking about?”

“The necklace Satin received as a wedding gift, she dro-dropped it, didn’t she? I left it at the theater thinking she’d come back for it soon. Didn’t Satin get it?”

The mystery of the lip marks on Satin’s neck and the necklace found at the auction house was finally solved. Satin dropped the necklace? Did she really drop it?

At that time, he thought Satin was hiding in a hurry after finishing a secret meeting, fearing others might see, but his assumption was completely wrong.

Satin was running away. In a disheveled state, from Gjorn. How shocked and scared must she have been to return home without even realizing she had lost her necklace?

At that theater, Rublier had fallen for Kirion’s schemes multiple times. For Kirion, it wouldn’t have been much trouble to acquire the necklace, launder its origin, and pass it to the auction house.

He harshly criticized the woman who desperately needed comfort, using adultery as grounds. Before she could recover from the shock, Satin became a sinner in his eyes.

Nevertheless, Satin had never wanted a divorce.

Nevertheless, they divorced because of that necklace.

He forced her to a divorce.

Now who was criticizing whom? Who was threatening whom? On what grounds, with what right?

His grip loosened. Gjorn, who had been struggling, slumped to the ground as soon as his throat was released. He hunched his shoulders and watched Rublier’s expression.

“Rub. If you want to take out your anger on me, you can do it as much as you want.”

That was all the method of apology Gjorn could come up with. Rublier clenched his fist tightly. It was the strength and anger of a knight who had undergone years of professional training.

If an ordinary person like Gjorn were hit by such a fist, he should be prepared for something to break.

It would be terribly painful. Moreover, Rublier was an opponent that the Sel Wio family couldn’t easily protest against. Nevertheless, Gjorn closed his eyes tightly and waited.

One, two…

No sooner had he started counting in his mind than a tremendous impact sound erupted. Startled by the loud noise that deafened his ears, Gjorn opened his eyes in bewilderment a moment later. No part of his body hurt.

“…Ru-Rub.”

“I want to… take out my anger on myself.”

Blood dripped profusely from the fist that had struck the wall. But to feel as much pain as Satin had suffered, how much would he have to beat himself? It was overwhelming.

This much pain was nothing at all.

Rublier struck the wall again.

“I really want to kill myself.”

* * *

Satin, who had been in a deep sleep for a long time, woke up and discovered a figure looming by her bedside, causing her to scream in terror.

“Aah!”

It was pitch dark. The room was completely dim with the curtains drawn and no lights on, fearing it might disturb her sleep. The color resembled exactly the shadows of the prison.

In that prison, she had always been alone. She had to be alone.

‘Ah, what a waste. If we could just cross one set of bars.’

‘To think we have to just swallow our saliva looking at a noble lady, the only daughter of Del Mare at that.’

‘As expected of a noble, she’s definitely different.’

The echoes of the prisoners’ sneers, who had been eyeing her covetously, reverberated. Her hands and feet froze in fear.

“Aah! Larie, Larie…!”

“Don’t be scared, Satin. It’s me.”

Satin, who had screamed, chose to resist instead of running away. She couldn’t hear anyone trying to soothe her.

Satin swung her fists wildly and kicked with all her might. She clawed at whatever she could grab. Occasionally, she even scratched with her nails.

The other person didn’t resist at all and silently took the blows as Satin hit and struck.

After a while, Satin realized she had confused dream and reality. This was her bedroom in the Del Mare mansion where she had been staying. There was a soft bed and clean, warm blankets.

Her senses returned.

Right, the trial was postponed, and she came home.

She remembered up to the part where Rublier had picked her up and carried her out of the Great Temple.

After gradually recalling what happened after that, Satin pushed away Rublier’s chest, which had been comforting her, and retreated.

“Satin, look. Are your hands hurt? Are you okay?”

Rublier tried to examine Satin’s hands. Satin swatted away even that hand.

“Why… why are you here…”

Her words were choppy due to rapid breathing. Rublier reached for the table.

“Let’s eat. They said you should eat well when you wake up, and rest without thinking about anything. They said it’s not good if you keep getting startled… I’ll call the doctor.”

“Get out.”

“I’ll leave after seeing you eat and sleep.”

“I said get out.”

“…You’re pregnant, Satin.”

Only then did Satin understand at once why her physical condition had been so terrible all this time.

There was a child. In her belly, his child.

She should clearly be surprised, but after experiencing so many events, news of this magnitude no longer seemed shocking.

Satin glared and snapped.

“What are you trying to claim? So what? This child is a Del Mare!”

Rublier nodded without hesitation.

“That’s right. That child is the heir of Del Mare. You can do whatever you want. I just want you to take care of your health first because your body has weakened a lot…”

Without listening to the end, Satin reached out and rang the bell. She struck the bell as if she was pouring her emotions into it. At the urgently ringing bell sound, Satin’s parents came running.

Satin glared at Rublier.

“Please send this person out.”

Her mother tried to calm Satin.

“Satin, calm down. Sir Ka Dillon is protecting you because it’s dangerous for you to be alone. Okay?”

“That’s right, Satin. Someone who knows how to use a sword needs to guard you.”

From the first word, she heard a truly absurd story.

“What? Who’s protecting whom?”

Satin retorted clearly.

“When that damned scandal with Gjorn was going around and I was taking all sorts of insults, I was alone, and when I lost Larie… I endured it, I persevered even when other prisoners in jail hurled all kinds of abuse at me, I held on even when I was threatened with death at the trial, so why now can’t I stay alone? Because I’m not by myself anymore? What’s this? What’s this little thing!”

“…I know I have no right to claim any rights as the father of the child. If you want to raise the child separately from me as the heir of Del Mare, that’s fine. Just let me take responsibility.”

“What responsibility? Does Del Mare lack money, or honor? I can give birth and raise the child well on my own without anyone’s help.”

“The responsibility to protect you and the child so you can live safely.”

At Rublier’s answer, Satin closed her mouth tightly and stared at him. After a while, she cut off Rublier in a quietly subdued tone.

“Don’t do unnecessary things now when you weren’t there when I really needed you.”