I Had No Complaints About This Marriage - Chapter 32
Out of camaraderie, she thought she could tell the woman to live well on her own, but the child…
‘…Should I offer to take and raise it first?’
Then she might even stand taller before Herman. A guilty Herman might treat her better in other ways, too.
Not that he wasn’t treating her well now, but just in case…
‘Let’s see.’
If the child in question was still a newborn, she could even insist it was hers. Having a child between them would strengthen their marriage, and Duke Telloien wouldn’t be able to drive a wedge between them so easily.
‘I wouldn’t even have to go through the pain of childbirth.’
Wouldn’t that be even better?
Given that she’d had plenty of relations with Herman and still hadn’t conceived, pregnancy must be quite difficult.
‘No, wait—if he’d gone that far…’
The fact that she still hadn’t gotten pregnant was a problem. Esina paused at the sudden realization.
‘Since Herman has an illegitimate child, he’s not exactly a seedless watermelon.’
Then the problem was her.
‘Well.’
Esina accepted it without much doubt.
Even in the original work, there was no mention of Esina bearing Baron Elzen’s child. Instead, she had often committed insane acts out of jealousy toward the heroine for carrying the male lead’s child.
She had even tried to procure dangerous drugs from the black market to induce a miscarriage in the pregnant heroine and once attempted to sell her to a back-alley slave trader.
Some readers speculated, based on Esina’s vicious actions and certain hints in the story, that she must be infertile. That included Esina herself in her past life, who had been one of those readers.
“Of course, now I have no intention of trapping the heroine or anything like that…”
Esina glanced down at her body. A narrow pelvis, a sunken stomach—her frame was too small. The only saving grace was her chest, though even that had only slightly filled out after Herman’s relentless attention.”
‘Doesn’t look like a child would take root in there, does it?’
Memories surfaced of her time in the Rehier family, when Roger had tormented her so badly that her periods often skipped. Still, those past events felt distant, as if they’d happened to someone else, so they didn’t weigh on her too heavily.
‘Not that I’d want to go back to those days, though.’
The best course was still to maintain this marriage for the long haul.
‘Alright, I’ve decided.’
Esina’s wavering mind now fully leaned toward registering the illegitimate child as her own. The only issue was figuring out where to track the child down…
“Ah!”
Just then, the perfect place came to mind.
‘Good. I’ll go there when I have time…’
Esina was just burning with motivation when—
Knock knock.
“Esina.”
Herman rapped on the bedroom door. Since it was locked, the handle rattled noisily.
“…Just a moment!”
Startled, Esina hastily shoved the contraceptives and letters she’d been sorting into a leather pouch and shoved it under the bed. After all, those pills were her precious emergency fund.
“…Come in!”
After frantically sweeping everything away and barely scrambling to her feet, she called out and opened the door.
Herman, who’d been left waiting outside a little too long, looked slightly irritated. She was about to apologize when—
“…….”
Herman stared at her with a strange expression. His gaze grew subtly intense.
“…Why’d you lock the door?”
“Huh?”
“Alone. In broad daylight.”
There was a vaguely suggestive undertone to his words.
As his eyes slowly trailed down her body, Esina instinctively followed his gaze and looked down at herself.
“…….”
Earlier, while scrambling on the floor to stash things under the bed, the neckline of her dress had slipped perilously low—so much so that the edges of her areolas were nearly visible. Her hair was disheveled, her breath uneven, and the hem of her dress crumpled. It was practically an invitation for misunderstanding. At this rate, it looked like she’d been caught doing something indecent alone.
“…That’s—”
Unable to hide her embarrassment, she tugged up her neckline and tried to sidestep away. But Herman caught her wrist before she could.
“Herman?”
“…….”
