Chapter 161: After Story 1

Spring was approaching the North, too.

The people of the Grand Duchy were very excited about the preparation for the wedding between Aedis and me.

The servants were delighted that the day they thought would not come until they died had arrived. Shaula, too, was delighted at the thought of delicacies to be served for dinner.

The latter was very ill-intentioned despite being my escort knight, but whatever.

On the other hand, I was on the verge of dying of shame.

"... ... Isn't the ceiling painting a little too much?"

Cyclamen castle was plastered with my portrait. They contained all different backgrounds, different compositions, and different facial expressions. There was even a portrait that was drawn after seeing a video stone of my childhood.

I was overwhelmed by the staggering amounts of money that was invested. People who visit the castle for the first time like this might get confused about who is the family head.

"It's too much! When I look up like this, Your Grace looks like a god."

Sarah put her hands together.

"Stop praying, Sarah."

"Hehe."

I walked out of the corridor with Sarah, trying not to look up at the ceiling.

Grand Duke Kallakis' love for his wife and lavish spending had already become famous after my birthday party the other day.

At first, I had hoped that this would dilute Aedis' frightening image a bit, but the rumors that swept the social world were the exact opposite of what I expected.

The Grand Duke, who was clearly a monster, was trying to fatten up and eat his wife.

Of course, I had to explain. Aedis said that he would love me unchangingly, whether I gained weight or grew another eye.

Having experienced even a little of Aedis' terrible favoritism, the vassals understood my meaning, but the nobles from the capital all clicked their tongues.

They muttered, 'she's possessed, she's possessed.'

...... When I think about it again, I feel wronged?

Aedis and I stuck together throughout the party. However, only a few people believed that it was an act of love.

I knew they were afraid of Aedis. They distorted the facts even when they saw it with their own eyes.

Improving my husband's image still had a long way to go.

I didn't know how many more rumors would come out if it was known that the castle was plastered with my portrait.

I unknowingly made a sad face, but Sarah stopped walking.

"Your Grace."

"Huh?"

Sarah pointed with her eyes across the hallway.

There was a little boy with curly silver hair.

The kid struggled to take my portrait off the wall and didn't even notice we were nearby.

"Regen?"

"Hiicckk!"

Regen backed away in a hurry.

Oh no. I didn't mean to surprise him.

Only then did Regen's red eyes widen like drops of water when he saw me.

"Mo, mother?"

I approached Regen and asked.

"What were you doing that I surprised you so much?"

"That, well, there are so many portraits of Mother hanging there."

Like a thief with cold feet, he hesitated, and I understood the whole story.

"Do you want one?"

Regen gently nodded his head.

"I want to hang it in my room, too."

It seemed that my sweet stepson dreamed of the perfect crime. But even if he hadn't seen me, he would have been caught immediately. It was because Aedis checked my portraits from time to time.

If that's all he did, it was lucky. He managed them himself, so the head butler or the chief handmaid, not even the employees, could touch them.

I looked at the crooked portrait that Regen had removed.

Why would Regen want this? If he waited a few days, there would be a picture with Aedis and Regen together.

"Wouldn't it be better to hang a painting with all three of us together?"

All my portraits in the castle were painted by a single artist. Since Aedis spared no expense for anything to do with me, the painter was paid a really ridiculous amount.

Even if the painter was painting a portrait of a great noble, it was an excessive sum. In the end, the artist himself must have felt remorse, and asked to be allowed to paint us on our wedding day.

He expressed his aspirations, saying that he would never faint even if he was scared of Aedis.

I had told Regen in advance, so we had carefully chosen the clothes he would wear on the wedding day.

"Of course that's good, too! But...... It's hard to see Mother these days. Because of Father. So I feel lonely. Because of Father."

Regen muttered sullenly. A thump in my chest felt like a stone had fallen. Without thinking further, I placed my portrait in Regen's arms.

"Today, I will be by Regen's side all day, so don't be lonely. Alright?"

Then Sarah, who had been silent, spoke quietly.

"Huh, Your Grace? Yesterday and the day before yesterday, you were with Lord Regen all day. You even took classes together."

"Sniff."

