CH 48

“Ezekiel.”

“48.”

“Ezekiel.”

“49.”

“Ezekiel.”

“Shush…… Good job.”

“Hmm… Well, then…… Anna…”

It took three hours to call his name fifty times. Herace was sure she had actually called Ezekiel’s name hundreds of times. Holding her stinging throat, she coughed and Ezekiel gave her a glass of water while saying,

“All right. A promise is a promise. I won’t punish your maidservant and give her proper treatment. But the deportation order cannot be cancelled. Because the wrong loyalty can lead you in the wrong direction again. She’ll have to leave the castle within a week.”

Herace emptied the water at once. The moderate temperature of the water helped her sore throat, but the rough sensation continued to bother Herace.

“Ezekiel, thank, thank you. Thank you very much, Ezekiel.”

Was it because she said his name hundreds of times? Herace habitually said Ezekiel’s name even with a short thank-you. Ezekiel smiled in satisfaction and sat next to her as if he was in a good mood seeing Herace like that. Soon the firm man’s arm wrapped around Herace’s shoulder and back.

“According to the doctor, you’ve become very weak. It’s probably because you suffered a lot outside.”

“…….”

“You have to listen to the rules you need to follow and have proper meals. I told the chef to prepare a roasted blue pheasant and sweetfish dish for you.”

Her meal menu were the same as what she ate before she was pregnant with Erzen a long time ago, but Herace could not relax.

What rules do I have to follow……. Only then did Herace rolled her eyes and looked around her. The room, decorated only with high-quality furniture and good objects, was beautiful but frustrating. It was a structure where she couldn’t even look out properly. Besides, this place is……. Anxiety struck Herace’s face as she realized where she was located.

“It’s simple. If you’re not with me, you can’t get out of here, Herace. That’s the most important rule you have to abide by.”

“What, what? You mean you’re gonna lock me up?”

“No, I am not locking you up. You can go out freely if you want. But I can’t guarantee what I’ll do if you break the rules.”

Beyond the friendly language, the meaning of the words gave her goosebumps. She didn’t know what’s gonna happen. For the safety of the people around her, Herace would not be able to move on her own.

Looking down at her feet tightly bound with a shackle, she suddenly remembered her son.

“Well, what about Erzen? Erzen is here with me, right? Right?”

The hand holding Ezekiel’s clothes was tense. She could never imagine herself being apart from Erzen but it was a conclusion that could be reached enough considering what happened to the mother and child duo after being caught by the man.

“Why don’t you give me an answer? Please give me my son… … Erzen. He’s still young and he has been away for a long time, so he’ll soon search for me.”

Ezekiel looked at the small hands that were turning white and put his hands on them. The temperature of Herace’s hands, which were tense and frightened, were lower than his cool temperature. But Ezekiel, who felt no sympathy, said firmly.

“Herace, your son won’t be with you. You’re the only one staying here.”

“No way! Give me Erzen, Ezekiel. Oh, I want to be with my son. I want to see Erzen.”

Herace began to gasp, breathing heavily. She curled her stiff body and shook her head roughly, sticking her upper body forward as if she would run from Ezekiel at any moment.

Ezekiel gave strength to his overlapping hands over her. The strong grip of the man forced the hands holding his collar to fall.

“Didn’t you hear me before you fell down?” Herace, you’re just my mistress now. We can’t leave the precious blood of Prince Serpence to a lowly mistress. Or are you still deluding yourself that you’re a Duchess? Huh?”

Mistress. The word that pushed her into losing her consciousness came out of Ezekiel’s mouth again, but Herace couldn’t pay attention to it. Erzen. The fear of not seeing her son was pushing her to the edge of the cliff.

“No! Mistress or whatever! Just… just give me Erzen back. You don’t even consider him your blood anyway! Erzen is not Serpence’s child. He’s just my, my son! So you have no right to my son!”

“……I made it clear about that, too. I don’t want to acknowledge him as my son, but I do recognize him as Serpence’s bloodline. Your son is Charles’ son, and in a way, he is my nephew. Don’t worry, I’ll raise him precious enough. Your son will have several nannies and the best tutors.”

An unresolved misunderstanding constantly tightened Herace’s breath. Herace was about to shout ‘no!’ but quit. She had said it dozens of times in the past two months that it was a misunderstanding. She begged and pleaded, but in the end, he got angry. Once was enough to know his mind.

Barely swallowing the injustice, Herace found another way.

“But you didn’t do that to her*! Even if she was a mistress, she raised her child with her own hands!”

[T/N: Herace meant Charlotte.]

