Risou no Himo Seikatsu - Volume 11 - Chapter 5.1

Chapter 5 — Birth, Trip, and Departure

Time passed, and the year changed. The festival to ring in the new year was an important event for the entire country of Capua.

This was Zenjirou’s third time experiencing the festival, but there was a big difference from the previous two occasions: his wife was not with him.

The last two years, he had been at her side more as a piece of furniture than an active participant. That was not the case this time, though. The queen was resting in the inner palace. According to Doctor Michel and Princess Isabella, she could go into labor at any moment.

Fortunately, she was stable, and with both doctor and healer at her side, everything should be fine. However, with contractions ready to start at any moment, she could hardly take the leading role in the new year festival. Therefore, he had the heavy responsibility of carrying it out in her place.

Leading role or not, though, the things required of him were hardly that taxing.

He simply had to sit in the middle of a prearranged ceremony, recite some preset phrases, and make some predetermined gestures. That was all.

The problem was that the nobles looking up at him from under the dais were looking at him more intensely than ever. It was not the first time he had carried out such a ceremony in Aura’s place, but the importance of the new year festival was particularly high.

Another part of it was that the one portion of the nobility that was constantly fearmongering over the queen being unable to fulfill her role on an important occasion had been vindicated. He had also heard the appellation of “majesty” from local nobles more times than he could count on his hands today. Ordinarily, it was a real rarity.

Regardless, the third day of the festivities was also the last, and it had ended without incident. The citizens were allowed into the royal palace’s courtyard, all carrying lit candles. Zenjirou was sitting on a balcony visible from the courtyard, waving to the citizens.

The points of light spreading out across the ground like the starry sky above were as beautiful as ever, but he didn’t have the wherewithal to enjoy the sight just then. Before the ceremony had begun, a messenger had informed him that Aura’s contractions had started.

The thought of his wife being in the middle of childbirth, even as he remained seated and waved, made him want to leap from his chair and run to the inner palace. He could not, though. Even if he did, there would be nothing he could offer in the inner palace. In fact, only here could he take Aura’s place to finish up the festivities. For her, he would do what he could where he was.

He repeated that to himself over and over, keeping a smile on his face even as the hand still in his lap was white-knuckled, tightly clenched.

The seconds dragged on, each feeling like an hour, but then the event was finally over and Zenjirou was sprinting through the corridors of the inner palace without the slightest hint of shame.

“Please wait, Sir Zenjirou,” Louisa attempted to calmly advise him. She had an LED lamp in one hand while her other held the hem of her skirt so that she could keep pace with him. “Running along the dark corridors is dangerous.”

Zenjirou was in a dead sprint, though, and couldn’t muster a response. The maid gave up at that point.

“I will go ahead,” she said, overtaking him and spinning to start running backwards, using the lamp to shine a light where he was stepping.

Finally reaching the living room, Louisa figuratively slammed on the brakes and opened the door. Bright white light spilled from the doorway out into the corridor, overwhelming even the lamp in the maid’s hand.

All of the floor lamps in the living room were lit. Zenjirou rushed inside like a moth drawn to flame. The force he entered the room with made it seem like a commentator should be declaring a touchdown as he grabbed the maid in the room and questioned her.

“Where’s Aura?!”

That took the last of his energy because he soon found himself doubled over, hands on his knees as he heaved for breath.

The maids acted as one. The first of them rubbed his back while another went to fetch a cup of cold water. The third waited until he could hear her over his gasping and reported to him with a smile.

“Her Majesty has safely given birth. There are no issues with either mother or child.”

Before he could even feel happiness and relief, he was overwhelmed by surprise and confusion.

“What? Already?” he asked blankly.

The second maid held out the water to him.

“Oh, thanks.”

While he drained the cup and a maid briskly wiped the sweat from his brow, the other continued speaking.

“Yes. Doctor Michel and Princess Isabella said the delivery was extremely quick and uncomplicated. They gave permission to allow you through when you returned. Would you like to go in?”

There was only one answer he would give to that. “Yes.”

“Very well. The child is sleeping, so please remain quiet.”

“Got it. Thanks.”

The maids watched as he went over to the bedroom door and slowly passed through.

