The Villain's End Is Pregnancy - c37
“Your Highness, you’ve returned.”
As soon as he arrived at the palace, Peter greeted Hendrick. And he immediately added what his prince would be most curious about.
“Lord Ryan is in the study.”
Hendrick instantly turned towards the study. The attendant waiting in front of the door noticed him and tried to open the door while lowering his head.
Stopping the attendant with a wave of his hand, Hendrick grabbed the doorknob himself. He pushed gently, resulting in the door quietly opening without even a small sound.
“He’s sleeping.”
The first thing he saw upon entering was Ryan asleep with his head on the desk. A black cat was sitting curled up by his head. Sensing movement, it pricked its ears and looked this way.
‘Shh!’
Hendrick put his index finger to his lips. As if understanding, the cat swished its long tail once and turned back to Ryan.
“Your Highness?”
Peter, standing by the door, called out to Hendrick who showed no intention of moving, finding it odd.
“Quiet.”
An immediate gentle rebuke came back. The volume was so low it was barely audible, only loud enough for the attendants closely behind to hear.
That alone was enough for Peter to realize why his prince wasn’t budging. A smile spread across his lips.
“It will be uncomfortable to sleep hunched over the desk. I will move him to the sofa.”
“No, it’s fine. I’ll do it.”
Hendrick immediately shook his head at those words. Peter’s expression brightened at that reaction. In fact, he had said it knowing his prince would react this way.
‘As expected of our prince.’
The way he was so considerate of the person he fancied looked thoughtful and reliable to him.
“Yes, I understand.”
Replying in an even more caring tone, Peter stepped back. Hendrick’s gaze, not knowing what was happening behind, still couldn’t leave Ryan.
Perhaps because the afternoon sun was shining on it, his black hair seemed to have more luster than usual. It would probably feel soft and silky to the touch.
‘It was smoother than when I petted Kiki.’
Not just his hair, but his forehead, cheeks, and even those fluffy lips. Once touched, it would be impossible to let go…
“Ah, darn it.”
Hendrick bit his lip and quickly cut off his thoughts. What was up with him these days? If he let his guard down even a little, strange thoughts kept creeping in.
Sighing, he quietly closed the door. And instead of approaching the desk, he walked to the sofa even further away.
He had no intention of following Peter’s words from the start. Because if he tried to move him, it could wake Ryan up.
He sat on the sofa and quietly gazed at the sleeping figure. It was quiet and sweet.
“Mm.”
Yes, a fruit scent that made one’s mouth water was wafting in the air. Did he unknowingly release pheromones in his sleep?
‘He shouldn’t be that careless though.’
Although he had a naive and eccentric side, Ryan was firm in this regard. As he took pride in being an alpha, he had a strong desire to not be looked down upon by other nobles.
‘He must have felt at ease.’
Recalling Ryan’s subtle pheromones when he entered his bedroom, Hendrick came to that conclusion.
That Ryan now considered his study a comfortable space.
However, the satisfied expression began to crumble little by little before long. His eyes quivered and shoulders twitched.
He bit his lower lip and deliberately straightened his back more. Otherwise, it seemed a reaction would come from his core before he could even stop it.
‘Seriously. What on earth is happening to me…’
No, Hendrick was already aware that his thing was half-erect. He was just trying to pretend otherwise and turn a blind eye.
If he left now, it would quickly settle down. Yet knowing that, for some reason he couldn’t bring himself to move.
He merely sat on the sofa as if nailed down, endlessly staring like a predator hesitating to eat the prey in front of it despite its preciousness.
‘Ha…’
A heavy breath pooled in his mouth. Hendrick swallowed it without letting it out. And he tried his best to calm his arousal.
However, with delicious-smelling prey releasing scents not far away, there was no way it would easily subside.
If he could just lick it once, take one bite, then the next part would be easy.
Unlike him who was agonizing so much, even the cat playfully tapping its cute face now looked hateful to him.
“…Fur?”
