Suddenly, the thought of what it would have been like if Barcas Raedgo Sheerkhan had married the First Princess as planned.
Politically, that would have been much more helpful. There would never have been such discord between the Sheerkhan family and the Crown Prince as it is now.
But for some reason, he couldn't easily imagine Barcas taking another woman as his wife.
"We've left our guests standing there for too long. Come on, follow me. I'll give you a room so you can rest."
Tyrone, who had been lost in thought, suddenly came to his senses. As he turned around, he saw Darren personally leading the northerners.
He walked to the outbuilding and threw a light scolding over his shoulder.
"You should go and take a bath. It doesn't make sense."
Tyrone let out a faint sigh as he scraped off his blood-stained cheek.
It was not the time to be preoccupied with a useless family. After washing away the blood and dust and treating minor injuries, he had to return to the unit immediately. There's probably a mountain of backlogged work. Among them, the issue of security was the most urgent.
He blurred his face as he remembered the group of Zramites who had attacked him. While the embers of war in the north were quelled, the internal problems in the east must have worsened.
Tyrone, roughly sweeping his tousled hair, led his men across the large courtyard with a weary stride.
Then, suddenly, he felt a cool aura brushing against his cheeks and looked up at the sky with gray clouds.
As the Grand Duchess had predicted, white snowflakes were scattering in the wind. It was early snow.
Tyrone was seized by an unknown premonition.
Maybe this winter will be unusually long and harsh.
***
"Did you fight?"
As they passed through the long hallway, the woman who was quietly in his arms suddenly frowned and asked.
Barcas looked for blood stains on the hem of his clothes. It looked just like when he first left the castle.
If so, it looked like there was blood on his body. Isn't she a woman with a particularly sensitive sense of smell? In addition, since she had a child, her nose seemed to have become more sensitive.
He widened his stride and surrounded him in a calm tone.
"I just went hunting."
"Lie. You came back with the knights earlier. Why did you take so many knights out on a hunt?"
"Recently, the marauders have been on the rise, so they have increased their escorts."
The woman looked at him with her slender eyes.
"Really?"
"Yes."
After giving a smooth answer. Barcas fixed her with one arm and opened the bedroom door.
The air was chilly, probably because the room was ventilating. He went straight to the window, closed the window, and sat her down in front of the fireplace. Then he thrust the wood into the dying embers, and she tugged at his sleeve.
"Don't go hunting anymore. You can leave the meat to the hunter or buy it from the slaughterer."
He narrowed his eyebrows.
After becoming pregnant, his wife was more worried than before. She seemed to think that if something happened to him, not only her own safety but also her child's safety would be in danger.
It would be useless to boast that such a thing would not happen.
After thinking for a moment, Barcas nodded.
"I understand. I won't go hunting in the future."
The woman who looked up at him with a nervous face lowered her shoulders as if relieved.
It seemed that the servants had to be silenced so that they would not be able to make reproachful noises about the meat that the Grand Duke had hunted himself.
He looked down at the firewood that had begun to spark and lightly brushed off the dust from his palm.
He knew that it was more efficient to use a hunter, as she said. Still, he had no intention of quitting hunting right away. He didn't like the fact that she ate the meat that the other boy caught.
It was an idea he had never thought of before. Meat is just meat. It doesn't matter who has been hunting. He didn't know why he was acting according to such irrational thoughts.
However, when he saw a woman who had never even put meat in her mouth since she was a child, biting into a large piece of fatty meat and digging hard, such self-help questions disappeared as if they had been washed away.
It was strangely satisfying to see her gain weight little by little after eating the food he had saved and offered. He didn't want to borrow someone else's hand for this as much as possible.
"So... What did you catch today?"
She suddenly asked in a cautious tone. She was worried that she might have given him too much criticism.
He stepped on the bellows and lit the flames, answering calmly.
"I caught a pheasant."
Her eyes sparkled in an instant.
The woman who held out her upper body towards him chattered in a raised voice.
"Did we eat it last time? That was delicious. Ask the chef to grill the skin crispy, and don't skip the kemulin sauce!"
He looked at her without blinking.
Always wary of everything around her, she kept her thorns on her eyes, and it was amazing that the woman was only excited about food.
As if noticing the strange look in his eyes, she grumbled with an embarrassed face.
"It's not that I want to eat. It's all because the baby wants to eat it."
Then, with one hand, she caressed her belly, which began to swell little by little.
Naturally, Barcas lowered his gaze to it and clenched his fists. If he didn't, he would hug her with his messy hands and knead her as much as he wanted.
Whether she knew he was patient or not, the woman continued to grumble, puckering her thick lips.
"I think this kid has a huge appetite. What if he were born later and gained weight like a pig? A late baby must be unsightly..."
"Then I will leave him to the nanny and try not to be noticed by Your Highness as much as possible."
The corners of her eyes rose at the words he uttered dryly, firmly holding her scattered spirit.
"You idiot! Is that what you're going to say now? You should say, Even if he's fat, he'll be pretty."
"Even if he's fat, he'll be pretty."
He immediately gave the answer she wanted, but her face didn't know how to straighten.
The woman, who was wondering what was going on so angry, snatched the cushion from the chair and shook it relentlessly against his back.
"And there's no way my baby is ugly. Surely, it's very, very pretty, can't it? Even if you gain weight like a pig, you'll be the cutest in the world!"
He doesn't know why she's angry with him, even though she's the one who was worried about what to do if the child looked ugly. However, the prickly face venting unjustified anger was terribly pretty.
He swallowed his sigh and turned towards the shelf. Even though he was wearing loose pants, his bottom was tight.
It didn't matter much because if he left her alone, it would cool down someday, but he was worried that it would make her uncomfortable for no reason.
He didn't want to make Thalia care about being useless. He just wanted to let her live comfortably without any worries, like she does now.
Barcas washed his hands and face with cold water in a basin to cool off the heat. However, his excited body did not know how to cool down.
He should go to the next room and take care of it.
Barcas looked down and frowned, and he felt a warm body temperature behind his back.
"Are you angry?"
The woman who clung to him stuck her head forward and stared at him.
Barcas narrowed his eyebrows.
Is this done on purpose?
He glared at her with suspicious eyes and pulled away slightly.
"I will smell like horses in my body. Stay a little away."
"It's okay..."
She put her nose over his shirt and took a deep breath. The damp breath that penetrated the thin fabric tickled his skin.
"The smell of mint and the smell of your flesh are the strongest."
He thinks it's right to do this on purpose.
Barcas, who was clenching his molars, turned around and picked her up. Then he sat her down on a chair and hugged her body, which was getting softer day by day.
Her breasts, which were fuller than before, were crushed by his body. He wrapped it around one hand, carefully caressed it, and then put his hand on her lower belly, which began to swell thickly.
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