The Villain's End Is Pregnancy - c43
As the surroundings grew dark and faint pheromones started wafting from various places, Ryan felt a sense of familiarity.
To be precise, he remembered seeing a similar scene somewhere before.
‘Ah, damn. This is that thing, isn’t it. The game that Liam set up to try to get his omega sibling to cling to Hendrick.’
The arrogant prince was constantly surrounded by people trying to introduce omegas to him.
That’s why it was only when he arrived at the venue of the party that Ryan recalled this content being in the original work.
‘What now.’
If Ryan’s memory served him right, Liam’s sibling was already hiding near Hendrick. As for that sibling’s machinations, Ryan didn’t really care. The problem was what happened afterwards.
Liam’s sibling already knew what kind of pheromones Hendrick had, so they would instantly manage to cling to him. The issue was that the sibling would then be mercilessly shoved away and trampled on by the surrounding nobles.
Ryan was included among them, and was even assigned the role of stepping on the sibling’s wrist. It wasn’t intentional, but after hearing the scream and realizing it was Liam’s sibling, he had inadvertently pressed down harder with his foot.
All of this was a situation created by the “lights out” game, but the problem was that Liam ended up unfairly shifting all the blame onto Ryan.
Of course, Ryan hadn’t just remained silent back then either.
‘Why are you blaming me for your sibling stupidly falling and getting hurt? If you hadn’t done this silly thing in the first place, it wouldn’t have happened, right? You should have understood the subject better.’
He had retorted with as much sarcasm as possible, so he could now understand a little why the Seiden family had been in an uproar.
‘He could have just apologized.’
Looking back, the Ryan in the original work had a tendency to escalate things unnecessarily. There also seemed to be some other incident, but since it had been a while since he read it, the details didn’t come to him clearly.
‘Ah, I really didn’t want to come.’
If his memories had returned, he should have immediately recalled this important episode as well. That way, he wouldn’t have even approached the vicinity.
‘Is there really no other way?’
There was no time to hesitate. If things went according to the original work, he knew what would happen. Hendrick would look at him with a contemptuous gaze, and the Seiden family would complain to the Fitzroy family.
Then his parents would have to bow their heads and apologize, and pay a huge compensation to Liam’s sibling.
‘Absolutely not.’
Of course, in the original work, Ryan hadn’t just remained silent either. He had argued that it wasn’t just him, that it was all Liam’s fault for turning off the lights.
But between the pitiful omega crying while clutching their injured arm, and the already arrogant and willful villain, who would the people side with?
Moreover, with the prince remaining silent as well.
‘Come to think of it, today’s incident was the origin of that event, wasn’t it.’
The Fitzroy and Seiden families weren’t particularly close to begin with. But the incident that occurred at Liam’s birthday party became the catalyst for the Seiden family to ruin the Fitzroy family.
‘And those bastards even go on to take over the valuable copper mine.’
Inevitably, the solution was still the same. Ryan bit his lip and stepped forward. Pheromones were permeating from all around.
Sweet, sour, savory, refreshing, crisp, cool, sticky, with a hint of warmth – the mingled scents reached him physically.
‘The dominant ones really are different, huh.’
The corner of Ryan’s mouth curled up. Guided by the weighty yet calming pheromone that reminded him of wood, he moved his steps.
Soon, the familiar and pleasant fragrance became detectable in the very close distance. Without hesitation, Ryan stretched out both arms.
“Ryan?”
The moment he embraced the sturdy waist like an ancient tree, a familiar voice was immediately heard.
‘So I was right.’
Delighted at having succeeded so easily, Ryan curved his eyes in a gentle smile in the darkness. Instead of answering, he simply clung tightly to the large frame.
Truthfully, he was a little nervous.
‘Luckily, he didn’t just throw me off like Liam’s sibling.’
In fact, he had prepared a plan to quickly curl up his body and minimize the damage if he did end up on the floor.
He didn’t know how Hendrick recognized him so quickly, but he couldn’t miss the slight gap in the situation. Now, Liam’s sibling wouldn’t even be able to try to embrace Hendrick. In the darkness, the corner of Ryan’s mouth curled upwards.
“Ugh, Ryan.”
Hendrick’s low groan reached his ears. He must have squeezed too hard with his arms.
‘But I can’t let go, so there’s no choice.’
However, what was this situation? Suddenly, a long, large arm wrapped around his lower back. As if urging him to get even closer, it even applied some strength.
“Huh?”
Startled, Ryan forgot his intention to remain silent and opened his mouth.
“Stay still. You’ll get hurt.”
Maybe it was because of the darkness, but Hendrick’s voice sounded unusually gentle.
