Chapter 156. Finally, Three
2024.02.03.
When Blair's labor began, the mansion's servants were briefly flustered, but they soon began preparing for the birth with practiced efficiency, just as they had prepared.
With the exception of one person: Herdin.
Unlike Herdin, who had turned pale, Blair was smiling brightly as she looked at him, thanks to the fact that her labor had not yet begun in earnest.
"Why that expression? We're going to meet our baby soon."
"You're in pain. Aren't you scared?"
"Not at all."
Seeing her smiling so calmly even in this situation brought him a sense of relief, yet simultaneously filled him with anxiety.
Though Herdin was ignorant of childbirth, he knew that the pain had not yet begun in earnest, and that the actual labor pains would reach a level beyond imagination.
However, the very person who would endure that pain wore her usual lovely smile and instead reassured the worrying him.
"We'll get to meet our baby soon, and you're by my side, so I'm okay. I'm not scared at all. So..."
Blair, about to continue speaking, stopped and clenched her teeth. At the same time, the small hand gripping his tightened. It seemed the contractions, coming at regular intervals, had started again.
"Blair."
Seeing Blair in pain made his heart plummet. Looking at her, Herdin was devastated, not knowing what to do.
Of course, from the memories of his past life, he knew Blair would not die in childbirth. But just because she wouldn't die didn't mean she wouldn't suffer.
There was absolutely nothing he could do for her as she endured such excruciating pain.
It was Blair who woke him from being consumed by helplessness.
As the contraction briefly subsided, Blair smiled as if she had never been in pain and stroked the hand of Herdin she was holding.
"I'm okay. Really."
"..."
"So you need to smile too. We have to welcome our baby with smiling faces."
Blair's worried eyes scanned his face. Seeing this, Herdin let out a self-deprecating laugh. Even while in pain herself, his wife was trying her best to reassure him first.
Herdin smiled bitterly as he looked at Blair. Then, he brushed away the strands of hair clinging to her forehead, which was glistening with beads of sweat, and answered.
"...Alright, I will."
Only then did Blair smile, looking relieved.
Herdin stayed by Blair's side as the intervals between her contractions gradually shortened. He brushed her hair, kissed the back of her hand, and gently reassured her that she was doing well.
The labor began in earnest well past midnight. Once her water finally broke, Herdin was ushered out of the delivery room. It was Blair's decision.
Soon after, Blair's agonizing screams could be heard from beyond the closed door.
Having acted desperately calm in front of his wife, who had been worrying only about him even as she faced childbirth, he completely broke down the moment he stepped out of the delivery room.
Blair was in such agony, yet there was nothing he could do for her. Truly nothing at all.
To think he had left her to endure this all alone in his past life.
The guilt lingering in a corner of his heart, which he had forgotten for a while at his wife's request to forget, pierced through his chest.
As time passed, Blair's screams grew louder. Eventually, her voice grew hoarse, turning into sobs.
She was in so much pain—was it really true that she wouldn't die?
Hearing her screams was so agonizing it felt as if his heart was being ripped apart, yet whenever the screams momentarily stopped, his heart would plummet in fear that something had gone wrong. He felt like he would go crazy either way.
Herdin would slump to the floor, only to stand back up and anxiously pace in front of the door, repeating the cycle over and over.
Ruth, who initially tried everything to pull Herdin away from the delivery room, gave up after realizing that no matter what she did, she couldn't separate him from Blair.
Then, as if suddenly remembering something, she stepped away for a moment before returning and offering something to Herdin.
"Your Grace, would you like to calm down a little?"
What Ruth handed him was a cigar.
Seeing it, Herdin's footsteps halted. At the same time, his eyes narrowed. There was nothing quite as useful as that for suppressing his emotions.
Habitually picking up the cigar he had quit for the past two months, Herdin suddenly paused as Blair's words crossed his mind.
'So you need to smile too. We have to welcome our baby with smiling faces.'
He couldn't reek of cigar when meeting his child for the first time.
Ultimately, he set the cigar back down.
The excruciating time that stretched on like an eternity finally came to an end as Blair's screams ceased, just as the morning sunlight began to fill the hallway.
