“Don’t do that in front of Shasha. She quite likes seeing the baby being adored.”

Grace snorted at his following words.

“Just this once.”

As Edgar had predicted, Shasha, who belatedly heard about Grace’s visit, gave him a not-so-gentle glare. Of course, it was brief—she let out an incredulous laugh when she realized that her br*asts weren’t engorged despite waking up long after lunchtime.

In the end, the oblivious man who cheerfully told her not to worry about br*ast pain received a cold order to leave.

“…Wait, are you staying in the mansion again today instead of going out?”

“Yes, to borrow Shasha’s expression… I’m on paternity leave.”

“What paternity leave when you’re not even taking care of the child…”

Shasha said with a pouty face, telling him to at least work in the mansion’s office before his assistant started crying. Edgar, feeling a bit disappointed but with a smile on his lips, was chased out of the room.

“I’m going for a walk with Theo around 6 o’clock. Join us if you’d like.”

He smiled as he pondered the words that had followed him.

Today, the three of them could walk through the rose garden. It would be enjoyable to push the stroller together and smell the fragrance of roses. The scene he imagined in his mind was extremely peaceful and harmonious. Shasha and himself, and the baby who resembled them both. …The three of them.

However, as Edgar headed to Theodore’s room at the appointed time, he encountered a servant with a troubled face in the corridor. The servant showed a visibly surprised expression upon seeing Edgar.

“Ah, Viscount.”

…Good day to you.

That greeting followed a bit belatedly. The servant appeared so flustered that he couldn’t even properly manage such a short and common greeting. His golden eyes were trembling, and his complexion looked very tense, without the calm demeanor of before. As if he had been caught doing something.

Edgar’s blue eyes slowly examined this change.

“……”

“Th-the madam went for a walk with Master Theodore. The wet nurse and Sophie… I mean, the maid went with them too. So the room is empty.”

Edgar’s eyebrows twitched at the unsolicited explanation that followed. The young servant seemed completely unaware that his behavior might appear impertinent. Addressing the master on his own, rambling on…

Or perhaps he was doing it knowingly?

Edgar stared at the servant without bothering to put on a kind face. The servant rolled his eyes here and there under that gaze, then eventually asked with a troubled expression.

“Um… if the Viscount would allow it, could I enter Master Theodore’s room for a moment?”

“Why?”

“Ah, last time… when you saw me in that room, I think I dropped something of mine… I ran into the madam as she was leaving for a walk and didn’t get a chance to ask her.”

The baby’s room was cleaned day and night to maintain cleanliness, yet he was now looking for something from over a week ago?

Edgar swallowed a derisive laugh at this incongruous request. Unpleasantness began to stir inside him. He had vaguely heard the reason why this servant had entered the room that day. But now looking for an item meant he had continued to come and go even after that. If that was the case, it was obvious who had given permission for those visits.

‘…Shasha brought him in.’

Nausea rose at that conjecture. Meanwhile, the servant’s voice continued.

“It’s a very important item, so I’d like to find it as soon as possible…”

Though pretending to be cautious, his voice was asserting his own will to the point of impertinence. Now that he looked more carefully, what he had thought was just a flustered face actually had a shy smile that he hadn’t noticed before.

Edgar suppressed his rising disgust and slowly nodded. The servant bowed his head with a very pleased expression at that permission.

“Thank you, Viscount!”

…Going to see Theodore.

Edgar had never doubted those words from Shasha until now. No, it would be more accurate to say he had never doubted her in any situation whatsoever.

After knowing that Shasha’s heart matched his own, he didn’t bother putting their love to the test with such doubts. Because they shared the symbol of their love, because those two rings always adorned her slender fingers.

He hadn’t considered that those feelings could change.

But belatedly…

〈Ah, the swelling hasn’t completely gone down yet… so I’ll wear the rings as a necklace for a while.〉

Coincidentally, he recalled her consistently empty fingers. What followed was the image of the servant searching for something in the baby’s room.

“I’m sorry, Viscount… It doesn’t seem to be here…”

How should he explain those footsteps—rummaging around the baby’s bed, moving around here and there with familiarity as if knowing the room structure and items well, and finally naturally heading toward behind the curtain?

Edgar had never particularly been conscious of that space where Shasha would breastfeed Theodore or receive massages from the maids. It would be more accurate to say he hadn’t even thought about entering it.

It was natural, given that he had been reluctant to come to the baby’s room for quite a long time, and whenever he did, he only looked at the baby and left.

But the servant moved toward that place very naturally, then stopped awkwardly as if belatedly becoming aware of Edgar’s presence. And suddenly apologized.

“Ah, …I’m sorry.”

It was an unclear apology without a subject or object, but Edgar keenly noticed the unpleasant guilt lingering in the servant’s golden eyes.

At the same time, he thought that servant should be immediately dragged out of the mansion. He could no longer tolerate his impertinent behavior that caused unnecessary suspicion and bad thoughts. However, just as he was about to take a step, Shasha arrived.

She showed no significant reaction to the servant in the room. Without any proper questions like “why are you here,” she treated his presence in Theodore’s space as natural.

But the maid beside her glanced at the servant with a pale face. It was an excessive reaction for simply encountering a colleague. Soon those trembling eyes also reached Edgar. When their eyes met, she hastily lowered her head… Not a particularly good sign.

Meanwhile, the servant bowed his head and left the room.

If he had unhesitatingly expressed his doubts in such a situation, things might have become clean and clear, whatever the outcome. But Edgar suddenly felt as if he had been pulled into the moment when he had followed Shasha to her hometown and got caught in the rain together. When he was afraid that she, of marriageable age, would leave his sight and marry another man, and was willing to use even bad methods to keep her.

In other words, he continued with bad conjectures and thoughts, just like then.

His mind was stained with all sorts of anxious assumptions.

What if the feelings that servant showed toward Shasha were based on reciprocated affection?

If Shasha was also aware of those feelings…

If it was that man who had touched her body in the intimate space behind the curtain.

“……”

All of this had probably occurred because he had kept his distance from Shasha for a while. Acting as if he was ignoring her voice saying she wanted him… And ultimately making choices based on his own fears rather than following her wishes.

Showing only pathetic behavior, avoiding and not accepting their baby.

Just as Edgar reached that thought, he suddenly came to his senses from a pulling force.

“…Ah.”

“What are you thinking about?”

Shasha looked perplexed at the man who was suddenly acting as if his mind was elsewhere. Edgar gradually collected himself as he looked at her.

…Yes. If that servant and Shasha were really involved in some way, she wouldn’t have such a composed face. Moreover, her purple eyes still shone with affection as they gazed only at him.

Edgar slowly shook his head as he looked into her clear eyes, like lavender floating on water.