Episode-839
Chapter : 1677
The morning sun filtered through the sheer curtains of the Siddik estate’s eastern wing, casting long, pale beams across the floor of Mina’s private quarters. To the outside world, the estate was a fortress of commerce and tradition, the beating heart of the southern trade routes. But inside these walls, in the quiet solitude of her room, Mina Siddik was harboring a secret that had the potential to shatter the fragile political landscape of the entire kingdom.
She sat at her vanity, staring at her reflection in the polished silver mirror. Her face was pale, paler than usual, and there were faint shadows beneath her eyes that no amount of powder could truly conceal. Her hand moved instinctively, almost unconsciously, to rest against her lower abdomen. It was a gesture she had found herself repeating a hundred times a day over the last week, a silent communion with a reality she was still struggling to comprehend.
She was pregnant.
The realization had not come with a singular moment of shock, but rather a slow, dawning certainty that had solidified into a tidal wave of conflicting emotions. There was joy, a fierce, terrifying, and overwhelming joy that bloomed in her chest whenever she thought about the life growing inside her. It was a piece of him. A piece of Lloyd. The man whose intellect matched her own, whose quiet strength had anchored her during the darkest days of her mother’s illness, and whose forbidden touch had awakened a part of her soul she thought had died with her husband years ago.
But riding the crest of that joy was a crushing, suffocating terror. She was not a naive girl. She was a Siddik, a woman versed in the brutal arithmetic of nobility and reputation. She knew exactly what this child represented to the world. It was not just a baby; it was a political nuclear bomb.
Lloyd was married to her sister.
The fact that they were estranged, that Lloyd had demanded a divorce, that he and Rosa lived in separate worlds—none of that mattered in the eyes of the law or the court of public opinion. In the rigid, unforgiving structure of their society, Mina was the sister-in-law who had usurped her sister’s place. If this secret came out, it wouldn't just be a scandal; it would be a declaration of war between House Ferrum and House Siddik. It would destroy Lloyd’s reputation, branding him an adulterer and a oath-breaker just as he was ascending to the peak of his power. It would humiliate Rosa, turning the Ice Queen into a figure of public pity and scorn.
"I cannot let that happen," Mina whispered to the empty room, her voice trembling.
She rose from the vanity, fighting back a sudden wave of nausea. The morning sickness had been brutal, a relentless physical reminder of her condition. She reached for the small vial of herbal tonic she had brewed herself, hiding it among her perfumes and oils. She took a quick sip, the bitter taste of ginger and peppermint settling her stomach, though it did nothing for the anxiety churning in her gut.
She had to be careful. More careful than she had ever been in her life. She had already begun to distance herself from the social calendar, citing a lingering fatigue from the recent travels and the stress of the war. It was a plausible lie, one that bought her time. She avoided the communal meals when she could, claiming a need to focus on her archaeological translations.
But the hardest part was keeping it from Lloyd.
Every instinct in her body screamed to send a message to the north, to tell him that they had created a life together. She knew, with absolute certainty, that he would not reject her. Lloyd Ferrum was a man who took responsibility. He would protect her. He would protect the child. He would likely burn down the world to ensure their safety.
And that was exactly why she couldn't tell him.
Lloyd was already carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders. He was fighting the Devil Race, managing the AURA empire, navigating the treacherous waters of the royal court, and dealing with the complex entanglements of Amina and Faria. If she dropped this news on him now, it would shatter his focus. It would force him into a corner where he would have to fight a war on yet another front—a domestic war against her own family.
Chapter : 1678
However, her efforts were in vain. One month ago, as Mina left the lab one evening, Lloyd watched her go, noting the microscopic change in her center of gravity. His [All-Seeing Eye] flickered involuntarily, piercing through her clothes and skin to trace the new, rhythmic pulse of a second heartbeat within her. He knew. He had known for three days. But seeing the desperate, protective silence in her eyes, the cold General in his head ordered him to remain silent. He would let her have her secret and carry the weight for both of them until the world finally forced his hand.
"Not yet," she told herself, smoothing down the front of her dress, ensuring the fabric hung loose enough to conceal any slight change in her figure. "I will protect him by silence. Just for a little while longer."
She walked to the window, looking out over the manicured gardens of the estate. The world looked different now. Every shadow seemed to hold a spy; every whisper seemed to be about her. She felt exposed, vulnerable in a way she hadn't since she was a child.
Her thoughts were interrupted by a sharp knock on the door. Mina jumped, her hand flying away from her stomach as if she had been burned. She took a deep breath, composing her features into a mask of calm curiosity.
"Enter," she called out.
The door opened, and a maid stepped in, looking flustered. "Lady Mina," the girl said with a bow. "Lady Rosa has arrived. She is in the main parlor and wishes to see you immediately."
Mina’s blood ran cold. Rosa. Here? Now?
Her sister was supposed to be at the Ferrum or capital, or managing the northern trade routes. Rosa rarely visited the main estate unannounced, especially not since the tension with Lloyd had escalated. Rosa was a creature of schedules, of logic and predictability. An unannounced visit was an anomaly. And in Rosa’s world, anomalies were investigated.
"Tell her I will be down in a moment," Mina said, her voice steady despite the racing of her heart.
As the maid left, Mina turned back to the mirror. She checked her face again. Was she too pale? Did her eyes betray the secret? She pinched her cheeks to bring some color into them and straightened her spine. She had to be perfect. She had to be the supportive older sister, the scholar, the widow. She could not be the lover. She could not be the mother.
She walked out of her room, the sound of her footsteps echoing in the hallway like the ticking of a clock. She was walking into a lion’s den, and the lion was her own flesh and blood. Rosa possessed an intellect that rivaled Lloyd’s and a perception honed by years of espionage. Mina prayed to every god she knew that her sister’s gaze would be clouded by her own grief, that she would be too focused on her broken marriage to see the fracture in Mina’s own life.
But as she descended the grand staircase, a heavy sense of dread settled over her. Secrets in the world of high nobility were like smoke; you could try to catch them, hold them in your hands, but eventually, they would slip through your fingers and fill the room. And Rosa... Rosa had spent a lifetime learning how to read the smoke.
Rosa Siddik stood in the center of the parlor, her posture as rigid and impeccable as a statue carved from marble. She was dressed in travel leathers of deep blue and silver, the colors of her house, but the dust of the road was notably absent from her attire. Even in transit, the Ice Queen maintained an aura of pristine perfection.
She stared at a painting on the wall—a portrait of the family from happier times—but her eyes were not seeing the brushstrokes. Her mind was a churning engine of calculation and analysis. She had told herself she was coming here to bring gifts from the East, rare silks and spices that Mina enjoyed. It was a sisterly gesture, a logical maintenance of familial bonds.
But logic was a mask she wore less comfortably these days.
Deep down, beneath the layers of rationalization, there was an itch in her brain. A persistent, nagging instinct that she couldn't silence. It had started with the reports of Mina’s frequent trips to the capital, specifically to the industrial district where Lloyd’s R&D manufactory was located. Ostensibly, Mina was there as a consultant on the Golem Heart project. It was a valid reason. Lloyd respected intellect, and Mina was a brilliant historian. It made sense.
And yet.