Chapter 131
Lea was no different. She couldn’t believe it either.
Thanks to Rose, Lea returned safely to the palace, but she didn’t even have the strength to change clothes before collapsing into bed.
She heard the crinkle of the emergency contraceptives in the pocket inside her skirt, but she couldn’t even move her fingers.
But she couldn’t put it off any longer. Forcing herself to sit up, Lea poured herself some water from the bottle on her bedside table and drank a little at a time. As the dryness in her mouth, caused by tension and shock, eased, she felt like she could breathe again.
Only then did Lea take the emergency contraceptive packet out of her pocket and swallow it. The paper-wrapped emergency contraceptive was not to be taken all at once but divided into three doses over the course of a day.
However, Lea had bought six packets. Because she was a werebeast, and because it had been during her heat, she wanted to be absolutely sure to prevent pregnancy.
The heat cycle existed solely for the purpose of conception. To have spent that period with Calix, without any contraception… If she left it like this, she’d inevitably end up bearing an imperial scion.
That was the one thing she wanted to avoid. Her life was already all but bound to him, but she didn’t want to bear his child.
It wasn’t a problem with him… this was Lea’s issue.
She had never once imagined herself giving birth to or raising a child.
After all, the mother she had grown up watching was Bianca. Having grown up watching a selfish woman who treated even her own child as a tool, how could she expect to properly raise a child herself?
Perhaps she was also afraid that some part of her, without even realizing it, might resemble Bianca. At any rate, she simply didn’t want to have a child.
After taking the emergency contraceptive, she was finally able to collapse. She heard Rose calling her, but she didn’t have the energy to respond.
Uncomfortable sleep brought uncomfortable dreams. Calix wasn’t there, and only Lucy existed in that nightmare.
* * *
“We should let her rest for a while.”
“…Ha. It’s not like I didn’t know Lady Lea’s condition, but I ended up pushing her too hard after all.”
“…Even I can’t make light of this situation.”
Derek, too, hadn’t anticipated her condition and had ended up causing her pain.
Zion was well aware that Lea had become a source of hope for many Espers, starting with his own guiding. But he hadn’t expected her to take on such responsibility.
Of course, her own desires had played a part in the beginning.
So he’d thought that this time, she would focus on helping people useful to Calix…
“I never imagined she’d go so far as to guide the Espers in the slums.”
“Nor did I…”
“Well, in a way, it’s a good thing. We should spread word that Lady Lea collapsed from overdoing the guiding. She needs rest anyway…”
“And that way the rumors will become even more dramatic. They’ll call her a saint-like Guide.”
Derek finished Zion’s thought for him, and Zion looked at him suspiciously.
“You didn’t read my mind just now, did you?”
“That much was easy to guess, even without doing so. Do you really think you’re so hard to predict, Young Duke?”
“…I should’ve just refused when Lady Lea told me to take you under my wing.”
“If you had, she probably would have looked after me herself.”
Zion glared fiercely at Derek, who refused to lose a single word, then shook his head in exasperation.
“This is no time for verbal sparring with you. The Empress has started calling her people back together. She’ll probably give them guiding herself.”
“And she’ll claim that the child she’s carrying is also a Guide.”
If that happened, those who were loyal to the Empress to begin with would have no reason to align themselves with Lea. Since the Empress was still holding strong, they’d make their decisions with her future offspring in mind.
After all, Guides had not appeared in the Cantabria Empire, so Bianca’s new child would become their hope.
“But there’s something a bit odd I heard.”
Derek continued, bringing up something he’d learned from his informant.
“It’s about that special Esper who sells magic tools only through illegal channels…”
Discussion
0 CommentsReactions
No comments yet.