“Ah, Zenjirou. It looks like the festivities were completed without issue, then. Good work,” his beloved wife greeted him as he quietly entered the room.

“Aura? You’re already feeling okay?” he asked, moving to her side with quick steps.

She was half-upright on the bed with a lively smile on her face as she waved at him.

“I am. There were no issues. The birth itself did not even take half the time of the last, and Princess Isabella’s magic was just as helpful.”

He listened and then looked at the refined, middle-aged woman standing at the side of the bed.

“Princess Isabella, you have my deepest thanks for your aid,” he said, offering her an unreserved bow.

She offered him a soft look. “I did very little. Her Majesty completed the birth under her own power.”

When healers were present at births, one of the most common forms of assistance they provided were spells to bolster both mental and physical stamina. Neither had been necessary this time, though. Both had been used after the birth, but Isabella was not wrong to say she had not been needed for the act itself. Then again, if she had not been present and provided the healing, Aura likely wouldn’t have been in quite such high spirits.

“Truly, I feel well enough that just lying here is most annoying,” Aura said.

“Don’t even think about it.”

“No, Your Majesty.”

The doctor and healer alike cut her off before she could ask to get up.

“I know. I was simply remarking,” she said, raising her hands in surrender.

The last few months had brought the doctor and healer very much in sync. Now that he knew his wife was safe, Zenjirou’s gaze finally drifted towards their second child.

Amanda was holding the baby in her arms, and the bundle seemed to be sleeping peacefully. Wary of waking it up, he kept his distance and spoke quietly to the head maid.

“Is it a boy or a girl?”

“A girl, Sir Zenjirou,” she replied briefly, keeping the infant in her arms, rocking softly back and forth.

“Right, a girl...”

“She has just dropped off, so please refrain for a while,” Amanda chided him as he reached out to touch the baby’s red cheek.

“Oops, sorry,” he replied, drawing his hand back and satisfying himself with looking at her face.

“A girl...”

Despite his intense stare, there was no way he could tell the baby’s sex from watching her sleep. Seeing her so closely, he felt the urge to reach out and wake her up, but he forced himself to step away from the head maid and his daughter, instead moving back to his wife on the bed.

“You’d picked out a name, right?” he asked her.

“I have. I had chosen Juan for a boy, and Juana for a girl. She is a girl, so Juana will be her name.”

“Juana,” he repeated, rolling the name over in his mouth and repeating it several more times to get used to it.

“Have you decided?” she asked.

He looked away somewhat guiltily. “Not yet.”

On the Southern Continent, when parents came from different cultures, children were often given a name from each, like Carlos and Zenkichi. He had been trying to think of a Japanese name but had yet to settle on one. It couldn’t be delayed for long, so he would have to come up with something before he left for the Northern Continent.

Isabella’s expression hadn’t faltered as she watched them talk, and when the conversation came to a lull, she spoke up. “It seems there are no issues with your health, Your Majesty. I will keep you under observation for the next three days to be certain, but if there are no problems, I will likely take my leave.”

Zenjirou let out a brief noise of surprise, but it was hardly something that should have shocked him once he considered it. The contract stipulated her presence until the day of delivery. If anything, the extra three days of observation were somewhat of a freebie.

Despite that, he decided to question her regardless. “Princess Isabella, is the child—Juana—also well?”

He could tell that there were no major issues from how peacefully she was sleeping, but asking would do no harm.

“There do not seem to be any issues currently,” the princess replied. “However, anything more specific is outside of my remit and not something I should interfere with regardless.” Her friendly look darkened at that. The contract with her was to maintain the queen’s health until she gave birth. The child was not part of it.

Additionally, a newborn should not generally be treated with healing magic. Such children were often weakened and did not survive for very long. Of course, they could simply have been that weak to begin with if they needed healing so soon after their birth. There was no need to look into it now, though.

“I see. Very well. Thank you for your assistance so far, Princess Isabella,” Zenjirou said with a polite bow of his head.

Aura took up the flow of the conversation from her reclined position on the bed. “Allow me to offer my own thanks. Your presence has ensured that this birth went without incident.”

“It is an honor to hear it,” the princess replied calmly.

Her occupation as a healer meant that she was in all likelihood quite used to such conversations.