(this chapter is continued from Leila’s pov from before Theon’s started)
“Why are you…”
Leila turned her back and saw a familiar person.
The man who’d caught Leila’s eyes was scratching his brown hair with a troubled look.
“Before you leave, you should see a doctor first.”
Her “subordinate” who looked just like Harsian, twisted his mouth and spoke.
“For what kind of treatment?”
“Shouldn’t we see if the baby is doing well?”
Leila nodded softly.
The Duke must have told him to take her for a medical examination before she left.
Leila picked up the two bags she had put on the floor for a while.
“Give them to me.”
“What?”
The man reached out to Leila.
“The bag. It looks heavy, so I’ll hold it for you.”
Leila hesitated. How could she believe this man and leave with him the bag that held all her wealth?
‘…does it matter?’
She wondered what she needed the money for now.
She would use the money supplied by the Duke when she left here, not to mention even her accommodations at her destination would be taken care of by him.
She will die after she gives birth to the child. So there was no more reason to be greedy for materialistic things.
‘But you never know.’
She didn’t want the duke to have mercy and spare her. Even if he did, she would find a place to die.
But if the duke were to give her a little time, she would want to visit the kingdom of Srovakia. Of course, she needed money to do that.
And Leila still couldn’t believe the Duke perfectly.
How can you pretend someone else’s child is yours and raise him? Was that truly a good thing?
He might be tempting Leila for some other unspeakable reason.
As such, even the Duke couldn’t be trusted completely, so how could she trust his unnamed subordinate and leave her bag with him?
“Leave at least hand over the big bag.”
As if he had noticed Leila’s hesitation, the man sighed briefly and said.
There was no money in the big bag. Even if the clothes were all gone, it wouldn’t be too difficult.
Leila carefully handed the big bag to the man. Actually, it was pretty heavy.
“You can go to the clinic you went to. It’s not far from here, so you know the way, right?”
“You…”
“I’ll follow suit.”
“……Yes.”
Leila responded helplessly with reluctance and moved.
As he said, the clinic was not far away, and Leila was able to visit alone.
Nevertheless, Leila looked back timidly. It was to make sure the man was following her properly
To be exact, she was checking the safety of her luggage.
“He’s a strange person.”
Leila thought, looking sideways at him again.
The man was walking peacefully, looking around as if he were her bodyguard.
Not only was the way he walked easy, but his face was relaxed. No, he even seemed to be too relaxed and bored.
‘You look like Harsian.’
Exactly like Harsian as a boy before the incident with Niveria, before he changed.
A strange boy who rolled around on the ground without hesitation to play pranks, wearing luxurious clothes one could not get their hands on even if they had money.
“Why haven’t I seen him even once?”
If there was someone who looked like him that much, Harsian would have mentioned it at least once.
As a child, he used to talk to Leila about trivial things.
There were many times he was scolded by the duchess for speaking freely about secrets of the family.
He was such a talkative and playful person, he even would have told her that he’d tried on Niveria’s dress.
‘Layla! Look at this. I have a relative who looks just like me‘ Like this. Or play some weird trick again.
Don’t tell me you’re going to leave without me.
Leila looked sideways at the man again.
Without knowing that the man was looking around to avoid making eye contact with Leila.
She didn’t know where the Duke said to go. She only knew they had to leave in a carriage in a few days.
She thought they’d send the duke’s female knights and soldiers. Even if they didn’t, that they’d at least hire female mercenaries.
She regretted not mentioning it because she thought it’d be naturally done.
‘I don’t have many countermeasures.’
At the slightest hope in front of her, when saw a firm option that could make the child happy in her stead, she acted hastily to not miss it.
I want to die as soon as possible. I didn’t consider it enough because I wasn’t afraid to die.
“We’re here.”
While Leila was walking, thinking about something else, the man said from behind her. Leila stopped walking and looked up.
Before she knew it, she had arrived in front of the terrible clinic.
“I guess they’re off today.”
The clinic was closed. In addition, there was a sign in front of it saying that the business was suspended.
Leila was embarrassed when she saw the sign, and the man came out of the back, removed the sign, and opened the door.
Fortunately, the door was open.
“Let’s go in.”
“What? But how can we get in when it’s not open?”
“I have asked them to treat only the lady today.”
