Astaire raised his voice without realizing it, then flinched. He felt stifled, like a stone had lodged in his chest.

“Please be quiet. The baby can hear you.”

For Astaire watching this, it was an infuriating response.

“Right now…!”

Astaire barely managed to swallow the words that wanted to burst out like a balloon. Of course, there was no baby in her belly.

The fact that the gynecologist wasn’t here right now felt desperately unfortunate.

If she were here, he wanted to grab her by the collar and demand answers.

Did this situation make any sense?

* * *

“Your morning sickness seems quite severe.”

The next day, the gynecologist came to the ducal estate and prescribed medicine good for morning sickness.

“Will it affect the baby?”

“No, it’s fine.”

Astaire, watching their conversation from the side, felt his insides burning.

The moment he saw Daphne in pain right before his eyes, he nearly lost his reason.

It was frustrating watching her foolishly protect a baby that didn’t even exist.

Watching Daphne, who hadn’t eaten anything all day due to morning sickness since the day before, Astaire began to find the nonexistent baby irritating.

He was the one who’d deceived her, but watching Daphne start with acting, get fooled, and then fall into it genuinely, he realized something had gone terribly wrong.

What went wrong needed to be corrected.

Even now.

Astaire looked at the gynecologist about to give Daphne medicine and said, “When you’re done, let’s talk.”

Perhaps because she’d taken the medicine the gynecologist made, her morning sickness had considerably subsided.

Only then did Daphne breathe comfortably and lay down on the sofa.

She reached out and carefully stroked her still-flat belly.

“You were scared, weren’t you, Laura.”

Laura.

The prenatal name Daphne had given the baby a few days ago.

After much deliberation, she’d decided on Laura, taken from Aurora, meaning an existence that would open a bright future.

‘I wanted to give you a better prenatal name, but I’m sorry, baby.’

She never thought she’d use a word that suddenly came to mind as a prenatal name. But the circumstances weren’t ideal, so she could only feel sorry.

She counted down the days until Laura would be born and held in her arms.

‘And then you’ll leave with this mother.’

Leave this estate, leave Astaire completely.

Though life without a father wouldn’t be easy, Daphne planned to do her best to fill the empty father’s place.

“I want to see you soon.”

Murmuring quietly, she glanced outside to see evening approaching.

At the end of the fading day, pink clouds hung over the sky where the red sun was retreating. The sunset on the horizon brightly illuminated the window.

“Look at that, doesn’t it look just like your name? Laura.”

According to what she’d read in books, in the very cold northern regions, a phenomenon called aurora appeared where diverse colors mixed and covered the sky.

She’d never seen it in her life, but it must be a very beautiful light.

Just like how she’d never seen her baby yet, but believed without doubt that her baby would be very pretty and lovely.

“Let’s go see the aurora in the northern regions sometime.”

She thought it might be nice to leave the estate entirely and settle in the northern regions.

She missed the time she’d spent in Timaru.

Those days of working hard, receiving fair compensation for honest labor, and living fiercely were precious.

Life as a duchess now, trapped in a cage just eating and sleeping, was suffocating.

Click.

While she was lost in thought, the closed door opened. Daphne quickly removed her hand from her belly and sat up. The gynecologist appeared from behind the door.

“I’m sorry, Madam. My conversation with His Grace ran a bit long.”

The gynecologist wheezed with slightly rough breaths, having apparently hurried down from upstairs. Daphne responded to the apologizing doctor dismissively.

“It’s fine. You must have had your reasons.”

She was about to let it go.

Suddenly, another thought flashed through her mind like lightning.

“By any chance.”

Daphne asked impulsively.

“Yes, Madam.”

“What did you discuss with His Grace?”

She surely hadn’t asked something she shouldn’t have, yet strangely, the gynecologist didn’t answer right away.

“It was nothing important.”

Something about the way she tried to brush it off seemed suspicious.

Daphne quietly narrowed her eyes.

“What was it about?”

