19. The Worries of a Mother-To-Be

The following day, Doctor Granny stopped by my room when she came to check up on Mimosa. Her diagnosis was almost identical to her husband’s: that I was about two months pregnant, and that my queasiness was just a symptom of morning sickness.

Time marched on without notable changes, and before I knew it, I was six months into my pregnancy. The worst of my morning sickness had long since passed, and my appetite was back to normal. I still couldn’t handle anything with too strong a smell, but for the most part I was eating as much as I ever had.

The biggest thing to change was definitely my belly—it was jutting out pretty far by this point. It was what you’d call a potbelly. There was something almost strange about putting on weight nowhere but the one spot.

“I’m a regular roly-poly now!”

“You are not,” Dahlia calmly retorted in the face of my wisecracking.

True. It’s not extra meat I’ve put on my stomach—it’s a baby.

Besides, my belly wasn’t all that had gotten bigger.

“Three cheers for the first and biggest bazongas of my lifetime!”

“...I suppose I can’t deny that.”

Heh heh! I puffed up my chest and owned it with pride! The nearby maids were shooting me deadpan looks, but that was their problem☆

Here I thought I knew my own body better than anyone, and yet it kept undergoing all these rapid changes. I was having a hard time just keeping up with it at all.

I’d outgrown my old maid uniform—I mean, casual wear—so these days I was in the habit of wearing the brand new maternity dresses we’d had made for the occasion.

I wasn’t having any issues with my physical health, and the excuse to stay out of high society was a boon to my mental health, so at one point I even considered the pregnant life to be a dream come true.

How truly naive of me to think things would stay so stress-free to the end.

* * *

It was the middle of the night, when even the servants were fast asleep.

“Aaahhh!”

My husband’s scream echoed through our deathly quiet bedroom, startling me awake.

Whoa nelly! That gave me a scare! What happened to make him yell like that, anyway? Was it a sudden bout of pain?

“What is it, Cercis?” I asked, worried for him.

The man in question only sat up straight in bed, staring off into the distance with unfocused eyes. His shoulders rose and fell with the effort of his wheezing.

What do I do? Should I go get Rohtas?

“Cercis? Hey, Cercis? Are you all right? Does anything hurt? Should I call for Rohtas?” I questioned him, grabbing his shoulders and shaking him back and forth.

“Ah... Viola?”

His chocolate eyes snapped into focus, finally appearing to register my presence. Oh, good! He’s snapped out of it.

“Yep, that’s me—your dear Viola! Are you okay? You’re not hurt, are you?” While I asked one more time for good measure, I pressed my hand to his forehead and...nope, no fever! Next, I gave him a light smack to the bod...and his bones seemed to be doing fine too!

As I was in the middle of performing my full health check, worried about what might be wrong, he said, “It’s nothing—sorry. I’m just fine. Nothing hurts, and I’m not sick. I had a bad dream, that’s all.” He laughed, but there was no humor to the sound.

“Really?”

“Yeah.”

“But how could it be bad enough to make you scream...?”

Had it aggravated a secret ailment of his? Or was the stress of his hectic work life finally taking a toll on him?

I squinted hard at him, determined not to miss the distress signals his body was sending out—but what he said next told me everything.

“How could I not scream?! My darling daughter said she was going to become that prince’s future queen!”

“Excuse me?”

Uh, Mr. Fisalis? Did you just spill the beans about your secret love child (female)?

* * *

“Er...ahem. So to sum it up, you have a daughter around the same age as Prince Dianthus, and he’s turned out to be that daughter’s first love? And she told you she wants to be his queen when she grows up? Do I have that right?”

The two of us were sitting on our heels atop the bed, facing one another. I was getting to the bottom of—I mean, asking Mr. Fisalis to explain his latest remark (about his darling daughter, etc.).

“Not a single thing you just said was correct! That didn’t even come close to summing up the story!” Mr. Fisalis countered, completely repudiating my listening comprehension skills. No? Well, I just woke up myself, so I can’t deny that I’m not exactly thinking straight.

“Then explain it one more time for me. Who’s the mother of your love child?”

“Vi... Could we leave the whole ‘love child’ idea behind?”

“Fine. Go on.”

“Try actually listening to me this time. In the dream I just had...”

He told me that in his dream, the little one I was currently carrying had turned out to be a girl (for whatever reason, dubbed “Bitsy” for this explanation), and when this Bitsy came of age, the grown-up version of Prince Dianthus had asked her to become his crown princess. Bitsy had been secretly pining for the prince for years, and thus had jumped at his proposal. Mr. Fisalis had protested this development, only for his daughter to break into tears screaming, “I hate you, Daddy!” and for me to brandish a whip against him(!) shouting, “Stay out of our daughter’s love life!”

