Chapter 5
Inside the large yurt Gorgon had prepared for our newlywed home.
Kara and I were enjoying a passionate newlywed life in which sparks flew whenever our eyes met.
After we had passionately loved each other until dawn the night before, I was taking a brief rest beneath the languid afternoon sunlight.
Bang!
Granny Baba burst through the tent flap, panting heavily.
She had Kara, who wore a bewildered expression, in tow.
“You rascal! At last! At long last, I get to see my grandchild!”
Granny’s booming shout shook the yurt.
“Huh...?”
I blinked blankly.
Kara, too, was at a loss, rubbing her belly and not knowing what to do.
“Granny? What are you talking about...?”
“Good grief, you dense children! How can you not know when the pulse is this clear? There’s a little one of yours growing in your belly, that’s what!”
Grandchild?
Pregnant?
Wait a minute.
The instant Granny’s shout struck my ears, the enormous dam blocking my mind came crashing down.
The word ‘grandchild’ became the final key, completely unlocking my tightly sealed memories from my previous life.
Crash-!
Like a window shattering, my sealed memories poured into my mind.
In front of a boot camp in South Korea.
Before enlisting, the novel I had last read while running a hand over my closely shorn hair.
<The Bastard’s Snowflake Path>.
And now.
The exact age at which I had read this novel in my previous life.
The spine-chilling coincidence served as a trigger, and the hazy ending of the novel came vividly back to me.
『I will protect my sun forever.』
The ending of the original novel.
The noble wolf knight who became the illegitimate princess’s bodyguard and vowed to protect ‘my sun’ while insisting on remaining single to the very end.
The lifelong-single sub-heroine, Kara Wintersword.
But then.
‘She’s pregnant with my child right now?’
Before the original story had even begun?
Forget remaining single.
She was carrying my child in her belly?
The exact opposite.
A complete destruction of the original plot.
The instant I realized that shocking fact, fragments of memory surged like a storm and fused into a single sentence.
‘I... I completely destroyed the novel.’
But there was no fear in realizing the scale of the destruction.
There was only overwhelming joy.
I looked at Kara.
She was still clutching her belly in confusion.
My favorite character, who in the original would have lived a lonely life, sacrificing herself for others before making a solitary exit.
My main heroine.
And now she was standing before me, her face flushed, carrying a new life.
“Varg...?”
Kara called my name, her eyes glistening with tears.
Since I said nothing, she seemed afraid I might not like it.
“Ha...!”
Unable to hold back my laughter, I pulled Kara into a tight embrace.
“Thank you, Kara. Thank you so much.”
“......Sob!”
Only then did Kara, held in my arms, burst into tears in relief.
She was crying simply because she was overwhelmed by the news of her pregnancy.
But my tears were different.
I had stopped it.
Her misfortune.
Her loneliness.
The reason I had come to this world.
And the reason I had needed to survive had been fulfilled.
“I love you. I’ll make you smile for the rest of your life.”
I kissed the tears at the corners of Kara’s eyes and whispered with all my heart.
Atop the ruins of the original novel I had smashed to pieces, our true story was beginning.
But...
That original novel I had smashed to pieces was definitely a...
Romance fantasy novel, right?
And an especially infuriatingly intense male-lead regret-and-ruin story at that.
But I’m a barbarian.
* * *
The plot of that romance fantasy novel I had read in my previous life was cruelly vivid.
Princess Elysia of the Holy Croatina Empire.
Born from the Emperor’s one-night fling, she was a wretch not even treated as a concubine’s child.
The story of her growth and romance after entering the academy.
And beside her, there was always ‘her.’
「Kara Wintersword.」
The Kara in the original story was not the radiant woman smiling before me now.
『Northern barbarian.』
『A girl sold as a hostage.』
Those were the derogatory names that followed Kara.
After Chieftain Gorgon’s death, the tribe lost its center and suffered a crippling blow in its war with the Bloodfang Tribe.
Its influence within Norheim plummeted, and it was shunned by the other tribes as well.
In the end, Kara became the young head of her household and had to break the ‘equal pact’ her father Gorgon had made with the Grand Duke and kneel to preserve the tribe.
Into a brutally one-sided relationship between superior and subordinate.
The Winterclaw Tribe lost its autonomy and was fully incorporated into the Northgard Grand Duchy, effectively reduced to the Grand Duke’s private army.
And the true intention of the ruler of the north, the Grand Duke of Northgard, was something else.
He knew.
When the first Gate opened, it was our Winterclaw tribesmen who had shed blood on the front lines alongside Croatina I, founder of the Empire, to hold back the monsters.
The Grand Duke coveted that powerful ‘bloodline of heroes.’
So he could use the barbarians as pawns in the Empire’s future division and civil war.
That was why he gave Kara the grand-sounding surname ‘Wintersword’ and kept her as a hostage.
And 「Kairon von Northgard」
The future Grand Duke of the North and a genius who would later be called the youngest Swordmaster in the Empire.
