Volume 7 Chapter 1 Part 4
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Translation and editing by burnt.marshmallows
Someday, it didn’t have to be now. But I had always hoped that I could one day start a family with that man. I have had that thought a countless number of times. Yet, when I was actually told that there was a child in my belly, I couldn’t help but hesitate.
Seeing how I just continued to caress my belly, still at a loss of words, Dr. LIndeburg’s face turned solemn. She held up her index finger straight and gave me a stern look, her distinguished eyebrows pointing upwards. In response, I sat up straight. She started to explain to me slowly:
「With that said, we cannot relax just yet. This period will be a very important one for you, my lady. You are not allowed to let your guard down ok? Please come to me for regular checkups from now on. I will contact you again to make future appointments. But before that, go tell you worry-wart of a husband about this news.」
「Y-yes.」
I nodded deeply in return and stood up from my chair.「Thank you」I gave her a bow in my dazed state, before turning around and heading for the door.
I felt like I was floating. I was aware that my steps were unsteady. The part of me that was stayed wondrously calm sighed at myself, having been just been told to not let my guard down. However, my own appeals went unheard of when I thought about the existence of the being inside my stomach.
Oh yes. I had obviously gotten carried away. Even without Dr. Lindeburg telling me, I knew. Faster, faster. Even just a single moment earlier, I had to tell that man about this. I thought in my heart as I naturally quickened my steps. Before I could notice, I started to sprint lightly.
I shouldn’t. It would be bad news if I fell. Calm down. I told myself. I have to calm down. I repeated to myself repeatedly. I succeeded in stopping myself from jogging. Although in the end I couldn’t help but quicken my pace as I walked. I hurried towards the corridor of the White Lily Court. The doctors and nurses I passed by gave me a few weird looks, but I didn’t have the time to care. Sigh, was the White Lily Court always this big? I couldn’t help but feel that the Black Lotus Court research lab, where that man was waiting, was oceans away.
I rushed through the corridors alone for a bit. Then I had increased my pace as I weaved through the crowds of people who had entered the castle before I finally reached his research lab in the Black Lotus Court. My memories of how I reached this place had already become a blur to me. I was lucky that I wasn’t spotted by the guards, considering how unsteadily and dangerously I was walking.
I stood in front of the elaborately carved Mahogany [1. TL Note: “Mahogany” is a type of wood] door and took a deep breath. He was there, behind this door. As that thought entered my mind, my heart started pounding furiously.
How should I broach the topic? How should I explain it? Those thoughts started spiraling in my head. In the end, I wasn’t able to come up with anything to say. I took another deep breath. It’ll be alright. I kept telling myself.
It’ll be alright. It’ll be alright. I went up to knock on the door, my other hand subconsciously placed on my belly. But before I could even knock on the door, it opened from the other side.
「……Oh?」
Looking up without thinking, I was met with something black. In his robe, made out of high-quality black cloth, the man I called my husband had come to open the door for me. It was amazing that he noticed I was there, considering that I had tried not to make too much noise. Maybe it was the power of love. Just joking. Although it’s not even that funny. It wasn’t because of a reason as ambiguous as that. It was probably because of this magic orb he made for me, that I was wearing on my right wrist. He probably sensed its presence.
As I slowly looked up to see his beautiful, fair-skinned face, he sighed. He grabbed my shoulders and invited me into the research lab.
「That took quite long. If you were here you could have just come in.」
「Edi……」
Ah. Hearing his usual, disinterested voice, I let out a sigh of relief for some reason. At the same time, tears started to flow out of my eyes. But it was not just a single trickle. Tears came one after another and they just would not stop. Even I couldn’t help but be surprised. No matter how much I wiped my tears away with the back of my hands, the tears showed no sign of stopping.
Watching me suddenly start crying silently, that man’s eyes opened wide, surprised. But that only lasted for a moment. He quickly composed himself, outwardly at least, and used his hands to wipe my tears. He didn’t say a word. He just waited for me until I stopped crying. I appreciated his kindness. And that helped me to finally stop crying, as I sniffed my nose.
「Have you calmed down?」
「Yes. Thank you. 」
「I didn’t really do anything.」
I finally forced a smile for him, as he seemed to want to argue that he had not said a single word of consolation. I wondered if he would become angry had I told him that I did not expect anything like that from him in the first place. But even if he did get angry, it was what I really thought. Just being by my side, and letting me feel his warmth, was more than enough for me.
When I started laughing out loud, that man finally let out a sigh of relief. Holding up his fair-skinned hands and tracing them along the lines of my cheeks. I was filled with affection. His hands were warmer than anything in the world.
「So, what happened? Was anything wrong?」
Contrary to his kind touch, he asked in a low voice, causing me to tremble. He raised his eyebrows. I averted my eyes from him, as he silently pressured me into talking. 「Um……」My eyes wandered around.
「No, um, yes. It wasn’t really anything wrong……..But actually I think it would be more accurate to say that there was something? 」
That was a stupid question even for me. I let it slip out of my tongue before I could even realize it. Look what I did. That man, shocked as he was, let out another sigh. It seems that he understood the fact that it wasn’t anything that was very urgent, but he seemed to be irritated that he wasn’t able to get a gist of the situation from my answer.
「Don’t ask me. So which one is it?」
「Um, so, my point is…」
As I faced him, his voice growing more irritated by the second, I paused before I could swallow my saliva. I wonder when the last time I had been so nervous was. Well, in terms of being nervous about whether I would survive, I had, unfortunately, had the chance to experience that a countless number of times this year. But the kind of nervousness that I was feeling now, that caused me to tremble from sheer joy, was something that I probably felt last at my wedding.
「A baby」
I had already planned out what I would say to broach the topic on the way from the White Lily Court. Yet, in the end, the words that came out of my mouth were just those simple words, completely straightforward.
「A baby. They said. Right here in my belly.」
「…………………………A baby?」
As I said those words to that man, it felt like I was repeating it to myself again. After a long silence, he finally started to murmur. Afterward, as if he had finally caught up with what was going one, his sunrise-colored eyes, fringed by his long thick eyelashes, opened wide. His beautiful, glowing eyes, a mix of purple and orange, looked straight at me. Finally, his gaze moved toward my stomach.
No matter how hard you look at my still completely flat stomach, you would not possibly think that there was a child inside. Yet, as if to seek out the newly-formed life harbored in my belly, he kept staring straight at my belly.
「A baby between you, and me?」
「I’m pretty sure a baby in my belly could not be with anyone other than you.」
What a rude thing to say. I could forgive him for now, since I could understand that even someone like him would be confused in this situation. Otherwise, I would have slapped that beautiful face of his.
When I showed him how annoyed I was, slanting up the ends of my eyebrows, that man shook his head in a slight panic, before combing up his own hair. His beautiful hair, although messy, immediately slipped in between fairly-skinned fingers.
「No, right, you’re right. I see.」
His wandering, sunrise-colored eyes finally came into focus. It was not only me those eyes were looking straight at. It seemed that his eyes were placed on the baby inside my belly as well.
「ーーI, see」
That man murmured. It was a small, brief murmur. Is that all? Is what I wanted to say. But in reality, I wasn’t able to form the words in my mouth, and I could only swallow my words. It wasn’t the time to complain. Of course it wasn’t. Without any warning, a crystal clear teardrop had fallen from that man’s sunrise colored eyes. Of course I wouldn’t know what to say.
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