Became Pregnant With the Demon King’s Child

“Why were you outside?”
Felix asked as he draped his coat over Lowell despite Lowell saying he was fine. Lowell felt shy trying to say it out loud, but he didn’t go so far as to lie.
“Because I wanted to see you sooner, Your Grace.”

“Me?”
Felix had never imagined that he could be the one someone waited for.
The darkness that cloaked him had always been a symbol of fear to others, a reason for hatred. Over time, that cycle carved loneliness into him like a scar. When one spends too long in darkness, what once was fear becomes something you get used to. To survive that darkness, Felix had learned how to stop expecting. He had learned how to give up. It was almost a survival instinct.

“Yes. I was waiting for you.”
But Lowell had broken through that darkness without hesitation. He had pulled back the curtain over Felix’s world, letting the sunlight in. He had resisted the hatred of others, as if to say it was wrong.
Felix squinted like someone suddenly exposed to light. His stomach churned with a flicker of fear. The tangled mess of pheromones that had unraveled while he was away from Lowell slowly began to settle.

I’m going to start expecting things from him.
Felix knew it instinctively. If Lowell ever betrayed him, could he really go back to the way things were, unscathed? He couldn’t answer so easily anymore.
If something like that happened… maybe I’d pretend not to notice.

Felix embraced the first person who had ever waited for him, clutching him tightly as if to suppress the anxiety. It felt like he was holding warm sunlight in his arms.
Lowell didn’t pull away at the sudden hug. Instead, he patted Felix’s back gently, as if soothing an old wound.
“Let’s go inside.”

They had stood there for a long time, and only parted when they saw the knights awkwardly turning their heads away.
“Did you eat properly while I was gone? You probably didn’t sleep well either.”
“I ate fine, and thanks to the pheromones you left behind, I managed to sleep better than I expected.”

Even in that brief moment, Lowell couldn’t help but notice that Felix’s cheeks looked slightly thinner.
Even when I was there giving off pheromones beside him, he could barely eat. It must’ve been worse while I was gone.
Though he knew Felix was a hundred times tougher than he was, Lowell still felt pity seeing how much he struggled. But it wasn’t something he could fix with his own strength.
There’s something else I can do.

Lowell’s face grew serious as he recalled the matter he’d taken ★ 𝐍𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 ★ care of while Felix was away.
“Your Grace, there’s something I want to talk to you about.”
“Is it something you can’t say here?”

Felix asked, sensing the strange tension hanging over the castle. Lowell nodded silently.
“All right. I’ll wash up and come to the study. You go on ahead and rest.”
After the light homecoming procedures, Lowell called Hamilton one last time to finalize the documents. There was no room left for Henry to escape. According to Xenia, even the servants were quietly hoping for the steward to be dismissed.

I don’t expect this to spark some grand transformation—but it’ll be enough to cut away the rotten branches.
Just thinking about chopping off Henry, the most rotten branch of all, made Lowell hum with satisfaction. As the organizing neared its end, the study door opened. Naturally, it was Felix.
“Hamilton, what are you doing here?”

Felix’s hair was still damp from his bath. Having spent so much time on battlefields, Felix was uncomfortable with being waited on. He had likely dried himself roughly before hurrying to where Lowell was. To Lowell, even that was endearing.
“There’s something I wanted to discuss with both of you.”
Lowell replied and carefully asked the knight outside to bring a towel. Once he had it, he approached Felix from behind as the Grand Duke read Hamilton’s compiled documents.

“What is it?”
Felix turned to look at Lowell with curiosity. Without replying, Lowell gently began drying his hair. The towel slowly soaked with water.
“You can’t just walk around dripping like this, like a child.”

Instead of snapping back at Lowell’s scolding, Felix’s ears turned red. It felt like he could sense every touch along each strand of hair. He wished his hair would dry slowly—so this ticklish feeling could last longer.
“Did you two prepare this together?”
“I didn’t do much. Hamilton took care of most of it.”

