As though he intended to receive every filthy thing she hurled at him, he merely tightened his embrace around her thrashing body while drawing ragged breaths.
Because of that...
She became even more wretched.
Even more despicable.
Just blame me.
The way I blame myself.
It was I who tried to have a child with a body like this.
It was I who failed to protect that child.
I know that too.
So say it.
Tell me it's all my fault.
Tell me I brought this upon myself.
Tell me I killed our baby.
Fall into this abyss with me.
Roll together with me in the mud.
Break apart until you're as ruined as I am.
She looked up at him with both desperate longing and a curse burning in her eyes.
Through the tears blurring her vision, she saw a face twisted in utter [N O V E L I G H T] anguish.
Yet he remained someone who could never descend to the bottom where she existed.
The only one who became pitiful and miserable was always herself.
The man who endlessly made her feel shabby...
Insignificant...
At last, all strength to resist left her.
Her limbs fell limp.
A dry wind swept through the hollow chest where everything had long since burned away, leaving nothing but ashes.
The thick dust swirling inside her finally escaped her lips.
"...From now on... I'll never trust you again."
She felt the body pressed seamlessly against hers grow rigid.
Yet in the end, he said nothing.
He merely tightened the arms wrapped around her and leaned his exhausted body against the headboard.
A silence like a field of ruins settled over them.
At some point, the baby's crying had stopped.
Yet Talia felt no relief whatsoever.
* * *
Not long afterward, rumors began spreading throughout Laedgo Castle that the Grand Duchess had fallen into madness.
Although the stern chief maid relentlessly kept the maids' mouths under control, the whispering refused to die down.
Ever since regaining consciousness, the woman who had done nothing but sleep like someone who had lost her soul had suddenly begun venting every imaginable outburst upon the Grand Duke.
More than once, the desperate words of resentment and curses she hurled at him carried through the door and echoed into the corridor.
Sometimes they also heard objects shattering and cloth being torn apart.
Whenever the disturbance finally subsided and they rushed into the room after being summoned, they found the Grand Duchess unconscious amid utter devastation.
Only the Grand Duke seemed untouched.
As though nothing at all had happened, the man with the face of ice calmly instructed them in his cold voice to summon a priest.
The stunned maids immediately obeyed.
The same scene repeated itself over and over.
Since the Grand Duke never once yielded, the woman's violent outbursts only became more severe with each passing day.
Little by little, the voices sympathizing with the Grand Duchess began to fade.
Many even muttered that while it was tragic she had lost her first child so senselessly, it was too cruel to direct all that resentment toward the innocent Grand Duke.
Yet even those who whispered such criticism behind her back found themselves falling silent the moment they actually saw her face.
The woman who had wandered the gardens throughout autumn and winter with flushed cheeks and a dreamlike smile had lost every trace of life, becoming little more than a ghost.
Those who occasionally witnessed her slipping past the Grand Duke's ironclad watch, wandering aimlessly through the castle, could not help understanding why he endured every one of her desperate outbursts without complaint.