When the Villains Unite - Chapter 19: Marriage (1)

Two Years Later

As always, Aria’s daughter, Chloe, was babbling in her mother’s arms today. With a scrunched-up face that made it clear she wasn’t pleased, the little one clung even closer to Aria.

Chloe seemed to resemble Cain more than Aria. Her slightly grown hair and her golden eyes were unmistakably her father’s. However, this little “Mini-Cain” had a tendency to favor her mother, often rejecting Cain whenever he brought the two of them along.

Last year, just before Chloe’s birth, Cain was officially crowned Emperor, stepping up from his role as Crown Prince. Though I wasn’t entirely sure what Damian’s line for “crossing boundaries” with Cain had been, Belhark once told me that Damian had eased up on pestering Cain after his coronation.

With Cain as Emperor, Aria had become Empress, and ever since then, the Empress had made a habit of visiting the Duke’s estate frequently.

When I became worried about Aria, who showed symptoms of postpartum depression after giving birth, I often went to the Imperial Palace to visit her. But when I ended up getting pregnant myself, the roles reversed, and Aria became the one to keep me company.

Once I became pregnant, the Orca brothers displayed a level of seriousness I had never seen before.

Was this what it meant to become a father?

They often wore subtle, unreadable expressions, and it wasn’t until I hit the six-month mark that I understood why.

Unlike Aria’s pregnancy, my belly had grown significantly larger, the baby’s kicks were stronger, and in the stillness of the night, we could hear the heartbeat of not one, but two children.

That’s right. I had unwittingly conceived twins.

*

“Back when I didn’t know any better, I thought your brother liked you,” Aria said, her voice teasing but her words stabbing at my conscience. “But to think you two were plotting behind my back…”

Cough!

I nearly choked on my water at her sudden trip down memory lane.

A year ago, I had confessed everything to Aria—the secrets I’d kept for so long. Of course, I hadn’t been brave enough to face her alone, so I’d brought Ashik along for moral support.

When Aria learned the truth, she didn’t lash out or ignore me as I had feared. Instead, tears welled up in her eyes, and she lowered her head in sorrow.

“Thinking about how excited I got over two people I had no chance with still makes my face burn,” she admitted.

“Ahem… I’m still sorry about that.”

“You should be,” Aria said with a sly smile, winking playfully.

Surprisingly, she didn’t seem bothered by the fact that I was in a relationship with both Belhark and Damian. Instead, she seemed more embarrassed about how obliviously she had behaved despite all the signs.

That said, Aria had pressured Ashik into pursuing me and created strange dynamics whenever the three of us were together. It hadn’t upset me, but it was undeniably true.

*

“I’m sure your brother will sort out the matter of heirs on his own, but it’s still a bit disappointing,” Aria remarked.

“What’s so disappointing?” I asked.

“Never mind that. Let’s make a promise, Rose.”

Whenever Aria had that determined look in her eyes, it always made me uneasy. I stayed quiet, waiting for her to speak.

“If you have a son, let’s have him marry our Chloe. What do you think?”

“Excuse me? Marriage?”

How had her thoughts jumped there all of a sudden?

I couldn’t help but laugh at the suggestion.

This felt like something straight out of a novel—a classic arranged marriage cliché.

It’s true—this world is undeniably a novel. And somehow, this once-dystopian story has reached its own version of a happy ending. Aria’s eyes were full of sincerity as she proposed her idea, and the thought of little children happily playing together made it impossible for me to suppress my smile.

“If my children agree to it… But what if I have two sons, and they both fall for Chloe?”

Considering how stunningly beautiful Chloe already was as a baby, there was a good chance she’d grow up to become a legendary beauty like Cain. Of course, given that I didn’t even know whether my babies were boys or girls, it felt like I was jumping ahead with these assumptions.

At my response, Aria clapped her hands together in delight.
“Oh my, wouldn’t that be wonderful!”

She didn’t seem to grasp just how ruthless men could be when fighting over a single woman, likely because she had never witnessed a love triangle devolve into chaos.