Or so the story went.

There were a whole lot of comments I could make about that, but first I had to get one thing out of the way.

“Yeah, I’m not the type to whip anyone.”

“That’s all you have to say about this?!”

I politely ignored the way Mr. Fisalis deflated.

“So this ‘Bitsy’ isn’t a secret love child, but this one right here?” I confirmed, stroking my plump belly.

“Why would I have a love child?! Of course this is who I meant,” he retorted, likewise giving my stomach a rub.

“I mean... It’s not like we know this is a girl. If the child turns out to be a boy, he isn’t about to become anyone’s princess.”

“That’s a good point.”

And now my husband was desperately attempting to convince himself that “we don’t know it’s a girl yet.” Did he really find the idea of our kid becoming the crown princess that abhorrent? Just how much did he hate that little prince’s guts?

“So there you have it—I’m neither sick nor otherwise indisposed, and I certainly don’t have any secret love children. I’m sorry I woke you up in the middle of the night. You must be sleepy, no? Even I’m feeling a bit groggy now that I’ve calmed down, so let’s get back to bed.”

“Good plan.”

I’d been perpetually exhausted ever since I found out I was pregnant. I was confident that the moment I laid down, I’d fall right back asleep.

Once I crawled back under the covers, it was only a matter of time before I drifted off into dreamland. I started to doze off almost immediately, but that didn’t seem to be the case for Mr. Fisalis.

“You know, I didn’t mind seeing you with that whip...”

“Save the nonsense for when you’re sleep-talking.”

Stop trying to open strange new doors and go to bed!

* * *

The next day dawned.

It seemed Mr. Fisalis really hadn’t been feeling particularly under the weather, seeing as he got up at his usual hour and left for work.

As I watched my husband head out in good health and high spirits, Rohtas mentioned, “It sounded like Master Fisalis woke up in the middle of the night.”

“He sure did! It was some kind of nightmare, he said. Are we sure there isn’t something more serious wrong with him, though?”

“To my eyes he seemed to be doing fine, so I doubt we have anything to worry about. But if you’re that concerned, perhaps we should have the doctor drop by for a surprise check-up?”

“Oh, good idea. Sounds like a plan.”

“Still, what kind of nightmare could have been so bad that he woke up screaming?” the butler asked with a curious tilt of his head.

“Well, you see... Apparently he dreamed that our baby was a girl, and that when she grew up, she announced that she was going to marry the crown prince,” I explained, rubbing my belly as I did. “And he was dead against it, of course.”

Rohtas chuckled. “So his child turned out to be a daughter, and the crown princess at that...? That’s not outside the realm of possibility.”

Aha... So that scenario’s “not outside the realm of possibility,” huh? I guess that makes sense—the Fisalis line is a prestigious ducal family and all. That’s a perfectly respectable pedigree for the future king’s wife. Or more like, that’s about as good as it gets.

Hm? Wait a second.

If our baby really is a girl...what are we going to do about a Fisalis heir?!

* * *

The looming issues of our baby’s gender and the family heir situation continued to weigh on me. I couldn’t bring myself to consult anyone about my worries, however, so I spent the next few days down in the dumps.

That was when we suddenly received word that Mother and Father Fisalis would be visiting Rohze.

“Do they have some business here in the capital? Another summons from the royal palace, perhaps?” I wondered, curious as to why they would uproot themselves from their life of leisure in Le Pied.

“They just want to see you again. It’s been a while,” Mr. Fisalis explained, scanning through his work materials beside me.

“I find it hard to believe that getting a look at me would be worth the trip.”

“Oh, do you now? It should go without saying they’d want to see for themselves how you’re holding up. I mean, they love you even more than their own son.”

“Uh...sorry for stealing your thunder.”

And so it was that my in-laws would be coming to our manor for the first time in a while.

* * *

Mother and Father Fisalis were typically pretty laid-back about their visits, but things were different this time around. In addition to the carriage they’d rode in on, they’d brought along a second car just for all their luggage.

“It’s good to see you, Mother. Father,” I greeted them. Since Mr. Fisalis was away at work, the servants and I had come outside to welcome them instead.

“It’s been too long, Vi! I was worried to death when I heard how bad your morning sickness had gotten! Are you doing better now?” Mother Fisalis asked, rushing up to me and inspecting my complexion.

“Sorry to give you a scare. I’m feeling much better these days.”

