Ch.178I Want to… Too #3

If there were a pregnancy test kit, I could quickly check whether I was pregnant or not, but since there wasn’t one, I had to wait and confirm over time.

So for several days, I embraced Helena sufficiently, and remembering that menstruation stops when pregnancy occurs, I waited for the right time.

Fortunately, it seemed the pregnancy had taken properly as her expected period didn’t come, and Helena herself could confirm that there was mana of a different nature in her womb.

“Ugh…!”

After several weeks had passed.

Just as we were about to have breakfast together, Helena covered her mouth and dry heaved.

For a moment, I wondered if she wasn’t feeling well, but the word “morning sickness” quickly flashed through my mind.

She hadn’t shown any signs of indigestion yesterday, and it was concerning that she was now repulsed by just the smell of food she usually enjoyed.

“M-My Lord…!”

One of the kitchen staff who had brought a plate of food saw this and was startled, his face turning deathly pale in an instant.

I suspect he thought he might have upset her with poorly prepared food rather than realizing she was pregnant.

“Don’t worry too much. The food is fine. But… could you please clear away the plates first?”

“Ah, yes!”

The frightened man answered hurriedly as if he’d been thrown a lifeline, and in the blink of an eye, he cleared the plate in front of Helena.

He looked like he’d do anything to save himself from this situation.

Some might find his behavior unseemly, but I only felt sorry for him, thinking I would have reacted the same way.

After all, who wouldn’t panic when falsely accused and backed into a corner?

“Haah…”

Once the food smell that had been irritating her nose disappeared, Helena exhaled deeply as if feeling much better.

Her half-lidded eyes drooping in relief made her look like someone savoring the aftermath of a near-death experience.

“Is this… morning sickness? I’ve heard about it, but since it came so suddenly, it’s hard to adjust.”

“That’s to be expected. How could anyone adjust to nausea caused by morning sickness? I’ve heard some people don’t experience it, but that’s quite rare.”

“I see… I understand.”

Helena spoke calmly as if not particularly surprised, and began to gently stroke her lower abdomen with her fingertips, her eyes showing a peculiar gleam.

She hadn’t shown any surprise even when she became certain she was pregnant, but there was something comforting about her typical composure.

In fact, I might have been worried if she had suddenly expressed joy about having a baby.

When people, especially Helena, do something out of character, it usually means they’re plotting something.

I moved from my seat across from Helena to her side and placed my hand over hers as she stroked her abdomen.

“For a while, you’ll need to be selective about what you eat until things stabilize. You might feel nauseous regardless of what you eat, but… we’ll have to see.”

“…Yes. I certainly don’t want to experience that feeling of nausea again.”

Helena’s brow furrowed delicately, seemingly displeased at having to be selective about food when she normally ate everything without issue.

At least my hand holding hers seemed to lessen her displeasure; without it, she might have shown more signs of irritation.

“Ah. Still, I can’t skip a meal for no reason, so I should eat something urgently.”

“Of course you should. But since we don’t know what will agree with you, let’s go to the kitchen and…”

“No need. Why go all the way to the kitchen when there’s something delicious right in front of me that makes my mouth water?”

Right in front? I tilted my head curiously at Helena who spoke with a slightly awkward “ah,” but soon understood why she was acting that way.

Helena gently removed my hand from her abdomen and placed her own hand on my thigh, softly stroking it.

“I think it’s perfect for this situation—nutritious and plentiful… what do you think?”

“…Will it really be alright?”

“If it has my blood mixed in, it’s a taste I absolutely cannot dislike.”

Seeing Helena looking at me with flushed cheeks and expectant eyes, I wondered if it would really be okay, but I couldn’t think of any reason to refuse.

Moreover, I found myself nodding unconsciously, remembering that male semen is high in protein.

During morning sickness, it’s not always the fishy smell that causes aversion, nor are fresh and good foods always well-received.

