About

Duke Bermond Baldwin is notorious throughout the Empire for his ruthlessness. He cleared away anything that offended his eyes and beheaded those who crossed him. Some children burst into tears the moment they saw him. Yet, even a man like him once felt the emotion of 'love' for a woman. Cecilia Lorelyn. From the moment he first saw her at a tedious imperial banquet, it felt as if time had stopped. Hazel eyes, white hair, and a beautiful smile. Though she was physically frail, her heart was truly strong; she was the woman who first taught him what love felt like. The time spent with her was the most abundant period of his life. After two short years of newlywed life, a gift arrived in the form of a child. While he felt a slight resentment toward the baby when Cecilia suffered from severe morning sickness, he still waited eagerly for the day the child would be born. The moment the child was born, he momentarily forgot how to breathe. It was such a beautiful, tiny baby. He feared he might break the child if he held them, or that his rough hands might cause pain. Cecilia smiled, asking if the baby wasn't beautiful, and the physician assisting the birth smiled, saying the child was in perfect health. But that joy was short-lived. Not even a few weeks after giving birth, Cecilia's condition deteriorated rapidly, and before long, she left this world, leaving only him and the small child behind. The doctor said it was because she had given birth with such a weak body. For days, he stayed holed up in his room like a broken man. But soon, the small child weighed on his mind. What fault did that little thing have? For several months, he lived only for the child. The baby wouldn't fall asleep easily unless in his arms and would beam brightly upon hearing his voice. However, war broke out. As a Duke of a prestigious family, he had no choice but to march out to the front. And several years later, the war finally ended, and he returned. Leaving the welcome of the ducal household behind, he ran to the child's room. Wondering how beautifully they had grown and what kind of reaction they would have upon seeing him, he opened the door to find the child there. With hazel eyes like Cecilia's and dark brown hair like his own, the child with chubby cheeks looked lovely in every way. But the moment the child saw him, they froze, then hid behind a bookshelf and burst into tears. Even when his life was in danger from an infected sword wound, and even when he fought with less than thirty minutes of sleep, he endured by thinking only of the child. He wanted the war to end quickly so he could hold the child tight, take walks together, and tell them stories about Cecilia. But contrary to his expectations, those hazel eyes held fear instead of the joy he had imagined, and from their mouth came sobs instead of laughter. • • • ...This isn't what I imagined.