Published at 18th of October 2021 10:53:55 AM
Ha~
Humming let out a sigh.
How did it get to this point?
She looked out the window at the full moon, hanging high in the night sky. The lord’s castle was built atop a high hill. From inside her room, she had a very clear sight of the moon, with nothing obstructing her view. Holding the egg in her arms, Humming let out another sigh.
Behind her…
“Please! Let me go! Let me go! There’s a pregnant woman waiting to give birth!”
Bang bang!
Allen was still pounding on the locked door, shouting for them to let him out. His hands and arms were already swollen red after hours of persistent, non-stop beating, but he didn’t seem to care.
He had screamed his voice hoarse but that didn’t deter him as he continued to shout, “I have to go! Damn it!”
He kicked, banged and shouted, but no one outside the presumably empty hallway responded. Taking a deep breath, he ruffled his already messy hair nervously.
“Allen, stop it. You’re only going to injure your arm. You think they’re pretending not to hear?” 1
Humming, who had already given up rebelling a few hours ago, calmly stopped him.
“Haa… God damn it!” Allen sat down impatiently, buzzing with nervous energy and gritted his teeth.
It seemed that screaming and knocking on the door for hours was a bit difficult and had taken a bit of a toll on him. Though his face was flushed from over exertion, it had an unhealthy pallor.
“……Humming, how are you this relaxed?”
“I’m not relaxed, I’m resigned, Allen. This egg won’t allow me to let go, so what can I do? Until the wizards arrive, we have no choice but to stay prisoner here. Fortunately, the wizards should arrive sooner than expected.”
“Did Kalia contact you?”
“I don’t know, but since we still haven’t returned, wouldn’t she know something happened especially when we haven’t contacted her? Actually, that’s my biggest concern.”
At Humming’s sigh, Allen closed his eyes.
“She’s not one to wait patiently.”
‘Yes, that’s what I’m most worried about.’
At Humming’s melancholy mumble, Allen also put a hand to his forehead.
‘You’re not going to come all the way here with that heavy body of yours, right?’
No matter how much Kalia is worried, she won’t wouldn’t move around too much when she could possibly give birth today or tomorrow.
‘I’m sure she’ll be more careful with how much I warned her.’
But…
“It’s weird. I don’t feel good. This feeling…” Allen jumped up again and paced back and forth nervously.
His complexion was white with worry.
“Take it easy, Allen. Doesn’t she still have a few days left till the due date? You said that she had more than 10 days left, right?”
“Not all pregnant women give birth on the expected due date. There are times when you go into labour before or after the due date.”
That was the case with Allen’s wife.
Her contractions came three weeks earlier than scheduled. Because of the premature birth, the baby was much smaller and vulnerable than the average baby. His wife had hyperventilated while she was enduring the labour pains. The village’s elderly doctor had to rush to help give birth mid-drinking. At that time, Allen was just a student studying medicine, so he had no choice but to leave everything to her doctor.
‘…I’m sorry, both of them were too weak.’
To his dismay, these were the words that the doctor said when he came out after five hours of hell. Even then, the old doctor smelled of alcohol.
He couldn’t believe it. However, when he rushed into the operating room, the whole room was a sea of blood. It was not until later that he found that all the blood was from her unnecessarily bleeding out.
******The tiny, fragile skull of their child, barely the size of a fist, was distorted by both the forceful grip and being forcefully pulled out. 2
‘……No, no, no. Not a chance!’
Allen hurriedly pressed his fists down on his eyelids, trying to chase away the feelings of despair he had felt that day. He thought he had almost forgotten it, but sometimes, it all came back to him incredibly vividly.
‘Something like that should never happen again.’
Allen’s eyes were blood-shot from his rubbing.
“And there’s no law saying that that will be Kalia’s circumstances.” 3
“……Hey, don’t tell me you really think it’ll happen to her? I hear you’re in pain for hours?”
“The hours of labor vary from person to person. Furthermore, if you’re as insensitive to pain as Kalia, she may have her uterus fully open up but still only ask: ‘It only hurts a little?’”
Humming agreed with Allen’s last words.
Her insensitivity to pain was strange. It seemed as if she doesn’t consciously feel pain.
“That’s a bit worrisome4.”
At Humming’s worried agreement, Allen banged on the door again.
“Anyone, please, let us out! If you’re really worried, we’ll be back tomorrow morning! So please let us go!” Hearing his muffled voice echo through the empty hallway outside, Allen broke out into a cold sweat.
At the same time, Humming, who had been resigned to their fate, revitalized and began to search for another way out. She glanced out the window. It was a long way down.
‘…..We can’t jump out of here, can we? Since it’s a stone wall, I think we can slowly climb down.’
The walls of the castle were built with large stones. If she was careful, she could find footholds against the textured stone walls and climb down. At most, it’s about 4 stories high, so why not climb down a little and just jump?5
The problem was the egg.
How was she supposed to carry this egg down with her?
‘Should I carry it on my back in a baby swaddling bag? Are there any strings in this room?’
She turned her head to search the room for something to use as string or cloth. At that moment, a chilly sensation gripped the back of her neck. Subconsciously, she registered that she didn’t hear the sound of banging anymore, but instead, heard the sound of something collapsing. Her head snapped to Allen’s direction, only to find him collapsing to the floor with a thud. A long black shadow cast from between the cracks of the door, over where Allen had been standing. 6
“….Oh, f*ck7,” Humming unconsciously let out a curse.
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Chapter end
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