Pregnancy Is Too Much For The Villain - C151.2

Since most of them operate in the shadows, they wouldn’t usually reveal themselves, but he said to memorize it well visually just in case. As befitting someone who draws pictures, Valentin with his excellent visual memory memorized that mark right away.

“…Number one?”

Valentin whispered, seeing the number ‘1’ on the man’s tattoo. Felix nodded.

“Yes, that’s right. I am Felix, with the nickname ‘First’.”

He quickly surveyed Valentin’s shabby, almost comical and dirty strange attire, then approached discreetly and whispered:

“I’m going to act for a moment, so don’t be surprised.”

“…What?”

Before he could properly ask about this tremendous thing, it exploded.

Felix began to shout loudly enough to echo through the space.

“Men! We’ve finally found His Highness! Quickly, over here!”

Thanks to the man calling his companions with a sharp whistle and shouts, the attention of the bustling people at the port was focused. And as dozens of men in black clothes bearing the Grand Duke’s crest rushed towards Valentin, the gazes of passersby were completely drawn to them.

“We’ve found His Highness!”

“Your Highness!”

“Are you alright?!”

The Dennox Grand Duke’s private soldiers surrounded Valentin. Amidst the gathered attention, before he could feel shame, Felix in the center began to shout loudly with very exaggerated and theatrical gestures.

“Oh my!!!”

At the untimely wailing, the crowd already surrounding and watching them felt completely focused as if watching a stage.

“What on earth has happened, Your Highness Valentin Dennox, Grand Duke’s Consort!”

Somehow, enunciating that complicated full name in an incredibly loud voice doesn’t seem ordinary. What are you, an announcer…? No… It’s too shameful with all these gazes, and even my identity is being revealed… Is this perhaps a hidden camera prank? Valentin looked around unknowingly, confused with his past life.

“Our Highness was robbed during a pilgrimage! Good citizens of Heston…! Look at this…! This state…!”

Felix suddenly began appealing to the people.

He prostrated himself at Valentin’s feet, literally in that “state”, and clung to the rabbit fur leg warmers that seemed like they could smell from 20 meters away. It was a grateful item that the merchant uncles on the ship crossing the Karab Canal had kindly given to Valentin from what they were wearing. Although it was contributing greatly to making him look extremely shabby, like a pilgrim who had lived only in the wilderness for 50 years, with a rather strong smell.

“Our Highness…!”

“Who dares to do such a thing to the Empire’s Grand Duke’s Consort?! If it’s not the side that even now stands up to attack and slander the name of Dennox, then who on earth…!”

While Valentin stood dumbfounded as if his soul had been taken out, the soldiers who had been standing bewildered suddenly began to kneel on the ground and wail along with him. Felix’s sorrowful voice cut through the crowd, and people began to murmur as they heard his desperate cries. It seemed like flashes were going off somewhere, but he couldn’t notice exactly. He was just out of his mind, unknowingly becoming the protagonist among the crowd, being treated as a “pitiful victim” exactly as Felix had said. Moreover, it was a hyper-realistic method acting performance that didn’t even need to forcibly match the rhythm.

After making such wailing sounds of anger and resentment, they must have thought it was enough, as they quickly surrounded Valentin protectively in two layers and disappeared.

The port continued to be noisy with people who had not yet escaped from the chaotic and strangely theatrical scene.

Meanwhile, a man behind them was cheering while patting the shoulder of a photojournalist.

“It’s a scoop…! We’ve perfectly caught a scoop!”

“Can we really publish this as is…?”

At the photojournalist’s dubious expression, the reporter nodded with a confident face while patting his back.

“Of course. The media is in an uproar every day about the Third Prince and Colonel Dennox!”

He had come down to White Pearl Harbor with the boring assignment of photographing a certain company’s steamship on its maiden voyage, but had completely caught a scoop. The reporter inwardly screamed with satisfaction as he helped the photojournalist pack up his tent-like grand camera and equipment.

*

“What on earth is going on?”

After using a nearby small hotel to have Valentin cleaned up and hastily dressed in what seemed to be ready-made clothes, when they boarded the train to Eldon. As soon as he thought relatively stable conditions had been achieved, Felix asked Valentin.

It was clearly visible on his lively face that he could no longer hold back. While secretly observing that ordinary yet strangely sharp face, Valentin opened his mouth.

