Side Story 3.2

A person’s presence was felt in the room. I opened my eyes slightly and saw black hair glinting in the faint moonlight.

“…You’re here? What time is it?”

“It’s a little past twelve. Sorry for waking you up. Go back to sleep.”

“You’re late… Did you eat dinner?”

“What time do you think it is? Of course, I did. My wife always asks that first.”

Well, for a Korean person, food is the most important thing.

I can tolerate a boss who doesn’t give overtime pay, but I can’t tolerate one who makes me work late without feeding me.

…Or can I? Maybe I can’t tolerate either.

My eyes, heavy with sleep, kept closing. My belly had started to swell, and I was sleeping more than usual. There were no other changes.

Jeras slid into bed and lay down next to me. His arms and body, always warm, wrapped around me.

A heater is nice, and the mild air of the south is great, but Jeras’s warmth is still the best.

“Shall I read you a book until you fall asleep?”

“Dad read to me during the day. I think I’m an adult now. Fairy tales aren’t fun anymore.”

“He probably chose boring ones because they’re good for education. Then what should I do for you?”

“Just sleep. You have to leave early again tomorrow. I’m tired too.”

“I’ll sing you a song, then. Listen as you fall asleep.”

What kind of lunatic sings in the middle of the night?

I was too tired to complain and just closed my eyes. If he sang a military song with lyrics like “Let’s crush it, let’s smash it!” like he did during the flower viewing, I’d kick him out of bed.

Thankfully, Jeras sang a normal lullaby. His gentle hands caressed and patted my belly, and his pleasant voice hummed softly in my ear, making me feel increasingly drowsy.

“Eloe.”

“…Hmm?”

“I love you.”

A sweet whisper flowed into my ear. I heard it over a dozen times a day, but every time I heard it, my ears would get hot and my fingertips would tingle.

When I didn’t answer, he must have thought I was asleep because he rested his face on the back of my neck.

“Stay by my side like this forever. Don’t go anywhere.”

He said he sometimes had a dream. A dream where I gave up on myself to defeat Agtatius.

If it weren’t for Jeras, that might have been reality instead of a dream.

No, it would have been reality. I was truly desperate back then. I thought it was okay for me to disappear if it meant saving everyone.

“I’m not going.”

“Weren’t you sleeping?”

“Someone keeps touching me, so I can’t sleep.”

I placed my hand on top of Jeras’s hand, which was resting on my belly. There was a large scar on the back of his left hand. It was a trace of his efforts to save me.

He smiled, calling the scars on his hand and all over his body beautiful medals.

“We’re married, and we’re about to have a baby. Where could I possibly go?”

“Still, I can’t help feeling insecure. It’s not my will.”

“Then you’ll just have to do better. So I’ll want to stay by your side.”

“My wife is so smart. As expected of the youngest professor. I’ve learned something new today.”

Jeras cheekily kissed my cheek. Then he tightly clasped his fingers with mine.

It was a gentle night, as always.

***

A fierce downpour fell from the sky as if a hole had opened up in it. The windows rattled with the occasional strong gust of wind.

Jeras glared at the window, where rainwater streamed down. His icy, sharp gaze was so intense it felt like it could cut something. The attendants and maids huddled together, trying their best to avoid his gaze.

Just then, the tightly closed door opened. Hic! A short scream from Eloe leaked out of the narrow gap.

A flash of light sparked in Jeras’s eyes. He grabbed the collar of the doctor who had come out. The doctor, whose collar had been grabbed a total of twenty-eight times today, turned pale.

“I’m sorry. I’m sorry, Your Majesty! Please wait just a little longer!”

“Do you know that it’s been more than eight hours?”

“I-I know. But this requires time. Her Majesty the Empress is also doing her best, so please, just wait a little longer…!”

“You know? You’re being awfully brazen. Do you know that this is where you’ll die?”

“Heeek…!”

“Your Majesty! Your Majesty!”

The door opened once more. This time, it was Hilda, Eloe’s personal maid. A smile spread across her sweaty face.

“It’s a beautiful and lovely princess, Your Majesty! Her Majesty the Empress says to bring you to her at once!”

“You can thank the Empress for your life.”

Jeras threw the trembling doctor aside and ran inside. The maids and doctors who were busily cleaning up bowed, but he didn’t even glance at them.

Jeras’s gaze was solely fixed on Eloe, who was lying motionless on the bed.

Her already pale face was as white as a sheet of paper, with all the blood gone. Her lips were swollen and bruised from biting them hard, showing how intense the labor pains had been.

