In an instant, Pryde raised his hand and snapped his fingers.
The surrounding scenery changed in a flash.
“Th-this place is…”
The imperial soldiers, startled by the sudden teleportation, murmured for a moment.
They were at the plains battlefield located below the northern wall.
The Holy Empire’s army could be seen advancing with an unstoppable momentum, pushing back the border garrison troops.
“Fight.”
Duke Pryde commanded firmly.
“Protect your empire with your own hands.”
The eyes of the imperial knights and soldiers holding the black crystals changed.
The power they had obtained without a price had the effect of paralyzing the fear and conscience of its owners.
Waaaaaah-.
Veritas and the imperial army began their advance into the battlefield, where cannons and magical attacks were exploding everywhere.
[This is the timeline separator]Not long after Ioan left, Lin appeared at the empty Pryde mansion.
The doctor, who had a puzzled expression, was also with her.
“…That man sent me.”
At Lin’s words, uttered with a stiff face, Delphine had an expression of disbelief.
Ioan personally sending Lin to her?
However, the unexpected visits continued even after Lin.
One after another, familiar faces arrived at the empty mansion.
“Oh my goodness, Anna! Wilson! …Betty!”
“Milady! …No, heavens, what is that belly?”
Delphine laughed tearfully for a moment, seeing Anna crying out in shock as if she was about to faint.
“The master sent us.”
“To make sure milady is not lonely…”
At the following explanation, Delphine’s expression darkened.
It was also Ioan who sent them here.
Where on earth did he go, leaving her here?
Why is he suddenly bestowing these favors upon me?
‘As if he’s trying to return the things he took from me…’
“Milady. You are alright, aren’t you?”
Anna cried out frantically and sat her on the sofa.
“It’s fine. The master will soon defeat that northern barbarian and return!”
“…Ioan?”
“Yes! He has gathered all the imperial troops and headed to the northern plains!”
At Anna’s innocent answer, Delphine’s face turned pale.
“Ioan went to the battlefield?”
And with all the imperial troops?
Is he really planning to fight the Holy Empire’s army?
‘Ioan. What are you thinking?’
“Perishing along with this empire is the only path to atonement.”
He seemed to have abandoned his obsession with her and at the same time, his attachment to life.
An ominous feeling kept rising within her.
“I can’t stay like this.”
Delphine eventually got up from the sofa.
She was about to say that she had to find a way somehow.
But what actually came out of her mouth was a short scream.
“Ugh…!”
A dizzying pain that started from her lower abdomen penetrated her body.
The pain was so immense that a scream involuntarily escaped, and Delphine crouched down on the spot.
“Milady!”
“Delphine!”
Delphine gasped and muttered desperately.
“Oh, no…”
Baby, not now.
It had barely been eight months since she became pregnant.
Cold sweat poured down her pale face.
The pain was getting worse and worse.
“Get away from the patient!”
The doctor, who had hurriedly come to examine her, took a breath upon seeing her wet skirt.
“…We need to prepare for childbirth.”
The doctor, who had been looking puzzled the whole time, ordered them to bring warm water and disinfected towels with a solemn face.
“Madam! You must not lose consciousness!”
“Delphine! I’m here, don’t worry! I can cast a recovery spell!”
“Milady! Oh, heavens. What is happening…!”
Amidst the extreme labor pains and the commotion, Delphine quietly closed her eyes.
A line of tears ran down her cheek.
My baby.
…Ioan.
[This is the timeline separator]On the northern plains beside the collapsed wall, the fierce battle was still ongoing.
Cannons spewed fire, and lightning-like magical attacks tore through the sky.
The swords of the Holy Empire’s army flashed one after another, beheading the imperial soldiers.
However, the imperial troops holding the black crystals were not easy opponents either.
Intoxicated by the immense power granted by the black crystals, they advanced with crazed eyes even when their arms were severed and arrows pierced their bodies.
They truly fit the description of a demonic army.
“I thought it was too easy.”
At the rear, slightly away from the battlefield.
Basilius, the commander-in-chief of the Holy Empire’s army, muttered in a low voice as he surveyed the situation.
“You were right. That strange power, which is neither magic nor divine power, must be from demons.”
“…”
Belly, who stood by his side as the deputy commander, remained silent for a moment.
His blue eyes sharply scanned the battlefield.
Something was strange.
‘The entire imperial army is holding black crystals.’
The emperor, who wanted to maintain absolute power using the black crystals, would never have allowed this.
Moreover, this peculiar sense of discomfort that he had been feeling for a while.
The movements of the imperial soldiers were somehow strange.
As if receiving orders from someone, they moved in perfect unison.
Somehow, they seemed to be gathering more and more into the inner side of the Holy Empire’s army.
As if they deliberately wanted to be surrounded…
“Whoever is leading that demonic army must be a fool.”
