“Whoa.”

“You don’t have much time left. You have to be very careful.”

At Lili’s urging, Molitia began to nod reluctantly. When it started showing, the Duchy started preparing in earnest. The doctor then called for the midwife separately. No matter how much the doctor was a woman, the experience was entirely different from a skilled midwife.

Everyone in the Duchy was nervous about her giving birth. Those who knew their fragile Madame’s physical condition eventually added to the tension as well.

It was so tense that even the unconcerned party had become nervous. It was still okay. Then, it was time for Molitia to untangle the thread before looking at Lili’s nervous face.

Her fine forehead was already wrinkled. The thread fell from her hand just when she was untangling it.

“Are you in pain again?”

Molitia gave a nod. Obviously, as the date approached, a sense of pain would sometimes intrude her stomach. And that meant it wouldn’t be long before she could meet her child. Molitia tried to relax her forehead because of the pain.

She grabbed her stomach in that moment of intense pain.  Her stomach was already as hard as a rock.

“Madame, are you all right?”

Molitia couldn’t even express her feeling as the pain in her stomach was striking hard right in her spine. The cycle of pain was repeating far too quickly.

When she couldn’t breathe properly while exuding such cold beads of sweat profusely, Lili quickly called out for the midwife.

With her sudden labor pains, Molitia was sent into the living room. It was actually 10 days earlier than the scheduled date. The midwife hastily entered the living room with such a perplexed look plastered on her face.

The news that Molitia began to suffer was soon reported to Raven who was at the Imperial Palace. What Raven had heard when he first entered the mansion hurriedly was the screams of Molitia herself.

“What the hell is going on—with my wife screaming like that?”

“That—it came more suddenly than it was actually supposed to……”

Raven ran to the living room while pushing away the butler, who was still talking uneasily.

“Master, you’re not allowed in the birth room! It’ll be dangerous for both the mother and the baby if you were to enter right now!”

Raven’s feet stopped and began standing still when he heard that Molitia would be in risk. Raven shouted nervously as he heard of another scream just from beyond the door.

“Is Molitia all right?”

“This is just the process of meeting the baby. Please wait a little longer.”

Right outside of that door, he just couldn’t hide his anxiety. Every once in a while when he heard her screaming, he instantly felt that his blood was being drained out of helplessness.

“What’s going on?”

“The boy’s head is not visible just yet.”

“Still?”

“It takes quite a long time if it’s her first time. So please, calm down a little bit, Duke.”

How could he calm down? Whenever he heard her suppressed scream, Raven just couldn’t stand his own nervousness and lifted his foot.

However, contrary to expectations, her childbirth was only prolonged. The doors parted a little and the servants’ hands were all drenched in the dark red water—similar to death.

The child hadn’t even come out yet, but the bloody scent was permeating the room as it overflowed. Molitia’s screams were gradually losing their strength as well.

“Why is there no news still?”

Eventually, Raven got furious while still holding it in before pressing on the doctor. The doctor bowed her head with a confounded look in response.

“Madame is so weak that she can’t give birth to a child properly. At this rate…”

She was unable to speak hastily. As she was incapable of resisting looking at Duke Raven’s eyes, she bowed herself again.

“…you may have to choose between your wife and your baby.”

Raven was pushed into the dark. It was a scenario that he had thought about dozens and hundreds of times before, but on the other hand, that said image was still being swallowed back.

“…how do we save both of them?”

“I’ll absolutely do my best, but…”

Raven’s fist cracked when he gulped his words in agitation. He recalled her bright smile as she waited for their child.

“…if you have to choose between the two, please save my wife.”

“…okay.”

The doctor bowed before entering the room once again.

Even the room that had been reflected through the gap was bloody.

The child’s cry still wasn’t heard yet and an occasional cry was only spread through Molitia instead.

‘A little more, just a little more!’

The voices of those who were anxiously shouting had also been rather teary as well.

“Please, Molitia.”

While he was seated on the chair as he wouldn’t leave the door, he held his hands close.

Even when he never prayed to anyone, he still held his hands together for the first time in his life. His hands, which were filled with desperation, eventually touched against his forehead.

“Ngaang!”

Everyone’s eyes were turned to the birth room at that loud sound, which was ultimately different from the screams they had heard so far. Nevertheless, despite the fact that those cries of a child were already heard many times, the birth room still didn’t open at all.