“There’s not much I can do for the patient at the moment, Major.”

The military doctor opened his mouth with an awkward face. It was very embarrassing to have to repeat the same words every day in front of his increasingly cold superior.

“Why?”

The returning major’s answer was also the same.

“As you know, she’s pregnant, so I can’t use medicine carelessly. If something goes wrong, the child in the stomach-”

“I’m asking about Leyla right now.” Matthias interrupted rudely, which ultimately paved way for a newfound tension in the room between the current occupants.

The military doctor flinched upon the Major’s harshness, especially as Matthias immediately shot up to his feet.

Before anything else could happen, the door swung open to reveal Kyle as he finally returned.

Uniform crumpled up, hair unkempt, and dark circles beneath his eyes, Kyle held a murderous glare as his eyes landed on Matthias. But unlike him, Matthias only held a quiet, haunted look in his eyes.

Unlike Kyle, who glared at him as if he were going to kill him, Matthias’ eyes were consistently silent.

The first day he’d been called into the room, he’d witnessed a ruthless quarrel between the two men. But more so on Private Etman’s part than it did with the Major’s.

Kyle, who saw Leyla lying dead, went half-crazy and attacked him without hesitation.

If only he could kill that devil.

However, even if Kyle cursed, waved his fist, and made a fuss, Matthias did not show any reaction.

‘Save Leyla.’

That was all he said to Kyle.

He ruined her, drove her to the threshold of death, and dared to give such an order to him?! Yet Kyle wouldn’t reject the order.

It’s Leyla after all. Why should she suffer for what the Major did? Even if it was not a major’s order, he had to save Leyla at all costs. But it was, so he couldn’t do anything else about it.

Leyla’s condition has not improved at all. Sometimes, when her consciousness came back from time to time, she would recognize Kyle and say things as if he had returned to his childhood friend, but that was all.

“Focus on Leyla, not the child.” Matthias hissed, “Just think about Leyla, and make sure she’s healed!” demanded Matthias after a glance at Kyle, before addressing the doctor once more.

“But Major, the mother, and the baby’s condition are not separate. Inevitably together-”

“Use the medicine!” Matthias ordered and the doctor clamped his mouth shut at the raised voice, “Use the medicine to lower her fever, and wake her up!”

Finally, Kyle broke his silence on the matter.

“She’s too far along in the pregnancy already.” Kyle seethed at him, “If we use any of the stronger medicine, the child would come out stillborn!”

“So what?” Matthias snapped before he looked down at Leyla, who was breathing hard. “Bring your medicine, Etman.”

“DO YOU WANT TO KILL THE CHILD?!” Kyle asked him incredulously.

“I don’t care what happens to the child,” Matthias admitted truthfully, and Kyle couldn’t help but scoff.

“HOW COULD YOU-”

“You’re here to save Leyla,” Matthias cut off, his tone more ominous than before as he glared at Kyle, “Do what is asked of you and nothing else.”

He’d lost care about keeping the child alive the moment he realized he would lose Leyla anyway. It’s true that when the child dies, the last hope of regaining Leyla by his side forever would disappear.

It’s the thought that made him hesitate most about the treatment he knew could save Leyla’s life. But ultimately..

He’d rather endure the hell of letting her go and live her life than watch her die.

There was nothing else to consider. Nothing else would matter, and that’s what Matthias had come to do.

“HOW CAN YOU TELL ME TO KILL HER CHILD SO CALLOUSLY?!” Kyle persisted, “HAVE YOU EVER TAKEN INTO ACCOUNT HER FEELINGS IN THIS MATTER, OR JUST YOUR SELFISHNESS AGAIN!?” Kyle burst into anger that he couldn’t hold back anymore.

Riette, who was watching from afar, also stepped in to put his two cents in.

“I agree, Matthias,” Riette piped up softly, “We’re already in a war, and if that child that Miss Lewellin has is your child, you have to save it, too.” His eyes were serious when he looked at Matthias.

“If you were to be killed and die, and if that child in your stomach is your child, it would be Herhardt’s only successor.”

Riette spoke in the count of the nobility. It was the right thing to do if you were an heir to a prestigious family. And Matthias von Herhardt was said to be the most perfect aristocrat in this empire.

“Be reasonable.” Riette urged, imploring to the rational Duke he knew Matthias was. After a glance towards both Kyle and Riette, who stood in front of him in protest, Matthias whirled around swiftly to face the military doctor again.

