The Forgotten Field

A faint smile brushed the corners of Varkas's lips. Rustling softly, he took out another strawberry.

"Here."

Looking up at him with moist eyes, Talia opened her mouth once more. Varkas carefully placed the strawberry inside.

The berry was a little too large to swallow whole, so she bit into about half of it, and the overflowing juice dampened her lips. Wiping it away with his thumb, Varkas fixed an intent gaze on her gently chewing lips. Embarrassed for some reason, she lowered her eyes and swallowed what was in her mouth.

"You should have one too. It's fairly good."

"I obtained them for Your Highness."

Holding the remaining half of the berry to her lips, Varkas replied evenly.

"Please eat all of them."

Talia quietly looked up at his composed face before obediently opening her mouth. Varkas busily carried each red berry to her lips. Even though she kept each one in her mouth for a long time, savoring the flavor before slowly chewing, all six large strawberries disappeared in no time.

She smacked her lips with lingering regret, whereupon Varkas rose from the bed.

"Please wait a moment. I'll go find more."

"That's enough. I'm full now."

She hurriedly stopped the man who looked ready to grab his coat and head outside immediately. The sun would be setting soon. She couldn't have the ruler of the East running all over the place just to find fruit that didn't even grow in this season.

Talia firmly grabbed his forearm.

"This is enough, so stop making such a fuss."

"A fuss?"

He looked at her in genuine confusion. Did he really not realize how extraordinary his behavior was?

Talia let out a short sigh.

"If searching everywhere for strawberries in the middle of winter isn't making a fuss, then what is?"

Varkas tilted his head slightly, as though he genuinely couldn't understand.

"Why would obtaining food for one's wife be considered making a fuss? Even ordinary beasts do as much."

Talia stared up at him, momentarily speechless.

He seemed to mean every word.

Even if he'd married another woman instead of me, he'd have acted exactly the same.

The buoyant feeling that had lifted her heart abruptly settled back to earth. She raised the corners of her eyes.

"Anyway, enough of that. Sit down. Even if you brought back more, I'm already too full to eat them."

"The maids will soon bring freshly baked citron pie. At least have some of that."

His voice echoed beside her head, and once again her heart seemed to melt.

She blamed it on the pregnancy.

Her emotions swinging wildly...

The foods she had never even glanced at before suddenly occupying her thoughts...

It was all because of the little life growing inside her.

"...I'll only have one slice."

Another faint smile crossed Varkas's lips.

She stared blankly at it until the sight somehow became almost unbearable, forcing her to turn toward the window.

Not long afterward, the maids arrived carrying a tray with steaming pie and a traditional eastern drink.

While they arranged the food on the table, Varkas returned after changing his clothes. Still wrapped in the blanket, he effortlessly lifted Talia into his arms and sat down before the fireplace.

Then he cut the hot pie, filled with thin slices of citron, honey, cinnamon, and nuts, into small bites with a fork and began feeding her.

Opening her mouth out of habit, Talia suddenly met the eyes of a maid staring at them in utter astonishment and immediately flushed.

Unlike Varkas, she possessed enough common sense to realize that having a fully grown adult fed like an infant was hardly dignified.

"Tell them to leave. They're in the way."

Only then did Varkas seem to notice the maids' presence.

"That's enough. You may all withdraw."

The frozen maids hurried out of the room all at once.

As though nothing unusual had happened, Varkas picked up the fork again and brought another bite of pie to her lips.

Do you really think this isn't excessive?

Talia glared at him accusingly before reluctantly opening her mouth.

In the end, Varkas made her finish an entire large slice of pie.

Then he even fed her preserved apricots whose origin she couldn't begin to guess.

It felt as though this was the first time since living at House Taren that she had eaten so much food.

"Does your stomach hurt?"

Only after feeding her to his heart's content did he apparently begin worrying, gently rubbing just below her ribs as he asked.

Talia gave a small shake of her head.

"I'm fine."

"...I heard you were examined by the priestess today. Did she say anything in particular?"

Wrapped in a fullness she couldn't remember experiencing for ages, Talia's body quietly tensed.

When she'd first learned she was pregnant, she'd been curious about how Varkas would react.

But now that he was sitting right in front of her, she couldn't bring herself to say the words.

After hesitating for a long while, Talia muttered awkwardly,

"...Nothing much. She just told me to eat well and get plenty of rest for a while."

"..."

"I'm tired. I'm going to sleep."

As she squirmed beneath the blanket, avoiding his gaze, she felt the arm around her back tighten.

Talia cautiously looked up.

Varkas was staring intently at her through narrowed eyes.

"Is there truly nothing you wish to tell me?"

Talia swallowed dryly.

"...No."

"There is."

Strength entered his voice.

Talia raised the corners of her eyes.

So much for everyone promising they wouldn't say a word until I did. In the end, they told him everything.

Avoiding the gaze that seemed capable of seeing straight through her, she shot back irritably,

"What is there to say? You already know."

"What exactly is it that I know?"

"Stop pretending! You already heard about it. Isn't that why you're asking?"

"If I already knew, why would I go to the trouble of asking?"

Varkas calmly countered.

Talia looked at him suspiciously.

"...You really haven't heard anything?"

"I haven't."

His answer was so steady, without the slightest hesitation, that her suspicion gradually faded.

Perhaps the head maid had merely hinted that she had something she wished to tell him.

Talia moistened her increasingly dry lips.

Brushing the hair away from her forehead, Varkas gently urged,

"Then please tell me. What did the priestess say?"

"W-Well... lately I've been sleepy all the time... and exhausted..."

Her voice cracked pitifully.

Gathering saliva in her mouth, Talia swallowed before cautiously studying his expression.

The firelight from the hearth draped warm shadows across his cool features.

That unexpectedly gentle appearance instantly melted away the strange fear stirring deep inside her.

"It's because... there's a baby growing inside me."

Without moving at all, he simply looked down at her.

Yet Talia could clearly see the silver flecks within his blue eyes shimmering like ripples on water.

Letting out a deep sigh that seemed to rise from the depths of his chest, he rested his forehead against her shoulder.

At the same time, his large hand, the veins standing out beneath the skin, came to rest over her abdomen.

The hand that had always seemed so refined completely covered her stomach.

"...It seems I'll have to take even better care of you from now on."

His breath, rumbling softly like a great cat's purr, tickled her ear.

For some reason, she felt as though she might cry.

Biting her lip, Talia waited a long time before finally managing to answer in an even voice.

"That's right. You'll have to take even better care of me from now on."

"I will."

In contrast to his almost blunt reply, the hand caressing her stomach was incomparably gentle and careful.

Suddenly, she remembered the first time they had met.

Back then, when the entire world had felt unbearably cold, these very hands had wrapped her in warmth.

The memory of that day, which had sometimes felt like a curse, no longer hurt quite so much at this moment.

Curled up in his embrace, she buried her cheek against the broad chest where his steady heartbeat echoed beneath her ear.