Duchess of the Glass House - Chapter 3

Reina was determined to face Edhar and she went to him.

She said quietly, while trying to hide her cold and sweaty palms.

“It doesn’t matter if you take her as your concubine.  But… but the next Duke of Hiseuvillian must be my child.”

Edhar laughed when he heard that.

“Do you think I don’t know how brothers have dog fights for succession?”

“…No.”

In the first place, he was able to marry her because he fought for it.

“If so, then there is no need for explanation. Moreover, I have no intention of bringing in another woman or having another child.”

“…Thank you.”

Her anxiety seemed to subside.

And three days later, Reina was robbed of her child.

She looked at her child’s empty cradle and cried.

“It’s my child. It’s my child!”

“Your child-”

Edhar, who came after hearing the news that the Duchess wasn’t in control, said quietly to Reina who couldn’t calm down.

“You can’t even hold your child.”

“……!”

“I can’t leave the responsibilities of my child to a mother like you.”

Edhar already found out that she couldn’t touch her child.

Reina begged Edhar to give her child back.

“I don’t need anything. So, please give me back Elman. Then I’ll live as if I’m dead.”

Because Reina came to his study on a daily basis, Edhar locked her up in the outbuilding.

“For the time being, you’d better cool yourself there.”

Reina used to stay in the outbuilding when she lived in the Duke of Vinoscht’s manor, and now she has to live in the outbuilding of the Duke of Hiseuvillian.

Once again she is trapped in the outbuilding, Reina was completely barred from the outside world.

She kept herself alive only with the meals brought by the old maid.

She tried to give up on life, but she couldn’t.

It was because of her child’s light blond hair that flickered in front of her eyes.

“E, my son.”

The solitude that came this time was more painful than when she was in Vinoscht.

She began to see things.

She saw her mother appearing in blood.

She saw her brother with an arm bent bizarrely.

She couldn’t forget the things she saw and ended up crying.

She was terrified of being alone, Reina screamed and begged them to let her leave the outbuilding.

‘I don’t care who it is. Anyone is good, so please, save me…….’

Maybe Edhar, the only one who faced her directly, would save her.

But she was completely abandoned.

* * *

Time passed without receiving any help.

Trapped in the outbuilding, Reina decided to die several times, but at the last minute she couldn’t do it.

It was because she wanted to see her child before dying.

‘I wish I could hold him in my arms once’

Although her hands were dirty, she thought she could at least hug him before dying.

And finally, Reina fell ill.

It was in winter, two months after the firewood was cut off.

Edhar sent a doctor to her, but her illness was already irreversible, like her life.

“You won’t live long….”

“……”

“The doctor said that you are going to die soon.”

She saw Edhar’s face, who looked very tired with a blurred vision.

“If you have anything you want tell me before I leave.”

Reina’s dying eyes shone brightly for a moment.

“I want to see my child El.”

That afternoon, the warmth came for the first time after the door of the outbuilding was closed.

The child clung to a dark-haired woman.

Reina shed tears as she saw her child, afraid of her and reluctant to come by her side.

She cried for the first time since she abandoned her life, a long time ago.

‘El…‘

The moment of her death finally came.

Reina was left with the regret of not being able to call the name of her child.

‘If I was given another chance, no matter what I go through, I won’t run away.’

Having memorized these same words over and over again, she gently opened her closed eyes.

A dazzling light poured into her vision.

It was her second chance.

Chapter 2: Change

The Sorci Empire was a vast empire, the beginning and end of the continent, the chariot of fire and the tower of ice.

There were many nobles with territories in the Sorsi Empire. This is because there were vast territories that could be granted as a feudal land.

However, only two families have the title of duke.

The Duke of Vinoscht, called the Chariot of Fire, and the Duke of Hiseuvillian, called the Tower of Ice.

The two dukedoms had a manor as large as their prestige.

Their power was so great that even the emperor couldn’t speak down to the Duke who succeeded his title.