But for now, he was merely an arrogant young master.
In my memories, he was the archetypal male lead of a regret story.
Kairon liked Kara.
At least, he was the one who enrolled her in the academy to spirit her away from his father when the latter tried to treat Kara as nothing more than a ‘tool.’
But the method was the problem.
A fool with sky-high pride, incapable of expressing a single one of his feelings.
He insulted, scorned, and tormented Kara, calling her a ‘barbarian.’
Whenever he thought she might see through his feelings, he treated her even more viciously.
The childishness of an elementary schoolboy snapping the hair tie of the girl he likes and running away.
But because his target was Kara, who was living as a hostage with her life on the line, it was not a mere prank but horrific abuse.
He especially kept using her tribe as a hostage whenever he pleased, gradually breaking Kara down.
In the end, when Kara could endure no more, she swore loyalty to the princess, Elysia, and left; only then did the pathetic loser belatedly regret it, beat his chest, and become obsessed with her.
But even that did not last long.
In the end, the bastard’s heart was completely stolen by the main heroine who appeared later, Princess Elysia.
‘Damn him.’
Using his new love as an excuse, the bastard withdrew his obsession with Kara and pretended to be cool, ‘acting as though he were graciously taking a step back.’
In that muddy story, Kara was thoroughly broken.
She had no life of her own.
She endured for her tribe.
She wielded her sword for the illegitimate princess.
She suffered under the pathetic young lord’s obsession...
And in the end, she grew old alone—the ending of a ‘lonely knight.’
She had insisted on remaining single not because she knew nothing of love.
It was atonement.
Guilt over forcing the Bloodfang Tribe into a reckless war because she could not contain her rage at losing her father, thereby bringing her tribe into decline.
Kara believed she had no right to be happy and sacrificed herself for the tribe and the princess all her life, seeking atonement.
“......”
My body trembled violently.
What if I had never come to this world?
What if I had failed to save Gorgon?
The woman held in my arms now would have been dragged to that cold imperial land, carrying despair in place of the child in her womb.
The horrifying ‘fate of the original story’ was chillingly heavy.
But.
“......Thank goodness.”
The words that escaped my lips expressed relief.
Destroying the original story?
Who cared?
My wife now was not some wretched, broken sub-heroine from a misery story.
She was ‘Varg’s wife,’ who made passionate love with me every night, ate delicious food, and smiled happily.
Our child was growing in her belly, and her living father, Gorgon, stood strong behind her.
Away from that pathetic Kairon bastard.
Away from that god-awful fate.
I was the one who had saved her.
“Varg?”
Perhaps my blank stare had made her uneasy, because Kara clutched my clothes tightly.
I smiled.
More brightly than ever, with tears in my eyes.
Whoosh!
I hugged her so tightly it felt as though I might crush her.
Kara’s warm body heat.
The fragrant scent of her skin.
And the sound of two hearts beating.
This was my reality and the victory I had claimed.
“You did well, Kara. You really did well.”
I buried my face in the nape of Kara’s neck and mumbled.
“We... won.”
“What? Who were you fighting?”
Kara sounded bewildered, having no idea what I meant.
I raised my head and gazed into her clear sky-blue eyes.
“That bastard called fate.”
“......Pfft! What’s that supposed to mean?”
Kara burst out laughing and lightly thumped my chest.
“Idiot. If Dad hears you, he’ll tease you again for trying to sound cool.”
“Let him tease me. I’m in such a good mood I could even dance with a troll.”
We looked at each other and snickered.
I was happy.
Beyond measure.
But the gods are wont to envy a barbarian’s happiness.
A signal from an unwelcome visitor tore through that sweet moment.
Fwooo-!
A deep, imposing trumpet blast.
It was not the tribe’s crude horn call.
It was the formal trumpet call of the Grand Duke’s delegation.
And the sound of fate announcing the beginning of Chapter 1 of the original <The Bastard’s Snowflake Path>.
In an instant, the air inside the tent turned cold.
The smile vanished from Kara’s face, which hardened.
“......The Grand Duke’s delegation.”
Granny Baba’s gruff voice came from outside the tent.
“Tsk. Persistent bastards. What scheme have they crawled here to pull this time?”
The inevitable had arrived.
According to the original story, that trumpet blast would have been the Grim Reaper’s summons to forcibly drag Kara away.
But.
‘This time is different.’
I put an arm around Kara’s shoulders.
Her body was trembling slightly.
Was it fear ordained by fate?
Or a premonition of the separation to come?
I kissed the back of her hand warmly and rose with a resolute expression.
“Don’t be afraid, Kara.”
My eyes were no longer clouded with confusion.
They held both the arrogance of the one who had torn the original story to shreds and the primal ferocity of a male protecting his family.
I smiled faintly and extended my hand to my wife.
“Let’s go, darling. We have guests to receive.”