“Ah… well, you see… I got lost and somehow…”

Although he allegedly already knew of his existence, from Valentin’s standpoint, it was awkward to openly explain his foolishness to someone he was meeting for the first time. The expression of deeply contemplating how to speak so as not to seem like an idiot from where to start… It was all evident to the one facing him. Finding it like the appearance of a squirrel pondering how to secretly hide an acorn, Felix lowered his face to hide his laughter. He had decided to keep the mistress’s secret somewhat serious.

“I heard that you parted with your guide at the port crossing the Karab Sea. Given that route, I thought you might be heading this way, so I was waiting here looking for Your Highness.”

“Is that so…?”

If so, the story is simple!

Valentin’s face brightened slightly at the thought that he didn’t have to explain in detail. Even so, his face was still somewhat spoiled by the arduous journey. Even such an appearance was dazzling like his lord’s partner, Felix thought as he nodded. From addressing him respectfully even after knowing he was a subordinate, he was the very image of the ‘Grand Duke’s Consort’, like a saint always watched from afar. How did such a gentle and kind person end up with our lord…

After listening to Valentin’s brief explanation of what kind of journey it had been, Felix changed the subject in a slightly heavier voice.

“Actually, something came up while Your Highness was away.”

“What happened?”

Just as Valentin was asking with a somewhat serious face, there was a knock on their first-class train compartment.

“Hello.”

At the elegant voice heard with the knock, Valentin jerked his head towards the entrance.

“It’s been a while, Your Highness.”

Lady Sabina Akal…! In an instant, Valentin’s face turned pale. For a moment, the doubtful wound deep in his heart was grazed.

An omega who had secret meetings with my alpha in secluded places several times. A person who showed favor and praised Reynard even in my presence. A person who could withstand his pheromones that I thought only I could endure. A female omega who is somewhat easier to get pregnant than a male omega, recommended to the extent that the Emperor personally arranged the marriage talks. Someone who could wedge into what we thought was unique to each other…. As such thoughts arose, Valentin’s face hardened in an instant.

And to be in such a shabby state at this moment…. Isn’t it truly shameful….

To be precise, she was just another omega the Emperor had tried to pair with his husband, but somehow the accumulated misunderstandings made Valentin unconsciously take a defensive stance, feeling like a rival. It was a natural reaction from Valentin who knew nothing of the inside story.

And the sharp-eyed Felix noticed this and began to explain.

“Sabina serves the Duke like me.”

“…What did you say?”

Only then understanding what Valentin’s wary face meant, Sabina smiled brightly and walked over gracefully.

“Excuse me for a moment, Your Highness.”

Quickly sitting opposite, next to Felix, she lifted the hem of her simple dress to reveal her ankle.

Oh…? To see a lady’s exposed ankle as a gentleman! As Valentin hurriedly tried to cover his eyes, she stopped him.

“Look closely, Your Highness.”

“Uh…?”

A sea dragon and the number 6 engraved on the inside of her left ankle. It was the same as what was on Felix’s wrist.

Finally realizing her identity, Valentin pointed alternately at Felix and her with his index finger, and Sabina smiled gently as she summarized:

“Let me introduce myself again. I am Sabina Akal, with the nickname ‘Sixth’ among the Duke’s close aides.”

“That’s right. I vouch for her.”

Somehow his eyes seemed uncomfortable even sitting side by side with a colleague, but Felix affirmed about her background while pounding his chest.

Valentin felt like the puzzles were fitting together for the strange sense of déjà vu he had been feeling until now, and the odd gaps he had thought existed in various situations.

Ah, so that’s how it was. He finally understood why Reynard, who loved him devotedly, often spent time secretly with her. As this thought occurred, it seemed like the long-standing anxiety that had been weighing on his mind was fading. While saying he trusted his husband, he had been hurt and left with a sore heart by the situations that kept being created and shown to him.

“Then the two of you being together in corners often was…”

“Yes. I’ve been reporting to the Duke while hiding my identity in Eldon’s social circles all this time.”

“Then being able to withstand Reynard’s pheromones too…?”

As a close aide, she would know about his pheromone problem. Valentin carefully brought up the secret topic. The part that had always remained a curiosity pushed its way out.

