Throughout their marriage, Adeline had sent people to him before, but she had never visited Kailen’s office in person.

She had decided it was right to leave it as his own domain, since he was the kind of man who drew sharp lines between business and everything else. And if she went uninvited and watched him put up those walls, it would only hurt her.

But today, she was in no mood to simply sit and wait for him to come home.

Because a baby, the baby she had been waiting for, was on the way.

Her body had felt so strange these past few days.

So that was why… it was because of the baby.

Could a person really feel this overwhelmingly, maddeningly sleepy? In the middle of meals, while reading under the autumn sun. She had been struggling to force her eyelids open against the sudden waves of drowsiness when a strange thought struck her.

Something is wrong with my body.

So Adeline had asked Mrs. Lien to call for Dr. Lemon. Mrs. Lien had also noticed that her condition looked far from ordinary and that an examination seemed necessary, so she had requested the doctor’s visit early that morning, she said.

But as it happened, the doctor was not in Varsen due to a personal matter, and the reply came back asking her to pass along that he would call on her next week.

〈Madam, please wait a few days rather than going out. The doctor said he would visit as soon as he arrives in Varsen at the start of next week.〉

Mrs. Lien urged her to wait for the doctor’s examination, but Adeline had been cooped up at home so much lately that she wanted to get some air.

And now she had the perfect excuse of a hospital visit. Even Kailen could not find grounds to object to this outing.

So she went to the hospital, and there Adeline heard the unexpected and joyful news.

A baby…

Our baby, his and mine…

Even in the car on the way to his office, she could not quite believe it and pinched her own cheek to check. Of course, the same was true after she stepped out of the car.

Standing in front of the main entrance of the office building and looking up at the floors above, the thought suddenly struck her that this was her first visit and she had come empty-handed. She considered turning around right then to go buy something. But her heart, floating with joy, urged her to just go inside already.

The greatest gift is already inside me, isn’t it. Our baby.

Adeline walked into his office, unable to hide her excitement.

* * *

Kailen raised an eyebrow at Collen’s words that his wife had come to visit, and asked again.

“My wife? Adeline is here?”

Kailen could not conceal his surprise. Knowing Adeline’s nature, she was not the kind of person who would come to the office where he conducted his work.

He wondered if something urgent had come up, something serious, and told Collen to send her in right away. But the Adeline who stepped in following Collen’s lead wore a face full of smiles.

“I know I shouldn’t be interrupting a busy person…”

When had he last seen a smile that bright.

Right, it suddenly reminded him of their wedding day. Before the gunshot rang out and blood scattered, she had been looking at him with exactly that smile.

Adeline, smiling just like she had that day, came forward and stood before him.

“I have a gift for you.”

“A gift?”

Whatever had made her so happy, her tone was lighter than usual, out of character. She was like a small child hiding a great secret.

Something about it felt oddly strange, but she was smiling like spring sunlight, and Kailen, with no way of predicting what would come out of that mouth, could only watch her.

“They say we are going to have a baby.”

A baby?

Kailen barely managed to keep his mouth from falling open. He stood there in a daze, like a man struck from behind without warning.

What on earth is this?

A baby, between you and me?

It had been ages since he started giving her the contraceptive pills. That is impossible. There is no way.

The words he could not bring himself to say crumbled inside his mouth.

The feeling that something had gone very, very wrong stabbed cold and sharp into his chest. A wave of dizziness hit him, and Kailen closed his eyes and opened them again.

“Kailen?”

“Ah, congratulations.”

“…”

The moment his words landed, the color drained completely from Adeline’s face. It was only when he noticed her full lips trembling faintly that Kailen realized what he had just said.

“…”

Congratulations. On carrying a child. That was not something a man said to a wife who could not contain her joy.

“Ah, sorry, I’m sorry. I haven’t been sleeping well lately.”

Adeline’s green eyes, clouded with bewilderment at his unexpected response, seemed to be telling him to get a hold of himself. He instinctively pulled those slender shoulders into a tight embrace, and her hat fell to the floor at their feet. Her small body folded into his arms without resistance.

