Adrina’s Pregnancy!

We immediately headed toward the Queen’s Palace where Adrina was staying, and before long we arrived at the residence. We could see the royal guards stationed at the entrance, along with numerous maids and attendants belonging to the Queen’s Palace.

With our arrival, they hurriedly made space for us and quickly opened the door. Passing through the doorway and stepping inside, we saw Adrina sitting on the bed, while a royal physician examined her beside her.

Upon seeing us, the royal physician hurriedly stood up and bowed in greeting.

“Y-Your Majesty. I greet the Queen Mother and the Princess.”

As the physician rose in haste to greet us, Ian gestured as if to say it was unnecessary and motioned for him to sit again before speaking.

“Sit back down and continue the examination. More importantly, I heard news of a pregnancy. Is it true?”

“Yes, we have continued conducting examinations, and the symptoms clearly confirm pregnancy.”

“Oh, this is truly wonderful news.”

Mother spoke with tears welling in her eyes and immediately approached Adrina, firmly holding both of her hands. Seeing this, Adrina’s eyes also filled with tears.

“You have done well. From now on, take good care of your body. The only bloodline of our royal family is growing within your womb.”

“Yes, please do not worry, Queen Mother. I will protect this child no matter what.”

Seeing her speak solemnly while touching her stomach, Ian wondered if it was really necessary to say things in such a grave manner. But soon he remembered that she was indeed pregnant and offered his congratulations.

“You have done well. And congratulations on your pregnancy.”

“I was able to carry Your Majesty’s child. I… I am so happy.”

“I am happy as well. The thought that I will have a child—it truly feels like a dream.”

“I feel the same way. This situation feels like a dream to me as well. A dream I never want to wake from.”

As she spoke joyfully with tears streaming down her face, Ian gently wiped away her tears with the back of his hand and spoke as if reassuring her not to worry about anything.

“For the time being, do not worry about anything. Step away from your duties at the Royal Welfare Foundation and focus only on resting.”

“Pardon? But there are tasks I have been personally overseeing.”

“Queen, you must listen to His Majesty. This is the most important period. If you overexert yourself, it could harm the child in your womb.”

Only after Mother spoke as well did Adrina finally nod in understanding and say she would do so. Hearing her confirmation, Ian approached and embraced her tightly. Everyone around them widened their eyes as they watched.

Although the gazes around them were intense, Ian paid no attention and gently patted her back while expressing his gratitude.

“Thank you, truly. From now on I will treat you even better.”

“You already treat me so well. And I am also deeply grateful to Your Majesty.”

“No, I am the one who is more grateful.”

“No, I am the more grateful one.”

“What are the two of you doing? You keep saying you’re grateful to each other. It’s very strange.”

Hearing Charlotte speak from the side, the two of them cleared their throats and stopped insisting on thanking each other. In any case, Adrina’s pregnancy was inevitably great news not only for the royal family but also for the entire country.

Ian decided to announce this fact widely. In some ways, the people who had waited the most for the king’s descendant were the citizens of the kingdom.

Before long, the next day arrived. Soon the news that Queen Adrina was pregnant spread widely through newspapers and radio broadcasts.

“Queen Adrina is pregnant!?”

“It has finally been announced by the royal palace that the long-awaited royal heir has been conceived.”

“It is said that the entire noble society is sending congratulations upon hearing the news of Queen Adrina’s pregnancy.”

“Congratulations are reportedly arriving from many countries regarding the Queen’s pregnancy.”

“The entire population of the kingdom is rejoicing at the news that the long-awaited heir of His Majesty the King will be born.”

“It is said that even the imperial family of the Magnia Empire has sent grand congratulations regarding the Queen’s pregnancy.”

As this news spread, whenever people gathered in small groups they talked about the pregnancy. In places like taverns especially, such news naturally became a frequent topic.

“Wow, finally His Majesty the King will have an heir.”

“This is truly wonderful news. We’ve been waiting so long for this.”

“I was so worried all this time. What if an heir were never born?”

“Hey! Why would you say something so unlucky!”

“I just meant it hypothetically. Why are you getting so serious?”

“Both of you calm down. Anyway, now the royal family will finally have peace, right?”

