ITF Chapter53

One month later, when Pei Ming returned once again, he was still alone. But this time, he brought Luo Wanyin news about Bai Yi.

Autumn was nearing its end. Luo Wanyin’s pregnancy was still not particularly noticeable, though his waist had lost some of its former slenderness. Staggering in shock, he nearly fell, but Pei Ming reacted quickly, reaching out in time to grab his arm and steady him before he could collapse to the ground.

Luo Wanyin thought he had misheard.

“Did he read the letter I wrote to him?” He asked blankly.

The look Pei Ming directed at him was complicated.

There was anger, guilt, and likely some sadness as well.

But most of all, there was pity.

Luo Wanyin stared at him in disbelief for a moment before finally confirming that he was not joking.

“He and I are a union blessed by the Lord; we are legal partners…” He didn’t know where he found such great strength, but he swung his arm and threw off Pei Ming’s hand. “How can he marry someone else?”

Pei Ming did not answer Luo Wanyin’s question but merely lowered his gaze.

The marriage between Bai Yi and Lin Ce’s daughter, Lin Yuerong, was already a done deal that was like spilled water that couldn’t be gathered back. Once he finished delivering this news, he had to rush back south without a moment’s rest to attend their wedding.

He could even predict that his own marriage would have nothing to do with love; like Bai Yi’s, it would reduce to a purely political transaction.

Luo Wanyin stumbled backward a few steps, stopping only when his back pressed against the outer wall planks of the wooden cabin with his fingertips digging forcefully into the rough bark.

“No matter who he marries, their marriage is invalid… He… He…”

Only when he could no longer speak did Pei Ming finally open his mouth again.

“Were there any witnesses to your marriage?” He asked expressionlessly.

“Of course there were!” Luo Wanyin could hardly understand how he could ask such a foolish question. “You were right here that day! You, you, and that priest…”

His speaking speed grew slower and slower, while his voice became lower and lower.

He gradually understood Pei Ming’s question.

He had no idea what that priest’s name was, nor did he know which parish he served in.

He didn’t even know… if he was a real priest.

He stared at Pei Ming in silence for a brief moment, then asked in a tone that already knew the answer, “You won’t testify for me, will you?”

Pei Ming still didn’t answer directly, but merely lowered his voice and advised patiently, “He needs the help of that family.”

He needs the help of that family.

Luo Wanyin repeated the words in his heart word by word.

That family could perhaps give him shelter, give him money, and even give him an army.

But I also need…

I need my husband.

But he swallowed those words back down.

Seeing that his emotions had stabilized a little, Pei Ming continued, “If he abandons everything in the south and comes back to find you, the two of you will be sent to the gallows together. What you are carrying in your belly is his heir. Do you want to go to your death with him while carrying the child?”

Luo Wanyin shook his head slowly.

“He denied our marriage. No…” He let out a mocking laugh. “It was all of you who denied my marriage. The one in my belly is not Bai Yi’s heir. It is just an abandoned, worthless illegitimate child whose father has cast them aside.”

He himself was just an abandoned, worthless lover cast aside by an Alpha.

Pei Ming had no words to reply and silently lowered his head.

Luo Wanyin’s tone had already returned to calmness.

“The next time you come, bring me some candles.” Those gemstone-bright eyes slowly lost their luster, dimming like a candle on the verge of burning out. “I’ve run out of candles.”

By the time Pei Ming found another opportunity to visit Luo Wanyin, the New Year was already drawing near.

Bai Yi’s marriage had made the political situation tense. He didn’t dare to openly enter and leave the fiefdom that had already been confiscated by the king, so he had no choice but to come quietly under the cover of night.

Perhaps due to the arrival of winter, only a few sparse, withered weeds remained in front of the small courtyard gate. The leisurely appearance of autumn was gone, leaving it as desolate as an abandoned old house.

Pei Ming’s footsteps suddenly halted at the doorway. Then, disregarding all etiquette, he pulled open the door and stepped inside with hurried strides.

The pitch-black room was filled with a mixture of an Omega’s pheromones and a faint scent of blood. Under the dim moonlight, Luo Wanyin’s face was as deathly pale as a corpse.

Standing beside the bed, Pei Ming reached out to feel for his pulse at the neck and let out a quiet sigh of relief.

Thankfully. though he’s slightly cool to the touch, it still held warmth.

He did not dare to rashly lift the blood-stained thin blanket covering Luo Wanyin and merely nudged his shoulder.

Luo Wanyin slowly opened his eyes a fraction, then closed them again. Pei Ming scanned the room’s furnishings in the darkness, unable to judge how long Luo Wanyin had been unable to get out of bed. He pulled a portable flask from his waist, unscrewed the cap, and handed it to Luo Wanyin. In a gentle voice, he said, “I’m getting you out of here. We need to find a physician.”

Luo Wanyin pushed the flask away with his hand.

Pei Ming worried that he had suffered a miscarriage and was about to speak, when Luo Wanyin abruptly asked, “Is it dead?”

Pei Ming froze. Luo Wanyin lifted a hand and rested it on his swollen belly for a few moments before jerking it back as though he had been shocked. Before Pei Ming could react, Luo Wanyin had already lifted the blanket and reached for a palm-sized stone.

A wave of chills ran through Pei Ming from head to toe. He quickly pinned Luo Wanyin’s arm down and rebuked him sharply, “What do you think you’re doing?”

He had heard of certain abortion methods before, each more horrifying than the last, and even more dangerous than giving birth. Some required ingesting poison, while others relied entirely on blunt force, but most ended with both mother and child dying together.

“Doing this will only kill you along with it.” Pei Ming threw the ominous stone onto the floor.

In truth, Luo Wanyin no longer had the strength to lift that stone; the slow loss of blood had long drained him of his energy. His gaze unfocused as he stared blankly ahead and murmured, “It’s like a demon. No matter how many times I try to kill it, it just won’t die.”

“I cannot leave you here alone,” Pei Ming made a decisive judgment. “If this continues, neither of you will survive.”

Luo Wanyin raised his hand to push him away but failed to budge him.

An Omega is exceptionally sensitive to pheromones during pregnancy. Even though Pei Ming had done his best to control the release of his pheromones, Luo Wanyin still felt an intense discomfort. His chest felt so tight he could barely breathe, and he said with a frown, “Get… away from me. I feel very unwell.”

Only then did Pei Ming realize the problem.

He retreated toward the doorway, already mapping out the safest route for finding a physician and continuing south. “I’ll take you south. If war breaks out in the future, it should be relatively safer there and won’t be drawn into the fighting so quickly.”

Luo Wanyin did not agree, but he did not refuse either.

He merely stared straight up into the pitch-black darkness above him.

The gemstone-like eyes that had once been so beautiful now held not a trace of light.

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