Chapter 76. The Head Maid's Voyeurism and the Prelude to the Pregnancy War
The Head Maid's Voyeurism and the Prelude to the Pregnancy War
Knock, knock.
The silence was broken by the sound of rapping on the door.
Startled, Lucian withdrew his hand from Lady Blanc's backside. Lady Blanc herself flinched and held her breath.
"Count, may I check the state of your— Oh?"
The door opened, and Maria stepped inside.
Since Lucian's office was typically under her and the Retainer Maids' supervision, it was customary for them to enter if there was no response—assuming he was absent.
There had been times when the Count was engaged in intimate acts with other maids, but he had always taken pleasure in it, and Maria had long grown accustomed to simply lowering her gaze and stepping out.
But today was different.
"..."
Maria's eyes widened.
On the office sofa, a woman lay face-down.
She wasn't a maid.
It was Lady Blanc.
And she was dressed in a sheer, see-through outfit, her skirt hiked up to her thighs as she lay sprawled. Lucian crouched beside her, his hand resting near her backside.
The air in the room was thick with an indescribable, sticky humidity.
"Ah... Well, you see—"
Even the unflappable Lucian looked visibly flustered this time.
"W-We were just talking when... Lady Blanc suddenly felt dizzy and collapsed... I was merely helping her rest and checking her condition."
"Oh... I see."
Maria knew instinctively.
It was a lie.
No one who had fainted from dizziness would have their skirt hiked up like that.
Not to mention Lady Blanc's flushed face and the unmistakable bulge straining against the front of Count Lucian's trousers—undeniable evidence to anyone who looked.
Even if the Count suffered from excessive libido due to his condition, to lay hands on his friend's wife... a guest?
"My—my apologies for the interruption. I'll check later."
Maria hastily bowed and retreated backward.
Until the door closed, the sight of Lady Blanc's trembling, delicate shoulders and Lucian's bewildered gaze burned into her mind.
Out in the hallway, Maria gasped for breath.
"No... The Count wouldn't do that."
She shook her head violently.
Lucian might have been beastly, but he was a man with his own principles. He would never betray a friend's trust. It was just... a misunderstanding because Lady Blanc's dress was too thin.
Maria desperately rationalized it.
It was the only way she could survive in this castle.
As the "first woman" who had loved him the earliest and the deepest, she had learned to "close her eyes" to endure the misery she felt every time he embraced another woman.
Because if she acknowledged him as a bad man, then loving him would only make her pathetic.
But from that day on, Maria developed a strange habit.
Every time she opened the door to his office or bedroom, her heart would race uncontrollably. A sense of unease—and... something else.
One morning, outside the office.
Lady Rachel's moans spilled from within.
"Ah! Hah! Lucian... Too deep...!"
Maria froze with her hand on the doorknob.
Normally, she would have quietly excused herself. But her feet refused to move.
As if entranced, she cracked the door open just a sliver—barely enough to peek through.
The sight that greeted her:
Rachel sprawled across the mahogany desk, her pale legs spread wide, Lucian's massive frame driving into her.
Rachel's face twisted in a mix of pain and pleasure as she took him in.
"Haaah..."
Maria held her breath and watched.
She was jealous. I want to be in that position.
But at the same time, the way Rachel's flesh quivered with each of Lucian's thrusts, the raw sounds they made—it all sent shocks through Maria's brain.
'Why... am I like this?'
She should have been disappointed. She should have been sad.
But strangely, her heart pounded, and a tingling heat pooled low in her belly.
It had already begun.
Maria had to admit it—she had awakened to [voyeurism].
The trigger was clear. That day long ago, when she and the Count had secretly watched Nancy and the guard captain in Nancy's room.
The thrill of peeking while Lucian's hands roamed her body had seared itself into her mind.
From then on, she became the castle's hidden observer.
Late at night, the moans spilling from Sophia's room.
Maria would lurk in the hallway shadows, peering through the keyhole.
Sophia—the woman called the Priestess—pinned beneath Lucian, begging, "Lucian, fill me inside."
Maria swallowed dryly at the sight of the fallen saint.
Whenever Nancy and the guard captain slipped away to a secluded storage room, Maria would linger nearby under the pretense of cleaning.
"Captain... Feels so good... Ngh..."
Listening to her cheerful friend Nancy moan happily in the arms of a rough man filled Maria with a strange vicarious satisfaction and excitement.
"Haaah... Haaah..."