“That’s wonderful. Truly wonderful news, Adeline. You’ve been wanting a baby so much lately.”

“…”

“I’m happy too. A baby…”

He whispered that he was happy against her ear, then gently drew back from the embrace. Adeline, her eyes cast downward, gave no response. Kailen pressed his lips to every part of that blank face he could reach.

After lifting his lips from her cheek, Kailen rubbed the tip of his nose against her finely shaped nose and pressed it gently, meeting her eyes.

“Mm… me too.”

Color slowly returned to Adeline’s pale face. Only then did the rigid set of Kailen’s mouth ease.

“By the way. You twisted your ankle in those new shoes, didn’t you? Is that alright?”

“Mm… it was really just a tiny twist.”

“You need to be more careful from now on.”

“Okay.”

“But how did you find out about the baby? Did you call for Dr. Lemon?”

“No, he said he could only come next week due to a personal matter, so I went to a nearby hospital with Tanya on the way here.”

Adeline murmured with a deflated look on her face. It was unlike the woman who, outside of bed, usually spoke with fairly clear enunciation.

“I hadn’t even thought I might be pregnant… I just haven’t been feeling well lately. A fever too… I got scared something might be wrong and went to the hospital, and they told me I was pregnant.”

“Ah, I see.”

“Yes. So I wanted to tell you first, and I did come… but you were busy after all.”

I’m sorry for interrupting.

Adeline, apologizing, managed a small smile. It was worlds apart from the bright smile she had worn when she first walked into his office. Kailen said it was fine and pulled Adeline back into his arms, patting her gently.

A baby, a pregnancy. It was something he had never once imagined hearing from his wife’s lips. Perhaps that was why his thinking had short-circuited, because even now he could not properly make sense of it.

But a misdiagnosis of pregnancy was unlikely, so what she said about carrying a child was probably true. Yet he had been giving Adeline contraceptive pills consistently from the very first week of their marriage.

Could the medication have been switched?

He could not make heads or tails of what was happening.

To find out exactly what had led to this, he first needed to send Adeline home. He felt like he could not do anything with her hovering in front of him like this.

“It’s a relief it wasn’t an illness.”

He tucked the hair that had come loose from their embrace behind her ear, and composed his expression.

“Today I’ll wrap things up quickly and come home early. So go on ahead. You’re not on your own anymore, so you can’t push yourself.”

He cupped her face in both hands, pressed a brief, soothing kiss to her lips, and slowly let her go.

“…Can’t I stay just a little longer?”

Adeline, reluctant to leave, wheedled in a way that was unlike her. She looked up at him with a sheepish, subdued expression, testing his reaction. But she held her ground to the end. She did not turn to leave and say she would go home.

If you’re going to wheedle, at least do it properly. Kailen swallowed the words.

It seemed she wanted to stay a while longer and go home together with him. But he did not have that kind of time to spare.

“I don’t want to push someone with a delicate constitution. You need to be even more careful in the early stages.”

Kailen coaxed her gently, and Adeline, her lips moving a few times, finally nodded.

“Let me walk you out.”

Kailen stepped outside the building with Adeline, opened the door of the waiting car, and helped her into the back seat.

“Go on, then.”

“Okay.”

He stroked her back as she sat with her hands folded neatly in her lap, and told the driver in a calm tone:

“From now on, take extra special care of my wife.”

The moment the car disappeared from view, the smile left his face. His steps were straight and steady as he returned to the office, composure restored.

“Collen, find Dr. Lemon. Send someone separately to confirm why he is away, and tell him to return as soon as possible.”

Collen, who had been outside, had gathered a rough sense of the situation. He too seemed worried by the news of Adeline’s pregnancy, but Kailen’s unsettling air kept him from daring to add a single word.

“Yes.”

Collen left the office immediately, and Kailen sat down, covering his lips with his interlaced fingers.

He felt like a man trapped alone in a labyrinth he could never escape. This feeling, this particular kind of dread, was something he had never experienced before. In the end, he could not find words to define it.