“Ma’am has retired.”
“...What?"
Kaian just blinked and stopped.
“I mean, she's pregnant.”
For a moment, the doctor wondered if Kaian had misunderstood the word fertilization, but quickly corrected himself.
However, when Kaian did not say anything or react, the frustrated doctor took a deep breath, stuck out his stomach, and hit it with his palm.
“I heard there’s a baby in her belly!”
“Is that true?”
The doctor lost steam a little.
"Yes. That's right."
“She didn’t feel hungry or anything like that at all, right?”
Kaian's knowledge of pregnancy was substandard. This is because he did not educate or do anything else about the condition of a woman's body.
All he knew was that a child grows inside a woman's body and comes out when the time is right. It felt very strange to use the word 'pregnancy' to describe Claudel's flat, flat stomach.
“It seems like it’s still early days.”
“Are you sure?”
"Of course. We will reduce it.”
"Ha. Unbelievable."
Kaian shook his hands, roughly covered the documents he was looking at, and stood up.
“I need to see Claudel right now.”
"Wait a minute."
The doctor hurriedly blocked his path.
"It's not possible."
"Why?"
“Just calm down for a moment and listen to me.”
Kaian suddenly went back to his seat.
“One of the aftereffects of Herzol is the inability to have children.”
“This is my first time hearing it.”
“Well, my lord ordered me to get medicine, and after Madam got better, she stopped looking for me. I didn’t have a chance to explain.”
Kaian just blinked and stopped.
“I mean, she's pregnant.”
For a moment, the doctor wondered if Kaian had misunderstood the word fertilization, but quickly corrected himself.
However, when Kaian did not say anything or react, the frustrated doctor took a deep breath, stuck out his stomach, and hit it with his palm.
“I heard there’s a baby in her belly!”
“Is that true?”
The doctor lost steam a little.
"Yes. That's right."
“She didn’t feel hungry or anything like that at all, right?”
Kaian's knowledge of pregnancy was substandard. This is because he did not educate or do anything else about the condition of a woman's body.
All he knew was that a child grows inside a woman's body and comes out when the time is right. It felt very strange to use the word 'pregnancy' to describe Claudel's flat, flat stomach.
“It seems like it’s still early days.”
“Are you sure?”
"Of course. We will reduce it.”
"Ha. Unbelievable."
Kaian shook his hands, roughly covered the documents he was looking at, and stood up.
“I need to see Claudel right now.”
"Wait a minute."
The doctor hurriedly blocked his path.
"It's not possible."
"Why?"
“Just calm down for a moment and listen to me.”
Kaian suddenly went back to his seat.
“One of the aftereffects of Herzol is the inability to have children.”
“This is my first time hearing it.”
“Well, my lord ordered me to get medicine, and after Madam got better, she stopped looking for me. I didn’t have a chance to explain.”
“But you said she was pregnant? Then it doesn’t matter.”
"That's right. Ahem. It’s quite a miracle.”
The doctor puffed out his chest proudly and said.
“But there is a possibility that she may have a miscarriage.”
"Miscarriage?"
Kaian frowned.
“If it’s known that she can’t have children. Something might have gone wrong.”
The doctor spoke quickly.
“Madam asked me to keep the pregnancy a secret from my lord.”
"What? What made her say that?”
“Think about it. Aren’t she the daughter of an enemy family? Giving birth to a Temnes successor or having a child with half Vermont blood would have a political impact.”
The doctor was worried that Kaian would ignore his request and run to his wife.
“The most important thing is for your wife to feel at ease. Madam said she would like to speak to you when thr child is stable.”
“When was that? When on earth did she have children?”
“It's not exactly because of the herzol, but your wife said she had a health problem around the fall. So it may or may not have been about four months.”
“What if she's not pregnant? Could it be a misdiagnosis?”
The doctor jumped up.
“It makes no sense. If it’s a misdiagnosis, I’ll give up my position as a doctor.”
A smile spread across Kaian’s face at the words with a straight face.
"Yes. You’ve had a hard time.”
“But I forgot to tell you earlier.”
Kaian looked at him as if asking him to speak.
“Well, you’ll just have to hold her hand and sleep until things stabilize.”
"Why?"
“She must be very careful now, the madam. I think we need to learn more about the aftereffects of Herzol.”
"Right."
The doctor was relieved when Kaian seemed to understand.
“Please get me any medicine that can improve Claudel’s health.”
“I will, My lord.”
Kaian took out a gold coin and gave it to the doctor.
“Please pay more attention to Claudel from now on.”
"Thank you. Thank you."
The doctor disappeared excitedly.
Kaian couldn't calm down at all and was pacing back and forth in his office.
“I can’t believe I’m becoming a father.”
Claudel becomes a mother.
In his mind, his parents were the late Duke and Duchess of Temnes.
However, he thought that they were very adults and that he was not that adult yet.
Even though he was the head of a family, there were still so many things he didn't know.
“I can’t believe she's four months pregnant.”
Did he take her to the royal castle for no reason without even knowing that?
It was the early stages of pregnancy, so she had to be very careful, but she was worried that she had overdone it with the long-distance carriage trip.
“But I liked Claudel.”
If she had gotten sick during that time, she would have talked about it separately.
She greatly enjoyed the carriage ride with him on the way to the royal castle.
The happy smile never left her face.
It was after she returned from the ball that her physical condition deteriorated.
'Is it because she was hurt after all?'
