Chapter 50

The Fifth Plan: To Protect the Child (7)

“Oh, my Carl, did you get scared? Are you okay? Mandy just scolded her a little. It is still hot. Shall we have some cool drinks? You’re sweating a lot and your cheeks are all hot.”

I glanced at the maid and she handed me a small children-sized cup that was already filled with some sour-looking red drink. This time, no one had shouted out to stop it. I took the drink and gave it to Carl before Carl started grabbing the glass with both of his hands as he drank it coolly.

“Give the dog some cold water and let me have a glass of juice too.”

The same drink as Carl’s was then placed into my hand. As I drank the cool, sweet-and-sour drink, Margaret’s eyes eventually met mine. After drinking some cold drinks as well as cooling themselves off, the kids proceeded to play outside again and we decided to let them run around for a bit longer. No matter how much children said that they had to grow up by playing outside, as the afternoon progressed, the sunlight became much brighter and more intense. Margaret, who had been looking at the children with such gentle eyes, softly spoke up once again.

“It is a beautiful necklace.”

“Oh, I had recently inherited it from my mother.”

At her words, I unknowingly fiddled with the said necklace. My body heat kept the blue jewel that was embedded on the necklace warm.

“It’s the Freyr’s necklace.”

“Ah! It’s that famous necklace…”

The necklace, which Freyr, the God of Fertility herself, had bestowed it to her lover, was passed down from her mother to her married daughter. Therefore, unlike any other famous jewels, the family who owned it would then change every time.

Margaret had asked during a brief chat about the famous jewels as well as the families that possessed them.

“Did you say that you have three older brothers?”

“Yes and I am the youngest.”

“Surely, that’s one of the reasons for the fame.”

To give birth to four healthy children was quite the unusual feat by the standards of this current era.

“I’m also expecting it to show off its power as well as its reputation too.”

“It definitely will.”

Margaret smiled as she encouraged me. After a small laugh, I signaled for the children to be brought to the castle and the children, who had been running around under the sunlight, soon returned. With the help of the maids, I got up and Carl immediately tugged on the hem of my skirt.

“Blood ties are simply amazing.”

Margaret blurted out some words that were out of context and raised herself up with the child still in her arms as if it wasn’t hot at all. The child and herself were quite alike, but Carl and I, of course, had no resemblance in any way.

“—The son usually resembles the father and the daughter takes after the mother a lot. Carl definitely resembles the Duke a lot and this child also looks a whole lot like my husband as well.”

“Ah, yes. Yes.”

I agreed as I glanced down at the top of Carl’s head, which seemed to echo his father’s—even with all the disheveled shape of his sweaty curls. Carl also bore the resemblance of Gellerhard more than Merilyn herself.

“I even have a similar period of morning sickness like my mother too.”

Huhu—I nodded my head at her with a somewhat bewildered feeling at the words that she had said while smiling slightly. Margaret eventually moved on while taking care of her child as if that had been all she was going to say. I also started walking slowly towards the castle along with Carl. Even though I was outside longer than I had thought, my condition actually became much better than before.

* * *

Even after returning to the castle, I continued to spend time with Carl since he never wished to leave my side. Although I had shared dinner with Carl before patting the child’s stomach to sleep and despite being with Carl all day long, I still felt that I was not that tired. In fact, I even had more energy to spare. It was a feeling that I could feel after a long time. It had been a long time since I got to be with Carl all day just like today because I wasn’t feeling very well for the past few months. Carl, who played for a long time in the middle of the day before continuing even in the room with me in the afternoon and evening, finally fell asleep with a satisfied face. When I kissed his rosy cheek that was just like a cherub softly and ordered the maid to take Carl back, Mrs. May came inside as if she had been waiting since before and stood by my side. The maids quietly became aware and soon stepped out of the room.

“Have you consumed it all?”

“Yes, I drank all of it. And so far, nothing really happened.”

Mrs. May bowed her head in response. When Mrs. May said that she seemed fine even after drinking that strange concoction, I felt both relieved and strangely disappointed. If it had been the poison to be used against me, she would have been afraid and it would therefore become a poisoning attempt. At the same time, she would have had a piece of direct evidence of the attack against me too.

“I guess…”

Carl shouldn’t drink it, but I really had to. No one would believe that it was a good drink for pregnant women as Sera—the suspicious maid—had claimed. If it truly was so, what had it been?

Margaret’s words that son would resemble the father while daughter took after the mother echoed strangely in my mind.