“That’s not the case now. Miguel was a baby then. It didn’t matter if he grew up in the hands of my mistress because he was at an age where he couldn’t distinguish anything. Don’t be unfair. Miguel is also living in a different room without his mother now that he needs education.”

“Lie! She was with her son earlier! I’ll be with Erzen, too! Call Ergen! Let me see my son!”

Herace lost her reason and made an effort, but she did not say anything wrong.

In Ezekiel’s words, her situation was similar to being a mistress, but Charlotte was neither trapped like Herace nor held from meeting her son. However, what does it have to do with a woman who only has a human shell without any consciousness? For Ezekiel, it was only an excuse to say that she could not see her child because she was a mistress.

He just didn’t want to see Herace and Erzen together being affectionate, and at the same time he just wanted to punish her. While watching Herace looking for her son in tears, he forcibly pushed the absurd logic of his desire.

“You brought it on yourself. If you were still a Duchess…… No, you are a mistress now. If you hadn’t been punished for running away and being trapped here, you could have seen your son’s face. But I told you earlier. You can’t get out of here. Your son can’t come here. You’ll only be with me. Only with me.”

Herace, who was staring at Ezekiel, distorted her face. The cry that had stopped for a while was mixed with a stubborn voice. She buried her face in Ezekiel’s arms and shook her head.

“No, I can’t. Give me back Erzen. All I need is my son. Ezekiel, please. Please. Please…….”

The firm chest of the man was wet. Ezekiel, who was watching her shoulders shaking up and down from crying, put his hand on Herace’s back and closed his eyes for a while before opening them.

“……If you really want to see your son like that, I’ll have two ways.”

Herace raised her head in a faint hope. Like saving Anna, Ezekiel seemed to have an ulterior motive to ask her for something and listen to her entreaties. Herace nodded quickly and looked at Ezekiel waiting for him to speak.

“One, you have to stay here as long as I say. Three years…… after that period, there is no need to abide by the rules. Then you’ll see your son. I’d like to put you here for 10 years, but seeing you cry makes me feel weak.”

The brightened face was shaded again. Three years… How can I endure that period? He was a son who would go crazy even if he didn’t see her for a day, or even a few hours. But three years. There was despair on Herace’s face. And at that moment, Ezekiel gave a twisted smile.

“The other one is…… If you do well, it may take less than a year.”

The innocent woman wouldn’t know. There’s something else he really wants. Ezekiel whispered what he really wanted in Herace’s ear.

“Have a legitimate child this time.”

“Wh, what….”

Her eyes turned round at the unexpected words. However, Ezekiel, who had been thinking about this for two months before he caught Herace, had calm eyes.

“I mean, give birth to my child, not another man. Here. In this place.”

Ezekiel didn’t mean to forgive Herace so easily. How dare you run away from me while committing adultery? He felt like he would lose his reason at any moment if he thought the things he thinks Herace did.

But he was worried even as he pushed her to the limit. What if his wife, who kept getting angry like this, couldn’t stand it?

“Gender doesn’t matter. I’ll let you out of here when our first child is born. That’s not all. I’ll also give you the Duchess’s position back.”

Ezekiel did not want his delicate glassy wife to be broken, nor did he want her to stay locked up forever. So he was about to bury everything after getting the price of a child from his wife.

Considering the current state of mind, he wondered if it would be possible, but imagining Herace holding her real child and laughing, he thought it would be possible. He saw the tears running on Herace’s face and held her tightly in his arms.

“It’s up to you to decide which way to take, but I think the latter is a better way. Maybe if you have my child, your heart will weaken.”

“…….”

“……If you’re pregnant, I will let them bring your son here once a week. Then you don’t even have to wait ten months. So, let’s have a child. If you have a legitimate child, we’ll be able to go back to just as we were before.”

“……I’ll be here as long as you want me to be; three years.”

Herace said something unexpected as she pushed herself out of the man’s arms. Ezekiel’s eyes, who had no doubt that his wife would choose the latter, grew. He squeezed his wife by the shoulder.

“What?”

“If I had to choose between the two, I would choose the former.”

Ezekiel found no sign of conflict in Herace’s face. He frowned unknowingly and continued quickly.

“Don’t you want to see your son? I’m telling you, I don’t intend to show any more mercy. If you choose the former, you will have to endure nearly three years without seeing your son.”

As if drawing three years in front of her eyes, Herace’s blue eyes filled with tears again, and hopelessness showed on her pale face. But she was more determined than the wet face.

“Even so, I can’t have a child with someone like you. It’s impossible for Erzen or the child who will be born to be loved or accepted by you.”