Lire

  Elsa looked up at the looming statue of abaster marble with amazement. "This is an incredibly well-made statue."

  "It is, isn't it?" Reivan agreed with a smile.

  Standing proudly on one of Lageton's beaches was an incredibly detailed statue of Helen, which had just been completed by the Aizenian sculptor he hired for the fishing event he sponsored some time back.

  It came out a lot faster and better than he expected. The statue was so lifelike that Reivan wouldn't be surprised if it just started moving right this instant. Everything about it was on point—the retively bnk expression that hid a certain smugness behind the smile, the way the hair and dress seemed to flutter in the sea breeze, the comically rge fish she was holding up easily...

  Perfect. That was all he could think whenever he id eyes on it.

  Reivan was even slightly armed at how detailed it was. Did that sculptor pull Helen away to examine her body from super close up? How come he got it so accurately? The guy even managed to sculpt the freaking mole behind her left knee. It was crazy.

  Strangely, however, Helen was depicted as wearing a different, but much prettier, dress than what she'd worn at the time. Also, she was wearing a tiara, which she definitely wasn't wearing at the event. Or any event for that matter, because Helen just didn't wear tiaras at all. Even the shoes were different.

  Reivan suddenly had a thought and frowned as he admired the newly unveiled statue. "I don't like how future generations are going to look at this and think she's some kind of legendary fisherman... fisherwoman, I mean."

  Elsa tilted her head. "How come?"

  "Because she only caught a single fish her entire life." He snorted. "She just got lucky that it was so big. My friend and I caught way more than her."

  "You're surprisingly petty about some things," she remarked with btantly revealed amusement. "It's cute."

  "Don't call me cute..." he murmured quietly, turning to his wife with feigned displeasure. His pouting got a giggle out of her, so he considered it a great success.

  "C'mon." Elsa hooked her arm around his and pulled him to the side. "Let's let other people admire it. We shouldn't hog the front."

  Reivan nodded and followed her lead without resistance, careful that he didn't elbow her protruding belly—a result of her being roughly three months into her pregnancy.

  'Her stomach is so much bigger compared to Helen's when she was three months pregnant...'

  Perhaps the baby in Elsa's stomach was an absolute unit, much bigger than other babies the same age. Or maybe the baby's size had nothing to do with it? Maybe it was mostly air in there, and the baby was just normal-sized. Either way, just the fact that the baby existed was a wonderful thing. He'd love his kid even if it had three heads and six arms—though, of course, he would prefer if they didn't have any abnormalities.

  "What're you thinking about?" Elsa snapped him out of his idle thoughts as she fixed the hood pulled up over her own head.

  Reivan shrugged, combing through his bck hair. The feeling on his fingers was exactly the same as when he wasn't disguised through [Reality Falsification]. "What else is there to think about? Naturally, I can't keep my mind off of our kid."

  She smiled, looking down at her belly and lovingly stroking it. "I wonder if he or she will have red hair like me or bck hair like you."

  It wouldn't have mattered, but he would have preferred their child to have her hair color. Because he thought it was really pleasing to the eye. And if their child was a girl, it'd be like having two Elsaminas—a small, cute one and a big, sexy one. Of course, even if it were a boy, it would be great too.

  Truly, Reivan just wanted to see his kids already. No matter what their genders were when they popped out of their moms.

  Soon, they made it back to the carriage they used to get here in the first pce. He gently escorted her inside before following after her and a moment after he closed the door, the carriage lurched into motion. Nodding to himself, Reivan appreciated how gradual the increase in speed was in consideration of the pregnant woman aboard.

  Finally, with a measure of privacy at hand, Reivan and Elsa rexed.

  They were both in disguise at the moment; Reivan shapeshifting into his "Ken" persona while she was simply trying not to draw attention to herself by wearing a hooded long cloak. It wasn't a strange clothing choice for a woman who was clearly pregnant, so few gave her a second look.

  Reivan obviously couldn't just show up as himself, but Elsamina wasn't just being overly conscious either. She was fairly well-known in Lageton as the very helpful merchant woman who was selflessly helping everyone out in all sorts of ways, which essentially made her a saint in a lot of people's eyes. Meanwhile, he was pying the role of a mysterious man with bck hair and blue eyes—the one who just about everybody knew as the lucky bastard Elsa would marry soon.

  They didn't know much about him other than that, though. Which was perfect.

  "Lately," Elsamina gestured outside through the gss window. "The weather has been getting milder."

  Reivan raised a brow as he subtly took her other hand in his. "It's been a while since the st Snowday, yes. I should wake Dom up soon so we can hold another one."

  "No, that's not what I meant. I mean it's been growing milder outside of the zone you've been regurly affecting. At least that's what some people say."

  "Some people?"

  "Yes. You know, the ones who're trying to farm down south? They're close to the parts least affected, so they know best."

  Reivan hummed in appreciation. Ground-level public sentiment like this didn't reach the government's ears, so he really appreciated how close Elsamina had gotten with the general popution. They adored her, which was perfectly understandable. She wasn't hard to like.

