Celia lay down on the bed on purpose, pretending to sleep. There was nothing good that could come from revealing the fact that she was currently wearing a maid’s uniform.
The footsteps, echoing at regular intervals, stopped precisely in front of Celia’s bed.
She felt a piercing gaze. Slightly opening her eyes, Celia saw Dietrich’s face right nearby.
“I know you’re not asleep.”
His voice was bold, as if he hadn’t even considered being the one who entered the room at dawn. Celia lifted her eyelids and looked up at Dietrich.
Perhaps because he stood with his back to the moonlight, his hair—jet black like ebony—was especially noticeable. His crimson eyes, resembling fresh blood, carefully scanned her face.
Until now, no man had ever looked at her in this way. Men always stared at her with eyes full of lust.
But Dietrich’s gaze toward her now was as indifferent as if he were looking at a stray weed growing haphazardly by the roadside, or a sharp pebble caught under his shoe.
It was a look colder than mere indifference. Celia stared intently into Dietrich’s red eyes.
The two remained silent, gazing at each other’s faces for a long while. Dietrich was observing Celia, and Celia was observing Dietrich.
Dietrich broke the silence. After a long pause, his pale pink lips slowly parted.
“You—what’s your relationship with Ileon?”
Celia felt perplexed. Who shows up at dawn out of nowhere and starts talking like this?
“Ileon? You mean Ileon Gredrick?”
Celia knew the name’s owner well. The Gredrick family was at the core of one of the Three Great Dukes that formed the backbone of Abelon.
But Celia had no connection whatsoever with Ileon. Not once had the Three Dukes ever appeared at Celia’s auction, which had been held under the pretext of an open courtship.
Wealthy magnates, high-ranking nobles fond of women, and renowned archbishops—
even the Emperor whom Celia had personally killed.
Countless men had rushed forward, offering their fortunes just to see her, yet the Three Dukes had never even joined that line.
Celia considered herself lucky the Emperor was foolish. If he had been as indifferent to her as the Three Dukes were, the day she killed him might never have come.
“Yes. I asked what your relationship with Ileon is.”
The irritated tone cleared Celia’s mind. In Dietrich’s voice, she detected intense hostility.
“I have no relation to him. I’ve never even met him.”
Celia’s words were entirely truthful, yet Dietrich furrowed his brows upon hearing them. It was rare for someone to so clearly express disbelief through their entire body.
“Don’t lie. If not, then—”
That bastard wouldn’t have saved you from danger. The added words were too quiet, but Celia heard them clearly.
It made no sense. Celia had no acquaintance with Ileon, nor had she ever seen his face.
A sound of disbelief slipped through Celia’s clenched teeth.
“Why do you assume I’m lying?”
If he’d just looked into it a little, he’d know there was no connection between her and Ileon Gredrick. To Celia, Dietrich seemed to be making utterly baseless accusations.
Locking her up in the mansion, cutting her off from the outside world, and only showing up after a week—just to interrogate her?
Celia seriously considered moving her residence to the Crown Prince’s palace. After all, it was better to stay with someone whose intentions were transparent than with someone whose motives were impossible to decipher.
Of course, moving to the Crown Prince’s residence would inevitably mean facing the Empress.
Celia had seen the Empress only once, but she could faintly sense that the woman liked Dietrich.
People who have dealt with many others possess remarkably sharp intuition, seeing far more than those who haven’t.
Though he likely couldn’t read Celia’s inner turmoil, Dietrich paused as if choosing his words carefully before speaking.
“Recently, Ileon disposed of several people. He framed them for the crime of attempting to assassinate the Emperor.”
Dietrich turned his back to Celia as he moved away.
“Do you truly know nothing about this?”
When Celia didn’t respond, Dietrich continued without turning around.
“Tell me—before you became Celia Brillion, who were you originally?”
“……”
“For the past week, I’ve been trying to uncover your real mother and father, but I couldn’t find them. The fact that no one knows anything about this suggests that everyone related must have been killed.”
Dietrich walked toward the window. He flung open the half-open window, and a cool breeze blew in, gently tickling Celia’s cheeks.
With only his back visible, she couldn’t see Dietrich’s expression. Celia thought he looked like an ancient tree deeply rooted in place.
“Are you truly from Abelon?”
Just as Celia doubted Dietrich’s origins, Dietrich was now doubting hers.
“No. You’re not from Abelon.”
He was nearly certain, beyond mere suspicion. Celia genuinely admired Dietrich’s deductive ability. How could he have figured it out so quickly?
She had hidden it so thoroughly—even she herself could have almost been fooled.
Dietrich turned his body and approached the bed where Celia lay.
He leaned down, meeting her eyes. His red eyes, sharp like a finely honed blade, watched her expression without blinking, not missing a single flicker.
“The reason you killed the Emperor—”
Dietrich paused, then half-lowered himself onto Celia’s bed. Gripping the edge of the mattress, he leaned in so close their breaths nearly touched, as if about to kiss her.
