“Search every corner!”
“Find it all!”
The reception room of the Vikander estate was in utter chaos.
Bailiffs were stamping red seizure seals onto the ceramics and carpets.
“W-What is the meaning of this! My daughter is the Duchess of Schmaichel! You can’t do this!”
Viscount Vikander lunged at Bill, who held a bundle of documents, and tried to grab him by the collar. But Bill emotionlessly brushed off the Viscount’s hand.
“Viscount… *sigh*. I’m only showing you this courtesy because today is the last day you’ll be called by that title.”
Bill pushed up his glasses once and spoke in a merciless voice.
“I believe I informed you that if you failed to repay the principal and interest by midnight yesterday, ownership of this estate and the entire territory would be transferred to the Schmaichel Ducal House.”
“W-What… That’s absurd….”
“The shabby coat you’re wearing is not subject to seizure, so you may wear it as you leave. Ah, but please remove the jewels set in those buttons.”
“N-No….”
Viscount Vikander swayed and collapsed to the floor.
When one’s territory was confiscated, their life as a noble was over.
The life of ordering servants around, the idleness of never letting a speck of dust touch their hands—all of it would become impossible.
In other words, he would no longer be Viscount Vikander.
“Let go of that right now!”
“N-No!”
Beside him, the stepmother and stepsister Daisy screamed and tried to hide a jewelry box.
But the bailiffs showed no mercy and seized that as well.
The Vikander estate didn’t even have servants.
Sensing the family’s decline, they had stolen the remaining belongings and fled.
“Hmm….”
Bill coldly assessed the value of the seized items.
“It looks woefully insufficient. At this rate, it won’t even cover the principal.”
“What do you expect me to do! All my business connections have been cut off, and there’s nothing left!”
Viscount Vikander screamed with a contorted face. Bill didn’t bat an eye at his ravings.
“His Grace instructed me to tell you this: ‘If you have nothing, pay with your body.’”
Bill slapped the bundle of documents shut and grinned.
“From now on, you’ll be working in the Kalmar mines.”
“Mines?!”
It was Daisy who responded.
Daisy’s face turned deathly pale as her shoulders trembled violently.
“Mines?! How could I possibly work in a place like that!”
“Once you’re there, you’ll find that everything gets done somehow.”
Bill replied nonchalantly.
Then he offered a few words to the Viscountess, who was glaring venomously at him.
“Still, you’ll probably only get stale bread and wilted vegetables there. Ah, but if you’d like, I can arrange for spoiled food as an occasional special treat.”
“…!”
The Viscountess flinched.
She had realized whose orders such treatment originated from.
“Originally, His Grace intended to hold you accountable for aiding the family’s disgrace and execute you all for treason.”
Viscount Vikander could only gape in shock.
Who could have known Lord Henrik would fall so completely!
“However, thanks to the Duchess’s mercy, you’ve been allowed to keep your wretched lives.”
The Viscountess and Daisy could not agree that this was mercy.
For it meant they would have to roll in the dirt and live in despair for the rest of their lives.
“Ah, and the Duchess left a letter for you, Viscount.”
“Could it be?”
Viscount Vikander took the letter Bill offered, half-doubting, half-hoping.
She really is my daughter. She hasn’t abandoned me after all. She’s trying to save the family somehow….
Soon, the wrinkles around the Viscount’s eyes began to quiver.
“What… does this mean?”
The letter contained not a single word of what the Viscount had hoped for—no mention of saving the family or forgiving the debt.
“Poison… you say?”
Rose had merely written in a dry tone about the suspicions she had secretly investigated regarding her biological mother.
The traces that both the Viscount and Rose had clearly seen, and what they meant….
“…….”
The Viscount’s head creaked as he turned toward his wife. The price of a lifetime spent pretending to be a devoted husband, turning a blind eye to her vanity and self-righteousness, was devastating.
“You… is this true? Rose’s mother… you…!”
“N-No! You know how that woman died too!”
The Viscountess backed away, her face deathly pale.
“That’s a lie that wench Rose fabricated! Do you have proof? I said, where’s the proof!”
Bill, watching the scene, pulled a small glass bottle from his coat and handed it to the Viscount.
“As stated in the letter, this powder is the exact same ingredient as the beauty medicine the Viscountess had been taking. However, with a slight adjustment in dosage, it becomes an excellent cardiac arrest inducing agent.”
Viscount Vikander stared blankly at the glass bottle Bill held out, then—
“You!”
He snorted through his nose and lunged at the Viscountess.
It was a base rage born from the fact that she had dragged the last shred of honor of an already-ruined family through the mud.
“Kyaaah!”
It was a horrific scene too terrible to watch.
“Aaaagh! I don’t want to go to the mines! I said I don’t want to go!”
Beside them, Daisy wailed, tearing at her hair.
“Tsk, tsk.”
Bill shook his head and turned his back on the Vikander family.
Seeing their sordid display, he felt very glad he had come instead of his lord and lady.
‘Now is the time when she should see only beautiful and sacred things.’
