Chapter 6
The elevator carrying Christine and Lucy began to go up.
“Um…”
“Yes, please speak.”
“No, it’s nothing.”
Christine wanted to ask more, but she hesitated and eventually gave up.
The elevator stopped on the 10th floor. Lucy led her to Room 1001.
The entire 10th floor was one giant suite.
Christine gave a weak laugh—it was nothing like her small apartment.
An attendant inside the suite bowed politely.
“Hello, my lady. I’m here to assist you.”
“I’m fine.”
“This is the president’s order.”
The attendant looked awkward. Christine smiled and shook her head.
“He has nothing to do with me. Please leave. I’ll be okay on my own. It’s uncomfortable with someone else here.”
“Understood. If you need anything, please call me.”
After the attendant left, Christine went into the bathroom.
“Sigh…”
She knew it wouldn’t make sense to go back to her apartment tonight.
She had too many questions for him. So she decided to wash up and wait.
She soaked in the warm bath.
‘So many things happened today…’
Her face darkened.
“If he was just living his life normally… why is he suffering like this? I wish it was just a headache or even a lie…”
It hadn’t even been a year since their divorce.
What had happened in that short time?
‘I’m pretty sure he’s really sick.’
Just that alone made her feel unsettled. Her mind was a mess.
After soaking in the bath for a while, she felt even more tired.
She had a lot to ask him.
After drying her hair and changing into comfortable pajamas, she gently rubbed her round belly and sat in the rocking chair.
She tried to stay awake and wait for Seimon, who still hadn’t come up from the lobby. But her eyelids were getting heavier.
Why isn’t he here yet? Is he still too sick to come up?
‘I’m so tired…’
Compared to the small apartment she lived in now, this spacious and luxurious hotel suite made her feel more at ease.
The baby inside her, clearly of Deirt blood, also seemed to enjoy this kind of environment more.
‘Genes really are interesting…’
That was her last thought before she dozed off in the rocking chair.
Hurry up and come, Seimon. Stop being in pain.
A while later, Seimon arrived at the suite.
He came in with Lucy and silently looked at Christine, who had fallen asleep in the rocking chair.
“…”
Lucy glanced at her silent boss.
His long lashes covered his thoughtful eyes—she couldn’t tell what he was thinking.
“Sir, is your headache—”
“Shh.”
Just as Lucy was about to ask if he was okay, Seimon gave a quick gesture for her to lower her voice.
He whispered:
“Leave. I’ll call if I need anything.”
“Yes, sir.”
Lucy nodded and turned around.
She was shocked to learn that her boss and his ex-wife had a child together, but it was a secret.
Just like the fact that he had a terminal illness.
What would happen to the Deirt family now?
And now, Princess Christine—part of the royalists—was involved in this mess.
Lucy frowned slightly, sighed, and left the room, closing the door behind her.
Seimon pulled a chair close and looked silently at Christine sleeping peacefully.
Her platinum-blonde hair, her eyes closed but hiding those clear green eyes, her small face and body…
And her round belly.
How can such a small belly hold a baby?
He frowned slightly. Watching her walk made him nervous. Her tiny body looked like it could fall over at any moment with that big belly.
When he reunited with her, seeing her pregnant shocked him. She looked so unsteady he almost ran to catch her.
Maybe I should just carry her everywhere.
But Christine would never allow that. She was a proud royal.
He had long stopped wondering if the child was someone else’s.
If it were another man’s, she would’ve been much calmer about it.
“Don’t trouble your mom too much, okay?”
Seimon finally spoke softly to the baby.
I wonder if the baby can hear me.
“…Hoo.”
He smiled at the thought of the baby safe inside her belly, then sighed.
What exactly do I feel about this woman?
When she insisted the baby wasn’t his, he had scoffed.
He was sure. The dates lined up perfectly—it was his child, conceived while they were still married.
Christine, raised in the noble Oredot family, would never have done something disgraceful.
His thoughts blurred as he stared at her.
Why do I want to hold onto her so badly? Is it obsession from her disappearing without a word?
While Seimon was away on a two-month business trip to the Kingdom of Carlisle, Christine vanished.
When he returned, her bedroom and belongings were gone. The empty space shocked him.
Then, Duke Deirt—his father—gave him the divorce papers, confirming they were no longer married.
Apparently, she had broken one of the marriage contract rules. When Seimon asked what it was, his father stayed silent.
Seimon was furious.
They had lived together for over two years. Even a pet would acknowledge someone after that long.
But she left—without a word—and wandered off alone as the last remaining royal.
She really treated me worse than a dog.
From that moment, Seimon searched desperately for Christine.
Months passed with no results.
Suspicious, he started digging deeper and found out that his father had been hiding her.
He immediately stormed into his father’s study.
The conversation went like this:
“She’s not a woman who wants to live with you.”
“I know that.”
“Then why are you chasing her like a madman?”
“I don’t know! Maybe if I see her, I’ll understand why I’m acting like this.”
“Mm…”
Seimon snapped out of his thoughts when Christine let out a soft sound.
She was tossing in her sleep, uncomfortable. He carefully picked her up.
…She was too light.
“Tch. I don’t like this at all.”
He scoffed. How could a pregnant woman be so thin?
She should’ve gained weight—rounded out—but she was much too slim.
She never told him the real reason she wanted a divorce. He had no idea it was because she was pregnant.
He couldn’t help but scoff again.
He resented his father most in this moment—for agreeing to the divorce and letting her flee to the Republic of Lohas just because she was pregnant.
She’s still part of the Deirt bloodline. Half-Oredot, sure, but also your grandchild.
“And you… you were unfair, too.”
She didn’t trust him. She ran away in fear.
Seimon looked at her with a mix of affection and frustration.
Then, he gently placed her in the middle of the big bed.
He lay next to her, brushing her hair with his fingers.
A strange emptiness in his chest finally felt whole.
Ah…
His heart tingled.
Now he understood.
“Hah…”
He gave a small laugh and covered his eyes with the back of his hand.
“Father… now I know why I acted like a madman.”
It was her. I just wanted to hear her breathing again.
I never wanted to separate from Christine.
He looked at her for a while, then went to the study.
He picked up a pen and a blank sheet of paper.
His thoughts were heavy, but he kept his hand steady as he wrote a long letter.
It was a will.
It started with the words:
“For the protection of my heir, the next successor of the Deirt family…”
But the first person to read this will wasn’t Duke Deirt.
It was Christine.
