~Chapter 19~
I Only Need the Duke’s Child Episode 19. A Motherless Offspring
His cold gaze and mocking voice raked across Blair.
The eyes with which Blair looked at him trembled.
‘…You don’t believe me.’
More clearly than ever before, his true feelings reached her.
She had been mistaken.
When he had taken her side over Lina’s matter, it had only been because he could not tolerate the insolence of the servants.
Insulting her, his wife, was no different from insulting him.
How ridiculous it was, the expectations she had held.
Blair lowered her eyes to avoid his gaze.
Her eyelashes trembled faintly as she slowly closed and opened her eyes.
Pushing against his chest, Blair slipped out of his arms.
“…I’m sorry.
I had a dream.”
The voice she barely managed to produce trembled uncontrollably.
Blair turned and left the room just like that.
Herdin, who had watched her back through the closing door, poured the remaining whiskey into the glass and downed it in one gulp.
The alcohol poured into his empty stomach burned as hot as if he had swallowed a ball of fire.
* * *
The sound of horse hooves echoed through the quiet winter forest.
Startled mountain birds flew away.
Even that small disturbance made the heavy white snow piled on the branches tumble down.
This year’s winter hunt was also proceeding smoothly.
The first event of the New Year Festival was for each noble house to hunt a living offering in the imperial hunting grounds to present to the gods.
Unlike other hunting festivals, the winter hunt was not conducted collectively but by each house separately.
It was said that the more precious the offering, the more the gods would be pleased, so the nobles who participated in the hunt quietly competed to capture better prey.
It was, in a way, an event that carried the pride of each family.
Since it was a competition between houses, noblewomen and young ladies were also exceptionally allowed to ride horses and accompany their husbands and families.
Blair was among them.
Herdin, who had been searching for prey across the white snowfield, turned his gaze toward Blair following behind him.
Seeing her face flushed from the cold, yesterday’s memory suddenly crossed his mind.
‘A magical beast will appear at the hunting grounds tomorrow.’
If that statement were true, it meant a magical beast would appear here today.
Knowing that fact, it was strange that she had deliberately followed him to such a dangerous place.
‘Just what is she thinking?’
Herdin let out a quiet sigh and called to the captain of the Delmark knights who was riding behind him.
“Kyle.”
Hearing the call, the knight rode his horse closer.
“Ensure the duchess’s protection.”
“I will obey.”
The knight commander signaled to his subordinates looking toward him and conveyed Herdin’s order.
Understanding the meaning, the knights moved closer to Blair.
From behind Herdin’s back, a small cough was heard.
Herdin’s brow furrowed.
His gaze searching the white snowfield for prey became busier.
It was then that the cry of a beast was heard in the distance.
Squeeeal!
It sounded like a wild boar.
Along with the sound of birds flapping away, Blair inhaled sharply in surprise.
But the boar’s cry did not stop after just once—it continued repeatedly.
Someone had failed to kill the prey with a single shot and kept firing arrows.
The sound grated on his nerves.
What an idiot.
How many arrows are they going to waste just to catch that one thing?
Just as Herdin mocked the incompetent archer he did not know, a knight suddenly shouted urgently.
“Your Grace, there is a white sable over there!”
Following the knight’s gaze, a sable wandering across the white snowfield came into view.
Sable fur was expensive.
Among them, white sable fur was the most valuable.
That would be suitable enough as an offering to the gods.
Herdin immediately drew his bow and shot the sable.
The arrow flew and pierced the sable exactly, splattering its blood across the white snow.
After confirming the sable no longer moved, Herdin turned his horse to return, when a hollowed-out old tree caught his eye.
He dismounted and approached it, and inside the hollow was a baby sable that had not even opened its eyes yet.
‘…So there was a pup.’
Herdin drew a dagger from his chest.
At that moment, Blair’s voice sounded from behind him.
“Herdin.
What… are you doing right now?”
“Without a mother to care for it, it won’t last long before becoming prey to a predator.
If that’s the case, it’s better for this one to die now alongside its mother.”
“No!”
Blair hurriedly got off her horse and grabbed the hand holding the dagger.
Herdin’s brow furrowed.
“What are you doing?”
“It might survive.”
“A newborn that hasn’t even opened its eyes yet, in this winter where even finding food is difficult?”
“Even if, as you say, it’s destined to die soon, you can’t call something like this mercy.