What a pregnant woman sees, hears, and feels directly affects the fetus’s appearance and temperament.
Therefore, the pregnant Madam must absolutely stay far away from such grotesque sights.
“I should head back soon.”
Bill nodded and quickened his pace.
As part of the same effort, he had given his lord various guidelines for prenatal care. He needed to go back and check whether they were being followed.
**
Bill’s concerns were well-founded.
Not a single one of his prenatal care guidelines was being followed.
“Your Grace… no, Madam, no, that’s not it either. Um… ugh.”
The dining attendant floundered, unsure of what to say.
This was because Dane was not entering the dining room alone.
“…Oh my.”
Fabri blinked as he stared at the dining room entrance. His lord was walking toward them, carrying the Madam in his arms.
[A pregnant woman should minimize movement as much as possible. In unavoidable circumstances, she should be accompanied by the most comfortable carriage available.]
That was Bill’s prenatal care guideline.
But Dane was implementing it thoroughly even for indoor movement. And he had no hesitation in acting as the carriage himself.
“Dane….”
Rose blushed slightly.
But she didn’t say things like “I can walk, put me down.” She simply wrapped her arms tightly around Dane’s neck and buried her face into him.
Thud.
Dane sat on a couch he had prepared separately instead of a chair. It was so he could sit while still holding Rose.
“Bring the food.”
When he tilted his head, the attendants scrambled into action.
Clatter.
Food covers were lifted, revealing the dishes within.
Chilled green grapes and limes. Tasteless crackers.
They were dishes that hardly looked like a meal fit for a duke and duchess. In particular, monster cuisine had completely vanished from the menu.
“Kh….”
Fabri swallowed back tears as he watched.
It felt like they had returned to the days when his lord dined alone. No, it was even worse than then.
Cooking had lost all its joy….
But.
“How is it? Is it alright?”
“Yes. It’s edible.”
As Fabri’s anguish grew, Rose’s complexion grew more comfortable.
Because her morning sickness was so severe, hot or strongly aromatic foods had to be completely excluded, and only cold or sour foods could be prepared.
“Good work, Fabri.”
Rose’s faint smile was his only consolation.
“Your cooking will be the first thing we feed the child once they’re born, so just bear with it a little longer.”
“Madam, I… *kh*, never mind.”
Fabri bit his lip as he looked at Rose’s gaunt face.
All the culinary knowledge and skill he had known had been thoroughly demolished in the face of a pregnant woman’s morning sickness.
His pride and dignity as a head chef were hurt. No, more than that, he was ashamed that he couldn’t keep his promise to the Madam.
“I had said I would do my best until Madam said, ‘I’m so full I can’t eat anymore!’…! This is truly shameful!”
“Fabri.”
Dane’s cold gaze reached him.
“Everyone, leave.”
“Pardon? But the meal service….”
“Leave.”
“…Yes.”
Fabri and the dining attendants hastily retreated from the dining room.
As he closed the dining room door, Fabri instinctively knew.
[All food must be served on silver tableware formally. The Madam must dine elegantly using a fork and knife. The husband must supervise table manners and maintain dignity.]
Another one of Bill’s prenatal care guidelines was about to be shattered.
And just as he suspected,
“Here.”
Dane was carefully peeling the skin off a cold green grape himself.
With meticulous care, he even washed the peeled grape in ice water to suppress the sweet aroma from stimulating Rose.
It was a sight that would have made Bill gape in horror if he had seen it.
“I chilled it, so this should be fine.”
Dane pressed the peeled grape against Rose’s lips and gently pushed it in.
“Mmm….”
Rose seemed to obediently accept the grape, but then—
“-!”
She lightly bit the tip of Dane’s finger. At the cheeky provocation, Dane frowned and laughed.
“Don’t provoke me.”
Rose only smiled at his words. Then she gently grabbed Dane’s arm and pulled him closer.
“Your fingers have grape juice on them. Let me clean them for you.”
Rose took Dane’s fingers into her mouth and began licking them.
With a captivating smile, as if she were savoring the most delicious candy in the world.
“…….”
Dane gazed at Rose for a long moment, then—
“Mmm.”
He could no longer hold back and captured Rose’s lips.
For a while, the dining room was filled only with the wet sounds of the two exploring each other’s lips.
“…It tastes like green grapes.”
Dane eventually pulled away from her lips and smirked.
Then he peeled another grape and popped it into Rose’s mouth.
“Enough. You’re already having a hard time as it is.”
After learning of Rose’s pregnancy, he had lived a thoroughly abstinent life.
He had heard the physician’s warning not to do anything that would strain the mother’s body.
“…Alright.”
Rose knew how much restraint he was exercising. But precisely because of that, she wanted to provoke him even more.
Suppressing such desires deep within,
Nyam.
Rose obediently ate the food he fed her.
Being held by him until she grew tired of it, eating in bed when she was exhausted, then falling into ecstasy once more—that wasn’t the kind of life she had, but….
Staying close to him all day long was incredibly satisfying.
Although her body was exhausted and her stomach was nauseous, seeing Dane’s fretful face always lifted her spirits again.