Chapter 3

Margaret’s POV

This time, I truly had no intention of holding back.

Before I could even raise my hand, Adrian rushed forward and grabbed my wrist.

“Calm down.”

He moved too fast.

It felt like he had already decided to protect her.

“This is my fault,” Elara said softly, cutting in before I could speak.

“If I hadn’t asked you to come with me to the prenatal checkup, if I hadn’t moved in here, none of this would have happened.

Her head was lowered, her voice so light it almost dissolved into the air.

“I never should have appeared in the first place.”

“I should just leave.”

I thought coldly.

Then leave.

But to my surprise, Adrian spoke first.

“You can leave.”

His words came quickly, as if he had finally made some kind of decision.

“I’m not going to force my wife out of this house.”

For a moment, I was genuinely stunned.

I had already prepared myself to be blamed.

To be told to step aside.

To be asked to compromise again.

Elara clearly hadn’t expected it either.

But she froze for less than half a second before her face suddenly drained of color. Her hand pressed against her abdomen, her breathing growing shallow.

“It hurts…”

“The baby doesn’t feel well.”

I watched Adrian’s expression collapse inch by inch.

Almost instinctively, he reached out, his hand hovering in front of her stomach. His movements were careful, reverent, as if he were facing something unbearably fragile.

The sight made my stomach churn.

Every time she showed weakness, he lost all sense of principle.

“Adrian,” I said, my voice tight.

“You’re not really buying this, are you?”

He didn’t look at me.

“She’s a pureblood vampire,” he said, as if stating an obvious fact.

“Her emotions and surroundings directly affect the baby”

The moment those words left his mouth, I already knew the outcome.

Because I was human.

Because my emotions would not endanger a half-blood child strong enough to draw nourishment from my body.

So I could give way.

I could be sacrificed.

Elara stayed.

And I was told to move to the small room on the first floor, next to the nanny’s quarters.

He said it was temporary.

That she needed a quiet, stable, dark environment.

That once her condition stabilized, I could move back.

I didn’t argue.

I had heard “just wait a little longer” far too many times.

It was also from that day on that I seriously began to think—

Maybe this child shouldn’t be born.

A child whose father could never stand beside them.

A child destined to be ignored, compared, and abandoned in this house.

“I’ll behave,” I said quietly.

“I won’t cause trouble for Elara. I’ll take care of this pregnancy. Unless…”

Adrian’s gaze softened. He thought I had finally given in. He pulled me into his arms.

“Unless what? I’ll agree to anything.”

“Unless you give me my phone back.”

He hesitated.

I hugged him first.

“There are vampires everywhere here,” I said softly. “I don’t have anyone to talk to. I just get lonely and bored sometimes. Don’t worry.”

……

The moment my phone was returned to my hands, I finally realized that I had regained something essential.

An exit.

Adrian didn’t know that I was not the true blood heir of the Hawthorne family he believed in.

The family that raised me was a declining old noble house in the human world. They hadn’t adopted me out of kindness, but because they needed a daughter—someone who could maintain a marriage with a vampire clan and secure continued funding.

As for my biological parents, I had already found them two years ago.

But at that time, I still loved Adrian deeply. I was still married. I couldn’t leave.

They never forced me.

They only left me with promise and a number.

If one day I became unhappy, or simply wanted to go home, they would come for me.

I never thought I would actually dial that number.

But now, they were the only ones I could rely on.

To my adoptive parents, I had always been nothing more than a bargaining chip.

As long as the vampire family’s support continued, my life didn’t matter.

……

The nights grew longer.

Adrian’s life revolved almost entirely around Elara.

He accompanied her to checkups, adjusted the light-blocking systems in the house, personally selected blood supplements suitable for her pregnancy.

At the slightest sign of discomfort, he would immediately drop everything and stay by her side, his voice low and patient.

And I spent most of my time alone in my room, still not permitted to leave the house.

The servants occasionally saw me in the hallway, but they would lower their heads quickly, avoiding my eyes.

More than once, I saw Adrian with his arm around Elara as he led her down the stairs.

She leaned into him, whispering something. He bent down slightly to listen, fully focused.

I didn’t stop.

I didn’t say a word.

But Adrian would always freeze at that moment, his gaze lifting over her shoulder, landing on me.

He always wanted to follow.

Every single time, Elara would gently tug at his sleeve, whisper his name, saying she felt unwell.

So he stopped.

He turned back to comfort her.

And by the time he looked up again, I had already disappeared at the end of the corridor.

He stood there, watching the space I had already left behind.

……

Later, Adrian told me that Elara wanted to spend the last two months of her pregnancy in a polar night region.

A place without sunlight year-round, where darkness and magnetic fields stabilized pureblood pregnancies and benefited fetal development.

His tone was calm. Rational.

“You don’t need to go,” he added.

“You’re human. A mixed-blood fetus is actually more sensitive to light cycles.”

In that moment, I finally understood the subtext.

Her child required the world to bend around it.

Mine only needed to be “placed.”

“I’ll be back before you give birth,” he said at the door.

“Wait for me.”

I nodded. I even smiled.

Elara called him from downstairs.

He answered, “Coming,” and turned to leave.

At the doorway, he suddenly paused, as if sensing something, then came back and pulled me into his arms.

“If you don’t want me to go,” he said quietly,

“Just say the word.”

His embrace was tight. Almost suffocating.

I could feel my baby responding to him, a sharp pain in my abdomen.

But inside my heart, there was nothing.

“Go,” I whispered.

“Go stay with your precious pregnant vampire friend, my husband.”

He stiffened.

I no longer had the patience to wait for his hesitation.

“Either you clear this house of her completely—her presence, her things, everything.”

“Or stop making those promises to me.”

He couldn’t speak.

And I turned into the bathroom and closed the door.

This time,

I was truly done waiting.