CH 129

Sylvia was furious as she spat at the kneeling maid.

In the meanwhile, Daniel was silent at the passionate reaction. He let out a sigh and glanced at the handmaid, who was still shaking. Even though he still had suspicions despite the maid’s testimony, he couldn’t blame Sylvia.

He opened his tightly closed lips.

“Take this handmaid and kill her.”

“Ma, Master?! No, no…! It’s not me—not me! Please listen to me!”

The handmaid cried as she was being dragged away by the servants. The maid’s whole body, who gave testimony, trembled at the sight of the handmaid reaching out her hand for help as the fear that she might be next ran through her body.

“MASTER!!”

The handmaid went out of sight, leaving a desperate scream.

Sylvia smiled mischievously as she watched the handmaid being dragged out the door of the bedroom. Then, she managed to look at Daniel’s expression and snuggled into his arms.

“Daniel!”

“….”

“Everyone in the mansion still hates me like when Azel…no, Miss Vellista was around!”

“Haa.”

The sound of his sigh weighed heavily on Sylvia’s chest, but she lightly ignored it and continued.

“Everyone hates me, thinking that I… kicked Miss Vellista out.”

“….”

“Daniel.”

Sylvia let out a teary voice.

This was how she survived and what she learned as a child. Knowing that Daniel always couldn’t resist that voice. she smiled as she thought it would be no different this time.

“Sylvia.”

However, it was different this time.

Calling her name, he lightly pushed her shoulder that was in her arms. Sylvia looked up at Daniel with a bewildered face, seeing him pushing her away.

“If you do it right.”

“…Daniel?”

“If you do it right, there’s no way the people in the mansion will hate you. They will accept you as their master without hating you. If you do it right.”

“That means…”

She shook her head.

…Did that mean she was not doing as well as Azela right now? Was that why people didn’t accept her? Was it all because of her? Sylvia clasped her hands tightly as she swallowed the questions she hadn’t asked.

No matter how long he waited, she didn’t continue to speak, so Daniel sighed and spoke.

“From now on, be careful with your behavior so that this kind of story doesn’t come out again.”

There wasn’t even a word of apology. Daniel didn’t say he was sorry for doubting her, but he didn’t show any remorse. When Sylvia didn’t answer, he continued again.

“Sylvia, you…”

“….”

“Do you love the child in your belly?”

Her eyes widened at Daniel’s tone as if he knew everything about her. For an instant, her tightly gripped hands loosened before she drew an awkward smile as her mouth twitched.

“Of course.”

“…Is that so.”

“Daniel, what about you?”

He silently looked at her stomach at her question.

Although it was more swollen than before, her belly did not have much feeling even though she was pregnant. As he gazed at her stomach, Daniel unknowingly thought to himself, ‘If only it had been Azela, not Sylvia, who had this child.’

Realizing what a cruel thought he had, he raised his hand and touched his forehead.

“…Sleep early. You’re pregnant, you better get a lot of sleep.”

When Daniel eventually turned away from her without answering, Sylvia’s expression was blank as she looked at his back.

“Daniel!”

She held back her shame and called out his name.

Thankfully, he stopped at her call. For a moment, she wondered what if he didn’t stop at her call. Sylvia made an artificial smile as she gently touched her stomach with her hands.

“Let’s sleep together, Daniel. My child wants to be with you.”

Turning his upper body, he looked silently at her stomach.

In that short moment, Sylvia had many thoughts in her mind. She was worried that he might abandon her. But soon, she was able to breathe a sigh of relief when Daniel nodded his head and said, ‘Yes, all right.’

He kicked everyone out of the bedroom and gave Sylvia his arm as a pillow, and then he stroked her stomach with a blank expression.

‘I’m sorry, but this child’s value ends here.’

Sylvia clenched her fists behind Daniel, and she smiled happily.

Until Azela died, this child would serve as an excuse to keep Daniel’s feet tied to her… but that was it. With her pregnancy, she would gradually lose her beauty. Her body would be ruined, and her skin would sag. Besides, because she was pregnant, she couldn’t quench his lust.

Obviously, if that happened, Daniel would try to turn his eyes to a woman other than her, and she would be abandoned by him.

…That would absolutely not be the case.

So, this child should not be born. That was it, only until Azela’s death.

‘All preparations are complete.’

Sylvia smiled blissfully as she closed her eyes in Daniel’s arms.

* * *

“Not this, or this…”

For the past few days, Chises had been buried only in books. The servants, who hadn’t seen him so engrossed even when he was at the academy, thought he was crazy at last.

“Crown Prince, is this correct?”

His closest aide, a Marquis’ Lord, who trusted and followed him, opened the book and asked. Chises, who read the page he opened slowly, raised his eyebrows and shouted loudly.

“Idiot, I made it clear that this is not it!”

“Forgive me…”

“…What the hell is it?”

Muttering to herself, he closed the book he was reading and opened the next one. In a matter of days, he looked through dozens of books but couldn’t find anything that would establish Zagnac’s identity. Chises bit his thumbnail in nervousness.

“Excuse me… Your Highness.”

“What!”

“I’ve been thinking… maybe a dragon?”

“Dragon?”

At those words, Chises took his eyes off the book and looked after him at his aide. As he turned his gaze to himself, the aide nodded his head briskly with a brightened face.

“Yes! According to what I learned during my academy days, dragons can transform into humans! And it is written here, too!”

He read the pages of the book his aide held out and nodded his head with a bewildered face.

A dragon could transform into a human, and once they become human, it was difficult to notice that they were a dragon. It was written that dragons liked shiny things, were rich in wealth and had a superior appearance since birth.

“…Yes, the characteristics are not wrong.”

Dragon…

Chises recalled the look in Zagnac’s eyes that he had met face-to-face at that time… the gaze that seemed to steal his soul without blinking his eyes. Besides, those eyes were full of murderous intent.

As the nape of his neck felt chilly, just by thinking about it again, he trembled and touched the nape of my neck. Just the memory of that time made the hair on his arms stand up, and goosebumps rose all over his body.

“Yes.”

Chises rubbed his chin and nodded his head and he jumped up from the chair he was sitting on. After reading the book, his aide was startled at Chises’ sudden jump and lowered his shoulders.

“Yes, you are right… There is a high probability that he is a dragon!”

He smiled brightly as if he finally got the answer. When he finally laughed, after looking through books together for several days, his aide nodded his head as if he could finally live. Still, the laughter didn’t last long.

Chises, who had been laughing, suddenly hardened his face.

“…But if it’s a dragon, why is he doing this here?”

“Yes?”

When he calmed down and sat back in his chair, his aide’s expression, which had brightened up, turned grim as well. Chises tilted his head and spoke again.

“Aren’t dragons really strong?”