I Had the Enemy's Baby (Completed Main Story) - Chapter 9
“Just come out. I won’t let you off easily.”
Hanna muttered impatiently, waiting for the bedroom door to open.
At Valmont Castle, she had always slept with Clodel.
When she suddenly lost her parents and younger sibling to the fire, Hanna had thought herself lucky at least to still have Clodel.
But Clodel had lost her dependable mother and father one after another.
She had been fine when first arriving at Valmont Castle in shock after the village fire, but after her father passed away too, her insomnia grew so severe that she couldn’t sleep at all alone.
An accident is just an accident.
Hanna wondered whether the pain that bound her for one reason alone had become a double burden for Clodel—losing her mother to an accident and her father to his own choice to end his life. And Evan had left Clodel as well.
Things couldn’t be the same here at Rowen Castle.
Hanna’s room was way off by itself on the third floor, where the maids stayed, and Clodel’s room was no longer hers alone.
Hanna didn’t even have the nerve to lie in the mistress’s bed, which the lord might visit at any moment.
That alone was worrying enough, but since arriving at Rowen Castle, the way Clodel was being treated had left Hanna utterly speechless.
“This can’t go on.”
After lying awake all night, unable to sleep from sheer frustration, she finally headed toward Kai An’s bedroom in the early dawn.
“At this rate, I’ll develop heartbreak sickness, even if I never had it before.”
Of course, the person Hanna worried about wasn’t herself—it was Clodel.
She was anxious about Clodel, who kept her mouth shut and claimed she was fine despite hearing every kind of slanderous remark.
Anger and fury unexpressed outwardly only circulate inward, poisoning the heart.
“I have to say something to the Duke, somehow. It’s just too unjust.”
It made Hanna furious just looking at Clodel, who refused to take off the ring from her finger—even though she now knew it wasn’t truly a ring anymore and should rightly be thrown away.
Clodel wasn’t one to lie.
Although Hanna couldn’t know all the details for certain, if Clodel said she received it from him and he gave it to her, then Kai An must indeed have done so.
Then how could he possibly pretend not to know her and humiliate Clodel like that in front of so many servants?
A wife’s dignity is upheld by her husband.
After yesterday’s incident alone, Clodel—having been at Rowen Castle for merely three days—had nearly lost all the respect she should have received as their mistress from the household staff.
That was precisely why Hanna now stood here.
She wanted to see Clodel happy and well, not gradually broken down by constant neglect.
If speaking to Kai An today about this injustice brought no improvement or resolution, Hanna had even considered running away from Rowen Castle with Clodel.
She could easily support them both—she was small and didn’t eat much, and whether by taking in sewing work until her fingers bled or doing odd jobs at someone else’s house, she could earn enough to feed them.
Besides, her saved wages from Valmont Castle were enough to buy a small house in a quiet village on the outskirts.
As she carefully gathered her anger toward Kai An, ready to unleash it—
Click.
The bedroom door opened, and out stepped a woman.
Unlike Clodel, she had a voluptuous figure, long thick black hair, and large blue eyes.
Heaven only knew whose daughter she was—shameless enough to walk out of an unrelated man’s bedroom (and since Clodel’s husband was the Duke, this woman clearly couldn’t be his wife)—with disheveled, tangled hair and loose clothing, making no effort to hide what had clearly happened there last night.
Hanna, seeing this sight, actually felt embarrassed enough to blush.
“Who are you?”
The woman, apparently not expecting to run into anyone, finally pulled her shawl to cover her partially exposed chest and swept her hair back with her hand.
“His Lordship is still asleep.”
Hanna had once heard rumors at Valmont Castle that the women entering Kai An’s bedroom changed daily.
But for the past two days, he had stayed in Clodel’s room, so she’d momentarily forgotten about the maids’ bitter gossip that had weighed heavily on her mind.
“Well, that’s exactly what I’d like to ask you. Just who are you?”
The woman’s eyes widened as Hanna—a servant by appearance—spoke with such boldness.
“As far as I know, there’s only one person in Rowen Castle permitted to enter the lord’s bedroom.”
“Oh… hahahaha.”
Only then did the woman seem to recognize who Hanna was, pointing at her with her index finger.
“Ah, yes. You must be the one. The infamous mad fighting hen—the flower wilted by rain.”
Hanna had never struck anyone.
But she desperately wanted to slap this woman’s face for so brazenly calling Clodel a “flower wilted by rain” right off the bat.
“You still don’t know who I am, do you?”
The woman extended her left hand toward Hanna.
On her finger gleamed a large blue diamond ring.
Hanna recognized it instantly.
It was the very ring prominently worn by the Duchess in the grand portrait of the Late Duke and Duchess of Temnes displayed front and center in the main hall of the lord’s castle.
A simple, thick band held a massive blue diamond large enough to cover her entire finger.
The late Duchess had been a stunning beauty—pale skin, large blue eyes, and wavy golden hair with a lemony sheen.
Though her personality may have been awful, her appearance alone was undeniably magnificent—clearly revealing from whom Duke Temnes had inherited his looks.
The blue diamond on her finger suited her so perfectly it seemed like a third living eye, making the portrait particularly memorable each time Hanna passed by.
The late Duchess must have known in life how exquisitely that ring complemented her.
“Remember me. My name is Antyone.”
Noticing Hanna’s gaze, the woman smiled sweetly.
“You recognize this ring, don’t you? Lord Kai An gave it to me—this ring once belonging to the Duchess herself.”
