It's Too Late for Regrets - Chapter 5.4

“Of course…”

Ines hugged her legs with both arms and buried her face in her knees.

He was never the kind of man to keep promises just because of a few words. As expected, he left her behind in a mansion that was no different from a jungle.

“What the hell…”

A powerless, bitter laugh escaped her lips. Ines could no longer tell how much more she could be disappointed in him.

Throughout her pregnancy, she had grown painfully thin. The morning sickness didn’t go away even well past the stable period.

On bad days, just the smell of food made her throw up stomach acid.

Her belly was growing by the day, but since she couldn’t eat, there was no way her body could hold up.

The truth was, she had never been in good health to begin with.

She had a congenital heart condition and had spent her childhood in Jenaire, abandoned by the royal family as a disgrace, which left her body extremely weak.

Her immune system was poor, and she often got sick, but her recovery was always slow.

Give up the baby.

Ines, holding onto her fading consciousness, recalled the warning of the person who had visited her bedroom the night before.

That child is the root of everything. If you give it up, you’ll be able to live longer.

Maybe he was right.

If she hadn’t gotten pregnant, she might not have suffered this much. Her body, her heart—both.

By the sixth month of pregnancy, Kyra’s torment had become worse than ever before.

“Tell me. Who did you commit adultery with? If you tell me, I’ll at least say a few good words to Rayan for you.”

Kyra came to insult Ines every single day, without missing one, for a whole week. She dragged Ines, who could barely stand, around the duchy.

“You’re slow, Ines. Can’t you hurry up?”

Today, she had dragged Ines to a charity event in the capital of the duchy.

It was to distribute firewood and some food to help the people get through winter.

Since it was charity hosted directly by the ducal house, there was no real excuse for the Duchess not to attend.

When the Duke was away, the Duchess was the master of the duchy.

But Ines never received the proper treatment of a Duchess. She didn’t understand why she had to act like the lady of the land.

‘I feel dizzy.’

She should’ve made some excuse not to come. Her blurred vision started to spin.

It was strange. As long as she didn’t overdo it, she usually didn’t feel this bad.

Ines instinctively held her swollen belly.

“Your Grace?”

The maid at her side noticed something was wrong and quickly supported her.

As Ines staggered and began to fall, she caught a glimpse of Kyra smiling meaningfully.

‘Aunt… don’t tell me…’

Ines lost consciousness.

“There is nothing wrong. Both Her Grace and the baby are fine.”

The resident doctor of House Eleanor gave his diagnosis.

“Are you sure there’s nothing wrong? Then why…”

“You have always been frail. Now that you’re near your due date, your body is under stress. It’s a constitutional issue, not something that can be treated. I’ll prescribe Menent root tea, as usual. It’s good for restoring strength.”

That was all he said. But Ines didn’t believe him.

She remembered Kyra’s smile the moment she collapsed. It gave her a bad feeling.

Until now, Kyra’s torment had been something she could endure with indifference—she had experienced similar treatment in Jenaire.

But this time felt different. This wasn’t something she could brush off.

Thankfully, that very night, Berry returned from the Kingdom of Apael.

She was with Robert.

They reunited in the dead of night. Ines, staring blankly out the window, turned her head at the sound of someone approaching.

A white-haired, white-bearded old man stood at the door. Tears immediately welled up in Ines’s eyes.

“Sir Robert…”

He was speechless at the sight of the child he hadn’t seen in two and a half years.

The child with a body still thin like dry sticks, and a belly far too small for her term, approached him with unsteady steps.

“…Ines?”

Her blue eyes, filled with tears, no longer held the innocence they once did.

It was unfamiliar. Robert called her name in a panic.

“Ines, are you all right, child?”

“Ah…”

“You said you were going somewhere nice. So why do you look like you’re about to die, huh?”

No. Ines couldn’t even finish that one word.

When she finally saw the only person who had ever given her a warm home and food, something inside her broke.

