The Nanny of House Herzen - Chapter 26
Carius asked back in confusion.
“You want to marry me? Are you serious?”
But Hestina did not answer immediately. It was unlike her to be so hesitant. After some pressing, she reluctantly spoke up.
“Actually, I….”
She confessed she had a lover.
Hestina’s story was shocking. She planned to escape with her lover once the public attention faded after their marriage.
“Please let them think I died of illness. You can do that, you’re a Duke, a man… You can remarry anytime.”
As she made this outrageous request, tears streamed down her face.
Hestina had fallen in love with a man of no significant status, which was not Carius’s fault. Yet, her attitude suggested she blamed him, which was absurd to him.
However, Carius eventually agreed to her request. He was intrigued by Hestina’s desperation to sacrifice everything for love, and he had no desire to marry anyone else.
They married, and Hestina continued her affair. Carius did not mind.
In fact, he hoped the day she would leave Herzen would come soon. He had never really despised her, he was just waiting for her to fulfill their agreement.
One day, the head maid came to him, visibly uneasy.
“Sir, something is wrong with the Madam. She hasn’t left her bed for days, and she won’t let anyone near her….”
Puzzled, Carius went to see her and found his cousin with a deathly pale face, crying silently.
“Hestina…?”
“Carius!”
She clung to him, trembling, and the story that spilled from her quivering lips was horrifying.
“He, he said…he’s getting married to another noblewoman officially. He’s become a son-in-law…”
“What about you?”
“What do I do, Carius… I’m pregnant!”
Despite his attempts to find out who the father was, she wept and would not say.
To make matters worse, she looked far in her term.
His pitiful cousin was lost. One night, heavily pregnant and bearing another man’s child, she came to Carius’s room.
“Please, hold me… I beg you.”
But Carius could not do that. No matter how pitiful she seemed. He did not want to live like his father.
Hestina, in her nightgown, had come pleading and crying. The next day, after his final refusal, Hestina prematurely gave birth and subsequently passed away as if to spite him.
She did leave him, as promised.
Hestina’s death left Carius with a different sense of superiority. It left him with a blonde-haired baby whose father was unknown.
It was utterly useless. So much so, he was willing to starve it to death.
* * *
“Waaah! Waaah!”
Evelyn returned, held tightly by the guards. Johanson in her arms cried out loudly as if instinctively sensing something.
Evelyn soothed the baby as she regretted her rash decision. Perhaps escaping through the forest once had given her a false sense of confidence.
Reality was different. Evelyn was caught before she could get far.
Part of her had hoped that since the Duke wanted to rid himself of the child, he might turn a blind eye to her leaving. But the menacing gaze looking down at her suggested she might have been mistaken.
As she gently patted the child, the Duke commanded sharply.
“Take the baby away, it’s too noisy.”
Evelyn inhaled deeply, clinging tightly to Johanson. The head maid approached, stretching out her arms for the child, but Evelyn didn’t let go. She pleaded with trembling lips.
“Since you don’t care for the child anyway…”
His dark eyes pierced her as if seeing through her soul.
“Just ignore us, and I will live as if dead… I will never visit you again.”
“Waaah! Waaah!”
Even Johanson wouldn’t help and kept crying. Carius said in a tone devoid of emotion.
“If you don’t put the baby down now, I will kill it.”
Tears flooded from Evelyn’s blue eyes.
“My lord…”
“And I’ll kill that blabbermouth who spoke too much.”
Evelyn turned to see the stablehand kneeling down.
The head maid reached out again. Looking up, Evelyn saw the head maid’s eyes were red.
‘I’m sorry…’
Evelyn muttered inside. She finally handed Johanson over helplessly. Then the Duke ordered.
“Everyone, leave.”
With all human presence and the sound of the baby’s cries, everything faded away.
Evelyn was terrified of the man threatening to kill the child. She feared that the little one would end up filling one of those glass jars in that dreadful room.
She got down on her knees and begged with her whole body trembling.
“Use me instead.”
“What?”
“Even if you hate the baby… she’s too small…”
Her murmuring voice didn’t quite reach Carius’ ears properly. Only one phrase was clearly repeated.
“Use me instead… use me instead…”
Carius sighed once more.
“What should I use you for? You tried to escape, how should I put you to use?”
“….I’m sorry.”
He massaged his forehead as if a headache was coming on.
“Tell me why you tried to leave. Make me understand, speak clearly. If you don’t confess honestly, I will kill the child.”