At that moment, the dazed voice that sounded harmless put a brake on Hendrick’s wavering desire.
‘What am I thinking right now?’
Hendrick squeezed his eyes shut then opened them. At the same time, he also bit his lip hard before releasing it, adjusted his posture to hide his half-erect core as much as possible, and opened his mouth as if nothing was wrong.
“You’re awake?”
Then Ryan, who was blinking his round eyes while looking at the cat, turned this way. The face asking when he came resembled his pet cat so much it drew even more attention.
How did he feel lewd pleasure from such an innocent gaze? He felt guilty enough.
“Not long ago.”
When he managed to say it nonchalantly, Ryan apologized for not waking up without any suspicion, so he deliberately used the cat as an excuse, and Ryan’s attention wholly shifted there again.
The sight of the two of them together like that somehow tickled somewhere in Hendrick’s heart, and a smile was soon drawn on his lips.
Yes, this was the atmosphere and scenery he had hoped for. The heavy and unbearable sensations that had been rising until a moment ago were desperately buried deep.
“Did you meet Lord Julian?”
However, the soft atmosphere was ruined by Ryan’s question with sparkling eyes. Hendrick even felt displeasure at the name that kept coming between them since last time.
Could they have met again without him knowing?
“How do you know that?”
His tone unintentionally came out a bit stiff, so he belatedly watched Ryan’s reaction, but fortunately he didn’t notice and answered.
So Hendrick also responded as if it was no big deal, asking if that was so. Then Ryan admired again as if that viscount named Julian was amazing.
“It’s not that surprising.”
After the current king’s ascension to the throne, as royal authority solidified, young nobles wanted to deal directly with the palace rather than going through high-ranking nobles in the middle.
So it wasn’t a big deal, but he didn’t like Ryan showing such a reaction, so he deliberately spoke as if it was even more nothing.
In the meantime, he didn’t forget to stroke the small head of the cat showing off its cuteness and put it down.
Perhaps it was a topic he wasn’t very interested in from the beginning, Ryan changed the subject. The problem was that it also wasn’t very pleasant for Hendrick.
“I thought you were having lunch with Lord Julian.”
Hendrick’s eyebrows twitched slightly. The words to blatantly tell him to stop mentioning that name rose to the tip of his tongue, but he forcibly pushed them down.
“Of course, I agree that they will be necessary people for me in the future. However, I have no intention of getting close to them yet.”
Instead, he cunningly said something else. This time too, Ryan tilted his head without noticing the hidden intention.
The cat under the sofa also tilted its head as if imitating him, looking exactly the same. Feeling a tingling sensation on his fingertips, Hendrick clenched his fists and acted even more frivolously.
Wasn’t he talking about the nobles he met with the king? Then he adeptly steered the conversation towards eating.
This time too, the small head nodded up and down cutely. As Hendrick came out of the study with Ryan, he made eye contact with Peter who was waiting.
Judging by his smiling face, it seemed he was silently saying he had already carried out the unspoken order.
On the way smoothly heading to the dining room,
“Ah, I’m craving something spicy.”
Ryan muttered quietly to himself. Then, perhaps feeling Hendrick’s gaze quietly observing him, he looked back and chuckled as if it was nothing and started walking again.
“I think you sometimes use interesting expressions.”
“Me?”
“Yes. That word ‘craving’. You also said something about stalking, and before that, a fish that swallowed a wish-granting jewel. There was something like that too.”
Hendrick recalled Ryan who used to blurt out words that were sometimes hard to understand the meaning of since childhood.
Because of that, among his playmates, there were kids who considered Ryan a weirdo.
‘It was cute how he knew and used such things.’
When Hendrick heard such things, he thought that way, but Ryan blinked rapidly as if flustered.
“Haha… I see. Language habits are scary indeed. I should be careful from now on.”
“I didn’t mean it was strange, so it’s fine.”
It was part of Ryan’s charm, so why was he saying he should be careful? The eyes of the person walking beside him wavered with agitation, but Hendrick took it as him being shy and let it pass.