When Celia didn’t pull away, he lowered his head to her ear and continued.
“—is connected to your origins.”
At those words, Celia abruptly sprang to her feet.
The blanket covering her body slid down, fully exposing the maid’s uniform she wore to Dietrich’s gaze.
Dietrich didn’t change his expression at all. It was as if he had known from the beginning that she had tried to sneak out of the mansion that dawn.
Celia fiercely grabbed Dietrich by the collar. His pristine uniform, previously free of wrinkles, crumpled in her grasp.
“……Dietrich.”
A soft, chilling voice reached Dietrich’s ears. Celia’s gentle breath brushed against his earlobe.
“You lived as the Emperor’s loyal dog, yet now you’re more interested in me than in him. Do you suddenly want to become my dog too?”
Celia instantly released her grip on Dietrich’s collar.
“But tell me this—I don’t raise dogs who might betray their master at any moment.”
“……”
“You’ve chosen the wrong master by a long shot. Unfortunately, you’d better go find another one.”
Celia smiled faintly. It was a clear smile, reminiscent of morning dew clinging to a blade of grass.
“……It seems it’s true that you have no connection with Ileon.”
Seeing Celia’s anger, Dietrich seemed oddly relieved. Celia couldn’t understand the man before her at all.
“What are you trying to say?”
“What I’m trying to say is—”
Dietrich reached his hand toward Celia’s head. Untying the loose rubber band that held her hair, he gently tucked her messy strands behind her ears.
His hands moved with such cold detachment that it seemed he was merely correcting something that annoyed him.
“You completely wasted your effort when you killed the Emperor.”
With those words, Dietrich stood up. Celia suddenly pushed him back onto her bed.
Dietrich offered no resistance, even as Celia climbed atop him.
Now, it was Dietrich who looked up at her. Celia glared down at him with eyes full of hostility, while Dietrich remained completely expressionless.
“What the hell did you just say?”
“……”
Dietrich said nothing, but Celia read his eyes.
He was looking at her with a mixture of pity and compassion, as if silently saying, You truly know nothing.
“What do you mean?”
“Do you want to know?”
Celia stared down at Dietrich’s throat with icy eyes, as if it were impossible to even cut with a knife.
“You won’t tell me the truth anyway. Or do you want something from me again?”
“……”
Dietrich didn’t deny it. Celia felt she was finally beginning to understand the man called Dietrich.
This man would never do anything that put him at a disadvantage. It was commendable that he had deduced part of her identity. But he would never know that she was actually a princess of the Shan Kingdom.
And there was one thing Dietrich didn’t know—Celia had also gathered information about him during their time together.
Celia lowered her head toward Dietrich’s upper body. Her heartbeat thudded steadily, neither fast nor slow, at regular intervals.
But that calm rhythm turned wildly irregular after her next words.
“You’re sitting in the position of Captain of the Imperial Knights despite not being from Abelon.”
Dietrich said nothing. Celia added the next sentence as if she hadn’t expected an answer.
“Regardless of whether you’re from Abelon or not—you actually hate Abelon terribly.”
Finishing her words, Celia lifted her body off Dietrich’s torso. With her hands still resting on his chest, she raised one corner of her lips.
Her mouth smiled, but her eyes held a chilling coldness.
Celia, slender and dressed in a maid’s uniform, looked more regal than any royal. Dietrich could have overpowered her with one hand, but he didn’t.
Because he didn’t want to.
Foolish yet not foolish. Cautious yet not cautious. Few people possessed both traits simultaneously.
To Dietrich, Celia was such a person. She appeared foolish at first glance, but she was certainly not a fool.
Whether she would stab him in the back someday was something he could deal with when the time came.
“You, who aren’t even from Abelon, sitting as Captain of the Imperial Knights—what exactly are you thinking?”
Dietrich hadn’t expected Celia to deduce his identity either. And she had done so while trapped in the mansion with no information. If she gained access to more intelligence…
Her ability was truly worthy of high regard. In a situation where each held the other’s weakness, the one who clearly held the upper hand was undoubtedly her.
Celia’s mind worked far better than expected, and she possessed an extraordinary talent unlike anyone else.
She was the only person who had discovered his true identity. Keeping her alive could become a disaster. If the information she possessed leaked out, his goal of destroying the Empire could be jeopardized.
If necessary, he might have to kill her.
But it was better not to say outright that he intended to kill her. Instead, acting as if he had no intention of harming her now, pretending to be on her side to make her let her guard down—
that way, there would be no complications later.
For nearly a week, Celia had narrowly escaped death several times. The reason he had kept her from leaving was precisely this—Empress Erpia had sent assassins and poisoned objects to kill her on multiple occasions.
He couldn’t allow her to die by another’s hand. Celia, with her extraordinary talent, belonged to him alone.
Dietrich pulled Celia’s hand toward himself and placed it against his own throat.
“I’ll give you the leash to my neck.”
Then you shall obtain what you desire.
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.
