My Life Is Your Undoing |WMMAP|

Prologue

Choose me instead of the child that is eating away at your life as we speak!

Diana rubs a gentle hand over her swollen belly, the words of her lover reverberating inside her mind. She understands that his emotions may be running high right now, but the way he said it... makes it sounds as if he doesn't even care about their child.

That can't be it, though.

Claude must love the miracle they have made together, right? He must love their future child as much as she does, right?

Yet after facing the brunt of his bitter fury, Diana isn't so sure anymore.

She sighs, the light from the dim candles casting a shadow over her beautiful face.

These days Claude has taken to living in his office, spending every waking moment researching on a way to guarantee her safety during her delivery. He refuses to sleep or eat, using mana to sustain himself as he pushes himself harder, each night bringing them a day closer to Diana's seemingly inevitable demise.

Facing death in the face, Diana isn't afraid. No, she will go to the afterlife, and she will do so gladly knowing that she has brought her little angel into this world.

But what worries her is Claude and the darkness surrounding him. When she's gone, will he treat their child well? Shocking nightmares of him shunning their future child plague her daily, until she feels compelled to do something about it, even if those nightmares aren't true.

They can't be true because Claude... Claude isn't that kind of person. The man she fell in love with simply can't be the man from her nightmares, the cruel father who – here her heart thumps loudly – killed his own daughter.

An uneasy sensation penetrates Diana.

A healer mage had come to check on her condition and said that their child would most likely be a female.

So if Diana gives birth to a daughter, there is no saying that Claude won't neglect her for being the unwitting murderer of her own mother or spiral down the dark path of ending their daughter's life...

Diana shakes her head, clearing those grim thoughts.

No, she needs to go speak to Claude.

This late at night, her personal guard – Felix Robane, Claude's most trusted aide and also an imperial knight – has already retired, so she pads down the hallways with near-silent footsteps, alone. She weaves through the familiar corridors of the Garnet Palace, where the emperor resides, to reach Claude's office.

She enters without knocking, as she usually does, but the sight before her makes her gasp.

The room is cast in utter darkness if not for the sputters of light emitting from the ominous mana circle that has been drawn on the ground, sprawling across the entire floor. Claude stands in the center, dark wisps of smoke curling around his body, and his azure eyes glowing like blue flames.

"Claude!" Diana shouts, dashing forward, but a barrier made by Claude erects itself between them.

"Don't come near me, not now," Claude grits out, the strain of feeding the mana circle getting to him.

"What is this?" Diana whispers in horror. Something about the magic feels terribly twisted.

Black magic, she realizes.

"Claude!" she demands, but he doesn't answer. Instead, a low groan slips out of him.

The mana circle sputters, and slowly begins to fizzle out.

Diana catches Claude as he crumples to the ground. Her hands dart all over his face.

"What's wrong, my love?" she asks, on the verge of crying.

Claude's eyes open and he exhales with a shudder. "I was merely testing out a way to keep you safe during the childbirth process, since you're so insistent on keeping the creature."

Diana's brows slam down. "For the last time, our child is not a creature."

Claude doesn't reply.

"And stop with your experimenting," Diana begs. "I don't like it."

He brushes a hand through his bangs. "I can't promise you that."

She bites her lip. "At least come with me," she says instead. "You need to rest."

"... Fine." Claude gives in.

As she helps him stand, the first seed of dread begins to plant itself in Diana's heart. Over the next few weeks, it will grow into full-blown panic as she watches her husband bury himself deeper and deeper in darkness, all in the name of protecting her.

But what price will the heavens demand of him for trying to preserve her life? And is it even worth it?

And thus it dawns on her.

My life is your undoing. 

A/N:

This is a little side project of mine because I adore WMMAP! 

Edit: It should be the Garnet Palace and not Diamond Palace (which I created myself LOL). Thanks to manhwa-kun for pointing it out!