The Sand Bride - Side Story 2.8

When Esther first saw the items the servants brought while exclaiming in admiration, she also opened her eyes wide and let out a surprised breath.

She could tell that these items, especially in the case of the medicinal herbs, were all so rare that they were hard to obtain even with money, and were foods counted as the best for being good for the body.

Karzhen had obtained them all to give to her, who had morning sickness and whose body had weakened. The problem was that as soon as Esther received those precious foods Karzhen had personally procured, she was busy taking them out and offering them to her father.

She repeatedly carried as much as she could hold in her arms—like a squirrel diligently gathering winter food—entered the North Palace, set them down, and returned to the inner palace empty-handed. She even did so personally, despite her pregnant body, not letting the servants carry them.

Furthermore, even if it wasn’t such things, if Esther found delicious food or good fur and bedding, she would also personally carry them and place them in the North Palace.

That sight was also like a mother bird preparing a nest, and it was a behavior that clearly showed that the place she gave the most affection to in her heart was not the inner palace, but the North Palace where her father was.

As the pregnant owner of the inner palace failed to give affection to the inner palace and only stayed in the North Palace where her father was, frequently leaving the Sayar alone, the servants hurriedly tried to stop her. However, unlike usual, Esther was stubborn.

When she saw good medicinal herbs, she thought of her father’s health, and when she saw delicious food, she thought of her father’s meals. If one morning Karzhen gave Esther an infinitely soft silk pillow, it would undoubtedly be placed on Esther’s father’s bed that afternoon.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing right now?”

Naturally, that behavior made Karzhen furious. He eventually exploded in anger after repeatedly being greeted only by an empty room, or her returning to the inner palace with a tired face and a reluctant gait only around sunset.

As soon as he raised his voice even slightly, Esther shrunk back with a startled face. Looking at the floor with a pale face, she was unmistakably terrified.

And because it was a fact even a fool knew that such things were not good for a pregnant person, Karzhen had to suppress and endure his maddening dissatisfaction as he looked at Esther’s bulging belly.

Damn it, for f**k’s sake! Thus, Karzhen would only swallow curses inwardly, thinking dozens of times that he should have sent Esther’s father out of the royal palace long ago, as there was no clear solution.

But he also knew that if Esther begged while crying, he didn’t have the confidence to tell her no. It was essentially a war where even the retreat was completely blocked.

Time passed and her belly bulged like a full moon to the point where it was difficult to move, but Esther could not stop going to her father, even if she had to be supported by servants. Once it reached that point, even Karzhen would go to the North Palace where Esther’s father stayed, instead of the inner palace, to see Esther.

“Father!”

That day, too, Esther, holding a basket, called out to her father in her usual bright voice and brushed aside the beaded curtain of the North Palace. Every time she walked, a faint sound followed behind her. That lightly rattling sound was coming from the silk cord wrapped around Esther’s waist.

A silk cord adorned with delicately beaten silver, the wing feathers of a blue-feathered pipi bird, and a teardrop-shaped blue jade pendant was a type of amulet popular among nobles who prayed for safe childbirth. For any woman, childbirth was a dangerous ordeal.

Karzhen, especially, was terribly worried about the childbirth of Esther, whose physical strength was far weaker compared to other women of Gharyam, so he was busy gathering every amulet that prayed for a safe delivery. He went so far as to not let her go outside unless she wore the silk cord Esther was currently wearing.

Among those ‘amulets,’ there were sometimes items that were gruesome to even look at—for instance, the tails of monkeys or even things that looked like human fingers—so Esther didn’t particularly welcome the things Karzhen brought, calling them amulets. Still, she tended to wear normal items like this waist cord well. Since it was true that she was also afraid of childbirth.

“Esther.”

At the voice of his daughter calling for him, Esther’s father, Ben, smiled gently and took her into his arms as she ran toward him. Of course, he also cautioned her in a quite stern tone to be careful, as running like that in her condition might lead to disaster, but regardless, the hand patting her shoulder was tender and overflowing with paternal love.

“Father. I came today because I have a request.”

Esther, taking a breath that filled her chest at such a tender touch, lifted her face and smiled.