Villainous Concubine Has Run Away chapter 37

* * *

Joo Minhyuk is being strange.

Usually, when I open my eyes at dawn, he is there, holding me tight.

Since he’s been sleeping here so often lately, the act of holding me wasn’t strange in itself—but lately, by the time the sun rises, he’s gone.

He doesn’t contact me at all during the day, then crawls in like a thief at dawn to embrace me, only to vanish again by morning.

I heard from Hyunwook that the paperwork was piling up like mountains, so I tried to be understanding, thinking he only had time to sleep.

But then I started to wonder what the hell he was doing.

Is Joo Minhyuk avoiding me?

After devouring me like that lately, is he already tired of me?

No, if he were tired of me, he wouldn’t even bother coming to hold me while he sleeps, right?

So, I went to find him just to see his face, but every time I went, he was “away” and I couldn’t see him.

Even if his break times aren’t regular, surely I should be able to catch a glimpse of him for a moment, yet he won’t show himself to me.

And just a while ago, I clearly felt he was inside the office, yet I was told the ridiculous lie that he was out.

I stood there for a bit longer before turning back.

Why is he doing this?

“…Is he sulking about something?”

Not knowing the reason is driving me crazy with frustration.

No matter how much I rack my brain, I can’t think of anything.

I’ve been staying quietly in my palace lately, and even though I’m curious about how Seojoo and Han Heeseong are doing, I haven’t stepped a single foot out of the palace.

I just wait for Joo Minhyuk, and when he comes, we eat dinner like a normal couple and share a bed like usual.

But why the sudden change?

Normal? “Normal,” he says.

No. Joo Minhyuk was never a normal man.

Lately, I’ve been so focused on his sweet side that I forgot what kind of personality he really has.

Joo Minhyuk is a meticulous man.

He is a person who does nothing by accident—not a single action, not a single word.

That means this petty-looking behavior must have a reason…

I just don’t know what it is.

Or has his heart really changed that quickly?

I think I’ve been letting my guard down too much, living too comfortably.

“No. There was nothing to change in the first place. It might have been nothing from the start. Joo Minhyuk never even said he liked me.”

Thinking it over, it’s true.

Joo Minhyuk has never expressed his feelings for me in words.

I’m not talking about the conversations we had while mixing bodies or when he was excited by pheromones.

I’m talking about his actual feelings.

He has never said he loves me or likes me.

He hasn’t even let it slip as a passing comment.

He hasn’t even brought up anything similar.

He shows interest, protects me, and checks in on me every day, but it’s a stretch to call that love.

How should I put it… the way Joo Minhyuk is acting toward me feels more like possessiveness or an obsession with his Omega rather than a form of love.

Realizing this, an unknown sense of anxiety suddenly rushed over me.

“…And me? I’m no different. Cha Haejoo, you haven’t told Joo Minhyuk you like him either.”

How do I feel about Joo Minhyuk?

Was I just swept along by the “couple” label and pushed into things until the knotting happened?

No. The expression “pushed into” doesn’t fit our situation.

I clearly did it because I wanted to, and it’s not like there was no physical contact before that.

If I had hated it, I would have rejected it long ago.

It happened in an instant.

Me falling into Joo Minhyuk’s hands, I mean.

My goal of just living quietly and surviving without offending him vanished into thin air, and before I knew it, I was wrapped in his arms.

“…Is this right?”

Just because we’re a couple, is it right to have sex and live like this even without feelings?

It’s not like he wants a baby from me, either.

“Before the knotting, he was talking about pregnancy and all that. But no. Joo Minhyuk doesn’t know, but I heard it with my own ears—I know they were mixing contraceptive pills into my food.”

I wasn’t just guessing based on what I saw in the novel.

Shortly after I was reincarnated here, I heard it myself.

I heard the order that the Emperor, by the Empress Dowager’s command, had told them to put contraceptive pills in the Grand Royal Concubine’s food, so to carry it out without mistake.

I don’t know who the people having that conversation were.

I was too young then and was in the middle of adjusting to this place, so I naturally had no desire to have a child.

I just lived quietly, holding my breath to survive.

So, it’s certain that I was taking birth control. I just don’t know if that’s still ongoing.

Can a heart like that change in a single moment?

Is he the type of person to change a long-held plan just because he found out I wasn’t on my grandfather’s side and was being mistreated?

I became terrified of what Joo Minhyuk’s true intentions were.

No chance of being stabbed in the back?

Why did I make such a sweet assumption?