“Give me the medicine.” He immediately demanded it. The calm voice that broke the heavy silence was no different from before. If no one had the balls to save Leyla, he’d do it himself!

“I’ll save Leyla.”

Matthias repeated the cold-blooded orders as if he knew nothing else but that.

*.·:·.?.·:·.*

‘My dream has come true.’

Leyla thought happily. Even though she knew it was impossible, the dream she had deep in her heart became a reality.

It was the beginning of summer when the forest of Arvis would turn the most beautiful green.

She pedaled her bike excitedly and ran to the cabin. She wore the summer uniform of Gillis’s Girls’ School, where the hem of her blue dress fluttered along the wind shaking the forest.

The old bicycle creaked and stopped in front of the warehouse in the front yard of the cabin. Leyla jumped slightly off the bike, quickly running the remaining distance home.

It didn’t take too long to change her clothes and come out again.

She wore a wide-brimmed straw hat and held a large basket, walking gently toward the deep forest as if dancing. She was going to pick raspberries until Kyle came to study together. She had to make enough raspberry jam to fit the glass bottles before the end of this summer.

Yes, it was a dream come true. At the beginning of summer when she was only eighteen years old. Back when everything was still all fun and happy days.

Leyla hummed and picked raspberries. She also thought about the dinner menu from time to time. For both Uncle Bill and Kyle, she could make their favorite foods. Should she have asked Uncle Bill to catch the chicken?

While thinking diligently and picking raspberries, Leyla reached the riverside. The smell of water tickled her nose as she wiped her sweaty forehead.

Now, these days will continue every day. Leyla could tell that her dream came true and she can live in this time forever.

She was so thrilled. She felt her heart was full when suddenly Leyla heard a child crying.

It was strange.

There are no children in this forest. However, the sound was too loud and clear to dismiss as something she’d just misheard.

Leyla, who hesitated, put down the heavy basket for a while and looked in the direction in which the cry came. And after a while, she spotted a strange child crying. A small and pretty child, who seemed to be around Leyla’s age when she was abandoned by her mother, was crying and walking alone from the foot of the river.

Puzzled, Leyla’s steps faltered before she stepped back.

She didn’t know who the child was. She gently pressed a palm against her pounding chest and shook her head.

She had to hurry back to the cabin. Uncle Bill will be back soon. She had to make dinner for the three of them.

‘But who is that? Why is the child crying?’

Leyla took a step back, suddenly overcome with the urge to cry. In the meantime, the child’s cries only grew louder.

‘What should I do? What should I do?’

She kept biting her lips out of nervousness. Her ears were ringing with the deafening cries of the unknown child.

And then she gasped, pupils, dilating as a vision flashed right in front of her.

It was fuzzy at first until it gradually became clearer and clearer..

And then she saw the blue eyes.

As soon as Leyla realized that it was Matthias who’d been looking right at her, she suddenly became aware of one other thing.

Large, firm hands grabbed her chin and began to pry open her mouth. Naturally, she resisted weakly in protest, confused and unknowing of what was happening. After a while, something smooth, hard, and cold touched her lips.

It was a medicine bottle.

*.·:·.?.·:·.*

A sharp scream erupted in the whole room.

Leyla’s scream was so loud that other occupants found it hard to believe she was the same woman who had only been suffering, dying even, just a while ago.

“LEYLA!” Kyle called out for her, while the doctor and Riette stood uselessly at either side. They looked at him sheepishly, but Matthias, who was holding down a thrashing Leyla, remained surprisingly cool-headed.

“It’s all right. You’ll be fine soon.” Matthias promised her quietly as he continued to overpower Leyla, who was struggling, and then fixed eyes on the medicine bottle and grabbed it hastily. However, Leyla continued to thrash around relentlessly as she screamed bloody murder against his hold!

“DON’T! GET AWAY FROM ME! I DON’T WANT IT!” she screamed at the top of her lungs.

“DON’T BE STUBBORN, LEYLA,” Matthias grunted as he continued to keep her head still to force the medicine down her throat.

“MY BABY! MY FAMILY! WHO ARE YOU TO KILL MY FAMILY?!”

Matthias’ frown deepened as he looked at Leyla, thrashing and screaming around like he was the devil.

“IF YOU KEEP THIS UP, YOU’LL DIE.” He pointed out to her, sticking fingers at the side of her mouth, to open it up. A frustrated look emerged from his eyes as Leyla started to bite and scratch at his hands.