“Ah!”

The quick-witted Sabina immediately noticed Valentin’s slightly anxious, shaking eyes.

“The reason I could withstand the Duke’s pheromones is none other than…”

She touched her lips as if unused to bringing up such a story, but understanding what kind of misunderstanding he might have had, she actively began to reassure her lord’s partner.

“Due to a minor accident in the past, my pheromone receptors are not intact. Because of that, I cannot detect others’ pheromones.”

“…!”

“Since I can’t detect them at all, there’s nothing to endure. You can consider me almost similar to a beta.”

Valentin’s face hardened with shock at the unexpected reason. He had unknowingly made her explain a lady’s painful matter. Seeing him opening and closing his mouth unable to continue speaking, Sabina shook her head with a bright smile.

“There are many convenient things because of it, so you don’t need to make such an expression. It’s already an old story.”

“I’m really sorry for unknowingly asking about a personal, intimate matter…”

“No! I should be the one apologizing. I sincerely apologize for often showing behavior that might have displeased you unintentionally, only now.”

“…It’s all in the past now. It’s fine.”

As Sabina bowed her head, Valentin bowed in return. At this sight, Felix made more fuss than Sabina.

“You don’t need to feel sorry for this woman, Your Highness. We are just the Duke’s most loyal subordinates.”

Sabina nodded with a gentle smile as if agreeing with those words.

“We are all people who have received great favors from the Duke in the past and have sworn loyalty to the end.”

Seeing them shrug their shoulders while laughing pleasantly, showing how comfortable they were with each other, Valentin couldn’t help but smile too.

“Received favors?”

Reynard bestowing favors on someone. It was hard to imagine. It seemed his husband had an unexpected side, someone who would have gone his own way regardless of others’ circumstances.

“Yes. In my case…!”

Felix took off the hat he was wearing with a theatrical gesture of greeting. Then, as if he were an MC on stage, he asked Valentin in an exaggerated tone:

“Do you perhaps know my older brother, Lord Sedgwick Benson, the lawyer?”

“…No.”

“It’s understandable that you don’t. He mainly handles the Duke’s confidential matters. It was about 20 years ago…”

Felix began his story with very eloquent speech, as if he were an actor giving a monologue. He explained about his life and past entanglement with Reynard in an entertaining way, like a one-man show or a short play.

How his second older brother greatly loved him, the illegitimate child of Baron Benson, one of the Grand Duke’s vassals. How Reynard, who was the Grand Duke’s son at the time, prevented his father from sending away the useless and shameful illegitimate child at his brother’s desperate request. And how he took charge of raising Felix in the Grand Duke’s household, having him learn noble manners and higher education, and even the Grand Duke personally teaching him shooting and martial arts along with his own son.

“That’s why my nickname is ‘First’. I’m the Duke’s closest aide who was created first.”

It was the pride of someone who had been with Reynard since boyhood. Felix finished his story with a proud face, folding his arms and adding sarcastically:

“This woman has a similar story, but she’s only the sixth.”

He clearly wanted to say this. The word “only” carried a sense of insignificance, like “merely”. Sabina, looking slightly dumbfounded and mocking, rolled her eyes at Felix. It was a completely different look from the Sabina that Valentin originally knew, but this seemed more natural and pleasant to see.

“I may be sixth, but it’s still quite an old master-servant relationship.”

“Well, she says so. In any case, there’s no relationship as close and loyal to the Duke as ours, so you can relax now, Your Highness.”

The reason for telling about the past in such detail was also to reassure Valentin. Seeing them being more sensitive than expected, Valentin slightly relaxed his stiff shoulders.

“It’s fortunate that we were able to find Your Highness faster than expected.”

“I found him. Didn’t I clearly say he would come this way? As expected, this sharp intuition is never wrong. My name is the name of luck, after all!”

“Alright, I get it, so shut up for a bit.”

Here’s the English translation of the full Korean text:

Sabina couldn’t help but chide him as he puffed out his chest, mentioning his name meaning “luck” in Latin.

“Now that we’ve more or less finished explaining our circumstances, let me get to the main point.”

“What happened?”

Valentin also became serious at the slightly solemn faces of the two. Sabina nodded and began to explain.

“…What did you say? Reynard is imprisoned in the palace dungeon?”

