Chapter 3

My phone vibrated once.

【Rio International Flight — Check-in Available】

I stared at the notification for a long time.

Caelan hated places like that. Heat. Sunlight.

But for the first time in years, I finally felt like I could breathe again.

For five years, I willingly became his blood source. I slept beside him in coffins.

Waited for him to lower his head and drink from me. Waited for the occasional scraps of tenderness he tossed my way.

All because of that single look he gave me in the darkness the night we first met.

By the time I returned to the castle, most of my belongings had already been cleared out.

Isolde disliked the scent of humans, so the servants moved everything into the west wing.

In the now-empty room, only a small black velvet box remained on the bedside table. It was a gift from Caelan.

Back then, I thought it meant something precious.

Now, I only looked at it quietly for a few seconds before tossing it into the fireplace.

The flames slowly swallowed the black velvet whole.

So this was what it felt like.

Some things could burn away without hurting at all.

“Claire.” Footsteps sounded behind me.

Caelan stood in the doorway, his gaze dropping to the fire.

“What are you burning?”

“Nothing.” I brushed the ash from my fingers.

He stayed silent for two seconds before speaking.

“My engagement to Isolde is only happening because the pureblood families need an alliance. It’s just for appearances.”

I looked up at him. “Caelan, honestly, I don’t care who you get engaged to. Or marry.”

For a moment, he looked as if he didn’t understand what I had just said.

He only stared at me in silence for a very long time.

The hallways of the medical academy were quiet, filled with the sharp scent of disinfectant.

The test report in my hands had already been crumpled beyond recognition.

【Pregnancy: 8 Weeks】

Two months. Right before Isolde returned to the castle.

The doctor adjusted his glasses. “Claire, are you certain you want to terminate the pregnancy?”

I opened my mouth, but no sound came out.

All I could think about was that night. The dark coffin. Caelan holding me against him, his cold fingers brushing gently across my lower stomach.

“If you ever get pregnant, that child would be my only heir.”

Back then, I secretly fantasized that if we really had a child, maybe one day he might learn to love me the way ordinary people loved each other.

I lowered my eyes to the report in my hands.

“…Let me think about it a little longer.”

When I returned to the castle, the grand hall was crowded with people.

“Congratulations, Miss Isolde. A pureblood heir will shake the entire vampire world.”

My footsteps stopped instantly.

Isolde sat gracefully on the sofa, one hand resting lightly over her stomach.

The family doctor smiled warmly. “It’s been confirmed. Miss Isolde is pregnant.”

The entire room fell silent for a second.

Then Caelan saw me standing at the entrance. He immediately started walking toward me.

“Claire, listen to me.”

I took a step backward.

Explain what? Explain why your first instinct was to catch her the moment she stood up?

Or explain that you were finally capable of worrying about someone that much?

“Caelan.” Isolde slowly rose from the sofa. “There are so many people watching…”

His body stiffened instinctively.

The next second, he turned back toward her immediately and steadied her in his arms.

“Sit down. Get some rest.”

His voice softened as he adjusted the shawl around her shoulders.

I stood there silently while my stomach twisted harder and harder.

Isolde lightly caught hold of his sleeve.

I closed my eyes.

And when I opened them again, I turned and walked out of the castle.

The night air was freezing cold.

I sat alone on a bench outside the medical academy, still clutching the pregnancy report in my hands.

That was when I suddenly realized that I had nowhere left to go.

The place where I had lived for five years had never actually been my home.

A confirmation email for my apartment in Rio appeared on my phone screen.

I lowered my head and gently rested a hand over my stomach.

From now on, maybe it would really be just the two of us.