CHAPTER 148: CHAPTER 148- PROTECT

Charles’ Side

When Charles returned to the empty house, he kept searching—desperately, irrationally—for traces of her.

She dared to run. With his child.

Even the symbol of their vows—discarded like trash.

It had already been three months.

Her wedding ring.

"Don’t say things like that!" Manfred’s voice cracked. "You’re not going to die! Janet, listen to me—medicine has advanced so much. You’ll survive, you have to! You’re only twenty. Your life’s just beginning. You have a future with Charles. Are you really willing to throw all of that away?"

How could he not?

Deeply. Fiercely.

"You’ll never understand what it’s like to feel a baby move inside you. She’s real, she’s alive—I feel her. I love her. And I won’t let anyone take her from me!"

She refused.

"But what if I don’t make it?" Janet asked quietly. "What if I go through with the surgery and still die? Will you ask me to bury this child with me in the grave?"

A low, hoarse voice came from the doorway, laced with fatigue and helplessness. When Manfred saw Janet’s anxious little face relax, he finally stepped forward and stood quietly at her bedside.

But it turned out... that night had only been a carefully laid trap. A gentle snare made of silk and kisses.

The moment the doctor confirmed that the bleeding was from minor placental disruption and stress-induced irregular heartbeat, Manfred knew something was wrong. He’d demanded a full brain scan.

The baby was still there.

He thought she had surrendered.

She left because she didn’t want the baby to become collateral damage in their tragedy.

And when he saw the growing mass of clotted blood in her head on the imaging slides—he had to resist the urge to shake her senseless.

But there was nothing. Not a single trace of her shadow left behind.

His heart had already gone numb.

She loved her.

She wasn’t running from love.

"You think you’ll live long enough to give birth? Do you even realize that if you don’t start treatment soon, you’ll go blind?!" Manfred finally lost control, his voice echoing through the sterile white room.

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She was going to keep this child.

Everything had spiraled beyond what he ever imagined. But he’d already made his choice—to protect her, no matter what. Even if it meant giving her up to another man. Even if it meant pushing her toward Charles.

How much courage did it take for a woman to make that kind of decision?

So she had planned this all along.

Risking your life for an unborn child—is that really worth it?!

It wasn’t until she felt the familiar curve beneath her palm—firm, safe, unharmed—that she finally let out a breath.

She was trying her best not to get emotional. Her body was already weak—she couldn’t afford another breakdown. But she had made a promise—at her mother’s grave—that she would protect this child with everything she had.

He lay on the bed they used to share, the sheets still carrying her jasmine scent. Her delicate smile haunted every corner of the room, replaying over and over in his head like a film he couldn’t pause.

The moment she opened her eyes, she reached for her belly—her hand trembling with urgency and fear.

Janet... how could you be this cruel?

No matter what happened to her body—she would hold on.

Left behind on the pillow as if it meant nothing. As if he meant nothing.

"I love Charles," she whispered, her lips trembling. "And I want something that belongs only to us. A piece of proof that we existed... together. That’s why I have to give birth to this child, Manfred. You promised you’d help me. This is all I ask of you."

This time, if he caught her again... he would never forgive her.

"You’re awake?"

She didn’t leave Charles because she didn’t trust him.

He closed his fist around the ring, letting its sharp edges dig into his palm, drawing blood. But he didn’t feel the pain.

But what he couldn’t understand—what kept him awake and tearing at his own mind—was why she left.

He thought that after last night—after the way she had clung to him, cried beneath him, whispered his name over and over—she would finally stay.

She could feel it now—truly feel the life growing inside her. Not just as a fact, but as a presence. A quiet, stubborn existence rooted deep inside her body.

As long as she lived, it didn’t matter.

He didn’t believe her when she said it was just for revenge on Elvira.

He didn’t believe she felt nothing for him.

No matter what happened.

She shook her head firmly, tears glimmering in her eyes.

She looked so calm. So resolved.

I’m such a terrible mother... I let myself bleed again...

"Janet." Manfred’s voice softened, nearly pleading. "There are more important things right now. Terminate the pregnancy. Cooperate with the doctors. Get the surgery. When you recover, you and Charles can have another baby—ten more, if you want. But only if you live. That’s the condition."

"I can do it," Janet said softly, gripping the sheets. "Seven more months. I can last that long. Even if I go blind, I don’t care. I will give birth to her. Manfred, I can’t promise I’ll survive the operation... but I need this child to be born safe and sound."

"I’m keeping her, Manfred," Janet said, her voice firm despite the tears. "No one’s taking her from me. Not even myself."

The doctors begged her to terminate.

Janet’s Side

No one could understand what she felt when she first learned about the little life inside her. That tiny spark had become her hope. And Charles’s too.

Tears gathered in her lashes, but she never let them fall. She wasn’t alone anymore. She had someone inside her who gave her strength.

The biggest mistake Charles had ever made in his life was trusting her too deeply. Believing too much in her soft eyes and trembling lips.

His face darkened.

"Janet..." he whispered, his voice low and dangerous. "I told you—you can’t get rid of me."

To undergo surgery.

But no. He was wrong. Terribly, laughably wrong.

Because she was pregnant, she couldn’t be treated with meds. She was surviving on sheer willpower. And although her injury occurred after the pregnancy began, so the baby wasn’t affected—it didn’t change the fact that she was slowly deteriorating.

"She’s okay... She’s really okay..." Janet sat up abruptly, her fingers flying to her abdomen. The moment she felt that steady, rhythmic presence within her—alive and undisturbed—tears rolled down her cheeks. Tears of relief. Of guilt.

Had Janet been playing him like a fool this whole time?

He knew her too well—she was stubborn to the core. Once she made a decision, no one could change her mind.

The one he gave her.

His fingers clenched the snowy bedsheets, knuckles white. When his eyes opened again, the sadness had vanished—replaced by a cold, sharp fury.

How could he watch her face death alone, sleepless and trembling, and still hold onto this fragile life?

He’d thought she left Charles because of health issues. But no—she left so she could give birth in peace. Her love for Charles ran so deep, she was willing to die for it?

It was that feeling—so powerful, so undeniable—that made her even more certain.

Three months.

Suddenly, his fingers touched something cold and hard beneath him. He sat up straight, eyes narrowing.

His heart suddenly felt hollow, like a cloud adrift in the sky—untouchable, invisible, lost.

"I can’t do that. I won’t do that."

By the time Janet woke up, night had already fallen.

A ring.

Clutching onto his last sliver of hope, he told himself—this had to be a joke. Just one of her silly games to tease him.

"Why didn’t you tell me you were pregnant?" Manfred’s voice trembled with suppressed anger. He honestly wanted to pry open her skull and figure out what the hell she was thinking.

"Janet..." Manfred finally gave in.

She was protecting it.