“…It was about the weather.”

“The weather?”

“Yes. Since winter is approaching these days, we talked a bit about how the weather has gotten cold, so I came out a bit late.”

Daphne immediately saw through the doctor’s lie.

Not because her tone or expression seemed off.

Though she’d spoken slowly for a moment, the gynecologist’s demeanor was perfectly calm.

But Daphne knew.

She knew that Astaire wasn’t the type to waste precious time discussing the weather, no matter how close someone was to him.

She hesitated briefly.

She debated whether to call out this woman for lying, or just let it go and watch the situation unfold.

Why would the gynecologist lie to her and hide what she discussed with Astaire?

She had to find out.

“That can’t be.”

“Pardon?”

At Daphne’s words, the doctor’s face turned ashen.

“I know well that His Grace isn’t the type to have such conversations. What exactly did you discuss?”

“Well, that is…”

“Are you trying to deceive me?”

Daphne asked in a low voice, not hiding her anger. The doctor flinched.

Soon her face turned white. She looked at a loss.

“I’ll ask once more. What did you discuss with His Grace?”

Daphne lowered her voice to signal this was the last chance to tell the truth. She should understand by now.

“Well, the thing is—”

Just as the doctor finally gave up and was about to honestly confess, the closed door opened again.

That damned man again. Astaire.

“What’s going on?”

“…Darling, may I ask what you discussed with the doctor?”

Daphne spoke while meeting Astaire’s eyes.

His green eyes instantly darkened deeply.

Astaire was speaking with his eyes.

That it was none of her business.

But Daphne didn’t avoid his gaze.

If even the doctor was deceiving her and acting this way, then she definitely needed to find out what the two of them had discussed.

“It was about your physical condition.”

“What?”

Astaire spoke so naturally that Daphne nearly lost her composure for a moment.

“Is that a problem?”

No matter how she looked at it, he didn’t seem to be lying.

“You’ve been having morning sickness, and lately you seem to be running a fever, so I was discussing what I could do for you.”

The man continued speaking smoothly.

It didn’t end there. He even added a reason why the doctor had to hide their conversation from her, completely dispelling Daphne’s suspicions.

“Actually, there’s something I want to give you as a gift, so I wanted to surprise you.”

Astaire quietly stroked Daphne’s cheek as he spoke.

On the surface, anyone watching would see a loving couple acting. Enough to make the gynecologist beside them blush.

But Daphne, meeting his eyes, knew.

Those rigid green eyes.

Then, Astaire leaned close like he might kiss her and whispered.

“That’s what it is. Do you really need to know?”

“Is there a reason I shouldn’t know?”

“Don’t forget. You’re the woman I bought with money.”

That again.

It was almost laughable now. That’s why she’d tried to return the money and leave him.

Daphne lost her words and let out an empty laugh. Meanwhile, Astaire moved away from her and looked at the gynecologist.

“Didn’t you say you’d prescribe new medicine for my wife?”

“Ah, yes. That’s right, Your Grace.”

The doctor hurriedly rummaged through her medical bag like she’d just remembered. Her movements looked awkward somehow as she found the appropriate herb bottle from the bag and mixed the herbs.

There was definitely something.

Daphne knew instinctively.

But whatever it was, Astaire didn’t seem inclined to tell her the truth.

“What kind of medicine is this?”

“It’s not medicine, it’s a supplement.”

“A supplement?”

Daphne asked back suspiciously. She’d never been prescribed supplements before.

“Yes. It’s a good supplement for a pregnant woman’s body.”

“…”

“Take it, Daphne.”

Astaire whispered quietly.

It was silent pressure to take it.

“I’m not giving it to you for your sake.”

He spoke coldly at a volume only Daphne could hear.

“It’s medicine for the baby in your belly.”

As expected.

Daphne smiled coldly.

She’d briefly forgotten what kind of man this was. This man wasn’t doing this for her, but for the baby in her belly.

If it was for her baby, of all things.