Chapter 200

Ivetsa and Lady Petisson had insisted that, aside from the color of her hair, the baby looked exactly like Elise. Elise, however, thought the child had Rezette’s eyes. Whenever the infant opened them, the resemblance became even more obvious, especially in the soft line cast by her lower lashes.

The baby, who had apparently survived the first five days after birth on nothing but Rezette’s magic, burst into miserable sobs the moment she was placed in Elise’s arms. Elise froze in panic, unsure what to do, and the women from Rotiara hurried in behind her, guiding her hands and teaching her how to hold the child and bring her to the breast.

“It seems the young lady recognizes Your Highness,” Ivetsa said gently as she adjusted Elise’s awkward posture. “Until now, His Grace the Grand Duke has been watching over her, but newborns really should grow on their mother’s milk. It will ease the tightness in Your Highness’s chest as well.”

Ivetsa’s nose was swollen like a strawberry from crying the moment she had seen Elise awake. Beside her, Freya sniffled and dabbed at her tears.

“If you had not woken by today, I was going to tell them to prepare themselves,” Freya confessed shakily. “Five days. Five whole days…”

From behind Elise, where Rezette held her, not a single sound came from him.

Trying to keep track of his still corpse-cold body heat while also watching the nursing infant left Elise flustered and busy.

“They say she’s smaller than most babies, but still healthy considering she didn’t carry to full term,” Ivetsa added with relief. “What a blessing. I’ve never seen hands this tiny before.”

“Oh, what is this?” Elise exclaimed.

She gently stroked the little hand, barely a quarter the size of her own palm. On the plump back of the hand, so round it barely distinguished itself from the wrist, a single black, glossy scale was attached.

“This looks like you too,” Elise said brightly. “It really does.”

“Rezette?”

Rezette only pressed his lips against her temple, rubbing them there without answering. He looked as if speaking itself were difficult. Passing by, Lady Petisson added in an offhand tone, “He hasn’t slept. It’s been nearly a month since he’s had proper rest.”

“…Pointless chatter.”

The voice that fell against Elise’s ear was rough, scraped thin like sandpaper. She glanced at her husband’s face in worry.

“Are you tired? You can close your eyes for a moment.”

“Not at all.”

“Your eyes are red.”

Lady Petisson smiled faintly and began, “That’s because His Grace shed quite a few tears while waiting for Your Highness to wake—”

“Enough. Out. All of you.”

The instant the order fell, a formless surge of magic shoved the three women straight toward the door. Freya cried out in dismay as she was pushed back.

“Ah, I still haven’t finished explaining the medicines you need to take. And most importantly, for the time being, for at least a hundred days, absolutely no sharing a bed—”

“I already know.”

Freya met his blazing gaze head on and snapped her mouth shut. The door slammed in the faces of Lady Petisson, Ivetsa, and Freya with a heavy bang.

Lady Petisson clicked her tongue. “Honestly, how particular he is.”

“Well, he’s been through a great deal,” Ivetsa replied with an understanding smile. “He probably has no room to spare right now.”

Then she beamed at the other two and declared, “In any case, it’s finally time for the family to be together.”

***

“Did you cry?”

Elise could hardly believe it.

Rezette and tears. The combination was so mismatched that it only made her more curious. Forgetting even the baby in her arms, she pressed him eagerly.

“Really? Truly?”

“Do you suppose I would be smiling,” Rezette replied hoarsely at last.

He finally lifted his head and bit her earlobe, not hard enough to hurt. It was the first reprimand he had managed after two full hours of her nonstop chatter. His voice was still rough and broken.

“When I might have been left alone with a newborn,” he said quietly, “you should consider it fortunate that it stopped at tears.”

“I came back as fast as I could,” Elise protested softly. “I really did try to hurry.”

“Not after enjoying a pleasant reunion with your brother, I assume?”

“It wasn’t pleasant,” she admitted. “I hit him a few times before I left. …But how did you know?”

How could he not? The ancient relic he had pressed into her hand had vanished without a trace. At first he had thought it had been absorbed into her body, but he soon realized that was not the case. The relic’s power had passed through her unconscious state and flowed instead to the twin.

“I did not give that to you for such a purpose,” Rezette muttered stiffly as he pulled her collar up.

Cherry, her belly full, wriggled faintly.

