Staring into his cold eyes reminded her all the reasons she wanted to hate him.

But she just could not.

He was detaining her solely for the child. And if she wasn’t carrying, she might as well vanish into thin air for all he cared, she thought grimly.

They stared at each other for a very long time, his eyes growing colder and colder and hers losing all its vibrance.

"Very well. What time should I expect this doctor?"

He stepped closer, so close that she could smell the scent of leather and candle wax on him.

"If you happen to be carrying my child, I will hunt you down and bring you back here." His voice was menacingly cold.

But she refused to let him scare her.

"And what would you tell everyone? That I miraculously became pregnant without being touched? No one would blame you for having desires! But what about me? You don’t seem to care about anything but your precious image, you fool!"

She hadn’t realized tears were streaming down her face until she tasted them.

Claire wiped them away with the back of her hand angrily, hating herself silently for breaking down in front of him.

But as she continued to wipe her eyes, the tears continued to flow.

She backed away, bumping into the wall.

"I have a life of my own too. Having a child for a man who doesn’t want me is hard enough to bear, I don’t want people whispering and throwing disdainful glances at me."

He began to say something but stopped.

"If you are with child, I will begin arrangement for a mating ceremony and a wedding to be carried out as quickly as possible." He said, his tone rough with an emotion she could not name.

Then, he turned and left.

She sank down to the floor but the tears seemed to cease as she watched him disappear along the hallway through her blurry eyes.

She had just made a fool of herself yet again.

The plan was to avoid him, but he was making such a simple task very hard for her.

He would marry her... but did he really want to? Or was he doing it for the sake of appearance?

The thought of the latter made her feel weak and down.

Wiping her face with her lace handkerchief, she rose to her feet and went in the other direction.

When she reached her room, she began to pack her things into her chest. She carefully left all the dresses he had gotten for her behind and packed the rest.

When she laid down to rest and catch her breath, she found herself smoothing her hand over her flat stomach.

Aurora came in later in the day to show her the new things she had sewn.

They shared a few lemon cakes before she decided she wanted to sleep.

She was sleeping a lot, she realized.

Claire awoke later in the night feeling very unsettled.

She decided to ring for a maid to bring up a meal for her.

Then after a while, there was a knock on the door.

It was dark outside and thunder cackled above.

A storm was coming. A very big one. She climbed down from the bed and stumbled on her barefoot to open the door.

When she opened it, she found a strange face staring back at her.

It wasn’t one of the maids she was used to seeing.

She was carrying a heavily decorated platter of food.

"My sister? Has she had dinner?"

The maid smiled faintly. "It is nearly midnight, my lady. Your sister must be fast asleep."

Nearly midnight?

She couldn’t possibly eat so late at night. But another glance at the food made her change her mind.

She stepped aside and allowed the maid to enter the room. She follows quietly behind the woman and watched her set the tray on the table beside the bed.

Then she skirted a curtsey and left the room as quietly as she had arrived.

Claire struggled with her laces and shrugged out of her dress before settling down on the bed and setting the tray on her lap.

Only after she had begun to eat the food did she realize that a lot of pains had been gone through to prepare such a buffet for her.

And on such short notice?

It was merely a few minutes after her ring that the maid had appeared.

Was she waiting for Claire to awaken? Claire brushed it off. It must have been Yeren. He must have had the meal prepared, she thought glumly.

She cleared her plate and drank down all the ale in the goblet.

If at all she were to be with child, was ale good for it? She wondered.

When she was done, she rang the bell again.

The same maid showed up and retrieved the tray from her without a word. The woman just nodded at her appreciation and vanished behind the large oak door.

And once again, she was left alone. Except she had a full stomach this time.

Claire settled down to sleep and was almost successful when her stomach began to groan.

It wasn’t just her stomach... the pain seemed to be coming from somewhere lower.

She adjusted her position and tried to sleep, hoping the pain would disappear when she awakened.

But that was not the case.

It began to feel like someone was sticking pins and needles all over her stomach.

She sat, wiping sweat from her forehead.

Her legs felt numb and her head began to hurt.

Restless, she slid down from the bed and tried to pace the room. 𝘧𝓇𝑒𝑒𝑤ℯ𝑏𝓃𝘰𝑣ℯ𝘭.𝘤ℴ𝘮

But as she stood on her two feet, she realized her mistake. Her head began to swirl in indefinite circles and her feet could barely support her weight.

She fell on her knees and brace her weight on her arms.

Then she began to cough. Her coughing turned into retching and all the food she had just eaten flowed out in a distorted mess.

The rest hung continued until there was nothing more to heave out.

Then she sat back on her hunches and tried to breathe.

The pain didn’t seem to abate even when she has just retched out her very guts.

Then she felt something slick along her legs.

She dug her fingers underneath her nightdress and searched for it. As soon as she touched it, she brought her hand close to the candle burning in the table beside her bed.

It was blood. But from where?

Her blood ran cold.