The morning sun is just beginning to clear the tops of the pine trees when you return to the manor. The dew is thick on the grass, clinging to the leather of your boots as you cross the threshold into the quiet hallway.
You shed your heavy cloak and head straight for your small study, sitting down at the wooden desk to review the ledgers for the upcoming art shop. For a few hours, the only sound in the house is the scratching of your quill against parchment and the distant, rhythmic ticking of the pendulum clock.
By midday, you put down the quill and stretch your aching back. You walk down the corridor to the small, sunlit nursery where the baby is resting. Irmtraud is folding linens in the corner, her face pale but serene. You step up to the wicker cradle and look down at your son. He is awake, blinking his dark eyes up at the ceiling. You reach down and gently lift him into your arms, supporting his small head just as Irmtraud taught you. You rock him back and forth, listening to the soft, rhythmic puff of his breath against your chest.
Irmtraud stops her folding and watches you, a warm, amused smile gracing her lips. "You look remarkably domestic, Your Highness," she comments, leaning her hip against the wooden dresser. "If someone walked in right now, they might mistake you for something else."
"Like a doting husband and a proud father?" you ask, looking up from the babe with a smirk.
"No," she says, her smile still in her face. "Better than most of them, actually. And the beauty of it is that you and I are not married. There are no vows chaining you here, yet here you are, holding him anyway."
"I hold what is mine, Irmtraud," you reply softly, carefully lowering the boy back into his nest of blankets as his eyelids begin to flutter shut. "I do not need a priest to tell me to look after my own blood."
Once the baby is deeply asleep, the quiet of the room turns heavy with a familiar heat. You turn to Irmtraud, catching her wrist before she can pick up another sheet. She doesn't pull away. You lead her by the hand to the adjacent bedchamber, closing the door firmly behind you.
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