## Having An Enemy's Baby
His hot gaze landed on the back of my neck, exposed to the cool night air.
*Even if he's trying to show me kindness, it changes nothing.*
If I understood correctly, Kaian was attempting to demonstrate the better side of himself.
The first night I had endured his contempt for Vermont. The second night that followed. I had no choice in the matter.
Kaian had paid the bride's ransom to the Duke of Vermont. There was no option to refuse him. His authority as head of the family was absolute. My welfare had simply been transferred from one man's control to another's.
So why was he asking?
An impulsive question escaped me. "If I say no, you won't proceed?"
Kaian remained silent.
*My thoughts don't matter anyway,* I thought bitterly.
"Yes," he finally answered, surprising me. "If you don't want this, I won't force you."
My eyes widened.
"But understand this," he continued quietly. "The longer you resist, the greater the burden you'll carry."
The momentary softness I'd felt evaporated.
"That's a threat."
"You're misinterpreting my honest words," he replied, his lips brushing my fingers that still gripped my pajamas. "In Vermont, people don't listen to one another at all."
*Vermont.*
The word struck like a blade while I lay in the arms of my enemy. My ears filled with sorrow. I relaxed my grip—the last barrier I'd been clinging to—and let my hands fall away.
I couldn't tell if the ache in my heart came from the illness consuming me from within or from something breaking inside.
Kaian lowered me onto the bed, pressing my hands to the mattress beside me. As I lay there as though willingly surrendering, he positioned himself above me.
When his hot lips touched my bare skin in the cool darkness, I gasped.
In an unfamiliar bedroom, in an enemy's arms—he was the only place I could cling to.
---
## The Capital of Oberon
The capital of the Kingdom of Oberon was perfectly designed for governance.
Located at the kingdom's center, the fertile granary plains stretched endlessly to the south. The land rose gradually toward the royal castle, which was crowned by steep cliffs—a natural fortress. The Shen River, flowing far below, was the kingdom's lifeblood.
The castle itself was built from white stone, its roof covered in gold leaf. When viewed at night from a distance, it gleamed as though the sun itself had descended to earth.
King Valquiterre ruled this kingdom with beauty so remarkable that foreign nobles and princesses reportedly could not breathe if forced to meet his gaze. Marriage proposals arrived constantly, though he remained unwed.
He possessed rich, light lemon-blonde hair, pale skin, and deep blue eyes flanking a high, straight nose. His lips, naturally pale from his coloring, were perfectly sculpted. He wore his shirt unbuttoned and rolled up the sleeves, revealing a thoroughly muscled chest and abdomen—a stark contrast to his soft, beautiful face.
---
Valquiterre lay diagonally across his bed, reading correspondence from abroad, when his door burst open without warning.
"Valquiterre!"
A woman charged into the room, her voice carrying the authority of calling the King by name alone. She looked nearly identical to him—blue eyes, lemon-blonde hair tumbling down her back in disarray. She lunged at him as though preparing to strike.
"How could you?"
Seeing Valquiterre's complete indifference to her arrival, her indignation intensified. She stamped her foot.
"I asked you to marry me to Kaian!"
"Bianque," Valquiterre said simply, his tone brooking no argument.
His sister flinched and became subdued at hearing only her name spoken.
"You have no manners," he continued.
"Brother..." Bianque bit her lower lip in frustration.
Bianque was Valquiterre's younger sister, two years his junior. She had grown up as the King's sister and the only Princess in the royal family. The only suitable match in the entire kingdom was her maternal cousin, Kaian, Duke of Temnes.
"You said we'd get engaged when you returned from your trip," she protested. "I heard Kaian got married. By the King's command, no less? You lied to me. You never intended to make me a Duchess, did you?"
"Did I say I would get you engaged to Kaian?" Valquiterre asked coolly.
"That..." Bianque's words faltered. Her brother had never actually promised such a thing. She had persistently begged him to arrange the marriage, and when he mentioned marriage after his travels, she had simply assumed he meant Kaian.
"Then who was I supposed to marry?" she cried out, shaking with betrayal. "Is there a man in the kingdom who would have me? Even if I wanted to choose, I can't. They're all dead!"
---
The death of their mother, Queen Silvia, had been sudden. Valquiterre, who inherited the throne as the new King, was only eighteen years old.
A kingdom ruled by a young, child-like King became not a ally but a prize to be seized. Before her funeral was even completed, war erupted from every direction: east, west, south, and north.
