#30
Someone grabbed my shoulder tightly and suddenly turned my whole body around. The man who had been turned around so forcefully nearly stumbled to one side, barely managing to regain his balance in a fluster.
Until then, the man was still holding onto my wrist. Like a small boat tethered to a sailing ship, as his body tilted forward, my arm was dragged along as if about to fall, and a moment later my whole body fluttered. Just before I completely toppled over, Griselda quickly moved to support me from the front.
I barely managed to raise my trembling chin. I looked at the coldly shadowed figure before me. A familiar stance, chillingly erect like a sword blade thrust straight into the ground.
“That’s enough.”
It was Johannes.
His expression was devoid of warmth. Not a trace of emotion remained, his face as barren as an uninhabited wasteland. That expression, it was just like my father’s from long ago.
“…Do you have no eyes? Can’t you see you’ve frightened someone?”
Johannes spoke quietly while still gripping the man’s shoulder. The man took a step back, freeing himself from Johannes. His shoulder seemed to hurt from being grabbed, as he rotated the joint a few times with a cracking sound. While looking bewildered, he also appeared quite displeased, his attitude bordering on insolent. The man practically growled as he spat out his words.
“What’s with this atmosphere? As a knight, I was simply greeting my superior. Do I deserve to be threatened like this?”
“Your lordship was excessively impertinent. Do not act presumptuously towards the princess.”
“Presumptuous? Young lord, aren’t you going too far? I was just-”
“She is.”
A voice cutting in domineeringly.
Slicing through the man’s unnecessarily lengthy shouting in one stroke, Johannes was silent for a moment. It was a deathly quiet, as if all signs of life had been wiped from the hall, leaving him perfectly alone.
The blue lakes of his eyes that had been staring at the man sank into the earth’s layers. Beneath his eyelids that had finally closed completely, a mechanical tone flowed out as if someone else was grabbing his chin and opening and closing his mouth for him, continuing his words.
“…to be married soon. She is not someone you can casually greet as you please.”
“No! If she’s a lady, all the more reason to-!”
“Shut your mouth.”
Eyes rising again like a sun frozen by cold air. The clink of an iron gauntlet touching the sword hilt made a chilling metallic sound.
“Let go of her hand first.”
It wasn’t his right hand gripping the sword hilt. His left hand rested there casually, as if simply placed on his waist unthinkingly. However, Johannes lightly pushed his thumb, briefly brushing the hilt, with the long-practiced habit of a battlefield veteran.
Crack. The friction of metal on metal made a sound like bones being scraped. The sensation of that metallic sound reaching the skin made one’s flesh crawl. That sound, seemingly substituting for the final threat held back by sharp reason locked behind clenched teeth, was a clear warning.
Before I cut it off.
The entire hall fell silent as if a mouse had died. Not even shallow breaths could be heard. Only tense gazes remained, fixed on Johannes’ back. The air froze as if everything would explode if anyone so much as drew their sword. I don’t remember clearly what the man did after that.
But his hand released me.
The large shadow that had been clinging to me and refused to leave finally withdrew to one side. As the knights began to relax and start murmuring amongst themselves, it all felt distant to me. Like hearing through an empty shell, it was all hazy. Then Johannes’ gaze turned down towards me, still hunched over and supported by Griselda.
He walked over with no expression. Completely dumbfounded, I was frozen in place, captivated by Johannes’ cold eyes. As the distance between us closed, my head gradually tilted up to follow his gaze.
Johannes stopped at a suitable distance. That blue gaze, like molten iron, half-hidden by long eyelashes, stared at me intensely enough to singe my parched insides.
“Are you hurt anywhere?”
Johannes asked me.
“How is your wrist?”
“…”
“Isonet.”
I couldn’t bring myself to answer.
Partly because I was too flustered by the urgent situation that had drained all the spirit from me, but more than anything, because Johannes seemed unfamiliar. I had never seen or heard of Johannes getting so angry at someone before. Perhaps that’s why Johannes suddenly seemed so difficult and…
Frightening. Of course, Johannes had been like an iron fortress wall to me for quite a long time, but that day the meaning was different. An impression I find difficult to explain even to myself, one that made me feel like my head would involuntarily bow to the ground.
Looking back now, if I were to give that rigid feeling a long name, it would be the feeling of being buried under authority. Or perhaps, the feeling of directly facing a power that could restrain and compel me at will. So it may have been some kind of ominous premonition.
A prophetic dream dreamt with eyes open. Like an oddly distorted image whose true meaning cannot be immediately grasped, but which, upon later reflection, clearly foretold future calamities – that kind of ill-omened dream. Isonet. An inexplicable shadow passed over Johannes’ gaze. Young lady. Griselda called out to me.
“Stand up straight, young lady. It’s alright now.”
“Ah…”
I just turned my head to look at Griselda, my body still hunched over.
“Oh my, really… What in the world is going on here?”
My brain, not working properly, only made dry crackling sounds like withered grass. Unable to wait any longer, Griselda grasped my shoulders and back to straighten me up. I stood there dumbly, letting her hands guide my body this way and that.
Johannes volunteered to escort me to my bedroom. He ordered Griselda to support and accompany me, then after watching me take a few faltering steps, he turned back and said:
“My lord… we’ll need to have a talk soon.”
His low tone was devoid of inflection. I didn’t see what expression the man had then. I just walked forward like a dazed scarecrow. Johannes quickly caught up to us with his long strides and took the lead. The chaotic hall receded behind us as if nothing had happened.