  A gorgeous pregnant woman with generous proportions, who was also generous, helpful, kind, and all sorts of other things.

  What's not to like?

  'She could probably win an election if we held one in Lageton right now.'

  Reivan hid a grin at the silly thought as he cleared his throat, refocusing on the subject at hand. "Do they dislike the Snowdays now or anything?"

  Elsa shook her head. "No, no. You should definitely continue with that. Everybody likes the general predictability of when it happens."

  "Okay then." Reivan licked his lips in thought. "But I do want to see if the natural weather has improved to the point that I don't need to summon a raging blizzard once every month. I'll still do it, like you said, but I want to see if I don't have to anymore."

  He wanted to stop doing it, not because it was annoying or tiring for Dom. But because the need to hold a Snowday at all considerably restricted his movements and avaibility. It meant he couldn't be away from Samsara for more than a month or else it would pce too much burden on the people he left behind—after all, they would have to somehow manage the violent climate in his stead. And because Samsara had expanded to other cities other than Lageton, that meant the coverage area had increased exponentially.

  Perhaps it would have been fine if Dom could act independently away from him like Zouros could, but like all spirit beasts, Dom was anchored to him.

  In other words, he literally couldn't be away for too long, or else people were going to start dropping like flies. Not instantly. But gradually, like an open wound that would bleed his nation to death given enough time.

  Knights with [Ice], [Wind], or [Fire] attributes could maybe help a little, and he also had a rge number of mages in Lageton as well. The situation wasn't that bleak. But still, he would prefer not to put that assumption to the test.

  A month was a rge window of time for something, though, but that depended on what that something was.

  Visiting Aizen to check in on his family? Possible.

  Going on a potentially prolonged campaign against Argonia? Probably not.

  Diving deep into the Outnds to address the darkin’s plight? Absolutely impossible. That pce was so unpredictable that a week-long trip could turn into six months.

  “Oh, right.” Elsamina gently spped his thigh. “I heard the Pentagorian diplomats headed to Aizen with Fortuna’s chairman. How is that coming along?”

  Reivan chuckled. “I honestly have no idea. But it should all be diplomatic niceties for now. They just got there, after all.”

  ‘Maybe the folks back home will get more out of those mermaids than I will.’

  He had actually met the mermaids and mermen privately, but Reivan didn’t have a good reason to ask outright. Any attempt to probe them was rebuffed too, and Jiji advised him not to go too far in the first pce.

  Reivan’s ability to literally see the information of others was top secret, and the kingdom was taking great steps in preventing knowledge of it from getting out. Of course, the entire knight order knew about it, but all knights were beholden by their oaths. So none of them would ever leak it.

  Realistically, he could make up any number of reasons as to why he knew about the mermaid thing. He could even give the credit to someone else or say that a mysterious third party told him that there were mermaids among the Pentagorians.

  In the end, however, he chose not to expose the mermaids yet.

  ‘I really don’t want to tackle this side quest when I already have so many active quests right now…’

  Reivan almost ughed out loud at how game-like he’d phrased it in his mind, but the accuracy was there.

  His current main quests were making sure his kids were born without problems and being a good ruler. He also had to actively seek out opportunities to advance the darkin’s desire to search for the rest of their kind in the Outnds.

  Then he had a whole bunch of side quests like conducting secret trades with Axion of Argonia’s faction in exchange for incarcerated Arkhanians. He had to make sure Samsara had enough booze, because these fuckers liked drinking. Agricultural endeavors were a side quest reted to his main quest too. Oh, and he couldn’t forget about how he was supposed to impregnate dozens of carefully selected women to help restore his mother’s cn.

  There were a bunch of other side quests he might have missed too, but that just made it even more clear that he couldn’t afford to take any more. It was too goddamn much.

  He almost wished that real life was more game-like. That way, he could tackle one problem with 100% of his focus while all the other problems waited for him.

  Sadly, that wasn’t how it worked. He had to tackle all problems at the same time, or else the ones who weren’t addressed would grow into much rger problems.

  ‘Those damned game characters really had it good. They even got to respawn. Bunch of lucky motherfuckers…’

  In essence, he truly didn’t want to dig into why there were mermaids among the Pentagorian diplomats. And why those mermaids were supposed to build embassies for the principalities here in Samsara, hinting at a prolonged stay. He knew that it wasn’t very mature to ignore problems as if they’d go away once they got bored of being ignored.

  But he would procrastinate like nobody’s business.

  The question of the year would be how long he could hold it off.

  Reivan’s mood fell so he tried to make himself happier by cuddling with Elsamina or pcing his head against her belly. While the former act was great, the tter was somewhat pointless. After all, it was too early for the kid in her stomach to start kicking. That didn’t stop him from doing it anyway, though.

  Naturally, he talked to her stomach too. Because why wouldn’t he?

  “Take your time there, okay?” he whispered as he kissed her bellybutton—or he would have, if her clothes didn’t get in the way. “Don’t come out too early. And hold off on your growth until after you come out. Stay small for now so it’s easy for your mom to…”

  “Stop being silly.” Elsamina lightly tapped him on the back of the head with a troubled smile. “Also, you’re asking them for the impossible.”

