Sharti clenched her teeth, unable to bring herself to strike the man’s back, marred with scars and minor injuries.
“I thought you weren’t afraid,” came his voice, tinged with reproach.
He shifted his hold, now cradling her in one arm.
“Hold on tight.”
“……?”
Before Sharti could comprehend his meaning, she instinctively clung to his neck.
His neck and shoulder muscles twitched for a moment.
“……Here it goes.”
Aiming at the part of the ceiling Sharti had targeted, the man thrust the shovel into it with all his might.
Bang!! A metallic echo resounded throughout the cave.
Rumble. The whole cave shook as if hit by an earthquake.
“……!”
He quickly ran towards the cave’s exit.
Rumble… Boom! Boom! The sounds of the cave collapsing intensified, and Sharti shut her eyes tight.
Crash!!! The small cave completely caved in.
“……Ah, ha…”
“……. ”
Holding Sharti in both arms, the man exhaled a sigh of relief.
Feeling his warm breath, Sharti opened her eyes. Only after confirming the cave’s disappearance did she finally breathe deeply.
“Are you hurt anywhere?”
“……!”
At his question, Sharti quickly released her grip from around his neck.
The man carefully set her down.
As soon as her feet touched the ground, Sharti rapidly wrote on his palm.
“……Ha.”
The man let out a short breath. Unaware of his dangerous behavior, Sharti was solely focused on his wellbeing.
His lips curled slightly, his gaze on Sharti turning icy.
“Is it right for the one who recklessly tried to bring down the cave ceiling to say this? We both could have been seriously hurt.”
Pointing out her recklessness, Sharti furrowed her brows.
The man’s reaction was somewhat understandable.
‘He must be angry. He didn’t know about my plan and thought the bomb exploded because of his single strike.’
However, Sharti couldn’t control the surge of emotions. The urgency of the situation caused their conversation to go awry, and emotions ran high.
The man was feeling the same.
“Is that really what you should be saying now?”
They both defaulted to blaming each other.
Sharti and the man growled at each other.
“……. ”
But the moment he saw the bright crimson eyes shining from beneath the disheveled hood, the man was struck speechless. Her long, wheat-colored hair had spilled out, partially revealing Sharti’s face.
She was looking at him, her eyes clear and focused. For the first time, he was directly facing the emotions hidden under her thick hood, and his thoughts halted.
A faint shiver ran through him.
His lips moved slightly.
“……I was worried.”
It wasn’t just anger at her for acting recklessly. He had been scared for both of them.
Just as she had been concerned about his wellbeing, he too had worried she might be hurt.
When they had emerged from the collapsing cave, his heart was pounding wildly, his mind blank. All he could see was Sharti in front of him.
Sharti did not seek, nor did she need, the man’s help. Yet, he was all she could see.
The man admitted he had gotten angry.
‘He… worried about me…?’
Sharti’s mouth opened and closed repeatedly, at a loss for words from the man’s blunt confession.
“A patient can be treated by a doctor if hurt, but if a doctor is injured, the patient can’t do anything.”
“……. ”
“……I wasn’t being sarcastic. Really.”
Only then did Sharti start to properly see the man’s face outside the cave. His black-brown hair seemed to absorb the darkness, and his teal eyes were that much more distinct.
He had a different aura in the day and night.
“……. ”
Sharti bit her lip.
She rummaged through her bag, pulling out simple items and herbs, and retrieved a black robe.
“……My clothes?”
The man accepted the robe. It was a bit short.
“……Hmm?”
As he put on the robe, he slightly bent over at Sharti’s gesture.
Sharti adjusted his hood and took his hand.
The words she wrote on his palm, after hesitating several times, carried a trace of shyness and were tiny.
The sensation tickling his palm traveled up, making the corners of his mouth rise.
The hastily scrawled final words were barely legible, but his smile deepened.
Her heart, which had been pounding during the cave’s collapse, now beat to a different rhythm.
“……. ”
The man’s smile vanished as he obediently nodded.
The tension eased, and the surge of emotions subsided. Sharti took a deep breath, waiting for her racing heart to calm.
She closed her eyes, listening to the surroundings.
‘Thankfully, there’s no sound from nearby.’
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.
