The Duke Only Needs My Child (Completed Main Story) - Chapter 20
Herdin and the knights surveying the front still seemed unaware of it.
“Her—”
But before she could even call out to him, a massive hand appeared and attacked the two of them.
Kwoooong—!
With a deafening crash, trees shattered and the snow piled atop them scattered like a blizzard, obscuring their vision.
“Blair!”
When Blair regained consciousness, the first thing she saw was Herdin staring at her with a twisted expression, checking her condition.
Just before the attack struck, Herdin had sensed its presence and, in the nick of time, pulled Blair into his arms and rolled across the ground. Their horse was nowhere to be seen—likely having fled.
“My Lord! My Lady!”
Through the swirling, hazy blizzard, the knights’ voices reached them faintly.
Blair, barely regaining her senses, immediately checked the ferret she’d been holding. Instinctively cradling it protectively in both hands, she found the creature unharmed.
“Can you stand?”
Herdin asked. Instead of answering, Blair tensed her body. Herdin caught her as she wobbled weakly and helped her to her feet.
Meanwhile, as the snow settled, their blurred vision gradually cleared. Beyond it, a one-eyed giant emerged—a cyclops, a humanoid monster.
Locking eyes with the cyclops, Blair froze instantly. Having spotted them, the cyclops reached out to attack.
Noticing this, Herdin enveloped his body in an aura to strengthen himself, scooped Blair up, and swiftly dodged the blow. His agility far surpassed that of any ordinary human.
At that moment, the knights who had located them began shooting arrows at the cyclops.
The sound of arrows slicing through the air rang out repeatedly. Yet they merely distracted the cyclops momentarily without inflicting significant damage.
Seizing the opportunity, Herdin rejoined the knights. The captain of the guard rushed toward Herdin and Blair.
“My Lord! My Lady! Are you unharmed?”
“Thankfully, yes. Kyle, take Group One and escort my lady out of the forest. Group Two will stay with me to hold off the monster.”
“Yes, sir.”
The captain hurried away to relay his lord’s orders to the others.
Herdin removed his own cloak and draped it over Blair.
“Please hold onto this for a moment.”
Blair stared at him blankly. There was no trace of fear on his face—perhaps unsurprising, given he’d spent his life either on the front lines of war or in the northern territories plagued by monsters.
But Blair was different.
‘If events unfold as they did in the past, Herdin shouldn’t be in any real danger…’
Yet the monster before her terrified her, and even more so the possibility that he might get hurt. Even though she knew he would survive, a nagging fear gnawed at her.
Without thinking, Blair grabbed Herdin’s arm just as he moved toward the cyclops. She felt she needed to say something—but no words came to mind.
All she could do was look at him.
Herdin glanced between the hand clutching his arm and Blair’s frightened face, then gave a faint smile.
“Do I look like I’m about to die?”
He handed Blair over to the approaching captain and stepped toward the cyclops. A blue aura enveloped both his body and his sword.
“My Lady, we must go.”
The captain urged Blair, who stood dazed, watching Herdin’s retreating back.
She knew staying here wouldn’t help—in fact, she’d only be a burden. Yet her feet refused to move, and her eyes wouldn’t look away.
Herdin leaped onto the cyclops’s attacking arm, springing high into the air. He immediately attempted a linked spell by channeling mana—but in that instant, he realized something was wrong with his body.
His sword strike aimed at the cyclops’s neck was blocked by its hand. Normally, such an attack would have severed the hand and cleaved through the neck.
‘My mana…’
The amount of mana he could wield was significantly less than usual. Though still vastly greater than that of others, the discrepancy disrupted his tactics, creating a critical opening.
“Kwoooaargh!”
Enraged by the deep wound on its hand, the cyclops swung its arm toward Herdin.
Caught off guard for a brief moment, Herdin quickly evaded the blow, regained his composure, and immediately devised his next move.