“That’s right. From now on the palace will be filled with the laughter of a child. Hahaha!”

“Alright, alright. Instead of this, let’s all have a drink and pray that the royal child will be born safely!”

“Sounds good! Come on, cheers!”

“Cheers!”

Everyone clinked their glasses and drank beer, and such scenes could be seen at tables throughout the tavern. Across the kingdom, people were smiling and congratulating the royal family on the queen carrying the king’s heir.

In truth, such a sight was something that could hardly be seen in any other nation. Who would celebrate the birth of a king’s descendant? In other countries, people would simply remain absorbed in their own lives, not even knowing or caring that a royal child had been born.

In any case, with this festival-like atmosphere, taverns enjoyed a significant rise in sales for a while, and under such circumstances the overall mood of the Polia Kingdom became lively. In fact, such an atmosphere was rare for a nation that had even dispatched troops to the Colonial Continent.

While the Polia Kingdom was filled with joy over the queen’s pregnancy, the imperial family of the Magnia Empire—Adrina’s natal family—was also discussing the matter.

Inside the emperor’s office in the imperial palace of Noa, the capital of the Magnia Empire, Emperor Jedic was discussing the news of his younger sister’s pregnancy.

“So after all this time with no news, she finally became pregnant.”

“She is now completely a member of the Polia royal family.”

“Now that she’s pregnant, there will be no reason for her to concern herself with her natal family. No, she never really cared about us in the first place.”

“Contact with her remains difficult. Even if we try to make a move inside the royal palace, there is no opening.”

“That must be because the King of Polia protects her so thoroughly. He truly takes great care of her. If she weren’t my younger sister, she would be one of the most charming women imaginable.”

At Emperor Jedic’s words, Lacen nodded as if agreeing and spoke.

“I heard rumors that Princess Helena, said to be the greatest beauty of the Doicheun Empire, is currently staying in the royal palace. It seems she is aiming to become a consort.”

“So the imperial family of the Doicheun Empire must be quite desperate. To think they would seek ties with the Polia royal family.”

“Isn’t it because of their enormous debt? They currently owe the Polia Kingdom an immense sum.”

At Lacen’s words, Emperor Jedic nodded. They themselves had caused enormous debts by supplying massive quantities of weapons to the allied forces. Since Polia had sold weapons in a similar position, the amount involved must inevitably be enormous.

“By the way, I heard they are fighting quite well?”

“If you mean the Polia Kingdom’s expeditionary forces, it is said they are achieving considerable success. They are pushing back the colonial rebel forces of each kingdom from the very beginning.”

“When I see things like that, the King of Polia always seems to have good luck.”

Emperor Jedic knew that the military strength of the colonies was not very strong. Because they had spent the great war handling rear-line duties, vast resources and manpower had been drained away, preventing them from forming proper military forces.

“It seems luck always follows him.”

“That’s why I sometimes find myself feeling envious.”

“What is there for Your Majesty to envy? Rather, Your Majesty is the greater man.”

“Lacen, do you truly think so?”

“Of course. Is Your Majesty not someone born with heavenly fortune?”

Seeing Lacen speak with firm conviction, Emperor Jedic thought that perhaps the greatest stroke of fortune in his life had been bringing Lacen under his command. Thinking that way, he felt that in terms of luck he was no less fortunate than the King of Polia.

“More importantly, I heard resistance on our side is quite fierce?”

“Yes, it is said to be so. The size of the newly acquired colonies is large, and even in the existing colonies resentment has piled up greatly, so the resistance is considerable. Still, the imperial army will defeat those rebels.”

Hearing him speak with unwavering confidence, Emperor Jedic agreed while also thinking that in the end it was merely a matter of time. Given enough time, their resistance would collapse. A colony was merely a colony, and with the foundation they possessed they could accomplish nothing.

“By the way, I heard you obtained new information?”

“Yes. Someone has contacted us regarding the ruins where it is presumed that it (the White Crystal) lies dormant.”

“Oh? If someone discovered information about the ruins, they must be from one of the ruin exploration teams.”

“That appears to be the case. Their identities have also been verified.”

“Interesting. Since we began openly exploring ruins, we obtained information about a new ruin this quickly. Perhaps we should have done this earlier.”