We were silent the entire way to the third floor. Streams of light that seemed fake poured in through the windows scattered along the corridor.
As we got closer to our destination, I started coming to my senses. It felt as if some strange voice, neither proper language nor anything else, was whispering at the nape of my neck, like walking alone through a graveyard in broad daylight.
The reason was that Johannes’ back, walking ahead of me, seemed like that of a complete stranger, and that indescribable sentiment from before gradually swelled up within me. By the end, I was completely terrified. If only he would look at me like he usually did. Quickly, if only he would return to being the usual Johannes. I prayed fervently.
It seems I wanted to return Johannes to his original self.
Even though I didn’t know what his original self was.
Finally, we arrived at my chambers. The guards returned to their posts. After inquiring once about my condition and receiving an “I’m fine” in response, Griselda took out the bunch of keys at her waist and approached the door. As she sorted through the keys, I took one step forward.
To Johannes’ side.
We were so close that even the slightest movement would make our arms brush against each other. I raised my tense hand. The cold touch of refined metal lightly grazed my forearm. With trembling fingers, I carefully grasped the edge of Johannes’ gauntlet.
A startled reaction, flinching as if pushed into empty space. It froze for a moment. Johannes didn’t even look at me once. He simply gripped my fingers tightly, burying them inside his hand. I took courage from that response. I raised my gaze slightly to the side. I could see Johannes’ profile and the line of his jaw. Look at me. Instead of saying the words I couldn’t voice aloud, I put strength into my hand.
Only then did his gaze slowly lower. That expression, with unavoidably deepened concern visibly seeping out. Johannes.
The breath I had been holding burst out. An intense sense of relief washed over me like a flood. My insides, which had been frozen solid in a state of shock from the beginning, melted instantly at just one look from him. I was so relieved that my eyes, nose, and throat all stung unbearably. I wanted to tell him that I had been scared because that man had troubled me, that I was really, truly so scared. Of that man.
And of you too.
I was scared.
It was hard to resist the urge to throw myself into Johannes’ arms and complain. Johannes’ expression gradually darkened. I could feel the pressure on my hand slowly increasing.
Click.
The sound of the lock opening rang out. Griselda pulled the door open, and we both simultaneously shifted our gaze to look straight ahead. I quickly withdrew my hand and put it behind my back. The sudden emptiness on my bare skin was terribly upsetting.
“Young lady.”
“…”
Ah, I want to say something, anything.
“Please go in, young lady.”
Even if just for a moment, I want to stay together a little longer…
Griselda urged me on as I stood rooted to the spot. Reluctantly pulling myself together, I entered the inner chamber. Looking back, I saw Johannes standing silently outside the door. I also saw the nape of Griselda’s neck as she bowed to him. And just as she was about to close the door:
“…Stay outside.”
Johannes muttered as if talking to himself. Without even waiting a moment, he abruptly pulled Griselda’s arm to drag her out, and in the same motion, Johannes bounded into the inner chamber.
As he nimbly twisted his body, his indigo cloak billowed like a wave. Suddenly finding herself on the other side, Griselda spun around as if falling and rushed towards us.
“Y-young lord!”
“Five minutes.”
Just before closing the door completely, Johannes called out in a low voice, as if pushing his words through the barely open crack:
“Wait for five minutes.”
“Young-”
Bang! The noise of the door slamming shut drowned out Griselda’s voice.
“J-Johannes?”
Johannes skillfully secured the latch tightly. Then he stood with his back to the entrance, as if blocking it. Outside, Griselda was making a commotion.
Thump thump, she knocked on the door, then called out to us, and finally even the sound of her stamping her feet came through. I was left awkwardly groping at the air like a suddenly abandoned blind person, when Johannes stretched out his arm.
“Come here.”
“…”
Hesitation came before joy. The situation was so utterly unbelievable that my feet wouldn’t move easily. His gaze quietly urged me on. But my body was stiff. Hesitantly, step by step, I approached him.
“Are you alright? Were you very scared?”
“Ah, well…”
“Let me see your wrist.”
Johannes quickly poured out the concern he had been holding back all this time. I timidly raised my hand and offered it to him. Grasping my sleeve, which was more voluminous than a peacock’s tail feathers, Johannes urgently rolled it up all the way to my forearm. His brow immediately furrowed. Anger and self-reproach seemed to mix chaotically. He swallowed dryly.
In truth, I was just as surprised. That beast-like man, how much force had he used to grab me? Thick finger marks remained like red brands, so while it had been consistently painful from the start, actually seeing it with my own eyes seemed to intensify the pain.
“…Damn it.”
As if unable to bear it any longer, Johannes spat out a low curse.
When the male lead is punished by carrying the female lead’s child and having periods like a woman
“I’ve given birth to two children for you, yet you still think about him.
Was I nothing but his substitute to you from beginning to end?”
Synopsis:
Meng Huan, a scumbag who has dated countless girlfriends, transmigrates to a female-dominated country.
Day 1: Whether it’s female dominance or not doesn’t matter. The beauties here are passionate and amorous. Isn’t it easier to date them than in modern times?
Day 2: After a night, Meng Huan discovers the differences in the female-dominated world. Men here actually have chastity locks and menstrual cycles. This hinders his ability to perform, damn it!
Day 3: What’s wrong with sleeping around? I don’t want you to marry me. I’m meant to be a playboy. I don’t care about male virtues… What? You want to drown me in a pig cage? Marry, I’ll marry!
Day N: Meng Huan inexplicably vomits and receives the shocking news of his life… He’s pregnant.
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