He darted beneath the raging cyclops and slashed its legs—to prevent it from fleeing and causing further harm.
‘Next, the arm.’
He’d already heavily wounded its right arm moments ago, so now he targeted the left.
But the instant he severed the left arm, the injured right arm seized him, crushing his body under immense pressure.
“Herdin…!”
Blair, who had just begun leaving with the captain, cried out upon seeing this.
At that moment, a red magic circle shimmered into existence between Blair’s neck and collarbone. Simultaneously, a fleeting memory flashed through Herdin’s mind—
Blair, heavily pregnant, gazing at him with tearful eyes.
‘What is this…?’
As Herdin puzzled over the sudden memory, he felt his previously depleted mana replenish. He didn’t miss the chance.
Channeling mana instantly, he cast a spell. Mana erupted from within him, tearing apart the cyclops’s grip.
Wrapping his sword in aura, Herdin manifested a colossal magic circle. From it emerged glowing blue swords that rained down upon the cyclops like a torrential downpour.
“Kwaaagh!”
Herdin decapitated the writhing cyclops. Its thrashing body soon went limp.
He roughly wiped the hot blood splattered on his face with the back of his hand. Only then did he feel the pain in his abdomen, causing his brows to furrow involuntarily.
It seemed his ribs had broken when the cyclops grabbed him.
‘Why couldn’t I properly channel my mana earlier?’
For nearly two months, he’d been busy preparing for the wedding and had only done physical training—no mana-based exercises.
But even if his control had weakened from lack of practice, it shouldn’t have affected his total mana capacity.
Unless some portion of his mana had abruptly vanished.
Yet he’d regained full access to his mana almost immediately afterward, suggesting it hadn’t truly disappeared.
Mana couldn’t simply vanish and reappear within such a short span—it was strange.
“Herdin.”
Startled from his thoughts by Blair’s voice, Herdin looked up.
Seeing her worried gaze, the image from moments ago overlapped in his mind—her, heavily pregnant.
What exactly was that memory?
[This is the timeline separator]The sudden appearance of the monster forced the event to be suspended.
Ivan summoned the royal hunting grounds keeper to punish him and ordered the imperial knights to investigate the incident. The evening banquet scheduled at the palace was also canceled.
Because of this, the festive mood among the nobles celebrating the new year turned uneasy.
However, they couldn’t possibly skip the first worship service of the new year, meant to express gratitude to the gods and ancestors, so the ceremony proceeded several hours behind schedule.
Upon arriving at the temple, Herdin and Blair headed straight for the annex—to treat his broken ribs.
But no priests were resting there. The priest who greeted them wore a troubled expression.
“Oh dear, what shall we do? All the healers happen to be away at the moment…”
Only those priests chosen by the gods became healers capable of using holy magic. Thus, healers were far fewer in number than regular priests and always occupied.
“There might be one giving a lesson to acolytes. I’ll fetch him right away.”
As the priest finished guiding them and turned to leave the lounge, he suddenly remembered something and turned back to Herdin.
“Oh, and Your Grace likely already knows, but internal injuries require delicate handling—it would be best if you undressed.”
After the priest left, only the two remained.
Herdin began removing his upper garments one by one. When Blair moved to take his clothes, he instead hung them on a nearby chair.
He worried that handing his large garments to such a petite woman would bury her under a pile of fabric.
Unbuttoning his shirt, Herdin asked Blair,
“Can you really see the future?”
After a moment of silence, Blair spoke.
“…You said you couldn’t believe it.”
Her tone was calm, yet laced with reproach.
“Even if it’s hard to believe at first, repeated incidents like today’s would eventually force belief, whether you wanted to or not.”
Herdin quickly finished removing his top. Facing his bare, muscular torso, Blair subtly turned her head aside to avoid his gaze.
Gently cupping her cheek, Herdin turned her face back to meet his eyes.
“Tell me. What else did you see in the future?”
