Deceived, Yet Drawn to You - Chapter 145

The two disembarked at the train station and boarded a waiting vehicle nearby. Once they passed the main road and reached an unpaved slope, they transferred to a hired carriage. The path was too narrow and rough for a car to climb.

Edmund was dissatisfied, fearing the arduous journey might harm Blair, but she herself welcomed the slow pace. Having always ridden only in automobiles in the bustling city of Borsa, she now felt a strange delight riding in a carriage out in the countryside.

“It’s peaceful here,” Blair murmured quietly as she looked out the window.

The forest path leading to the monastery was so still it seemed time itself had stopped. Sunlight filtering through the conifers scattered like grains of gold, and the distant sound of a bell calmed her heart.

“I wonder what my mother felt as she passed along this road.”

She spoke almost to herself, wondering if her mother might have wept under the weight of sorrow she could no longer bear. Edmund, who missed none of it, tightened his hold on Blair’s hand.

“She must have wished only for your happiness.”

“…Do you think so?”

“Of course. At the end of her journey, the only thing she left behind was the peace her one and only daughter would enjoy.”

Blair nodded as she listened to his confident reply. Soon the carriage cleared the steep road and finally stopped before the monastery’s main gate. The midday sunlight poured down as if welcoming their visit. Like a radiant glow encountered after emerging from a long tunnel, Blair stepped forward into the dazzling light.

The priest who had been notified in advance came out to greet them warmly. With a benevolent smile, he showed them the cloister and inner courtyard before leading them to a prayer room located inside the chapel.

“This is the place where the Countess spent most of her time.”

Blair slowly looked around the space where her birth mother had offered prayers every day. The prayer room was modestly arranged. The smooth, worn wooden benches and hundreds of melted candles bore the traces of someone who had quietly remained there for a long time.

When she first heard that her mother passed away at the monastery, her heart felt heavy. But as she recalled Edmund’s words and looked around, the place felt different.

Rather than a site where a Countess was tragically confined and faded away, this was a sanctuary where she soothed her heart and prayed each day for her daughter’s peace. Blair, who was soon to become a mother herself, could now understand the wish that the cruel chains of reality wouldn’t be passed down to one’s child.

“She often read books in the garden as well. It was something she never failed to do during her daily routine.”

“So my mother liked reading.”

“Yes. During that time, she appeared peaceful, as though she’d forgotten the sorrows of the world.”

At the priest’s quiet recollection, Blair lowered her eyes. Beside her, Edmund whispered softly, “She must have been similar to you.”

You often seek out gardens too.

At his low addition, Blair gave a faint smile. Though she now remembered only the vague outline of her mother’s face, she felt a deep sense of connection in knowing that the way her mother spent time alone resembled her own.

Following the priest to the back of the monastery, they arrived at a gentle hill. Her mother’s grave was situated where the sunlight fell most warmly.

Instead of an ornate tombstone, clusters of white wildflowers surrounded a simple marker bearing only her name. The flowers swayed softly in the wind, retaining their clear vitality even against the lingering snow.

Blair offered a belated prayer for the repose of the remains laid to rest in peace. Edmund, who had stayed by her side the entire time, silently wrapped an arm around her shoulders. The prayer she conveyed, borrowing his warmth, became the final period that set down the burden that had tormented her for so long.

‘Please don’t worry anymore. Everything you wished for in this quiet place is now by my side.’

That she could stand here, holding new life with her beloved, might just be thanks to the most heartfelt blessing her mother had left behind.

As if to reassure the departed, she placed her hand over his, which was rubbing her shoulder, as if to say there would be no more harsh days she must endure alone in the future she was walking toward.

***

They remained at the monastery for several more days. The noisy social circles and the breathless political climate of Borsa could not reach this place, so it became a rare period of rest.