Regen buried his face in his tiny hands and sniffled. The red eyes peeked through the cracks between his fingers, observing my reaction. It was like a frightened rabbit. With my heart weakened, I sided with Regen.

"Since Regen suffers from loneliness a lot, I should stay by his side."

"Yeees......."

I sensed Regen's nervousness fearing that Sarah would not give up and try to stop me. I wrapped my arms around the small shoulders and smiled at him reassuringly.

"I'm okay. And Regen will be okay, too."

I can let him off the hook for such a cute trick hundreds more times.

* * *

It was a pity that I couldn't see Aedis for the whole day, but I was also relieved when I considered my body.

Except for the time I spent with Regen yesterday, how tenaciously I was being held. The color of flowers all over my body seemed to last for several days.

Thankfully, it's not strange at all to be all wrapped up in the north, I lay down on the bed side by side with Regen.

Regen didn't seem to want to fall asleep anytime soon.

Perhaps he was worried, the white eyes, nose and mouth on the immaculate face were cutely frowning and spread out.

I held back a laugh and called Regen.

"Regen."

"......."

"Regen?"

After I called out his name one more time, Regen returned to the real world.

"...... Oh yes!"

"Can't sleep? What are you thinking about?"

Regen laughed.

"Uh, I'm thinking about how long I could spend time with Mother like this."

"That's for a lifetime."

I said confidently. Regen pursed his lips.

"But......."

"Hmm?"

Seeing my relaxed expression, Regen finally confided.

"Until...... my younger sibling is born?"

As expected, it was because of that problem.

Recently, Regen had been trying hard to keep me and Aedis apart. Even using obvious jealousy and ploys. I guessed the reason, but I wanted to hear it directly from Regen. And Regen willingly opened his heart to me.

"The three of us can sleep together then, right? I haven't taken it seriously because it was still in the distant future."

Regen's eyes widened.

"How far into the future is it?"

"Maybe by the time Regen is taller than me?"

"Uh....."

"So, you can be as childish as you want to your heart's content now."

Instead of smiling brightly, Regen fidgeted with his hand hidden under the blanket.

"I'm sorry, Mother."

Huh?

"Didn't I just say you can be childish?"

Regen closed his eyes and opened them.

"Actually, I deliberately pretended to be lonely!"

"......."

I know that.

Of course, Aedis knew that very well, too.

"It was my first time having a mother, so I didn't want anyone to take it away from me."

"......."

Regen's voice started to sound soggy little by little.

"Only until today. I always thought I would be greedy only until today, buuuttt."

I pressed Regen's cheeks with both hands to stop him from speaking.

"Regen, even if you have a younger sibling, Regen will always be my child."

"......."

I suddenly remembered the little commotion that had happened at my birthday party. Most of the nobles held their breath not to offend Aedis, but there were some nobles who paid attention to Regen.

They huddled together in an empty hallway and whispered that if I gave birth to a child, Regen might be expelled from the grand duchy. Still, there were some who thought their lives as a waste and kept an eye on them, but unfortunately, there are many beings with bright ears in Cyclamen Castle.

I listened to Paimon's urging to rain down the fire with one ear and let it out with another ear, and the commotion was quickly over. However, there was a possibility that word of mouth from the servants reached Regen's ears.

As expected, I have to point out properly.

"And there won't be any younger siblings until Regen is grown enough. Maybe even after that?"

"Why, why?"

"Aedis doesn't want it."

I thought he would be relieved, but Regen was shocked.

"Father doesn't want a child who looks like Mother?!"

"... ... Regen, weren't you worried that your younger sibling would take me away?"

"That and this are different matters!"

What's different...... ?

Regen furrowed his eyebrows.

"When the sun rises tomorrow, I will ask Father. It's nonsense. I will definitely convince him."

Even though I was looking at him with an amused face, Regen clenched his fists terribly.

What the hell is different? Which rhythm should I tune in to ... ?

For now, I decided to push ahead as I intended.

"But if you don't have a younger sibling, we can still sleep together like this."

Regen sighed in my embrace.

"Of course I don't want to lose Mother to anyone, but I need some alone time, too."

"......."

Well, he was sure to draw the line.