In the silence where even her breathing couldn’t be heard, Eisha pulled out a small glass vial she’d hidden in her coat with trembling hands, opened the stopper, and emptied it in one gulp. 

Though it was only a mouthful, once the medicine wet her throat and passed through, a burning sensation came with a great burst of breath.

“Haa-aah.”

She forced air in and forced air out several times. Only then could Eisha breathe out comfortably, even if just a little. The feeling like bugs crawling all over her body and the pressure squeezing her heart gradually faded.

She barely managed to move her heavy feet, slowly approached the bed, and collapsed onto it. 

Though there was nothing to see properly in the dim room, she stared blankly ahead for a long while.

Eisha’s expressionless lips mechanically spat out a single name.

“Milo…”

Even without Fino’s explanation, she could guess whose son he was.

He was the spitting image of his parents.

“He’s the Grand Duke’s son.”

Anyone would find the baby adorable. She too had thought upon seeing the baby that perhaps an angel from heaven had briefly lost its way and was wandering.

Milo, whose first birthday had been half a year ago, had inherited his mother Iris’s golden thread-like hair, but his brilliantly red eyes—luminous like jewels stained with tears—were the spitting image of his father Claven’s.

Even on that young face, the features were so distinct that anyone could see the child was her ex-husband’s son. Within just a few months after Eisha left the castle with the divorce, her ex-husband had a son. The child she couldn’t reach even after three years of trying.

“Just like I imagined.”

It was exactly the face she’d imagined if Claven were to have a child. And that fact left her feeling deeply regretful.

She closed her eyes and relaxed her body, and Eisha’s form flopped onto the bed.

As she slowly closed her eyes, familiar darkness enveloped her.

She too had once dreamed of bearing a child who resembled him.

Five years ago, on a day when the wind heralding winter’s start blew fiercely, from the day she first set foot in this Pave Castle and saw the man who would become her husband, the dream she’d carefully nurtured shattered completely one day before three full years had passed.

And then she disappeared from his world. Forever.

No, she thought she had—so how did she end up returning here?

Eisha’s hands carefully rested on her flat lower abdomen.

She always thought this.

If only she could turn back time, she would definitely refuse marriage to him.

No, at the very least, she wouldn’t dream the futile dream of wanting to bear his child.

She would never keep him in her heart…

* * *

Five years ago.

“Marry the Grand Duke.”

At her grandfather’s words, Eisha doubted her ears. There was only one person in this empire called by the title of Grand Duke.

Claven Hebrandt.

Nephew of the current Emperor of the Zerdium Empire and fourth in line for the throne, people said he was even more famous among the common folk than the current Emperor.

People often said that if the golden dragon Arhena imperial family founded the empire, it was always the jet-black dragon Hebrandt who protected it.

Like his predecessors, Claven became a hero of the empire. He survived the Great Lutria War that the Emperor had sent him to die in and brought victory to the empire.

That wasn’t all. 

Ruling the vast lands of the north, he possessed wealth that rivaled the Emperor’s, and with looks counted among the finest in the empire, it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say every woman in the empire admired him. And once upon a time, Eisha had been one of those girls too.

So even though her grandfather spoke with an unusually serious expression, she simply thought it was a joke he was making after a long time.

Her grandfather’s youth was, in a word, a period of chaos for the empire.

Along with wars with neighboring countries, there was turmoil from attempts to usurp the throne. 

Her grandfather, who had formed a connection with the Grand Duke Hebrandt during this time, said he made one promise with him. If fate allowed, they would definitely arrange a marriage between their descendants.

Since both her grandfather and Grand Duke Hebrandt only had sons, the two men looked to future generations. 

However, before their grandson and granddaughter were even born, the Grand Duke passed away early, and Eisha’s family also walked the path of decline, naturally causing the two families to drift apart.

Still, her grandfather, who enjoyed making his beloved granddaughter smile, would always tell this story as a drinking snack whenever he recalled old memories over a drink.

When she was young and foolish, she believed her grandfather’s words and even imagined the Hebrandt family’s eldest son she would someday meet. 

But after her mother passed away, Eisha matured early, and though she smiled whenever her grandfather brought up the story, she no longer believed it.

There was absolutely no way the empire’s foremost family, Hebrandt, would form ties with a woman from a fallen baronial house.

Still, just once, Eisha had met the eldest son Claven Hebrandt.

Her grandfather, who had managed to visit the capital with difficulty, held twelve-year-old Eisha’s hand tightly and visited the Hebrandt family. 

Perhaps they didn’t intend to turn away the connection from the previous generation, as they invited the two to a tea party held ahead of Claven’s birthday.

