Chapter 6
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 6
Chapter Title: The Sub-Heroine is Pregnant
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Inside the large yurt that Gorgon had prepared as our newlywed home.
Kara and I were enjoying a passionate newlywed life where sparks flew just from locking eyes.
Last night, too, we had loved each other fiercely until dawn. Now, under the languid afternoon sunlight, I was taking a brief rest.
Bang!
The tent flap flew open roughly, and Baba the Elder came rushing in, panting.
In her hand, she clutched Kara, who wore a bewildered expression.
"You rascal! Finally! Finally, I'm going to see my grandchild!"
The old woman's booming shout echoed through the yurt.
"Uh...?"
I blinked in a daze.
Kara, too, fidgeted with her belly, her face flushed, at a complete loss.
"Granny? What are you talking about...?"
"Oh, you dullards! Can't you see how clear the signs are? There's your baby growing in her belly!"
Grandchild?
Pregnant?
Wait a minute.
The moment her shout pierced my ears, the massive dam blocking my mind shattered.
The word 'grandchild' became the final key, fully unlocking the sealed memories of my past life.
Crash-!
Like a glass window breaking, the sealed memories flooded into my brain.
In front of the training camp in South Korea.
Before enlisting, with my buzz-cut head, the novel I had read one last time.
The Illegitimate Daughter's Path of Snowflowers.
And now.
At the exact age when I had read that novel in my past life.
A chilling coincidence triggered it, making the hazy ending of the novel crystal clear.
『I will protect my sun forever.』
The original story's ending.
The proud wolf knight who became the illegitimate princess's guard and swore to protect 'my sun' until the end, remaining celibate.
The lifelong singleton sub-heroine, Kara Wintersword.
But.
'She's pregnant with my child right now?'
Before the original story even begins?
Far from celibate.
Carrying my child in her belly?
The complete opposite.
A massive destruction of the original plot.
The moment I realized that shocking fact, memory fragments stormed through, forming a single sentence.
'I've... completely wrecked the novel.'
But there was no fear in that realization of massive destruction.
Only overwhelming joy welled up.
I looked at Kara.
She was still clutching her belly in confusion.
My favorite character from the original, who lived her life in solitude, sacrificing for others, and faded away quietly.
My main heroine.
And now, she stood before me, flushed, carrying new life.
"Barg...?"
Kara called to me, eyes glistening with tears.
Since I said nothing, she seemed scared I might dislike it.
"Ha...!"
I couldn't hold back the bursting laughter and pulled Kara into a tight embrace.
"Thank you, Kara. Thank you so much."
"......Hic!"
Kara finally relaxed in my arms and burst into sobs.
She was probably just overwhelmed by the pregnancy news.
But my tears were different.
I had stopped it.
Her misfortune.
Her loneliness.
The reason I came to this world.
And the reason I had to survive—it was now complete.
"I love you. I'll make you smile forever."
I kissed her tear-streaked eyes and whispered with all my heart.
Upon the ruins of the wrecked original story, our real tale was beginning.
But...
That wrecked original story's genre was...
A romance fantasy?
One dripping with frustrating male lead regret and despair.
And I'm a barbarian.
The content of that romance fantasy novel I read in my past life was brutally vivid.
Princess Ellicia of the holy Croatina Empire.
Born from the emperor's one-night whim, not even treated as a concubine's child—a pitiful outcast.
The story of her growth and love upon entering the academy.
And always by her side was 'her'.
「Kara Wintersword.」
The Kara in the original wasn't the radiantly smiling woman before me now.
『Northern savage.』
『Wench sold as a hostage.』
Those were the insults that followed Kara.
After Chieftain Gorgon's death, the tribe lost its center and suffered a fatal blow in the war against the Blood Fang Tribe.
Their influence in Norheim plummeted, shunned by other tribes.
In the end, young Kara, as the family head, had to scrap the 'equal pact' her father Gorgon made with the Grand Duke and kneel to preserve the tribe.
Into a brutally one-sided master-servant relationship.
The Winter Claw Tribe lost its autonomy, fully absorbed into the Northguard Grand Duchy, reduced to the Grand Duke's private soldiers.
And the true intent of Norheim's ruler, Northguard Grand Duke, lay elsewhere.
He knew.
