Having summoned Dietrich to report on Celia’s condition, the physician immediately turned pale with fear the moment he faced him.
Dietrich’s gaze slid from the physician’s ashen face to Celia, who lay limp and bloodless. No trace of pity showed on Dietrich’s expression as he looked at her.
Not even anger or resentment—his face was utterly devoid of emotion.
His expressionless face felt even more terrifying because of it.
No one in the imperial court was unaware of how ruthless Dietrich was.
He hadn’t always enjoyed the Emperor’s unconditional trust. At first, the Emperor had completely forgotten bringing him to the palace on a whim, too busy indulging in women.
In the palace, overflowing with conspiracies, a strikingly handsome boy without any powerful backing was easy prey for many.
Even the servants who handled menial tasks were mostly children of lower nobility. When a boy—unknown and nearly sold to a slave trader—suddenly began staying in their dormitory, they openly showed their displeasure.
Still, since he had been brought by the Emperor, they initially tried to gauge higher-ups’ reactions. But after three months passed, the Emperor never sought Dietrich.
Once the servants realized Dietrich had been abandoned, they began openly ignoring him. The one-sided bullying, forcing him to take on all the grunt work, grew increasingly severe over time.
They would splash cold water on him, pretending it was an accident. No matter how harsh the verbal insults, Dietrich never changed his expression.
The male servants disliked Dietrich, who, though still young, acted with the detached calm of an old man who had seen it all.
One day, the male servant who tormented Dietrich the most locked him in a storage room and summoned four strong men to humiliate him.
That day, not a single hair on Dietrich was harmed.
In contrast, every person who tried to harm Dietrich was later found dead—five corpses in total, each one completely mutilated. Knife wounds were found all over their bodies.
The male servant who tried to harm Dietrich was found clutching a rusted knife.
The incident was quietly covered up as a heated argument that escalated into fatal violence.
People died frequently in the imperial palace. One could die for backing the wrong faction or simply falling out of favor.
In such a palace, hushing up the deaths of a few insignificant servants—especially if they appeared to have killed each other—was only natural.
The men who conspired against Dietrich died at the same time. It was a strange coincidence, too odd to be mere chance.
Many others afterward tried to harm Dietrich, but all met tragic ends.
Only after a greedy male servant, who tried to secretly sell Dietrich as a plaything for a high noble, was executed on charges of attempting to assault the Emperor’s handmaiden, did people finally realize Dietrich was no ordinary boy.
Terrified, the servants drove Dietrich—who had been temporarily staying in the servants’ dormitory—out to a stable on the palace outskirts, where old and sick warhorses were kept.
Though the horses were aged and ill, they had once been exceptional steeds renowned on battlefields, spared from death to live out peaceful retirements.
Their temperaments were notoriously vicious; one could die at any moment from a sudden kick. In fact, the servant who previously cared for them had been kicked in a vital spot and died instantly.
Knowing this well, the servants sent Dietrich to the stable, hoping the horses would kill him.
But contrary to their hopes, the horses obeyed Dietrich perfectly. He slept in the stable at night, tended to the horses during the day, and continued helping with the servants’ chores, living day by day.
A royal knight who noticed Dietrich’s skill with horses reported this to the Emperor, but the Emperor merely laughed, tilting his head and saying, “Ah, the one with red eyes? Still alive?”
Moved with pity, the royal knight taught Dietrich swordsmanship.
Ten years later, Anderson—the knight who had taught Dietrich—became one of Dietrich’s subordinates, and Dietrich himself rose to become Captain of the Imperial Guard and one of the Emperor’s closest confidants.
In secret, Dietrich was known as the Emperor’s mad dog. Now that the Emperor was dead… what would he do?
Dietrich’s emotionless gaze turned toward the physician, who stood under his scrutiny.
The physician trembled violently under Dietrich’s oppressive aura and quickly lowered his eyes to the floor, pretending to see nothing.
“Speak. What is her condition?”
In a voice as devoid of emotion as his eyes, Dietrich prompted the physician, who swallowed hard and recited what he had discovered.
“…Her lifespan… at best, one year. Her body is in terrible condition. Her organs are failing, and rotting blood has accumulated inside.”
The physician added, looking at Celia with a pained expression.
“It’s miraculous she’s survived this long. Outwardly, it’s not apparent, but internally her organs are beyond repair. Complete recovery is impossible, and even slowing the disease is nearly unattainable.”
At the physician’s words, Dietrich’s face showed emotion for the first time. His tightly pressed lips curved slightly into a faint smile.
When the physician turned from Celia to Dietrich, the smile had already vanished without a trace.
“That’s convenient.”
