✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧
Translated by: Sienna
✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧
“Sardin.”
Cornelia’s slave, a barbarian-born man brought by her.
Normally, Erich wouldn’t have cared about someone like Sardin, a slave of Cornelia.
However, today he was in a bad mood, and seeing Sardin loitering around Cornelia like a damn puppy irritated him.
“How rude. You didn’t even knock.”
His cold voice was oppressive enough to make the atmosphere tense.
An ordinary person might have been intimidated, but the young man with brown hair didn’t flinch in the slightest.
“I apologize.”
Even with the humble apology, Erich did not ease his momentum and asked,
“Why did you commit such rudeness?”
“I came to congratulate my master on her pregnancy. If my rudeness has offended you, I apologize.”
Erich’s brow furrowed.
Certainly, he had ordered to keep the employees from spreading a word, but it was clear that Cornelia had told him about it separately.
‘Congratulations? A slave like him…’
A seemingly insignificant presence that seemed to be there and not there, suppressing his presence in front of him.
Normally, he would have just ignored the slave, but for some reason, it bothered him today.
To the point where he felt like getting rid of him right away.
Erich immediately grabbed the slave by the collar.
“She doesn’t need your congratulations. Get out of my sight immediately…”
At that moment, an irritated voice interrupted.
“Why is it so noisy?”
Cornelia’s voice, awakened from her slumber, made Erich withdraw his hand.
As she rose, he spoke in a low voice,
“Your slave seems to be lacking in education.”
Before his words could fully register, Cornelia ordered,
“Kneel. Sardin.”
Almost instantly, Sardin dropped to his knees.
Without much enthusiasm, Cornelia observed her slave and said,
“What are you doing? You need to apologize to my husband.”
After hesitating for a moment, Sardin bowed his head and spoke.
“I apologize, Your Grace.”
Although he had apologized, Cornelia shook her head.
“Tell me what you did wrong.”
“I entered this room without knocking, disturbing His Grace.”
“Why did you come into my room?”
“I wanted to congratulate my master on her pregnancy.”
“I see. Will you knock in the future?”
“Yes.”
Cornelia glanced briefly at Erich and asked,
“Now, is it enough? He apologized, and he promised not to do it again.”
Cornelia’s words were valid. In reality, there wasn’t much to fuss about in the first place.
However, witnessing Cornelia intervene as a slave ignited anger within Erich.
Yet, he knew he couldn’t push the issue further because it was an unreasonable and ridiculous argument.
Eventually, Erich spoke coldly,
“It would be wise to teach proper behavior to your slaves from now on.”
With his fist clenched, Erich left the room.
Crack!
His jaw tightened, and his teeth grinded fiercely as he headed into the room.
As much as Cornelia’s audacious slave annoyed him, there was something else he needed to address first.
In the office, Erich called for Heit, his most trusted confidant and intelligence source, secretly.
“Find out who Demian is.”
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Once Erich had left the room, I let out a sigh I’d been holding in and opened my mouth.
“Annoying bastard, making a big deal out of nothing.”
Though I cursed, I couldn’t deny that I had been uneasy moments ago.
With a single word or gesture from Erich, Sardin could have lost his life.
‘He probably got angry at Sardin because of my infidelity.’
Feeling a sense of guilt for causing unnecessary trouble, I looked at Sardin.
Then, a voice sounded.
“Master, are you all right?”
Despite still kneeling, he approached with concern, and I couldn’t help but let out a bitter laugh.
‘You’re truly consistent.’
Sardin, a handsome young man with dark reddish-brown hair and gray eyes, was a gladiator slave I had discovered in the arena, not chosen by any knight.
<Behold, everyone! Witness the fifteen-year-old boy overpowering those giants!>
It was quite impressive to see such a young thing take a beating from men much bigger than him and still fight on.
No, what impressed me more was his dark reddish-brown hair.
The same color as that of the barbarian who had offered me flowers.
So, I paid a hefty sum and brought him with me.
And I told him to protect me.
Since that day, the scar-riddled boy has always been by my side.
Even after, he grew into a strong young man.
I had thought Sardin followed my orders because he was bought by me and enjoyed a comfortable life by my side.
Yet, come to think of it, Sardin had never defied or betrayed me even once.
