Pregnancy Is Too Much For The Villain - C150.2

* * *

Sigh… What should I do now…?

Valentin, who had been tearing at his hair, sat on a rock and stared blankly at the sky. Sheep flocks were peacefully grazing on the sparse remaining hay around him, but Valentin’s mind was far from peaceful.

And for good reason – to be pregnant after already getting divorced…!

At this point, he and Reynard must be physically the ultimate match, like something out of legend. Getting pregnant every time they do it… The nickname “One-shot One-kill Colonel” really fits… Maybe Reynard’s sperm are some kind of super sperm…? This time there wasn’t even a heat cycle…

[It seems your body was entering a recovery phase, coincidentally overlapping with something like a heat period, and you happened to have relations at that timing.]

The doctor, who was said to be quite renowned in the large city of Dishankar, shrugged as if to say it was possible. He explained that it’s natural and normal for the heat cycle not to come for several months after giving birth, and that conception likely occurred when the body had properly recovered and was just entering a fertile period again.

Valentin grumbled to himself, muttering curses.

“Damn royal physician bastard…”

So the possibilities to consider were either that the royal physician was a quack, or Valentin’s body had superhuman recovery abilities and had healed again…

‘Or that man lied.’

His mind was already leaning towards that conclusion.

He had been suspicious from the start. Wasn’t he the one who gave that vague and strange interview about the Dennox Grand Duke’s consort around the time Valentin left, tarnishing his reputation?

‘Is he in league with the Third Prince?’

Valentin ground his teeth audibly and trembled. How on earth could they have managed to pull in even the Emperor’s personal physician, whose access was strictly forbidden…? Valentin revised his assessment of the Third Prince upwards.

After all, this was the person directly in charge of managing the Emperor’s health. He should have been bound by multiple layers of legal restrictions preventing access even to the Emperor’s children, as they could be a threat to the throne. It was impossible to understand how he could have been bribed.

After being consumed by anger for a while, only a faint sigh remained in Valentin’s heart.

“Hey! Let’s head back now!”

One of the shepherds who had come out with the sheep flock shouted from a distance. Valentin shook his head and called back in response to the call to return:

“You go first! I’ll stay a bit longer!”

He nodded at the urging to return quickly before it got too cold, and thus Valentin was left alone. He chewed on a long dry blade of grass and tormented the ground with a twig he was holding.

“What should I really do now…”

A baby conceived between divorced partners… The child would surely be illegitimate. He had already divorced over the issue of an heir, so this turn of events would be very troublesome for Reynard.

‘He might already be meeting with Lady Akal under the Emperor’s arrangement…’

Surely the marriage plans would be quite advanced by now. Since Sabina and Lady Akal had visited Lution House with Ebner to meet Reynard, things must be progressing positively. Valentin stared blankly at his belly while pulling his coat and thick shawl tighter around himself.

‘A baby…’

A new life he thought would never come again had miraculously arrived. A gift he thought he would never experience or have again had come with difficulty.

‘This time, I’ll definitely protect you.’

Valentin rubbed his belly, steeling his resolve. Unlike when he was pregnant with Sharon, he didn’t feel at all that the pregnancy was burdensome. Moreover, several months had passed since parting with Reynard and coming to this foreign land, so the baby was already somewhat grown. The doctor’s positive words from earlier that day echoed in his ears.

[For someone who said they didn’t know they were pregnant, you’ve already entered a stable period. That’s fortunate. It seems to be a child with very strong vitality.]

The sky that had been spreading like gray paint over the sunset had now turned a deep navy blue. Unlike in the city, with no lights at all over the desert, the sky was a deep, complete inky black, beautifully revealing countless twinkling stars.

“Valentin.”

Valentin turned his head towards the aged voice.

“Grandma Feruza.”

It was Feruza, the oldest woman in this village and Asif’s grandmother. Perhaps because he often helped look after children with her, the two had become quite close. This was even more so because Valentin generally got along well with the elderly. She approached Valentin with steps that were healthy for her age despite her wrinkled skin, and wrapped an additional soft purple shawl around him.

“Sitting in one place for too long like this will make you sick.”

“…I was about to go back, but I guess I had a lot on my mind.”

Valentin smiled awkwardly, pointing at the sky that had darkened without him noticing.

“I hear you’re pregnant.”

The stooped grandmother gently revealed why she had come to find Valentin at this dark hour. Feruza was worried about Valentin, the young omega and cute guest.

“Ah yes… things turned out that way somehow.”

Seeing him fumble for words, the old woman sat down next to Valentin.

“I hear this isn’t your first time carrying a child. Are you troubled?”

The signs of the belly swelling were different from a first pregnancy. The skin of the belly and womb that had already stretched once seemed to be swelling faster and without pain this time. It seemed Asif’s mother, the experienced midwife, had noticed this.

