“Rowena.”

Reaching out, Killian stroked Rowena’s blonde hair. It felt as soft in his hand as it did five years ago. He brought a lock of hair to his lips, placing a soft kiss on it as he took  a deep breath  to inhale her scent deeply embedding into his very being.

When he ordered his men to take Carol Bertimer away and bring her to Rowena’s old home, he had expected that Rowena would at least order to have Carol lose a limb or two, hand or feet. It really didn’t matter to him even if she wanted to have her dead; to him, this was an ordinary course of outcome, and he waited for her to do the same as he would have done.

But the reality was not met up to expectations. Rowena Philone was a woman who would give up revenge even if the woman he presented in front of her was a traitor. A good and weak-hearted woman who chooses forgiveness at the end, even if her hands tremble with anger and she is unable to contain her overwhelming emotions.

As he watched Rowena release the strings that bind Carol Bertimer tightly, he felt a sense of inferiority. Yet one single thread of hope rose up in his head. He couldn’t pull her down to the same world of shadows as he was in, could he?

“You’ve forgiven her, too.”

His gaze turned to the  necklace around her slender neck. It was the same necklace he had placed personally on her neck the other day on their way up to the capital. Unlike the numerous precious metals that he had placed in her hands so far, this one held a different meaning…

“You gave birth to my son and raised him…”

The night he heard the confession of the maid, he was half-convinced by the ridiculous story he was told. However, the next thing he knew, Killian was filled with anger and visited the child’s room late at night without telling anyone, just to make sure.

As soon as he saw the sleeping child, he held his chest while gasping for air softly, seemingly out of breath like a person drowning in water as his eyes searched the small face, which was sleeping peacefully…

The child resembled him so much that it was impossible to deny their relationship as father and son. This was his child, whom he had never thought about or expected to have one in his entire life.

There were feelings of joy mixed with shock. For Rowena, there was only one man in her entire life, and it was him.

―He’s a very active and bright young master. Although a little self-conscious.

From then on, he began to have a new secret hobby, which was to overhear the daily reports that the nanny would tell Rowena every night. With that, a little warmth gradually built up in his chest for the first time ever in his life.

But with the existence of his child, he felt grumpy when he realized that her priority was no longer him, and out of pettiness he decided that the child would follow them to the capital after 15 days..

“When everything becomes clear.”

“…”

“I will fully compensate you. I will give you the right position you deserve. For you and for our child’s sake.”

His cold hands ran across Rowena’s forehead as she laid and tucked the messy strands behind her ear.

“Just wait until that time. As obedient as you are now.”

Although he didn’t know what she was hiding inside, he was content and pleased with Rowena’s docile attitude. She smiled like a doll, but sometimes she would reveal her claws like a female cat, and even that had its own charm.

After looking down at the sleeping woman for a while, someone knocked outside the door.

“Your Excellency.”

Bianca, who had called out to him cautiously, continued to speak.

“I just received news that the young master has just arrived in the capital.”