It was Lowell’s first time drying someone else’s hair, so his hands moved with cautious care, like petting a wary cat.
“Yes. I believe that for the estate to function properly, certain people must be removed.”
“I agree. Handle it in my name.”

Felix decided instantly. Then, staring at Lowell for a moment, he asked in a low voice,
“Do you want to change the Grand Duke’s estate?”
In truth, it had already changed greatly since Lowell’s arrival. Lowell nodded.

“Do as you wish.”
Felix felt seasick from the changes Lowell brought. The problem was—he didn’t dislike that feeling at all.
***

The next day, news spread openly that Henry was being dismissed—and no one was surprised.
“Well, good riddance.”
“Do you know how annoying it was when he’d get all up in your face reeking of bad breath every time he gave an order?”

Most of the servants were either happy or said they’d seen it coming.
Looks like Hamilton skillfully shaped the narrative so that most of the tension until now was caused by Henry’s manipulation.
Lowell even spotted servants talking together who normally wouldn’t be seen near each other. Now, it seemed like all they needed was a little fine-tuning.

“He’s been completely expelled from the territory, right?”
“Yes. He won’t be spreading any more nonsense. We’ve made sure he won’t be able to work in any nearby domains either. No need to worry.”
It was a punishment that wasn’t excessive—just right.

It’s the right time to start easing people’s fear of Felix.
Stretching with joy, Lowell blinked slowly. Now that the plan had been carried out, the tension drained from his body, leaving aches all over.
I still need to talk to him about Zephyros.

With one matter settled, it was time to move on to the next. Still, he couldn’t fight off the wave of drowsiness. Sprawled out on the study sofa, Lowell drifted off, despite Felix being in the room he had waited so long to see.
“Y-Your Grace… I still have something… to say…”
His words came out like mush. Sitting by Lowell’s side, Felix carefully tucked the strands of hair behind his ear. It was the kind of touch one would use when handling a fragile glass doll.

“I heard that when someone’s pregnant, they get sleepier. No need to push yourself—just sleep.”
Felix’s low voice soothed Lowell’s mind and body like a lullaby. From time to time, he felt Felix massaging his hands and feet—but once sleep had taken hold, it refused to let go. And perhaps it was because of this drowsiness that something that should have gone smoothly began to go awry.
***

“I must’ve fallen asleep…”
Lowell spoke sheepishly after waking up past sunset, seeing Felix still at his side. What was meant to be a nap had turned into over three hours of deep sleep.
No matter how much I sleep, I’m still tired.

Some of the fatigue that had built up while Felix was gone had lifted—but Lowell still felt exhausted.
My back kind of hurts too…
Whether it was from sleeping on the couch too long or a symptom of pregnancy, he wasn’t sure. Still, he made an effort not to show it. He didn’t want Felix to worry.

“Huh?”
Something felt off when he got up and looked around. The couch he had fallen asleep on was the same—but the study was not. The large bookshelves and desk that used to fill the space were gone, and in their place sat a massive bed big enough for five people.
This isn’t the study. Did they move the whole couch?

Even blinking didn’t change the surreal sight. In fact, he noticed even more details. Books of the genre he liked were stacked neatly on a lush, luxurious carpet. A soft melody flowed from the magic stone. The room’s humidity was perfect. It felt warmer than the study ever had.
“Your Grace… what is all this?”
Still dazed, Lowell turned to Felix. Felix, still sitting on the couch, looked up at him.

“I thought I might’ve been too indifferent toward someone who’s pregnant. So I put this together.”
It wasn’t something someone who hated the feeling of their feet touching the ground—or someone who took on Lowell’s nausea for him—should be saying.
“I was already fine with what I had.”

“Fine isn’t good enough.”
Feeling flustered by Felix’s overly extravagant gesture, Lowell pushed back his hair and looked around more closely. The room was so spacious it took effort to take it all in. His gaze finally landed on the window.
Why does the view feel so high?

Curious, Lowell slowly approached the window—and his mouth dropped open.
A stretch of endless snow-capped mountains painted the horizon, birds flying across the sky. It wasn’t a view you could see from the first or second floor.