When she opened her eyes, she felt the familiar warmth of his hand wrapped around hers.

He must have arrived at some point without her noticing. Dressed in casual indoor clothes, Delphius looked at Ilenia with his usual steady gaze.

“The physician came by.”

“……”

“He said your body’s grown very weak. Gave you an injection and left some medicine for you to take. Told me to make sure you don’t forget.”

He spoke at length without being asked, then carefully helped Ilenia to sit up in bed.

As his hand settled around her slender waist, which was so thin that it barely filled his grasp, his brow furrowed faintly, but he said nothing.

He placed a pillow behind her back so that she could lean against it.

“Aren’t you hungry? You’ve done nothing but sleep for two days straight.”

“……”

“If there’s anything you’d like to eat—”

“What kind of reaction do you want from me?”

Her clear gaze fixed on him.

Unlike before—when she carried a child that was no longer there—her voice was calm, lucid.

“Should I keep acting as if our child is still in my womb?”

“Ilenia.”

“Tell me. I’ll do whatever you want.”

“……”

“I can pretend to be a fool… a complete idiot again. I can hold onto this empty stomach and ask if you can hear our child.”

“…Stop.”

“Or should I act like before I ever had a child? Like that naïve girl who came up from the countryside, who didn’t know anything, who couldn’t even serve properly—”

“Stop it, Ilenia!”

At his shout—so close to a scream—Ilenia froze, her hands stilling over her abdomen.

“…I don’t know.”

Her voice wavered, fragile as if it might fade away.

“Whenever I didn’t know what to do… you always gave me the answer.”

Her voice, which had sounded so composed just moments ago, faltered again, unable to find its footing.

Trembling, it clung to him—soft, fragile, on the verge of breaking.

“So tell me again. Tell me what I’m supposed to do.”

She clung to him desperately.

As if, if she asked like this, he might truly give her an answer—
show her the path forward, just like before.

“…Time.”

After a long silence, he finally spoke.

“Time will take care of it.”

“I… still don’t know… It still hurts this much… Will it really get better with time?”

“……Yes.”

Time.

What other answer was there?

Having another child… pretending it never happened…both had already failed them.

This was the only thing left.

“Forget it… and live on like that. It’ll get better.”

Forget…

As if echoing his words, her lips moved silently.

“Don’t you miss our son?”

How could he ever forget?

The mere sight of that tiny, wriggling body on the bed had transformed the entire atmosphere of the estate.

While Ilenia had softened the place, the child had filled it with life.

A warmth had finally settled into the once lifeless mansion, thanks to those two small, fragile presences.

Even now, the child crossed his mind from time to time.

Although he was a wretched father and could no longer recall their faces, he still remembered the scent that lingered on their small, delicate bodies.

The faint smell of milk.

The trace of Ilenia’s scent.

Everything that had once stirred his heart belonged to that child.

But that was when the child was still alive.

Now—

It was time to forget.

No matter how beautiful she had been, no matter how deeply he had loved her. None of it mattered anymore.

They had to live, what belonged to him, had to keep living.

She must not become like the trampled bouquet or the nurse he had ultimately failed to hold onto. He could not repeat the mistakes of his foolish past.

Suppressing his surging emotions and casting them aside as though they meant nothing, Delphius pulled Ilenia into his arms.

“I don’t miss him.”

You have to live.

“We can have another child.”

“……”

“That’s enough, Ilenia.”

Her quiet sobs started up again, echoing faintly in his ears.

He wished she would scream like before, but instead she wept silently, choking back her cries. That only made his chest ache more.

“There will be more chances. We have time, and we have the means.”

He repeated the physician’s words exactly.

A medical conclusion.

A rational answer.

Only after a long while, after her tears had fallen without end, did Ilenia give the slightest nod.

Her shoulders trembled as her tears slipped down one by one.

From that day on, Ilenia no longer cried.

Delphius had feared she might fall back into that endless sleep, but, as if to prove those fears wrong, she slowly began to move again.

At first, even staying awake seemed difficult for her. But after a few days, she began to look better.

