Episode 122. Side Story 2

“I’ll be back.”

Without a moment of hesitation, Elkais headed back to the Magic Tower.

One hour later.

When he returned, he was cradling a bundle full of Shine Muscat grapes in his arms.

Elkais opened the bedroom door with a delighted expression.

“Is this the right one?”

“Yes. But now… I want something else.”

“What do you feel like eating?”

“I want coconut. The roasted flesh and the juice.”

“Alright.”

Coconuts were easy to get, so he chuckled lightly. There was a gate connected to the house that led to an uninhabited island—he could just go and pick one himself.

So he came back with a hairy coconut, took it to the kitchen, roasted the flesh himself, separated the juice, and brought it all to the master bedroom.

“…Ah. Elkais.”

“Yes, I’m listening.”

“Just the smell of that is making me want to throw up.”

“I’ll throw it out right now.”

Elkais handed the plate he’d brought to the attendant standing behind him.

“Get out.”

“Y-yes…!”

After chasing the attendant out and even shutting the door, he quickly opened the window, thinking she couldn’t even stand the smell.

“Urgh…”

“Eveline! Are you alright?!”

“Yes… I felt nauseous for a second, but I’m okay now.”

She said that while pressing a hand to her chest.

“I think it’s morning sickness.”

“…Right. You’re pregnant.”

“Ah… I’m so hungry…”

Eveline was absolutely starving. With a sulky look, she sighed as she stared at Elkais.

Elkais’s eyes widened, and in a flustered rush, he spoke quickly.

“Just say the word. I’ll get you anything. If you’re hungry, we just need to find the right food. I’ll bring every fruit there is if I have to.”

“Don’t go that far… Hmm… But I do want peaches.”

“I’ll be back.”

And so, he went to the Magic Tower again.

“I’ve brought peaches!”

After bothering the mages there, he managed to get a whole box of peaches.

“These peaches are edible, at least.”

He presented them to Eveline.

As he watched her eat the peaches he’d sliced himself, looking like she actually found them tasty, he let out a relieved breath.

Thankfully, Eveline’s morning sickness wasn’t that bad. If it had been worse… he might have wasted away right alongside her.

* * *

And so, a month passed.

After a month, Eveline’s morning sickness fully kicked in, and she couldn’t eat anything at all.

“Urgh!”

“Eveline!”

“I—I’m going!”

She covered her mouth and rushed to the bathroom, dry heaving even though there was nothing in her stomach.

“Uugh…!”

Elkais stayed beside her, gently patting her back.

Eveline had grown so thin from the severe nausea. But the truly ridiculous part was that Elkais, just from watching her suffer, looked just as gaunt and worn as if he were the one with morning sickness.

“Ugh… my head hurts…”

“I’ll call for a priest.”

“Priests can’t do anything about this…”

Eveline felt genuinely disappointed about that. Priests were great at healing magic, yet they couldn’t ease any of the pain that came with pregnancy. And they couldn’t cure illness either.

They could only treat surface-level wounds and minor conditions.

And the medicine prescribed by the doctor for her morning sickness made her body swell up.

She sighed in frustration, hating the sight of her swollen hands.

“I want to go back to bed.”

“Alright.”

He picked her up in his arms, and she wrapped her arms around his neck, leaning against him.

Thanks to his steady heartbeat, that irritation that had been bothering her all day just melted away in an instant.

* * *

As her belly gradually grew, Eveline could no longer sleep lying flat.

Her body had become so swollen that she couldn’t stand looking in the mirror anymore. It was all because of the medicine—but without it, she couldn’t even drink water, so there was no other choice.

“Ah…”

Eveline let out a sigh of irritation the moment she woke up that morning.

But feeling Elkais behind her, holding her like a treasure and using his arm as her pillow, helped ease some of that frustration. She exhaled slowly.

“What’s wrong? Are you hungry? If there’s something you feel like eating…”

“Elkais.”

Eveline called his name in a serious voice and sat up in bed. Elkais’s eyes flew open, and he sat up across from her, carefully looking her over.

He braced himself, thinking she was about to say something hurt, and quickly scanned her body.

Her pulse was steady, and her body was a little warm from being pressed up against his.

She looked uncomfortable, maybe because of the medicine, but when their eyes met, she gave him a faint smile.

Seeing that, Elkais let out the breath he was holding and met her gaze.

“If there’s a servant who’s upsetting you, I’ll dismiss them immediately. And if that’s not enough to calm your anger, I’ll handle it myself. Just say the word.”

