“If they… find out.”

Eugen grasped her hesitant face and fixed it towards him. As her eyes full of fear turned to him, Eugen smiled gently.

“Is that what worries you so much?”

“That day, many people saw me in mourning clothes. What if someone recognizes me?”

Even though she tried to suppress it, that worry wasn’t easily shaken off. She thought that people at the funeral wouldn’t have seen her face because she was wrapped in layers of black mourning clothes and a veil, but still, she wasn’t confident that she could deceive the keen eyes of so many people.

Wearing a pure white wedding veil, which was so different from the mourning veil, only made her worry grow. If someone were to overlap her veiled image with that of the widow from back then…

“You have me, my child, and this entire family.”

“……”

In the will that Eugen had recently drawn up and even notarized, a clause was added stating that Celia, his wife, would have all the rights to the Hilbert duchy.

He had even managed to get her signature after coaxing and persuading Celia, who had stubbornly refused.

“Even if someone recognizes you, there’s… no one who can harm you, who has everything….”

Eugen’s blue eyes reassured her again. Looking into those eyes, Celia felt the worry that had been tormenting her melt away like snow.

Eugen’s words held such power. So all she had to do was believe and follow him.

“What were you praying for?”

Eugen gently caressed the bride’s veil with his gloved hand. The green eyes visible through the white veil were full of laughter.

“Well…”

Eugen smiled at her eyes that lowered shyly.

“This time, for a safe wedding night?”

“Eugen!”

“Don’t worry, even if I die, you’ll be the eternal mistress of Hilbert.”

“Don’t say such frightening things.”

Celia shuddered and tightly grasped his hand.

“You said you’d live long, long. That you would. That you wouldn’t die and leave me…”

Despite her carefully applied makeup, tears quickly spread across Celia’s face. Regretting that his joke had gone too far, Eugen lifted Celia’s veil.

“…Celia.”

Eugen’s lips descended repeatedly on the tear-stained white, small face. Celia trembled lightly at his gesture of carefully wiping away her tears. That’s when it happened.

“Ah…”

Celia looked at his complexion in surprise at the sudden groan.

“Eugen!”

As Eugen raised his head, bending his body, and smiled as if to reassure her, Celia looked at him with a pale face.

“Are you feeling unwell again?”

Her urgent voice was dripping with concern.

“…I’m fine.”

He said with a strained smile. Despite his attempts to reassure her, tears were already welling up in Celia’s eyes.

“Are you in pain? Is it hard to breathe? Do you have a fever?”

Celia fired off questions one after another, checking if he was alright.

“I said I’m really fine.”

Eugen took Celia’s hand and placed it firmly on his left chest.

“See.”

“……”

Celia felt the thumping heartbeat under her hand. His body was warm, and his breathing was gentle. Everything seemed normal.

“Is it… beating properly? Isn’t it too fast?”

“No.”

He shook his head with a smile.

“If you’re so doubtful, why don’t you check more closely.”

He loosened the knot of his formal wear and pulled Celia’s hand inside. As his body, filled with firm muscles unlike his delicate appearance, was revealed, Celia unconsciously blushed.

“Feel it closer.”

Pretending not to notice Celia’s reddened face, he pulled her hand and placed it on his chest once again. Pressing down on the back of her hand to keep it from moving, Celia had no choice but to caress his chest.
The steady heartbeat pulsing at regular intervals beyond the firm muscle felt good.

“Don’t leave me behind.”

Celia snuggled into his arms, whimpering.

“Me, and this child… don’t ever leave us alone, okay?”

Eugen slowly nodded at her earnest words.

“Since you’ve prayed so desperately, God will surely listen.”

The sound of bells announcing the start of the ceremony rang out from afar.

“It’s time to go out.”

Eugen held out his hand to the bride. He led Celia into the most brilliant light.

Epilogue. Salvation

It had already been four months since the sound of a baby’s cry was heard in the Hilbert duchy.

Celia couldn’t stop smiling as she looked down at the child sleeping soundly in her arms.

“He’s truly a beautiful baby, madam.”

As Mrs. Letten said with a smile, Celia gently looked down at the sleeping child. Her gaze at the child, breathing evenly in sleep, was full of love.

Taking after his father, the child was beautiful with jet-black hair and blue eyes from birth. From the moment she held this child in her arms, Celia found even the act of opening and closing her eyes to be blissful. He was a son who had given an incomparable light to her and her husband.

“It’s fortunate that your milk is flowing well. He’s growing so fast.”

Her br*easts were producing milk abundantly enough to soak through. It was said to be enough to even fully feed twins. Celia insisted on br*eastfeeding herself instead of hiring a wet nurse, and the child was growing day by day, suckling on his mother’s milk.

Celia’s father had slipped and fallen from a bridge on a rainy day, drowning.

The news had reached her when her belly was starting to show.

Her younger sister, who had been suffering from illness, was recovering her health while receiving treatment at a hospital in the capital. It was all thanks to Eugen’s power. She didn’t ask in detail about the cause of her father’s death. There was no need to know. Now that she had everything.

Celia looked up at the sound of the door opening.

“You’re here?”

Celia said as she saw Eugen enter. Mrs. Letten greeted the couple and then left the room.

“Look. He smiled.”

Celia smiled as she showed the child in her arms to Eugen. A faint smile appeared on the man’s face as he watched her full and warm smile.

“Did you have fun?”

When Eugen leaned down, Celia handed the child to him without hesitation. The child, who had stirred uncomfortably for a moment at the change of position, soon recognized the familiar scent and settled down again.

Even Eugen’s posture and movements while holding the child were extremely graceful. As the sunlight streaming through the window illuminated her husband’s statuesque face and body in turn, Celia also admired his figure to her heart’s content.

“Waaah…”

The child, waking from sleep, soon began to whimper as if wanting something.

“Seems he’s hungry.”

“How did you know?”

Eugen could accurately discern what the child wanted just by hearing his cry. As Eugen handed the child back to her, the chubby-cheeked baby whimpered and burrowed into Celia’s bosom as if smelling milk.

“There, there.”

She hesitated for a moment before gently lifting her bodice.

“……”

Her husband, whom she thought would turn his head away or leave the room altogether, remained shamelessly in place. Eugen’s gaze remained fixed on her, unwavering.

“The baby is crying.”

Eugen leaned back on the sofa with a languid smile, as if asking what she was doing.

“Well…”

Somehow, she felt hesitant. Even though Eugen knew every mark on her body, showing him the act of br*eastfeeding the child felt different.

“Go on, Celia.”

The soft urging voice mixed with the whimpering sounds. Celia finally had no choice but to undo the front of her dress and bring her nipple to the child’s mouth.

The child, who had been smacking his small lips searching for the nipple, soon began to suckle earnestly.

Only the intermittent sound of the child eagerly suckling could be heard in the quiet room. Celia smiled unconsciously as she watched the child eating contentedly.

But she wasn’t completely at ease. The gaze quietly observing her felt too distinctly noticeable.

The child fell asleep with his mother’s nipple still in his mouth. As the sucking force weakened and the pace slowed, Celia carefully moved him away from her br*east.

“Ah.”