In a sense, if they had openly announced things to the world like King Ian of the Polia Kingdom had done, it might have been easier to locate ruins like this. Of course, the problem would be security. Someone searching for ruins might become drunk and start talking about the details.

“In exchange for generous compensation, have them live in isolation for a while. About one year should suffice.”

“Understood. I will arrange it immediately.”

They did not consider the possible resistance of the exploration team at all. To them, it was simply the natural course of action. Thus the decision was made, and preparations began to explore the ruins based on the newly acquired information.

Such matters needed to be handled with the utmost secrecy. If discovered by competing rivals, the situation could become complicated. Of course, they had no idea yet what absurd consequences this decision would eventually bring.

Ten days later.

Emperor Jedic could not help but show a furious expression upon hearing the sudden news. Something completely unexpected had caused the situation to collapse.

“What do you mean by that! There was another companion?”

“It appears that one of them had briefly returned to his hometown.”

“Then where is that man now?”

“The intelligence bureau pursued him, but he seems to have learned that his companions were captured and fled the empire.”

“He already left the empire? Capture him immediately!”

“He departed aboard an airship, so he appears to have already arrived in another country.”

“Where did he go?”

“The Polia Kingdom.”

“The Polia Kingdom? Of all places… he chose that country?”

He wondered if the man had deliberately chosen the Polia Kingdom. Perhaps he intended to hand over the information he possessed to the Polia royal family, receive a large sum of money, and disappear. If the Polia royal family provided him with a new identity, such a plan would certainly be possible.

“Mobilize every intelligence agent we have in the Polia Kingdom and capture him before he makes contact.”

“I will carry out the order.”

“He must be captured before it is too late. The moment he contacts the King of Polia, it will already be too late.”

Unwillingly, they might end up competing with the Polia Kingdom for the ruins. What worried Emperor Jedic most was the unpredictable personality of King Ian. If he wished, he might even reveal the information about the ruins to the entire world. After all, he had done similar things before.

‘So he must be captured before contact occurs.’

Emperor Jedic’s eyes, filled with deep concern, burned with anger. As such, he needed somewhere to vent that anger. He immediately turned to Lacen and spoke about those who needed to be dealt with.

“Kill all the men who said nothing about the missing companion. Understood?”

“Understood. I will kill them all.”

Emperor Jedic believed that the situation had become like this because the ruin exploration team had failed to mention the existence of that missing companion. Whatever their reason for remaining silent, they would pay the price with their lives.

Of course, from their perspective it may have been done out of anger over being isolated, but Emperor Jedic had no interest in knowing that. Meanwhile, the man at the center of this incident was currently staying in a small hotel in Pullea, the capital of the Polia Kingdom.

“Damn it…”

The man named Formus was a member of the ruin exploration team who had sailed across the seas. Along with his companions, he had gathered investors, prepared a ship, and set out to find ruins, hoping for a massive reward. At last, fortune had smiled upon them and they discovered a place believed to be ruins.

‘If I hadn’t received that message halfway through that my daughter was sick, I might have been captured as well.’

He had expected to receive a huge reward from the Magnia Empire, but when he arrived later he learned that all his companions had been captured by unknown individuals. Learning this, he believed the Magnia Empire had captured them all in order to avoid paying the reward.

Filled with anxiety, he boarded a train and returned to his hometown where his family lived. There he took his wife and daughter and spent nearly all the money he had saved to purchase airship tickets and come to the Polia Kingdom.

The reason he chose this place was simple—aside from the Magnia Empire, it was the most stable nation. Other countries had poor security due to the aftermath of war and were therefore dangerous.

Fortunately, he had not yet been discovered. As he looked out the window at the capital cityscape, Formus wondered how he might make contact with the King of Polia.

At first he had considered simply going straight to the entrance of the royal palace, but he soon realized it would not be so easy.

‘The people of the Magnia Empire might already be waiting there.’

After briefly observing the skyline filled with tall buildings, he turned his gaze and saw his daughter playing with his wife. His daughter was someone he cherished deeply, and his wife was the woman he loved enough to marry. For him, there was nothing more important than protecting his family.

‘Perhaps I should never have joined the exploration team in the first place.’

Of course, he knew that regretting it now would accomplish nothing.