His Unforgiving Duchess

''Congratulations, your Grace. You are pregnant.'' said a middle-aged man settled on a chair by the bedside. He removed his two first fingers from a smooth, dainty white wrist and placed his hand with the other one on his lap.Then he lifted his gaze to the beautiful woman on the bed, who seemed not to hear his words because of her dazed look, and her eyes appeared to be clouded, like she was not with the him at the moment..

Not getting a response from her, the middle-aged man, a doctor, was lost on what to do. Flicking his glasses with his middle finger, a burst of awkward laughter escaped his lips. He turned to the butler, who stood not far away from them.

''Her grace is finally with a young master,'' The butler muttered in disbelief with his strands of gray hair hovering over his forehead. His gaze met the doctor's helping gaze, and he inquired, ''How long has her grace been pregnant?''

''About one week, to be precise,'' The doctor replied, and still seeing the butler's doubtful gaze, he added to dispel his doubt, ''I can confirm with the new medical equipment.''

Realizing his minor mistake, the butler coughed out, ''No, thank you, Baron Stewart.''

'' How can I question your medical abilities when I am not his grace?'' The butler shook his head to deny the suggestion and returned to his prim and proper self in his butler's uniform.

''..My lady is pregnant,'' A hoarse whisper joined their conversation. Simultaneously, they looked at the teary personal maid of the beautiful lady. She stood beside the butler with her happy but teary look, like the pregnancy announcement was joyful.

Normally, the butler would have corrected her words, but his lips curled into a sad smile. ''Yes, her grace is pregnant.''

'Hopefully, with the child on the way, her grace will not be lonely, and his grace....' The butler did not finish the words in his heart as he did not want to have false perceptions about his master even though the latter was wrong.

The maid, who could not contain her excitement, did a tiny jittery jump and moved from her position to the doctor's side. She gently shook the beautiful lady's shoulder with her cheery voice, ''My lady, you are pregnant.''

''Amelia!'' The butler's gaze turned sharp like a tigress watching out for her cubs. He wanted to warn the maid to be careful with his mistress's body, but a weak voice stopped him from doing so.

''A-Amelia?"

Everyone present in the room turned to the beautiful lady on the bed. She looked wide-eyed at her personal maid, Amelia.

''You are alive?'' Her words came out as an uncertain whisper

The maid furrowed her eyebrows at her words and called out questioningly after removing her hand, ''My lady?''

Seeing that her personal maid was truly at a young age, she slowly turned to the doctor and then the butler. Something flashed in her oceanic blue eyes, and she asked, ''Spencer, what are you doing here, in the villa? I thought my father did not allow anyone in?''

The maid paused like she heard something shocking, and the butler was equally shocked as her but also disturbed.

''My lady...This is not the Grand-duchy, but the Hayes duchy,'' He clarified like he was talking to a child.

The butler, once again, displayed his tigress aura and pierced his gaze at the doctor, ''I hope there is nothing with her grace and the young master, Baron Stewart?''

''N-No.'' Baron's Stewart's back broke out in a sweat, and He lifted his hands in a surrendering gesture, ''Both mother and child are fine. However, her grace must never stand too long, or she will be stressed, and that is not good for the growing baby.''

''Child?'' Another uncertain whisper came from his side. After a momentary pause, the beautiful lady's oceanic blue eyes shook like she realized something.

The butler withdrew his protective gaze and looked at his mistress gently, ''Yes, Your grace. You are one week pregnant.''

Contrary to their expectations, the beautiful lady did not ask any more weird questions.

With her hand on the flat abdomen hidden behind the blanket, her tense shoulders relaxed with her back on the backrest. Her eyes surveyed the room for a while, and then she did something that made the butler display his previous gaze to the doctor.

A solitary tear leaked from her eyes and trailed down her milky white cheeks, and she mumbled, in the quiet room, ''..My baby.''

More glistening tears dropped on the blanket on her lap, and a mournful but elated smile graced her lips, ''My sweet baby.''

''My baby,'' She repeated the two words like chants while staring and rubbing her abdomen lovingly.

''Mother is here for you now, my little villain.''

----

''Once again, I am fine, Amelia.''

Amelia looked at her lady for a while, then withdrew her gaze since there was no trace of tears like before. She took the silver tray on the nightstand with an empty glass cup and a plate of eaten sliced fruits on it.

''My lady, don't forget Baron Stewart's words. You must never be sad, so the baby can grow happily,'' Amelia seriously reminded. She then bowed and left the room, ''Call me if you need anything, my lady.''

The woman stared at the door closed for a while, then returned her gaze to the window with a grin. ''You never change, Amelia. Always calling me, my lady and not duchess.''

She watched the flowers preparing to bloom after the cold winter with her hand on her abdomen. Her hand never left it, even while taking bites of the sliced fruits.

''I am truly back,'' She murmured, giving her tummy one more rub.

The luxurious ceiling, the familiar chandelier, the fancy decor, the recognizable pieces of furniture, and the youthful face of her maid told her as much.

She was back to the age of twenty-one, and the period she discovered her pregnancy.

''But...this is my third life, or else how would I discover that you are the villain in a novel, my son.''

In her first life, she had everything; Amazing parents, money, an envious job, a reliable husband, and wonderful friends. Her life was nearly perfect with all that, but she wanted one thing: a baby.

Her husband and she were married for a year, and were prepared to have a baby. While doing that, one of her friends bought a book for her bearing the name His Aurora.

The book featured the life of a commoner girl named Aurora, who later got adopted into a powerful marquess's family.Then, the story was quite nice, in her opinion, but there was one thing she did not like about it.

The villain's backstory.

The villain was the half-brother of the male lead of the story. His father fell in love with his mother, a commoner who opened a new bakery. The bread reminded him of his mother, who also used to bake when she was alive. From then on, he visited the shop in disguise and fell in love with the male lead's mother.

To anyone, that part of the story would be perfect and romantic, but there was a flaw. The villain's father was married to a Grand duke's daughter.

That is where her situation comes in. She became the villain's mother from birth, but without her first life's memories in her second life.

''If I had them, I would have saved you, my son, but mother was useless,'' Looking down to her belly, she grinned sadly, ''She was dwelling in her misery of not being loved from her young age.''

Like the villain, the mother also had a sad backstory. The Grand duke lost his precious wife from birth and avoided the child. Since then, the relationship between father and daughter was weak, and when the engagement with the male lead's father came, she thought her life might get better, but it turned out for the worse.

The male lead's father did not look in her way nor try to love her. The only contact they had was sleeping together for the creation of an heir, and there were dates for that.

Devastated by her husband's behavior, the villain's mother was almost depressed. She just kept quiet and did her duty as a duchess and mother, even when it felt like everyone had turned against her.

The four things that completely broke were her husband's affair, his mistress's pregnancy, the divorce and her son's death..

''Your death made me very depressed, and I guess I died because of it,'' The villain's mother, Isla Elrod continued to smile. It was a very painful smile, just like it was stated in the novel.

'Isla continued to smile despite everything that happened to her.'

''You suffered from my absence in this duchy after the divorce, and your father ignoring you like you were not his son. You must have felt there was no place for you in his new family.'' Isla continued to talk, even though there was no one in the bedroom listening to her story. Her eyes were not teary but empty and clouded like she had returned to her second life, her tragic second life.

''Our backstories might be different, but we suffered similarly, my dear son.''

>>>>Hello dear readers, that's the first chapter of my story,I hope you enjoyed it (or cried). If you did, then please support me by voting for this story with power stones and also commenting and putting down your reviews. Enjoy and Post soon!🥰<<<<