novelbin Chapter 217: The Echo of a Tiny Heartbeat
Chapter 217: The Echo of a Tiny Heartbeat
She hesitated. A sudden, unfamiliar warmth rushed to her face, a visible flush creeping up her neck—a reaction entirely out of character for the otherwise unyielding Olivia. Within the labyrinth of her heart, a bizarre cocktail of raw happiness and strange, overwhelming emotions mixed together. She had initially debated whether to tell him at all. After all, what was the use? He couldn’t feel regret for something he didn’t even know existed.
"Olivia, your face is completely red. Are you alright? Please, speak to me... you’re terrifying me," Matthias pleaded, his panic escalating as he watched her.
"It’s nothing huge. It’s just..."
"Just what?! Speak to me, quickly!"
She took a sharp breath, her eyes locking onto his. "You are going to be a father."
The words seemed to hang suspended in the humid air of the room. Matthias froze, his brilliant mind suddenly stalling as if the language she spoke was entirely foreign. He blinked, unable to process the magnitude of the statement. Then, with a look of sheer, clueless determination, he turned on his heel, walked over to Black, and scooped the hound up into his arms. Right there, in the middle of the bathroom, he began examining the cat’s underside, flipping him slightly before lifting him up like a bizarre trophy in front of her.
"That’s impossible, Olivia," Matthias said, completely deadpan. "Black is a male. He isn’t pregnant. I think the sickness has finally compromised your mind."
Olivia stared at him, her jaw dropping slightly. She blinked once, then twice, utterly flabbergasted. "Matthias... what on earth does Black have to do with this?"
"What do you mean? Weren’t you just talking about Black?"
Olivia crossed her arms over her chest, letting out a heavy, exasperated sigh as she looked at her husband. "Even if your absurd logic were true, wouldn’t that make you a grandfather, not a father? Focus, man."
The realization finally struck him like a physical blow. A sudden, sharp gasp left his throat, followed by a breathless, booming laugh that echoed against the tiles. "So... that’s how it is."
Before she could even register the shift in his energy, Matthias moved. He lunged forward with terrifying speed.
"What are you doing?! Did you even understand what I just said?!" she cried out.
He didn’t offer a verbal answer. Instead, he swept her completely off her feet, scooping her up into his strong arms with a desperate, joyous strength. Ignoring her protests, he began to spin her around in the small space, his heart hammering violently against his ribs out of pure, unadulterated ecstasy.
"Matthias, slow down! Why are you doing this?!" she scolded, her hands instinctively grabbing his shoulders for balance.
She looked down at him to demand he set her down, but the words died in her throat. The fierce, terrifying man who walked in the shadows was looking up at her, his sharp eyes shimmering with unshed, emotional tears.
"I am truly going to be a father, Olivia?" he whispered, his voice cracking with a vulnerability she had never heard before. "Truly? Truly?"
She answered with a small, rare smile. "Yes. You are going to be a father."
He finally stopped spinning her around like a madman and gently set her feet back on the solid ground, his hands lingering on her waist as if she had suddenly turned to glass.
"I’m sorry. I got too excited," he stammered, his usual cool composure completely shattered. "Did I hurt you when I lifted you? I’m so sorry... Do you feel sick again? Are you in pain?"
A soft, genuine laugh escaped her lips at the sight of his frantic expression. "You truly become a fool when it comes to these matters, Matthias. I am fine—perfectly fine. Stop looking at me with such terror."
He let out a long, shuddering sigh of relief and pulled her into a deep, consuming embrace, burying his face in her shoulder. Yet, even wrapped in his warmth, Olivia kept her emotional guard tightly up.
"This doesn’t mean I forgive you," she murmured coldly against his chest, refusing to let her heart completely soften.
"Yes, yes, I know," he whispered back, his voice thick with an emotion he could barely contain as he tightened his arms around her. "Just let me live in this moment. My God... I was truly prepared to spend the rest of my life without any children if they weren’t going to be yours. And now... now, I will finally have another child with the woman I adore. I feel like I am flying, Olivia. I truly do."
