The Villain's End Is Pregnancy - c76
“What? What do you mean? Are you dissatisfied?”
Ryan’s voice also naturally became sharp. Hendrick’s eyebrows rise slightly.
‘Ridiculous. Why is he telling me what to do?’
Ryan’s chin, not wanting to lose, also lifted up sharply.
“Ryan, you went to see the doctor because of the pheromone issue, right? But after meeting the family doctor, you couldn’t be reached and your whereabouts were unknown, so of course everyone was surprised and worried.”
The sharp atmosphere between the two was broken by Catherine’s scolding. It was such a reasonable statement that Ryan also quickly apologized.
“Sorry, Catherine. I was going to come right back, but I met someone unexpectedly and forgot while talking to them.”
“Still, that’s too much. We were in a difficult position trying to stop His Highness from immediately dispatching people to the royal capital.”
“Why would he dispatch people for this?”
Am I a child that he’s making a fuss? While grumbling, he recalled the time he left the royal capital before.
The sight of Hendrick searching with the security forces and even knights to find the missing him.
The area around his heart tickled.
‘From what I heard from Julian earlier, it really seems like they only met for business.’
I don’t understand why Hendrick is making that expression and look in his eyes. And honestly, if we’re going to argue, I have more to say on my side.
What the secret he shared with Julian is, why they had to meet separately, and so on. But asking why you’re acting like this, there are too many eyes watching around us.
“But who did you meet?”
Just then, Catherine asked again, so Ryan blatantly ignored Hendrick’s gaze and answered while looking at her.
“Yeah. Mr. Julian. Catherine, you know too, right? The person I said I went to the art gallery with before.”
“Ah, I remember. You mean the lord of the southern city.”
“Right.”
“Did you have plans with him?”
“No, I just ran into him by chance at the restaurant.”
Come to think of it, Julian said he came to that restaurant because Hendrick introduced it to him. Belatedly recalling that memory, Ryan glared at Hendrick again.
‘What, what is it?’
But their gazes immediately intertwined. To make matters worse, his eyes were clearly showing a displeased air.
‘But that’s really the pot calling the kettle black. He was flirting with Mr. Julian as soon as he went to the palace!’
Thinking about it again, heat surges up in his head. Just as Ryan’s eyes were about to tense up again, Catherine spoke once more.
“Anyway, Ryan. Now is a time when you have to be careful with anything, so don’t stay out too late. Your pheromones are already unstable, what if something troublesome happens because of that?”
“…Yeah. Sorry for making you worry. I’ll be careful.”
Ryan bowed his head once each to Catherine, his parents, and Edgar, who were all anxious and concerned.
“Seriously. You had your coming-of-age ceremony, but how can you be so childlike? I can’t feel at ease.”
Catherine let out a deep sigh and brought her hand to her cheek. Seeing her looking more like a mother than the Countess, Ryan couldn’t bring himself to refute and just puffed up his cheeks largely then deflated them with a breath.
It was because he knew that as the same morphological type, she was particularly more concerned and attentive.
“Don’t worry, Catherine. I’ll take good care of him.”
“Thank you very much, Your Highness. I always say this, but I can’t tell you how fortunate it is to have you here.”
“Now, let’s all go inside. I don’t think there’s anything more to discuss here.”
Hendrick wrapped up the situation and pulled the thin shoulders close to his side. It was so natural that even Ryan didn’t realize it.
Like that, they entered the mansion, and after sending the family away with the excuse of being tired, they moved to Ryan’s room.
“Why aren’t you leaving?”
“Are you hurting or sick anywhere?”
Ryan, who was about to explode at his question being ignored and a question returned instead, spoke sulkily.
“No. I told you to go.”
“If there’s something wrong with your body, call the royal physician. Don’t go meet them directly. Like Catherine said, what if a big accident happens because of that?”
“You’re exaggerating.”
“I don’t know what exaggerating means, but Ryan. You have to be careful in the early stages.”
It seems he unknowingly used a habit of speech from before again. Ryan pouted his lips but vowed not to use it next time and snorted blatantly.
“I’ll handle it well on my own, so don’t worry about it.”
“Hah…”
I thought he would argue back again at this point, but what returned from Hendrick was only a long, deep sigh. Rather, Ryan flinched more at that reaction.
“What? Why are you sighing?”
