Chapter 143
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 143
Long, elegant fingers skillfully peeled away the skin of the red fruit, revealing clusters that shimmered like a hoard of rubies.
Thalia watched his face intently by the lamplight, continuously accepting the morsels he offered. Even as he tended to her with the meticulous care one might show a fragile hatchling, Barkas’s expression remained an inscrutable mask.
In the past, she would have been dying of curiosity to know what lay beneath that facade. Now, however, it didn’t matter.
Thalia placed a hand on her lower abdomen, pressing down lightly. Beneath the thin layer of skin, she could feel the slight, firm swell of her womb.
When she first discovered her pregnancy, she hadn’t been able to find a moment’s peace, terrified that something might go wrong. Having been told she had a constitution that made conceiving difficult, her anxiety had been profound. The slightest tugging sensation in her belly would send a wave of horror through her, making her fear she was losing the child. Every minute change in her body felt like an ill omen.
The one who had unexpectedly put her mind at ease was the healer of House Sieorkan.
Perhaps it was because she had lost a child herself in the past, but Tiuran knew better than anyone what precautions needed to be taken. Though Thalia had been wary at first, she gradually began to take the woman’s advice to heart. She reasoned that since Tiuran’s own life would be forfeit if the child came to harm, the healer was unlikely to repeat the same mistake.
Regardless of the circumstances, the Eastern healer’s knowledge proved invaluable. Thanks to her, Thalia slowly regained her stability. Once her mind found some breathing room, she was finally able to focus entirely on the life growing within her.
‘At this stage... would it be about the size of a fist?’
Nibbling on the pomegranate seeds he handed her, Thalia carefully traced the contours of her hardening abdomen.
Initially, this child was merely a means to an end. She had calculated that bearing an heir for the Grand Duke of Sieorkan would prevent even those in the East from daring to cast her aside, and that the child would serve as her shield even if Gareth eventually ascended the throne.
She hadn’t realized that a being she had conceived solely for her own protection would become a source of such intense, aching curiosity.
Thalia visualized the tiny creature. Would it be small and adorable, like a child of the fairy race? By now, its hair or eyes might have begun to form. If so, what color would they be?
Perhaps the child would have thick blonde hair and dark blue eyes like her own. Or perhaps it would have pale blonde hair and blue eyes flecked with silver, just like Barkas. Whichever it was, the child would surely be the most beautiful thing in the world.
Her curiosity swelled with each passing day. She wanted to know everything—the baby’s appearance, its voice, its personality. She reached a point where she could think of nothing else. Even Barkas’s presence, which had always occupied the center of her world, had been pushed to the back of her mind.
"Tell me. What will you do if it’s a girl?"
Lost in a languid daydream while chewing on the seeds, Thalia suddenly voiced the question.
Barkas, who had finished feeding her one whole pomegranate and was picking up a fresh one, glanced at her. His brow furrowed deeply. He looked like someone who hadn’t given a single thought to the child’s gender.
A sudden surge of anxiety washed over her. Was Barkas not as curious about this child as she was? Come to think of it, while he often pulled her onto his lap and stroked her belly, he had never actually spoken about the child itself.
Perhaps his interest was solely focused on an heir to carry on his legacy.
As if to drive a nail into that fear, Barkas muttered in a low voice, "...I don’t even want to think about it."
Thalia froze in shock.
Barkas, staring quietly down at the knife he was using to peel the fruit, added softly, "If she looks like you, all sorts of vermin will swarm around her. Dealing with them alone will be no small task."
Thalia instinctively pulled her shoulders in. Rather than anger, a sense of genuine worry radiated from his troubled murmuring.
If a girl who looked like her were born, it felt as though she truly would become a target for all manner of beasts. A new type of fear—one she had never experienced before—rushed in at the thought.
Thalia bolted upright, her voice urgent. "Then you have to protect her. It’s your role to stay by her side and shield her so that no one can ever hurt her."
Barkas looked back at her, the corners of his eyes crinkling. He seemed puzzled as to why she was demanding something so obvious. He nodded calmly.
"I intend to do exactly that. It is the duty of the head of the family to protect and care for a daughter until a reliable husband is found for her."
"Don’t say such ridiculous things. I’ll never let her get married."
Suddenly, her voice took on a sharp, defensive edge. Glaring at him with her brows arched, Thalia wrapped her arms around her stomach as if afraid someone might snatch the child away.
"I’m going to keep her with me for the rest of my life," she cried out shrilly. "I will never, ever send her away."
Barkas’s eyes widened slightly.
Only then did she realize that her voice was thick with tears. She didn’t know why her eyes had suddenly grown so hot. Biting her trembling lip, Thalia began to pour out the words that had been lodged in her throat.
"I will never leave my baby alone in a strange place. I won’t let them shiver in fear among people they don’t know, and I won’t let them wither away in loneliness. I will always, always be by their side. I’ll hold them every night and keep them safe."
The words that started as a rambling lament turned into a sob. Before she could feel any shame, a ball of fire kept surging up from within her. Thalia frantically tugged at Barkas’s sleeve, pressing him.
"You have to do the same!"
Through her overflowing tears, she saw his face, which had turned rigid. Thalia shook his arm, demanding an answer. "Hurry up and say you will!"
The man, who had been motionless as if stunned by her outburst, set down the fruit and climbed onto the bed. Thalia sat on his lap as if it were the most natural thing in the world. His long, strong arms immediately wrapped around her.
"I will do so," his heavy, low voice fell over the crown of her head.
Thalia gripped his clothes as if she might tear them and stared straight into his pale, shimmering blue eyes. "Can you swear it?"
"I swear it."
"It’s a promise to me. That you’ll protect our baby no matter what happens."
A calloused thumb brushed the tears from her eyes. His voice, now slightly rough, washed over her. "Yes. I’ll do everything as you say, so stop crying."
Thalia’s lips parted. She wanted to press him even harder.
You must always put our child first. Even before Gareth, even before Aila.
She swallowed the words. She felt as though she wouldn’t be able to bear it if there was even a slight chance he might refuse.
Gulping back her sobs, Thalia eventually wound her arms around his neck and wept into his rock-solid shoulder.
"Even... even if it’s a boy... I’m going to keep him. I won’t send him to the Imperial Family or the Temple."
She felt the hands around her back tighten firmly. Barkas murmured in a voice that had sunk deep and heavy.
"Fine. Whether it’s a daughter or a son, let’s keep them with us forever."
For some reason, those words made her sorrow surge even more. Thalia rubbed her wet cheek against his taut neck as Barkas gently patted her back.
It was a touch that seemed to promise that everything would be all right—that there would be no more pain, and no more loneliness.
Thalia desperately wanted to believe in that promise.