  “My bad, my bad…” Reivan backed off with a sheepish chuckle, but he turned to her stomach with a serious expression. “I’m serious though, my baby. Don’t make things hard for mom… In exchange, we’re about to eat some good food. Have some and grow big, okay?”

  His nose was pinched for that st message, but he considered it a worthy trade.

  Elsamina hummed contemptively. “Speaking of, I heard priests of Sormon can know the baby's gender past a certain point? Is that true?”

  “That’s right.” Reivan nodded before sitting upright and pcing an arm around her shoulder so he could get in a better position to rub her belly. Doing so was strangely therapeutic, and she didn’t seem to mind him at all, so he kept doing it when he could. Who knows, maybe his love could be felt by the child inside?

  “So, is your child with Helen a boy or a girl? I’m curious.”

  “Oh, we never checked.” He chuckled wryly. “Helen’s convinced that the baby’s a boy, so she thinks it’s a waste of time to check. I, on the other hand, am just happy about the baby and don’t really care whether it’s a boy or a girl.”

  Her brows furrowed as she tilted her head. “But wouldn’t you still want to make sure?”

  “Nah. I’m gonna leave it as a surprise. We’ll know when the baby’s born.” Reivan shrugged. “Oh, but if you wanna check ours in advance, I’m perfectly fine with that.”

  Elsamina nodded with a smile. “I do want to check, actually.”

  “Alright. It’s decided then.”

  “I suppose it is.”

  The corners of their lips gradually rose up into a grin, the sheer happiness overtaking them both. Reivan gave her a light kiss on the forehead before giving one to her stomach too. In a few more months, he’d get to kiss their actual child in the flesh instead of through the stomach.

  Life was great sometimes. If only it could be like this all the time.

  “Babies seem to be all we talk about these days, huh?” Reivan chuckled as he hugged her tightly.

  Elsa giggled in his arms. “Well, it’s a new and exciting experience. There's nothing strange about being excited.”

  “Yes, but you shouldn’t forget about us either, hm?” he asked with a sleazy smirk, his hands wantonly groping her soft body. “It’s been a while since we st… y’know.”

  “A while…?” She rolled her eyes but didn’t resist his advances. And maybe he was imagining it, but she even had that seductive half-smirk she did when she was inviting him into some fun. “Since when is one and a half days a while…?”

  “Since I said so. And don’t talk as if you don’t like it...”

  “You’re such a…” Elsa sighed in exasperation but still didn’t stop him from gradually pulling up her dress to expose her luscious white legs. “You should start being more considerate of the baby… Won’t they hate you if you keep knocking on the door to their room?”

  Reivan was momentarily speechless, so much so that even his hands stopped moving. “What the… How lewd! You’re so lewd.”

  She grinned. “Don’t talk as if you don’t like it.”

  Again, he was left speechless. A full minute hadn’t even passed, and his words were already being used against him? Wasn’t he supposed to be the one who said inappropriate jokes in private? He felt as if he’d been defeated somehow. Like part of his identity was being taken from him.

  Of course, it was nothing that dramatic but he couldn’t back down now.

  “The baby won’t mind,” Reivan whispered with a smirk. “Also, I asked the priestess who checked on you st week if it was fine to exert ourselves, and she said that it’d be fine. You were the picture of health and your delivery would likely be completed with ease—retively speaking, of course.”

  “Huh?” Elsamina’s brows furrowed, confused. “When did you even get the chance to ask that…?”

  “Hehe.” Reivan proudly puffed out his chest. “I'll have you know that I’m a very influential person in these parts. All I had to do was go back there after accompanying you home and I got all my answers.”

  “I swear, you’re only diligent for things like this…”

  “Don’t worry, I’ll at least take you out to dinner first.”

  Elsa rolled her eyes with exasperation. “Oh, I’m so grateful.”

  Suddenly, his pocket watch started vibrating, so he took it out and let a stream of information telepathically flow into his mind.

  “Uh.” Reivan froze, causing Elsa to tilt her head in curiosity, her emerald green eyes peering at his own.

  “What is it?” she asked.

  Reivan turned to her with beads of cold sweat flowing down the side of his face. “Helen just went into bor, apparently…”

  Elsa’s eyes widened for a moment before she started pushing him. “What are you waiting for? Go to her.”

  “R-Right…” Reivan’s mind was going ballistic, all his composure thrown out the window. “But what about our dinner…”

  “Are you crazy?” She frowned. “Who cares about dinner. Jump out of the carriage and run there right now.”

  “O-oh! Right, yeah, that seems faster…” Reivan nodded and was just about to open the moving carriage’s door when he turned around and faced her. “I’ll make it up to you next time, alright?”

  Elsa nodded, her twitchy hands clearly inclined to push him out. “I understand. Just go. I truly don’t mind.”

  He smiled and started to regain a measure of calmness. After he gave her one st embrace, he jumped out of the speeding carriage and smoothly rushed toward the pace as fast as he could.