Blair looked up at him quietly. His eyes remained cool, yet no longer held the mocking glint from the previous night.
But there was nothing she could tell him.
Could he possibly believe her if she said she’d died and returned to the past—and that he might even be behind it?
Besides, the future he was truly curious about surely concerned the Empress’s palace fire, not this. Yet she herself didn’t know the truth, so she couldn’t share it.
Blair decided it was best to claim she’d merely had an ominous dream.
Just then—
“Your Grace, My Lady. May I come in?”
The door opened with the priest’s voice, and two figures entered.
Blair glanced over absentmindedly—and froze upon seeing the healer following behind the priest.
“Good day, Your Grace. And to you as well, My Lady.”
Miera Elias.
The woman who had been Herdin’s lover in her past life—and who soon would become his lover again.
My Ex-Girlfriend Is The Regent In The Female-dominant World (Male lead transmigrates to the matriarchal world)
Two years ago, Gu Sui picked up a homeless woman in ancient costume from the street.
Apart from occasionally claiming to be a princess from a female-dominant country due to illness, her figure, appearance, intelligence, and martial arts skills were impeccable.
Naturally evolving from roommates to girlfriends, as time went on, Gu Sui found it increasingly difficult to tolerate her queen syndrome.
“Mu Jiulu, can you stop controlling me inside and out? Let’s break up.”
Gu Sui made a breakup call, and since then, he couldn’t find any trace of her.
A year later, Gu Sui, who was planning to move, woke up the next day and found himself in a different place.
“Young Master, today is the day you choose your Wife-master through martial arts competition at Jade Dew Pavilion. Please get up quickly.”
Gu Sui: Who am I? Where am I? What am I doing?
As the only son of a general’s mansion in a female-dominant dynasty, the young empress personally issued a decree allowing Gu Sui to select his Wife-master through martial arts competition. Whoever could defeat him could marry him.
Gu Sui: “……”
He didn’t inherit the original owner’s martial prowess, so anyone could defeat him! And what the hell is a Wife-master?
Forced to come to Jade Dew Pavilion, the densely packed women below made Gu Sui’s agoraphobia act up, and his face was full of resistance.
Until he saw the Regent sitting on the second floor, with a smile on the corner of her lips, her eyes wicked and nonchalant.
Hmm… she looked a little familiar.
It turned out that the Regent also found him a little familiar.
Mu Jiulu fiddled with her bone clasp, her deep gaze locked on the man who was out of place in this world.
“Finally, I found you.”
Male transmigrates into female-dominant world
One-sentence summary: What goes around comes around, taking turns in the crematorium
MANGA DISCUSSION
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Chapter Comments (903)
I can see the misunderstanding from a mile away but I hope her powers or whatever were strong enough to justify what happened
I have this teory that he really loved her in the past timeline, but that witch Miera did something to his mind.
Now I think that meira is a real witch and intensionally incountered
Inline Comments (5469)
Herdin’s gaze naturally turned toward Miera. His eyes, when they met hers, were
Look at another man, he is already married and about to be pregnant
Her calm, detached face and voice, as if it meant nothing to her that he’d fall
Well you did not care for her even a bit, yeah, let’s say you have enough idea about your previous life but you could atleast treat her with basic courtesy
“T-then, if you’ll excuse me for a moment, Your Grace.”
Nahhh, I don’t like her, she’s so weird, having a crush on a married man, with his wife in the room?? Nope
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Zizitiaaa
I feel so bad for her, she suffered so much yet is so caring. I hope she leaves him for good
Atenas Ureta
So he can know the future too, hope he gets his memories back and suffer because of it.
annaH
my god! herdin put some caring yes? such a husband u aree
debban23
here comes the enemy,blair can not blame you for being sceptic about herdin
Miatas
Ohhhh god? What is gonna happened now with the monster?
Appassionate reader of knovel
I hope the ML acts less annoying and more caring!!
Whatever
he probably sacrificed himself on their previous timeline