Not even a god could take my wife and child away from me.
* * *
A short while later, in the tribe’s central square.
Gorgon sat crookedly on a throne made of mammoth bones.
Before him stood the delegation’s leader, sweating profusely in splendid Imperial ceremonial attire.
In the original, he had looked down arrogantly at Kara and insulted her.
But now he merely watched for cues, utterly cowed.
Because behind him stood Kara and me, arms crossed and gazes sharp enough to kill.
“Ahem. Chieftain Gorgon. As agreed in the previous negotiations, our Northgard Grand Duchy wishes to achieve true integration with your tribe.”
The delegation leader cleared his throat and unfurled a parchment scroll.
“Therefore, His Grace the Grand Duke has proposed that Lady Kara, the chieftain’s daughter, enroll at the Imperial Academy Aeterna and build relationships with the children of nobles.”
“A proposal?”
Gorgon snorted.
“That’s what you call it? You want us to send her so you can use her as a hostage later, don’t you?”
“No, no! Absolutely not! It’s merely for the sake of harmony... And Lady Kara is at the perfect age, so....”
The delegation leader waved his hands and offered excuses.
As expected, the broad outline had not changed.
In the end, the Grand Duke wanted Kara—and our tribe—in the palm of his hand.
Only the method had changed from ‘coercion’ to ‘conciliation.’
Kara anxiously glanced at me.
“Varg....”
Kara knew.
If she did not go, the Grand Duke would pressure the tribe using some other excuse.
I gave a dry chuckle.
‘As expected, fate is persistent.’
But it didn’t matter.
If a fight was unavoidable, fighting in the enemy’s front yard was the Winterclaw Tribe’s style.
I gripped Kara’s hand tightly and whispered in her ear.
“Let’s go, Kara.”
“......Huh?”
“Let’s go show them how frightening the Winterclaw Tribe is. And how extraordinary the woman I love is.”
More than anything.
My eyes flashed.
‘I want to see that bastard Kairon’s face.’
Of course, the Kairon of now had not really done anything wrong yet.
He had not even met Kara.
Well, once he met her, he would fall for her and act like a pathetic loser.
But in my mind, he was the one who had wounded Kara most deeply.
That pathetic young lord who had tormented my wife in a future that no longer existed.
If that was unfair to him, he should have done things right from the start.
I felt I would never sleep unless I planted my fist in that bastard’s face.
“Father… I will go.”
At Kara’s determined declaration, Gorgon and the delegation leader both turned to look at her.
Then I boldly put an arm around Kara’s shoulders and declared,
“But I’m going too.”
“Pardon? What do you mean...?”
“I’d like to take this opportunity to learn about the Empire’s advanced technology and knowledge.”
“Both of us will enroll.”
The delegation leader blinked at our bold declaration.
His bewildered gaze swept over me.
A barbarian over two meters tall, draped in animal hide.
But his eyes shone fiercely.
“Um... Chieftain Gorgon, if I may ask, who is this gentleman...?”
The delegation leader cautiously asked Gorgon.
A mischievous smile spread across Gorgon’s lips.
“He’s my son.”
“Y-your son?”
The delegation leader tilted his head.
According to the intelligence reports, Gorgon had only one daughter, his sole child.
After all, Gorgon’s wife had died giving birth to their daughter, Kara.
But he had also heard rumors that the Winterclaw Tribe had an outstanding young warrior who could stand on equal footing with the chieftain’s daughter.
‘Could the warrior from those rumors... have been a hidden son?’
The delegation leader let his imagination run wild and convinced himself.
Gorgon did not bother correcting him by saying ‘adopted son’ or ‘son-in-law.’
He merely grinned and drove the point home.
“What? Do you have a problem with my son?”
“N-no, sir! If he is the chieftain’s son... he certainly qualifies. Yes, well... it’s possible.”
The delegation leader nodded before he could think better of it.
Stroking his beard, Gorgon casually tossed out a second joke.
“That academy said to be the finest in the Empire—it has excellent medicine, right?”
“Pardon? Ah, of course! The Empire’s finest healers are stationed there.”
“Then are they good at delivering babies?”
“Childbirth is basic... Huh?”
The delegation leader blinked.
They had been talking about academy enrollment, so why had childbirth suddenly come up?
“Yes... well, naturally, with the finest medical staff, childbirth is also.... What? Childbirth?”
The delegation leader belatedly understood and wore a horrified expression.
Gorgon laughed heartily and waved his hands.
“Ah, don’t be alarmed. We barbarians marry a little young. There’s already a grandchild growing in her belly.”
“......What?”
The delegation leader’s blank gaze drifted toward Kara’s belly.
Silence descended.
The delegation leader’s jaw dropped nearly to the ground.
“Pardon??????????????”
A barbarian couple was about to enroll at the Empire’s greatest academy, with a pregnant wife in tow.
It was the beginning of an unprecedented event in the history of the Empire.