My Disfigured Duke Husband Helps Me Plot My Revenge
Chapter 306: How She Truly Feels

Chapter 306: How She Truly Feels

Leonor stumbled and Stephano offered an arm which she clung to with a vice grip and caused him to grimace. Normally he may joke that it was a capital offense to hurt the King, but Leonor’s face had turned as white as a sheet and he knew it was best to keep his mouth shut.

He felt terrible that he had sent her husband away during such a sensitive time. If he had known... there was nothing further to consider because he didn’t know before that moment.

"That can’t be correct," Leonor finally responded, her voice breathless.

To a mage, it could be considered a low blow that someone who held such high status would doubt their magic, but he understood that she was in shock and tried not to get defensive.

"Your Grace, I assure you that my magic spell has never been wrong before," he said. "Regardless, if you don’t believe it, you’re welcome to wait a month or so and see if there are further signs."

Leonor took a deep breath. She had no appropriate response to what he said. She wanted to curse him out and tell him he was certainly wrong. It wasn’t kind to joke about something like that to a noblewoman. Who knew how it would complicate her life?

Or perhaps she was one of the noblewomen desperately trying to conceive to produce an heir. It would also be another cruel side.

"If you could please excuse us now," Stephano said to the mage.

The mage bowed and left the room, gently shutting the door behind him so the two could have the privacy they sought.

Leonor no longer held onto the King’s arm and she slumped to the floor on her knees with her skirts surrounding her. It looked like she had melted into the floor.

"This isn’t good" were the only words she managed to utter beyond her doubts earlier.

"It will be fine, Leonor," Stephano said.

"It won’t be fine," she argued. "Desmond has already expressed so many times that this can’t happen. He was even taking measures..."

The fertility potion he took every couple of weeks was what she was referring to.

And yet...

A hand lifted to her mouth and she was in disbelief.

She knew that they had been careful while in the capital considering fertility potions were easy to access, but it seemed they both had forgotten it the last time they had been around one another. Touching each other took precedence over being wise.

It didn’t even occur to either one of them to practice caution. The moment they started with one another, there was no turning back. How wonderful and how horrible it was to be loved by someone so much.

Yet the thought of him being disappointed that she had gotten pregnant when that’s not what they were trying to do made her feel sick to her stomach. She wanted to cry.

Was this perhaps the month of exhaustion or the hunger and the generally miserable feeling? Had she thought she was sick from black magic only for a small fetus to be inside of her, trying to cling to life after her body had been through such an ordeal.

All she needed was Desmond, but he was the one person who couldn’t be there for her at that moment.

However, her worries shifted from herself to the man who was on the battlefield and likely far more vulnerable to a dragon than she was. What if the dragon made it all the way to Eirenguard? It wouldn’t be difficult considering it transcended the curves of the Earth and the winding roads and organized buildings.

"I don’t know what I’m going to do, Stephano," she uttered. "This wasn’t supposed to happen. We already have an heir. This will complicate everything. I will fail to do what I was meant to as a mage."

Stephano crouched on the ground despite the fine clothing he wore. The fur cloak over his shoulder brushed across the floor and he placed his hands on Leonor’s shoulders, forcing her to look at him.

"You’re saying this in front of the most powerful person in Castille," he said. "If I say that it’s alright, it will be alright. I will make it so."

"I really want to believe you so badly," Leonor admitted. "I’m finding that hard after all the conversations I’ve had with Desmond regarding this very thing. The heartbreak I already faced having to come to terms with not ever being a mother. I had just begun to accept my reality and yet..."

Stephano gave Leonor a sad smile. He should have known that she wouldn’t have been entirely satisfied with the outcome of others deciding her future status as a mother on her behalf. It wasn’t fair to put a woman to that. She was a pawn in everyone’s game, but what about what she felt?

"Leonor, I want you to disregard what anyone else might say or think about this situation and tell me what you want," Stephano requested. "How do you feel about this?"

The duchess raised her hands and gently pulled Stephano’s hands from her shoulders. Even though his touch was comforting, she needed to pull it together on her own.

"I’m not sure," she admitted with her eyebrows lowered as she truly contemplated the situation. "To share our love with the world in the form of a child is such a beautiful thing, but I find it terrifying to have such complications as the ones that took my mother from this earth."

"With this added complication, I’m not entirely sure of when Desmond will be home, but I promise I will get him back as quickly as possible," Stephano promised. "Until then, I will make sure you have the best care in the kingdom. If there is even a hint that something isn’t right, we will know right away. That’s what I want to give my dearest friend."

Leonor tried to crack a small smile at being called his dearest friend.

"Won’t Quinn be upset with that?" she asked quietly, trying to take the edge off of the situation.

Stephano smiled miserably. He would never see Quinn as merely a friend ever again. That was something he would have to live with. He already had been for over a month.

"We’re talking about you," the King persisted. "Once we deal with this, I will make your life as comfortable as possible. As for who you want to tell in the meantime, I believe Beth and Gideon are two people who ought to know. The one who is taking care of you and the one who is taking care of affairs in the west who also knows all the secrets of montclair."

She knew she was right, but she didn’t know how to broach the topic with them. There would certainly be a few overreactions.