Choosing the Baby’s Father From the Following – Chapter 51

𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟓𝟏
Then, I suddenly came to my senses.

Perhaps due to the severe headaches these past few days, I’d often felt destructive impulses.

“Your Highness, the Crown Prince, I don’t know what your intentions are, but……”

Lurik frowned so intensely that Jesus, with a terrified face, pleaded,

“Commander-nim, please don’t fall for his provocation. Just spar with him for seven or eight rounds and then lose. I beg you.”

Lurik shook his head but replied,

“……Alright.”

Jesus nodded in relief and stepped back.

Lurik reached for the scabbard he wore on his belt at all times except when sleeping.

He had to change his scabbard to use the new magic sword as the Crown Prince requested, but at that moment, a thunderous voice echoed in his mind.

—Offer victory to the hungry sword!

Am I truly going mad?

It sounded as if ‘Belich’ had a will of its own and was making demands.

As he struggled to remove the sword, a stabbing pain gripped his heart.

“Ugh……”

Lurik couldn’t draw the sword and collapsed to the floor.

“Gasp……”

He fumbled with his shirt, opening it to look at his unharmed chest.

There was nothing wrong.

Yet, the pain was as agonizing as if he’d been stabbed with a knife, which was bewildering.

He opened his shirt wide and looked down at the stab wound on his side.

The wound, received long ago on the battlefield, occasionally ached, but it had completely healed on the surface, leaving only a scar.

—Pain will turn into victory, victory into glory, and glory into death!

Lurik heard the sword’s venomous voice and slowly lowered his head, resting his cheek on the floor.

It seemed he wouldn’t be able to face the Crown Prince in a spar in this state of mind.

🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹

Crown Prince Hart sneered.

“Is it so bothersome for you to spar with me?”

Lurik shook his head, his face pale.

“That’s not it, Your Highness. I’m not feeling well. I apologize……”

“How can you siblings be so similar in your incompetence?”

The forced smile Lurik had been wearing disappeared.

“I apologize that Louise couldn’t attend the ceremony yesterday. For the past few days, even her maid seems to have caught whatever she has and has been ill, so I’m worried.”

It was a warning not to speak carelessly, but was it so difficult for Hart to understand?

“So, you’re telling me not to find fault with your sister, not to bother you, and to just get lost?”

Lurik asked, exhausted.

“Brother, aren’t you being too harsh?”

“Yes, Lurik. There’s something you’re good at when I’m being this harsh, isn’t there?”

To Lurik, it seemed Hart was testing him as if he had gained an extra life.

‘Just what time period is he talking about?’

A mere one year apart in age.

They had been relentlessly compared and forced to compete with each other since they were toddlers.

In their younger days, they had even gotten into fistfights several times because of their similar physique.

However, after receiving the title of Sword Master, Lurik had refrained from using force recklessly.

To him, Crown Prince Hart was just another weakling, no different from the rest.

“Alright. If you’re so eager for a spar, let’s do it again tomorrow……”

Lurik lightly touched his throbbing forehead, trying to calm his anger, but the Crown Prince wouldn’t back down.

“Are you daring to tell me, to come back tomorrow?”

Hart scoffed and then grabbed the new magic sword that was leaning against the wall, handing it to Lurik.

“You’re aware that this new sword is worth as much as a decent-sized castle, aren’t you? Just keeping it as a decoration is an act of disrespect towards Father’s goodwill.”

Having no choice, Lurik received the new sword, and the voice in his head shouted loudly.

—Glory will turn into death!

The sound resonated so loudly that his whole body trembled.

“Ugh.”

But while he was frozen in pain, Hart suddenly reached out.

He grabbed the hilt of the magic sword hanging on Lurik’s thigh.

“Don’t……”

He couldn’t even finish his belated words of dissuasion.

As Lurik wrapped his arms around his aching skull, Hart drew the magic sword with a sharp sound.

Hart’s pupils instantly turned pitch black.

With eyes gleaming like a madman, he screamed.

“Aagh!”

—Pain will turn into victory!

Even though someone else was holding the sword, Lurik’s pain remained.

Lurik groaned, dropped the new sword, and collapsed on the spot.

“Th-Th-Th-This is…… me……”

Hart’s face was contorted with terror.

He trembled, his arm holding the sword, and pleaded with his brother who was rolling on the floor.

“Lu-Lurik! Th-Th-This thing won’t let go of me!”

After a while, Lurik finally placed one hand on the floor.

“Aaagh!”

Hart was still screaming.

“It’s trying to devour me. Take it away……!”

But Lurik’s eyes, as he lifted himself, were as black as Hart’s.

“Why should I?”

He asked in a strange voice.

“You, who weren’t even chosen as the sword’s host, just die like that.”

Hart’s face, still holding the sword, turned ashen.

🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹

I tried to take a nap while suppressing my uneasy feelings, but falling asleep was impossible.

The coldness of Louise in the diary and Lurik, who would be waiting for a reply that would never come.

Thinking about these things made my chest feel so tight that I couldn’t bear it.

“Phoebe, would you mind braiding my hair?”

“Are you going out?”

I nodded to Phoebe.

As planned, the rumor that I was too unwell to move had spread.

Therefore, the best course of action would be to stay in bed and wait for the magic sword issue to be resolved, but I couldn’t bear it today.

‘Actually, I’m also concerned about letting the Emperor retrieve the magic sword.’

If Lurik was forced to return the magic sword under the Emperor’s order, it would undoubtedly hurt his pride.

That damned sword had been his pride and joy.

‘I’d rather go and ask him honestly.’

Unfortunately, the relationship between Moghald and me was still uncertain.

So, I wasn’t confident in using his name, but even without that, I could at least ask him to replace the magic sword with a new one.

It had already been two months since I became Louise.

‘It’s hard to believe this is the novel I wrote; there are so many unknown facts.’

But one thing I know for sure is that Lurik cherishes me.

So, I had my hair freshly braided, made myself look even paler with Ren’s magic potion, and left the room.

“Lou?”

But at the door, I unexpectedly ran into Ren again.

“Ren……, have you already met with His Majesty?”

Judging by his expression, it seemed the conversation hadn’t gone well.

He nodded slightly and frowned.

“Are you going to see the Second Prince after all?”

“Yes.”

“Lou, about the Prince……”

Ren hesitated for some reason.

“Actually……, yesterday, at the ceremony, when he received the new magic sword, he seemed to be in pain for some reason.”

“My brother?”

I was startled and pressed him for more information.

“Why are you telling me this now?”

“I’m sorry.”

Ren immediately apologized.

“Because you’re…… already worried enough.”

“Ren!”

I shook him off and started walking towards my brother’s room.

Ren followed me with quick steps.

“Let’s go together. I have a bad feeling. If you sense anything strange, tell me immediately……”

But as we hurriedly walked down the long corridor,

“Aagh!”

A man’s scream was heard in the distance.

“……Brother.”

My pace quickened involuntarily.

I soon started running with all my might.

Beside me, Ren touched his necklace and chanted a complex incantation, but I couldn’t hear it properly.

‘He can’t go berserk.’

There was no telling how the berserk state would progress.

If Lurik survived, like in the novel, it would be a blessing in disguise, but what if he didn’t?

‘What if Lurik dies instead of Louise surviving?’

As I ran frantically, I realized why I had been so desperate to prevent Lurik’s berserk state.

‘I want to protect him.’

Not the male protagonist, but my brother, Lurik’s life.

I wanted to save him, no matter what happened to this damn Imperial Palace.

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