Valentin burst out laughing at the lovable nature of the people in this small village where there were no secrets. It wasn’t unpleasant at all – their family-like closeness and strong bonds warmed his heart just by being with them. Even treating Valentin, who had only lived with them for a couple of months, not as a guest but as family was heartwarming beyond words for an outsider.

“I lost my first child.”

The old woman took Valentin’s hand as he tried to speak casually while shrugging his shoulders, and stroked it. The palm of the nomad elder who had lived a lifetime of hard work was rough, but warmer than anything.

“Ah, yes. Such things happen in life.”

Somehow, he felt a sense of kinship in those words.

“Did that happen to you too, Grandma?”

“Yes. I lost four children.”

Though surely many years had passed, her voice was tinged with pain.

“It was a harsh time. It was also the height of war then. I wasn’t the only one in that situation.”

“……”

“I lost my first and second child one after another like that. I don’t even know why. There were just so many babies born during wartime that didn’t even live a year. Then after finally giving birth to and raising my third, I lost my fourth and fifth to endemic diseases.”

Contrary to her calm way of speaking, it truly was a harsh time and past. The heart of a mother who lost four born children… Valentin squeezed his eyes shut to suppress the memory of Sharon that was trying to surface.

“…Wasn’t it difficult for you?”

“It was difficult. It was so, so difficult. My husband, who’s no longer here, even though he wasn’t that kind of person… he acted almost like he’d lost his mind after we lost those children.”

Valentin thought of Reynard. How he had struggled after losing his child like that.

“How did you overcome it…?”

He only knew how to bury it and keep walking forward, looking ahead. He wondered if there might be some other clever solution… Some magical way to overcome it…?

The old woman chuckled softly, seeing the somewhat hopeful look in Valentin’s eyes.

“We just lived on. Back then, we didn’t even have the luxury to grieve peacefully. It wasn’t just me who went through that.”

The old woman’s hand patted Valentin’s.

“It’s not about who’s more unfortunate than who, or thinking I’m better off than that woman Shahlo next door because she lost even more children than me. You just naturally come to realize as time passes. This too is part of life.”

“……”

“How could anyone be born and only experience happiness and good things? Probably even the Sultan who was said to live in a golden palace in ancient times couldn’t manage that.”

The fact that even the absolute monarch who had gold cups and plates for every meal and ruled this continent could never have lived like that. Valentin slowly nodded.

“As people live, there are good times, and then some days you fall and stumble… But that doesn’t mean you can give up on life, does it? So you get up again, dust off your knees, and run again. Sometimes you sit down with a sigh when you’re out of energy… And then you meet good people and walk hand in hand with them.”

“……”

“That’s what our lives are like. Right?”

“You’re right, Feruza.”

It was the wisdom of life the old woman was speaking of. That even with ups and downs, that is precisely what a human life is.

“So there’s nothing to worry about. Even if there are hardships, you must live on. Not falling for the devil that came to tempt Mohammed and giving up, but walking on again.”

She closed her eyes and put her palms together as if praying to Allah.

“And look at those stars up there.”

“The stars?”

“The family members who have left us first have become stars in paradise like that, always watching over us. So you’re not alone.”

Suddenly, tears welled up in Valentin’s eyes.

‘Sharon…’

He had thought something similar. That his poor daughter who left first would be watching over him from heaven.

“…You’re right, Feruza. We’re not alone…”

“That’s right, that’s right. Of course we’re not.”

The old woman’s warm touch reached Valentin’s shoulder. Hope blossomed under her rubbing palm. I must live. I must survive. I must keep walking. I mustn’t give up on life. Such comfort sank into his heart wordlessly, just through her touch. Valentin felt an urge to pour out his inner thoughts to this old woman who knew nothing of his circumstances.

“I don’t know if I should go find the baby’s father… I really don’t have the courage.”

Feruza smiled broadly with her toothless mouth at the young man’s bitter smile. She wiped away the tears that had formed in Valentin’s eyes with her rough palm.

“I don’t know how the words of an old woman with not much time left will sound to you, Valentin. But you can follow your heart a bit more.”

“…Follow my heart…?”

“Yes. I don’t know what you’re worrying about, but looking back now, it was all pointless fussing.”

“……”

“Do you know what old people say most often before leaving this world? My husband was the same. ‘I should have spent more time with you,’ ‘I should have told the children I loved them more often,’ ‘I should have forgiven and embraced more,’ ‘I should have hugged them more often.’ Things like that.”

It was the sincere regret of people living the final stages of their lives.

“Now that I look back, I really feel the same.”

“……”

“So you can go. Have courage and go meet him. And if he doesn’t like it, so what? We can think about that when the time comes. You can spit in his face once and turn around and forget about it. Then you can live on bravely like that.”

