THE EVIL QUEEN'S LOVE | YOONGI X READER

《~HER PROTECTOR~》

●AUTHOR'S POV●

The seasons did not drift—they tore past like storms.

Each sunrise brought weight: the swell of Y/n’s belly, radiant and terrifying in equal measure, and the heavy dread that pressed into Jimin’s chest like an iron brand. Yoongi, ever vigilant, doubled the guards near the Queen’s chambers though no enemy had breached Welkin’s borders. But the silence from Azurethra was its own omen—a pause before the blade fell, a warning before the storm unfurled.

And still, life refused to slow.

At night, Jimin walked the battlements beneath the pale glow of the moon, shadows slicing across his sharp face. Each echo of his boots was marked by the phantom of his father’s cursed voice, whispering like a drumbeat in his ears.

Two months.
One month.
Weeks.

And then—

The cry tore through the night. A scream, sharp and raw, reverberated across the cold stone corridors of Welkin Castle.

The palace froze. It was a silence thick with dread, threaded with fervent prayer. Guards stiffened, servants dropped their heads, courtiers fell to their knees as the chapel bells tolled—low, mournful, summoning the mercy of gods who so often remained cruelly quiet.

Inside her chamber, chaos unfolded with purpose. Midwives hurried, healers prepared herbs that smoked in clay bowls, maids gathered towels and steaming water. The air was thick with heat, with fear, with anticipation.

Y/n’s breaths came ragged, her face pale and damp with sweat. The swell of her body trembled under the pain, every contraction a wave that threatened to drag her beneath the surface.

Yoongi knelt at her side, hands trembling though he tried to hide it. He had stood before armies and never flinched. He had bathed his sword in blood and never lost his breath. Yet here—watching her writhe in agony he could not fight—he was undone.

He clutched her hand, his thumb stroking across her knuckles, slick with perspiration. His voice broke as he bent closer, forehead pressed to hers.

“I’m here,” he rasped. “Do you hear me, my love? I’m not leaving you. Not now, not ever.”

Her lips curved into a faint, strained smile. “You… better not.”

Outside, Jimin leaned against the wall of the chamber corridor, his arms folded, his body taut with restraint. Each cry from within sliced him open, left his chest tight with a dread he refused to name. When a scream sharper than the rest shattered the air, he lurched forward, his composure cracking.

The guard at the door pressed a steadying hand to his chest. “My lord, she is strong. She will endure. The Queen will endure.”

Jimin’s jaw locked. He forced himself to stay still, though every bone in his body ached to break inside.

Within, Yoongi was bent over her, murmuring against her damp temple, his lips tracing desperate kisses to her hairline. “Breathe, love… just breathe. You’re almost there.”

Her grip tightened on his hand with vice-like force. He prayed silently—to gods he barely believed in—that he could take her pain into himself, bear it instead of her. But he could not.

And then—

The sound came.

Not Y/n’s cry, but another. A new one. Fragile, piercing, alive.