I Don’t Need A Husband - Chapter 62

Chapter 62

He almost flew towards them. Berthas spoke in a low voice as he raised his hand to the ladies-in-waiting, who saw his face and tried to restrain him.

“Even though I came here as a guest, I am indeed the Princess’s father so get out of the way.”

As the hesitant ladies-in-waiting opened the way for Berthas’ grim expression, it felt like sparks were flying in his eyes with jealousy. Usman, who was holding Isilis, smiled at him, but Isilis’s face was not visible.

Berthas moved closer, swallowing the feeling of betrayal that rose to the tip of his throat. Then, he turned her, who was being held roughly in Usman’s arms, to her feet. She was crying.

“Isilis.”

“Berthas…?”

The pupils were blurred. It wasn’t the Isilis he knew. The blurry eyes on the tear-stained face were just like someone who had lost their mind, like his mother, who ended her life after losing his father.

Yes… she had the same eyes as his mother.

“What is going on?”

When he turned his gaze to Usman and asked, he only shrugged his shoulders and said nothing. The ladies-in-waiting who were watching from behind also kept their mouths shut. If so, he had no choice but to hear the answer from Isilis.

“Isilis, get yourself together.”

“Berthas… we lost our child.”

Berthas whispered as he hugged Isilis, who was muttering only those words frantically.

“We didn’t lose our child.”

“…We didn’t?”

“Yes. Our child is asleep, you and my child.”

“We didn’t… lose her?”

“I brought her. You and my child. Our daughter.”

“So I don’t have to give birth to a new child?”

What kind of nonsense was having a new child? Berthas, who grasped the situation in an instant, threw a cold gaze at Usman. If a person could be killed with a glance, he would have cut him ten times already.

From the way Usman smiled, it was clear that it was his trick that Isilis was doing something like this.

“We have a child. Isilis. You don’t have to have another child. The child is back, your child.”

“My… child?”

“Yes. You and my child.”

“….”

Saying so, he hugged Isilis, who collapsed as she lost her consciousness. Everyone averted his gaze. Only Usman Khalifa defiantly met that gaze.

“I heard the story. Didn’t you ask her to accept you as consort on the condition that the entire Hillenton Empire be handed over to Larchen?”

“Usman Khalifa. You must have something to tell me?”

“What?”

“In this situation…”

“Didn’t you get an answer just by looking at it? There was a woman who was grieving the loss of a child. And it was me, not you, who comforted her. As a result, the woman was gradually changing. What do you want to hear about?”

“You b*stard!”

“Shh. What if she wakes up? She will probably cry again and look for the child.”

“Wait here.”

He growled his words before hurriedly moving away. Isilis’ body was too light. he frowned at her light body. She was a precious person, the Empress of the Empire and the one he loved… yet for her to become like this.

Berthas, who witnessed her miserable situation, felt pain as if he had been cut by a knife. It was he who could not bear the heartache.

Isilis lay on the bed. Berthas couldn’t leave the place thinking about this and that, and her eyelids opened.

“Isilis.”

Seeing the eyes staring at him clearly at his call, Berthas was relieved.

“Are you awake?”

“Did I… go out again?”

“Since when?! Since when has it been like this?”

“…I don’t know either.”

A dark shadow fell over her face as she shook her head. Berthas whispered as he squeezed her slender hand.

“…I am too late. I was not leaving you behind.”

“You just went your way. You are not late.”

“If I had been by your side, none of this would have happened. So please…”

He couldn’t utter the next word. So please, what? Come back to normal? Those were deceitful words to Isilis. It was ignoring what she had endured so far. That was why he couldn’t say anything.

Isilis closed her eyes.

“I asked the imperial doctor, and he said it was slowly getting better.”

“You don’t… remember what happened?”

“I don’t remember, so I installed a video stone in the room. Usman Khalifa took me back.”

“….”

She smiled as Berthas didn’t say anything.

“He just took me. He didn’t do anything.”

“…I regret going to Hillenton and leaving you behind.”

“It’s better not to regret things that have already passed.”

Taking her hand, a warm aura radiated from her cold hands and Isilis opened her mouth again.

“It’s strange, Berthas. You’re by my side, but why do I feel like you’re not by my side?”

“…It must be because you’re too tired. Now that we’ve found our child, just rest.”