Hysterical sobs all but replaced her screams, but Matthias didn’t back down one bit.

“Sa-save it.” She wheezed at him, all frail and weakened, limbs as thin as twigs, but her grip on his hand holding the medicine bottle was stubbornly strong as she pushed it away from her.

The desperation in her voice eventually stilled his hands.

“I lied. I lied. I LIED!!!” Leyla rasped breathlessly, eyes wide and panicked as she pleaded with him, “It’s your baby! It’s only ever your baby!”

Tears that flowed nonstop soaked her fever face.

“I know,” Matthias answered without any hesitation or remorse as his resolve remained strong. It was a fact that he knew from the beginning and had never doubted for a moment. And it didn’t have any effect on Matthias’ decision.

He’d kill his child to save her.

Only Leyla was important to him.

Leyla stared at him in a daze, in complete disbelief at the man who now held her child’s life in his hands quite literally.

Matthias was steadfast. He wasn’t backing down.

“No, it’s you.. it’s your baby!” She sobbed as she wheezed and pleaded with him to spare her child. Her ramblings turned inconsolable as she continued to

Leyla muttered incomprehensibly.

‘You’re going to kill the baby even though you know it’s your child?! How?!’

“I’m telling you the truth.” she sobbed, but Matthias remained silent, “It might look like you.” She tried again, but nothing. He remained quiet, and his grip on her still strong.

“The baby, it loves you. It loves you, my baby.” She rasped out, delirious and weakened. Still, Matthias remained silent, even as Leyla’s pleas became more desperate.

Of this, Matthias couldn’t comprehend the importance. Leyla continued to spout nonsense for him. Whether the child resembles him or likes him, it didn’t mean anything to Matthias.

The child only ever served as an excuse to have Leyla by his side without making him kill her, so it was important then, but not anymore.

The child in his eyes now was nothing more than another parasite, trying to take Leyla away from him. And Matthias could not tolerate that kind of existence. Even if it’s his child doing it.

No one would take Leyla away from him. He won’t allow it.

Renewed with this knowledge, Matthias now climbed over Leyla’s frail form, grip hardening on the medicine bottle.

“NO! DON’T DO THAT! DON’T KILL MY BABY! I’M DYING TOO! IF MY BABY DIES, I’LL DIE TOO!” Leyla wailed as she struggled with all her might. “WITHOUT MY BABY, I WILL BE ALL ALONE IN THE WORLD! I’LL DIE! I DON’T THINK I CAN STAND IT. SO.. PLEASE.”

By now she didn’t even have the strength to keep her eyes open anymore, but Leyla..

She still hung on to him and hung on tightly to him. Matthias’ deepened more as he kept looking at her ever-weakening state, a painful lurch in his heart at her statement.

‘What about me?’?He wanted to ask, but couldn’t.

Why can’t he be her family instead? He’ll take care of her, give her everything she would ever desire.

He’d be with her always, so she won’t ever be alone.

He’s right here with her, always had been, and yet Leyla continued to say she’s alone. Had she already considered he’d never be part or important to her life then?

His grip eventually loosened up, and the medicine bottle rolled down from Matthias’ grasp as he stared down at Leyla. His hollow laughter flowed ruthlessly out his lips, as the glass bottle shattered into a million pieces as it hit the floor.

“Leyla, if you want to save your child, you should live, too.” Mathias, who opened his slowly closed eyes, looked at Leyla with a more convincing gaze.

“If you give your life to save the child, it will die anyway.” He told her gently, caressing her chin..

“Because if you die just to save it,” before his hands still and his gaze hardened. “I’m going to kill it.” He promised her. He held her face still for her to look at him, but her eyes had gone unfocused, her lips remained wordless with his threats to her child’s life.

“Listen up, Leyla.... LIVE.” he commanded her in a whisper, “LIVE.. if you want to save that child. Do you understand me?” He demanded of her.

Her hands trembled with feverish heat, but eventually, Leyla found the strength to nod a few times before she lost consciousness again.

Still, Matthias shook Leyla’s unconscious form urgently to confirm her answer. He kept at it, even as it was clear she was no longer conscious.

It ended only after Riette, who couldn’t just watch the nightmare anymore, managed to eventually pull him away from her and forcibly pulled him out of the room.

Everyone in the room could tell that if Leyla were to eventually die..

So would the child in her belly, by Matthias’ hands.