TPOP 81

Chapter 81

***

The vague term "wife" was suspicious from the start. Was he planning to make her empress? A maid?

It made far more sense that he intended to take her as a plaything concubine. But taking a concubine before even welcoming an empress made no sense either.

And with a child, no less...

"My decision is—ugh!"

"You can't live like this forever, can you? A life like this, trapped in a cramped room, constantly fearing your true identity will be exposed, is incomparably worse."

Hot lips traced down her neckline. Felix rubbed his nose against her chest, wrapped in thick fabric. A heavy scent of paint emanated from him.

Diana felt his palm covering her lower abdomen and flailed her limbs. Her heart had been pounding like a drum since he mentioned the child.

Felix muttered, as if brainwashing himself.

"It's okay. We can just do it again."

What... what does he mean, do it again?

"Someday we'll succeed. Whether I draw hundreds or thousands of paintings..."

"Not a child."

Diana began shaking violently. If she got pregnant now, when she couldn't even take care of herself, her escape route would be cut off. Goosebumps rose at the touch caressing her cheek.

"Absolutely, absolutely not..."

"You need at least one child."

"But why? I mean, why?"

"If the limbs are intact, one is enough. Well, it's not needed right away."

"Hmph, find an heir with another woman."

"Oh? You fancy me taking a concubine?"

What the hell was he talking about? Diana frantically pounded the man's shoulder as he began licking her breast.

"Stop it, I hate it…!"

Her nipple, flicked free from her bodice, was sucked into his mouth. Felix clung to her breast like a suckling child. As he sucked until her areola turned crimson and licked every inch with his tongue, Diana's hips bucked wildly.

"No, please. Ugh, ah, I don't want to. The baby..."

"Not now. Just stay still. Don't get excited."

A hard, bulging cock pressed against Diana's struggling thighs. It was the same massive rod that had pounded her womb and spilled seed countless times before.

Felix breathed in, his lust-filled breath stifled. As if that were a signal, her belly throbbed sharply. When Diana let out a moan of pain, not pleasure, Felix, who had been kneading her breasts like dough, loosened his grip.

Diana clutched her aching belly and hunched her back. Cold sweat beaded on her skin, and a chill seeped deep into her bones.

Felix, unable to tear his mouth away from her swollen nipple, swallowed a sigh of regret. The scent of Diana, now free of the blood, seemed to ease the suffocating pressure in his chest.

But Felix quickly realized her condition was far from good. Sweat glistened on Diana's forehead, pale as a sheet.

It was as if someone had struck him on the head, jolting him back to his senses.

"Diana?"

Felix sat up and searched the side table for something. He grabbed Diana's chin and pressed his lips to hers urgently. He poured clear water and medicine into the limp opening of her mouth. He rubbed her slender neck, forcing her to swallow it.

The woman's body, almost crushed beneath him as she took the water and medicine, was too small. Had her frame always been this slender? She hadn't seemed this small and light before…

"Ugh..."

Diana struggled in agony as she forced down the water. The sensation of the small pill sliding down her throat felt strange.

Fortunately, not long after taking the medicine, the muscles throughout her body loosened and relaxed. Felix cradled her limp body in his arms.

"You won't feel this pain when you wake up."

"Haa, ah..."

"Recovery comes first. You'll be fine soon. There are many skilled physicians at the palace. Ormance's personal physician isn't bad either."

Felix scattered tiny kisses all over her face. He stroked the round curve of her nape and traced the prominent shoulder blades along her slender back.

"It won't get worse. You'll be fine."

"......"

"Shall I have clothes made that suit you? We'll need to furnish a new space for you to stay, too? Yes, that would be good."

Nothing would collapse.

Ever since Diana collapsed, spilling blood downward, an ominous sound like cracks forming in solid rock had persisted. Yet he was certain it wouldn't collapse. Felix's world had never crumbled, not even when his mother was torn apart and killed.

If it seemed like he'd spent thirteen years locked away in the palace merely killing time, that was a mistake. He ruled himself. He quietly suppressed his temper, heeding his uncle's plea not to become trash like those who sought the throne with the empress's blood. 

He pressed the abnormal murderous intent that surfaced whenever he was about to forget it firmly onto the canvas, and manipulated the nobles to involve himself in every aspect of public affairs.

Thus, there was scarcely a corner of present-day Carman that hadn't been touched by Felix's hand.

His empire was that solid.

Diana was no different.

So nothing was wrong.

Diana slept as if fainting all night long, waking only to fall back into a trance-like nightmare. Felix held the pale woman close, whispering endlessly.

You are still perfect and beautiful. You are fine.

Even if something goes wrong, I can restore it to how it was. We can just have another child…

Her unique vitality, impossible to look away from, would naturally return.

Only after casting this spell on himself like brainwashing did the cracking sound echoing within cease.

The anxiety layered thickly upon the foundation of his heart remained. He knew it was there but turned away. After all, a mere crack couldn't shake the world.

Yet it didn't take long for the anxiety crouched at the entrance of his heart to take form and leap out.

***

The tentative schedule for the coronation ceremony was set.

The imperial physician who treated the sick Emperor predicted he would pass away within this month at the latest. Since being confined to his sickbed following a fall from his horse earlier this year, the Emperor had been unable to rise due to a barrage of complications.

The throne must never be vacant for even a second; the next emperor was born the moment the current one breathed his last. The coronation ceremony was scheduled to follow, after the funeral rites for the late emperor.

Unless the emperor clung stubbornly to life, the coronation would proceed at the threshold of autumn. Fortunately, the harvest was bountiful. The people embracing the abundant wheat and the benevolent sage they would serve for a lifetime—that was the coronation scene envisioned by the Crown Prince's supporters.

Felix raised no significant objections to the reports presented in the meeting. Many breathed a silent sigh of relief at this.

Everyone had been whispering about it, secretly worried. After all, it was right after losing his precious first heir, whose very existence had been unknown. Moreover, despite receiving the most attentive care, including mobilizing physicians from foreign lands, the woman's recovery was slow.

Perhaps because of this, Hugo had often seen him looking subdued lately. He observed his nephew carefully. Given the circumstances, he had to anticipate any disruption his mood swings might cause to the schedule.

Felix usually had two ways to lift his spirits: hunting beasts or hunting humans.

The hunting grounds being in such a state made the former impossible. Just then, Felix casually asked as he passed by.

"Have the spies sent by Eisen been scarce lately?"

"We haven't found any since the attackers who raided the Marquis's residence."

"That's a pity."

Felix fell silent again.

Rumors about the woman residing in the Crown Prince's chambers spread rapidly. While the fact she had suffered a miscarriage remained a secret known only to a select few, news that the Crown Prince had a favored woman swiftly spread throughout the entire palace. By now, whispers would likely have reached the common folk as well.

It was inevitable. A few days prior, Felix had ordered the room directly opposite his bedroom to be furnished as a bedroom. He arranged furniture with no sharp corners whatsoever, placing all tables and other potential obstacles along the walls.

Maids and attendants were newly assigned to serve the occupant of that room. Unlike before, the Crown Prince personally vetted the servants. He, who never even bothered to memorize the names of those who attended him, knew the details of Diana's attendants inside out. Yet, he did not gag them.

He deliberately spread word of the woman's existence far and wide.

To ensure she could not escape from here.