The old woman said with a hearty laugh. Valentin took to heart her words that if you fall, you just need to get up again. As he returned to the yurt holding hands with her, he made up his mind.

He would gather his courage and go to meet Reynard right away.

* * *

Valentin began packing his bags from the very next day.

Thanks to Asif, who was originally a guide for travelers, they packed quickly and were able to leave the following day.

After tearfully saying goodbye to the nomad family he had grown so fond of, Valentin slung his art supply bag on his back and climbed onto a camel. The camel was heavily loaded with luggage on both sides and took slow steps, while Asif accompanied Valentin riding a mule.

“Are you sure you’ll be alright with nights like this on the road for days, even though you want the fastest route?”

Valentin shrugged at Asif’s question about whether this was okay for a pregnant person, as he lit a fire by the roadside.

“Even if it’s camping, you set up the tent so meticulously. I’m fine so far. Besides, when else would I get to experience something like this?”

It felt like the dream of his past life and this life – always dreaming of traveling the world with just a backpack – had come true exactly as imagined. Of course, in that dream his mouth wasn’t this dry from desert dust. Valentin grinned as he rinsed his mouth with tea brewed over the fire Asif had made.

“I really can’t understand how nobles think…”

Asif shook his head seeing Valentin giggling.

“But Asif. Am I really pregnant? I still can’t believe it.”

Valentin asked casually while chewing on hard bread. Unlike when he was pregnant with Sharon, he had almost no morning sickness, which was the main reason he hadn’t known he was pregnant until now. It was truly strange. Valentin continued his explanation without waiting for an answer.

“When I was pregnant with my first child, I couldn’t eat at all without my husband’s pheromones. I could barely even swallow water.”

Asif tilted his head and offered some honey, seeing Valentin frown as if it was really strange.

“Was the baby an omega by any chance?”

“Huh? How did you know?”

“That’s how it was for me.”

Asif’s movements as he tore the tough bread were no different from usual, as if it wasn’t anything special.

“As you know, Valentin, my oldest is an omega and the second is an alpha. With my first pregnancy, I had such severe morning sickness that I couldn’t even drink water without Jamil. So when I got pregnant with the second, I was terribly afraid it might be the same, but with Fahod I hardly had any morning sickness. Isn’t it fascinating?”

Valentin nodded vigorously as he described an exactly similar situation.

“Yes! I thought pregnancy would always affect my body the same way.”

“But it’s different for each child. My mother says it’s not uncommon. Especially between alphas and omegas. She says it follows the trait of the baby in the womb.”

“That’s amazing…”

“My oldest, being an omega, has loved his father’s alpha pheromones so much from the womb until now. I think it makes him feel secure. On the other hand, the second is an alpha, so he didn’t seek out Jamil during pregnancy and even now he likes omegas.”

Valentin also giggled at Asif’s additional comment about how funny it was that such a tiny thing was already seeking out omegas because he was an alpha. That was probably why little Fahod had been especially friendly with him. After all, trait carriers tend to be wary of other alphas, probably due to the animal-like sense of pheromones. It was similar to a kind of male-specific survival instinct or sense of competition.

“Then this child could be an alpha too…”

As Valentin looked down at his belly quietly, Asif poured more tea and said:

“Probably, if it’s similar to my case.”

Valentin’s heart swelled at the soft words of agreement.

‘I hope it takes after Reynard.’

The most handsome and dependable person in the world. It would be really wonderful if it was an alpha child who looked just like him. Even if Reynard had no intention of reconciling, if he could step back and congratulate his new life from afar, and spend the rest of his life raising this child who resembled him, it wouldn’t be bad.

Unlike before, he wasn’t afraid of handling it alone as a single father now.

‘If worst comes to worst, I’ll find a priest in a small, remote parish and ask for a secret infant baptism with a huge donation. Then I’ll raise the child alone in a distant foreign country. Dawson would probably follow me.’

Valentin made a firm resolution in his heart and made plans in his head to prepare for any situation.

“Anyway, at this rate we’ll reach the port tomorrow. When we reach the Karab Sea and cross by ship, we’ll arrive at Markant where you came from. I’ll take you to the Babur noble house from there. You said you could return home from there, right?”

Valentin nodded. Christopher, who had guided him to this country, had arranged it that way.

Once there, he would be guided by a servant of the Babur family to easily cross the border towards the Western Continent, and once he entered the Euroan Continent, he could quickly reach Heston by changing trains. Even so, he would have to spend several days continuously on the rails. But it would surely be heaven compared to this tall, swaying camel. Valentin rubbed his sore bottom that had suffered from the camel.

If he spent just over ten more nights, he would be able to see Reynard’s face.

Valentin fell asleep, tucking the blanket more tightly to keep out the cold desert night air.