It was the dam of sorrow she had barely held together by pretending to be fine.

“I’m not okay.”

“Ines.”

“I’m not… okay…”

Sir Robert, I’m so tired.

I should’ve just stayed with you.

Even while sobbing so hard she could barely breathe, Ines couldn’t let herself cry out loud, afraid someone outside might hear.

Even the old man, who didn’t understand what was going on, had tears in his eyes.

The child who had stabbed his heart like a thorn for the past six months, the one who had smiled brightly and said she was going to be happy, was no longer there.

Ines was broken.

There was no time to enjoy their reunion.

Before dawn, Robert had to escape through the path Berry had prepared. If Kyra found out, who knew what excuse she’d use to trample Ines again.

“What have you even been eating all this time?”

Robert examined her and was horrified. Her condition was far worse than the last time he had seen her.

The cause was soon found. After checking the food and tea Berry had brought, Robert burst into anger.

“Menent tea?! Who let her drink this stuff?!”

Menent tea was the one Ines drank every day. It helped her stay upright by temporarily boosting her energy.

“For your body, Menent root tea is poison. People think it’s a tonic, but for someone like you, with twisted blood circulation, it’s basically a stimulant—and that makes it a poison.”

“When did you start drinking this, Ines?”

Since when…

Since she first arrived in Eleanor and saw the resident doctor two and a half years ago.

It would be good to drink Menent root tea once a week. It’s helpful for restoring strength.

As she recalled it, Ines turned pale.

Everything she consumed had been managed by Kyra.

From meals to snacks, even a single cup of tea.

Robert pounded his chest in frustration and shouted.

“Are you saying the Duke’s doctor didn’t know anything about your condition, Ines?!”

Impossible. Ines realized something terrifying. It was all intentional.

It was a common tonic for most people—but a poison for someone like her.

The doctor who had been in charge of her health couldn’t not have known that.

And Kyra, who controlled him, certainly knew.

They had known from the start. They had made her drink that tea on purpose.

It was you, Aunt…

Ines sighed softly.

Kyra was trying to kill her and her baby.

The next day, Kyra brought that same poisonous Menent tea to Ines’s room again.

“Why aren’t you drinking it, Ines? I spoke to the doctor myself to have it made.”

Ines sat still, staring at the teacup in front of her.

Yesterday, Robert had given her medicine to neutralize the tea’s effects.

If she drank the tea and immediately took the antidote, it would barely affect the baby. He had firmly warned her:

If you keep drinking that tea, the baby won’t be the only issue. After giving birth, it’ll be even worse. You know that, don’t you?

Afterward, you might not survive long. You could go into shock at any time. Please, Ines—just this once, listen to this old man.

Ines had already known, at least partially. She could feel her life slipping away every day.

If she didn’t give birth, she might live a little longer.

She had chances to end the pregnancy. Berry and Ronya were there, and Neia lived outside the capital. She could have asked for the medicine.

But she didn’t.

Even if she lived longer by ending the pregnancy…

With her shredded willpower, she wouldn’t have lasted a year. She would’ve ended her own life.

Besides, Ines never truly had seven years left.

And the only being in this world she could trust was the child not yet born.

Her only comfort. The only one on her side.

She couldn’t abandon it.

Kyra snapped sharply at her.

“Why won’t you drink it?”

Listening to her nag, Ines thought bitterly:

Why are you doing this to me?

What did I do wrong?

“…I won’t drink it.”

Ines raised tearful eyes and stared straight at Kyra.

Rayan had left for war again.

He wasn’t in this house. The one ruling here was Kyra.

Even if Rayan had been here, he wouldn’t have saved her.

Only she could protect her baby.

Her fingers trembled.

Ines had never once stood up to those who belittled her. She was used to swallowing her pain in silence.

But—

“I’m not a fool, Aunt.”

Ines picked up the teacup.

And poured it out—straight onto the carpet.

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