So I did as Helena wanted, and was inwardly surprised when she showed no signs of aversion whatsoever.

It felt strange to see her behaving normally in a situation where normal behavior seemed impossible.

Of course, it was fortunate for both Helena and me, but I still briefly wondered if this was really okay.

“How is this? Does it suit your taste?”

“Yes. Seeing how my body accepts it without resistance, it seems fine.”

“Phew! It’s a relief that you can at least eat chicken.”

After quickly resolving lunch that way, Helena and I immediately went to the kitchen to start distinguishing between what she could and couldn’t eat.

From seasonings like salt to meats, fruits, vegetables, and sauces—we tasted quite a lot.

Through this, we discovered that chicken was fine among meats, fruits were completely out, and vegetables were acceptable if blanched.

Curiously, fish and other slightly fishy-tasting foods were also among the acceptable ingredients. Could it be…?

“It’s really fortunate that there aren’t as many food restrictions as I expected. I can truly feel what they mean when they say having a child is hard work.”

“Thank you for your concern. But it seems this won’t last too long, so it’s fine.”

“Really… is there really a child in this belly?”

By late afternoon, Helena, Ellen, and Eve were engaged in a rather lively conversation around the desk in the study.

I could tell how excited they were just by watching Eve, usually so timid, asking Helena’s permission to touch her lower abdomen where the child would be.

Perhaps it was because she had spent so many years secluded in the magic tower and rarely had the chance to meet pregnant women even after coming out.

“Yes. A child that I need to nurture carefully for the time being.”

“Touching it directly like this… I can definitely feel the different nature of the mana. It’s truly fascinating…”

I silently watched the women laughing and talking with each other, smiling to myself.

After all, good relationships mean less discord and noise.

.

“Hmm…”

It seems like it’s been quite a while since I prepared the waveform model, but progress is frustratingly slow.

Eve sighed today as well, dropping her head after adjusting the shape of the figure that emerged from freshly squeezed blood and white liquid.

It was because Zion’s waveform was so complex.

It had seemed like a good direction to take Ellen’s simpler waveform as a baseline and modify Zion’s accordingly, but now she wondered if that had been a mistake.

As anxiety and futility flashed through her mind while she sighed, there came a knock at the door.

“Who… is it?”

“It’s me. May I come in?”

When Eve naturally asked who it was, Helena’s very familiar voice made her heart flutter.

Since Helena rarely visited Eve’s room, the impact of these occasional visits was quite significant.

At least, that’s what Eve herself thought.

“Y-Yes…!”

Eve, still startled, hurriedly got up from her desk, prepared a place at the nearby table, and quickly opened the door.

Her voice and the few drops of sweat on her forehead revealed how nervous and flustered she was.

Although Helena had come to ask a favor, seeing such a dramatic reaction made her feel sorry. She felt apologetic inside, but she couldn’t suppress her own desires, so Helena naturally stepped into Eve’s room.

“I’m sorry. Did I startle you by coming without notice?”

“N-No… Since this is your mansion, it’s only natural for you to visit whenever you want. But… I was a little surprised.”

“That’s understandable. Even though we live under the same roof, our interactions are strangely limited.”

Despite building physical intimacy and a sense of kinship by sharing the same bed with the same man, it wasn’t the same during the day.

Unlike Ellen, who waited in the study helping with odd jobs when she had nothing else to do, Eve was always shut in her room, absorbed in research.

“Thanks to your consideration… I’ve been able to conduct my research without any lack. Thank you.”

Although she had received support while staying at the magic tower, it was incomparable to the support from the Duke’s household.

Moreover, she had come to understand feelings she would never have known if she had only done research at the tower, so she couldn’t help but feel grateful.

As Eve bowed her head sincerely in gratitude, Helena waved her hands as if embarrassed and spoke.

“Don’t be so thankful. I accepted you because of my own desires too. Anyway, may I come in for a moment?”