“It went to the one who needed it more,” Elise said simply. “But where did you get that in the first place?”

“I took it from the king of Ugel,” Rezette replied. “They claimed it was a remnant left behind by the gods in ancient times. Whether that is true, I cannot say.”

His dark wish to make his wife immortal had ultimately failed. The relic had ended up in the emperor’s hands, which meant that, in a way, he had succeeded in creating an undying king after all.

It was not the outcome he had wanted, but if Elise was satisfied, there was nothing he could do but accept it.

So I am destined to live the rest of my life in fear, he thought.

From now on, there would not be a single day when he would not worry that she might collapse again, that this fragile breath might snap without warning. Even now, whenever Elise merely closed her eyes, his heart still lurched.

If the scene before him was a dream, he wished it would remain preserved like this forever.

Unlike Rezette, who had yet to fully return to reality, Elise’s mind was working with surprising clarity.

If it’s an object imbued with divine power, then it makes even more sense for Andrei to have it, she reasoned. Dragons are servants of the gods. Even a maddened dragon would not reject divine power.

Good. Maybe Andrei will come back sooner than expected…

“Elise. Look at me,” Rezette said firmly.

“Yes?”

He pulled up the front of her gown and closed it. Only then did Elise realize her chest had been exposed, and her ears flushed red. Every thought she had been having scattered at once.

“If your chest tightens again, tell me immediately,” Rezette said, drawing out his words with stern insistence. “They said it must be relieved quickly or you will suffer from engorgement. Do not use recovery magic first because it hurts. Elise. Please.”

“Alright…”

Freya had already repeated the same warning two or three times directly in front of him before leaving, insisting that Elise could not manage alone and that her husband would have to help.

It was nothing to be embarrassed about, yet the back of her neck still burned. It was not as if she had entrusted her body to him only once or twice, and yet her heart still pounded like this every time.

“It doesn’t hurt right now,” she said quickly. “If it does even a little, I’ll tell you right away. A-anyway…”

Blushing, Elise shifted her attention back to the baby.

“She’s really small. She should have grown at least two more months like other babies.”

“I was told there is nothing abnormal,” Rezette replied. “Her magic is stable as well.”

In the five days since her birth, the baby had grown a little. She weighed slightly more and opened her eyes more easily. Her soft, wheezing breaths were so adorable that Elise did not know what to do with herself.

“This is amazing,” Elise whispered. “Did you see the wings on her back? And this on her hand?”

“I have seen them thoroughly,” Rezette answered. “While you were asleep.”

“Still…”

Elise hesitated, choosing her words carefully.

“Could you look again just once? She’s beautiful. And… she’s cute.”

In Rezette’s eyes, the most beautiful and adorable thing in the world was the face looking up at him right now with such earnest hope. He did not want to look away for even a moment.

But the uncertainty clouding Elise’s gaze pricked painfully at his chest.

She was watching his mood because of the cruel things he himself had once said, afraid he might not welcome the child.

I should have chosen my words more carefully.

Unable to bear how pitiful and lovable she looked as she gauged his reaction, Rezette leaned in first and pressed his lips to hers. He swept his tongue slowly, lingering as if to quench his thirst with life-giving warmth.

Only after that did he speak.

“I was not lying,” he said quietly. “I checked everything. Whether there were any abnormalities, whether unusual symptoms appeared, even whether the number of fingers and toes was correct. For five days, I waited here with her for you.”

“Really? How was she?” Elise asked eagerly. “She didn’t cry, did she?”

“She was beautiful,” Rezette said. “And well behaved.”

That was, of course, excluding the moments when she shrieked at the top of her lungs.

“…Gentle…”

That part was more wishful thinking than fact.

Silently offering a small prayer she could not hear, Rezette finished, “She was born in a way that leaves me no choice but to love her at first sight. As I promised you.”

“As in the promise that you would be a good father?”

“Yes.”

Only then did the shadow lingering over Elise’s expression finally disappear. She let out a long breath, unable to suppress the smile tugging her lips upward as she pressed him eagerly.

“What’s Cherry’s name? I can’t believe I forgot the most important thing. What did you decide?”

When Rezette hesitated, Elise’s face fell with obvious disappointment.

“You didn’t… leave her without a name, did you? I asked you to prepare one in advance…”