Chapter 168: Not the First Again
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 168: Not the First Again
There was a child in her womb.
The first thing the nun did upon hearing this was to deny reality.
“...A child? What are you talking about? That can't be right. We only did it on a safe day—.”
“I’m saying that ‘safe day’ is meaningless.”
Magic enhances all physical abilities. It's why witches don't die easily even when stabbed by swords and spears, why they can digest poison without issue, and why their lifespans are infinite.
Similarly, Yohan's magic-infused sperm can survive for nearly a month, unlike ordinary sperm, and doesn't die easily.
It was a fact no one had ever discovered, as a man possessing magic had never appeared before.
“Besides, it’s about time for your period, isn't it? And you haven't gotten it.”
“...It is about that time.”
“That’s because you’re pregnant.”
Unable to believe she was pregnant, Elesis fell silent for a moment before realizing there was no need to argue about it with just words.
This was the most advanced empire in the world; of course, a tool to test for pregnancy existed.
If she, who had never so much as held hands with another man, let alone had sex, was pregnant, then it was safe to assume she was carrying his child, just as Yohan said.
“Could you... could you give me a moment?”
“Of course.”
With that, Yohan left the confessional and wandered outside the church. The cold street air washed over his face.
He felt a tightness in his chest. He'd never smoked, but he craved a cigarette. Do smokers just blow this feeling away with a puff of smoke?
At times like this, it felt unfair to be a non-smoker. He couldn't just let this suffocating feeling drift away like cigarette smoke.
In the end, Yohan watched the white puffs of his breath rise into the sky like smoke and waited for Elesis to compose herself.
“It was true.”
A short while later, Elesis returned, having procured a pregnancy test from somewhere. She realized she was pregnant. Faced with the definitive proof of science, she could no longer deny it.
However, realizing the truth and accepting it were two entirely different worlds.
“Pregnant... This wasn't what I intended.”
“When you have sex, sometimes you get pregnant. That's just how it is.”
“...Isn't that something married couples usually say?”
Elesis said this as she gently caressed her abdomen. Her toned, well-defined abs were clearly visible, without a trace of fat.
And just below her navel, the area over her uterus protruded ever so slightly. A new life was conceived and blossoming within.
“...I'll have to get rid of it.”
“What?”
Yohan stared at Elesis, his expression filled with shock. But Elesis just tilted her head, looking at him as if he were the surprising one.
“Isn't that what you came to say? That I should get rid of the child. That if I don't, the witches might kill me...”
“No, it's not like the witches are psychopaths...”
Sensing her prejudiced and discriminatory view of the witches, Yohan let out a hollow laugh and waved his hands dismissively.
The child Elesis was carrying was his own. As unhinged as the witches became when it came to him, they wouldn't go so far as to try and kill his child.
They knew exactly how he would treat them if they did something like that. Besides, they couldn't use force to monopolize him while the other witches were watching.
“Then why?”
“Why? ...Is it so strange for the father of the baby to come see the mother?”
“...What?”
Elesis tilted her head as if she had misheard. But Yohan was there to remind her that she hadn't.
“The father of the baby... and the mother...”
“W-Wait! Hold on, does that mean—.”
Elesis clamped a hand over Yohan's mouth, her face flushing as her lips trembled. After a long moment, she finally gathered her composure and spoke cautiously.
“Did you just... propose to me?”
“Huh... I guess you could see it that way?”
He hadn't thought of it like that, but now that she mentioned it, it could be interpreted that way. Since it didn't really change anything, Yohan nodded and replied.
“Yeah. This is a proposal.”
“Oh, ohh—.”
I mean, she's a tough woman who raised her daughter for decades without me, and even her granddaughter on top of that. What's the big deal?
A simple proposal? He could do it dozens, even hundreds of times if she wanted. But Elesis covered her deeply flushed face with her hands and lowered her head.
“So, what's your answer?”
“...Yohan.”
“Yeah?”
“Nuns... can't get married.”
The answer was a rejection.
Yohan, who never expected to be turned down by the woman carrying his child, stared at Elesis with a blank expression.
But no matter how long he stared, nothing changed.
Still in shock from the rejection he never saw coming, Yohan returned to the cabin. As he lay in the hammock, swaying blankly from side to side, Evangeline spotted him and quickly climbed on top of him.
“Yohan! What are you doing?”
“...Teacher.”
Feeling the weight of his teacher and their baby, Yohan gently stroked her belly and pulled Evangeline into a tight embrace. Seeing him hold her without a word, Evangeline silently let her body rest against his.
As they swayed like that for a while, Yohan carefully broke the silence.
“How do you woo a woman?”
Thud—!
The hammock they were on lurched violently. Yohan looked up in surprise at Evangeline, who was trembling on top of him.
Evangeline looked like she was about to burst into tears. She sniffled once, then spoke cautiously.
“...A woman?”
“Ah, yes. A woman...”
“Who?”
“I was just curious...”
“Why would you need to be curious about something like that? You already have me, don't you, Yohan?”
Swoosh— Evangeline, still on top of Yohan, lowered herself until their noses were almost touching.
Evangeline's unique sweet scent washed over him, and at the same time, a chilling aura enveloped him, so intense it made him shiver.
“You have Ritz, and Beatrice, and Regina, and Hekaterina, and even Linna and Linne, and Adelheid and Agapeite.”
She seemed to realize how many there were as she spoke, letting out a few hollow laughs mid-sentence, but—after managing to name all the witches by Yohan's side, Evangeline looked at him, picturing each one.
“Woo? We're already caught by you. You don't need to do anything. Just say the word, and we're ready to offer ourselves to you anytime.”
“No, Teacher—it's not like that...”
“Then what is it? If it's not that, does it mean you want to woo other women, not us?”
“—Elesis rejected me! That's why I asked!”
Hearing Yohan's outburst, Evangeline tilted her head, trying to process his words. She blinked repeatedly, as if she couldn't understand.
After reacting like a broken machine for a moment, she began to nod her head as if she'd finally realized something.
“Ah—so that bitch knows her place.”
“...Her place?”
“There's no woman who would reject you, Yohan... but if one did, what do you think the reason would be?”
Of course, there was only one possibility. She was afraid of the witches around him. She assumed they would harm her and was too scared to get close.
Yohan thought that was impossible, and he knew they wouldn't actually do that—but wasn't that just his own assumption?
When he realized this, he felt as if he'd been hit over the head with a hammer.
“So...”
“That's right, Yohan. Even if you try to like someone else now, you can't.”
As she whispered this in Yohan's ear, Evangeline puffed out her cheeks and pouted, as if something was terribly unfair.
“I mean, come on! Other men would be lucky to meet even one beautiful woman like us! You have nine of us, and you still want more?! If you keep being so greedy, you're going to get stabbed!”
“It's not greed...”
“Yes, it is!”
“...Because Elesis is pregnant with my child.”
“It is... what did you say?”
Hearing Yohan's words, Evangeline's eyes widened as if she'd misheard. Yohan let out a dry laugh and repeated himself.
“Pregnant...”
“Who?”
“Elesis.”
“When?”
“Around the time we fought the Malyong, I think.”
Hearing this, Evangeline's witch brain instantly began to calculate the date of Elesis's conception. She and Beatrice had gotten pregnant recently, and the Malyong was captured a few months ago...
“Huh?”
I wasn't the first?
Evangeline realized she wasn't the first one to conceive Yohan's child.
Once again, she'd had first place stolen from her.