Mahali felt happy about the news of Riona’s pregnancy, but at the same time he couldn’t help but worry and sigh.
In this situation where he could only sigh, he became furious upon hearing that Ruans had attended the Poloid Empire’s founding anniversary banquet and suggested to the Di Glosten princess to become his concubine.
It’s not wrong for an emperor to have multiple concubines.
The reason for his anger is that even though Riona became a concubine, she has to hide like a shadow.
If he had made a proud duke’s daughter his concubine, he should have announced her as a concubine to let people know, but Ruans’ current behavior of hiding Riona like a mistress was frustrating.
Though the reason was for Riona’s safety, he felt extremely insulted that Ruans wouldn’t even announce her as a concubine after getting her pregnant.
Amidst all this, hearing the news that Ruans went to another empire, lied about not having a concubine, and tried to seduce the Di Glosten princess made him feel so upset he could cry.
Apart from disrespecting his family, he felt like going crazy thinking about how hurt Riona would be.
Moreover, the noble lady Ruans said he would take as a concubine was Lorencia, who had been an illegitimate child of the Pol Heredian count family.
Mahali asked Ruans if what happened at the Poloid Empire’s founding anniversary was true.
He didn’t want the empress position. He wasn’t saying not to have multiple concubines either.
He just wanted his precious daughter to be respected. So he asked Pelena.
And so Mahali’s inner turmoil began.
Wanting to see his daughter, he asked Pelena if he could meet Riona. And finally, after receiving permission to see Riona, he came to the palace.
Seeing his daughter after so long made him feel alive.
Mahali looked at Riona with pained eyes. Her complexion had darkened since he last saw her. How much must she be suffering?
Surely Riona must know about Ruans’ actions too.
“Riona.”
“Mother, Father. I missed you so much.”
“Are you having severe morning sickness? I had severe morning sickness when I was pregnant with your brother and you.”
“No, it’s not severe.”
The Duchess of Montbellionst, Larisa, stroked Riona’s cheeks and eyes while showing tears.
“Is there anything you want to eat?”
“No.”
“Reni.”
“Yes, Father.”
“Are you alright?”
Seeing Riona’s eyes waver momentarily at the question of whether she was alright, Mahali felt his heart sink to the bottom.
“This father is not alright at all.”
“I’m sorry, Father.”
“You have nothing to be sorry for.”
It’s just Pelena and Ruans who are the problem.
There is nothing wrong with his daughter. She just fell in love with a bad man.
“There’s no need to worry. I’m loved and doing well.”
Mahali surveyed the maids in the reception room.
Even if he told them to leave, they wouldn’t leave and kept guarding the room on Pelena’s orders, so he couldn’t have a deep conversation with Riona.
“Ask Her Majesty the Empress Dowager to let you come to the duke’s residence to take care of yourself.”
“It’s alright. I’m doing well enough with the child in the palace too, Father.”
“Is that so? Is there nothing you want to eat or have? Just tell me. I’ll buy you anything.”
“It’s alright, Mother.”
Once again, the left corner of Riona’s mouth awkwardly lifted and then dropped. And her gaze fell downwards. Then she clenched and unclenched her fist.
Mahali and Larisa didn’t miss Riona repeatedly clenching and unclenching her fist.
“Alright. If that’s your wish.”
“I feel sleepy, perhaps because I’m pregnant.”
“Yes, pregnancy does make you sleep a lot. Alright, we’ll be going now.”
“Take care, Riona.”
“Yes, Mother. Father.”
Larisa’s eyes became moist.
She felt sad and regretful to have to leave right after finally seeing her precious daughter’s face after so long.
“Larisa. We can come again.”
“Yes, Mother, please come again.”
“Alright. I’ll come again, my child.”
“Yes, Mother. Father, take care of your health.”
After returning to the duke’s residence, Mahali and Larisa sat in the couple’s reception room.
In the serious atmosphere, the duke’s butler, head maid, and servants watched their expressions carefully.
“Mother, Father. You met Riona? Is she doing well?”
“Boris.”
The eldest son Boris came to the couple’s reception room used by Mahali and Larisa and asked about his younger sister’s well-being.
“But why do you both look like that? Did something happen to Riona?”
He had been anxious, unable to meet Riona who suddenly became a concubine.
“It seems Riona might be in danger.”
“What do you mean? Danger? Father.”
Larisa answered Boris’s question.
“Every time we asked if she was alright, she said she was fine while lowering her gaze, and lifting and dropping the left corner of her mouth.”
“Is that true?”
When Riona lies, she lifts and drops the left corner of her mouth while lowering her gaze.
Riona knows her own lying habit. So she tried to fix it, but habits are not easily changed.
“When I held her hand, she clenched and unclenched her fist while looking at me desperately.”
The action of clenching and unclenching the fist is one of the implicit signals of the Montbellionst family asking for help.
“We need to bring Riona to the duke’s residence.”
“I already told Her Majesty the Empress Dowager that I wanted to take care of my daughter at the duke’s residence, but was refused.”
“Isn’t it right to send her if she wants to stay at her family home?”
Mahali shook his head.
It was difficult to argue against the Empress Dowager’s words that Riona was staying in the palace for her safety.
“I said I would send servants from the Montbellionst duke’s family, but was refused.”
It’s common for noble ladies who marry into the imperial family to bring their own servants or wet nurses when entering the palace, but Pelena refused everything.
“Refused… That doesn’t make sense, Mother.”
“So I said I would send Riona’s wet nurse, but Her Majesty the Empress Dowager drew the line.”