“We wanted to come sooner—why, the very second we heard you were expecting—but Cercis told us not to! He said you already had enough on your plate without us here,” she went on, puffing up her cheeks. As childish as the behavior was, my mother-in-law somehow managed to make it look cute. That was the magic of a pretty face for you.

True enough—if Mother and Father Fisalis had been around, I would’ve had to stay on my best behavior, so I was glad Mr. Fisalis had held them back. Good judgment call, dearest!

“Oh, I didn’t realize.”

“We packed our bags the moment we got the okay to come see you!”

“We heard your morning sickness was so bad that you weren’t eating much of anything but fruit, so we brought you a mountain of fresh produce from our territory,” added Father Fisalis, pointing to the extra carriage I’d mentioned. Ah, I see that was the car for souvenirs.

“Wow! Thank you so much! The worst of it has passed, so I’m slowly but surely getting back into the habit of eating normal foods. I’m still delighted to have all this fruit, though!”

I loved the fruit from our territory; it was always mouth-wateringly tasty. Back when my morning sickness had been at its peak, I’d even asked Cartham to order some for me. I was beyond thrilled to have so much of it now!

* * *

“The servants were concerned that your morning sickness was keeping you from eating enough, which had us worried in turn. I’m glad you seem to be doing so much better now.”

“You’re already such a skinny little thing—we weren’t sure what might happen if you hollowed out any further!”

“Sorry to worry you.”

“Don’t be! Anyhow, I see you’re really starting to show now.”

“The doctor said that me and the baby are both in good health.”

I was chatting with my in-laws in the parlor, nibbling away at the fruit Cartham had so beautifully arranged on a plate for us.

“I was lucky that my morning sickness never got all that bad. It sounds like a rough time.” Mother Fisalis reflected back on her own pregnancy and frowned, perhaps imagining how it might have gone if her symptoms had been worse.

“You’ve got that right. I never thought the day would come when I’d see so many of my favorite foods as the enemy... It certainly was a trying time.”

“Oh, you poor thing! Cartham’s food is so scrumptious—it’s heartbreaking just to imagine not being able to stomach it!”

“Exactly! But at least he’s been mostly making easy-to-eat, healthy foods for me these days.”

“I’m glad you’re having less trouble now. Nothing’s more important to us than your well-being!” Mother Fisalis smiled at me.

And then, Father Fisalis followed that up with: “That’s right. It doesn’t matter if it’s a boy or a girl—all you need to worry about is giving birth to a healthy child.”

It doesn’t matter if it’s a boy or a girl? Who told them what I was so worried about?! I never said a word about it to anyone, did I?! So how did they figure it out?!

But now was not the time to be worrying about who had read my mind.

Does Father really mean that? Or is he just saying that to be polite? Deep down, he has to want an heir (a.k.a. a boy), right?

I gazed into my in-laws’ faces, unable to discern what they were thinking...but given the way they were smiling at me, it sure didn’t look like they were lying through their teeth.

Sheepishly, I voiced the concern I’d been holding inside for a few days now. “But we do need an heir to the family line, so I’m a little worried about what will happen if I do have a girl...”

“Oh, believe me—I’ve had my fair share of thoughts like that in the past! It’s an easy dilemma to find yourself obsessing over. It doesn’t help that emotions tend to run high when you’re carrying a child,” Mother Fisalis replied matter-of-factly.

She was so blasé about it that I wasn’t sure how to react.

“Really?”

“Absolutely! It used to be so easy to waste my time with worries about producing an heir or a son-in-law or what have you.”

“...Yeah. I’ve been thinking about those things a lot.”

What you said, mom. Except in the present tense.

“I was the same way, but my husband and mother-in-law both just laughed it off and said, ‘We’ll make it work no matter where the chips fall. You just focus on giving birth to a healthy child.’ It’s thanks to their support that I pushed past all of that and decided it wasn’t that important after all.”

“Oh, what a nice story.”

“Isn’t it? So I want you to relax and have yourself a healthy baby too! That’s all you need to think about,” she said, a lovely smile rising to her face.

So that’s all there is to it, huh?

“Okay! Thank you so much!”

There were still a few months left until my expected delivery date. I was getting more and more eager to meet our little Bitsy (the name was a work-in-progress) by the day.

* * * Bonus Scene * * *

“Still, I can’t believe how well-timed that piece of advice was... Did one of you read my mind?!”

“Oh, there’s a simple explanation for that: we got a letter from Cercis and Rohtas asking us to help you grapple with your little heir dilemma.”

“Cercis wrote that?! And Rohtas too?!”

So what—did everyone see right through me all along...?

“No surprise there. It was written all over your face.”

“For real?”