As he stroked her disheveled hair, she gradually closed her eyes.

Berthas tried to hide his ferocious feelings. His eyes shone brightly though Isilis didn’t notice it as she fell asleep. After checking the sound of her breathing as she was completely asleep, Bertas stood up. He couldn’t hide his heavy breathing.

What the hell happened? Why did Usman Khalifa appear in this situation?

“What happened?”

“Lord Regent is not yet the ruler of Larchen.”

With Meryl’s words, Berthas shouted ferociously.

“I’m not the ruler of Larchen, but I’m the father of the Princess. I need to know why Isilis became like that and why Usman Khalifa appears in this situation.”

While going to the garden where Usman was waiting, Meryl hesitated for a moment before speaking again.

“I know that the Crown Prince of the Khalifa Empire took care of Her Majesty because the Princess disappeared and she was heartbroken, and she searched for you but did not come.”

“To say that now…!”

It was Meryl who threw a sharp gaze at him, who threw a cold gaze back.

“So, you’re saying we should leave Her Majesty as it is? Who wanders every night looking for her child?”

Berthas lost his words to Meryl.

…It was all because he was away. He should have been by her side no matter what. Having the sudden thought, he shook his head vigorously.

It was all useless to regret the past.

He could see Usman Khalifa’s face in the distance. Seeing Usman drinking tea leisurely in the garden, his anger rose again. He made up his mind and sat down in front of him.

“The tea smells good. Would you like a drink, too?”

“Drink it yourself. I don’t know if the ladies-in-waiting will give it to me.”

Saying so, he glanced around him, but no one came close to him. Meryl, who had been looking around, approached and brought him a teacup.

“Thank you.”

“I am doing this for Her Majesty’s sake.”

Berthas felt puzzled when Meryl said that if it weren’t for Isilis, she wouldn’t have even thought of it. Why were those ladies-in-waiting against him?

“Why is it strange?”

“It’s bewildering because the people I’m seeing for the first time are cold to me.”

“That’s why Isilis was having a hard time.”

“You’ve worked hard all this time.”

“What?”

As Usman raised his eyebrows, Berthas whispered while smiling leisurely.

“Now that the real thing is here, can’t the fake disappear?”

“What nonsense…!”

“Isn’t it? You’ve had a hard time acting like me.”

Usman, who was trembling at Berthas’ words, changed his mind as he looked at him. It was because if he continued like this, it felt like he was going to get caught up in Berthas.

“Acting like you. It may have started like that. But you know what? Isilis is now opening up to me little by little.”

“Little by little. I have that kind of heart too. Her heart is open. I got it in a heartbeat.”

He calmed down a bit now. The only satisfaction was that she hadn’t given her heart to Usman. The gaze from the surroundings was subject to change. The most important to him was Isilis. Berthas was ready to give anything and everything if only she would give her heart to him.

“That remains to be seen.”

“I bet. You can be nothing more than her close friend to her.”

“What?”

“If you were going to approach her as her man, you should have done that from the start. It’s too late.”

Usman blushed resentfully at his succinct words.

Berthas knew. Isilis was stubborn, never changing a decision she had once made, and that fact was what Usman knew. Even though he already knew, it was hard to admit that he didn’t want to lose to Berthas Hillenton and didn’t want him to take her away.

That was why he was that grumpy. It was too low a tactic to be called grumpy, but at least it was to him.

“You must already know?”

Berthas laughed. Usman laughed at the winner’s relaxed smile.

“Berthas Hillenton. You are confident. Do you really think you can have her of her without any fight?”

“Wrong, Usman.”

“What?”

“It’s not that I have her. She’s the one holding my lifeline. She has me.”

Berthas’ words made the surroundings quiet. The ladies-in-waiting who were listening to them from afar also stopped whispering and quietly observed the situation. He laughed at Usman’s stupid expression.

In an instant, the atmosphere changed.

Although he held out his hand from the beginning, it was Isilis who took his hand. It was she who slowly opened up her heart to him, and it was a relationship that had come so far because she let him by her side.

If it weren’t for that, the relationship between the two would not have been possible.

He remembered the moment he first met Isilis—the way she nearly fell, the way he held her, the way she told her openly about war in her bar, and the first kiss and all that he did with her—all of that was possible because she chose Berthas.

“Isilis chose me.”

—