Dietrich murmured softly, the words scattering like mist in the underground prison. Yet the physician, who was closely watching Dietrich’s every move, heard them clearly.
“W-what do you intend to do with this woman?”
Without even looking at him, Dietrich spoke indifferently.
“They say people who talk too much don’t live long.”
“…!”
“You were never here today. You saw nothing.”
The physician nodded his head frantically in response to Dietrich’s words.
“Y-yes! Today, I was simply walking the corridors preparing rare medicinal herbs imported from the East.”
The physician barely managed to answer through his trembling voice.
Dietrich silently pointed toward the exit with his chin.
The physician fled the prison like a man running for his life. He paused mid-step, seemingly concerned about Celia, and glanced back.
But he couldn’t see her. Dietrich stood there with arms crossed, watching him. His brow had tightened sharply.
The physician barely suppressed a scream and hurried away in panic.
After confirming the physician had left, Dietrich approached Celia. He looked down at her, breathing faintly like a thread, as if she were some foreign object.
His lips twisted as he looked at her.
“Brillion’s angel.”
Dietrich muttered quietly to himself. His large hand reached toward Celia’s neck.
People gossiped about this woman, calling her Brillion’s angel or whatever, but Dietrich cared nothing for such nonsense.
If he squeezed her neck now, she would die.
That famed reputation, her life—both would crumble with a single gesture.
Yet Dietrich changed his mind and withdrew his hand. The woman was clearly awake but showed no intention of opening her eyes.
“Get up.”
At the piercingly dry voice, Celia’s closed eyelids slowly lifted. Her fresh, forest-like eyes filled Dietrich’s field of vision.
Celia looked back at Dietrich.
A man of overwhelmingly threatening build stared at her as if she were nothing but a crawling insect.
Celia sat up slowly, straightening her back and sitting upright, staring directly at Dietrich.
Dietrich felt as if she were looking down at him from above.
Though she couldn’t possibly have read his thoughts, Celia offered a gentle smile. Even that famed, picture-perfect smile, praised by all, failed to change Dietrich’s expression.
“Tell me the real reason you killed the Emperor.”
The moment he saw her, Dietrich went straight to the point.
“Celia Brillion, adopted daughter of Viscount Brillion—why did you kill the Emperor?”
Celia stared at Dietrich with the calm expression of someone hearing about another’s affairs. Dietrich, meanwhile, feigned composure on the outside, but was anything but calm within.
“It would be better to tell the truth. Who sent you?”
“…….”
When Celia remained silent, Dietrich leaned forward, bringing his eyes level with hers.
“Will you talk if I torture you?”
Dietrich examined Celia’s snow-white ankle as if he truly intended to torture her. After a moment, Celia’s lips slowly parted.
“…Dietrich.”
Apparently not expecting the woman to know his name, a faint wrinkle formed between Dietrich’s brows.
“You know me?”
Celia smiled faintly and replied.
“There’s no one in the Abelon Empire who doesn’t know your name.”
Though she stood here as a criminal, Celia spoke to him without honorifics, bluntly and freely. Yet the manner felt so natural that Dietrich felt a strange dissonance.
Celia looked at him and sneered.
“If I’d known you were the Emperor’s mad dog, I wouldn’t have collapsed so disgracefully before him.”
Her lips curved into a soft arc, but her eyes were not smiling. Deep resentment shimmered in her cold gaze.
Dietrich silently stared into those eyes. Unlike his own vivid red irises, the woman’s eyes were a clear green.
Celia held her chin high, exuding noble dignity, refusing to compromise with him.
How could such refined grace, usually seen only in well-educated royalty, emanate from the adopted daughter of a minor viscount?
Dietrich knew well that people of her kind would never give the answers he wanted, no matter how severe the torture.
How many people could act this way when facing imminent death? Especially one with a death sentence.
Or perhaps it was precisely because she was dying that she no longer feared death.
Yet what truly shocked Dietrich was the one sentence Celia uttered next.
Male lead says he’s pregnant — and it’s female lead’s child
Something seems a bit off about this world.
Wang Zhao thought as she watched a pregnant man walking towards her…
Intro
Female lead finds herself in a world where the men who possess the ability to bear children.
As she navigates this unfamiliar reality, she is caught off guard by the sudden appearance of her boyfriend, who reveals that he is pregnant.
Is this truly her boyfriend?
Why can’t she recall any details about their time together?
She begins to doubt whether the child her boyfriend is carrying is even hers.
Is there a hidden reason behind her amnesia, or could it be a side effect of her sudden arrival in this strange new world?
Just when it seems the protagonist’s life couldn’t become any more entangled, her ex-boyfriend makes an unexpected appearance, raising questions about the protagonist’s past.
__________
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