Donovan, who served as a butler for generations in the Duke of Hisvillian Territory, was proud that his master was the only duke in the Empire.

Just one thing, he had a new concern these days.

“I don’t know what to do.”

Reina Vinoscht.

he is the daughter of the Duke of Vinoscht and the woman who married the Duke of Hieusvillian to become the Duchess of Hesvillian.

However, that woman was famous for the notoriety of ‘cursed vinoscht’ more than any other modifier.

A girl who ate her mother and her little brother.

It was really unpleasant that such a woman became the hostess of Hiseuvillian.

Because of this, the Hiseuvillian vassals did not hesitate to reproach her.

Donovan imagined a woman standing next to his master with long pale pink hair.

‘It would have been fine even if they didn’t match, but they didn’t match too much.’

Abandoning his useless imagination, he headed toward the restaurant.

He had to make sure that the fruit requested by the woman was ready.

Not long ago, a woman who was very ill had opened her mouth, which was closed like a clam, and asked for a thing after another.

‘I want to eat fresh fruit, so bring seasonal fruits.’

‘You are telling me to eat this watery taste?  Prepare again with grilled deer.’

‘It’s free, so please bring me some books or cross-stitch tools to read.’

After all, it was undeniable that she was the hostess of Hiseuvillian.

So Donovan faithfully fulfilled the woman’s demands.

‘I heard that she didn’t open her mouth even in Vinoscht. For what reason did she open her mouth now.’

‘I was curious, but I couldn’t disobey my master who ordered me to comply with any of that woman’s demands.’

At the time Donovan was busy walking around the mansion.

Reina was buried all day in the finest blanket and lying down.

It looked embarrassing as she wrapped her body tightly in a blanket, but she didn’t care.

‘No matter how others see it, it doesn’t matter.’

She had no one to enter her room without permission anyway.

She gently stroked the flat belly under the fluffy blanket.

“El are you sleeping?  How are you feeling today?”

Reina spoke in a very small voice to the life in her stomach.

The fact that such luck came was still like a dream.

She didn’t know by any means or for what reason she came back in time.

However, the moment Reina realized that she had returned to the time she was pregnant with El, she didn’t care about anything else.

Because she felt like everything was going to disappear like a bubble if she doubted it.

‘Congratulations. You are pregnant.’

A week ago, when Reina opened her eyes, she heard a doctor affirming her pregnancy.

She cried, while laughing out loud like a mad person.

Her overwhelming joy engulfed her more than any other feeling in her life.

Her moment of joy passed and she quickly regained her composure.

‘I can’t tell Edhar about my pregnancy right now.’

She thought she had to notify him as late as possible.  Because she didn’t want to lose the child twice.

Reina threatened the doctor to buy time.

‘Keep your mouth shut for a while.’

‘What? How could I…?’

‘Doctor. Do you think I am asking you for a favor?’

‘……’

‘I’m commanding now as a ‘Vinoscht’.’

She still felt it difficult to speak out loud to others, but at that time threats came out of her mouth.

‘I still don’t understand how it was possible.’

That was the first time I had threatened another person.

It was half a gamble, but it was possible because I was convinced the doctor would listen to me.

As Reina expected, the doctor gave in easily.

The pregnant belly will be brought to the point where it is impossible to hide, so it will be discovered soon.

“El..…”

Reina subconsciously raised her hand and placed it on her belly.

Reina swept her belly gently, recalling her child.

She couldn’t even touch him, but now that he’s in her stomach she can pat him like this again and again.

In her previous life she had never done anything prenatal.

Ordinary pregnant women worked hard on prenatal education by reading liberal arts books and listening to orchestras.

But Reina whispered a word to her child over and over again.

‘Don’t resemble me, resemble Edhar…’

Even now, that thought has not changed.

But, maybe she could have told El a little more…

That’s what I thought.

Soon, Reina shook her head.

‘What am I thinking about?’

The past timeline is irreversible anyway.

After a short time, Reina thought of what would happen in the future.