“Ah…! Oh, please come in! I’ve prepared a modest place for you…”

“Thank you.”

Helena patted Eve’s shoulder lightly with a small smile, then took a seat in the chair near the table that had been prepared in advance. Eve hurriedly followed and sat across from her.

Sniff, sniff. Helena naturally breathed in and noticed a familiar, slightly fishy smell entering her nose, but she simply nodded quietly, thinking, “Ah, that’s right.”

She knew what kind of research Eve was doing and that she needed bodily fluids, which she kept separately.

From what she’d heard, Eve replaced them with fresh ones daily to prevent the waveform from deteriorating, but Helena just accepted it. After all, they had agreed to share as needed long ago, so this much was fine.

“Um… shall I bring you some tea?”

“It’s alright. I don’t want to impose for too long. And it feels wrong to receive hospitality when I’ve come to make a troublesome request.”

“Troublesome? Please don’t say that. If there’s anything I can do, I should naturally do it for you.”

As a patron, and as someone who had allowed her to be embraced by her husband, albeit unofficially, how could she refuse Helena’s request?

Eve thought she couldn’t possibly refuse, at least morally, and nodded quite vigorously.

Depending on the request, she might have to postpone Ellen’s requests, but she knew she had to prioritize Helena. Even Eve, timid and lacking in political sense, understood that much.

However, fortunately, Helena’s request wasn’t particularly difficult for Eve. In fact, it seemed easy enough that she thought it could be done in just a few days.

“I can’t stand it anymore. No, I don’t want to hold back… Could you find a way for me to be embraced even while pregnant?”

“Ah… if I may ask to be sure, by ’embraced,’ you mean intimacy, right?”

“Yes. That’s right.”

Helena nodded as if it were obvious and spoke with a sigh-mixed voice about the hardships she had experienced so far and would face in the future.

To be told to abstain until the stable period from an activity they hadn’t missed a single day without special reason, an activity so intense that some might call it an addiction—for Helena herself, it was truly a living hell. As she said this, even Eve, no ordinary person herself, quietly nodded in understanding.

Once you’ve tasted pleasure, it’s impossible not to empathize.

Moreover, faced with Helena’s anxiety, irritation, and desperate demeanor, it was natural to bow one’s head in helplessness.

“Hmm… may I touch your belly for a moment? It would be better if it’s bare skin…”

“Oh? Sure. It’s not a difficult thing.”

Although Eve wasn’t a doctor and couldn’t tell the condition of the baby by touching the belly, she needed to see it to make an estimate.

Helena nodded in understanding and unhesitatingly unbuttoned her uniform and lifted her shirt.

Her belly was still smooth and firm, but it would soon swell significantly.

Eve looked at Helena’s belly and imagined her own possible future like that, then shook her head as if suddenly coming to her senses.

“Um… the problem during intimacy is that stability is disturbed… so if we can maintain that well, it should be fine. For that, I need to calculate the impact…”

“Impact? Don’t you know that well, Eve?”

When Helena tilted her head as if this were obvious, Eve’s cheeks, who was kneeling in front of Helena and caressing her belly, turned red.

She suddenly realized that her body was not only trembling as if in an earthquake but also tingling as if electrified, making her toes curl involuntarily.

“I… suppose so? Then I think we’ll need to engrave a pattern that can offset the impact… would that be alright with you?”

Since women in this continent tended to avoid leaving scars on their bodies, Eve asked anxiously with trembling eyes.

Although Helena had already undergone magic to prevent aging, that was on her back, an area not usually exposed.

But this time it was her lower abdomen, which would inevitably be visible during intimacy, so the situation was different.

Therefore, Helena also stroked her chin and fell into thought for a moment, then left saying she would talk to Zion briefly.

A short while later, she burst back into Eve’s room with a bright smile and said:

“He says it’s fine…!”

“Then I have no reason to hesitate either. Please give me a few days…”