Realizing it wasn’t a physical issue, he spoke gently.

Eveline let out a soft laugh at that.

“Don’t even joke about that.”

“You… took that as a joke?”

“If it wasn’t a joke, I’d have to hit you.”

“Please do. You can even bite me.”

At his completely honest reply, Eveline laughed again. Then her expression turned serious once more.

“I’ve gotten so ugly.”

She hated it. Her whole body had swollen so much, she could barely remember what she used to look like.

But the way he still looked at her—like she was the seductress of the century—made her feel shameless.

“That’s impossible.”

“What do you mean?”

“There’s no way you could ever be ugly.”

Elkais looked at her seriously.

He slowly studied her, trying to see what she meant.

Eveline’s red hair had grown thicker with the pregnancy. He liked that even more.

He loved the scent that clung to her hair.

Her eyes were still as clear as the sky and more brilliant than any gem. Her pretty nose, and the lips that sweetly called his name—they were all still the same.

“You’ve changed a little, I suppose.”

He said that while glancing down at her chest.

“It’s gotten quite a bit bigger…”

“…”

“Not that I’m complaining. It’s a shame I can’t touch it, though.”

Maybe it was because it was morning, but the fact that he was just blurting out whatever came to mind made Eveline chuckle.

“My face is all swollen and ugly. Even my cheeks look like this.”

“Like a bunny’s.”

“And my chest… it’s gotten so big, it’s uncomfortable.”

“Is your back hurting?”

“Yes. My shoulders too.”

He wanted to touch her chest. But he knew he shouldn’t—not before she passed the stable phase. If Eveline got too worked up…

No, more than that, they’d been intimate almost every night before she got pregnant. But since then, he hadn’t touched her once.

“You honestly find me gross now, don’t you?”

“…No. The problem is…”

Elkais wondered if she was teasing him like this just to test him—but it was getting harder and harder to hold back.

“The problem is that I like it too much. I want to touch you…”

“Then touch me.”

“…Alright.”

After a brief hesitation, he placed his hand over her chest when she gave him permission.

“It’s so soft. Fluffy…”

He started by just gently caressing her, but before long, like someone who’d lost control, he gripped both breasts with both hands. Then he started teasing her with his thumbs, brushing and circling.

“Ah… s-stop.”

“…Sorry. This is why I wasn’t going to touch you.”

At her words, he snapped out of it and pulled back.

“Eveline.”

“Yes?”

“I’ll just step into the bathroom for a bit.”

She laughed when she saw him press a hand quickly over his lower half.

“You’re still reacting to me? Even when I look like this?”

“I don’t know what you’ve been talking about this whole time… but even just making eye contact with you is hard for me. So please don’t tease me like this. It’s seriously painful…”

He said it with complete sincerity.

“Then don’t go. Let’s do it here.”

“…Can we?”

“Yes. I’ll use my hand for you.”

At her words, he sat upright in an instant, fixing his posture. And the moment he moved his hand away, it sprang up like a loaded spring, making Eveline laugh again.

“You said you used to think you were impotent.”

“Eveline…”

She held him tightly as she spoke.

When he saw her gripping him, looking him in the eyes with that playful smile, his heart began to race wildly.

“If you keep smiling like that while talking, my heart’s gonna stop. Do just one thing at a time.”

“What do you mean, one thing?”

“Either touch me… or smile…”

Elkais sighed behind his hand, and Eveline laughed again.

“How’d you even get me pregnant, huh?”

“You think I was in my right mind back then?”

“Oh, right.”

As she remembered how relentlessly he had been every time they’d made love, Eveline smiled again.

“What if I can’t do it?”

“Then don’t. If you can’t, then there’s nothing to—ow. Don’t press with your nails.”

“Keep talking.”

As Eveline mischievously tightened her grip and pressed down with her nails, Elkais let out a shaky sigh and said,

“You shouldn’t do that.”

“Why? You don’t want to anymore?”

“No. It’s not that. No matter how miserable I feel… I know it’s not as bad as what you’re going through. So I want to hold back.”

At that, Eveline brushed away her gloomy thoughts and spoke softly,

“If you stop talking now, I’m going to bite it.”

“…I can’t make you feel good.”

“That’s because of my condition.”

She stared at him, surprised that he was even thinking that way.

“When you touch me, I really enjoy it. But… it means more to me when we both feel good. That’s why…”

“…”

“I want to hold back.”

But at that, Eveline gripped him tighter, pouting,

“Then hold back. I’m still gonna touch you.”