Imperial Year 648

“Pregnant…?”

She could hardly believe her situation. Joy surged through her, yet she was also gripped by anxiety.

Unlike before, they now slept together, shared meals, and talked. Their relationship was beginning to resemble that of a married couple, and this stirred her heart.

‘What expression would he make if he found out?’

This unexpected event shook her resolve to the core. She had never thought that she would have a child. Their marriage was not based on love, so the idea had never appealed to her.

Leticia gently stroked her abdomen and smiled faintly.

‘What an unexpected happiness.’

She had to tell him. Even if he did not want it, the child was still his.

But before Leticia could reveal her pregnancy to Arden, she was forced to close her mouth.

Because she had overheard something her physician said to him.

“You must eat well. You must get proper rest… and if there is anything you crave, make sure you eat it.”

Arden had questioned the physician’s words.

And then the truth was revealed.

“It seems you’ve kept one secret well. Since you’re taking the medicine that prevents you from having children, I’m telling you there’s no possibility.”

“……”

“Why do you look so stunned? Is there a problem?”

“Is there truly not even the slightest chance?”

“A chance? The prescription came from your mentor, Verakaon. I see no reason to doubt it.”

The truth was that he had secretly been taking contraceptive medication.

Leticia refused to accept this and clung to hope. Desperately wishing it wasn’t true, she tentatively suggested the idea of having a child with Arden.

But the result was cruel.

“I don’t want children. And since we can’t have any anyway, don’t hold on to pointless hope.”

“…We can’t have one?”

“I’m taking the medicine. It’s impossible for you to bear my child.”

Leticia bit her lip hard.

But what exactly was growing inside her?

She had only ever lived in the palace. She had never shared affection with anyone, nor had she ever had a lover.

There had only been that one night.

The child in her womb must have come from that night she had spent with him.

‘In the end, I am repeating the same mistake again.’

In her previous life, they hadn’t spent their first night together. This time, however, she had slept in the same bed as him. Because of that, she believed that things would be different this time.

After dying and returning to the past, she had vowed not to repeat her previous life and meet the same miserable end.

Yet ultimately, everything was flowing in exactly the same direction.

‘It was all my misunderstanding.’

In name, she was a queen, but she had failed to fulfil her duties. Yet nothing had truly changed.

When he said he didn’t want children, he meant that he could never see himself having a child with her. But how could a child not result from a relationship in which two people shared a bed?

Producing an heir was also her duty. It was one of the natural responsibilities expected of her as queen. Even if she herself did not desire it, the people of Brivent and everyone in the castle wished for it.

Above all, a child is the fruit of love — someone to be welcomed with joy, and someone with whom love can be shared.

However, to her, a child conceived through her relationship with him had a different meaning.

It marked the beginning of a new life.

And it was hope.

Yet Arden did not seem to think the same way. Having always relied on him, the situation was all the more difficult for her to understand.

The child was his, and yet she was certain that Arden would reject the life growing inside her. After all, he had told her outright that she could not bear his child. The reason was that he was taking contraceptive medication himself.

He did not love her.

This felt like an immutable fact.

“Is a child that important? I—”

“No, no. I was just saying it in passing. You don’t need to worry about it.”

“Is something the matter?”

“Your Majesty. Please divorce me.”

“…I thought that matter had already been settled.”

She shook her head and smiled brightly.

“I don’t want to live like this anymore. So please, let me go.”

From the moment she told him that she was pregnant with his child, she had felt certain that it would not be safe.

That was the one thing she wanted to prevent.

So, that very day, Leticia quietly left the palace.