“Kaiden…?”
Kaiden went back to sleep like that with his feverish body.
“Oh, my god.”
Evelina thought seeing him fall asleep while clutching her chest under her negligee was amazing. She unwittingly laughed, stared at his enlarged drawers, and pulled his hand out of her clothes.
“Eut…”
It was so heavy that she felt like she was moving a rock.
Soon she saw that the end of his drawers was wet and pressed her hand down. But he was breathing like a completely defenseless sleeper.
“So cute.”
Evelina laughed as she said so, and soon Kaiden’s arm hugged her and went back to sleep. She soon fell asleep, maybe because of his temperature.
Such a leisurely time passed into the afternoon.
~~~~
“Mommm!”
“Waah!”
The children had become grumpy because they hadn’t seen their mother for a day.
Chloe was picking on Aiden, and as soon as she saw Evelina, she started running. When Evelina saw Aiden crying and trying to walk toward her, she approached him without realizing it.
“Did you hit your brother?”
Kaiden hugged Chloe and kept her away from Evelina. Meanwhile, he held Aiden with his other hand. They couldn’t be violent around their father.
“Chloe. Why did you hit Aiden?”
“Aiden said mommy is his!”
“Your mother is mine.”
Kaiden cut off Chloe’s words and answered so, and Aiden and Chloe had no choice but to pout and behave.
“Mom, whose do you want to be?”
Then Aiden asked as if Evelina’s opinion was significant. He was asking because he thought he would get a different answer if he asked Evelina.
Chloe and Aiden were so much like Kaiden that it was a problem.
“Mom belongs to your dad forever.”
“Aaahh!”
“Wah!”
Then Chloe and Aiden began to cry wildly.
“Aaah!”
“Heuk, aah!”
When Evelina tried to appease them, Kaiden said.
“It’s a fact that doesn’t change even if you cry.”
“Kaiden, why again…”
“Wouldn’t it be better to give up quickly?”
Evelina looked at him strangely because she didn’t know what to say.
“Ruskun belongs to no one. I’d rather have Ruskun…”
“Grandfather is mine!”
“You keep grandfather. I’ll have a mother.”
Aiden offered to have Ruskun as if to compromise, but it fell through again because Chloe spoke of Evelina.
“Wah! I want mother too!”
“Too late.”
Kaiden stared at Chloe as she spoke firmly.
“Dad is mine, too.”
Chloe was a kid who looked like Kaiden. She was good at negotiating.
“I’m Lina’s.”
However, some negotiations worked, and others did not.
“No. You’re all mine!”
Chloe sobbed after saying that, but Kaiden didn’t appease her. He shook his head when Evelina tried to calm her, and Chloe and Aiden cried with incredible strength.
It was not concluded that way again.
Kaiden had no intention of making any concessions on this part.
~~~~
“What?”
Hans was surprised while checking Evelina’s condition. This was the Emperor’s and his wife’s bedroom in the Emperor’s Palace.
“What’s wrong?”
“Lina, you… Why aren’t you on your period this week?”
“Huh? That’s true. Wasn’t it supposed to start on Monday?”
It was Wednesday now.
“No way…”
Hans took out Evelina’s period date with a pale face and examined it. She had always had the same period after giving birth. It was a cycle of no error.
It was two days late now.
Maybe that’s why both she and Hans were nervous.
“Maybe… No, right?
“Your uterus is fine. And I know His Majesty drinks contraceptive tea every day.”
“Then isn’t it unlikely?”
“No, it’s not…”
Sometimes, even if they drank contraceptive tea, people became pregnant. Hans frowned as he recalled that Kaiden and Evelina were young.
“I don’t want to ask, but, I think I should.”
“Yes, ask.”
Hans asked with a sigh.
“How often are your relations?”
“In a day?”
“No, in a week.”
“A week…a week.”
“What?”
“Three weeks a month.”
“You’re guessing! There’s a period for your menstruation!”
When Hans spoke as if debilitated, Evelina became a little embarrassed. She wasn’t actually conscious of her and Kaiden doing so much. Even when she was weary of children, she never had a break from her marital relationship.
Above all, a little Kaiden wouldn’t leave her alone if the atmosphere were set in the bedroom.
Come to think of it. The two met each other every time to the point where it was awkward to fall asleep without doing anything in the bedroom.
“Isn’t everyone like that?”
“Not at all. Who says that?”
“Just… I thought so. There’s no place to ask that.”