Maria pulled away from the door crack and leaned against the wall.
Cold sweat beaded on her forehead.
She didn't dare bring her hand to her skirt. Masturbation? Unthinkable for the Head Maid's dignity.
But her body was honest.
Dampness.
When she squeezed her thighs together, she could feel her panties soaked and heavy.
Just from peeking. Just from listening to others.
Her love juices flowed freely, drenching her undergarments.
'Pathetic... How utterly pathetic, Maria.'
The strict, proper Head Maid—the one who trained new recruits and upheld the castle's discipline—was secretly a voyeur who got off on spying on her master and colleagues at night.
She bit her lip in self-loathing.
But she knew.
Tomorrow, and the day after, she wouldn't be able to resist the sounds from the Count's bedroom. She would find herself drawn to that door crack again.
Because it was the only twisted, sorrowful thread still connecting her to the Count—who felt farther away than ever.
[The Maids' Gossip]
A lazy afternoon in the maids' lounge.
As they folded laundry or sipped tea, their conversation inevitably circled back to the newlywed life of Count Lucian and Lady Rachel.
"Goodness, the noise last night was something else," Nancy clucked her tongue.
"If they're going at it multiple times a day like this... What if Lady Rachel ends up pregnant? There's such a thing as a honeymoon baby, you know."
"What nonsense," Ella scoffed.
"Don't you know about the Count's [Sperm Retrieval Magic]? It's always active—no way that'll happen. We've all experienced it. No matter how much he fills you up, you won't get pregnant."
"Right," Ari chimed in.
"Just by frequency alone... Honestly, we've done it way more times than her. And none of us have any news, so..."
"Hmph! Still, it's unsettling," Ella grumbled.
"Lady Rachel is his official wife. If she decides to lift the contraception, she can. I've been begging the Count to do it without protection—I want to get pregnant before Lady Rachel does! If I bear his child... I won't be treated as just a maid anymore."
A strange understanding passed between the maids. The desire to monopolize Lucian's love—and the instinct to secure their status by bearing his child.
Then, from the corner, I-seo—who had been quietly reading—closed her book and spoke.
"Lady Sophia... is pregnant."
"......"
Silence.
The air in the lounge froze. Maria nearly dropped her teacup, and Nancy's eyes went round.
"What?!"
"R-Really?!" Ari shot to her feet.
"Whose child?!"
"Ari! What do you mean 'whose child'? Obviously the Count's!" Maria scolded, swatting Ari's back, but even she couldn't hide her shock.
Sophia, the Priestess—rumored to have difficulty conceiving. And Lucian's ironclad contraception magic. To break through all those obstacles...
"That's impossible... How did she bypass the magic?"
All eyes turned to I-seo, who calmly but precisely explained.
"Through sheer volume... and the miracle of prayer."
"Volume...?"
"Prayer?! That's cheating!"
Ella and Ari were aghast.
"During their two-month journey to Kurgan, they were practically living together in the carriage and tents. The entire time, they never stopped coupling."
I-seo relayed what Sophia had told her—and what she herself had diagnosed.
"The Count's virility is so strong that he filled her womb relentlessly... and Lady Sophia used her divine energy to desperately cling to those seeds. The sheer quantity and frequency overwhelmed even the magic, creating a momentary gap—and life took root in that instant."
"Goodness..."
The maids were speechless.
An overwhelming amount of sex to overpower magic. And Sophia's sheer determination to conceive, even if it meant praying to the gods.
It was nothing short of a "miracle."
"I see..." Maria murmured blankly.
"We should congratulate Lady Sophia. That's... incredible devotion."
"Yes. But..."
I-seo pressed a finger to her lips.
"Don't mention it to the Count or Lady Rachel yet. Lady Sophia wants to tell them herself when she's ready... For now, it's a secret just between us."
"Understood. My lips are sealed."
The maids nodded.
But the look in their eyes had changed.
Happiness for Sophia? Of course. But stronger than that was envy—and the burning desire to conceive.
'If Lady Sophia could do it... Why not me?'
'Sheer volume... I'll beg the Count to do it all day long.'
'Prayer?... I'll start praying today. To let me bear the Count's child.'
The maids steeled their resolve.
Lucian's contraception magic was near absolute—but they had witnessed a miracle. And now, they believed they could do it too.
A tingling heat pulsed low in their bellies.
From this day forward, the battle in the Count's bedroom would only grow fiercer.
The goal was singular: pregnancy.