‘He even risked his life to save me in the end, unlike my lying husband.’
I vividly remembered Erich’s indifferent words during the furious rebellion.
<I swear. I will risk my life to protect you and our child.>
Back then, I believed those words.
The thought that the man I loved might not despise me so much after all moved me in a way that words couldn’t express.
‘Was that phrase thrown just to deceive me in the end?’
When I first learned of Erich’s betrayal, it felt like the sky was collapsing, and I had no will to live.
However, the moment I saw the crying face of the child, my only thought was that I had to protect this child no matter what.
So, I felt grateful and sorry for him when he extended a helping hand to me.
‘You probably didn’t escape unscathed either… In the end, I died with the child.’
After a moment of looking at Sardin with bitter eyes, I opened my mouth.
“If the Duke seems upset, just apologize appropriately and leave. What are you holding on for?”
In response to my words, Sardin kneeled down again, bowing his head to the ground.
“…I apologize. Because of me…”
Damn, this is why habits are frightening. I should have spoken more kindly to someone else.
“I didn’t mean to blame you. I just didn’t want you to be the one to bear the brunt of his anger.”
Then Sardin stared at me with a surprised expression.
‘Well, you have every right to be surprised.’
Normally, I would have wagged my finger at the slave for daring to offend Erich.
For me, Erich was like the sun, and Sardin was just a useful object. I couldn’t allow Sardin to disturb his feelings.
‘But now, I won’t do that. You saved the lives of me and my child.’
For a moment, as I thought about this, I looked at Sardin, still kneeling, and bluntly said, “What are you doing? Are you going to keep kneeling like this?”
Watching him rise, I briefly remembered the blanket that covered me.
“Come to think of it, the blanket; did you cover me with it?”
“The blanket… are you talking about that?”
“Yeah, when I got up from the sofa, it was covering me.”
Was he embarrassed by my straightforward question? Sardin, instead of confirming, smiled and replied.
“Congratulations on your pregnancy. I will pray that your baby will grow up healthy.”
Even though it was a somewhat irrelevant response, it was still the first congratulatory message I received after announcing my pregnancy. I didn’t feel bad about it.
‘He’s a thoughtful guy. I should reward him or something once my safety is ensured.’
While thinking that inwardly, a blunt voice different from my thoughts slipped out of my mouth.
“Is that so? Then, pray diligently since you’re at it.”
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The next day, I woke up later than usual.
‘Erich is…….’
As a habit, I glanced at the side, but the bedding showed no difference from when I fell asleep.
‘It seems he didn’t come in yesterday.’
Due to going to bed early, unlike usual, it wasn’t until waking up at this hour that I noticed his absence.
I laughed bitterly at that fact.
‘In the past, I couldn’t sleep all night waiting for Erich to come in…’
At that time, I simply couldn’t fall asleep on the large bed I used alone.
I was worried he might meet another woman, get hurt somewhere, or have an accident, and that he might never return.
I used to wait anxiously for him to come until late at night and eventually fell asleep as if fainting from anxiety, even when I was pregnant.
‘What a foolish and bad mother I was.’
Before the regression, I just liked that he was around me often after I got pregnant and treated me with care.
I mistakenly thought of it as love and felt happiness.
But now, looking back, it’s just slightly better than before.
He thoroughly concealed my pregnancy until my belly started showing, and he never even asked me what I wanted to eat, let alone made any formal gestures to a woman carrying his child.
‘Instead of eating what I want…’
Thinking about the past, my mood sank gradually. I shook my head in disbelief.
‘It’s not a big deal; I can buy my own food.’
And sooner or later, I’m going to have to get a seamstress to make me maternity clothes and baby clothes.
Even in the situation of considering divorce, I didn’t hesitate to spend money like this because of my personal wealth.
Although the emperor did not show interest in me, he wasn’t stingy when it came to material things.
Thanks to him, I received a considerable dowry when I got married.
Apart from the money in the bank, I also had quite extensive land and three mansions.
‘Well, most of that was spent cleaning up Fritz’s mess. Besides, the villa burned down during the rebellion.’
Thinking about the troublesome future that had not yet arrived, I felt hungry.
‘It’s useless to worry about it now; let’s start with having a meal.’
By this time, my husband and the madam should have finished their meal. I should eat what I want.