Because he said he didn't like her.
He didn't know that she was having a hard time carrying a child, and every time she looked at him with her sad eyes, he felt like trash.
“This is not the time.”
The doctor asked him to pretend for the time being that he did not know that Claudel was pregnant.
“But he didn’t say I shouldn’t give gifts too.”
The conception of the first child to be born into the Temnes family should be celebrated.
Stealthily.
***
Kaian hurriedly headed to the marketplace.
The feeling of riding his horse was very exciting, unlike usual.
'What kind of child will be born?'
People in the Kingdom of Oberon usually have brown hair and brown eyes. Even if it was slightly darker or brighter, it was rare for it to have a symbolic color that stood out as much as the royal family, Vermont, or Temnes.
Perhaps a half-mixed child could emerge.
A child with black hair and golden eyes.
A child with red hair and red eyes.
Or maybe a child with black hair and red eyes who looks like a miniature version of him will be born, or a baby with red hair and gold eyes who looks just like Claudel might be born.
“That’s kind of nice.”
The moment Kaian imagined a baby girl who resembled Claudel, he became very happy.
If two pretty things come together.
Before he knew it, the fast-moving horse had reached a shopping street full of life.
He handed the reins to the squire and hurried through the shops.
The first thing that caught her eye was a knitted teddy bear the size of half a palm.
'I had something like that when I was young.'
It was made by Madame Elise with her own hand knitting.
“Give me that one.”
"Oh my. Thank you, My lord.”
The merchant was delighted and handed over the doll in a paper bag.
The next thing he noticed was a new accessory set placed in the jeweler's show window.
“My lord. Are you here?”
A craftsman recognized a good customer and came out to greet him. The craftsman thought that Kaian was looking closely at the new necklace and put saliva on his lips.
“If you want to talk about this necklace.”
“Give it to me.”
“Yes, thank you.”
Kaian hurried.
He had a lot of work to do today and was very busy, so he only had time to buy a gift.
While he was making rounds in the marketplace in a short period of time, merchants who made several days or even months' worth of sales at once began to appear.
The man who was generously showing the lord's warmth stopped in front of a flower shop.
"Welcome, My lord.”
The flower shop owner welcomed him.
“Do you like the flowers we are sending to the castle these days?”
"Yes. But what is this sign?”
"Ah. Each flower has a meaning. There is such a thing as the language of flowers.”
“The language of flowers?”
Kaian looked at the flowers carefully and pointed to one.
“Give me this. All."
***
That night.
I was sitting by the window with a sad heart.
The night air in Rowen, which never got cold, felt good because it wasn't cold even in the December wind.
I seemed to have gotten a lot better with the window open.
“Morning sickness?”
I thought I was angry because I was upset because of Kaian.
“So you were the culprit?”
I carefully rubbed my unmarked lower abdomen.
When I was late to eat, I felt like I was going to die, and I blamed myself for eating too much like a glutton. One day, I thought, 'Is there a beggar in my stomach?'
I felt sorry for thinking that I treated this small, precious life like a beggar before I even knew about it.
“Because I didn’t know at the time.”
I don't know, so I have to look at things like that. That was recognition between people.
"Ha."
Anyway, I was worried about tonight.
During my trip back to the capital, after my return to Rowen, my health was poor, so Kaian stopped short of hugging and kissing me.
However, since he is a man who naturally likes my body, he may want to spend the night with me at any time.
“Did I ask you to keep it a secret for no reason?”
The doctor said I had to be careful in the early stages of pregnancy, but I was worried about what I could say to him and refuse him.
Knock knock.
I reflexively turned my head toward the door, and before I could open it, Kaian came into my room.
“You came early?”
“I finished work a little early.”
In Kaian's hand, there was a bunch of tulip flowers.
"Her."
“What is it?”
“I have to go to the marketplace for a moment.”
“Did you buy it yourself?”
“Wasn’t it some time ago?”
I liked the bouquet with the bluish-green buds here and there.
My mood improved, and I smiled as I smelled the flowers.
On the one hand, I was curious to see Kaian's reaction to whether he was happy or not because I asked the doctor to keep the pregnancy a secret, and I was also distraught because I didn't get any congratulations.
When he brought me flowers like this, I felt like he was happy to have a baby, which made me feel good.
'I hope he grows up healthy and without any problems.'
I wanted to believe in the baby's vitality.
Plus, if it’s Kaian’s baby.
If he looked like his father, the baby was definitely not normal.
When my stomach was full, there was a high chance that Kaian would yell at me and ask me why I didn't tell him sooner and that he would cut off the resident doctor.
Anyway, the flowers I received as a gift today made me feel better.
'Besides, the flower language of tulips is a confession of love.'
There's no way Kaian knew what he was buying when he bought it.
While I was enjoying looking at the flowers for a moment, Kaian opened her door and dragged something into my room.
“What is that?”
I asked.
Boxes and envelopes of various sizes were piled on a cart so large that it felt heavy even when he pulled it.
“It’s nothing special, I just remembered it and bought it.”
He opened the box. Usually, Kaian tended to pick up one type of jewelry and one type of hat.
But what he brought today was all different in the box.
A butter cake sprinkled with pink bead-shaped candies suddenly appeared in a box the size of the palm of one's hand.
Kaian looked at me curiously and looked embarrassed.
“I don’t particularly want to give it as a gift. Just..."
....He doesn’t know I'm pregnant, right?
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