That when the first Gate opened, it was our Winter Claw Tribe who fought at the forefront with Empire founder Croatina I, spilling blood to block the monsters.
The Grand Duke coveted that powerful 'hero's bloodline'.
To use the barbarians as his pieces in the empire's future split and civil war.
Thus, he gave Kara the fancy title of 'Wintersword' and held her hostage.
And 「Kairun von Northguard」
The future northern Grand Duke, called the empire's youngest Swordmaster—a genius.
But now, just an arrogant young lordling.
In my memories, he was the typical regret-story male lead.
Kairun liked Kara.
At least, when his father treated her merely as a 'tool,' it was he who got her into the academy, away from his father's grasp.
But his method was the problem.
With his filthy high pride, the idiot couldn't express his feelings.
He insulted her as a 'savage,' scorned and tormented her.
If he sensed his feelings slipping, he acted even crueler.
Like an elementary kid snapping a girl's rubber band and running away.
But since his target was Kara, living as a desperate hostage, it wasn't mere play—it was horrific abuse.
Especially using her tribe as hostages at every turn to break her down.
Finally, when Kara couldn't endure and swore loyalty to Princess Ellicia and left, he regretted it too late, pounding the ground in obsession like a loser.
But even that didn't last.
In the end, he fell head over heels for the main heroine, Princess Ellicia, who appeared later.
'Rotten bastard.'
Using new love as an excuse to drop his obsession with Kara, pretending to 'step back gracefully' like a cool guy.
In that muddy plot, Kara was thoroughly broken.
She had no life of her own.
She endured for the tribe.
She swung her sword for the illegitimate princess.
Tormented by the pathetic young lord's obsession...
Ending as the 'lonely knight' who grew old alone.
She insisted on celibacy not from ignorance of love.
It was karma.
Unable to contain her rage at losing her father, she waged a reckless war against the Blood Fang Tribe, dooming the tribe—and the guilt from that.
Kara believed she had no right to happiness and spent her life atoning through sacrifice for tribe and princess.
"......"
My body trembled.
If I hadn't come to this world?
If I hadn't saved Gorgon?
The woman in my arms now would carry despair instead of a child and be dragged to that cold imperial land.
That horrific 'original fate' weighed on me like goosebumps.
But.
"......I'm glad."
The words that escaped were relief.
Original plot destruction?
Who cares.
My wife now isn't some pathetic sub-heroine from a despair story.
She's 'Barg's wife,' making love passionately every night, eating delicious food, laughing happily.
Our child grows in her belly, and her father Gorgon stands behind her, alive.
From that pathetic Kairun.
From that wretched fate.
I saved her.
"Barg?"
Seeing me stand blankly, Kara gripped my clothes tightly, anxious.
I smiled.
Tears in my eyes, brighter than ever.
Whoosh!
I hugged her so tight she might break.
Kara's warm body heat.
Her fragrant skin scent.
And the heartbeats for two.
This was my reality, the victory I seized.
"You did well, Kara. So well."
I buried my face in her nape and murmured.
"We... won."
"What? Who'd we fight?"
Kara's voice was utterly puzzled.
I lifted my head to meet her clear sky-blue eyes.
"That bastard called fate."
"......Pfft! What're you saying."
Kara burst out laughing and poked my chest.
"Idiot. Dad'll tease you for being cheesy again."
"Let him. I'm in such a mood, I could dance with a troll."
We giggled at each other.
Happy.
Utterly.
But gods envy a barbarian's happiness.
That sweet moment tore apart as an uninvited signal blared.
Toot-!
A deep, intimidating trumpet.
Not the tribe's crude horn.
The Grand Duchy envoy's formal trumpet.
And the fateful sound signaling the start of chapter 1 in the original The Illegitimate Daughter's Path of Snowflowers.
Instantly, the air in the tent chilled.
Laughter vanished from Kara's stiffened face.
"......The Grand Duke's envoys."
Baba the Elder's raspy voice came from outside the tent.
"Tch. Persistent bastards. What scheme are they crawling in with this time?"
What was coming had arrived.
In the original, that trumpet would have been the reaper's call to drag Kara away by force.
But.
'Not this time.'
I gripped Kara's shoulders.
Her body trembled faintly.
Fear ordained by fate?
Or premonition of parting?
I warmly kissed the back of her hand and stood with resolute expression.
"Don't be scared, Kara."