“Ah…”
Only then did it occur to her that the doctor of the clinic might be in cahoots with these people.
The doctor was the only one who knew about Leila’s pregnancy, and no one else could tell the Duke unless it was the doctor.
Leila entered the door. The man who followed her inside closed the door and locked it completely.
She was a little frightened by the action, but Leila managed to walk into the room where the doctor would be waiting.
She sometimes wished she always possessed the same courage as she did now.
“I’ll be waiting here.”
The same was true of the man’s words when Leila opened the door and was about to enter.
“Have you come? I’ve been waiting.”
The doctor greeted Leila from the seat she always sat in.
“How have you been?”
Leila stared at the doctor without answering.
What would have changed if I hadn’t met this old doctor?
Why did this woman inform the Duke of her pregnancy? Did she get wealth and glory?
“Do you blame me?”
The old doctor said as if she had read Leila’s thoughts.
“Not really.”
Leila sat down in a chair in front of the doctor.
“This woman with an ugly heart is only grateful for you to give me such an opportunity, even his excellency the Duke tolerates me now and regards me so much.”
“……is that so? Then I’ll give you a medical examination.”
After that, the two did not have any significant conversation.
They didn’t suffer or resent each other, and both did their own thing.
It was Harsian, who was listening to this conversation outside, who had feelings of anguish and resentment.
He had hearing that was too good, and the walls and doors of this building were too thin. Even though he didn’t want to, the conversation between the two was clear to his ears.
He put Leila’s bag down on the floor and grabbed his head with one hand.
‘What the hell are you doing?’
‘A prank that bothers people is not a prank, but violence. Who will serve you in the future if you treat the powerless subordinates below you carelessly!’
Harsian was young, immature, and liked Leila.
It is true that he was mischievous when he was young, but he was particularly mischievous in front of Leila because he wanted her to be happy.
Because she was pretty when she smiled. He wanted her to laugh at his actions.
It was the same on that day. On the day Leila came over, Harsian had a servant put on a horse and set fire to the horse’s tail.
He’d tried it once before, and it was funny to see the horse floundering, and the servant struggling not to fall off it.
He showed it to Leila and committed the act in hopes it would make her laugh.
Both the horse and the servant could not be hurt. They were blessed with the power of his family from generation to generation.
He’d also awakened his power at the earliest age of all and inherited the strongest power of all time.
However, Leira, who saw the scene, knelt down before Harsian instead of finding it funny.
She asked for the life of a servant who she had no acquaintance with, a horse – a beast.
Then she preached to Harsian, who was at the top of the Duchy, to him – who was born to reign over others.
It could have been because she was young. She was as fearless when young as Harsian was immature.
Nevertheless, her behavior showed that Leila knew to take good care of her subordinates from a young age.
In order to do so, she even stood in front to block those in power.
“I beg you to quell your wrath with the neck of this humble servant.”
So was the situation that followed; the two maids that’d come with Leila knelt in front of Harsian too.
The daughter of a viscountess, a commoner man, stopped the young lord by shouting at him and fussing.
To the legitimate successor to the Duke of Serios, at whose feet birds dropped and even the emperor had to stand up.
What a rude thing to do. Realizing that, the maids first stepped up and tried to protect Leila.
It wasn’t just them. Even the servant on the horse and the workers of the duke on the spot kneeled.
It was a clear indication of how Leila treated her subordinates when she usually followed her mother to the duchess’s house.
‘If the young lord realizes his fault with a neck, then I would gladly bring it to him.’
‘How can I be afraid if the world hesitates to criticize the young master’s faults and tries to teach him by strangling a woman’s neck?’
That was what Leila said to the people that were trying to protect her.
That was Leila. She was a girl far above the worldly station of young lord that Harsian held.
Such a child had changed just like him. She knelt to the power that oppresses her.
She became a person who covered her eyes and ears and uttered words that were only pleasant to hear.
Is it the fault of time? Maybe she learned to be scared as she got older.
No, it wouldn’t have changed if, at that time, when Leila’s parents died, someone had just stepped up and helped her amidst her loneliness.
If only Niveria didn’t need her child.
“……Damn it.”
Harsian twisted his face and laughed at the same time.
He regretted it for the first time. Letting his sister live with his name.
If he was in his place, everything wouldn’t have to go so wrong.