She saw Claven Hebrandt for the first time at that gathering.

Only the finest families of the era had gathered there. And the two sitting uncomfortably in one corner were outsiders. Just when her heart was racing on pins and needles, the guest of honor appeared.

Eisha’s eyes widened as she saw him descending the stairs following the Grand Duke and his wife. To Eisha, who had only seen boys reeking of earth in the countryside, such a beautiful young nobleman was a first.

Every strand of his hair seemed crafted by an artist. Wouldn’t a god from mythology look just like him if they descended to this earth?

And he was escorting a young lady.

Seeing the young lady, Eisha wondered if all nobles living in the capital were such accomplished people. She thought a pretty princess from a fairy tale book had popped out.

Wouldn’t gathering all the loveliness in the world create that young lady? 

So beautiful, she headed toward the center of the gathering with her glittering golden hair—seemingly having gathered all the sunlight from the sky—rippling.

Only later did she learn that she was the daughter of the prestigious Duke Shatret family, as imposing as the Hebrandt family. The two matched so well they were just like a princess and prince from a fairy tale.

What nestled in her young heart was merely admiration. But that admiration didn’t last long.

When they began having refreshments and conversation was ripening, someone brought up the promise between her grandfather and the previous Grand Duke as a topic. That person had one goal. To humiliate her grandfather and young Eisha, who didn’t fit in at this gathering.

“Baron Demir, you’ve come to the capital after so long—surely you didn’t come up to demand that the promise with the previous Grand Duke be kept?”

Before her grandfather could answer after his words ended:

“Oh my, Count Normand, what kind of joke is that? No matter how shameless Baron Demir might be, how could he dare make such a demand of Hebrandt?”

When another person who’d eagerly seized on the topic treated it as a joke, it became a sea of laughter.

Her grandfather’s face hardened and his clenched fists trembled. When Grand Duke Hebrandt stepped in to change the subject, the atmosphere in the gathering bloomed with conversation again like nothing had happened.

Except for Baron Demir and his granddaughter.

When her grandfather and Grand Duke Hebrandt briefly left their seats to talk, Eisha also slipped away under the pretense of using the restroom and toured the garden. Time alone smelling the lilac fragrance felt less lonely than being among all those people.

She was touching the flowers when she sensed someone’s presence. Worried she’d be caught having entered the garden without permission, she hid her small body under the bushes when she heard two people’s conversation.

It was Princess Iris Shatret and Young Duke Claven Hebrandt.

Would lily of the valley make such a sound if it could speak? From Iris’s lips—whose voice she wanted to emulate—came a completely unexpected topic.

“Raven, what do you think of that Miss Demir?”

“What would I think? I’ve never even thought about her.”

“Just the thought that you and she could have married is so horrifying to me.”

“…Why?”

“She’s not even pretty, and such a tiny, shabby child can’t be with my Raven.”

The answer flowed smoothly. Like she’d been thinking it all along.

“…Father said it was a meaningless promise. You don’t need to worry about it either.”

“Really?”

Following Iris’s delighted voice came a brief friction sound.

Smack.

“Huh?”

At Claven’s flustered reaction, Iris was pleased.

“My cute Raven, you’re mine. I can’t give you to anyone. You promised, right? Hmm? You promised.”

“…Mm.”

Then with Iris’s lovely laughter, the two moved away from that place.

For a while after that, Eisha remained crouched there, unable to move. Amid embarrassment and shame, she felt a little indignant.

Who had begged to marry him anyway?

On the other hand, her young heart helplessly compared herself to her. She, approaching adulthood, was such a beautiful girl, and she herself looked utterly shabby, so the indignation faded before it could even ripen.

Thus her first trip to the capital left only wounds on her young heart and made Eisha never want to think of Hebrandt again.

And perhaps it was quite a shock to her grandfather too, as after that he never once mentioned the old matter with the previous Grand Duke Hebrandt.

Yet out of the blue today, eight years after that time when she was twelve, he’d brought it up.

Though surprised, Eisha took it as a light joke this time too.

“Oh my, Grandfather. If only such a thing were possible, how wonderful would that be?”

“…So you think it would be good too?”

“…Yes, it would be nice if it happened, but.”

“It wouldn’t be an easy position—how could you manage it?”

“Grandfather?”

Only then did her grandfather hug Eisha tightly, who had vaguely sensed something was strange. And he apologized.

“I’m sorry.”

Even when watching her drunk grandfather sleep that night, Eisha didn’t believe it. 

However, when she saw the marriage proposal sent from the Hebrandt family the next day, she had to acknowledge that her grandfather’s words weren’t a joke.