Perhaps the plan to strike down my family is still ongoing.

If so, I don’t know what will happen to me either.

My relationship with the Yeonghwa Palace (Han Heeseong) has become incomprehensible, but Han Heeseong isn’t the only pro-Imperial Dominant Omega out there.

Why did I only now realize that Joo Minhyuk’s heart could change as the situation changed?

As for my heart… I can tell how I feel without even saying it.

If a single action from Joo Minhyuk can make my mental state collapse and leave me trembling with anxiety like this.

But these thoughts, all of this, is also just speculation.

To make me spin such a web of imagination with just one action—you’re amazing, Joo Minhyuk.

But I can’t just let this slide.

I don’t know if he’s sulking about something or if this is part of some “push-and-pull” plan, but I need to nip this habit in the bud right at the start.

To make me feel this serious.

What’s the most important thing between a couple—no, in any human relationship?

It’s communication.

Dialogue.

Why are humans not beasts?

Because we can communicate with each other.

Then he should act like a human and live like one.

Don’t you think, Joo Minhyuk?

You should get a taste of your own medicine.

You bastard.

---

I didn’t stay in my bedroom that night.

As always, I told the palace servants in advance that I would be sleeping in a different room and quietly moved my sleeping quarters.

There were countless rooms in my palace, and I often slept in a different room just for a change of pace.

As a concubine, I couldn’t leave the palace, and unless there was an external schedule, sleeping anywhere other than the palace was unthinkable.

So I chose rooms within my palace to sleep in to feel a bit of freedom, but lately, because Joo Minhyuk had been coming so often, I had only slept in the bedroom.

Usually, I didn’t specify which room I was choosing, and my attendants, who were worried at first, eventually just followed my lead as time went on.

So Joo Minhyuk wouldn’t find it easy to locate which room I was tucked away in unless he opened every single door.

Let him search, or let him sleep alone.

He doesn’t want to see my face but he likes my body and wants to hold me—is that it?

Not a chance. I was born a man; I have my pride.

I went up to the very last attic room among the many in the palace.

No one ever comes here.

The stairs leading up here are very narrow and the space is cramped, so it’s a place that isn’t really used and was always empty.

So the court lady always kept it tidy so I could rest here whenever I wanted, and it was still in a comfortable state.

Since I was young, I used to hide here to breathe comfortably on my own and recharge my exhausted body.

It was a place I frequented until recently, but Joo Minhyuk probably doesn’t even know a place like this exists.

Even if he did, he probably couldn’t even get up here with that huge frame of his.

He’d get stuck.

Anyway, I’m not going to show my face to Joo Minhyuk for a while.

“To cause me such worry. You’re just like my grandfather. Do you think I’ll show my face so easily, aaack!”

I was grumbling as I crawled into bed when I suddenly felt a stinging pain in my lower abdomen.

The intensity wasn’t great, but I was very surprised because it was an unexpected pain.

I touched my stomach, frozen in the middle of getting into bed.

“What was that? Indigestion?”

If it were indigestion, my chest would hurt; why does it hurt here?

Or is it because we’ve been doing it too often lately?

But we haven’t done it for about four days?

By now, any pain from intercourse should have vanished.

Hmm, I guess it’s because I’m so stressed out because of Joo Minhyuk.

Look, it’s fine now.

And seeing as how I’m suddenly overwhelmed with sleep despite being startled, I must be tired.

“…I was going to stay up and peek to see if Joo Minhyuk came or not. Well, you can’t even see from here anyway. Whatever. If I’m not there, he’ll just go back.”

I rubbed my lower belly, slightly worried the pain might return.

But there was no more pain until I fell asleep, and I drifted into a sleep so deep I didn’t even know when it happened.

---

CRASH!

I woke up with a start at a massive roar loud enough to snap me out of sleep instantly.

What was that?

It was the sound of something being violently smashed.

Would “shattered” be a better word?

Getting out of bed, I opened the window.

This side was the back, so I couldn’t see anything anyway, but I opened it to at least hear the sound.

It seemed a great commotion had broken out.

I heard people’s voices pleading for someone to stop, and among them, I heard a man’s voice I recognized.

It was the voice of the Chief Secretary.

He was shouting at the people to back away so they wouldn’t get hurt, saying that no one could stop ‘His Majesty’ right now.

Some of the palace servants were even screaming in shock.

Wh-what is all this noise?

What’s happening?

It seems Joo Minhyuk has caused some kind of incident.

* * *