The Price of Breaching the Contract - Chapter 106

“Oh my goodness, congratulations! It seems a little one is on the way.”

Leaving Joel, who confirmed the news with a surprised voice, behind, Yulania glared at Santia. He awkwardly avoided her gaze.

As soon as they arrived at the estate, Yulania received a medical examination from Joel and learned that what she felt was indeed correct. Aside from being dumbfounded and feeling resentful towards Santia, she was incredibly grateful and happy that another child was coming to them.

Yulania decided to savor that joy first.

“So, it’s very early?”

Yulania looked at Joel with an incredulous expression. But Joel, with his usual calm face, nodded and flipped through neatly organized notes.

“We need to check the exact number of weeks, but judging from the symptoms and reactions, you’re in the very early stages of pregnancy. Probably about a month along. Even if we estimate on the longer side, it wouldn’t be more than two months.”

Yulania closed her mouth and nodded. She had already suspected it, but hearing the professional diagnosis made it feel real.

Next to her, Santia was glaring at Joel with a face as if he had received divine punishment. His eyebrows were straighter than ever, and his mouth was shut in a tight line.

“And I hesitate to say this, but you should refrain from marital relations for at least two months. Given your previous experience, you need to be even more careful.”

At those words, Santia leaned back slightly. He leaned against the wall, looked up at the sky, and let out a long sigh. His face was filled with an indescribable sense of emptiness.

Seeing that, Yulania couldn’t help but burst into laughter. She eventually covered her mouth, trying to suppress her laughter, but the corners of her lips wouldn’t go down.

“……?”

Santia asked, his eyes filled with bewilderment. Yulania waved her hand, then swallowed her laughter again and said,

“I think I can finally be truly happy now.”

“You really are too much.”

“Hehe.”

Santia lowered his head without saying anything, but the back of his neck was clearly flushed red. Yulania simply watched him quietly before slowly reaching out and covering the back of his hand with hers.

“It’s okay. We just have to be patient for a little while. More than that thank you for saying it’s really okay.”

Santia looked at her hand for a moment before quietly clasping it.

On the day they arrived at the castle, snow still remained, but most of the roads had melted. The early spring in the north still felt frozen, but the green shoots sprouting everywhere clearly indicated that spring had arrived.

Yulania, who had been nibbling on dry food due to morning sickness, was finally able to breathe a sigh of relief after finishing a warm porridge prepared in the castle. After taking a warm bath and lying down for a while, her body felt a little better, but her mind couldn’t relax so easily.

It was because Shuria’s face kept coming to mind.

The small face of her daughter, who didn’t cry and waved obediently when she got off the carriage that day. The look in the baby’s eyes, as if saying, ‘It’s okay, Mom,’ even though she couldn’t even speak yet, kept pricking at her heart.

“Shuria.”

Yulania called out the name softly and got up. Darkness still hung outside the window, and the moonlit garden was quiet and calm. But her heart was becoming increasingly restless.

She quietly covered her forehead and got out of bed.

A moment later, Santia, who was changing his clothes, opened the door and came in. Before the coat in his hand could fall to the floor, Yulania spoke first.

“Santia.”

“You look better.”

“Bring Shuria to me.”

Yulania pleaded with her eyes. Santia nodded silently.

He immediately mounted his horse. He quickly traveled from north to south along the route the rear party would be taking. The road conditions were not good, but Santia did not slow down at all, imagining Shuria crying in his head.

After riding hard for a full day, he saw a familiar carriage in the distance.

Santia breathed a sigh of relief and headed straight towards it. The carriage stopped, and Vanessa was the first to get out.

“Duke?! How?!”

“Yulania is worried about Shuria.”

Vanessa, with a surprised face, handed Shuria over. Shuria initially looked bewildered, but as soon as she was in her father’s arms, she immediately reached out her arms and squirmed. Her eyes turned red.

“Shuria, let’s go see Mom now.”

Santia slowly patted his daughter’s back and turned his horse back north.

As soon as the gates of Makari Castle opened and Santia led his horse in, rumors spread. Yulania hurriedly ran down the hallway and met her daughter’s eyes at the bottom of the stairs.

“Shuria!”

At that sound, Shuria burst into tears. It was a big, clear, and perhaps even sorrowful cry. Shuria had often cried until now, but such a desperate cry was rare.

Yulania took her in her arms with a flustered face.

“Shuria, Mom is sorry. I’m sorry.”

Stroking her daughter’s back, she muttered, knowing that she wouldn’t understand right away.

“Here, a sibling is coming. So Mom was a little hasty. I’m sorry!”

Shuria cried in her arms for a long time before falling asleep exhausted.

Yulania held her daughter in her arms, feeling that small, fragile life, and vowed never to separate them again. This time, she would not leave anyone alone.

Not herself, not her husband, not her child.

She would not lose sight of the fact that now all three of them, no, all four of them, were a family.

And so, spring deepened once again.

With Santia officially unable to bother Yulania at night, the nights at Makari Castle became quieter and more peaceful than ever.

Yulania was honestly happy about that fact. Of course, being pregnant was uncomfortable and tiring, but she was very satisfied with the fact that she could at least get a good night’s sleep.

She didn’t have to wake up startled by someone’s touch, or cover her face and ears, feeling hot all over. After sleeping like that for a few days, her complexion became brighter and the dark circles under her eyes disappeared. As the fatigue faded, she started eating a little more again, and her laughter came more naturally.

“You’ve really been glowing lately,” Santia said.

Yulania raised the corners of her lips at Santia’s words.

“Of course. I can sleep well at night.”

She said it casually, but Santia, hearing those words, turned his head slightly and pressed his lips tightly together.

Santia’s face had become noticeably gloomy lately. Rather than his daily life becoming listless, he had an expression as if he was caught up in some unspeakable injustice. The shadows under his eyes deepened day by day, and he often stared at his fork for a long time during meals, or stared blankly out the window while reading a book.

Yulania smiled slightly at the sight, but she didn’t say anything outright, fearing that he would sulk if she teased him. However, she felt quite vindicated inside.

‘I wondered how hard I had it all along.’ A strange sense of revenge welled up subtly.

Back at the estate, Yulania refocused all her attention on Shuria.

Shuria, who had not yet celebrated her first birthday, was still unstable when walking, but she slowly took steps when someone held her hand, and she learned to smile reflexively when she heard her mother’s voice.

She stammered after words like ‘Mom,’ ‘Papa,’ and ‘No,’ and even if she didn’t understand well, she mumbled to herself, communicating with the world.

Yulania spent all day with Shuria. Sometimes in the bedroom, sometimes on the large rug in front of the fireplace, or walking along short trails.

There were still places where the snowflakes hadn’t melted, but the temperature had become quite warm, so there was no great difficulty in taking Shuria out.

The garden she had carefully cultivated had safely survived the winter and was preparing to welcome a new season. The trees were still holding their branches tightly, but the soil on the ground had begun to melt, and a few early spring flowers were already peeking out.

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