Ch.179I Want To… Too #4

After getting pregnant for the first time, I thought I was handling it well, but in the end, I ended up begging Eve for a way to be intimate during pregnancy.

I had expected it would be difficult to suddenly stop after doing it every day, but this is how it turned out.

With an inward sigh, I stared blankly at Helena lying on the bed and Eve who was positioned over her.

“You’ll feel a rather sharp… burning sensation. Don’t be alarmed and try to endure it.”

“Thanks. Still, it can’t be worse than being deeply stabbed by a sword.”

Helena nodded nonchalantly, referring to her past battle with Count Helix. She often showed such boldness due to a life unintentionally accustomed to pain, which always surprised me. Perhaps it was because bold women were easier to find in fiction than in reality.

“Mmm…”

Following Helena’s moan, I thought I heard the sound of skin tearing—a hallucination, surely, as a small cut wouldn’t make such a sound, but I had been intently watching Eve’s fingertip drawing a red line.

The longer and more distinct the thin red line became, the more Helena moaned, and the more beads of sweat formed on Eve’s forehead.

It was no different from performing VIP surgery, so it couldn’t be helped. Despite becoming close enough to bare their bodies on the same bed, the distance between a duchess and a magician serving the ducal family couldn’t be easily bridged.

“Are you alright…? If it’s too uncomfortable…”

“No, I’m fine. You’re doing well. So don’t be too tense.”

Eve looked worriedly at Helena, who was moaning with her eyes closed, then lowered her gaze to Helena’s lower abdomen. Her slightly trembling hand had become as rigid as a statue, and her eyes had lost their uncertainty, appearing almost cold.

“…It’s done. I think it would be best to apply herbs and care for the wound for at least today.”

As Eve exhaled a long breath and wiped the sweat from her forehead, Helena opened her eyes, slightly raised her body, and stared down at the pattern engraved on her lower abdomen. Though it was hard to make out the exact shape due to the blood and slight smearing, it looked like a triple-ringed circle. The rings weren’t simple lines but were drawn with geometric patterns, making it incredibly complex upon closer inspection.

I stared blankly at the sight for a moment, then sat on the edge of the bed and began wiping the blood from Helena’s wound.

Normally one might think such care should be done by a servant, but I questioned the need for that, and it was clear that having a servant present would cause a commotion, so it was just Eve, Helena, and me.

“Mmm… Yes. Thank you. I’d like to repay you somehow, so think about any materials or items you might need.”

“Repayment…? The support I’m already receiving is more than enough, so I couldn’t ask for more…”

“This is different. I could practically hear you swallowing dryly, so how could I let it go? If you can’t think of anything now, tell me later.”

“Ah… thank you. The magic formula seems to have settled well, so you should be able to use it right away once you channel mana.”

Eve nodded obediently, seemingly unable to refuse Helena’s kindness. Anyone could see she had worked hard and must have felt a great burden, so it was right for her to receive a reward separate from her regular support, especially since she was busy with research.

I thought she shouldn’t feel burdened, but apparently she felt differently.

“Um… may I take my leave now?”

“Yes. Thank you for your hard work. Go rest a bit. Sorry for interrupting your research.”

While Helena bid farewell to Eve from the bed, I offered a quick word of thanks for her hard work before immediately turning toward the dresser. I was retrieving a small glass vial of green liquid that I had prepared in advance, having been warned about possible wounds.

It was as viscous as pureed greens, and applying it with a finger revealed it was even thicker than that.

It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say it was like spreading mud from a tidal flat.

“Was it that unbearable?”

“Yes. Just the time I’ve endured so far has given me a headache, so enduring for much longer would be like hell…”

When I asked Helena before applying the medicine, she responded with a bitter smile.

It seemed somewhat exaggerated, but it was also frightening to think that Helena might genuinely feel that way.

Hell, huh.

As I listened to Helena’s embarrassed explanations with half-open eyes, I spread the medicine evenly over her lower abdomen. The pattern itself was rather plain, just three overlapping circles, but the location made it feel strange.

If it had been a heart shape instead of circles, it would have undeniably looked like an obscene mark.

“A few months is… a long time.”

“Long indeed!”

Helena, apparently pleased with my muttered comment, involuntarily burst out and widened her eyes.

This startled me so much that my finger slipped, nearly sliding across her smooth lower abdomen.

At least it would have been horizontal—if it had been vertical, I would have been in real trouble.

“When Jion left for the Beast-folk Nation before, I was nearly going crazy, but the situation then made it bearable. It was truly dangerous. But having a child isn’t that dangerous, is it?”

For some, carrying and bearing a child might be more challenging than war, but apparently not for Helena.

Of course, objectively speaking, one couldn’t compare a war where countless lives are lost to the life of one child, but it was difficult to nod in agreement so readily.

“…That’s true.”

“Exactly. And having experienced something like that once, the thought of going through something similar again was terrifying.”

“You’re really something else.”

I realized she wasn’t speaking out of mere lust but from a deep hunger for love.

If someone else, like Iss for example, had heard such words, they might have understood but would still have been deeply shocked.

But I wasn’t that other person, so I smiled and stroked near her navel as I spoke.

“It might be late, but I’m sorry for the emotional distress back then.”

“There’s nothing to be sorry about… but thank you for saying so.”

Helena closed her eyes and giggled like a child, apparently enjoying my touch. It was like watching a dog delighting in human contact.