Blair spent her time offering quiet prayers in the chapel or strolling through the rear garden her mother once favored. Edmund, who stayed at her side like a shadow, busied himself constantly fastening her coat and bringing her a blanket, as if even the wind might settle upon her.

Under such attentive care, retracing the traces of her mother wasn’t painful. Instead, it felt as though a hollow corner of her heart was being filled densely with peace, and Blair found she could accept the time that had passed without denying or turning away from it.

“Since we’ve come this far, shall we stop by Brücken as well?”

On the day they finally left the monastery, Blair suggested it casually. As Edmund lifted their luggage, he raised his head. Since the monastery stood at the border with the Kingdom of Brücken, she meant that they might as well cross the border while they were already out.

Even so, treating a foreign country like a marketplace errand. Though that thought crossed his mind, Edmund naturally intended to indulge her request, but his gaze dropped. The clear swell of her abdomen, which made her steps less than free, weighed on his mind.

“I haven’t forgotten my promise to visit Brücken with you, but this is not the right time.”

“It feels such a waste to come all the way to the north. When will we come here again from Borsa?”

“When the weather grows warmer, Blair.”

Edmund cupped her cheek as if soothing a child and kissed her softly puffed lips.

“After the baby is born and grows a little, and once you have recovered your strength, we will go together.”

“Hmm… perhaps you’re right.”

“Then there will be no reason to hurry, and you will be able to do anything you wish. Let us save the pleasure of travel for a little while.”

“All right.”

Blair, quickly persuaded, smiled.

“Then later, the three of us will travel properly.”

“Of course. We must go just the two of us as well, so I will engrave it as the most important promise of my life.”

After their lips met once more, the two left the monastery shoulder to shoulder. Blair turned to look back at it as it receded, engraving her mother’s love deep within her heart as she bid farewell to the sorrow that had bound her for so long. Then she turned her steps without regret. After an especially long winter, she was finally walking toward spring.

Epilogue

「The Libert Ducal House finally entered a new phase.

Edmund Roger Libert, a central figure in the financial world, succeeded to the ducal title.

The reason this announcement drew public attention was that it officially confirmed he had been leading the family for several months not as the formal duke, but in an acting capacity.

In some circles, there had been ongoing debate over the legitimacy of the ducal line because of his background as an illegitimate son.

However, it was reaffirmed that the lawful succession procedures were carried out in accordance with the late Duke’s will. As if mocking those belated concerns, Blair Libert gave birth to a healthy son last month, quieting the numerous controversies.

Meanwhile, news also spread that the “Duke” of Libert had practically swept through the jewelers of Fitzrovia in order to present his wife, who had just given birth, with every rare and precious gem he could find.

As the exceptional devotion of the man once called the kingdom’s most cold-blooded strategist became a topic of conversation once more…」

Leisurely sipping his tea as he read down the printed lines, Edmund soon set aside the morning newspaper. The ink on the page hadn’t yet fully dried, and exaggerated modifiers and sensational phrases filled the columns, but today he found it rather pleasing.

The phrase “exceptional devotion to his wife” in particular pleased him.

He didn’t care how the public perceived his image, but the more openly he was declared a hopelessly devoted husband, the less likely anyone with irreverent intentions toward Blair would dare approach her. For instance, some green youth somewhere in Brücken, still wet behind the ears, indulging in foolish dreams.

Edmund picked up the newspaper again. One passage describing his love as if it were one-sided displeased him.

“Hm… They should have emphasized that it is mutual.”

The lines were unbearably shallow, written without knowing how deeply Blair cherished him.

Then again, perhaps no printed words could adequately capture the truth that he, loved by such a flawless woman, was the luckiest man in the world.

He truly was fortunate. How could one person be so beautiful at every moment? As he recalled Blair’s face, which he’d watched until dawn even today, a smile slipped from his lips.

Edmund suddenly pushed back his chair and rose. He knew there were times Blair disliked being disturbed, but those rules didn’t apply to him. With confident steps, he left his seat.