Deceived, Yet Drawn to You - Chapter 104

Isabelle’s face froze like ice. She paused, lips parting as if replaying what she’d just heard, then her complexion quickly flushed red and blue.

“Just now… what did you say?”

“You must have been worried since Father left nothing behind as an inheritance. You should spend your later years in comfort, shouldn’t you?”

“You’re telling me to live well off the money I got from selling my son? You… you crazy bastard!”

Edmund showed no sign of agitation and maintained an impeccably courteous demeanor.

“I’ll give you the townhouse in Borsa. After Rufus leaves for Rorschach, you can live there.”

“You lunatic… lunatic!”

“I’m being considerate. You said I bring misfortune, so I thought it would be best for you to distance yourself from the source.”

After finishing his words, Edmund stepped over to the coffee table, picked up the teacup filled with black tea, and took a few sips. The tea, long since gone cold, tasted especially bitter.

“How dare you!”

Isabelle’s fingers trembled violently.

“You’re trying to drive me out of this mansion?”

Unable to contain her fury, Isabelle snatched up a piece of porcelain from a nearby console table and hurled it. A sharp crash rang out as the porcelain shattered, fragments scattering across the floor.

“You demon spawn! In the end, you’re even more vicious than your father ever was!”

“Then I suppose I really am Father’s son.”

“So selling Rufus off to some vulgar country wasn’t enough, now you’re trying to humiliate me too?”

“You’re the one insulting the Duke of Libert right now, Mother.”

Isabelle, who had been spewing curses nonstop, suddenly let out a hollow laugh. Edmund calmly watched her unravel as he tilted his teacup. Seeing the once elegant and dignified duchess sink into ruin stirred a strange feeling inside him.

“You think you’re a duke? Don’t make me laugh. William knew it wouldn’t last, that’s why he only made you an acting duke. Rather than entrusting the family to a filthy bastard, he would’ve preferred it to disappear entirely!”

“The dead are always interpreted at the convenience of the living.”

Isabelle trembled as she looked up at Edmund, who remained completely unshaken. Something that might have been rage or fear flickered across her beautiful face.

“Someone like you must never have a child.”

Edmund, who had been firing back without hesitation, finally closed his mouth. Interpreting his silence as weakness, Isabelle pressed on even more viciously.

“You’re cursed. You’re like poison, fouling everything around you. Does it feel good, trampling a mother’s heart using her son? Any child of yours would grow up never knowing love, just like you. It would be better if they were never born at all!”

“You keep talking about maternal love. Is that why you killed a child’s mother?”

Isabelle froze mid-rant, finger still pointed at him. Her face turned deathly pale, as if she were already admitting her own sin. Edmund stepped one pace closer to her.

“More than twenty years ago, what did you do out of that disgusting jealousy?”

He stopped only a hand’s breadth away from Isabelle and added quietly, “Go on. Answer me, in front of the son of the woman you killed.”

A cold silence fell between them. Isabelle stared at Edmund without saying a word, then slowly curled one corner of her lips upward.

“So you and William both thought I was just a petty woman consumed by jealousy. Father and son, you really are alike.”

Isabelle let out a thin laugh and slowly reached out her hand. As the hand adorned with a dazzling jeweled ring came closer, Edmund frowned.

“Child. Do you really think a whore lying helpless in bed could’ve threatened me? A substitute William could replace whenever he pleased?”

Isabelle began to fuss over Edmund’s immaculate attire, straightening it with care. As if handling a little boy not yet old enough for primary school. As if belatedly bestowing maternal affection.

“How old were you then? Four? Five? You went in and out of the attic where that woman stayed quite often. Calling her mother, you brought her something every time you visited. Sometimes sweets the maids brought you, sometimes sweet honey tea. Anything at all, really.”

Edmund merely watched the wrinkled hand move. It never even reached his tie, yet his throat felt tighter and tighter.

“She seemed to care for you quite a bit. Despite being in poor health and barely able to move. Maybe she thought of you as a ladder to rise in status? That’s none of my concern. I don’t even know why she put that into her mouth that day.”

Faded memories surged like a wave. The attic where pale light often filtered in through the slanted window, the mother who lay on the lone bed in the center and greeted her young son by silently offering him treats, and the shadow of death that began to hang heavily over the place one day. Every detail remained vivid.

“The one I wanted gone was you.”

Isabelle smiled faintly.

“You were never meant to be born in the first place.”

Edmund’s heart began to pound uncontrollably. He’d heard more abuse from Isabelle than he could count, yet this moment struck him differently.

“Well? If I spin the story like this, does it hurt you too?”

“…Are you admitting your crime?”

“It might sound like a confession. But no, it isn’t.”

Isabelle deftly sidestepped the answer and withdrew her hand from Edmund’s collar.

“I’ve said all I needed to say, so I’ll be going now.”

She brushed past Edmund’s arm with her shoulder and left the reception room, her heels clicking sharply. Left alone in the vast space, Edmund stood unmoving for a long while. Like someone who’d forgotten how to move, he remained there, staring at the spot Isabelle had left behind. Her heavy perfume still lingered in the air.

***

“Come in.”

When a knock sounded outside the door, Blair gave permission to enter. A moment later, the duke’s personal physician, Benjamin Jensen, stepped into the bedroom.

“Good afternoon, Your Grace.”

“It’s been a while, Mr. Jensen.”

“I returned straight away after finishing a symposium as soon as I received the telegram. It’s better for you if you don’t see me often, but that might change a bit going forward.”

Benjamin wore his usual gentle smile beneath his scholarly-like features.

“…Then, please proceed with the examination.”

Blair folded her hands neatly on her lap. Setting down his medical bag, Benjamin took out various instruments and began asking routine questions about her cycle, any unusual symptoms, and her recent physical condition.

Then he carefully placed the stethoscope against her. He warmed the cold metal with his palm first so it wouldn’t startle the duchess, a small gesture of thoughtful consideration.

“Hmm….”

“How is it?”

When the diagnosis didn’t come right away, Blair asked, unable to hide her impatience. Benjamin continued checking her pulse for quite some time, then removed the stethoscope with a troubled expression.

“It’s still difficult to say for certain that you’re pregnant.”

“…Oh.”

“However, since it’s the very early stage, it’s also possible that the pregnancy pulse is extremely faint. You’ve experienced morning sickness, which is an early symptom, and you have a slight fever, so you should come back for another examination after some time has passed.”

Sensing that Blair might be disappointed, Benjamin added gently, “Still, in my experience, cases like this usually lead to good news. Since you’re planning for a child, I’ll prepare some medicinal tea that may help. For the time being, it’d be best to take extra care, even if it feels excessive.”

“What if we weren’t planning for one?”

“…Pardon?”

Benjamin froze mid-tidy, eyes widening as he sharply turned his head. At his reaction, Blair hesitated and faltered for a moment. Thinking about it, Benjamin might be the ducal physician, but he was also one of Edmund’s close confidants.

“I mean, it wasn’t something we’d properly planned, so I was a little… anxious.”

The gentle doctor still couldn’t find the words to respond. Blair fidgeted with her fingers, looking tense, then hurriedly wrapped up the conversation.

“N-no, never mind. Please forget I said that.”

At that moment, a knock sounded at the bedroom door. Both of them turned their gaze there at the same time. A familiar man’s voice followed.

“If you’re finished with the examination, may I come in?”