Chapter 307: v4 - 8: Adrian’s choice II

Chapter 307: v4 Chapter 8: Adrian’s choice II

Adrian leaned back in his chair, his gaze resting on the papers before him without truly reading them.

Yes.

He had known for years that Marian wanted a child.

There was no mystery in that.

She wanted one because she loved him.

Because she wanted something that belonged to the two of them.

And because, as Empress, she understood that an heir was not merely a personal desire.

It was expected of her.

Of them.

Adrian understood that better than anyone.

He was Emperor.

He had a duty to the Empire.

A dynasty could not continue indefinitely without an heir, and nearly four years of marriage had made the absence increasingly noticeable.

The court had been speaking of it since their second year of marriage.

The ministers had raised it repeatedly.

It was not a new concern.

Sooner or later, the matter would become impossible to ignore.

And yet Adrian had no intention of allowing it to happen.

Not yet.

He could not tell Marian that.

He could not tell her that while she counted the days and hoped each month would be different, he had been quietly making certain that it would not be.

At first, delaying it had been part of the same test.

A child would secure Marian’s position.

Give her another certainty.

Make her place beside him even more permanent.

Adrian had wondered whether that certainty would make her complacent.

Whether, once she had the security of a child and the certainty of being Empress, something between them would change.

He had wanted her attention.

Her affection.

Her choice.

He had wanted to know that she would continue giving those things to him because she wanted to, not because she had nowhere else to go.

So he had decided they could wait.

It had seemed reasonable.

They were young.

There was time.

And there was no immediate danger to the succession.

What he had not expected was how wonderful Marian would become as his wife.

She had not become complacent.

She had not grown distant.

If anything, she had become more attached to him.

More affectionate.

More settled in their life together.

The original purpose of the test had gradually become unnecessary.

Marian had already given him the answer.

She loved him.

She was happy.

She was his wife in every way that mattered.

And yet Adrian still did not give her a child.

By then, the reason had changed.

He had begun to notice how much Marian wanted one.

At first, it had been simple hope.

Then came the calendar.

The counting.

The attention she paid to the days.

The questions she asked the physicians.

The way she became more affectionate whenever she believed the timing was right.

Adrian noticed all of it.

He always noticed.

Sometimes she would seek him out while he was working.

Sometimes she would linger beside him longer than usual.

Sometimes she was simply more affectionate.

He knew why.

She believed the timing was right.

And he never discouraged her.

Their marriage had never lacked affection or intimacy.

Adrian loved being close to her.

He loved the ease they had developed with one another, the familiarity of being husband and wife.

And he especially liked those occasions when Marian was the one who sought him out.

There was something deeply satisfying about knowing that she wanted him.

That she had looked at the calendar, remembered what she had been told, and decided that she wanted to be close to him.

He enjoyed those moments.

Perhaps more than he should.

But none of that changed what happened afterward.

Marian never knew that, from the very beginning of their marriage, Adrian had taken precautions of his own.

There were medicines.

Small things.

Nothing conspicuous.

Something mixed into her food or otherwise given as part of the ordinary routines of the household.

She ate them without suspicion.

She had no reason to question anything.

Adrian had made certain that their intimacy could remain entirely normal while a pregnancy remained impossible.

It was deliberate.

It had been deliberate from the beginning.

And now, years later, he still had no intention of stopping.

Not yet.

The irony was that the more Marian wanted the child, the easier it became for Adrian to justify continuing.

She was not even pregnant.

There was not yet a child to take her attention.

And already, the thought occupied so much of her mind.

Adrian could only imagine what would happen once the child actually existed.

Marian would love it.

Of course she would.

She would adore their child completely.

She would worry over every fever.

Remember every milestone.

Think about its needs before her own.

Her attention would naturally move toward it.

It would have to.

A child would demand it.

And Adrian did not like the thought of having to share something he had spent so long believing belonged to him.

Not because he believed Marian would love him less.

He knew she would not.

But her attention would change.

It would be divided.

There would be someone else who needed her.

Someone else whose smallest movement could occupy her thoughts.

Someone else who would have a claim on the part of her that Adrian had spent years wanting for himself.

He did not want that yet.

So he continued as he had from the beginning.

Quietly.

Carefully.

Without letting Marian know.

He told himself there was no harm in it.

They were young.

There was time.

The Empire was stable.

There was no immediate danger to the succession.

Eventually, they would have a child.

Just not yet.

But as the months became years, it became increasingly difficult for Adrian to pretend that his decision was merely temporary.

He was choosing this.

Deliberately.

And he knew exactly what he was choosing.

He was choosing their life as it was.

Marian’s attention.

Her affection.

Her closeness.

The quiet certainty that when she wanted something, she still came to him first.

He did not want anything to change yet.

A child could come eventually.

When he was ready.

When he no longer felt the need to keep her attention so completely centered on him.

When he could accept the inevitable change without feeling that he was giving something away.

Until then, Adrian saw no reason to stop.

His thoughts were interrupted by a knock at the door.

Adrian looked up.

His aide entered.

"Your Majesty."

Adrian straightened slightly.

"The arrangements for the Milician reception are ready for your review."

Adrian nodded.

"Leave them."

The aide placed the documents on the desk and withdrew.

Adrian looked at the papers.

The delegation would arrive in three days.

King Lorenz would enter the capital.

Adrian would receive him at the gates.

There would be a formal procession.

A banquet.

The court would gather.

The Empire would show Milicia exactly what it was dealing with.

Adrian reached for the first document.

Whatever Lorenz wanted from the negotiations, he would have to understand one thing before anything else.

Milicia had approached the Empire.

The Empire had accepted their proposal because Adrian believed peace was worth considering.

Not because the Empire needed it.

And when the king arrived, Adrian intended to make certain he understood the difference.

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Tbc