Chapter 71
“Even Madam doesn’t want you to be like this. What food should I make to give you energy?”
“Thank you for your concern, but I’ll eat next time.”
He didn’t give in even to Walter’s words. Eventually, the butler had no choice but to leave, leaving Kyle and Rosalind in the room.
The door opened, and Walter stepped out. Two young maids snuck in and peered through the gap. The maids were watching with sad eyes at the Madam’s figure, who was lying motionless, and the Master, who did not leave her side.
Among them, the maid with round eyes asked Walter carefully.
“If Madam can’t wake up, like this…”
“What nonsense! Don’t say anything ominous.”
Walter’s languid voice fell like a scolding. Isis, who had served Rosalind, could not leave the door either because she was very worried.
“Madam will wake up. She will…”
No sound could be heard through the thick door, and Isis stared silently at the closed door. Thinking of her master, who must be anxious.
“…Rosalind.”
When the doctor and the maid disappeared, Kyle was alone in the room. He was affectionately speaking to Rosalind, who didn’t answer. It was a calm tone though the end of those words was deeply stained with pity.
“It’s good enough as it is, and I’m so happy, but I think I did something bad to you.”
He muttered to himself as he looked at Rosalind’s dry face. He didn’t get her pregnant on purpose, and he didn’t do anything really bad, but now he just felt as if everything that had happened, including pregnancy and childbirth, was solely her fault.
She wouldn’t have been so sick if she hadn’t been pregnant with a child.
“It doesn’t matter if you don’t have children… To me, Rosalind, you know the most important thing.”
‘Why do I seem to do so many bad things to you?’
Just looking at her, he thought of all sorts of things. When he asked for a divorce from her, Kyle had denied God. He even thought he was receiving such severe punishment because he did not believe in God.
Suddenly, Rosalind opened her round eyes, and her face as she stared at him passed by. Like a fresh flower, she was such a vivid woman.
“I should have paid more attention.”
Even though he was concerned enough with Rosalind to call it overprotective, when the situation turned out like this, it just felt like everything was wrong. What should he do? What should he do so she wouldn’t get sick…
“Let’s not have any more children. Go see your favorite tree, go on a picnic, and go to the sea with Leo as before. I will do anything you want…”
Please, just get up.
He ran through Rosalind’s unmoving hair and kissed her round forehead. The body temperature touching the top of his lips was hot, but the breath that flowed out was only feeble. It broke his heart to see her, who had always chattered affectionately, lying so pale.
I just want you to wake up.
She didn’t have to be friendly anymore, and she didn’t have to chatter like before, so just be safe…….
Water seeped into the corners of his eyes. Slowly his face darkened, and his vision became dizzy. Still, instead of covering his eyes, he stroked Rosalind’s cheek with the tip of his thumb.
“No matter how bad I’ve been, isn’t this too much?”
Right?
He spoke in a desperate voice.
Don’t be so mean to me. You’re not like this.
Kyle grabbed Rosalind’s hand and he tightly clasped the small, pale hands. As he took her cold hand to his lips, at that moment, the sound of his lips touching softly resonated, and a faint voice of a woman was suddenly heard.
“—le.”
When he heard a small whisper, he doubted his ears. He thought he was hearing a hallucination, but the sound came again.
“…Kyle.”
It was Rosalind’s voice.
Rosalind.
He repeated her name into her mouth.
“Don’t cry.”
His face was blank for a moment as if in disbelief, then he looked relieved when she reached out her hand and wiped the corners of his eyes. It was such a deep and complex face that it was impossible to express with simple relief.
“I thought you were handsome in any shape, but I don’t like you crying face.”
Kyle, who normally would have responded with something, just stared at her without saying anything.
As she put her hand on the bed to get her body up, he tried to persuade her not to overdo it though she managed to get her body up halfway. Rosalind gazed at Kyle, barely leaning her body against the head of the bed.
“Why… don’t you say anything? Is my joke too…”
“…Rosalind.”
He hugged her close to her.
“Although it was a little unfair that I was the only one crying, to see the Duke crying like this.”
Rosalind had a small smile in his arms.
