“Who’s there? What are you talking about, my lord?”
At first, I thought he was joking. He looked exactly like Danmokbi, treating me as if he was seeing me for the first time.
But the glance he cast at me was so vivid that the smile began to fade from my lips.
I sat down awkwardly next to Danmokbi. And I asked him in a cautious tone.
“Are you still being spiteful? I promised, didn’t I? I won’t disappear without a word to you, my lord, from now on. So don’t be angry.”
Even as I coaxed him so gently, the child was still angry with me.
“Don’t talk nonsense. I’m seeing you for the first time.”
“No, my lord, why are you acting like this? The joke’s not funny.”
It was time to put on a serious face. The white tiger, which had been nestled in my arms like a doll, yawned and said,
Kid, kid. Open your eyes wide. See if that child is the real Danmokbi.
“What nonsense are you talking about, White Tiger?”
What difference would it make to open my eyes wide? I pressed the White Tiger’s heartshaped nostril with my finger when he spoke nonsense.
“Huh?”
Listening to the White Tiger, I felt a strange discomfort.
‘Why did my lord look so small and frail?’
This was just like Danmokbi when I first met him. Shorter than me, smaller in stature.
‘But he’s been eating well and growing lately, hasn’t he?’
His face was the same, though, so I became more and more puzzled. It was as if the clock had been turned back on Danmokbi alone.
I asked in a bewildered tone,
“……Who are you?”
When I, who belatedly realized that he was not Danmokbi, asked in a dazed tone, the child trembled and shouted,
“That’s what I should be saying! Who are you to dare grab my wrist and look down on me?”
“Ah, I’m sorry. You just looked so much like someone I know.”
And to be honest, looking down on him wasn’t my fault. What can I do about being taller?
The child blinked at my apology.
Danmokbi’s eyes blinked, revealing the hidden double eyelids that deepened and then folded back, a habit that was the same, giving me chills.
“A person who looks like me?”
The child cocked his head at my words. Then he looked at me defiantly and said,
“Is, is there such a person? Your apology doesn’t seem sincere! Can’t you kneel down and beg properly?”
“What?”
Kneel?
I tried to calm my mind by stroking the White Tiger’s fur. So this child is.
‘He seems to be Danmokchang.’
With a face so exactly like Danmokbi, it was clear. The protagonist of the original work, whom I’ve been longing to see!
‘But why does the original protagonist demand I kneel and apologize for calling his name wrong? What happened to his personality?’
The Danmokchang I knew was like a melancholy watercolor painting of a man.
I asked calmly, like a kindergarten teacher patiently explaining,
“Was it so unpleasant for me to grab your wrist, my lord?”
“Th, that’s right. My father said. I am a very, very special person.”
“So I have to kneel for you?”
“Yes!”
Ah, that’s why he was saying such absurd things; it’s because Danmoksu was spouting nonsense.
‘Danmokbi was simply locked away, and Danmokchang was brainwashed with this kind of education.’
So later, when Danmokchang realized that his power was not his own and came at the cost of many sacrifices, he became such a delicate male lead.
Yes. If a child only hears such things, he may think so. I calmly asked Danmokchang,
“My lord, who decides your specialness?”
“Uh…?”
Danmokchang blinked, confused by a question he had never thought of before. I smiled slightly and said,
“It’s the other people who deal with you, my lord. Right?”
“Th, that’s right, isn’t it?”
“But I don’t think I can consider myself special just because I kneel and pray for every little thing to the young master. I’d probably be seen as a very naughty and sensitive child.”
“How do you become special, then?”
The naïveté of a child was immediately revealed. This is how my eyes sparkled, scaring me as I acted like an adult. I answered with a mature smile.
“Isn’t someone who is kind, affectionate, and strong, but also cares for the weak truly special?”
“Uhm, that’s difficult.”
Danmokchang furrowed his brow, resting his chin on his hand. His sleeve rolled up, revealing his slender arm.
It was the same arm that had once hurt my heart, the arm of Danmokbi.
‘I thought the original male lead was living happily.’
I suppressed my bitterness and asked,
“Did you have breakfast?”
“No. The grass porridge for breakfast was so disgusting that I threw it all away. That’s why I’m hiding here, fearing punishment.”
“That’s too bad.”
I thought of Danmokbi, who had said he had never eaten anything but white rice porridge. I put down the white tiger next to him and stood up.
“I didn’t bring anything because I left in a hurry… Just a moment.”
Fortunately, the pond where Danmokchang was sitting was close to the front yard of the main house where I had stayed to arrange food.
‘It’s helpful that I’ve been preparing food until my hands cracked these days.’
I hurried in and secretly grabbed some simple snacks.
“Here you go.”
“What’s this?”
The Villainous Demon Lord Laid an Egg for Her (Female-Dominated)
Several months after transmigrating into a book, Yu Wu found herself facing the demon lord Li You, who could no longer conceal his dragon horns. With one hand on her aching waist and the other gripping a sharp sword, she stared at him.
The demon lord’s eyes were red with fury:
“This is all your doing! Today, I won’t rest until I kill you!”
Yu Wu rubbed her temples. Putting aside the taboo against bloodshed during pregnancy, wasn’t it this very man who willingly walked into her trap that day?!
Warnings:
- Male pregnancy.
- Height ratios are set to mirror typical male-female height proportions.
- Characters include a foot-loving demon lord and an eldest daughter from an immortal family’s concubine lineage.