“For what reason did she refuse?”
“She refused, saying it was for Riona to adapt to the palace servants. Well, she can refuse, but what I absolutely cannot accept is.”
Larisa furrowed her brow.
“It was clear to see that Empress Dowager Pelena has some scheme to use our Riona.”
[This is the timeline separator]“I will open the door in a week, Grand Saint Saraph.”
The Room of Forgiveness where Saraph was confined was a dark and damp room without sunlight.
It’s a place no different from a prison. Thick stone walls with no windows.
Since childhood, whenever she did something wrong, she was always locked in the Room of Forgiveness to beg for forgiveness in the darkness.
More than the frustration of not being able to see outside, what was agonizing was the thirst and hunger.
It was also distressing to relieve herself without being able to see anything.
Since childhood, Saraph was constantly locked in this dark and cold room without a single window whenever she did something wrong.
She thought she wouldn’t have to go to that terrible place anymore now that she had risen to the position of Grand Saint. But that was a miscalculation.
She thought she had played the role of Grand Saint well as instructed, but where did it go wrong?
From childhood, she was educated without knowing why she had to become a Grand Saint, and that was all there was to her life.
She endured frightening punishments and bitter loneliness.
Pelena said she would let her meet her parents if she fulfilled the role of Grand Saint brilliantly. So she spent her days praying every day.
And she received a transparent crystal ball from the large tree called the Water of Life in the Ella Goddess Temple.
“I want to get out.”
She waved her hands in the air, searching for the wall.
Leaning against the damp and cold wall she felt behind her back, she closed her eyes and called for help from anyone.
Saraph thought of Lorencia. The moment she met her gaze with those violet eyes, she realized.
That she could never be the Grand Saint of the Ella Goddess Temple. She had turned a blind eye to the fact that she was a Grand Saint thoroughly created by Pelena and Daniel.
To say she was a messenger of Goddess Ella just because she held a transparent crystal ball.
Lorencia was accompanied by a dazzling light that would make anyone dizzy just looking at it.
That light was a beautiful and nostalgic light she had never seen even in the Ella Goddess Temple.
She didn’t care if she died like this. She just wanted to meet her parents at least once.
But.
“Come to think of it, I don’t even know what my parents look like.”
What had she been striving for, sacrificing something inside herself, for parents she had never even seen? Why did she want to meet her parents in the first place? No matter how much she thought about it, she didn’t know.
She had thought of meeting her parents as a reward, but was it really a reward?
They’re strangers to begin with.
“Hahaha.”
Saraph laughed loudly. Only her voice echoed emptily through the Room of Forgiveness. She kept letting out laughs that sounded like shouts.
“What have I been living for?”
Saraph lay down on the floor and began to cry. She put her hands together and pleaded, not prayed, to Goddess Ella.
“For what reason!”
With a face contorted in pain, she gasped for breath and then shuddered.
Because the faces of the priests and saints who had died because of her came to mind.
Does she want to meet parents whose faces she doesn’t even know? Would she be able to recognize them as her parents if she met them? Will she even be able to meet them? No, she probably won’t be able to meet them. Then is there any reason for her to live?
“But I still want to live.”
With those words as her last, Saraph closed her eyes.
I just can’t bear to live anymore.
“The Grand Saint is dead?”
“Yes. She bit her own tongue…”
“Don’t make a fuss and clean up quietly.”
Upon receiving the report of Saraph’s death, Pelena said with the corners of her mouth lifting:
“You may go.”
As she heard the sound of the door closing quietly, Pelena erased her smile and coldly looked at the flowers in the vase.
Top Celebrity Younger Brother Bears Her Child (Female-dominant)
One-line summary: Forced to live stream romance with a top celebrity in a female-dominant world.
Yan Jin transmigrated into a brothel, with a fellow transmigrated junior beside her.
Hearing the obscene words coming from outside, the unfortunate junior covered his ears tightly, his cheeks flushed red, and whispered to comfort her, “Don’t worry, I will definitely help you escape.”
“Don’t worry, I will definitely defend your chastity.” Yan Jin looked at the flawless and delicate features of the unfortunate junior and gently comforted, “Because we have transmigrated into a female-dominant world.”
※※※
Top celebrity Yu Shu suddenly fell into a coma during a concert.
Research scientist Yan Jin fainted in the lab after working overtime.
Two people with no connection were rushed to the same hospital.
Three days later, neither of them had woken up.
Suddenly, the entire nation discovered that a live streaming app had been forcibly installed on their phones.
Upon opening it, they heard the two discussing how to escape from the brothel.
The entire internet was in an uproar.
After the two successfully escaped from the brothel, Yu Shu’s fan group rushed to make a banner and sent it to the hospital overnight.
“Big sister bravely took action to defend the chastity of our idol!”
※※※
When Yu Shu was diagnosed with pregnancy, Yan Jin stared at his belly for a long time.
Covering his stomach, he muttered gloomily, “If you don’t like it, I’ll go get an abortion.”
“It’s not that I don’t like it.” Yan Jin hugged Yu Shu and said softly, “I just feel like I’m not human.”
Yu Shu comforted Yan Jin, “I was already an adult when we got together.”
Yan Jin hesitated, “But you won’t be of legal marriageable age even after giving birth to the child.”
At the same time, a flood of bullet comments appeared in the live streaming room that the two couldn’t see.
[Although it’s inappropriate, I also want a young and handsome boyfriend to have my child.]
①Male pregnancy (highlighted)
The female lead is five years older than the male lead, and the male lead is already an adult when he appears.