“Oh, oh my goodness.”
Hans thought that no matter how good the contraceptive tea was, there was enough room for doubt at this level.
“Is it just once each time?”
“By whose standards?”
“…by His Majesty the Emperor’s standards.”
“Well…”
Evelina couldn’t even say that. When Kaiden did it once, she was usually tired.
She was tired these days, probably because he put her to sleep for a long time, assigned a lot of aides, and had Duke Ruskun do most of the work, but it wasn’t to the extent that she fainted in bed the first time.
“Please tell me no more than three times.”
“Three times is infrequent.”
“… His Majesty the Emperor has too little conscience.”
At Hans’s words, Evelina hurried on.
“It doesn’t matter how often you take medicine anyway, right?”
“Not at all. Contraceptive tea reduces sperm function, not make you sterile.”
“I see.”
Evelina was strangely calm at his words.
At this time, she wanted to have a daughter or a son that looked like her. Chloe and Aiden were lovely, but the children did not resemble her.
Even though they were children, they were as extraordinary as Kaiden, and even though they were exceptional, they did not yield to each other as much as Evelina. To anyone’s eyes, their belligerent personality was a replica of Kaiden’s. She knew he behaved like a docile house dog in front of her.
“Why are you so happy?”
“Oh… Is it obvious?”
“I’m going crazy.”
Hans shook his head and said,
“You almost died giving birth last time. Don’t you remember?”
“I don’t. I felt like I was sleeping.”
“Oh, my.”
Hans felt strange when he remembered Emperor Kaiden calling him and asking him about Evelina’s condition.
‘There’s nothing wrong with Lina, right?’
‘If I do this with her legs, is this okay?’
‘This is how she can walk again when she wakes up, right?’
‘What should I do for her to hear my voice?’
‘I want her to dream of me even when she dreams. Then what should I do?’
‘What if she forgets me?’
Hans remembered things that Kaiden said while trying not to cry. Although he was a cold-hearted Emperor, he was a grown-up who quickly collapsed if it was about Evelina.
“Let’s keep it a secret for now. It’s not clear.”
“Yes. Can you check it out in a week?”
“I need another 12 days.”
“I see.”
Evelina stroked her stomach, strangely excited. Hans sighed.
~~~~
“We’re not doing it today?”
“Isn’t it Lina’s menstrual day? I can’t.”
Kaiden was also well aware of Evelina’s cycle. As he came in, he brought a pig’s bladder with warm water and placed it on her stomach.
“I washed it clean, so don’t worry.”
“I know. It’s something new every time.”
“Yes.”
Kaiden sat beside her, placing a pig bladder tied tightly to Evelina’s stomach that would never come loose.
“There was a time when we fought in the cold in the past.”
Evelina was listening with her head resting on Kaiden’s shoulder.
“At that time, everyone wanted to have this. Because it was something you couldn’t have unless you were on watch.”
“Did Kaiden stand night watch, too?”
“When I was a soldier.”
“I can’t imagine.”
Evelina suddenly remembered the shabby clothes of mercenaries that Kaiden often wore as a child.
“But Kaiden was very handsome even when he was a mercenary.”
“Is that so?”
“Yes. It’s not easy to be that handsome in those clothes.”
“And so was Lina. When I first saw you in the hospital… beautiful.”
Evelina blushed and laughed. Then Kaiden went on.
“I thought I died and came to paradise.”
“But why did you think it wasn’t?”
“It hurt so much.”
“Ah.”
She laughed at his words, and he said, properly keeping the pig bladder on her stomach.
“I was ecstatic even when I was sick.”
At his words, Evelina leaned on Kaiden’s shoulder and looked up.
“By any chance, Kaiden. You know…”
Kaiden was a little nervous looking at her, as she sounded worried, adding so many modifiers.
“Is there something wrong?”
“Oh, no. Just, if.”
“Yes, I’ll assume if.”
Evelina hesitated for a moment. This quick-witted Kaiden would understand her perfectly if she spilled a little and bothered Hans.
“Uh…what if….”
Maybe that’s why she had to roll her head and say something else quickly.
“What if Kaiden and I were both mercenaries?”
She was saying what came to mind, but she thought it was a good opportunity. But,
“Are you in a state where you don’t know if you are pregnant or not by any chance?”
“Are you god? Are you the prophet or something? No, how…!”
Evelina shouted as he guessed what she wanted to say.
“I’ll have to call Hans.”