  Reivan remembered to transform back into his real self somewhere along the way, finding an alley where he wasn’t completely exposed to the public eye.

  Once he was within the pace grounds, nobody stopped him despite him running at full speed, to the extent that he was just a blur that only stopped to open doors. They must have sensed just how frantic he was and that he was in no need of other people’s bullshit.

  By the time he’d passed through the teleportation gate and returned to his true home, Reivan realized that he should have probably brought Hector along.

  Helen wasn’t just his wife, after all. She was also Hector’s one and only sister. And for the longest time, the twins were the only true family that the other had—before Hector got married and became a father, of course.

  But it was too te for that. Reivan hadn’t been in the right mind to be so considerate. The best thing he could do was to toss one of the confused guard knights through the portal with a message for Hector.

  Thankfully, he didn’t have to ask around where the birth was taking pce because his father was waiting for him the moment he stepped out of the gate, though Reivan didn’t notice him until after picking a knight up by the scruff and throwing him into a spatial distortion.

  “Come along,” Rodin said as he turned right around without another word. “You got here a little ter than I thought. Only by a few minutes though.”

  Reivan jogged to catch up to his father, somewhat frustrated that they weren’t running right now. “I happened to be outside at the time.”

  “Ah, that’ll expin it.”

  “Is Helen—”

  “She’s fine, she’s fine.” Rodin cut him off with a casual wave. “Don’t worry about it. The Saintess arrived immediately. She realized before your wife felt the pain.”

  “Saintess Frey came in person…?” Reivan echoed doubtfully, but shook his head.

  It wasn’t out of character, he thought, when he recalled how friendly the Saintess was. He supposed this was why it was important to live well and make as many friends as possible.

  Rodin continued, his pace hurried but measured. “She’s already in bor, so you can’t see her even if you bolt there. But there's no need to worry since your mother and sister-in-w are with her. You can rex—or try to, anyway. They’re actually experienced in what she’s going through, so they’ll be more useful than you or I could ever be right now.”

  “That's true…” Reivan bobbed his head in understanding, relieved that his wife wasn’t completely alone right now. Though he supposed the Saintess was a loose acquaintance for Helen as well.

  Surprisingly, the room he was taken to was his room. Apparently, Helen had been sleeping there—which was completely fine in his opinion—during her prolonged stay in the pace. She also insisted on giving birth there because it was a pce she could rex in.

  Which, again, was a very acceptable reason.

  Reivan wouldn’t even mind if the room smelled of blood and guts for a while. It would be the blood and guts of a woman he loved giving birth to his first child. Not to mention how he wouldn’t be staying in the room for a while anyway.

  His room was roughly separated into two chambers: the inner chamber where the bed was, which was equipped with a private bathroom and a work desk as well; and the outer chamber which had sofas, a small dining table that he put there because he ate meals in his room sometimes, and all sorts of other furniture.

  The outer chamber was normally used to host guests, so it was perfect for him to use while twiddling his thumbs. Meanwhile, he could already hear the sounds of exertion coming from within the inner chamber.

  Clearly, the birth was already underway.

  Reivan’s sharp ears caught Helen’s pained grunts, and at that moment, the reality that two loved ones were at risk right now dawned on him. He’d always known about it, of course, but it felt like the fangs of that particur worry sunk deeper than it had ever done so.

  If things went horribly, horribly wrong, he could lose his wife and his unborn child.

  And there was nothing he could do but wait for the outcome.

  “Oh, god…” Reivan’s knees went weak, and he almost colpsed if he didn’t catch himself in time, barely grabbing onto the doorway.

  “Goodness, it’s like a tradition at this point…” Rodin muttered as he helped Reivan up and pulled him into a nearby seat. “You’re overtaken by pessimistic thoughts, it seems.”

  Feeling his father sitting right next to him, Reivan csped his trembling hands together almost in prayer. “Yes… Logically, I know it’ll be fine. But…”

  “But you can’t help but think about it.”

  Reivan nodded lethargically.

  Rodin comfortingly cpped his son’s shoulder. “Can’t say I bme you. Once, I had the same thoughts you’re having right now. Except they actually became a reality. Well, Rond made it out safely, but…”

  The words were left unsaid, but Reivan knew what would have followed. Perhaps Reivan didn’t know anybody more worthy of advising him at this moment than his father. For here was a man who’d suffered through what Reivan feared, though only partly.

  It was a scar that would never truly heal, and his father would carry it to the grave.

  Reivan wasn’t tactless enough to ask how it had felt back then. Because he knew the answer: pain. And grief. A lot of grief. Maybe mispced anger at the physicians or the world, or the wife who chose to die just to give birth to their son.

  It would not have painted his father in a good light at all, Reivan was sure. That would have been a point in Rodin’s life when he was raw. And while that part was also part of who his father was, it would not be the whole of him. Because he was more than that.

  So Reivan wouldn’t ask. Because he did not want to open his father’s wounds just to make himself feel better.

