Theodor Joachim Lef (1)

In Tessen, the birthing chamber of Tech House was prepared in the most private place.

Thick silk was double-layered along the walls of the birthing room, and lush silk curtains were hung throughout the room so that it looked as though it were fully wrapped in a canopy.

At the head of the birthing bed made of the finest oak, pillars were set up and a short canopy was draped.

At the foot of the bed, only short ornaments were set up instead of canopy pillars, and the corners had soft curves.

The birthing bed sent as a gift from Rain had been made by Marchioness Marine Rain, with the help of four artisans, for her daughter.

Marine had come to Tessen from autumn ahead of Alicia’s delivery.

Having made her grandchild’s clothes and shoes since summer, she clung closely to Alicia through autumn and into winter, almost obsessively.

“Alicia.”

Marine wiped the sweat-soaked forehead of Alicia and held the tightly tensed hand.

The sweat-soaked hand looked pitiful.

Small-framed Alicia looked as though she were buried in the large birthing bed.

“Ah….”

Alicia tossed her lying body as she drew ragged breaths.

“You are doing well!”

The physician who checked Alicia’s condition raised his voice.

For the child who would be the first among the Emperor’s direct line to be born outside the imperial palace, the imperial family had sent eight physicians to Tessen.

Seeing the birthing chamber’s ceiling seem to spin and drift far away, then suddenly snap back into sharp focus, Alicia shook her head.

No.

Alicia could not believe it.

She had known giving birth would be difficult, but she had not known it would hurt more than when her spine broke in hell and her side was nearly cut in half.

It’s a lie….

The pain of labor hurt as much as when a fire-breathing monster had ambushed her back.

“Aaagh!”

Alicia, soaked in sweat from head to toe, screamed.

Marine tightly gripped Alicia’s small hand, closed her eyes, and recited a prayer.

“Just a little more!”

While Marine rapidly spoke a verse of blessing, Alicia’s scream rang out long again in the birthing chamber.

“Aaagh!”

From beyond the birthing chamber door, the sounds of a struggle rang out.

“No, Your Highness!”

“A man cannot enter the birthing chamber!”

As busy as the birthing chamber was with everyone occupied by their own situation, the waiting room beyond the birthing chamber was also busy.

The dull sound of someone falling and the noise of shoving and shouting rang out in a flurry.

“Alicia!”

Reichardt called Alicia in a desperate voice.

Alicia could not answer.

“Ugh… aaagh!”

She screamed again until her throat felt torn.

At the same time, the physicians pressed close to the birthing bed moved busily.

“Your Highness, just one more time!”

The court physician encouraged Alicia and gestured to the physicians standing by the bed.

One of the physicians at the bedside pressed down hard on Alicia’s belly.

“Aaaagh!”

Alicia screamed, and beyond the door Reichardt called for Alicia in anguish.

“Alicia! Alicia!”

Thud, thud—the birthing chamber door boomed as if it would break.

“No, Your Highness! Everyone, hold him! Stop His Highness!”

The physicians inside the birthing chamber did not pay attention to the violently shaking door.

They focused only on their own work.

“He’s coming!”

Joy filled the court physician’s voice.

“Aaagh!”

With her vision blurring, Alicia screamed and forced herself to push as instructed from beside her.

Marine hugged the sweat-soaked Alicia and watched the physicians.

“It’s a prince!”

One of the physicians shouted in a loud voice.

The court physician who led the delivery received the child and continued the treatment.

“Hah, hah, hah….”

Following the baby’s crying, Alicia cast a dazed gaze.

From Alicia’s lips, trembling in pain, rapid breaths leaked out without pause.

“Ali-ge.”

Even though she knew it was no use, Marine kept wiping Alicia’s limp face and neck with a clean cloth.

The face panting rapidly looked utterly drained of strength and was pale.

“Alicia, congratulations on becoming a mother.”

Marine whispered as she wiped Alicia’s face, looking at her with tears in her eyes.

“Your Highness.”

The court physician swaddled the baby and laid him beside Alicia.

The child who had been born and burst into cries was wrapped in soft cloth, wriggling with his eyes half closed.

Alicia sank into a strange feeling and stared at the tiny child lying beside her face.

“Theodor.”

Dry lips, exhausted from childbirth, moved slowly.

At Alicia’s whisper, the little lips that had been twitching stopped for a moment.

Bang!

The birthing chamber door suddenly opened, and an urgent voice rang out.

“Alicia.”

At Reichardt’s appearance, the physicians offered a simple show of respect and quickly continued what they were doing.

“Rei.”

A smile spread across Alicia’s exhausted face.

Taking Marine’s concession, Reichardt sat on a chair and looked at the utterly drained Alicia and the bundle-sized child with a deeply moved face.

