Pregnancy Is Too Much For The Villain - C154.1

All the protracted battles ended so quietly.

It was a peaceful and tranquil victory.

As Valentin had worried, no war broke out, no countless innocent people died, and everything just came to a calm conclusion.

The villains made the worst choices from the beginning due to their greed and selfishness, and ruined themselves with dirty methods like lies and fraud. From the start, even the emperor blinded himself because of greed. If he had not continued to protect and support his son who was accumulating unjust wealth. No, if he had not properly investigated and approved the 3rd Prince’s new drug in the first place, he would not have harmed his own body with that drug. So in a way, the emperor and the 3rd Prince were no different from destroying each other.

After the 3rd Prince was dragged to the underground prison with his paralyzed body, before there was time to put him on trial or interrogate him, all the evidence of his evil deeds surfaced brazenly. Besides what had already been spread to the media, there were main ledgers, testimonies of those under Clifton, criminal accomplices, letters and documents exchanged between them…. There was an abundance of witnesses and evidence. All related parties were also arrested one after another.

Moreover, Clifton’s greatest crime was the murder of the emperor.

The emperor, who had retired to his chambers complaining of a headache, took the New Popinsa painkiller that his son and the court physician had conspired to continuously provide, lay down in bed to sleep, and died just like that.

The confessions of the emperor’s court physician and attendant, and even the documents and signature containing Clifton’s orders to tamper with the drug – it was as blatant and clear as if displaying the details of the crime.

Thus, Clifton was sentenced for the emperor’s murder and was in the midst of trial, but he died miserably in the underground prison before his crime was even definitively determined. The 3rd Prince, who had been dragged in as if he had taken the wrong medicine from the beginning, drooling constantly in a half-paralyzed state. He did not even last three days there, dying alone with his purple tongue sticking out long.

Ebner testified that the 3rd Prince habitually used drugs, and the doctor concluded the cause of death as a likely clash between those and the strong New Popinsa and sedatives.

And so, the one who thought himself the most noble died miserably in the underground prison, the lowest and dirtiest place, defeated by those he had used and the omega he had always considered as insignificant as a tool. While hearing all sorts of condemnation from the people of the world, burying the honor of his life deeper than the ground. It was quite a fitting end for him.

It was not a grand and history-shaking destruction and death that would come out of a magnificent heroic epic. Just an ugly and petty villain’s unsightly and miserable destruction. It was exactly the end befitting the 3rd Prince Clifton.

A very quiet self-inflicted retribution and karmic result, as if all worldly affairs were flowing according to the natural order. It was truly the realization of justice.

Meanwhile, Prince Consort Ebner Leopold, who had been diagnosed with a terminal illness, declared that he would live the rest of his short life in repentance, apologizing to the people for his husband’s crimes, and then disappeared into the most remote and deep monastery.

The release of Marquis of Valkyries, who had been an innocent victim of the outrageous criminal, was also naturally ordered.

The citizens who had started the protests dispersed in satisfaction when the target of all their anger disappeared with the death of the 3rd Prince. Thus, the conflict that had shaken Eldon was naturally resolved.

Whether shocking events occurred or not, time flowed equally without stopping, and the city regained peace again, relying on the past and forgetfulness.

A quiet dawn is breaking.

* * *

The day was starting to break dimly.

The calm atmosphere began to ripple, embracing light like a heat haze.

Valentin was quietly watching the brightness of the dawn pushing away the blue darkness somewhere in the east where the sky met the horizon.

The moment when pale yellow rays of light spread dazzlingly as if to pierce…

It might be a common sight of sunrise that others could see anytime, anywhere, but it was different for him. The reason why this stubborn and everyday change of nature, always there every morning, could give Valentin greater joy and anticipation, and even some overwhelming emotion, was probably because of a certain moment he was waiting for.

Thus, Valentin stood in the lobby of the mansion, exhaling white breath in the dawn of winter, breaking through the dense cold accompanying the daybreak. Earnestly waiting for any movement to catch his eye at the end of the straight road meeting the front of Lution House.

Valentin stood so unwaveringly, craning his neck and looking beyond.

And finally.

Small dust rising from the frozen winter ground was caught in his sight.

The sound of hooves, now even feeling welcomingly heart-wrenching.

As he watched a single moving dot at the end of the straight road gradually approaching, his face brightened more and more.

He could no longer stand still. Valentin threw off the blanket that Dawson had wrapped tightly around him. Then he quickly stepped down the marble stairs of the lobby and ran.

It’s getting closer. It was getting closer.

His husband, mounted on a huge black horse that could barely be seen unless he lifted his head high as if looking at the sky.

“Reynard!”

Valentin shouted with something close to exclamation and ran straight ahead.