  “Rond was just like you, you know. And it didn’t improve much even when he had his third child,” Rodin casually said with a smirk. “It really makes me realize that you two truly are my sons. Even these kinds of faults were inherited.”

  Reivan’s lips tugged upward into a small grin, despite his heart still being gripped by anxiety. “I don’t think it’s a fault. To worry about our loved ones is a sign of compassion, no?”

  Rodin ughed and pced a hand on Reivan’s back. “If you realize that, then you’re doing quite well already. Oh, and by the way, Rond can’t come right now. Your nieces are very worried for their Aunt Helen and won’t stop crying. So he has to be with them right now.”

  “Ah,” Reivan finally looked around the outer chamber and realized he and his father were the only ones there. “Right. That makes sense.”

  “He says he’s sorry for not being here for you.”

  “Oh, he doesn’t need to be. I wasn’t there for my first two nieces either, so we’re even.”

  Rodin lightly smacked him on the back of the head. “This isn’t about going even or not. It is never about that.”

  Reivan chuckled as he rubbed the spot that got struck. “I know, I know. I’m just saying…”

  The door leading out of his room suddenly opened, revealing a towering man with snow-white hair and a pair of wolf ears atop his head.

  “Gd to see you back in here, brat,” his Uncle Viktor said as he entered. “You’re finally popping one out, huh? A kid, I mean.”

  “Hello.” Rond peeked out from behind the rge man, a sheepish smile on his lips. “The girls calmed down enough for me to hand them off to the maids. I’m here for moral support.”

  Somehow, just seeing the two had Reivan feeling a lot better and a lot more confident about the whole thing.

  Again, Helen was a beast of a woman who could take punishment and deal it in turn. Plus, the Saintess, a Transcendent, was personally handling the birth so it was about as safe as it could get. The knowledge of how to birth children safely had also advanced a lot since his father’s time.

  The chances of something going astronomically wrong weren’t zero. But he understood that it was incredibly low nowadays.

  Reivan was still worried, of course, but he wasn’t overcome with pessimistic thoughts anymore.

  ‘And to think all it took was having three dudes here to do absolutely nothing together with me.’

  Rond didn’t take a seat, passing by to cp Reivan on the shoulder reassuringly before leaning against the windowsill. “Father, was brother dearest like me too?”

  “It was like I was looking into the past.” Rodin chuckled.

  Viktor wasn’t as subtle as his brother, picking Reivan up effortlessly and wrapping him around in a bear hug.

  “U-Uncle, my bones…” Reivan repeatedly tapped his uncle wherever he could. “My bones…!”

  “Don’t be such a baby.” Viktor chortled before dropping Reivan back on the seat and ruffling his already disheveled crown of ashen hair. “I’m happy for you, boy. Since you’re a father now, this is probably the st time I can ever call you a brat or a boy.”

  Reivan opened his mouth to respond, but froze after he thought of something better to say. With a smirk, he turned to his uncle. “If being a father is what decides whether I’m a brat or not, then doesn’t that mean you’d be a brat forever, Uncle?”

  Viktor’s eyes widened for a moment before he started ughing again. Rodin and Rond followed along a beat ter.

  “He got you where it hurts, eh, old friend.” Rodin stroked his short beard.

  “He sure did,” Viktor pressed his palm down on the top of Reivan’s head, though it quickly turned into more ruffling.

  Reivan grinned, knowing that this was the type of joke that only family or close friends were allowed to make. He was sure that anybody else making the same gag would have gotten sent to the nearest chapel. It wasn’t the first time someone had dug into his uncle’s sore spot.

  As if taking turns, his father, his brother, and his uncle asked or brought up topics as soon as one ended. Clearly, they were coordinating perfectly to distract him from what he should really be worried about. And he appreciated it for all that it was.

  Maybe one day, he could do this for someone else too.

  Suddenly, the shrill cries of a baby burst out of the inner chamber, causing Reivan to bolt up from his seat as if his knees had never grown weak at all. The double doors soon opened and his gaze locked onto them immediately. Honestly, he was expecting a blood-stained priestess or physician to come out.

  Instead, it was Helen, holding a very noisy cloth-wrapped bundle in her arms. She was wearing a pure white gown that surprisingly didn’t have a single red stain. Her face looked haggard and strands of her hair clung to her face, but all in all, she looked mostly fine.

  “What the fuck are you doing!?” Still, he couldn’t help but excim in surprise when he saw her just come out of the inner chamber like it was another Tuesday.

  Right after giving birth at that.

  He didn’t know if it was because of his shout or something else, but the infantile cries stopped.

  Helen frowned, gring at him. “Don’t shout in front of our baby. And don't cuss either.”

  “I-I’m sorry…” Reivan apologized immediately, realizing that it was, in fact, rude of him to yell in front of a newborn child. His newborn child. “That’s my baby, right…?”

  “Our baby,” she corrected with a smile as she walked toward him, barefoot on the carpet.

  “Right. Of course. But can’t you get dressed properly first…? Also, you just gave birth so you should lie down—”

  “Later.” Helen shook her head in dismissal and presented the bundle to him. “First, the baby. Take a look.”