Then, without answering Ryan’s question, he pressed his index finger firmly between his brows. He looked like a pet owner troubled by a headache-inducing cat, making Ryan tense the corners of his eyes again.
“If you don’t like it, I told you to go. I said I’ll take care of it myself!”
“I’m just worried. If you collapsed somewhere, if something troublesome happened somewhere. All sorts of thoughts came to mind when you didn’t return. I even regretted going to the palace today.”
“Oh, that’s…”
Why does he say that with such a complicated face again, making me speechless? Ryan clenched and unclenched his fists, not knowing what to do.
“Sorry. Next time, I’ll make sure to tell you when I go somewhere.”
When it was time to argue fiercely, Hendrick looked really dejected, so Ryan’s heart also became unsettled and he comforted him. After all, he couldn’t bring himself to say anything more to someone who said they were worried about him.
“No. From now on, I’ll just accompany you whenever you go somewhere, so you can act as usual.”
“What? You have to go to the palace to receive successor lessons too. Don’t say such nonsense.”
The prince leisurely following someone around. It was absurd and Ryan, a little worried that he might get scolded by the king for that, quickly waved his hands.
“It’s fine. I won’t take a single step outside the house from now on. I’ll make sure to tell you when I go out. So you, don’t say things like that and do what you have to do!”
“Well…”
“Ah, what. Okay. Then what do you want? I’ll do as you say, so just tell me what you want instead!”
Ryan, anxious at the lukewarm attitude, finally played his trump card. In doing so, he didn’t even notice that Hendrick’s eyes took on a different light.
“What I want?”
“Yeah!”
“Will you really listen to everything?”
“Sheesh, why are you like this? I may not look like it, but I’m a person of my word. Tell me! I’ll listen to…”
He was about to add that he would accept anything as long as he listened and could agree to it, but Hendrick’s sudden demand cut him off.
“Then let’s go to the palace with me tomorrow and greet them.”
“What? What?”
“Let’s arrange a formal meal with both sets of parents.”
Ryan’s eyes widened. This isn’t it. He realized it after hearing those words.
“Can we do that?”
This really isn’t it. No matter what, this is too much. If even the royal couple finds out about this, it could really become impossible to back out.
‘What do I do?’
There must be something that can divert Hendrick’s attention elsewhere. As Ryan was busily racking his brain, he belatedly noticed the rustling sound whenever he moved.
Wondering where the sound was coming from, he fumbled with his hands and pulled it out, and what came out with it was the document he had grabbed while getting off the carriage earlier.
“Ah… right! I had something to tell you and Dad.”
He had completely forgotten about it in the chaos earlier, but he remembered it just at the right moment. Although Hendrick knows that Ryan is deliberately changing the subject, he sends a look that he will listen.
“Look at this.”
Ryan handed over the rolled-up paper he brought. And while Hendrick was reading it, he waited without saying a word.
“Hidrian extract?”
“Yeah. Remember at the coming-of-age party before, your condition was strange? It was because of the liquid extracted from that flower.”
“At the coming-of-age ceremony… At that time, your pheromones… No, yeah. Let’s skip that, but you’re saying such a dangerous thing was being circulated?”
“Growing hidrian isn’t illegal.”
“But extracting the liquid is something strictly managed by the country.”
That’s true. But the problem is that it’s being cultivated, processed, and distributed secretly without reporting it.
Ryan, who knew where Hendrick’s gaze was fixed, licked the inside of his mouth.
“Where did it come from?”
“What do you mean where did it come from?”
“Don’t tell me you looked into it yourself? Dangerously?”
He lightly deflected, but the reaction that returned was very rough. Ryan flinched at Hendrick’s stiff face and quickly spilled the truth.
“It’s not something I can look into. I instructed the family doctor to do it. I thought they would be better at figuring it out.”
As expected of an extreme alpha. He’s very imposing at times like this. Ryan, whose pride was hurt as if he was overwhelmed by Hendrick for a moment, inwardly pouted his lips.
“Yeah. I see. That’s really amazing.”
At that moment, Hendrick’s expression softened. To make matters worse, his eyes turned gentle and he smiled. It was absurd how quickly his attitude changed, but still.
‘Is he doing that on purpose these days?’
My heart throbbed again, not understanding the situation. The bickering from earlier disappeared somewhere, and the atmosphere between the two quickly turned fluffy.