If the Orca brothers’ children inherited even a fraction of their intensity… Chloe might actually be in danger.

Before I could voice a firm refusal, waiting for Aria’s laughter to subside, a sudden, sharp pain erupted in my abdomen. It was a feeling I recognized all too well.

“…Ah…!”

“…Rose? Are you in labor?”

“No, it’s still two weeks early—ah, ugh!”

Recently, the contractions had been getting stronger and closer together, but today’s pain was definitely more intense than usual.

The servant who had been tending to the tea noticed my face growing pale and rushed off to fetch the steward. Aria, who had somehow moved to my side, grasped my hand and murmured something, but the pain was too overwhelming for me to focus on her words.

Feeling uneasy, I leaned heavily on Aria as I tried to make my way back to the villa. Before I could take another step, someone scooped me up into their arms.

It was Belhark, who had apparently used magic to arrive at the villa almost instantly. He smiled at me reassuringly, as if to say everything would be fine, but he looked even more nervous than Aria. His trembling eyes betrayed his emotions.

He must’ve been in such a hurry that he hadn’t even waited to inform Damian before rushing to my side.

As the pain worsened and my water broke, the entire villa descended into chaos. Inside the quiet room, there was a brief commotion outside the door—likely Damian arriving—before silence fell once again.

I had never imagined childbirth would be this excruciating. Thinking of the Orca brothers, who were likely just as anxious as I was, and the babies who had yet to see the world, I mustered every ounce of strength I had left.

The midwife, who had assisted with Chloe’s birth a year ago, expertly guided me, offering steady instructions. Finally, after what felt like an eternity, the unbearable pain subsided, replaced by the sound of my babies’ cries.

“They’re healthy boys, Miss. Congratulations!”

The Orca brothers entered the room the moment the midwife made the announcement.

“Sis.”

They didn’t even seem to notice the babies at first, instead hurrying straight to my side. Damian, uncharacteristically teary-eyed, pressed his radiant golden hair against my hand.

Was he crying because he felt guilty for leaving me to endure the pain alone? Or was it because he was overwhelmed with emotion at the birth of new life? I guessed it was the former.

Meanwhile, Belhark carefully took the babies from the midwife, cradling them gently before bringing them to me.

“They’re fraternal twins, Your Grace,” the midwife explained.

The three of us froze simultaneously.

Wait—did this mean I’d given birth to children from both Belhark and Damian?

As the realization hit, an inexplicable sense of wonder and joy swelled within me. When the first twin opened his eyes, the expressions on the Orca brothers’ faces became a study in contrasts, a sight I couldn’t help but find amusing.

The first baby’s striking navy-blue eyes clearly marked him as Belhark’s child, while the second, with his golden eyes and radiant pale skin, seemed to be Damian’s. It was undeniable.

They each carried the unmistakable traits of their fathers as if fate itself had blessed this extraordinary moment.

Though Damian might have been disappointed that his child wasn’t the firstborn, he didn’t let it show. Instead, he gently wiped my face, which was drenched with sweat and tears, using a warm towel.

The babies, experiencing the world for the first time, seemed exhausted and quickly fell asleep in my arms, their soft breathing filling the quiet room.

Finally, I turned my gaze toward the Orca brothers and gave them a bashful smile. Tears that had pooled in their eyes trickled down at the sight. Belhark leaned closer, whispered a few soft words of praise and comfort, telling me I’d done well, and then pressed a tender kiss to the corner of my eyes.

Perhaps it was the sheer exhaustion from enduring hours of pain, but as the midwife explained a few things the brothers needed to take care of, I found myself completely drained. Before I knew it, sleep overtook me, and I surrendered to the rest my body so desperately needed.

* * *

Since it was too much to hold a wedding immediately after giving birth, I married Belhark a year later. Of course, the marriage was merely ceremonial; the one I exchanged rings and vows with was Damian.

Despite their heated debates two years ago about who would become my husband, Damian had matured considerably and accepted the outcome gracefully.