Herdin, who had been pacing the hallway anxiously, abruptly stopped and raised his head. Ruth, who had been dozing off beside him, also opened her eyes, sensing his footsteps halt.
The silence was brief; soon, the sound of crying echoed from within the room.
Not Blair's, but the cry of a baby.
Just as Herdin stood there staring blankly at the closed door, the delivery room door, which had been firmly shut all night, opened, and Rina, who had been assisting inside, stepped out.
"A healthy young master has been born."
The corners of Rina's eyes were flushed red as she delivered the news. The corners of Herdin's eyes, looking at her, were tinted with a similarly reddish hue.
Herdin walked past Rina and stepped into the delivery room. The room was still untidy and chaotic, but the only thing in Herdin's sight was Blair.
Lying there with her face showing unmistakable signs of exhaustion, Blair opened her closed eyes as if sensing his approach. Then, she offered Herdin a gentle smile.
"Herdin."
Blair called out to him, patting the edge of the bed. Answering her call, Herdin strode over and pulled her into an embrace.
Holding her small warmth, he could finally breathe again. His body, which had been trembling ever so slightly, gradually steadied as well.
As if she understood his heart completely, Blair held him, gently patting his broad back as she whispered.
"You did so well."
At his wife's praise, Herdin let out a hollow laugh. Even in all this, his wife had thought of him first.
"You're the one who worked so hard."
By the time Herdin had completely calmed down, the delivery room had been tidied up. The midwife returned lastly, bringing the baby wrapped in swaddling clothes.
Blair skillfully took the child the midwife offered into her arms. It was because she remembered the very moment she first held a child.
Blair whispered to the child resting in her arms.
"Hello, my baby."
As if responding to her call, the child opened its closed eyes. Brilliant violet eyes, so much like hers, sparkled. The sight was so miraculous it brought tears to her eyes.
Looking at its mother and blinking, the child broke into a wide, toothless smile. It was a sight quite unlike a newborn's.
Seeing that, tears welled up in Blair's eyes.
The child perfectly matched Asiel's appearance. From the pitch-black hair that resembled Herdin, to the violet eyes that resembled her own.
But Blair knew. This child was not the 'Asiel' she had loved.
The Asiel of the past had disappeared into the trickery of time.
Even though she knew that having Asiel again after reuniting with Herdin wouldn't make the child the same 'Asiel' she had loved, back then, she felt she wouldn't be able to endure her second life without meeting Asiel in this way.
Bringing Pipi from the winter forest, and ultimately being unable to send it back to the wild, was for that very same reason.
However, now it was time to let go of the Asiel of the past whom she could never meet again. Both for the sake of the past Asiel, and for the present Asiel.
Even so, she would love this child just the same. Perhaps forever, with all her heart.
"Thank you for coming to us, Asiel."
Having finished her greeting with Asiel, Blair noticed Herdin staring blankly at the child and held the baby out to him.
"You should hold him too."
"...Is it alright?"
At his question, Blair burst into laughter.
"Why wouldn't it be? You're his father."
Here, hurry.
Unable to refuse his wife's insistence, Herdin awkwardly took the child into his arms.
In his past life, the first time he met Asiel was over half a year after the child was born.
Even then, Asiel had been so small and frail that he worried the child might break if he held him incorrectly. That was part of the reason he hadn't been able to get closer.
But the Asiel now was even smaller than that. It was almost miraculous that such a tiny body could breathe and eat. Yet, despite that, the weight was surprisingly hefty for its size.
"...Asiel."
The child blinked its violet eyes as if recognizing its name, looking up at him. Of course, a newborn's vision wasn't very good, so it probably couldn't see him clearly.
Looking into the child's eyes, memories of his past life flashed through his mind.
In his past life, he hadn't been able to treat Asiel well. The child had always been with Blair. He could only watch from afar that miraculous child, who perfectly resembled the two of them in equal measure.
And in the end, to protect that child, he had no choice but to kill himself and return to the past.
But this life would surely be different.
With tears brimming in his eyes, Herdin alternated his gaze between the smiling Blair and the child in his arms, before handing the baby back to her. Then, he kissed her forehead as she held the child, and carefully embraced them both.
And so, they finally became a family of three once again.
The two discovering that Asiel possessed memories of his past life would happen a little further down the line.
Fin.