“Alright, has everyone found their partner’s pheromone? I’ll start counting down. 10, 9, 8…”
As the deadline approached, the commotion around them grew louder. Sounds of people searching, moaning, smacking, and getting angry.
The lights would turn on soon. Before that, he had to break free from Hendrick’s embrace and act like nothing happened. But for some reason, the arms wrapped around him showed no signs of letting go.
“Hey, Hendrick.”
Ryan called him softly, unable to shout loudly.
“Just a moment.”
Just a moment? He said to move away immediately! Whispering his intent, but only receiving a tightening of the strong arms in response.
The large hand engulfing the back of his head pushed his cheek completely against Hendrick’s chest.
“Ugh! It hurts.”
This bastard, even though he said to let go. Ryan now felt like a cat clinging to a tree.
In annoyance, he slapped the broad back repeatedly.
“Ah, sorry.”
Hendrick quickly apologized and loosened his arms. But he still didn’t completely let go, so Ryan couldn’t escape.
This is not right. If this continues, everyone will realize who he’s embracing!
The increasingly anxious Ryan squirmed, but was still unable to break free due to the difference in strength.
“4, 3, 2, 1!”
The counting finally ended.
“Illuminate!”
At Liam’s command, the interior was instantly flooded with light. Ryan couldn’t bear to look ahead and tightly closed his eyes.
“Ah, Your Highness!”
“Who’s that?”
“Why is Ryan Fitzroy there?”
“He really caused a scene.”
“I thought he wouldn’t come, but it seems he came for the prince’s news!”
Amidst it all, the shocked exclamations around him were clearly audible.
‘I’m done for. I’m done for.’
This wasn’t how it was supposed to go. The plan was to just cling for a moment and then let go. He didn’t know how it ended up like this.
His nape, cheeks, forehead, and back were stinging.
‘They must be glaring at me intensely.’
Ryan heaved a deep sigh. He had successfully achieved his primary goal of not letting Liam’s sibling get hurt. But the future didn’t seem to change much.
After exhaling again, he cautiously turned his head.
‘Ah, as expected.’
There was Liam, glaring at him with a terrifying gaze. And next to him stood a pretty omega, their face heavily distorted.
‘There’s no avoiding the conflict with the Seiden family, it seems.’
To be honest, he felt a little satisfied.
‘It’s not like they don’t know my personality.’
They invited him, knowing full well how obsessed Ryan had been with Hendrick in the past. So they should have anticipated this kind of situation happening.
‘It’s all their own doing.’
Thinking this to himself, just as he was about to tear his eyes away from where Liam and his sibling were,
“Ryan.”
Lifting his head, Ryan met Hendrick’s gaze. Belatedly realizing that he had been so tightly pressed against him all this time. Of course, it was an action against his will.
“Huh?”
But for some reason, he still couldn’t break free from the broad embrace.
“I should head back now. Ryan doesn’t seem well.”
“You’re leaving?” Liam exclaimed in surprise.
“Yes. Thanks to you, I had an enjoyable game. And happy birthday once again.”
Strange, why does that statement about enjoying the game sound like a reproach? But it seems Ryan wasn’t the only one who interpreted it that way.
“N-no, no, Your Highness. Rather, I… that is…” Liam, his face pale, managed to respond politely. But he desperately tried to hold onto Hendrick.
Well, it’s understandable to feel uneasy about letting him go like that. There was the incident with his sibling, and the mistake in the game.
But Hendrick wasn’t held back further, perhaps because of the cold gaze that belied his indifferent expression.
Even the quick glance from Ryan felt slightly tense.
“Hendrick. Let me go now.”
That’s that, but the discomfort was still there. Ryan kept lightly tapping Hendrick’s back, who still had no intention of releasing him.
“Sorry, but just until we get to the carriage.”
“You… why are you like this?”
The softly spoken words may have been that, but somehow Hendrick’s voice seemed to be trembling. Ryan quickly raised his head to examine his face.
“Ah! Hendrick, you have a fever!”
How could he have not noticed this until now. The smooth forehead beaded with sweat, the flushed cheeks.
Hendrick must be the one truly unwell. But if the prince said he was leaving because he was sick, it would inevitably ruin the atmosphere.
“This won’t do. Wait here! I’ll… ugh!”
The movement to quickly summon a carriage failed as Hendrick refused to let go.
“Hey, let go!”
Why on earth was he acting like this? In Ryan’s desperate struggle to break free, something hot and firm touched his thigh.
Wondering, he lowered his gaze, which came to rest on Hendrick’s midsection.
“Whoa…”
Ryan finally realized what had touched his thigh.