The Villain's End Is Pregnancy - c54
‘How did I end up coming so far?’
Inside, Ryan, who was pretending to be an arrogant young master on the outside, was burning up with anxiety. He was sure he had been walking without a single break, but the hotel he had stayed at was nowhere in sight.
However, he couldn’t show his agitation. It was because of the vagrants languidly following behind him.
“Hey, noble young master. How much further are you planning to go?”
The moment Ryan showed even a slight hesitation, they urged him on as expected. Close by were the man who seemed to be the leader of the vagrants and the knife-wielding man.
The rest maintained a suitable distance and were closely watching the situation here.
“We’re almost there.”
He answered curtly.
“Hmm…”
But soon a meaningful snort was heard. Ryan also knew they were getting suspicious.
‘What do I do.’
He thought if even a town guard appeared nearby, he would ask for help, but with only busy passers-by in sight, it seemed far-fetched to even strike up a conversation.
‘Should I pretend to look for the hotel and try talking to them…’
If that raised suspicion, it could lead to an even more difficult situation. It would be better to brazenly demand that they guide him since he doesn’t know the hotel’s location, even now.
“Move aside! Clear the way there!”
Just then, shouts were heard from far in the distance. He narrowed his eyes and looked ahead. People in uniforms with swords or batons at their waists were approaching on horseback.
“Oh my!”
“Huh? What’s going on?”
“Why are the town guards moving so urgently?”
Their speed was so fast that the pedestrians scattered in confusion and moved to one side of the road. Soon the town guards brushed past and went by them.
“Hurry! A witness said they saw him go this way not long ago, so we should be able to find him quickly! We have to be the ones to escort him.”
Ryan also stood by the roadside and watched the words fly past.
‘So they were around.’
When he was looking for them earlier, they were nowhere to be seen. While thinking that, he scanned the direction the guards had come from, but only saw a crowd of people gathering and murmuring.
“Why are they rushing off like that?”
“Who knows. Did thieves show up or something?”
“How could that be? In times like these.”
The problem was the pedestrians also didn’t seem to know the reason.
‘That’s not what’s important.’
His momentary curiosity quickly faded. Whatever was going on here had nothing to do with Ryan. What was more urgent was finding the hotel or someone to ask for help.
He took advantage of the chaotic surroundings to look around. The vagrants seemed just as flustered as him and were busy looking here and there.
“What are you doing? Let’s go quickly.”
The man who had hidden the knife in his bosom must have been watching Ryan the whole time as he immediately made eye contact. Moreover, after observing the movement of his arm, Ryan swallowed a sigh.
‘If I go between them…’
People were still gathered to try to figure out the current situation. So if he squeezed through the gaps, he might somehow be able to separate from them.
The problem was, if he failed, he couldn’t even predict how he would get out of it.
‘Haah…’
Anyway, with them urging him like that, he couldn’t just stand still. Ryan slowly began walking again.
If there was any positive side, it was that thanks to the brief pause, he noticed a familiar building while scanning his surroundings.
‘How did I not see that before.’
It was none other than the bakery sign the tea house owner had told him to use as a landmark. It was the culprit that made Ryan take the wrong path, but anyway, now it was a guide to return to the hotel.
Trying to think as positively as possible, Ryan felt the atmosphere becoming even more chaotic than before after walking a little while.
“What, what’s going on? Why is it like this here?”
It wasn’t only him who noticed that fact. The vagrants closely following behind also spoke in a flustered tone.
“Did a real gang of thieves raid this place?”
“How could that be? In this day and age.”
“Then did royalty show up? A high-ranking noble or some lord?”
Ryan’s ears perked up at the words he heard among them.
‘Is it Hendrick?’
Forgetting that this commotion started because he was trying to run away to avoid him, his eyes even sparkled.
‘Good. If I just act like I know him, those guys will misunderstand.’
Ryan’s walking pace gradually sped up. The hotel he had searched so hard for finally came into view not far away.
