Celebrity Lady - Chapter 163

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Celebrity Lady
Side Story 5
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“The future changes with every moment. What you saw was merely the most probable branch among countless possibilities.”
“There isn’t…… there isn’t a single other future where things are different…….”
Dennis stared at Vista with reproach, his eyes swollen and puffy from crying.
He couldn’t believe it. He had glimpsed multiple branching futures that might have changed if he’d intervened. Yet every single one ended the same way.
The birth of an Heir.
At the same moment, the Empress’s death.
There was only one meaning to that. The Empress’s fate was to bear a child and die.
No matter what Dennis tried, it was a future he couldn’t alter.
‘No, there’s exactly one way…….’
If she didn’t bear a child, the Empress could live.
But that was impossible.
The Emperor had abolished the Concubinage System to take only one Empress as his wife. So in the current Imperial House, only the Empress could provide an Heir.
Everyone was waiting for the day they’d hear a baby’s cry in the Imperial Palace…….
“If you truly care for the empire’s future, you mustn’t prevent the Empress’s death. The Empress may die, but the Imperial grandchild will remain—there’s no problem with the House’s continuity.”
“Are you calling that advice?!”
Dennis cried out. Tears streamed down his face.
“You saw it too—you saw it all! Sobs. How His Majesty, my brother…… suffered so much, so terribly, and you still saw it all!”
“Then what do you propose? No matter what you try, the future won’t change. Right now, the Empress is unaware, working to bear the Heir.”
“I’ll tell him.”
At Dennis’s resolute words, Vista smiled inwardly.
“Tell him what, exactly?”
“I’ll tell my brother that I’ve made a Contract with you. Without that, no one will believe the future I’ve seen.”
“Oh, and you understand that revealing that fact will change the future in ways even I can’t predict?”
…….
“I can’t say for certain what will happen. When the Emperor learns you’re Vista’s Contractor, what will he become? The power to see the future has always turned even the kindest into monsters.”
“I trust my brother.”
“If you just kept silent, the empire you love would prosper endlessly, wouldn’t it? That’s unlike someone who loves his country so much. Why—wasn’t that future satisfying enough?”
“That? You really think I could have been satisfied seeing such a future?”
Dennis looked deeper into the branching paths ahead.
Lark had been a virtuous ruler. He raised the Heir left behind by the Empress with care. He became a good father.
And then came an unprecedented early Abdication.
The Crown Prince ascended to the throne the moment he reached his sixteenth birthday. And Lark…….
After the Abdication, he went down to a rural domain and took his own life. As if he’d been waiting for exactly this moment.
No matter how deeply he searched, every other future differed only in small details—the ending was always the same.
The meaning was unmistakable.
The Emperor always seemed to put the empire first, but no. To him, the Empress was irreplaceable.
His true priority was not the nation, but one companion alone.
The fact that he raised his child to adulthood was likely not for the empire’s future, but rather…… an act of respect for the Empress who had gone before him.
‘I want this empire to prosper.’
But he didn’t wish for Lark’s life—a life devoted to the empire—to end in tragedy.
Dennis stood abruptly.
And with determination in his voice, he spoke.
“I’m truly sorry for breaking our agreement the moment after I promised to hide the fact that I’ve made a Contract with you. You’re welcome to leave. You probably hoped for a far more remarkable Contractor, someone who could remain detached toward any future…… I’m sorry for being so inadequate.”
Dennis left the room without looking back. Vista, left alone, smiled and shrugged.
“What are you saying? You’re exactly the Contractor I was looking for.”
* * *
The Emperor’s Chamber.
Lark, preoccupied on what should have been a joyous day with worry over his younger brother Dennis—who hadn’t made a Contract with a Spirit—was startled.
Somehow Dennis returned not long after they’d parted, his eyes red and swollen from crying.
“Dennis?”
“Your Majesty. No—brother.”
“……Yes, what is it?”
“There’s something I must tell you.”
Dennis’s expression was grave. Lark felt a strange sense of foreboding wash over him.
* * *
Two weeks. Lark had taken personal leave and spent the time focused on nothing but baby-making.
“Come on, why are you going to such lengths?”
Lark had woken me at dawn, sat me down, and was now waiting for Deon to arrive.
Deon—precisely speaking, the former Fourth Prince, Deon van Rashmah Deccard.
The half-brother of Lark and son of the previous Emperor, he was the Contractor of Mahila, a mid-rank Healing Spirit.
He was once the savior of our second brother, Victor, when his Contract with a Spirit had briefly been severed…….
“Once the baby grows a bit larger in your belly, the imperial physician can confirm it. Why such urgency?”
Lark had summoned Deon to find out immediately whether I was pregnant.
Healing Spirits are involved with the essence of life, so if two lives existed in one body, they could sense it at once.
In other words…… he was planning to use the Fourth Prince’s Spirit as a pregnancy test!
“I just…… wanted to know.”
“Really now.”
At Lark’s impatient demeanor, I laughed. So he’d been pretending indifference—he wanted this baby more than anyone.
‘If I’d known he was this eager, I should’ve tried sooner.’
Just as I was feeling newly apologetic, the Fourth Prince Deon arrived. He greeted us warmly and approached at once.
“Your Majesty the Emperor, Your Majesty the Empress. It is an honor to see you.”
“Thank you for coming. I’m sorry to ask this so early in the morning. I told him we could wait, but His Majesty was so insistent…….”
“Not at all, Your Majesty the Empress. It’s my privilege to be of service. Everyone is eagerly awaiting the birth of an Imperial child.”
“Deon, check quickly.”
…… What? I’d just been looking forward to small talk with the Fourth Prince after so long, and Lark was rushing him like his hair was on fire.
“Darling? Why are you pestering someone who just arrived—”
“Ha! Of course, of course. I understand His Majesty’s eagerness.”
The kindhearted Fourth Prince promptly said, “Pardon me,” and took my hand. He looked at me, and silence fell.
“Ah…….”
A moment later, Deon spoke with a regretful smile.
“It seems the Imperial grandchild hasn’t graced us with their presence just yet.”
“Ah, I see.”
A sigh. We’d worked hard for two weeks, timing it perfectly with my Fertile Period.
I hadn’t expected it to work on the first try, but I was a bit disappointed. Though of course Lark, who’d summoned the Fourth Prince at the crack of dawn, had to be the most let down.
Deon, looking more apologetic than necessary, spoke up.
“Your Majesty the Empress is in such excellent health that good news will surely come soon. Please don’t worry—focus on your wellbeing above all, and continue your preparations without undue haste.”
“Thank you.”
“…… Thank you. I’ll ask again later.”
“Of course. I shall take my leave.”
After Deon departed, I scratched my cheek a bit awkwardly. Lark, standing behind me, was silent.
“Um…….”
It wasn’t a situation where anyone was at fault, yet the atmosphere felt off. Judging by his silence, Lark seemed quite disappointed.
“Sweetheart, babies don’t usually come so easily on the first try. Let’s keep trying a bit longer.”
I turned to console him—
“……?”
Suddenly, I was startled.
‘What’s going on?’
Lark was smiling with an expression of relief. His lips were distinctly curved upward—there was no mistaking it.
“Sweetheart?”
When our eyes met, he finally raised his hand to cover his mouth.
But I’d clearly seen it.
Not pregnant, yet why…….
“…… You’re happy about it?”

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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