My eyes held no more confusion.
The arrogance of one who shredded the original, mixed with the wild instinct of a male guarding his family.
I smiled gently and offered my hand to my wife.
"Let's go, dear. Time to greet the guests."
No god could take my wife and child.
A short while later, at the tribe's central plaza.
Gorgon sat crookedly on a throne made of mammoth bone.
Before him stood the envoy captain in splendid imperial attire, sweating profusely.
In the original, he had haughtily looked down on Kara with insults.
But now, he fidgeted, glancing around nervously.
Behind him, Barg couple stood arms crossed, eyes sharp as blades.
"Ahem. Chieftain Gorgon. As per our last negotiation, the Northguard Grand Duchy truly desires fusion with your tribe."
The envoy captain cleared his throat and unrolled a parchment scroll.
"Thus, His Highness the Grand Duke proposes that your noble daughter Kara enter the Empire's Eterna Academy to mingle with noble heirs."
"Proposes?"
Gorgon snorted.
"Fancy word for 'send her as a hostage later,' isn't it?"
"N-no! Absolutely not! Merely for harmony... and Kara's age is just right..."
The envoy captain waved his hands in excuse.
The big picture hadn't changed.
The Grand Duke still wanted Kara—and our tribe—in his grasp.
Just the method shifted from 'force' to 'enticement.'
Kara glanced at me anxiously.
"Barg..."
She knew.
If she refused, the Grand Duke would pressure the tribe with some other excuse.
I smirked.
'Fate's persistent, huh.'
But no matter.
If it's a fight we can't avoid, we fight in the enemy's yard—that's Winter Claw style.
I gripped Kara's hand tight and whispered in her ear.
"Let's go, Kara."
"......Huh?"
"Let's show them. How fearsome the Winter Claw Tribe is. How amazing the woman I love is."
Above all.
My eyes flashed.
'I wanna see that punk Kairun's face.'
Of course, current Kairun hasn't done wrong yet.
He hasn't even met Kara.
Once he does, he'll like her and act pathetic.
But in my head, he's the one who hurt Kara deepest.
That pathetic young lord who tormented my wife in a future that no longer exists.
If he's innocent, he should've been good from the start.
I wouldn't sleep without smashing my fist into that face.
"Father... I'll go."
Gorgon and the envoy captain's gazes snapped to Kara's resolved shout.
And I boldly wrapped my arm around her shoulders and declared.
"But I'm going too."
"Pardon? What..."
"I want to learn the empire's advanced tech and knowledge while I'm at it."
"Both of us will enroll."
The envoy captain blinked at our bold declaration.
His flustered gaze scanned me.
Over two meters tall, clad in beast hide—a savage.
But my eyes burned fiercely.
"Um... Chieftain Gorgon. Excuse me, but who is this...?"
The envoy captain cautiously asked Gorgon.
A playful smile tugged at Gorgon's lips.
"My son."
"Ah... your son?"
The envoy captain tilted his head.
Intelligence said Gorgon had only one daughter.
His wife died birthing Kara, after all.
But rumors spoke of an outstanding young warrior in Winter Claw who rivaled the chieftain's daughter.
'Could that rumored warrior be... a hidden son?'
The envoy captain convinced himself with wild imaginings.
Gorgon didn't correct to 'adopted son' or 'son-in-law.'
He just grinned and drove it home.
"What, got a problem with my son?"
"N-no! If he's the chieftain's son... he's qualified. Y-yes... possible."
The envoy nodded hastily.
Gorgon stroked his chin beard and tossed a second prank.
"That top empire academy—got good medicine, right?"
"Pardon? Oh, of course! The empire's best healers are stationed there."
"They handle births well too?"
"Births are basic... Pardon?"
The envoy blinked.
Academy talk turned to birth?
"W-well, with the best medical staff, births too... Wait, birth?!"
The envoy finally caught on, face paling in shock.
Gorgon chuckled and waved it off.
"Whoa, don't freak. We're savages, so marriages happen quick. Already a grandkid growing in there."
"......Pardon?"
The envoy's gaze drifted blankly to Kara's belly.
Silence fell.
His jaw dropped.
"Whaaaaaaaaat???????????????"
A savage couple—wife pregnant—enrolling in the empire's top academy.
The start of an unprecedented event in imperial history.