We’re Married, After All - Chapter 47

Could that be why? Is that why she hasn’t said anything until now? Or… is it because of what’s in her womb?

Each hypothesis that came to mind made his chest tighten as though it were being crushed. His mind told him he needed to figure out why Laurea was hiding her pregnancy, but he could barely breathe. It felt as though his heart were being carved apart with a knife.

Of course, an ordinary person might have first reflected on their own faults. It would make sense for Laurea to keep her pregnancy a secret if Danel’s suspicious behavior and the terrible things he had done were driving her to do so.

But Danel was quick to dismiss that theory. Knowing Laurea as he did, the answer was obvious—Laurea wouldn’t pay him that much attention.

Eventually, Danel lost his composure and stormed out of his study. Laurea was currently in the sitting room on the second floor, a space she had been using as her office ever since she stopped practicing with her spear.

Knock, knock.

Danel mustered every ounce of patience he had left and knocked on the door. Normally, he wouldn’t dare invade Laurea’s space. He had never even approached her voluntarily before.

But as soon as the door opened, Danel grabbed Laurea roughly and lifted her into his arms. Before she could say a word, he seized her lips in a ravenous kiss. Bang! The door slammed shut with a loud, jarring noise behind them.

“Mmmph! Mmm…”

Laurea’s hands pushed hard against his shoulders. She could have bitten the invading tongue that was ravaging her mouth, but she didn’t. After a few strokes against the tender inner flesh, she stopped resisting altogether.

Danel reached the desk and swept everything on top of it to the floor with one hand. The room filled with the sound of objects falling and papers fluttering to the ground. Lowering Laurea onto the now-empty desk, he continued the feverish kiss.

“Hah… hah… haah…”

Laurea panted heavily as their lips parted, her flushed, heat-filled eyes glaring at him sharply.

“It’s still daytime. I mean, I’m not even—”

“I won’t go all the way.”

“That’s not what I—mmph!”

Danel’s lips captured hers again, cutting her off mid-sentence. This time, the kiss wasn’t as frantic as before. His hot tongue slid smoothly into her mouth, tracing and caressing with deliberate care.

At the same time, his hand found her chest and squeezed. It wasn’t small to begin with, but recently it had become noticeably fuller, rounder. How had he missed all the signs of her pregnancy? He cursed his own stupidity.

“Ah… haah… mm…”

Sweet, muffled sounds filled the space between their mouths. He couldn’t help but notice how easily Laurea responded to him today.

Of course, it could have been his imagination. It had been a long time since he had been so on edge, and perhaps his heightened senses were playing tricks on him.

But Laurea was undeniably sensitive today. Her soft, petal-like lips moved restlessly against his, as though seeking something more. Before long, she murmured the words he hadn’t expected to hear:

“Put it in…”

Danel swore to himself that he wouldn’t. He had no intention of lowering his pants, of burying himself in that slick, inviting warmth and losing himself in the pleasure. Instead, keeping his mind clear and observing Laurea’s reactions was far more comforting to him right now.

However, the sole redeeming quality of these moments was that they made Danel yield and indulge Laurea’s pleas. He found himself inexplicably happy every time she demanded more of him.

“Ahh, hahh, ngh… Yes, there! Just a bit more… Ahhh!”

Deeper. Harder. Hotter. With each movement, Laurea begged for more.

In those moments, Danel often fell into the illusion that Laurea truly desired him. Of course, he knew better. He knew that even now, she wouldn’t reveal to him what she was carrying in her womb. Still, he couldn’t bring himself to leave that fantasy.

Recently, he had started to deliberately let himself indulge in that false feeling. He entertained the notion that perhaps, one day, Laurea would demand so much from him that she might finally ask for him entirely.

And if that day came, he told himself, he would seal off everything he had built so far, lock the gates of the fortress tight, and ensure that no one could ever come near her. He devised plans akin to delusions and reveled in them.

Yet even in the throes of their union, with himself buried deeply inside Laurea, the nagging anxiety refused to fade.

“…”

Danel’s lips parted as if to speak, but then shut tightly again. He wanted to say something—anything. He knew that even if his words were clumsy or imperfect, Laurea might at least listen to him for once. But no sentences formed in his mind. Not even a single word came to him.

Five days later, one of the agents Danel had assigned to monitor Laurea approached him. They hadn’t even completed a full week of surveillance, but there was a reason for their early return: Laurea’s actions had been far too suspicious.

Unlike other areas, Laurea’s behavior in this particular region stood out—she frequently disappeared. Curious, an investigation revealed that Laurea had been renting a workhorse from a commoner, paying a significant amount for its use.

The horse, though not fast, was sturdy enough to traverse rough mountain paths. Indeed, Laurea had been taking trails inaccessible to riding horses. This meant she could not be secretly followed while mounted, leaving her exact destination unknown. However, it was clear that she wasn’t staying close to the area.

Danel felt as though the inevitable had finally arrived. The hypothesis he least wanted to believe was now emerging as the most plausible answer.

In truth, the simplest explanation for all of Laurea’s suspicious behavior was an affair. Hiding her pregnancy, her desperate attempts to please him—everything made sense if there was another man involved.

Danel was well aware of Laurea’s enjoyment of their physical intimacy. But he also knew that pleasure could easily be found in the arms of another man.

He clutched his already shattered heart, now broken into irreparable pieces.

Still, it might be something else. There could be a reason for her absences unrelated to a clandestine meeting. There had to be. Clinging to this hope, Danel pulled out a map, determined to refuse the possibility that Laurea no longer saw him as significant. With all his remaining strength, he scrutinized the map.

And then, a realization struck him—a fact so evident to him that it was undeniable.

“Hah…,” Danel sighed unconsciously, his fingers tracing over the map. What she sought could not be charted on any map.

Monks never used horses or carriages. They traveled long distances on foot, enduring hardship to understand their own insignificance and grow spiritually.

Danel himself had walked endlessly during his days in the monastery. However, unlike other monks who sought divine enlightenment through their journeys, Danel had a different purpose in mind.

The world is vast and steadfast, yet humans are such insignificant beings, exhausted merely from traversing a fraction of it.”

Danel had never indulged in such philosophical musings.

But walking until his feet blistered seemed to dull the overwhelming hate and love that filled his mind. That was why most of his journeys were made on foot.

Walking taught him the paths of the mountains—the rugged trails navigable only on foot, or at most, on a mule or a packhorse. Such paths were rarely recorded on maps, as they were impassable for carriages or even warhorses.

His long fingers traced over the blank spaces on the map where no paths were marked. Those gaps represented roads not officially recorded, but ones etched firmly in his memory.

“…”

Danel remembered those roads solely because of the decade he spent as a monk. He had feigned devotion, mimicking the fervor of a pious man who would seek out lost souls searching for God.

His violet eyes lingered on the letters under his fingertip.

Ramprey Castle.

The place where Laurea’s original husband was imprisoned.