The Forgotten Field

No sooner had those words left Tiuran's mouth than the maids shot out into the corridor like arrows.

Marisen and the nanny, who had stood frozen as though paralyzed, also rushed frantically to the bedside.

With terrified eyes, Talia swept her gaze over their pale faces before grabbing hold of the eastern woman's skirt as she stuffed a pillow beneath Talia's hips.

"W-What's happening? What's wrong? Has something happened?"

For a fleeting instant, pity crossed the woman's sun-browned face.

Holding Talia's icy hand between both of hers, she answered calmly,

"Please don't worry too much. For now... we're simply watching the situation."

It was an answer that deliberately avoided any real explanation.

Gasping like someone being strangled, Talia clutched her skirt even harder.

"The baby... The baby's all right, isn't it?"

The woman didn't answer.

Talia yanked even more desperately at her sleeve.

"I'm asking if my baby is all right!"

"You mustn't move like that!"

The woman quickly pressed Talia back by the shoulders.

Her resolute dark brown eyes firmly held Talia's panic-stricken gaze.

"Take a deep breath. For your baby's sake, you have to stay strong."

Staring through tear-filled eyes at that determined face, Talia finally drew a deep breath.

If I do that... everything will really be all right?

She wanted to ask.

But the woman had already hurried across the room, busily gathering stacks of linen cloth.

Watching her with bloodshot eyes, Talia suddenly felt Marisen tightly grasp her trembling hand.

"I-I'll cast healing magic on you."

Even Marisen's face had gone deathly pale.

Clinging to her as though to a lifeline, Talia gripped the healer's hand tightly.

A warm current soon flowed into her body.

But no miracle occurred.

Healing magic did not solve everything.

The stabbing pain that had been pricking at her lower abdomen like countless ice picks suddenly transformed into powerful, crushing contractions.

Talia let out a sharp cry and curled up.

Seeing that, Tiuran rushed back and carefully laid her flat again.

"The amniotic fluid mustn't keep leaking! Please... no matter how painful it is, you have to endure it."

Talia desperately tried to obey.

But the pain was so overwhelming that remaining still felt impossible.

She clutched the blanket until her knuckles turned white, gasping violently for air.

At that moment, the bedroom door flew open, and a middle-aged woman dressed in a black priestess's robe rushed inside.

"Move aside."

Practically shoving Marisen aside, the priestess strode straight to the bed and immediately pulled Talia's skirts up to her thighs.

Her soaked undergarments and the loosely bandaged leg beneath them were laid completely bare.

But there wasn't even time to feel ashamed.

Biting down on her lip, Talia endured the pain that was growing sharper by the second.

Meanwhile, the priestess removed her undergarments, spread her knees apart, and inserted her fingers inside her.

Before Talia even had time to process that shocking intrusion, the priestess turned around and shouted,

"The cervix has already begun to dilate. The baby is coming."

"It's far too early!"

The nanny's scream pierced her ears like needles.

Even through the haze clouding her mind, Talia instinctively wrapped both arms protectively around her stomach.

The nanny was right.

It was much too early.

There were still three whole months left until her due date.

Talia frantically shook her head.

"No! Stop it! Do something—stop it somehow!"

"Once the waters have broken, there's no turning back. We have to deliver the baby immediately."

The priestess spoke in a firm voice before gesturing toward the maids waiting by the door.

"Put up privacy screens around the bed. And you—go fetch my medical bag from my quarters. It's on the shelf."

The maids immediately sprang into action.

Talia stared blankly at the chaos unfolding around her as though trapped in a nightmare.

Then another violent contraction seized her, and she squeezed her eyes shut.

The pressure inside her abdomen kept growing stronger.

Now even Talia could clearly tell.

The baby was trying to come out.

The terror that realization brought was so overwhelming that she could barely register the agony threatening to split her back apart.

Only one thought remained in her mind.

If the baby is born now... can it survive?

Even Talia, who knew almost nothing about pregnancy or childbirth, understood that premature babies rarely survived.

How much has my baby grown inside me?

Her trembling hands carefully caressed her stomach, now hard as stone.

Only half a day earlier she'd worried that the baby might be growing too large.

She had even slightly regretted eating so recklessly without thinking ahead.

But now...

Now she desperately regretted not feeding it even more.

She should have eaten everything she possibly could.

She should have made the baby stronger—strong enough to survive anything.

"You mustn't lose consciousness! Your Highness, you have to hold on!"

Someone pressed a cold towel against her face.

Startled by the cool touch, Talia abruptly opened her eyes.

Only then did she realize she'd closed them.

Blinking her bloodshot eyes, she stared at the dim ceiling where candlelight flickered before slowly lowering her gaze toward the people surrounding her.

The priestess.

Tiuran.

Marisen.

Her nanny.

The chief maid.

Several maids who had gathered before she'd even noticed.

Her eyes searched desperately from face to face.

Yet she couldn't even tell what she was searching for.

The moment she opened her mouth to ask something—

Another wave of unbearable agony crashed over her.

This one was so intense it froze every coherent thought inside her mind.

In an instant, Talia lost every shred of self-control.

She thrashed wildly, arms and legs flailing.

A piercing scream burst from her open mouth.

Then—

From beyond the walls came a voice that sounded like the growl of a beast.

"Move."

"Your Grace, Her Highness the Grand Duchess is in labor. It is against propriety for you to enter the room right now—"

Someone trying desperately to stop him cried out in pain.

At the same time, the door burst open.

Between the privacy screens appeared a man dressed in a black military uniform.

Like a drowning person reaching toward salvation, Talia stretched both arms toward him.

"Varkas..."

Varkas immediately crossed to the bedside and bent over her.

Talia desperately wrapped herself around his sweat-soaked neck.

Through tear-blurred vision, she could vaguely make out his disheveled face.

"Help me, Varkas... Please help me... It hurts so much."

At her tearful plea, the arm wrapped around her tightened with unmistakable force.

Holding her so tightly she could scarcely breathe, Varkas looked sharply toward the priestess.

"What's happening?"

"The birth canal is opening normally. However... the baby still isn't descending..."

Another fierce contraction gripped her abdomen.

All sound instantly faded into the distance.

Whimpering weakly, Talia clawed desperately at the thick, durable fabric wrapped around Varkas's solid body.

It felt as though the lower half of her body were being crushed alive.

"Your Highness, you have to push now. You must push the baby out!"

Talia shook her head frantically.

No.

I can't.

I'm scared.

It hurts.

It hurts so much.

She looked up at Varkas as though pleading for rescue.

Again and again, she gazed at him as though simply clinging to him would make everything right.

Through her tear-filled vision, his face looked paler than she had ever seen it before.

That face, white as carved plaster, lowered until it hovered just above hers.

"It's all right, Talia. It's all right... Don't cry."

With hands gone cold from tension, he gently wiped the tears from her cheeks.

His voice was unnaturally low.

Talia's face twisted.

It's not all right.

Nothing is all right.

And yet...

If he said it was...

She wanted to believe him.