  “Okay…”

  “Hold him.”

  “What? No, no, no, no. What if I drop—”

  Too te, Helen was already pushing the baby into his arms and Reivan could only do his best to hold the precious bundle, folding his body so he could at least slow its fall with his torso if his arms catastrophically failed him. A sudden bout of inspiration had him sitting on the floor so even on the off-chance that he dropped it, there wouldn’t be much of a fall.

  It was only when his ass was ft on the ground that he realized that even if he dropped his baby, he was fast enough to grab it out of the air before it crashed into the ground.

  He didn’t have the time to feel stupid though, because he had more important concerns.

  ‘It’s my baby…’

  Objectively speaking, his baby was ugly.

  It looked incredibly red, like the angry baby from that one movie about a superhero family. The skin looked wrinkled and rough. Plus, there was still some residue from the baby’s extended stay inside another human being.

  ‘Beautiful…’

  Still, Reivan felt moved by the sight. He knew by all accounts that the baby was ugly. And it should be, because it was a newborn and understandably hadn’t had the time to freshen up.

  But it was the most beautiful baby he’d ever seen. Because it was his baby.

  Reivan’s eyes grew watery as he gazed down at it—him, her, he didn’t know yet.

  The baby had a surprisingly full head of bck hair, different from every other newborn Reivan had ever seen. He couldn’t be sure of what the eyes looked like because his baby didn’t deign to open its eyes yet. Aside from that, it had resumed crying after getting over what he assumed to be surprise at his earlier yell.

  And it was loud.

  Very loud.

  It was to the extent that he was a bit worried about the poor baby’s throat. He knew that it was perfectly normal for a baby to cry right after being born—after all, it had quite literally never experienced anything as inconvenient as being outside of their mother’s womb. Everything was new and scary and icky for them.

  Which was perfectly understandable. Reivan would cry too, if he were in their shoes.

  Of course, he would have been incredibly annoyed if it was someone else’s baby crying in a public space that was supposed to be quiet. But he could only smile at how energetic his baby was.

  “Woah, we've got a screamer in here,” Viktor said with a beaming smile, looming over Reivan’s back and peering at the baby. “That’s good! And he doesn’t smell like a warbeast, but he’s got Reivan’s scent on him from the get go.”

  “What? That can also be told from smell…?” Rodin muttered in wonder.

  Reivan tuned them out for a bit and focused on his beautiful baby.

  Helen, the demon, snatched his baby away from him though. But he couldn’t really refuse her since she did kind of carry that inside her for nine months. She faced the baby toward him and partially pulled the cloth wrap aside to show him its lower body.

  And it was with a triumphantly smug grin that she said, “See. I told you it’d be a boy.”

  Reivan looked at his precious boy’s tiny wiener and nodded. “That's a penis, alright.”

  “You didn’t believe me.”

  “Oh, I am so sorry.” Reivan rolled his eyes. “This isn’t as amazing a guess as you think. The chances were fifty-fifty.”

  Helen shook her head. “Next one’s a girl. Then you’ll believe me.”

  There it was again. That overwhelming confidence that she was right about this and he just didn’t get it. Because he wasn’t a woman. Or because he wasn’t her. He’d heard it all.

  Too tired to argue back, Reivan merely stood up to hug her and the baby. And with some awkwardness, he tried to compliment her. “Uhm, good job. You know, on the delivery. Absolutely fantastic work. Couldn't have done it better myself.”

  Helen let the previous matter die and nodded with a smile. “Yes. I did my best.”

  “You sure as hell did.”

  She scowled, elbowing him right in the stomach. “I told you not to cuss in front of the baby.”

  “I-I’m sorry…” Reivan breathlessly apologized, backing away as he massaged where she struck him. As he did, he noticed his son’s cries steadily growing quieter. “You’re hogging him too much. Let me hold him now.”

  Helen rolled her eyes but relented, gently passing over their child to him.

  It seemed everyone else took that as their chance to get a closer look, crowding around Reivan and the newborn.

  “He’s got his mother’s hair, I suppose,” Rodin remarked with thinly veiled interest. “He looks just like his father back then, though.”

  Rond also came up to examine the newest addition to their cn, standing right next to his father. “Aizenwalds and Mercers have mixed blood so much that it’s as much the Mercer’s signature hair color as it is ours. He could’ve gotten it from either parent, honestly.”

  Viktor curiously tried to poke the baby’s hand, beaming when it was grabbed tightly. “Well, I’ll be! This little one’s got quite the grip. He’ll be a fine warrior, mark my words.”

  “Stupid," someone from the inner chamber suddenly called out. "The baby’s not even a day old and you already want him holding a weapon?”

  Three women walked out of the inner chamber, all of them he knew. His mother, his sister-in-w, and the Saintess herself.

  ‘Huh? Was it just the three of them in there?’

  He knew that all three of them were there, but he thought there were a bunch of other people inside to help. Vianna and Stel were just emotional support for Helen after all. So did that mean that the Saintess delivered the baby completely solo?

