Chapter 611.2: The Second Promise (2)
A child?
In the heart of the united army’s temporary barracks, Roel stared at Lilian with a completely blank mind. He understood what Lilian was getting at, but the news was so abrupt that he was struggling to come to terms with it.
Many emotions flickered across his mind, be they joy, shock, or worry. This intense emotional fluctuation left him at a loss for words. In the end, his attention was suddenly brought to the black-haired, golden-eyed girl he had met in his dreamscape.
Wait a moment. Could it be…
“Senior, it might be hard for you to believe it, but I dreamt of a child…”
“Yes, that’s likely to be our child.”
“Where is she? Is she on the eastern borders? I promised her that I’d bring her out to play, so…”
“She’s right in front of you.”
“Ah?”
Roel looked at Lilian, who was stroking her stomach with a helpless smile, as his eyes slowly widened. The latter chuckled at his response.
“You must be shocked. It was thanks to her that I managed to wake you up,” Lilian said as she began to share the happenings of last night.
After retreating from the battlefield and confirming that the Six Calamities weren’t on their tail, Lilian, who hadn’t slept for days now, dozed off for a brief moment. It was then that she dreamt of a little girl with a blurred silhouette.
She wasn’t surprised, since it was much less shocking than seeing the girl in the real world. After a short conversation, she learned that the girl had the means to awaken Roel.
“She was also the one who urged me to rush over with my soldiers…” Lilian added, sharing how everything culminated in the current situation.
Roel was flabbergasted, as this was beyond what he had previously imagined. However, it also left him with a premonition.
What is she attempting to change through her temporal spell? No, it would be more apt to say that things have already changed.
His face slowly turned grim.
Had it not been for the girl’s intervention, Lilian wouldn’t have devoted her troops to reinforcing the united army at the Battle of Scorched Earth. At least half of the human soldiers who fought at Hawe Desert would have lost their lives, and this would have had rippling effects on the future.
Without enough soldiers to tie down the deviants’ armies, Roel would have to deplete a portion of his mana to deal with them. This could have changed the outcome of his battle with Banjol.
Would I have suffered severe injuries? Or maybe…
Thinking about the possibilities left him with goosebumps, but he quickly shook his head and tossed those thoughts to the back of his mind. There were more important things he needed to deal with now.
“Senior, did you halt the development of our child with your spell over the past two years?”
“Mmhm. That’s also the reason I have yet to advance to Origin Level 1.” Lilian heaved a sigh when she thought about the Origin Level 1 Wilhelmina, but she didn’t regret her decision.
Since she possessed astounding talent, the Kingmaker Bloodline, and the Kingdom Origin Attribute, Origin Level 1 had been well within her reach all this while. There was no need for her to rush into it. What was more important to her was the little life she was nurturing in her, especially now that she had met her.
The sight of her own child had left maternal love seeping from her.
“Senior, you have gotten a lot thinner. Is this a side effect from the spell?”
“No, it’s the result of my morning sickness. I have frozen my condition to remain at the earlier phase of my pregnancy, but I’m on the verge of reaching my limit.”
“Limit?”
“The spell is wearing out faster than I thought. I only have a year at most before my pregnancy becomes impossible to hide,” Lilian said as she stroked her womb with a worried expression.
Roel also tensed up upon hearing those words.
Neither of them had forgotten about the towering figure who stood in their way—Emperor Lukas. For reasons unknown to them, Emperor Lukas was wary of the Kingmaker Clan, even having gone to the extent of dispatching Lilian to the eastern border in order to separate her from Roel.
It was unlikely that he would permit the birth of their child.
“Senior, what do you intend to do?” Roel asked grimly.
Lilian spent a moment in thought before replying with conviction, “I’ll vie for the crown, whether it’s for my child or the subordinates who have stood with me over the past two years.”
“I see,” Roel replied with a nod, unsurprised by her decision.
He didn’t know the extent of Lilian’s influence, but it was evident from her 400,000-soldiers-strong army that she had built up substantial power. While this made her less vulnerable to Emperor Lukas’ influence, it also meant that she could no longer act wilfully.
She would have to vie for the crown if her subordinates wished for her to become the emperor, or else she would risk having her subordinates turn against her. On top of that, her ambition of being crowned emperor was not far-fetched; she was the frontrunner in the race, if anything. Her army of 400,000 soldiers was enough to crush the other two princes.
The only true obstacle that stood in her way was the incumbent emperor.
“Lukas has been showing inclinations of selecting a successor. It’ll be over if he discovers my pregnancy before I become the official successor,” Lilian analyzed her situation.
Roel nodded in comprehension.
With Lilian’s capability, she would be able to quickly reinforce her position once she gained legitimacy. It would be difficult for Lukas to go back on his decision, even if her pregnancy were discovered later on.
But nothing was absolute in the world. While there was a high chance of victory, it was no guarantee that Lilian would emerge victorious in this fight.
“Senior, what do you intend to do if things don’t go well?” Roel asked.
“…I’ll have no choice but to count on my child’s father then.” Lilian heaved a sigh before looking at Roel with curled lips.
Roel was stunned before he nodded with a smile and said, “I guess you’ll have no choice but to humble yourself to a lifetime at the Ascart Fiefdom with me if things come to that point.”
“Humble myself? I hardly think so, and it won’t just be me either.”
Lilian looked at her womb with eyes overflowing with maternal love. Under the moonlight, her expression looked so tender that Roel found himself at a loss for words. He instinctively stepped forward and gently wrapped his arms around her.
“Yes, it won’t just be us. We’re a family now.”
“We’ll be counting on you to protect us, my child’s father.”
“I absolutely will,” Roel replied, making his second promise.
Updat𝓮d fr𝙤m fre𝒆webnov(e)l.com