“A special presence.”
Dietrich didn’t offer any response to the Empress’s words.
There was no immediate answer that came to his mind.
Selia, the woman he was conversing with, annoyed him, and watching her actions made him feel stifled as if his insides were clenched tightly.
Eating bread crumbs at leisure, unaware of others, not bothering to run away when you could easily escape. Instead, you wait for me with a body covered in blood.
You were in so much pain that I reluctantly shared my healing power with you, and you eagerly explored his saliva so aggressively that you fell asleep as if you were plucking out your tongue roots.
So far, there has never been a human who has scratched my insides like this, so in a way, Celiya was indeed a truly unique existence to him. Even if it had a negative connotation.
The Empress flashed her violet eyes and stared at the silent Dietrich.
“Seems not much different from any other man. I thought you might be a bit different.”
“…….”
Dietrich looked down at the Empress with an indifferent expression. Dietrich was young, but the Empress before him was in her middle age.
The Empress was beautiful, but the Emperor didn’t particularly like her. He hadn’t sought her out since their first night together. That was because the Empress was a bastard child of the late Duke Frederick.
The Emperor, no matter how incompetent he may be, was well aware that the Sam Duke’s faction had placed her in the position of Empress to keep an eye on him.
The Empress had to listen to the moans of the woman in the room next to hers every day. She found the Emperor embracing the woman without any consideration, which was truly abhorrent to her.
However, as the Empress, she had to consider her successor. The only means by which she, a castoff from the House of Grandric Duke, could wield power was by producing an heir.
The Empress laced the Emperor’s meal with a sleeping potion and climbed onto his sleeping form. She used a pillow to cover the Emperor’s face, making it somewhat bearable. To the Empress, the unattractive Emperor was nothing more than a means to maintain her power and produce an heir.
In this way, she gave birth to Jeremy and turned her attention to other men.
Unlike the deceased Emperor, who had multiple consorts, the Empress was very selective when it came to choosing a man. Despite her marriage to a much older Emperor due to her overwhelming ambition for power, she was, in fact, a woman with very high standards.
Her criteria for selecting a man were as follows:
He must have no prior history of sleeping with other women.
He must be under the age of thirty.
Furthermore, anyone who met these criteria had to be exceptionally good-looking, have a certain level of social status, possess a muscular physique, and have attractive eyes.
Finding someone who met these criteria was exceedingly rare. Those who did often were either already married or engaged to someone else, making them undesirable to the Empress.
Dietrich met all these criteria. He was the only one who did. Despite the countless admirers who were eager to have him, he remained indifferent to them all.
He was truly the perfect fit for the role of the Empress’s lover.
Of course, Dietrich had rejected the Empress’s advances several times. However, the Empress was not willing to give up on him.
Even when the Emperor was alive, and even now, just a day after the Emperor’s funeral.
Rather, one could argue that it was better that the Emperor had passed away.
The Emperor always had Dietrich on a leash, so if he were still alive, such a sudden intrusion into his mansion in the middle of the night would have been impossible.
“Your offer from back then still stands. If you say you’ll be my lover now, I’ll turn a blind eye to everything.”
“What do you mean by ‘turn a blind eye to everything’?”
The Empress pressed her index finger firmly against Dietrich’s chest. With her lips as dry as a rock, she spoke while flicking her tongue.
“For example, dear, the matter of bringing that woman to me without any notice from you. Or the incident of killing the knight who had been guarding you for four years.”
“Your Majesty, I knew in advance that you had people watching over me.”
Dietrich seized the Empress’s index finger on his chest. His dry gaze swept over the Empress’s face.
“Your Highness, if Crown Prince Jeremy were to learn of this, Your Majesty would be greatly disappointed.”
Dietrich quickly released the Empress’s finger, which was wriggling in his hand.
“Jeremy won’t know about this. I haven’t told him anything.”
The Empress was well aware that her son, Jeremy, disliked Dietrich. Even if Jeremy were to learn that the Empress intended to make Dietrich a part of her government, he would blame Dietrich rather than the Empress. Jeremy was the one who had cunningly framed Dietrich, accusing him of all sorts of crimes and banishing him from the palace.
“Your Excellency, bring that criminal to my palace tomorrow at noon.”
“…….”
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.