  But when he stopped to think about it, that didn’t seem too difficult for someone as experienced as Frey.

  Vianna shooed Viktor away and looked at the baby for a moment before her gaze met Reivan’s.

  And though no words were exchanged, he understood many things in her eyes. Congratutions. Pride. Joy. And all sorts of other things.

  “Right,” Vianna cpped her hands. “Everyone, out. Except for the couple and the baby. You can all admire my handsome grandson ter, when his parents have had their fill. Of course, it’ll have to be after my turn. No ifs, ands, or buts!”

  Viktor grimaced. “This is tyranny. Why do you get to go first?”

  “Speak to me again once you’ve contributed to the restoration of our cn! You're an utter disappointment.”

  His uncle couldn’t say anything against that, so he could only slump his shoulders and leave, followed by Rodin and Rond. Vianna winked at Reivan before trailing after them, and Stel hugged Helen before pyfully punching Reivan on the shoulder with a smile.

  “Congratutions on the very healthy baby boy, Reivan and Helen.” Saintess Frey said, an almost impossibly benevolent smile on her pretty face. She seemed to practically exude kindness from her body as a hormone.

  “Thank you for all your help, Lady Frey.” Reivan bowed his head as deeply as he could without disturbing his child.

  “Mhm.” Helen also bowed. “I’m also thankful. It didn’t hurt at all because of you.”

  Saintess Frey merely giggled. “Oh, it was nothing much. And I don’t think you would have minded the pain very much… Or maybe you would? It would be on a different part of your body so you wouldn’t be used to it… Interesting. Maybe I should research this…”

  Reivan smiled, somewhat exasperated as the Saintess drifted out of the room while muttering about making something to help people get used to the pain or something.

  With only the three of them left in the room, Reivan naturally looked down at his child. “Hello, there.”

  Helen seemed to have wiped herself off at some point because she no longer seemed as haggard as before, though she still did look worse for wear. “Van, the name. We have to name him.”

  “Right. We already agreed on one, though.”

  They had surprisingly agreed on a name quite easily.

  Since they were a country of knights, one particur name stood out in his mind. It was incredibly cliche in the fictional stories he liked to read in the past, but it wasn’t a common name in the Aizen Kingdom.

  Not anymore, at least.

  It apparently was, once upon a time. But so many people had used the name that it slowly became unpopur. Helen absolutely loved his suggestion, however, so there was no further debate.

  Since his wife was absolutely convinced that their child would be a boy, he was left with the solo mission of coming up with a girl's name in secret—y'know, just in case. And that was something he had more trouble with. But he was gd he wouldn’t have to anymore.

  “Hello Arthur,” Helen said from beside him, smiling down at the fruit of their love. “I’m your mom.”

  Smiling along with her, Reivan poked his son’s cheek. “And I’m your dad.”

  Of course, Arthur couldn’t understand a word they said. He only twitched sometimes while filing about, though he was apparently done with crying.

  ‘I’m… I’m a father now…’

  Reivan still couldn’t believe it, but it was hard to deny when he literally had his baby in his arms. And he didn’t have any doubts that it was, indeed, his. Helen wouldn’t betray him like that.

  Suddenly, or maybe by coincidence, Arthur managed to grab onto Reivan’s finger.

  And at that moment, Reivan felt the world around him change. Not in actuality or as a result of something occult.

  No, he simply felt his son’s warmth and realized how… insignificant so many other things were.

  Before coming here, he’d been worried about mermaids, Argonia, Axion’s faction, Fortuna’s Gdiator King, and all manner of other things. He had even had a slight fear for his life, because he was never truly safe outside of Aizen. And he tried to cope with his worries by being silly or selfish or childish.

  Arthur’s presence rearranged so many things in his mental order of importance.

  Now, this precious little life was above everything else. And in his son’s blinding radiance, fatigue, fear, and anxiety felt like such foreign concepts.

  ‘They said fatherhood would change a man, but I didn’t think it would be so… sudden.’

  Reivan chuckled as he lightly moved his forefinger, just enough so Arthur didn’t accidentally let go. “Uncle Viktor was right. Arthur does have a tight grip.”

  Helen smiled. “He’s my son, after all.”

  “What does that have to do with anything... And hey, he’s my son too, okay?”

  Laughing, Reivan brought his face close to Arthur and gave him a kiss on the forehead. That seemed to surprise the newborn, for it shuddered, freezing for a moment before filing about again.

  It was absolutely adorable and Reivan’s heart was smitten. He couldn’t take it anymore and peppered his precious boy with even more kisses. Thankfully, he’d just shaved—though there wasn’t much to shave—so his face was smooth.

  “Don’t bother him too much, okay?” Helen said, tired but amused. She then turned around and lumbered back into the inner chamber. ”I’m going to lie down for a bit.”

  He had no problems with that. Rather, he would have been armed if she didn’t need any rest after popping a baby out. “Isn’t it dirty over there? The sheets, I mean.”

