Can't Come Back - Chapter 31

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“Ah. Where is this place?”

Thud. Thud. Thud.

Her heart was beating fast. She didn’t know why she was so scared, since the Countess had no reason to open the cleaning tool box. Cain also got a sense of how tense she was. Cain took Berlia’s hand and held it tight, as if to tell her not to worry.

‘It makes me feel better in some way.’

As she held his hand, her heart rate, which had been racing because she was scared, seemed to slowly slow down. Berlia looked at Karen through the small gap with a calmer mind.

“Where is the hall for the party?”

Karen had been looking around the room for another door, but when she saw that there wasn’t one, he left. They heard the door slam shut with a loud sound.

“Phew…”

The two of them could finally breathe easy after that. They quietly opened the door of the cleaning room and looked around. Then, they left the break room quickly and went back to the banquet hall. They were lucky that no one had found them.

As soon as they walked into the dinner hall and showed their faces, Crown Prince Hakarton appeared before Cain like a ghost.

“Lord Cain.”

“Your Royal Highness, the Crown Prince.”

“I had no idea where you were. What have you been doing?

“Oh, I was just taking a break because I was tired.”

“Are you feeling better right now?”

“Yes, I’m good.”

“But I smell something like a mop from somewhere. Marquis Astian doesn’t even clean well. Hmm…”

Hakarton sniffed the air as he walked around. Cain and Berlia looked at each other for a short time. They both gave each other a small smile, knowing the truth that only they knew.

“Should we go somewhere else?”

“That’s a good idea. I’d like to take a few minutes of your time today.”

Hakarton asked Cain once more to talk to him. Berlia quickly moved before Hakarton could look at her.

“You two are talking to each other. I need to go find Cadellin.”

Berlia thought as she moved from table to table in the banquet hall.

‘What if we got caught? I lose my mind for a moment when I’m with Cain. I need to be more careful when I leave the house.’

Berlia again made a change to her dress. She was afraid that other people would find out about her relationship with Cain, so she lost her cool for a moment. She had to be more careful if she wanted to keep being happy. Like other couples, they couldn’t have everything.

“Eek-!”

Then, right then, Berlia’s stomach started to turn. Before she knew it, she was sitting on the floor.

“Oh my, Lady Berlia. Are you okay?”

A noble woman came up to Berlia and helped her stand up.

“I’m, I’m fine. Thank you.”

The woman helped Berlia stand up. Her mind was all over the place.

‘Is it the alcohol? That can’t be right. I had only one glass of wine.’

Just like the last time she felt dizzy, something was wrong. Could she have a problem with her health? A scary thought went through her mind.

When the banquet was over and Berlia got back to the house, she went to the bathroom to clean up and took her clothes off. Her panties were clean. Berlia felt like something hit the back of her head all of a sudden.

“Hmm, I wonder how long it’s been since I’ve had my period?”

Berlia’s face showed a lot of worry.

“Could it…?”

The goddess of luck made sure that her life was not easy.

* * *

A person with a black shawl over their shoulders was walking quietly down a dark path. Someone looked around. Not a single person was around. The person stopped in front of a run-down drugstore in the corner of an alley.

“Welcome.”

When the door opened and they walked in, an old woman with a lot of wrinkles on her forehead met them. Berlia, the woman in the shawl, hid her face and went up to the owner of the pharmacy to speak.

“I want to buy a test to see if I’m pregnant.”

The old woman gave her a suspicious look while keeping her face covered. She then took a small glass bottle out of a closet and gave it to her.

“That’ll be 30 shillings,” she said.

Berlia gave you three silver coins and asked what to do with them.

“How do I make use of this?”

“If you mix it with your pee, it will change color. If it goes green, you’re pregnant. If it stays red, you’re not. Wait about 5 minutes before you look at the results.”

Berlia quietly looked at the bottle of liquid. As she held it, her hands were just a little bit shaky. When the old woman saw this, she stuck out her tongue and said, “Tsk… Looks like you’re hoping it doesn’t turn green.”

Berlia went back to the house in secret with the potion in her hands. She didn’t let down her guard because she was afraid someone would see her. Nobody could have known that she bought this potion.

Berlia put the medicine on the small table next to her bed when she got back to her room. She bit her lip hard because she was so worried.

‘That won’t… I’m just making sure it’s not.’

Berlia noticed a few days ago that she hadn’t had her period in a while. It wasn’t always the same, but it wasn’t always different either. But since almost two months ago, there has been no sign of it.