Toward him, unable to say anything for a moment, Alicia whispered.

“It’s Theodor, Rei. Hold him.”

At Alicia’s urging, Reichardt carefully lifted the child with a hesitant movement.

Though he held the baby in a stable posture, he still could not say anything.

His face as he looked down at the child seemed shy.

“Say his name, Rei.”

Alicia spread a deep smile as she looked at the person she loved and the child who resembled the two of them.

“Theodor.”

Reichardt whispered to the child with a bashful air.

The young face that had been half-closing its eyes and drifting into sleep looked at him.

The child with ash-golden hair that looked like dark blond and violet eyes reacted to the sound and then fell asleep again.

Reichardt carefully laid the sleeping Theodor beside Alicia.

“He looks like Alicia.”

He said, turning the gaze that had been looking at the tiny child back to Alicia.

“He looks like Rei.”

Before the birth, Alicia had heard many times that babies were very ugly right after they were born.

She had been told not to be disappointed if the newborn was red and wrinkled.

Those who said that had added afterward that the baby would become pretty soon.

And everyone said their own baby had been fair and glossy like a peeled egg as soon as it was born.

Alicia had guessed that other people’s babies looked red and wrinkled, while one’s own baby looked fair and glossy due to self-deception.

As expected, even though he had just been born, Theodor was fair and glossy.

Except for his violet eyes, he gave off an impression astonishingly similar to Reichardt.

Long eyes, a high nose, and neat lips sat on his face as if someone had shrunk Reichardt down.

Marine watched Alicia and Reichardt’s conversation with a pleased face, then marveled at the sleeping young face.

“The baby is so pretty.”

At Marine’s words, Alicia smiled and said,

“Maybe because he’s my baby, he’s so pretty.”

“No, Alicia. He’s the prettiest newborn I’ve ever seen.”

Pride swelled on Marine’s face.

“He looks like Alicia.”

Reichardt said with a smile in his eyes.

He stepped aside and offered the chair to Marine.

Marine, who had been smiling in the warm atmosphere, sat down and spoke carefully.

“He does look like Alicia, but I think he looks more like Your Highness.”

It was a time of joy and happiness because Alicia had safely given birth.

She cherished Alicia greatly, but even so, what was not was not.

Excluding the eye color, even though he was a newborn, Theodor seemed to hardly resemble Alicia at all.

“He should look like Alicia.”

Reichardt whispered, peering as if to see whether violet eyes might appear beneath the eyelids.

“Why? I like that he looks like Rei. He’s pretty.”

Alicia replied, sinking her head deep into the pillow.

Reichardt traced Alicia’s tired face with his hand, then lowered his head and kissed Alicia’s cheek.

“Thank you.”

Smiling at the soft touch on her face, Alicia tried to say something, then slowly fell asleep as she was.

She was happy and glad, but it was difficult to fend off the pouring fatigue and sleep.

Marine excused herself with only a glance as a greeting.

Reichardt knew he should go to the waiting room and fulfill his duty, but he stayed by the side of the sleeping Alicia.

Until the deep night passed, morning dawned, and Alicia opened her eyes again.

Until two pairs of violet eyes sought him, he did not leave her side.

Alicia was slowly recovering. The most proactive about her recovery was Reichardt. Connie and the wet nurses were there, but the one who knew the baby best and cared for him the most was Alicia.

Reichardt forcibly kept Alicia apart from Theodor for two hours a day.

“Rei.”

Alicia called to Reichardt as he walked while holding her in his arms.

Since she became pregnant, he seemed to think something was wrong if Alicia walked on her own.

She had thought it would change after giving birth, but after the baby was born, he made it even harder for her to walk alone.

Alicia felt embarrassed and shy.

To go out for a walk as exercise and be carried in someone’s arms all the way to the greenhouse.

Wouldn’t walking to the greenhouse itself be exercise?

Alicia offered her opinion many times in roundabout ways.

But after she gave birth, Reichardt acted as if something terrible would happen unless she absolutely rested.

Even if Alicia merely got out of bed because she was tired of lying down, he rushed over to support her, asking with a face full of worry, “Is something wrong?”

“Exercise.”

Entering the greenhouse, Reichardt set Alicia down from his arms and spoke.

Connie, walking beside them, looked at the Grand Duke and Grand Duchess with a pleased face.

In her arms, Theodor was held wrapped in swaddling cloth.

“Theodor.”

Reichardt extended his arms toward the child in Connie’s embrace.

Connie safely handed the child over to him and stepped back.

“Today our little prince is so dignified, being with Mother and Father.”

“You said he sometimes cried for no reason?”

Reichardt said as he gently patted Theodor’s shoulder with his fingertips.