However, the way she suddenly glanced sideways and parted her lips was not at all childlike.

“Hey… can’t you just put it in once? If we do it gently, there won’t be any bleeding, and to check the effect, if Jion just moves on top…”

“No. If you can’t hold back today, I won’t do it for days.”

“…Hic.”

It was truly difficult to resist such temptation, but somehow I managed. There were several moments when I nearly gave in, but somehow…

.

It’s difficult. Today again, Eve sighed deeply as she stared at the waveforms displayed on two plates side by side.

She had tried to modify Ellen’s waveform based on Jion’s, but errors kept occurring—the shape would distort or the position of the calculation formula would change.

It was like looking at a puzzle where placing one piece incorrectly meant the whole picture couldn’t be completed.

“Does it… seem like there’s no solution in sight?”

It had been months since Eve began researching waveform modification.

During that time, Helena’s belly had swollen to show the full curve of pregnancy, but the research had made no progress.

It was frustrating for Eve who was directly involved, but Ellen also felt frustration, sympathy, and guilt as she asked.

“…So far, no.”

Whew. Eve exhaled briefly to regulate her breathing, then turned her gaze to Ellen who was sitting near the table behind her.

“I’m sorry to say this, but… I’m making little progress. Your waveform is much more difficult than I expected, and it keeps distorting when I try to replicate it.”

“More difficult than when you created the anti-aging magic formula?”

“Yes. Back then, despite the scale, I felt like I was making progress bit by bit, but now I feel like I’m not moving an inch from where I started. Even though I think I’ve improved since then…”

Despite having improved her knowledge, calculation abilities, and magical skills since that research, the path ahead still seemed dark.

Eve felt both challenged and despairing, lowering her head as if ashamed to face Ellen.

If it had been a topic she had chosen to research on her own, she would have enjoyed it patiently even if it took years, but she couldn’t help feeling anxious since it was for Ellen’s sake.

Ellen understood this feeling well and managed to say with difficulty:

“I’m sorry. I didn’t know it would be this hard. I’m sorry for all your efforts so far, but even now…”

“I’m not giving up.”

My goodness. Ellen was surprised not only by Eve’s rare firm tone but also by how she interrupted and looked up with sparkling eyes.

As far as Ellen knew, Eve had never shown such determination to the point of cutting off someone’s words.

“You want to have the Grand Duke’s child too, don’t you? I can see how difficult your life would be if you gave up on that, so how could I abandon this?”

“Eve…”

“Even if it turns out to be a wild goose chase or false hope… as long as I’m alive, I don’t want to give up. It was the same with my research at the Magic Tower, which other mages doubted and called delusional.”

Yes, thinking about it, that was true.

Even as Eve spoke her thoughts aloud, she was able to calm her excited heart with the memory of those days.

The years she had spent immersed in particle magic research at the Magic Tower with no results.

Yet by not giving up and persisting, she had met Jion, and through that meeting, she had found the answer she sought—these memories quickly flashed through Eve’s mind.

“…Come to think of it, back then I had no results even after years of effort. So I believe it’s far from time to give up.”

Hearing Eve’s hopeful voice, Ellen strengthened her weakened resolve and said with a smile:

“Thank you. And I’m sorry. I feel like I’ll keep being a burden.”

“Yes. Feel free to burden me as much as you need. I don’t mind.”

“Okay. Still… if I had been human, I wouldn’t have needed to worry about this.”

“What…? If you were human…?”

“Huh…? That’s right. If I were human, Eve wouldn’t have to struggle like this, and I could simply conceive at the desired time…”

Though Eve’s sudden contemplation of the word “human” seemed strange, Ellen answered the question while tilting her head.

It seemed clear that Eve was deep in thought rather than experiencing any physical discomfort.

Gulp.

As Ellen swallowed dryly, enduring the frightening silence, the word “human” kept circling in Eve’s mind.

Human and Dark Elf.

Ellen was originally a Dark Elf, which was why she couldn’t conceive a child with a human.

That’s why they planned to forcibly match the mana wavelengths to mix their seeds. It wasn’t as if they could change species.

“If she were human…”

If Ellen had been human. Or… if Jion had been a Dark Elf.

The moment she had that thought, Eve’s eyes began to shine intensely—so brightly that one might hallucinate they were blinding.

“Why didn’t I think of this before?”

Because of the belief that Jion’s body shouldn’t be tampered with, she had naturally concluded that Ellen’s body needed to be manipulated, and had been researching accordingly.

Why hadn’t she realized that if they were trying to match wavelengths, the opposite approach was equally valid?

Eve felt elated by this new idea and simultaneously reached the conclusion that both wavelengths could be adjusted together.

“When wavelengths collide, they fluctuate, so instead of fixing one, if we make them collide to form a pattern…”

While this wouldn’t be easy either, it seemed much more feasible than adjusting one wavelength to match the other.

Eve instinctively felt this and boldly decided to change her research direction.

Following a sudden intuition might be risky, but she knew from experience that it could lead to unexpected answers.

“Ellen.”

“Uh… yes? What is it?”

Ellen asked in surprise at Eve’s sudden call, but Eve spoke resolutely, unconcerned with her reaction.

“Please continue to help me. Until I find the answer.”

And after a year and a bit more,

Eve finally found the answer and realized it, fulfilling the wishes of both women.

Along with the news of both Eve’s and Ellen’s pregnancies.