She was so exhausted that she couldn’t even open her eyes when Jeras came to her side.

“What happened? Why is Eloe in this state? Why did she lose consciousness?”

“She’s temporarily lost her strength. She’s being healed with divine magic, so she’ll regain consciousness soon.”

“She better. Or every one of your heads will be on the chopping block.”

“Your Majesty, it’s the princess.”

Jeras, who had muttered with a murderous aura, quickly pulled back his energy. He received the baby, wrapped in a dainty pink cloth, into his arms.

The baby was incredibly small. So small that he felt like he might harm her if he used even a little bit of force. Jeras unconsciously relaxed his arms and looked at the baby.

The baby, with a lingering rosy glow, squeezed her eyes shut and wiggled her hands.

“This baby…”

This baby was so small and cute, and she was his and Eloe’s child.

Jeras couldn’t bring himself to speak. His throat was choked with overwhelming emotion. The baby opened and closed her mouth as if to answer his voice. He couldn’t take his eyes off her mumbling lips.

It wasn’t a simple feeling of ‘adorable’ or ‘cute.’ This was a precious child Eloe had risked her life to give birth to. It was the fruit of their love.

Jeras felt like he could do anything for this child.

“It seems she recognizes Your Majesty. She’s being held so quietly without crying.”

“…Jeras… Are you here…?”

Eloe muttered in a voice that was completely hoarse. Jeras snapped back to reality, approached Eloe, and showed her the baby.

“I’m here. Our baby is here, too. See? It’s a princess. A beautiful princess.”

“Hilda… could you take the baby for a moment…”

“Yes? Oh, yes!”

Hilda took the baby. Jeras knelt down by the bedside. Eloe slowly opened her eyes.

When he met her exhausted gaze, the emotion he had felt while holding the baby faded away. In its place, he felt guilt, regret, and the relief of knowing Eloe was safe.

Tears welled up in Jeras’s red eyes. He touched Eloe’s face. It was cold with sweat.

“I’m sorry, Eloe. I’m so sorry.”

“…Yes, you… if you have any conscience… you should be sorry. I’m in so much pain because of you… I almost died…”

Her voice was weak and dying. Jeras finally shed tears. He felt like he would have given birth to the baby himself if he could have.

The tears he shed fell onto the back of Eloe’s hand.

‘I’m sorry, thank you. I love you.’ Just as Jeras was about to pour out his tumultuous emotions, a short scream burst from his lips.

“…Cough!”

“You bad bastard… You’re a truly bad bastard!”

“Eloe, wait. Just a moment… My hair, that’s my hair!”

“I know! Stay still. Unless you want it all pulled out!”

“Eloe, I’m sorry. I was wrong. I’ll never do it again… Ow!”

“Your M-Majesty! Her Majesty the Empress!”

“Oh my goodness, what do we do!”

Eloe, whose strength had been restored by divine magic, grabbed Jeras’s hair with both hands and yanked.

The room, which had been overflowing with emotion, instantly turned into a chaotic mess.

Jeras’s wails begging for forgiveness and Eloe’s resentment, calling him the worst bastard in the world, were mixed together.

“Princess… I’ll only show you pretty things. Don’t look at such rough stuff. Oh, you’re so pretty.”

Hilda turned her back on the hellscape and showed a beautiful landscape painting to the newborn baby.

“There’s no next time! Understand? If you want another, you can give birth to it! You bad bastard. You’re just a swindler who runs his mouth!”

“Eloe, please calm down… Okay, okay! It hurts. It really hurts!”

“I was in much, much more pain, you know?”

Yawn…

The baby, completely uninterested in the commotion her parents were causing behind her, let out a small yawn.

***

“Baby, baby. Are you having fun? Are you comfy?”

“Uuung!”

Kaelle, who was being carried on his sister’s back, threw both hands in the air and squealed. Clarea’s red eyes sparkled as she smiled. 

‘My baby is so cute!’

“Esrick, where did that darned kid go!”

The office door burst open and Jeras stormed out. With his face covered in black ink, he scanned the hallway until his eyes met Clarea’s, who was standing there by herself.

The small, fern-like hand poking out from behind Clarea surely belonged to his youngest, Kaelle.

His face, which had looked like a fierce bandit’s, slowly softened.

“My little princess, did you come out with the baby?”

“Yeees. The baby was bored, so I brought him out.”

Clarea answered shyly. Jeras suppressed a laugh that was threatening to burst out. He wondered who was calling whom a baby.