As though the days she had spent lying still or weeping had never existed, she gradually started to recover.

She went through the ledgers that had piled up, even though they no longer required her attention.

She began to take care of her appearance again, which had once fallen into disarray.

Little by little, she improved.

Sometimes she would stare into the distance or fall into a blank daze for no reason, but that was all.

She no longer looked like someone who had given up on life, so he chose to let it pass.

Meanwhile, his own affairs were nearing completion.

The issues that had once dragged on endlessly were finally coming to a close, and even his tense relationships with those in the political world were beginning to improve.

Everything was gradually stabilizing.

On the verge of finishing everything, Delphius found himself quietly watching Ilenia.

There were limits to what could be resolved within the estate.

Some of his associates still clung to old ways, refusing to rely on written agreements alone and insisting on meeting face-to-face to confirm their intentions.

Outdated. Inefficient.

And yet, even Delphius could not escape such customs.

“…What is it?”

Perhaps she had noticed his gaze lingering on her. With an expression still difficult to read, Ilenia looked back at him.

“…I think I’ll have to step out for a while.”

“For work?”

He nodded.

“Are you going far?”

“Not particularly. Just a few people with too much time on their hands—dragging things out by holding paperwork hostage and insisting on meeting in person.”

“Then why are you hesitating?”

Contrary to his expectations, Ilenia gave her permission without hesitation.

“Go.”

“…Will you be alright?”

“It’s not as if I’m the one handling something important. It’s you who has to go, Delphi.”

Even after waking from her haze, Ilenia still occasionally called him “Delphi.”

That small, familiar form of address—so full of quiet affection—brought him more comfort than he cared to admit.

“I’ll be fine. Don’t worry about me. Just go.”

It was the answer he had hoped for.

Yet Delphius couldn’t bring himself to accept it so easily.

Ultimately, he was the only one left feeling unsettled.

His expression darkened slightly as he stepped forward and pulled Ilenia into his arms.

“I’ll be back soon.”

A faint scent of lilac lingered in his arms.

She had mentioned changing her perfume a few days ago, so it must have been that.

“We’ll just review the prepared documents, divide them up, and confirm everything. That’s all. I’ll be back right away.”

In his embrace, Ilenia gave a quiet nod.

Unlike before, she didn’t make a scene.

Even Delphius, who had repeatedly failed to ease his worry, gradually began to relax as this became the norm.

She was better now.

Ilenia and his life had finally returned to where they belonged.

For the first time, he didn’t look back anxiously as she came out to see him off.

Out of habit, he kissed her on the cheek, then stepped into the carriage, his attention already shifting to the documents in his hand.

Ilenia stood there, watching the carriage grow smaller in the distance.

Slowly, she lowered the hand with which she had been waving.

Then she turned back towards the estate.

“……”

The sound of a child crying was always in her ears, except when she slept.

Now, it drifted through the air like a whisper on the wind.

It sounded like a child longing for its mother.

Her unfocused eyes moved slowly before she began to walk.

‘If my child wants to see me… I should go.’

Murmuring softly to herself, she made her way to the child’s room.

It was exactly as she had left it: empty and untouched, with no furniture ever having been brought back inside.

Ilenia stopped at the spot that had once received the most sunlight.

A dusty chair stood beneath her hand.

This was where the child’s bed had once stood.

Ilenia had chosen this spot so that the baby would be bathed in the warmest light of the day — so that, even if she stepped away for a moment, the sunlight would keep the child warm.

With a quiet, deliberate motion, Ilenia loosened the sash tied around her waist.

“…Delphius. For the first time… you were wrong.”

Time had not healed anything.

The harder she tried to act as though everything was fine, the more images of the child filled her mind — crying, sorrowful, and accusing.

‘How could you forget me?’

That grief-stricken cry tightened around her throat.

‘Yes… my baby. I miss you too.’

‘I miss you so much.’

She tied the sash to the curtain rod, tugging it several times to ensure it was secure.

Then, slowly, she formed a loop.

After confirming that it was large enough to fit around her head, she raised it to her neck.

Balancing on her tiptoes, she kicked the chair away.