She had also been feeling dizzy for no clear reason lately. She had been going to bed earlier than usual. There was something off. She couldn’t help but think about one option, unless she was a fool.

‘If I’m pregnant…’

She was scared to death. She couldn’t calm down by telling herself that it wasn’t true. She couldn’t tell anyone else, not even Cain, though. So, Berlia went to the back alley by herself to buy the pregnancy potion, making sure to hide her face totally.

As soon as word got out that the Duchess of Hildayden bought a potion to check if she’s pregnant, it would be over.

‘That can’t be. Before Betty finds out, I need to make sure.’

If her personal maid, Riley, was still with her, she would have known and thought this was true. But Betty, who now worked for Berlia, hadn’t been there for long. Betty didn’t know about Berlia’s period.

Berlia got ready to use the test. She did this with a determined look on her face. As she did what the directions said and mixed her urine with the potion, her heart was beating fast. As she waited for the color to change, every second felt like an age.

‘…I should be glad that my husband is with Riley.’

It turned out to be a good thing. Berlia took the small bottle she had purchased ahead of time to the bathroom. Even as she went to get her pee, her heart was still beating fast.

She took the vial of her pee back to her room with her. Orange liquid was on the small table. In a clear glass bottle, there was a clear orange liquid. Berlia put her pee in the bottle slowly.

Drip, drip…

The orange liquid met the pale yellow pee. Since the colors were about the same, there wasn’t much change yet. It just got a little brighter. Berlia put down the vial with hands that were shaking.

She could find out the answer in five minutes. She kept praying that the color wouldn’t change after five minutes, that it would stay the same.

“Please, please…,” she said.

Berlia stared with a desperate heart at the bottle that held the potion. She prayed that nothing would change.

It wasn’t a long time, only five minutes. But every second felt like a year as she waited.

She didn’t think she could keep her eyes on the bottle, so she turned away.

‘If the color changes, then…’

If she were pregnant and had a baby. Exactly whose kid would it be?

Berlia didn’t even know for sure who the child’s father was. Cain or Dean? As she thought about it, her lower stomach seemed to move in a strange way.

She used to want to be pregnant so much. She hated that she had to be with Dean in order to have a child. She would have rather had a child and stopped sleeping with Dean.

Now, though, things were different.

‘What if the father of the child is Cain?’

If the child looked a lot like Cain and had deep green hair, it would be clear that it was related to Cain. Berlia couldn’t think about what would happen next.

‘But what if the father of the child is my husband?’

Berlia was fond of Cain. Giving birth to someone else’s child, even though you love someone else? That wasn’t what she wanted. Cain didn’t like it. She could clearly picture how Cain would feel, even if it was her brother’s kid.

Tick- Tock-

In the quiet room, the second hand of the clock was the only thing that could be heard. Time went by with worry. Beria shut her eyes tightly.

‘It has to be a no… It has to be.’

Five minutes went by. It was time to see how things turned out.

Berlia slowly turned her head and opened her eyes. She looked at the bottle of medicine on the table.

When she saw the color of the liquid in the clear bottle, her eyes got bigger.

This happened when Dean’s return was still about a month away.

—

“Please, please…,” she said.

Five minutes of nerve-wracking time had passed. The orange liquid, which was clear, had turned green. It meant that she was with child. Riley was happy when she saw the color of the potion change. She looked at it twice or three times to make sure the color really had changed. It was always green no matter how many times she looked at it.

Since getting to Keindell two months ago, there had been no signs for a while. In a glimmer of hope, she tried the test with a potion, and the potion went green. How much she had prayed during those 5 minutes for the color to change. Riley was having Dean’s child, which she had been hoping for for a long time.

‘I don’t have to work as a maid anymore!’

She gently rubbed her not-yet-showing stomach. She loved the child very much.

‘Can I wear fancy clothes every day? Can I enjoy elegant tea parties?’

She had only seen from afar the glitzy life of the nobles. Riley’s face showed a mix of happiness and joy when she thought that this kind of life could be hers.

How hard she had worked to get here. Since she moved into the Duke’s house, her work seemed to flash before her like a light.

In fact, Cain, who wasn’t married, was the person Riley really wanted to get with. But Cain wasn’t the start of anything. She put her legs out in front of Cain on purpose and even faked to trip and fall into his arms.

But Cain didn’t pay any attention to Riley. Riley then found out that Cain only liked blonde women. Her hair was red.

Since then, Riley has given up on Cain and is now going after Dean. She knew she couldn’t be his formal wife because he already had one, but she was happy to be his concubine.