#Side Story 5. Newly Budding Happiness 2023.11.
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2. Olivia slowly blinked. Night had come rushing in like a tide of darkness. Between her long lashes, she became aware of the warmth close by and the familiar scent even before her blurred focus could sharpen. “Did you sleep well?” At the sweet voice brushing her ear, Olivia lifted her head and soundlessly curved only her eyes. Edwin kissed the graceful corners of her eyes again and again, then gazed at Olivia for a moment and murmured. “……
It really is true.” “What is?” “That beauties are sleepyheads. I thought it was just a saying. How do you keep getting prettier?” For a moment, Olivia was at a loss for words. She had just woken up, so her face must be puffy. There was no way. Moonlight revealed Edwin’s face. If there had been even a trace of mischievous teasing on it, she might have burst into laughter and played along, but Edwin looked as if he had merely stated an utterly natural law of the world. Perhaps that was why. As Olivia studied him, a smile spread across her face. That firm conviction of his made even Olivia agree without any basis. Perhaps, truly, sleeping so much had made her prettier. In the meantime, Edwin swept her hair back. The soft silver strands curling between his fingers shone as though cold moonlight had pooled there. Then, when his fingers brushed her earlobe, a complicated emotion rose over his beautifully drawn smile and vanished. His worried gaze passed over her stomach, but Olivia did not notice. “Are you… not hungry?” Though even if she had known, nothing would have changed. At his ordinary concern, Olivia’s voice stretched languidly, like candy melting in sunlight. “I think I might be hungry… but right now, I’m sleepy.” “If you’re sleepy, sleep well for now. Bethany is coming tomorrow, so we can all have breakfast together. Right?” “Bethany is coming?” Had it already been a week? Olivia, wondering why developing magic stones kept Bethany so busy, counted back to the day Bethany was due to return to the palace once a week, then blinked sleepily. And then she wriggled closer, pressing herself tight against Edwin. “……
I thought it was hot, but like this, it’s cool.” The sleep-soaked voice grew smaller and smaller. Edwin let out a soft laugh and patted her back. Soon, peaceful breathing spread evenly through the room. Edwin looked at the sleeping princess’s face with keen eyes. Then, with an infinitely careful touch, he caressed that pretty face. Recently, Olivia’s body had been warmer than before. At the same time, Dian’s voice came to mind. “Your Highness. I have something to tell you.” Dian, who had come to him that afternoon, hesitated for quite some time before speaking. “It is just that Her Highness’s current condition seems very similar to my elder sister’s when she was pregnant.” If it had ended right there, he would have been swept up in joy with a bewildered face. But at Dian’s words that followed, Edwin could not quite hide his darkened expression. Shaking off the memory, he murmured lowly. “……
It will be certain once Bethany comes.” . . . “No, if it is something like that……!” She had rushed over at once after receiving the urgent news that Her Highness the Princess was showing signs of pregnancy, only to be told to look at her and make a diagnosis. Dumbfounded, her voice rose. Bethany cleared her throat and looked beyond the full-length window. Only after confirming that the princess, strolling in the garden, was basking fully in the mild spring weather did Bethany grit her teeth as though stitching up what was bursting inside her and add, “……
You should be calling a physician, not me.” “Bethany, you’re a mage. You can use healing magic too.” “No, what does healing magic have to do with confirming pregnancy?” “……
Ah.” The beautiful face, tinged with impatience, went blank for a moment as he nodded. The four knight commanders and even the chief chamberlain, who had all been tense along with the prince, looked as if they had been caught off guard. “Good heavens……” To act as though he had forgotten the utterly obvious fact that if there were signs of pregnancy, one called a physician. And with clever knights and the chief chamberlain beside him, no less! Bethany made no attempt to hide her astonishment as she rattled on. “Call a physician at once and have her examined. If it truly is the early stage of pregnancy, then from now on… wait. No wonder you stopped Her Highness from hugging me earlier.” “But……!” Dian said hesitantly. “If we call a physician, would we not have to tell Her Highness?” “You said she keeps dozing off. You can make some excuse about preparing a new decoction because of spring fatigue.” Ah. At their faces of sudden enlightenment, Bethany pressed a hand to her forehead. Then, abruptly, she became puzzled. “But you are planning to have her examined while keeping it a secret from Her Highness? Why? She would be overjoyed.” “If we have her examined to find out whether she is pregnant, and she is not……” Edwin let the end of his sentence trail off. He knew the dazed numbness he had felt when he first heard Dian’s words, the joy that had slowly spread through him, and the uncontrollably radiant ecstasy. But……. “However, I may have sensed it incorrectly. Hannah also said that Her Highness seems to have become much more comfortable in body… Usually, when one is pregnant, most women tend not to feel well.” Dian’s hurried addition came sharply back to him, and Edwin forced a shrug. But he could not stop his elegant brow from twisting, nor the swollen expectation from revealing its raw, impatient surface. Under Bethany’s gaze, he finally let a hollow smile slip from the corner of his mouth. The expectation that had piled up in an instant being swept away by the waves felt emptier and stranger than he had imagined. It was as though a crumpled afterimage had been left behind in his deflated heart. More than anything, he did not want Olivia’s expectation, swelling like soap bubbles, to pop just like his. Bethany pressed a hand to her forehead. “Surely you are not planning to fret in secret every time countless symptoms appear from now on, and call a physician under some other pretext, are you, Your Highness?” “……
