<strong>Chapter 289 – Starting The War (1)</strong>


    The next time Elena opened her eyes again, she was in a dark jail cell with only one window the size of a hand span. Her prison did not have open iron bars, but waspletely closed off cell with solid metal doors. Her stomach gave an unpleasant rumble, and she pressed her hand to it.


    ‘…Baby.’


    She had not eaten properly in some time, and because she was beaten harshly by Paveluc, she was also in pain. She feared a potential miscarriage. Fortunately, Elena did not find any traces of blood on her lower body. Of course, she couldn’t confirm that her baby was alright based on this alone, but she felt instinctively that her child was still alive.


    ‘Did you endure it too? My amazing child.’


    Tears formed in Elena’s eyes as she cradled her stomach. She wished she could see her baby so she could shower it with praise, but there was no other way to express her feelings. If she were alone, would she know? If the child was safe, she absolutely could not give up. Even if she faced the most severe torture, she had to endure the best she could.


    “…Ugh.”


    Elena raised herself up and gave an involuntary groan of pain. She spied a bowl of thick porridge sitting in front of the tightly closed iron date. There was no warm steaming from it and seemed to have been neglected for a long time, but that didn’t matter to her at the moment. She picked up the bowl and hungrily scarfed down its contents. A short timeter, it urred to her that the food might be poisoned, but that didn’t seem likely.


    ‘If he wanted to kill me, he wouldn’t have locked me up like this.’


    She tried to eat more, but swallowing proved difficult. Her stomach seemed unused to taking food after a long time, but she had to eat to survive. Long-term starvation during pregnancy was dangerous, and if the chance to escape came, she had to be in the best physical shape possible.


    Elena forced herself to steadily eat the porridge, when—


    “Eub!”


    Her stomach turned, and she pped one hand over her mouth.


    ‘…If they see I have morning sickness, they might think it’s strange.’


    Elena had not been aware she was with child in the early stages of her pregnancy, but now that she was captured, she did not know what would happen. Carlisle was the new Emperor of the Ruford Empire now, and this child was the only one to continue his bloodline. Paveluc might use it as his own pawn. In the worst-case scenario, he might allow Elena to give birth to her child and then take it away. He may raise the child in opposition to Carlisle and use it as a puppet until it had the power to seize the throne.


    And even if Paveluc didn’t remove Carlisle, the child was the natural sessor to the Empire. Elena’s capture while she was pregnant was Carlisle’s biggest weakness.


    Taat.


    Elena set the now-empty bowl back in front of the iron door. As she sat on the cold stone floor, the memories of herst life shed in her mind. Somehow, this felt just like the days when she was deeply lonely.


    ‘The past several months feel like a dream.’


    Her loneliness gnawed at her heart, and the happy days after she returned to the past felt like a dream from long ago. It was a miracle for her to see her dead family again and to be so deeply loved by Carlisle. Living such a happy time made her too selfish.


    “…In the beginning, my only wish was to save the ise family.”


    A self-mocking smile drew on Elena’s lips. Then at some point, she dreamed of a rosy future where she lived happily with Carlisle and their child by their side. Before, as long as just her family was safe, she would easily throw away her life.


    Now she was a coward. She was afraid that she would never see Carlisle again.


    ‘I should have done more before he left for Count Max.’


    She should have made him stay a little longer when he said goodbye and hugged her, and at least given him ast kiss. Now remorse and regret filled her heart.


    She missed him. She imagined Carlisle’s soft gaze that he directed only to her, and the whispers of love he would press gently to her ear.


    She missed him so much.


    “…Caril.”


    Elena leaned forward and rested her forehead against her knees. Just saying his name seemed to cause a wailing in her heart.


    ***


    Wajangchangchang!


    There was a loud crash in the Carlisle office. This was a frequent urrence since Elena disappeared a few days ago, and no one in the Imperial Pce was surprised anymore. Carlisle sucked in a rough breath to calm his feelings, and Zenard looked at him worriedly.


    “I’m sorry. I believe there was a group that seized Her Majesty and crossed the border…I couldn’t catch them beforehand.”


    Kwaang!


    Carlisle mmed his scale-ckened arm on the desk, and the mahogany wood cracked underneath the force. The desk was yet among a number of broken items in the office.


    Ever since Elena disappeared, Carlisle’s right arm had remained in its ck and scaly state, and he struggled to control its strength. It was only a small demonstration of how deep his anger was.


    Carlisle rested his head into his scaled hand. It was obvious that whoever took his wife nned to assassinate him. The trap theyid for him was so dangerous that he would have died if not for Elena stopping them. Such people then captured her, someone who would not let herself be easily taken. The thought seemed to sear his thoughts like crazy.


    “It’s been several days since Elena disappeared. I can’t wait any longer.”


    He didn’t want to think about it, but…it was possible that Elena was already dead. And even if she was still alive, it was unlikely that she was receiving kind treatment as a hostage. The words that Mary said kept floating in his maid.


    — The truth is, Her Majesty is pregnant. She wanted to tell you when she met up with you…heug, heug.


    On hearing this revtion, Carlisle stood frozen. Although he was concerned about the child, he was more worried about Elena’s condition than anything else.


    ‘In inevitable circumstances…I can give up the child. As long as Elena is retrieved unharmed.’


    If he was forced to choose between the two, he would choose Elena with no hesitation. However, now that Elena and their child’s life were linked together, the decision was even more painful. He thought about how she could be suffering while she was pregnant at the same time. And yet, it was unclear whether Elena was either alive or dead, or where she was injured. A deep darkness settled in Carlisle’s eyes.


    “Summon the nobles.”


    “You mean—”


    “We will invade the Duchy of Lunen.”