Normally, giving away an heirloom inherited from one’s mother was taken as a vow of lifelong fidelity—a pledge of pure devotion.
“Tell your mistress this: Lord Kai An was originally promised to someone else. Whether or not that person has married, you have no business entering Lord Kai An’s bedroom.”
“How utterly shameless! Then tell me—how can an unmarried maiden like yourself enter a man’s bedroom so confidently?”
“You’re the ridiculous one. What value is there in a mere signed paper? The problem lies with your unworthy mistress, who can’t even win a fragment of his heart.”
“…”
Antyone, as if deliberately showing how exhausted she’d been last night, patted her waist and massaged her neck and shoulders before walking down the corridor.
Hanna was so furious and dumbfounded that she found herself utterly speechless for the first time.
A husband who brings another woman into his bedroom on only the third day after his wife arrives at their estate!
“What are we going to do? Poor young mistress.”
It was absolute chaos.
Hanna’s thoughts now leaned firmly toward escaping Rowen Castle with Clodel.
[This is the timeline separator]Inside Clodel’s bedroom, all was quiet.
“My Lord.”
Kai An, who had stood guard all night, turned his head toward the butler’s voice as the first light of dawn spilled into the corridor.
“Why are you still here?”
“I don’t know, honestly.”
“You regret it, don’t you?”
Regret?
Regret.
The word didn’t exist in Kai An’s vocabulary—everything he did was right.
“No.”
“Don’t be stubborn. The best time to correct any mistake is now.”
The butler sighed briefly, deep lines etched beneath his eyes.
“How do you intend to educate an heir if you treat the mistress this way? The castle’s discipline is falling apart.”
The butler was right.
If Clodel—treated with such disdain—were to bear a child, that child’s very existence would be precarious.
A child raised amidst constant scorn and torment could never become a respected heir like Kai An himself.
“It’s understandable that people never imagined a bride would come to House Temnes from Vermonde, so the noise is unavoidable. But Your Lordship must strengthen the mistress’s standing—only then will they accept her.”
The butler’s normally sensible advice felt unusually sharp today.
“Please come inside.”
Kai An shook his head at the butler’s suggestion.
“No. I’ll just leave for now.”
After holding wedding celebrations for three straight days, Kai An had a mountain of duties awaiting him.
Moreover, he still hadn’t sorted out what to say to Clodel or how to handle the situation.
Meeting her in this state would only tangle things further, so he decided to step back for now.
“Will you rest?”
“No. I’m going straight to my study.”
“Allow me to accompany you.”
The butler understood why Kai An—who hadn’t slept a wink all night and had paced restlessly before Clodel’s door—was acting this way, but he couldn’t presume to lecture his master on every little thing.
‘Soon, he’ll realize it for himself.’
What the butler didn’t know was that a day would come when he’d bitterly regret today’s judgment.
[This is the timeline separator]Clodel spent a sleepless night.
“I didn’t get a wink of sleep.”
She sat up groggily from her bed as dawn’s light appeared.
“He didn’t come after all.”
Kai An hadn’t visited her bedroom last night.
He’d turned away, telling her not to cause trouble—looking deeply hurt.
She’d thought he wouldn’t come tonight either, yet since he’d come on the second night—not out of marital duty but out of his own choice—she’d held on to a sliver of hope.
“Ridiculous. What was I thinking? He’s Temnes, and I’m Vermonde.”
From the very beginning, he’d never been someone within the realm of her hopes.
Their two houses were like oil and water—eternal enemies who could never mix.
“…I just want to sleep.”
When her heart ached this deeply, it would have been wonderful to forget everything and fall into deep, dreamless sleep.
But lying awake through the night with her body still aching from Kai An’s touch over these past two nights only made her sadder by the moment.
“Didn’t I think exactly this on the first night? That after fulfilling the conjugal duty, I’d never see him in my bedroom again.”
Then why did she keep feeling this bitter emptiness?
“Maybe it’s just from lack of sleep.”
Clodel let out a deep sigh, massaging her temples where a dull headache throbbed.
“Ugh… Cough… Cough…”
A rough, drawn-out breath scraped deep within her chest, triggering a pain that wrung her lungs like a twisted cloth.
“Cough… Cough… Cough…”
The coughing fit wouldn’t stop, tormenting Clodel for a long while.
“Hah…”
Warm, metallic liquid dripped from her palm—covering her wrist, soaking the front of her nightgown, and splattering onto the blanket.
Clodel stared at it and murmured softly,
“…Blood.”
Turns Out He’s Been Secretly in Love with Me
One-line summary: He acts like he doesn’t like her but is actually playing hard to get.
Synopsis:
Xu Muzhou like her. He has liked her for a very long time, and through repeated schemes, he finally closed the distance with her.
But this is still far from enough.
He wants to be the one who stands out among her many suitors, to fight for her attention, and to make her take the initiative to pursue him.
_____
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Chapter Comments (1)
Inline Comments (103)
…liked me?
Delusional much? >.< He is professing Typical male-lead behavior
“Then tonight—don’t sleep. Wait for me.”
Dude are you fucking serious, just because it doesn’t hurt doesn’t mean you won’t worsen it
“Hey! Don’t you dare move!”
Is she going to get the ring back for clodel. I love hanna
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Every time I see the FL, I feel like crying! Also, I laughed so hard when I learned about the emperor’s feelings for the ML; I expected their relationship to be brotherly. It’s funny how he hates him.