Would that not be better than disappointment?” “Disappointment? No. It means confirming your hearts more properly. Whether the two of you are ready to welcome a little one, or whether it would be all right for the little one to come a little later.” In that moment, Edwin felt as though he had been struck over the head. He had desperately hoped that the future he had spoken of with Olivia would make room beside them, and Edwin Lowell Vikander was never someone who hesitated or wavered when facing something he wanted, so why……. “Our child too.” “…….” “If it is all right, I would like it to be children.” He had felt the same. If Olivia was all right with it, he wished for baby angels resembling her to come to them. A smooth smile spread over his face, from which worry had disappeared. Bethany glanced beyond the full-length window. “It will become clearer once she is examined. In any case, regardless of the diagnosis, Her Highness will need to take some decoction.” . . . It had been a long time since she had agonized like this in front of her diary. Olivia tilted her head as she looked at the blank page. She was sure she had had a wonderful dream last night, but now that she was about to write it down, she could not remember it. Had her previous dreams also remained only as lingering impressions like this? Then, in an instant, she suddenly realized. “……
I skipped it.” Olivia quickly flipped through her diary. In last month’s pages, fluttering past, there was not a single red mark. Before she knew it, her gaze had turned to the drawings on the table. The moment she looked at the two drawings Edwin had made for her, her heart began to pound. It was then. Knock, knock—. Following a knock as quick as her heartbeat, Edwin entered. She was puzzled for a moment by the subtle look on his face, where relief and concern coexisted, but when she heard Edwin’s suggestion, Olivia blinked. “An examination… Is it because of spring fatigue?” “That too, but……” Edwin smiled with an uncharacteristically strained face. In that instant, Olivia felt as though her lips had gone dry. A vague guess gave rise to a hazy expectation. “……
I was just thinking I needed an examination too.” Her voice, filled with trembling, reached Edwin. Her face, where excitement and anxiety were mixed together, asked him, “We are thinking the same thing right now, aren’t we?” To think he had nearly missed that sparkling face. Edwin could not bring himself to speak and only nodded. Olivia came close and nestled into his arms. Her warm breath dampened his chest, then fell away. Soon, with a face resolute to the core, she nodded as if steeling her resolve. * * * What in the world was going on? In the reception room of the prince and princess, which the physician entered after pushing through the restless knights, an unusual current flowed. The physician observed the proper courtesies and examined the expressions of the prince and princess. “I greet Your Highness the Prince and Your Highness the Princess.” “I… I……” Unlike her usual gentle yet firm self, the princess swallowed her words as though somehow nervous. Beside her, the prince took her hand. At the sight of the king and queen’s afterimages overlapping with them from exactly twenty-two years ago, the physician’s throat tightened. In the meantime, the princess’s cautious voice continued. “I have been sleeping more, and lately I am always languid, so I thought I should receive a diagnosis.” “……
I will begin by taking your pulse.” The physician cleared his choked throat and took the princess’s pulse. And when he finished his diagnosis, he smiled faintly. He was truly glad to be able to deliver happy news to this young couple, whose faces showed anxiety and excitement in confusion. “My congratulations, Your Highness the Prince, Your Highness the Princess.” The moment the physician’s words fell, Olivia looked at Edwin. Edwin did the same. Between their gazes, entwined at once, countless emotions passed back and forth. To think something they had imagined was happening in reality. It felt unreal, leaving them bewildered. The gentle warmth that slowly approached and overlapped told them this happiness was real. The physician’s voice that followed seemed distant. “It is still early, so there are many precautions……” Feeling a poke—on his arm, the physician turned to Bethany beside him. And at the same time, he confirmed the expressions of the young couple, who were staring at each other with dazed faces. Satisfaction spread over his wrinkled face as well. “For now, it seems the two of you should have your time first, so I shall take my leave. Once again, congratulations.” “Truly, my heartfelt congratulations. Your Highness, Your Highness the Princess.” Even Bethany, who had maintained her composure, had her breathing falter. Oh, honestly. On such a happy day like this……. Bethany’s eyes gradually reddened as she muttered awkwardly. Hearing her voice grow thick, Olivia smiled brightly. “Thank you, truly.” . . . As soon as they left the reception room, the physician briefly closed and opened his eyes. “How is she? Has an angel perhaps come to Her Highness the Princess?” “Please tell us quickly. I cannot bear to ask Her Highness. I feel like my heart is going to burst.” “Even if she is not, I will hurry and brew a decoction!” As though they had been waiting only for the physician and Bethany to come out, four knights and one maid rushed at them noisily like baby birds clamoring for food. At their chirping, the physician deliberately glanced at the door as if to warn them and spoke curtly. “Be quiet, all of you.” “…….” “……”
“It would be a disturbance while the three Highnesses are conversing.”
