Moreover, Grace was so desperate that she even considered exploiting the pure affection he felt for Daisy.

It’s you who turned me into a monster.

She knew it was cruel to touch on painful subjects. That was why she had to remind herself, looking down at her swollen belly, that this man had already done worse to her.

There was something else she really wanted to ask.

What happened to the dolphin doll she left behind so carelessly? Even after all these years, she sometimes wondered about its whereabouts. What was that doll?

Still, she was afraid to provoke the man’s anger like before.

Because of that, she brought up chocolates as a safer topic, but even that turned out to be a sore subject for him, making him react sharply.

“Why would you ask about that?”

“Just suddenly remembered and wondered what you did with it…”

“Why? Regretting giving it to me now?”

“I was just curious about how it tasted! I never got to try it.”

Bringing up childhood memories, both the man and Grace momentarily reverted to their childish selves.

“I saved up my errand money to buy it…. I cherished it so much, I never even tasted it before giving it away….”

As she muttered sulkily under the covers, the man fell silent for a moment.

“Parents who can’t even buy cheap chocolate for their child must be wonderful parents indeed.”

Of course, his silence was short-lived.

“As a leader, they must have accumulated quite a fortune. To still believe and follow such a mother and stepfather is admirable…”

He continued to denigrate her parents behind her back. Moreover, he subtly brought up the story of the ‘stepfather’ that she tried hard to forget, but Grace clenched her teeth and did not fall for his provocations. Instead, she let him think about what he wanted.

To make him pity her.

Showing vulnerability about parents not loving each other as a couple had an unexpected effect.

“I feel the same way about not wanting to raise a child in such an environment.”

He began to share his personal stories, saying he knew what it was like growing up under such parents.

She pretended to break down her own walls and made his walls come down. Since then, Grace has started to show her vulnerabilities bit by bit. So, when the chocolate talk led to criticism of her parents, she just pretended to be upset and went to sleep.

Then, it was the next day.

Before the man left for work, he asked her, who was still dozing off under the covers.

“Do you remember the brand?”

He must have been thinking about it for a while. He asked about the brand of the cheap chocolate, which might have been discontinued long ago.

“No.”

In truth, she remembered. How could she forget?

Still, she pretended not to remember since it was sold only in specific regions.

From that day on, a crystal bowl was always placed by her side. The chocolates inside it changed every day. Grace extended a heart-shaped chocolate to Winston. He squinted at her slightly before finally opening his tightly shut mouth.

Lately, he had been accepting whatever she offered without much comment.

His heart was easier to win over than she thought.

However, the battle of wits was not so simple. Winston managed to promote his pawn to a queen by reaching the end of the chessboard. It made capturing his queen earlier seem meaningless.

Yet, the man played defensively, cherishing his most powerful piece. Even though Grace was aggressively turning the tide of the game, fueled by her competitive spirit, he acted more like someone protecting his queen rather than his king.

Why protect the queen?

The goal of chess was to capture the opponent’s king. The queen was merely a means to that end, not the goal itself.

However, as Grace shifted her focus to another attack, the man changed tactics.

He started using his cherished queen aggressively, almost recklessly…

“Checkmate.”

He ultimately captured her king. However, his eyes didn’t reflect the triumph of a winner. Instead, he gazed unhappily at the queen he had reclaimed after she had snatched, having pushed his king into a corner.

Why was that?

His gaze haunted her for the rest of the day. It felt as if she had glimpsed into Leon Winston’s mind.

º º º

Before long, all the leaves had fallen, and the tumultuous year was drawing to a close.

It was a morning just a few days before the day when the baby savior was to come to save the sinful world.

For the first time, Grace felt the baby move.

At first, she didn’t realize it. The strange sensation, like bubbles stirring in her stomach, was the baby moving. It was something she only understood after a doctor mentioned it during a routine checkup in the afternoon.

It was alive.

Sitting at the edge of the bed, Grace touched her belly with trembling hands.

Something was alive and moving inside her. Even though she could ignore the growing belly, the sudden movements were undeniable. This unfamiliar being seemed to shout throughout her body as if telling her not to forget its presence.

She was carrying Leon Winston’s child.

She had only pretended in front of that man, but she never truly accepted her situation.

The faint movements cornered her into facing the lies she told herself.

Grace watched Winston, who was talking to the doctor across the room. She thought she had become adept at hiding her feelings, pretending to resign herself to her fate. But at that moment, she couldn’t hide the resentment in her eyes.

The urge to abandon her resolution to make that man fall in love with her surged within her. She hated him so much, and it was all too overwhelming.

Crushed under the weight of despair, she wanted to lean on something. Nevertheless, the only support available to her was the very devil who had sown this despair.

She felt an absurd urge to cling to him weakly and weep.

I hate you so much! How could you do this to me?! Kneel down and beg for my forgiveness right now!

Silently screaming inside, she let out a weak, defeated laugh.

Begging for forgiveness?

This sin wasn’t light enough to be forgiven just by begging. Only by seeing that man suffer the same or even worse pain could she let go of her resentment.

Regardless, forgiveness was out of the question.

Yes, the more she hated him, the more she must make him love her. That was the only way Grace could think of to take her revenge.

“…How big does the baby have to be before it’s safe for long-distance travel?”

“If you’re talking about long-distance travel…”

Grace focused her wavering will on the man who continued to question the doctor.

º º º

The bathroom late at night was bright enough to read even without turning on the lights, thanks to the candles flickering gently on the edge of the bathtub and the shelves.

Splash. Rustle.

The sound of water against the moist tiled walls mingled occasionally with the flipping of book pages. It wasn’t just the soft noises that filled the bathroom.

Taking a deep breath, Grace inhaled the sweet scents flooding her nostrils.

The aromas of the candles, soap suds, and the parfait in her hand blended in the moist air. The bubble bath with parfait was his idea, making her feel childishly out of place. And he was doing something equally uncharacteristic. Reading in a bubble bath.

The book propped up on the tray across the tub seemed even more out of place.

An encyclopedia of pregnancy, childbirth, and childcare.

Every night he read this book, Grace couldn’t believe her eyes. She wanted to even ask the man what kind of trick he was using. In a moment, as she looked away from the open book, she felt something stirring again in her belly.

At that time, the cream and chocolate in her mouth suddenly tasted bitter.

…A child made by the enemy. A forbidden existence that should never have been conceived.

Just like her.

No. Not like her.

Grace forced herself to swallow and asked Winston,

“When do you think you’ll be able to feel the baby move?”

“I’m not sure. Haven’t come across that in the book yet.”

“It’d be nice if you could feel the baby soon.”

Because it seemed unfair for her to bear this pain alone.

He clearly didn’t understand her intentions as Grace asked that. He put his hand under the water, touching her stomach as if wanting to feel the movement.

“The book says… if you eat what the baby likes, the movements become more active.”

“So it moves a lot because it likes what I like.”

It was at that moment Grace lifted her parfait glass, forcing a smile.

“Then the baby must like me, too.”

A crack appeared in her smile.

__