Basilius, a veteran old general, could not have failed to notice what Belly had realized.
At this rate, the imperial army would be completely surrounded by the Holy Empire’s army.
Basilius burst into loud laughter.
“The contractor must have sold his brain along with his soul to the devil, it seems?”
No.
‘I hate to admit it, but that man is an outstanding strategist.’
Belly, who had been fighting Pryde for the past two years, knew him better than anyone.
Duke Pryde possessed outstanding tactics along with immense power.
To fight the devil, one must become the devil.
With that belief, he had always been able to easily read Pryde’s thoughts, but for some reason…
He could no longer read his thoughts.
As if that man had transformed into something other than a demon.
Belly clenched his fists tightly and muttered in a low voice.
“What the hell are you thinking, Pryde…?”
[This is the timeline separator]At that moment, when countless lives were being lost at the border far beyond.
In the Pryde mansion located in the city shrouded in the thick fog of war, a loud cry rang out.
“Whew… It was dangerous due to the premature birth.”
The doctor, who had displayed his expertise in the moment of crisis, returned to his ordinary self and chuckled.
“If it weren’t for that strange magic you use, it would have been really serious.”
Lin nodded weakly with a pale face.
The Possum he held in his hand was blinking with a faint light, having exhausted almost all its power.
Delphine had lost too much blood.
If he hadn’t continuously poured recovery magic beside her, who knows what would have happened…
Lin roughly rubbed his face with both hands.
“Fortunately, the baby is healthy. Although very small due to being premature.”
That’s when it happened.
Delphine, who was lying down unable to properly open her eyes after the difficult birth, made a faint sound.
“The baby…”
“Delphine!”
At Lin’s cry, Delphine weakly waved her arms and muttered.
“Show me… the baby.”
Anna quickly placed the newborn wrapped in a swaddling cloth into her arms.
Her body, having gone through a difficult birth, was so exhausted that she could faint at any moment.
However, Delphine examined the baby thoroughly with a dazed face as if forgetting all that excruciating pain.
Small.
So very small.
That was her first impression of the newborn.
The hair lightly covering the unbelievably small face was dirty blonde, resembling Ioan.
Delphine gently stroked the baby’s cheek with a moved expression.
“My baby…”
Although the baby hadn’t opened its eyes yet and was just wriggling, Delphine could guess that those small eyes would be emerald-colored.
The life that she hadn’t fully realized while in her womb was now nestled in her arms with a distinct weight.
When she fiddled with the absurdly small hand, the baby instinctively grasped her index finger tightly.
The lovely warmth. The lovely touch.
Delphine fell in love at first sight with this baby who resembled herself and Ioan in equal parts.
She was certain that Ioan, too, would inevitably fall in love the moment he saw the baby in person.
She really wanted to show him this child.
“…Lin.”
“Y-yes?”
Lin, who had been standing beside her in a dazed state staring at the baby, answered in a fluster at the sudden call.
“I know it’s shameless of me, but I have a favor to ask…”
“Whatever it is, just say the word.”
At Lin’s resolute answer, Delphine smiled faintly.
In fact, she wanted to go find him herself.
However, she knew it was impossible to head to the battlefield with this body that had just gone through a difficult birth.
The reason why Ioan had taken the imperial army to war still eluded her.
But one thing was certain – he planned to disappear from her sight forever after this war ended.
That’s why he told her to forget him, and despite his burning eyes, he didn’t even give her a single kiss.
‘That can’t happen, Ioan.’
Delphine muttered softly in a feeble voice.
“The baby’s name. I haven’t been able to name the baby yet…”
When scheming men desperately battle for her favor in the male harem
This one’s also on my reread list! The rivalry, scheming between the men in the imperial harem are just as intense and thrilling as in classic palace drama novels, where concubines fight to the death. Give it a read, girls! I promise you won’t be disappointed.
Synopsis:
“I am not worthy of her… but I still want to be by her side, even if only as a loyal dog…”
Those were the painful whispers of Yue Guanyi – the proud Crown Prince of the Great Qi, who was torn between deep love and a guilty conscience. Despite holding the supreme power of the Imperial Guard, he still could not forget the dark past when he was sold into a brothel.
Fate played a cruel twist when Qiu Shuzhi – a young female official who had just passed the imperial examinations with top honors – stepped into his life. She did not know that she was the one who had saved him from a tragic fate many years ago. And now, her heart was the target of pursuit for both Yue Guanyi and the powerful Empress Dowager Qin Qing.
While Yue Guanyi only dared to silently care for and protect the one he loved from afar, the Empress Dowager Qin Qing openly expressed his feelings and did not hesitate to take advantage of his power to approach Qiu Shuzhi. The covert struggle between the two most powerful forces in the imperial court began…
Trigger warning: All men in this novel are yandere style.
_____
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