Was it longing or desperation that burst out white like a cloud over the cold air?

Was the frosty wind wrapping around his slender running legs yearning?

The stinging cold that brushed his cheeks like a blade was now just the willingness of one who had finally met the time he had been waiting for.

As his vision brightened, the black silhouette of his missed one, silhouetted against the backlight, gradually approached.

“Valentin!”

From the man standing tall on the horse, a name burst out more emotionally than anything else.

The identity of that vicious impulse that couldn’t bear not to call out that name right away, as if their whole body would turn into a tree trunk if they didn’t call out the yearning name in response. Was that also welcome and longing, and love?

When Reynard saw Valentin, who had run out from the mansion to greet him, approaching, he jumped down very lightly from the horse even though it hadn’t properly stopped. And he ran to his husband who had been desperately waiting for him to come in this early dawn, with his finger joints turned white due to the cold weather. Sending the beast’s legs, faster than his own, ahead without a master on the empty road, he ran on his own two legs. To embrace his loved one at once, and in one breath.

And finally, the two bodies met and hugged tightly.

As if they had been a pair. As if they had broken off and fallen from a single lump of clay at the beginning, their flesh stuck together without any gaps, richly. It was so natural, like the elasticity of remnants from one thing returning to its original form.

Valentin stretched out his white hand and traced Reynard’s face, which had noticeably thinned and become gaunt during his absence.

“Welcome… welcome back…”

Stupidly, that was all he could say.

Tracing his husband’s sunken cheeks worn from hardship, with trembling lips, all he could say was a welcome for his return…. If he were to pull out even a little of this pitiful and overwhelming emotion that was surging endlessly, he felt like he would burst into loud sobs again. So he could only spit out such trivial things between his shaking white teeth.

As if understanding Valentin’s feelings, Reynard reached out his hand in return and wiped away the tears that had flowed incessantly, wetting his cheeks. And he answered, filled with all regret, overwhelm, and remorse.

“…I’m back.”

“Yes…”

“I’ve come back, Valentin.”

“Huu… Welcome… welcome back, really.”

“Don’t cry, my love.”

“Hic…”

“Thank you for waiting. Thank you for being with me again.”

Valentin shook his head with blurred vision thanks to his unstoppable tear glands.

“I’m sorry. And I love you. Forgive me, Reynard. Let’s never be apart again…”

There was so much he wanted to say, but not knowing how to unravel it all from beginning to end, Valentin barely managed to convey only the most important message.

“That’s what I should be saying, Valentin. I’m sorry for loving you too much. I’m sorry for sending you away because of my greed and selfishness. Really, let’s never be apart again.”

No other excuses or explanations were needed.

Valentin hugged Reynard tightly as he said the same thing, and stood on his tiptoes. Then he put more strength into his arms desperately wrapped around his neck and pressed his lips to those lips.

A butterfly bloomed hotly and flew up between their lips, though it wasn’t even spring.

The dawn…

The first dawn of a bright day is fully breaking.

The Path That Clasped Hands Are Heading Towards

The unexpectedly chaotic, long funeral of the emperor also ended after several tens of days.

Laborers who were busy making a living day by day and ordinary citizens who walked through Eldon’s clock tower square every day began to live their lives again, gradually pushing aside and forgetting even the big events.

Heston, which had experienced a storm, was thus recovering its previous daily life.

Although the position of the social leaders above the common people was far from peaceful. Still, wasn’t it something that the majority of citizens had regained their ordinary lives? That was the only consolation for Ellison Leopold, who had now become the emperor.

Amidst the busyness of cleaning up after the death of the previous emperor, stained by an unfilial crime, and the affairs of her younger sibling that had caused great social and moral controversy, while organizing the newly composed administrative system fitting her ascension to the throne. She barely grasped a small gap within a gap to make time and secretly visited Lution House with only a few close aides. It was not an official schedule at all, just a secret visit to a close friend.

And the young couple of Dennox, who unexpectedly welcomed the emperor at an unusual time without prior notice, smiled and gladly welcomed their ally who was now sitting on the imperial throne.

The sound of tea being poured spread in the marigold reception room that Valentin liked.

“It is truly an infinite honor that you have personally visited in the midst of such busy times…”

“Stop it, My Lord. I’d like you to treat me as always, without such formalities.”

Valentin chuckled and closed his mouth at the expression of someone tired of receiving excessively respectful treatment for being the emperor. It seemed her easygoing personality that didn’t change according to position was still the same.

Valentin looked up with a smiling face and quietly faced Ellison. From her appearance more modest and simple than an ordinary noble’s daughter, simultaneously neat and not showing any luxury, to the ink stain slightly smudged on her right sleeve. Her busyness and affability that valued practicality were clearly revealed.