There was absolutely no chance their voices would leak through beyond this thick and heavy door.
The knights and maids who had been answering back, asking what he meant, froze in an instant.
Wait, three……? Surely there had been four people in the drawing room: the prince, the princess consort, the physician, and even Bethany, for a total of four. Two had come out of four, so how could there be three? It couldn’t be……!
Winster repeatedly folded and unfolded his fingers. Seeing those sturdy hands tremble, Bethany let out a short laugh.
And she stated the clear fact.
“A baby angel has come to Your Highness.”
*Gasp*—. His trembling hands clamped down over a scream. But he could not stop the emotion surging through the knights’ eyes either.
Kuaaak—! A silent cheer tore through the entire castle. It was only a matter of time before that overwhelming joy spread to the royal palace, and then throughout all of Vikander.
. . .
The sound of the door closing rang out. As if waking from a hazy dream, Olivia smiled softly.
“I don’t know what to say…….”
Tears felt ready to come flooding out at any moment. It had been no use trying to console herself by thinking it might not be true. Thankfully, the baby perfectly met those swelling expectations, and because it was so incomparably precious and dear. Strangely, she was afraid. Olivia could not even bring herself to place a hand on her stomach.
It was then.
“Hello. Olivia.” Red eyes drew near, along with the hand wrapping around her shoulder. Though the rims of his eyes were similarly red against his pale face, Edwin elegantly recited the countless names attached to her in an unwavering voice.
“Hello. Liv.”
“…….”
“Hello, my beloved princess.”
Your Majesty the Future Empress, Master of the Southwest, Saintess, Beautiful Lady……. Edwin, who had pronounced aloud each and every precious nickname referring to Olivia one by one, smiled gently.
“……
And.”
“…….”
“Hello. Baby’s mother.”
Before the newly bestowed name, Olivia caught her breath. Tears pooled above her green eyes, over which brilliant joy was spreading.
“How is it? The new name bestowed upon you, Liv?”
Looking at his face, suffused with both appropriate tension and great joy, Olivia smiled softly and said,
“Hello. Baby’s father.”
The words that left the tip of her tongue spread gently and melted over Edwin’s heart. To think that the name he had gained was such a blissful one. Edwin’s Adam’s apple bobbed slowly.
Seeing that face, she finally found her courage.
“I don’t know about anything else, but I do know that now is a good time to greet the baby.” Olivia whispered softly, overlapping Edwin’s hand with her own and guiding it to rest upon her stomach. Her belly, which showed not the slightest sign of the baby yet, felt so wondrous that Olivia smiled a little. And she nodded.
“Hello. Baby.”
“Hello. Baby.”
Olivia and Edwin’s voices resonated as if in harmony.
She wanted to say something wonderful. But her mind had gone completely blank. Olivia looked at Edwin as if seeking help, but Edwin waited for Olivia’s words with sparkling eyes.
“I wish winter would come quickly. Because when you are born, I want to weave together the prettiest words to welcome you.
” Then Olivia shook her head. Separate from her heart that wanted to see the baby quickly, she needed time to prepare pretty words. Since she had declared they would be the prettiest words, she would need to read every word in the world as well. Edwin, too, would have to diligently practice his drawings.
“Since we need time to prepare as well. Until you come out safely, let us all do our best together.”
“Our baby is truly amazing. To think that as soon as it arrived, it can spend all four seasons with us.”
Edwin burst out in pure admiration. His red eyes shone brightly with pride. He seemed to have completely forgotten the fact that many children spend ten months inside their mother’s womb before being born.
But Olivia chose to swell with pride alongside Edwin instead of facing that fact.
“Indeed. Truly…… truly amazing. Our baby is.”
Soon, warm kisses poured down all over Olivia’s face. Laughter brimming with happiness soaked her ears.
It was a spring day when soft flower buds burst open in rapid succession.
Just as dandelion seeds scattered and spread, countless happinesses settled, and a baby angel visited Vikander, where green sprouts were budding.
Olivia and Edwin embraced this overwhelming happiness with their whole bodies.
And they decided to fully enjoy this time when even waiting was thrilling.
For they knew that once the sweet waiting had passed, the happiness they would meet afterward would fill them completely.
-The End-