As soon as their explanation ended, Valentin’s shrill scream filled the first-class compartment.

What on earth is going on…. Not only has the Third Prince’s business collapsed, but his employees causing a commotion and society being in an uproar is shocking enough, but a duel of honor? And Reynard was arrested for that?

“How did the police get involved in something that happened during a duel of honor?”

“That part is the most suspicious, but this is clearly a scheme by the Third Prince…!”

“Felix! You shouldn’t start with your suspicions, but state the ‘facts’. Your Highness might know this. In fact, while duels of honor are traditionally a right of gentlemen, they have been legally prohibited since the time of the late Emperor. Of course, with nobles widely ignoring this law and conducting duels among themselves, it’s almost a nominal clause… But the fact that it exists means… While no one reports it, there’s room to report it….”

“Such clauses, if one wants to make an issue of them, can be twisted this way and that… My lawyer brother explains that they can be cooked up to taste each time….”

Felix pounded his chest with his fist as if he too found it outrageous and frustrating.

“That bastard clearly planned to just let it go with his power if I won, but had police waiting in case he lost.”

“To think the Third Prince would go to such lengths….”

Reynard was imprisoned in the royal dungeon without a proper trial. Isn’t this treatment like that of a criminal attempting treason? How could this happen?

“What about His Grace the Grand Duke? There’s no way he would just stand by and watch this…!?”

At Valentin’s desperate question, the two aides shook their heads.

“Before carrying out this operation, the Duke made a statement completely separating himself from rights and duties as a family member, apart from simply maintaining his title. It’s already been legally notarized perfectly.”

This meant that Reynard Dennox, Marquis of Valkyries, would no longer receive protection from the Dennox family. Valentin felt his heart drop in shock as soon as he heard this. Why… why on earth…?! His noble status that Valentin had tried to protect even to the point of leaving. Why on earth would he give up that honorable qualification and name…

‘Was revenge so important to you…?’

He had hoped Reynard would stand proudly in that beautiful, high position…. Seeing Valentin’s confused face, Sabina cautiously opened her mouth.

“The Duke wished that his family and those around him would suffer no harm from all he planned and did. Even accepting the divorce was….”

“Sabina, that’s enough.”

Felix cut her off, his expression changing to cold detachment as if he were a different person. It was a warning that saying more would be overstepping.

But Valentin had already heard essentially everything there was to hear.

Realizing the mindset with which Reynard had accepted their divorce, Valentin’s nose stung. Someone who found the things that happened to them so painful that he would cut off and discard everything to take revenge…. And one who even deceived Valentin to bear it alone…. My poor love….

He probably couldn’t have asked to bear it together. He couldn’t have said such a thing while seeing Valentin, a complete victim, so hurt and in pain. And as always, he must have wanted Valentin to do only good things and see only beautiful things…. Valentin knew well that his husband was that kind of person. Someone who always wanted to protect him, keep him hidden in a clean and good place, and preserve him beautifully. But now….

‘Now I’ll save you, Reynard.’

Valentin wiped his face with a handkerchief and put on a determined expression.

He was no longer weak.

There would no longer be a frail being who only cried while avoiding people after being hurt by them. While vowing his own revenge and painting two pictures, and then departing on a journey, meeting many people in the raw world and gaining courage from them, he had been reborn anew.

‘Now that my husband has ended up like this, I have no choice but to jump directly into that rough storm myself.’

Reaffirming with a firm expression, he straightened his back and spoke clearly.

“If His Grace the Grand Duke cannot intervene in this situation, there’s only one person I can think of who can step in.”

“What…?”

“Would it be possible to send a telegram to Eldon faster than this train we’re on?”

At Valentin’s question, Felix and Sabina, seeming to have caught on to something, nodded with serious expressions.

It was time to pick up the pen to actively tackle this situation.

* * *

Meanwhile, in the Emperor’s office.

“What on earth am I supposed to do…!?”

The Emperor was pacing anxiously in front of a few members of the House of Lords who had long claimed to be on his side. Though it seemed to be somewhat official work hours, as he was dressed in perfectly arranged formal attire, his crooked mustache, bloodshot eyes, and dark complexion clearly showed he was not in a proper state.

The headline of the newspaper the Emperor was holding was briefly visible between the crumpled pages.