Duke, Please Stop Because it Hurts

“Molitia!”

Her upper body then staggered with relief. Raven, who was utterly surprised, quickly caught her.

“…no, it’s fine. I was just relieved and started to feel a little dizzy for a moment.”

As she tried not to worry him, Molitia smiled softly. Then, she looked at the unfamiliar room once again and it seemed to be the Marquis’ mansion. Molitia, who turned her head slowly as if scouting the area around, proceeded to touch her own cheeks.

A cloth that was as big as her own swollen cheek had already been applied there. Judging from the stinging sensation, the cloth appeared to have been saturated with medicine.

“…what about the Marquis’ heir?”

Raven’s face turned glaringly fierce at Molitia’s word. For Raven, ‘Ferdinand’ was already branded as a disgusting name.

“For now, I’ve delivered that thing to Marquis Werner. I thought that I ought to give him at least that one last moment since it’s his son.”

What—for now?

When Molitia tilted her head, he soon replied with a face cold as ice.

“He’s a traitor. Even though it ended in failure, it is only fair to deal with the crime strictly. Maybe during the crack of dawn, we’ll have him evicted to the Imperial City.”

It was the natural result. Molitia felt no sympathy for him at all. He was a man who tried to humiliate her and even more so, deceived the Empire. It was absolutely clear that the price of the crime would never be that easy.

Raven gazed at Molitia, who was deep in thought, before he slowly opened his mouth.

“Don’t you have something else to let me know?”

“Something else to say?”

“Okay, how’d you even think of hiding it from me?”

“What do you mean?”

“…don’t you trust me?”

He thought that she could have told him herself. He wasn’t aware if he brought it upon himself. Raven then slowly parted his mouth along with a deep sigh.

“You’re not alone.”

“……what?”

“I mean the kid. Why would you even hide it from me?”

Molitia stopped breathing for a moment. A child? Did she really have a child in her stomach?

“You didn’t know…?”

“Well, no… I thought I might just have imagined it, but…”

Her trembling hands then slowly wrapped around her stomach. Her flat tummy indicated no signs of having a child inside at all.

Did she really have a child inside here?

“…do I really, really carry a child inside my stomach?”

Raven nodded at Molitia’s repeated questions. Upon hearing the definite answer, only then did Molitia shed a tear along her cheek. It was her own baby. All those worries from before were never lies.

Molitia, who was still crying with emotional tears, slowly breathed in. Then, a feeling was clearly remembered at the top of her head. When she recalled the cold sensation that flowed from her lower abdomen as it escaped her body, she quickly hugged her stomach.

“Raven, what should I do? I was bleeding!”

“I know. The doctor has long gone already.”

“What did she say? The child, is it fine?”

“Fortunately, she said that it’s all clear. The amount of bleeding wasn’t that immense that the child could be swept away.”

“I’m truly glad…”

She slowly heaved a sigh of relief. At the same time as she noticed, the worst situation of losing her child had almost unfolded. Her drooping eyes softly turned to her stomach.

‘It wasn’t an illusion at all.’

A sense of joy began to swarm as the worries had melted away. Her slim belly still felt rather difficult to be real. However, just by being aware of it, she felt that the pain which she suffered before was going away just like a lie.

Raven hesitated to tell the whole story since his wife appeared much happier than he had thought. Her tears were clearly those of the tears of joy.

Therefore, he became much more hesitant.

However, it was absolutely impossible to avoid talking about it forever. He then pressed his lips slightly before placing his hand on Molitia’s shoulder.

“I have something to say about the child as well.”

“What is it?”

“Molitia.”

Her bewildered purple eyes slowly turned towards Raven.

“Let’s give up on the child.”

“……what do you mean?”

She couldn’t understand those words. Molitia, who wasn’t able to comprehend what he meant, stared blankly.

“Give up on the child—is it suffering a bad condition?”

“No, that’s not true. I’m just worried about you. You’re already frail yourself and I don’t even know what kind of variables could happen if you’re going to have a child.”

“But the child…”

“It’s just that, still. I can’t even provide you the slightest medicine because of that child.”

“…Raven.”

“I can’t even guarantee that your fragile body could actually stand it.”

“I’m having a baby.”

“Molitia.”

Raven’s expression immediately hardened from her firm voice.

“It’s my child. Yours and mine.”

Her hand softly slid across her lower abdomen.

She was having a child.