What I didn’t know at the time—when I fell asleep right after giving birth to my firstborn, Jenner, and my second, Pellean—was that Damian had clung to me while I slept and cried his heart out all day. Apparently, the agonized groans he’d heard from the hallway during my labor had been almost unbearable for him.

During my pregnancy, though he wasn’t the one carrying the child, he had experienced sympathy symptoms like nausea. After becoming a father, it seemed his emotional sensitivity had reached an entirely new level.

Belhark, on the other hand, remained composed, though one day he approached me and suggested, with quiet determination, that we stop having children. While he adored the twins, he couldn’t bear to see me suffer through another 10 months of hardship. He became so protective during my pregnancy that he barely let me walk around freely.

After being coddled like that for so long, I’d grown accustomed to the treatment and found myself unwilling to move even when my body felt only slightly heavy. Had I developed a bad habit? The Orca brothers didn’t seem to mind—they even seemed to find it endearing.

The twins, Jenner and Pellean, grew rapidly, seemingly in the blink of an eye. They were already proving their lineage as Orca juniors. Jenner’s hair was beginning to show a deep navy-blue hue, while Pellean’s hair gleamed a radiant gold.

Whereas I used to be able to hold both of them in my arms at once, by the time they turned one, they had grown so much that holding even one of them for long was tiring.

Watching the twins wrestle each other in their crib brought its own set of concerns. Aria, having seen the twins, kept referring to them as her “future sons-in-law.” It seemed she still believed that promise about Chloe marrying one of them.

Well, I suppose it doesn’t really matter. With personalities like their fathers’, it’s unlikely my children will feel bound by any promises.

The scenario that scared me the most, however, was the possibility of both of them falling for Chloe.

“No way… right?” I murmured to myself.

Surely they wouldn’t wage a bloody war of love between brothers.

Perhaps because they shared a womb, Jenner and Pellean had both been born with strong magical powers. While it wasn’t quite on Belhark’s level yet, it was expected to grow significantly as they matured.

“Abu! Abu-bubu!”

Before I knew it, their bickering grew even more intense. There was never a dull day with these two. I sighed and picked up Jenner, moving him to another crib. Earlier, they had insisted on being together, so I placed them in the same crib—but, as expected, they ended up wrestling again.

No sooner had I placed Jenner in another crib than Pellean burst into tears.

Dragging his little body to the edge of his crib, Pellean clung to the railing, wailing as he reached for his brother. His cries tugged at my heart.

Meanwhile, Jenner, watching his crying brother, smirked ever so slightly as if to say, “You really think you can live without me?”

Was that… a mocking smile?

“Definitely Belhark’s genes…” I muttered.

“Huueeegh… hic…”

When I placed Pellean back in Jenner’s crib, his tears immediately stopped. Honestly, even as their mother, I couldn’t figure them out.

“Sis, I heard Pellean crying. Did something happen?”

Damian, who I hadn’t noticed entering the room, wrapped his arms around me from behind.

He had just returned from a deployment early yesterday morning and had been sleeping soundly until now. To think Pellean’s cries had woken him…

Damian could tell which twin was crying just by hearing their voice. His hearing was nothing short of monstrous.

Leaning against his chest, I shook my head as if to say nothing had happened.

The moment Jenner and Pellean saw Damian, their faces lit up with bright, childlike smiles, and they burst into giggles. Neither Belhark nor Damian showed it openly, but whenever they looked at the children, their eyes softened with infinite tenderness. The twins, perhaps sensing this, beamed happily just at their presence, showing off their tiny, barely-visible teeth.

“Do you want to rest for a bit? I’ll watch the kids,” Damian offered.

“No, Bel will be home soon anyway. Let’s stay together—I’m not that tired.”

Damian kissed the top of my head and went over to the twins, crouching down to play with them.

I sat on the sofa, watching him peacefully as he entertained the children. Before I knew it, my eyes grew heavy, and I drifted off.

*