The first princess, Clarea, had just turned six. It felt like only yesterday that she was tumbling and bursting into tears because she couldn’t walk properly, but now she had grown so much that she was carrying her youngest brother, Kaelle, on her back.

The gentle and calm Clarea seemed to think it was her duty to look after her younger siblings.

Eloe had made her a baby carrier enchanted with various spells to ensure Clarea wouldn’t get hurt.

Of course, in Jeras’s eyes, they were both just babies. Just a slightly bigger baby and a slightly smaller one.

“My princess, isn’t it hard for you?”

“It’s okay. He’s a baby, so I’ll take care of him.”

“But you’re still a baby too, aren’t you?”

Jeras knelt down and asked as he brushed back Clarea’s pinkish-silver hair. Her hair, which resembled Eloe’s, was as soft as flower petals.

Clarea’s eyes widened with determination. Her red eyes, a carbon copy of Jeras’s, blazed fiercely.

“I’m not a baby. I’m all grown up!”

“But you’re much smaller than Daddy.”

“I have three younger siblings! I’m the oldest!”

“Ahh, so that’s why you’re all grown up?”

“Yeees!”

It was ridiculous, but it was cute, so it was fine. Jeras chuckled, stroking Clarea’s head and planting kisses on her forehead and cheeks.

Clarea burst into peals of laughter. As her body shook with giggles, Kaelle, on her back, also made an unintelligible sound, “Ka-woo! Ka-woo!”

“Jeraaaas!”

The shout coming from the end of the hall belonged to Eloe. 

‘Ugh, I’m in big trouble.’ 

Jeras sighed and stood up.

Sure enough, Eloe appeared, radiating a terrifying aura. Two boys, magically bound, were floating in mid-air on either side of her.

“Did I, or did I not, say that I was busy preparing for class?”

“You did, my wife.”

“Then why would Ublis and Esrick be in my study? And what, pray tell, was the father of these little colts doing?”

“Mommy, how does a colt cry?”

“Stupid Esrick, you don’t even know that? It’s ‘Neigh!’”

“Neeeiigh?”

“Can’t you two be quiet? Oh, that’s right. Now that I think about it, isn’t it study time? Ublis, Esrick. What about your studies?”

“Neigh!”

“Neeeeiiigh!”

Eloe’s eyebrow twitched. Jeras knew instinctively what was coming: a future in which he would have to bear the punishment for Ublis and Esrick’s crimes as well.

The true supreme authority in the Imperial Palace was not Jeras, but Eloe. A year ago, after giving birth to their fourth child, Kaelle, Eloe had made a declaration to Jeras.

Since he had tricked her four times, from now on, he had to do whatever she said, no questions asked.

And just this morning, Jeras had failed to properly carry out the childcare mission Eloe had assigned him.

“My wife, there were unavoidable circumstances. Please, just listen to me for one mom—”

“I’m busy. I don’t have time to listen to your circumstances. I told you I have three classes tomorrow.”

“Neeeeiiigh!”

The third son, Esrick, who couldn’t read the room, let out a horse’s cry. Eloe shot a frosty glare at Jeras and then smiled brightly.

“Since Your Majesty has wasted my time, I suppose I’ll have to work through the evening. You will have to sleep alone tonight.”

“My wife! There really were unavoidable circumstances. It was because Esrick smeared ink on my documents!”

Eloe paid him no mind. She was already reaching out to Clarea, whose eyes were sparkling with anticipation.

“My cute eldest and youngest, shall we have a snack with Mommy?”

“Awoooong!”

“The baby can’t have snacks yet. I tried to give him some earlier, but you said he couldn’t.”

“Then Clarea can just eat the baby’s share. Come on, let’s go.”

“I want to go too…”

Eloe pushed the magically-bound Ublis and Esrick onto a clinging Jeras and took Clarea’s hand. The mother, daughter, and baby, looking like bright spring flowers, departed.

“Neigh.”

“Snacks… I wanna eat snacks.”

“Sigh. You could at least try to help your father.”

Left alone, Jeras gave each of the two little colts a flick on the head. He dragged the two struggling boys back into his office.

The shoulders of the man who had everything he could ever want were slumped in utter misery, yet an undeniable smile spread across his face.

These were incomparably happy days.

That’s the end, everyone! Thank you for enjoying the story with me. It was honestly just okay for me but then it grew on me. I just love stories where the ML sees the FL’s original oppearance/finds out their real name. See you along in the next book!