“Are you teasing me now?”
“It’s true…”
He looked back at Rosalind’s face carefully, every corner, as if to burn it into his eyes.
“I’m going to call the doctor.”
“…Before that, I want to see the child.”
He tried to open his mouth to say no, but Rosaline repeated her words firmly.
“The child.”
Her resolute expression forced him to have the maid call the nanny. Shortly after his order, the nanny entered the room holding a baby in a swaddle. She couldn’t take her eyes off it as if possessed the whole time the child entered, then she reached out her hands to the nanny.
“Madam, can you hold her?”
The nanny was concerned for Rosalind, who had just regained consciousness, but she nodded her head.
When the nanny handed the child into her arms, she held it very carefully. Although it was a small child, she felt a lot of weight. It was surprising to her that she had given birth to such a small but distinct life.
“The miss is very, very gentle.”
“…You are Sea.”
Rosalind spoke in a voice that was full of emotion in her. As her fetal name suggests, the baby had blue eyes.
“Sea, I am Mom. Mom is very happy that you were born safely.”
She looked at the child in her arms with infinitely endless eyes like the deep sea. She even touched the child’s blushing cheek, curiously.
The child’s cheeks were hot and soft.
Looking at Sea like this, she remembered the first time she gave birth to Leo. In Leo’s time, it was much easier without any difficulties, but strangely, with Sea, it was several times more difficult than it was then.
She once heard the words of the wives who clicked their tongues saying, ‘It was a pity that they had a child,’ and it was a painful time that suddenly crossed her mind. However, when she finally hugged the child, she felt like she was being compensated for that several times more.
Rosalind, unable to take her eyes off the child, turned her gaze to Kyle.
“Would the Duke like to hold her, too?”
Still, he didn’t say anything.
“Why don’t you hold the child?”
“What is pretty?”
He turned his head away.
“When I think of you lying in bed the whole time…”
Kyle lost his words and kept his mouth shut. Even if he didn’t have to explain it, she could feel how much he cared for her all this time.
Rosalind looked at him and opened her mouth again.
“But please, hold her. She was born between the two of us.”
Still, his gaze was not on the child, but on Rosalind.
“The Duke said what is pretty, but in my eyes… I think she’s pretty because she resembles me. Look at this, doesn’t she look exactly like me?”
He pretended not to win and took the child from her. As he held her in his arms, the baby’s characteristic soft and warm feeling was transmitted to him.
The child’s face, whose flesh was round like a puffed-up bread, was innocent. The tiny little fingers wiggle and move in his arms. He gazed still at the child’s face, then gently placed one of his fingers in her wriggling hand.
The child gently squeezed his hand.
“…I would be so heartbroken if she made you suffer in the future.”
“I’ve heard it somewhere, but it is said that children who had a tough birth will grow up docile.”
“How can an innocent child make her father feel like this.”
“It’s not like Sea knows. I’m just happy she is this healthy.”
He answered her words a little sarcastically.
“What’s the point of knowing or not knowing? Still, you are so sick.”
“I will get better soon. I promise. I’ll get better soon.”
“You have to keep your promise.”
With Kyle’s words, Rosalind nodded her head several times. At that moment, the sound of the child’s laughter broke out. It was a lovely laugh.
“Come on, ah.”
“This is going to make me a baby.”
“Then, there will be two babies.”
At his witty remarks, Rosalind burst into laughter.
“Why do you always try to feed me every time I get sick?”
“Come on.”
Kyle put the spoon in front of her again, giving her no compromise. Rosalind hesitated for a moment, and then she slowly took it and ate it.
The warmth and tenderness of the stew spread into her mouth. At first, she was hesitant to eat, but now she was eating like it was normal. Anyway, he never let go of the bowl until she emptied it, so she had to force herself to eat it all.
“Thinking of not being with you when you gave birth to Leo…”
He looked at her as she swallowed the stew.
“…I want to do everything I can.”
A little startled by his unexpected remark, Rosalind turned to face Kyle. She didn’t know that he was feeding her with such thoughts. She just thought he was taking care of her just because she was sick, that simple.
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