  Helen yawned before responding. “Not really. Saintess Frey did this thing where a yer of light covered everything while it happened. When it was all done, the light just vanished and all the dirt was gone with it. Oh, and apparently, Saintess Frey did something so Arthur won’t have to eat until next week. I wasn't listening when she expined. Sorry.”

  “Oh.”

  Reivan raised a brow, noting down the little tidbit about the Saintess. Though they were well acquainted, he wasn’t very knowledgeable about how her powers manifested. That could be said about the Sword Star too, of course.

  Arthur suddenly cried out for whatever reason, so all thoughts of Swords, Saintesses, and Stars were blown out of his mind. It seemed young Arthur was looking for something, so Reivan poked its palm with his forefinger again.

  That calmed his newborn down.

  “My boy is so cute…” Reivan muttered as he sat down on something he couldn’t care to identify. It was soft and it was roughly at the same height as a chair, so it must have been a chair.

  Looking at his baby and the warm reception he’d received immediately after being born, Reivan imagined what it was like for himself at the time of his birth. And he didn’t mean when he was born as Reivan. He was already aware of things back then, so he still remembered what it was like.

  No, he imagined what it was like when he was first born into Modern Earth as Kagami Ken.

  His parents hadn’t gotten along, so maybe his father didn’t even come to the hospital when his mother gave birth to him. Perhaps he visited after the fact. But not during or directly afterward.

  He imagined what it would have been like for his mother. To have literally suffered excruciating pain just to give life to something, only to be alone in that hospital room with nothing but doctors and nurses offering hollow words of congratutions.

  Did that worsen the retionship between his parents beyond repair or were their bonds so nonexistent that there was nothing left to break? Probably not, else they wouldn’t have had Kyouka after him. Maybe something happened behind the scenes for their retionship to recover.

  But judging from how they treated him growing up, they likely didn’t want Ken. It would not have mattered to them if he was stillborn. And he had grown up knowing that.

  Reivan stared down at the life he’d help create, thinking that such cycles shouldn’t be continued—that they should be broken. That people shouldn’t become what they hated.

  “I won’t ever let you feel unwanted, Arthur. Or unloved.”

  The words were whispered, but they were not spoken with a light heart. They might as well have been an oath. Because Reivan would live by them until his mind was broken or his body was dust.

  He would be better.

  Not for himself, but for Arthur and all the children that would come after.

  Reivan didn’t notice when it happened, but it seemed his precious boy had fallen asleep at some point. Though the baby’s grip around his finger seemed as strong as ever. Maybe Arthur would be a good warrior. He couldn't help but smile at the thought of personally teaching him.

  ‘Oh, right. I almost forgot…’

  With a short prayer for nothing abnormal to show up, Reivan used [Supreme Insight] on Arthur.

  ~^+— Unit's Statistics —+^~Name: Arthur SamsaraSpecies: HumanRealm: MortalAge: 0Sex: MaleSpecial Abilities[Supreme Insight][Peerless Perfection]Might:2 Extra SkillsElemental Affinities:[Lightning] [Wind] [Darkness] -None-Disposition:UndeterminedFavor:UndeterminedThreat Level:N/A (This Unit is too weak!)

  ‘Thank god…’

  Reivan sighed in relief, one of his greatest fears id to rest. It would have been absolutely horrible if his son had some kind of special ability that made him go crazy in exchange for power or something equally atrocious.

  On the other hand…

  ‘He actually inherited an ability from me and Helen…’

  Well, the one he inherited from Helen wasn’t really an ability, but it wasn’t bad by any means. It basically assured them that Arthur would have talent as fraudulent as his mother.

  Reivan was also surprised that Arthur was considered a Samsaran instead of an Aizenwald, but then again, Reivan’s descendants were no longer part of the royal family. Of course, this was a technicality, and they were more than welcome into the pace.

  But they were still in the Aizenwald cn. So he’d expected Arthur to have the st name of Aizenwald.

  ‘Eh. It’s no big deal.’

  It was just a name, in the end. Even if Arthur was an Aizenwald, it wouldn’t provide any concrete benefits like forming a contract with a Soul Armament early, since that was a benefit reserved to the main line.

  “I’m so happy you’re normal, Arthur…” Reivan once again kissed his son’s forehead, realizing his mistake a moment ter. “Ah, well… You’re not exactly normal, though…”

  ‘In the first pce, why do you have 2 Might when you’re a newborn…?’

  Reivan was confused, but he decided that he wouldn’t care about it anymore. Wasn't it a good thing, anyway?

  He was just gd that his son wouldn’t have to wrestle with some cursed ability at any point in his life. And Arthur didn’t have any visible disabilities either.

  Judging by the shrieking, Arthur wasn’t mute. And from the way he got surprised by Reivan’s shouting earlier, Arthur wasn’t deaf either. Only time would tell if the other senses were faulty, but Reivan reamained optimistic.

  ‘Oh, but even if you had a disability, I’d love you anyway!’

  Reivan chuckled before standing up and walking into the inner chamber. Better to have Arthur nap in a soft bed with his mom instead of in his stinky dad’s arms.

  AnnouncementChapter Word Count: 8033Last Edited: April 16, 2025Lire