Leonel followed after Kammy calmly, his expression unreadable. Had the middle-aged blacksmith been watching Leonel, he might have realized that it might have been in their best interest if Leonel stayed on the inside...

But realizing it was one thing. Actually being able to stop Leonel from going to see if his wife was alright was a different matter entirely.

And maybe Kammy would have understood this as well.

A man's love for his wife couldn't be described in just a few words. A man's love for his pregnant wife existed in a league all its own.

To call it a reverse scale simply didn't do it justice.

The two walked out from the flaps of the smithy to hear Elaine cursing to the high heavens.

"We've already given you the quota. It never changes, so don't start your bullshit now. Do I look thin and frail to you? Do you know how many children these hips have birthed? Do you think I would fear a brat so wet behind the ears? Come, come. See if I don't spin your jaw around your neck!"

Elaine gripped onto a broom with one hand and a rolling pin in another. Her apron was still caked in flour, and she had just been eager to listen to a few more baking techniques that Aina was teaching her when the commotion triggered.

When she saw Jones and his men bully the apprentices who didn't seem to know what to do, her motherly instinct flared up.

There were eight apprentices across the town, and two of them were her flesh and blood, and the last was a son she had adopted. Kammy had three apprentices here, and they could all be considered to be under the valiant housewife's protection. How could she not flare up?

Jones sneered at Elaine's display. The first time he had seen it, he had actually gotten quite scared. But after coming away unharmed several times, he realized that this housewife only knew how to put up a valiant front; she wasn't actually all that valiant at all.

And how could she be? A single poke from one of his guard's swords and she would be dead.

Jones had beady little eyes and pale skin that didn't make sense for most of those in this city. Bronzed or tanned skin was pretty much the norm in this region. For someone to be as pale as Jones, it was either they were incredibly sick or they spent not even the slightest modicum of time working.

His skinny-fat posture played perfectly into that. He had a somewhat lanky frame but a belly that half spilled over his waistline, giving him a disproportionate and truly disgusting appearance to look at.

If that wasn't enough, his oily hair and wretched scent certainly didn't help at all.

He ignored Elaine and looked to her back, watching a calm and silent Aina. His eyes lit up, only to be marked by a barely perceptible fury when he saw just how pregnant she

was.

One would have thought that Aina was owed to him, as though she had committed some sort of taboo by carrying a child that wasn't his.

Maybe in this town, that was precisely the case. In fact, the first time he saw Aina, he was more shocked than anything else.

He didn't believe that there was such a beauty around that he had never seen before. He was aware of the existence of every single one of them. How could he have possibly missed the very best of them?

Even though they could hide her for a while, by the time she grew up, rumors would have spread. Which meant that this woman must have come from outside the town and was very likely a new resident.

Just as Jones was about to make some inquiries, the valiant housewife blocked his line of sight to Aina.

"You better keep those stupid little beady eyes away from my daughter-in-law, you little bastard. Otherwise, I don't mind castrating you right here and now."

Aina raised an internal eyebrow, but she didn't say much. She could guess the woman's thoughts.

There was definitely some veil of protection that came with being one of the only three blacksmiths' wives, so Elaine was trying to extend that protection to Aina as well.

Unfortunately, she had made a little bit of a slip-up.

"A daughter-in-law that I've never heard of?" Jones finally spoke in a high-pitched, ear-grating voice. "Are you trying to say that one of your sons married outside the village and no one knew about it? Tell me, what is your family conspiring? Don't tell me that you're planning to defect to our enemies?"

Elaine froze, not quite knowing how to respond to this.

"Detain them, guards. I'll have to thoroughly investigate this matter. In these troubling times, we can't let even a single traitor go. This is also a matter of the security of our city, don't go easy on them just because they're women or... pregnant."

There was a distinctive pause before he spoke out the last word.

Elaine's brows jumped with fear and horror as she realized the implication. As for

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Aina, her reaction was muted. If she hadn't seen a certain man suddenly step out from the smithy, her reaction alone might have caused Jones to piss his pants. But now that her husband was here, there wasn't a need for her to lift a finger and potentially cause the baby harm.

As for the implication of Jones' words, they were all too obvious. He was a man of many sick fetishes, but pregnant women were not on that list. Wouldn't it be more convenient if that baby was gone?

PUCHI! PUCHI!

Kammy didn't even get a chance to say anything as the two guards fell with bloody holes in their chests.

At some unknown time, Leonel had already picked Jones up by his throat, squeezing down so hard that the man's face became red, then white, then purple.

BANG!