The silence that followed was heavy, filled only with the sound of their mingled breaths. For a few sacred minutes, the shadows of the empire seemed to fade, leaving only the raw, fragile reality of the family they were about to build. But reality, cold and unforgiving, was a predator that refused to sleep.
As Matthias slowly withdrew, his eyes lingered on her face, tracing the pale contours of her cheeks. The soft, emotional warmth in his gaze gradually crystallized, hardening back into the lethal, calculating focus of a man who ruled from the dark. He looked down at her flat abdomen, his knuckles whitening. The joy was still there, but it was now anchored by a suffocating weight of protective dread.
When he spoke this time, the joyous warmth had entirely vanished, replaced by a chilling, razor-sharp coldness. "From this day on, you must completely stop your involvement with Roland. Your health is deteriorating. I cannot even begin to imagine what that madman is capable of, and I might not always be there to shield you."
"I will be fine, Matthias. Don’t worry. It’s just—"
"I am speaking with absolute seriousness, Olivia," he interrupted, his voice cutting through her reassurances like iron. His eyes dark with an old, haunting dread. "I cannot bear the thought of losing you, nor can I lose my unborn child. So please... I beg of you, stay away from everything that is happening."
Olivia fell silent, offering him no answer. Her lips pressed into a thin line as her mind calculated a hundred different moving pieces on the political chessboard.
Matthias let out a heavy, defeated sigh, sensing the unyielding fortress of her thoughts. "Don’t be stubborn, my dear. I must leave now, so I implore you... take care of yourself, and eat well. I beg of you."
"I will try," she finally murmured, her tone guarded.
He leaned in, planting a lingering, protective kiss on the crown of her head. Without another word, he shed the warmth of the husband and pulled the cold disguise of the guard back over his shoulders, fading into the shadows of her room before slipping out into the silent night.
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While dawn was still a distant promise, the atmosphere on the other side of the palace was thick with a different kind of darkness—one born of rotting grief and unspoken malice.
"How long do you intend to remain silent like this, my love?" Roland’s voice cut through the heavy quiet of the room, dripping with an unsettling affection.
She offered him no reply, her gaze cold as she continued to drag the brush through her strands.
Stepping closer, Roland reached down and firmly took the brush from her hand. He began to comb her hair himself, his movements deceptive in their gentleness. "The girl you protected your entire life just murdered our child, Serene. Are you truly going to sit back and let her do whatever she pleases?"
Still, there was nothing but dead silence.
"She isn’t even my blood. She is the spawn of that profligate, Lucius," he murmured, his tone dropping into a venomous hiss against her ear. "Did you know that, Serene?"
Only then did she finally speak. Her reflection in the mirror was entirely hollow. "What is it that you want, Roland?"
Roland caught her by the chin, turning her face toward him, and pressed a hard, sudden kiss onto her lips. When he pulled back, a twisted light danced in his eyes.
"All I want is justice for our little angel. Are you truly going to let this slide? That Olivia... she won’t refuse a meeting with you, unlike how she treats me. So..."
"Just get to the point," Serene interrupted, her voice sharp and brittle. "I have absolutely no energy left for your games."
A dark smile touched his lips. Reaching into his vest, he pulled out a small, gleaming blue object and pressed it into her palm, closing her fingers over it.
"What is this?" she asked, staring at her closed fist.
"A surprise. I promise you will like it," he whispered, leaning down until his breath fanned her cheek. "Let’s just say... it is our own little version of justice. So, tell me... are you ready to take back what Elvira is owed?"
He braced himself for her resistance. He expected her to push him away, to reject him with the same righteous fury she always possessed.
But she didn’t.
Instead, Serene’s fingers tightened slowly, her knuckles turning white as she gripped the small blue piece. She raised her eyes, locking onto him with a deadly, unyielding stillness.
"Then tell me what I must do. Explain it to me."
A vile, triumphant grin spread across Roland’s face. He wrapped his arms around her shoulders, pulling her flush against him. "I knew you would always be on my side. You will always be mine, Serene. Together, we will avenge our little girl."