The entrance there was chaotic too. Not only the guests coming and going but even spectators had gathered and were noisily chattering.
“Huh?”
But what was going on? If not the town guard, knights in shining armor caught his eye.
“Gasp, did something really happen?”
This time the vagrants were shaken too. Watching from a distance, they left only the knife-wielding man by Ryan’s side and gathered amongst themselves to whisper.
“Nothing good comes from dawdling at times like this.”
“You’re right. Let’s just take what he has. It doesn’t seem like a situation to get too greedy.”
“Still, it’s a shame to turn back after coming all the way here.”
“Look at the atmosphere over there. Those aren’t town guards but knights. If we’re not careful, we might get treated as suspicious and dragged away for no reason.”
As if they were upright citizens, the vagrants exchanged opinions even though they had already moved with such intentions.
“Then for now, how about the leader takes that young master and goes to assess the situation? If it seems no good, we can back off then.”
“Yeah. Bring him here for now. Starting with what he has on him…”
In the end, it seemed they decided to take everything Ryan had. Ryan barely suppressed another heavy sigh from escaping.
Whatever the case, if he could just hand everything over and get close to where the knights were swarming, it would work out. It was quite fortunate for him that unexpected options had increased.
“Hey, young master. Come over here for a moment.”
Even after discussing amongst themselves for a while, the leader only now called for Ryan. As if they had given up on the polite act, his tone was rude.
Ryan walked over to them, maintaining his haughty expression. No, just as he was about to move his feet at that moment-
“Ryan?”
A familiar voice was heard. And from not far away at that. His head automatically spun towards the direction of the voice.
“Ryan!”
Their gazes immediately met. Seeing the sharp eyes, Ryan unknowingly faltered. But thanks to Hendrick taking long strides while he hesitated, the two quickly got close.
However, he wasn’t the only one approaching. The knights also advanced, flashing their silver radiance as they followed behind him.
With each movement, the sound of their clanking armor rang out, rapidly making the atmosphere turn murderous.
“Wha- what the.”
Ryan wasn’t the only one flustered. The vagrants behind him also panicked and hurriedly stepped back.
“Are you alright?”
Regardless of how the surroundings changed, Hendrick, who had quickly approached, examined Ryan’s complexion and every inch of his body.
“Uh… huh?”
“You’re not hurt anywhere?”
At the question that followed again, Ryan blinked his eyes. Belatedly, he noticed the worry etched in Hendrick’s eyes.
“Uh… not really.”
“Haah…”
Then at Ryan’s dazed words accompanied by a nod, relief spread across the handsome face. When Hendrick raised his arm to signal, the knights began to efficiently clear the surroundings.
“You really aren’t in pain anywhere, right?”
Focused on Hendrick in front of him, Ryan failed to notice that the vagrants had been pushed to a corner and suppressed by the knights.
“I told you I’m not. But what’s with all this commotion?”
Rather, he was just feeling perplexed by the current situation.
“There was an eyewitness account of you entering a dangerous area.”
“So you called the knights?”
Hendrick gestured with his eyes towards Elena who was standing at attention with a dignified posture.
“Elena said she contacted us as soon as you disappeared. That there was a possibility you had been kidnapped.”
“Kidnapped? What…”
Even if they questioned the tea house owner, they should have known Ryan had run away. What was with this overreaction? However, he quietly shut his mouth at Hendrick’s gaze that stared at him intently.
After all, he couldn’t very well say he had tried to flee because of Hendrick to the person who was worried about him.
“It’s fine since you returned safely. But let’s go back to the hotel and get you checked out just in case.”
“Checkup? What checkup? All I did was get lost and then come back.”
Then seeing the expression that appeared on Hendrick’s face, Ryan felt like his heart plummeted.
“What are you talking about? You just…”
“Why…?”
Thump. Thump.
Why is this happening? Why is it arbitrarily thumping? Just as he was about to place his palm on his chest, unable to understand the reaction-
“You’re pregnant, aren’t you?”
Thump!
The sound of something heavy falling resounded clearly in his ears.