After Surviving the Apocalypse, I Built a City in Another World

Kero was very professional and did all the standard checking. He didn’t seem to have found anything at first, which puzzled him, until he thought of something and flinched.

He looked at the young lady with purple hair. She was one of the few among the younger generation whom he actually liked, which was why he agreed on this visit in the first place. Normally, he would not go out of his way to do house visits at his age, let alone one that required so many oaths beforehand.

He had a complicated expression on his face.

…could it be?

His expression wasn’t missed by the two already-hyper-sensitive ladies. ”What is it?” Veronica asked, tone a bit more hurried than proper.

Cassandra pursed her lips and stared at him with furrowed eyebrows.

Kero seemed to have realized that he made the two girls nervous. ”A-Ah… let me try first,” he said. Just in case.

He was old in age and was old fashioned. He was uncomfortable, and maybe a little disgusted, if his supposition turned out to be true. At the same time, it was his age and experience that stopped him from walking out as soon as the thought came to be.

At the very least, even when his impression of the girl had dipped, she was still one of the better ones in this generation. He ought to give her the benefit of the doubt—something very, very, few females could get.

He took out a small kit about the size of the palm. It seemed like a plank of sorts but with a special gel-like solution in it.

”Forgive me, lady,” he said, taking a pin to get a drop of her blood.

The two women watched nervously as a drop fell on the gel-like substance and watched the solution turn pink in front of their eyes.

The old man paled, looking at her. Veronica went over to look at him. ”What is it? Is it so serious?”

”Ah, well… it is,” Kero said, already gesturing to pack up his things. ”M-Miss Cassandra is pregnant.”

Cassandra was pregnant.

Both of them almost fainted.

Kero excused himself then, evidently a lot more distant than before, but they didn’t worry about him telling his findings because of the detailed oath. They just paid him a bit of extra, giving him some Alterran goods they left for themselves in their spaces, to show their goodwill.

When the door closed, leaving the women in the room, their feet almost buckled as they felt the shock and weakness overwhelm them both.

This was indeed a very serious thing.

Cassandra could be banished (or even hunted down) if it became public knowledge. Women being intimate before marriage was already a shame—which would drop the status and value of a woman by several tiers—and getting pregnant out of wedlock was even worse.

Cassandra’s father had always loved face, and also wanted to find an excuse to get his illegitimate children in the forefront.

How ironic, right? How can she have the possibility of being hunted when the person he was replacing her with was illegitimate?

This was how powerful a man—especially a Lord’s—words were.

Cassandra heaved a deep breath. ”This means that I really can’t escape,” she said, voice completely devoid of any hope she had been holding on unconsciously. She had to go through with this wedding!

To be honest, a part of her had still been thinking of an escape route somehow even before this, it was just that she felt so ill to come up with anything.

But now…. she really couldn’t do anything.

Escaping would get her hunted down by two towns, making it too dangerous for her child. If she let it grow bigger without a wedding, chances were, they’d kill them both.

The best way was to marry someone and pass it off as his child. It had been a few weeks since she and Gill did the deed, and this timing of the wedding was not too far so she could still pass it off as a wedding night baby.

Veronica bit her lips as she held the other woman’s hand. She wanted to help, she really did, but her family was too tightly connected to Jacoba, dating all the way back to before it was a town. Helping her would be detrimental to her own family.

As a woman, Veronica’s family had been very kind to her, considering everything, and she couldn’t risk them like that.

Cassandra looked at her and her maids. ”I… I want to be alone now, please.”

”Cassandra…”

”I’ll be okay, I promise,” she said, but her voice cracked a bit and it got Veronica concerned. However, they didn’t dare stress her out too much by arguing and they left the room in the end.

Of course, Veronica told the maids to monitor her closely. She left her own maid, Vivi, to watch over her friend and inform her of any changes.

On the other side of the door, Cassandra was finally alone in her room. She hugged herself as she sat down on her window sill, looking wistfully outside.

She stared at the people who seemed free and in control of their own lives and limbs… unlike her.

Gill…, she thought, as tears fell down her cheeks. I miss you.

…

At this time, the man was looking over the level 6 walls of Jacoba Town, which was impressive for a Level 2 Town.

”So this is her home,” he said, panting heavily. He was a little dusty and very sweaty, obviously rushing here to the best of his ability.

He was about to move forward when his feet paused as he felt an onslaught of discomfort attack him.

He gripped his chest, which was suddenly stabbed by an intense pain. It hurt—really hurt—though he assumed it was because he rushed here too desperately.

Anyway, he didn’t have the leisure to rest right now, and he immediately went to the gates to enter her territory.

Wait for me, Cassandra!