Living even one more day is better.”
Herdin let out a short laugh.
Was it reckless optimism, or hypocrisy?
Either way, it was the kind of thing he despised.
“Would you still think that while being chewed alive by a wolf?”
Herdin deliberately chose crude words to provoke her.
Whether it was optimism or hypocrisy, he intended to crush it.
But…
“I will raise it.”
The woman who usually yielded to him as if she could never win now confronted him without backing down even a single word.
Her eyes were sharper than ever.
She looked like a mother protecting her child.
He found that sight unpleasant.
Over such a trivial creature.
“Well, I wonder if that thing would want to be taken in by someone who stood by and watched its mother die.”
Herdin sneered, reminding Blair of her own circumstances.
If even such a trivial creature possessed thoughts and feelings, it would probably rather die than be taken in by the hands of an enemy.
Just as he despised the imperial family and his fake wife who belonged to it.
Blair seemed to understand the meaning behind his words, her expression twisting slightly, but she did not retreat in the end.
Looking at the corpse of the mother sable that the knights were retrieving, Blair spoke with heavy eyes.
“…Even so, this child’s mother would want it to survive like this.”
At that moment, a knight who had been watching the tense standoff between his lord and lady with an awkward expression cautiously intervened.
“Um… Your Grace.
Perhaps raising it as the duchess says wouldn’t be bad.
Since it’s a white sable, we could raise it and later skin it for the fur…”
The knight who had tried to take her side realized his mistake only after receiving Blair’s contemptuous glare and quickly fell silent.
Herdin let out a low sigh, withdrew the hand Blair had been holding, and turned away.
Understanding the meaning, Blair carefully took the baby sable from the nest.
Even such a tiny creature, smaller than her palm, emitted a clear warmth.
The baby, still unable to open its eyes, cried pitifully as if searching for its mother.
Seeing that sight, her throat tightened.
‘What happened to Asiel after I died?’
Only then did she think of Asiel, who must have been left alone after her death.
The assailant might have killed the child afterward.
Even if he had survived by luck, to Herdin, who loved Miela, the child would have been nothing but a thorn in his eye.
Either way, it was obvious the child could not have had a happy ending.
Strangely enough, she suddenly hated him.
Blair looked at Herdin’s retreating back, then snapped back to her senses at the crying of the sable.
She removed her glove and placed the sable inside it.
A knight who had been watching extended his hand.
“Madam, I will take the creature.
Please get on your horse first.”
“No.
I will carry it.”
“But it will be difficult for you to ride like that.
And dangerous…”
“I will walk.”
Despite the knight’s concerned words, Blair would not budge.
The knight hesitated, unsure what to do, when Herdin, who had been listening to their conversation, approached on horseback.
He strode over, lifted Blair lightly, and seated her on his horse.
“Herdin…?”
Blair blinked in surprise at his sudden action.
Herdin immediately mounted behind her and ordered the knight,
“Take care of the lady’s horse.”
Since Blair had no free hands, he supported her waist with one arm.
With the other arm, he held the reins and slowly guided the horse forward.
His cold eyes were fixed straight ahead rather than on her, yet the arm holding her was firm as if he would never let her fall.
Blair, watching the man who refused to look at her, lowered her head.
She should thank him for willingly taking on the trouble for her sake, but hearing the pitiful cries of the baby sable made the words refuse to come out.
Even so, the arms of this cold man were warm, and it felt ridiculous that her instincts considered them safe.
The wind of the winter forest brushed past the two of them, wrapped in silence.
When Blair coughed from the cold, Herdin pulled up the fur hood attached to her cloak.
“You said a magical beast would appear, yet why did you follow me here?
You could have stayed behind.”
Rather than sarcasm, he simply seemed displeased that she had come to the hunt at all.
‘Come to think of it…’
The magical beast had not appeared yet.
Occasionally she heard birds flying from other directions, but there were no screams.
‘Did the future change because I came to the hunt today, unlike in the past?’
If that were the case, it would be better not to raise suspicion and simply claim it was a dream.
Just as Blair decided this and was about to answer Herdin—
something appeared among the conifer trees.
The moment Blair saw it, her eyes shook violently.
Between the trees, a giant eye was visible.
At that moment, the eye moved and met Blair’s gaze.
A chill ran down her spine.