Kaian, who had lost his own parents around the same time, went to war and returned alive. But other families were not so fortunate.
In families with an eldest son abroad at war, the younger sons took over household duties and joined the fighting. In families with no eligible sons, the head of the household—often elderly—had to fight themselves. For unmarried heirs, marriages were arranged hastily, without regard for compatibility, so they might produce heirs before departing for war.
After five years of conflict, Valquiterre had stabilized his rule and the kingdom, but the cost was severe: a shortage of marriageable male nobility.
Noble ladies seeking husbands found themselves with grim options. Those who acted quickly married foreign nobles. But as word of Oberon's war-torn marriage market spread internationally, foreign families began reconsidering their offers. Young, attractive noble grooms became scarce. The remaining daughters were increasingly married to older, damaged men from distant lands.
Eventually, families began seeking wealthy commoners—successful merchants or royal administrators—as sons-in-law, offering noble status in exchange. But this sparked protests from ambitious commoners who'd accumulated wealth, only to see potential wives snatched away by noble families seeking status.
Men approached marriage with careful calculation: their children would become nobility through their wives' connections. When marriages between commoners were disrupted by noble interference, street conflicts between desperate women became commonplace.
"You said you didn't want to marry abroad!" Bianque cried, though she herself had considered foreign prospects, only to be horrified by the prospect of aging husbands.
---
Queen Silvia had borne Valquiterre and Bianque.
The Queen's twin sister, Elise, had married the Duke of Temnes and given birth to Kaian.
The twin sisters shared identical beauty but differed in style and temperament, so there was never confusion. Yet because both sons had been thoroughly indulged, both Valquiterre and Kaian were strikingly handsome. Many remarked they appeared similar, likely because their mothers were twins.
Bianque had grown up observing men of her own age, including Kaian, and she found herself disgusted by the gentlemen of varying ages she might be forced to marry.
On the day of her debutante, she had endured countless middle-aged men kissing the back of her hand throughout the evening. That night, she'd promised herself she would never marry unless it was Kaian—the only man she found acceptable.
"Your husband," Valquiterre said suddenly, opening his mouth. "I will seek one for you from now on."
"What?" Tears spilled from her eyes.
"You gave the best groom in this entire kingdom to Vermont—that worthless trash. Are you insane? How am I supposed to find someone now?"
Her mother's only sister was the Duchess of Temnes. Aunt Elise was also a cherished figure in Bianque's life, and so Bianque hated Vermont as much as she hated Temnes, despite being a Princess.
"Princess Bianque," Valquiterre called, his voice stern and low.
"Do you think your behavior befits a Princess's dignity?"
His use of her formal title rather than her name was meant as a rebuke—a reminder not to overstep.
"I hope you don't suspect I'd condemn my only sister to an elderly nobleman. Now leave."
"...I will obey the King's will," Bianque said through gritted teeth, forcing her head down as she headed toward the door.
But her composure shattered as she departed. "A marriage made by royal order can be canceled by royal order! If it's not Kaian, I'd rather die!"
The servants opening the door froze in shock, their eyes darting toward the King.
"She hasn't the courage to die," Valquiterre muttered cynically, returning his attention to his correspondence.
*Has it been a month now?* he wondered idly. *Has Kaian entered the tomb of matrimony?*
---
Despite arranging his cousin's marriage, Valquiterre remained unwed. Typically, a Crown Prince would have been betrothed since childhood—by age ten or sixteen at the latest.
There was a reason he had waited this long.
He wanted a wife superior to Kaian.
Valquiterre had hated Kaian since childhood. Though Kaian was surprisingly dull about certain matters, the King's dislike ran deeper. As a Prince, Kaian had never liked being constrained—he was an heir to a Dukedom with a twin aunt as his mother, and he hated being compared or found wanting in any regard.
Yet Kaian was useful as a chess piece. The Temnes family was naturally prolific, with many collateral relatives. Kaian's position was such that if something happened to the primary line, he could take over the entire family. He must have been confident he'd survive anything, but Valquiterre found that arrogance infuriating.
Kaian's certainty that he could achieve anything through sheer will and capability—Valquiterre despised it.
So he had issued the order: Kaian would marry Vermont.
He'd intended it as the cruelest marriage possible.
Valquiterre smiled beautifully, his eyes gleaming as he imagined the bitter North Wind blowing across Temnes territory.
"I wonder what we'll see unfold next month," he mused softly. "I hope it's entertaining."
---