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Chapter 852. Afterwords (1)
Chapter 852. Afterwords (1)
Chapter 852. Afterwords (1)
Months had passed since the world returned to its original stable state.
"Brother..." muttered Baris, looking utterly exhausted. His haggard face and tired eyes made it clear he was running on fumes.
"Man, you look like you've been eaten alive, chewed up and spit out."
"Please... save me... I think I'm gonna die," he whimpered.
Baris O’Rowane, the fourth prince of the Rowane Kingdom and the older twin, had recently married the Duchess of the Duchy of Felicity. If it was a political arrangement, or if Baris weren’t happy with the marriage, Davey was prepared to intervene. But it turned out they had surprisingly good chemistry.
Baris, who’d had little experience with women, was rather shy, but the duchess had fallen for him at first sight and had no intention of letting him go.
‘I mean, he’s just so cute and adorable to me.’
Davey recalled her saying these words while dismissing any political motivations. He suspected that was exactly why Baris looked so tired; he could only imagine how his sister-in-law was wearing him out every night. In fact, she had become pregnant just three months into their marriage.
"A guy about to become a dad can’t be looking so beat."
"Brother, I really think she's a succubus!"
“Oh!”
“Heek!!”
Baris yelped as he flinched back. The playful duchess standing behind him with her fingers pinched together giggled at his reaction.
"Welcome, Prince Davey," she said, greeting him with a warm smile.
"It’s good to see you two getting along so well."
"Oh yes, my husband really is amazing," she replied, pinching Baris's cheeks playfully.
"I must’ve been blessed in my previous life to now be able to spend my days with such a cute husband."
"Uh... I was talking with my brother..." Baris stammered.
"Oh, sorry," she said with an enchanting smile, coyly covering her mouth.
Davey couldn’t help but laugh as he saw the way the Duchess of Felicity, now a princess, acted.
As soon as she backed away, Baris clung to Davey, his eyes practically pleading. "Davey! Please save me! At this rate, I’m really going to die!”
Davey continued to laugh, knowing that it would take a lot more than that to take down an expert-level individual like him.
"Princess, please go easy on my brother."
"Hehe, you only say that because you haven’t seen how cute he is at night..."
"S-Stop!" Baris shouted, now bright red.
"See?" she said while giggling.
"Oh, I can definitely see it now.”
"Brother!!"
"Alright, alright. Here, take this."
Davey wasn’t about to let his younger brother die from something as embarrassing as passing away during passionate sex. Determined to prevent that, he dug into his Pocket Plane and pulled out a small vial.
“What’s this?” Baris asked.
"Something good," Davey replied.
‘It’s something men always seek. But I can’t exactly and explicitly spell it out for him.’
"Oh my! Is that...?"
Formalities out the window, the princess’s eyes sparkled when she saw the vial.
“Prince Davey, you’re good with medicine, right? Is this what I think it is?!”
"Yep. With this, you should be set for life.”
‘Since it contains diluted Teardrops of God.’
He had acquired the elixir again thanks to Daphne, the First Saintess and the [Vaccine] of the Hall of Heroes, who had stashed some in the Saint Sanctuary.
“Did you hear that, honey? We’re good now!” the princess beamed.
Baris, clutching the vial with trembling hands, looked at Davey in desperation. "Brother! Does this mean I’ll survive?"
His pleading eyes were rather uncomfortable, but Davey told him the truth. “You’ll even be able to turn the tables if you want!”
"Thank you!!" Baris cried.
His wife grinned, licking her lips with anticipation.
‘They really do make quite the pair.’
* * *
Tionis originally had only two orbital bodies adorning its sky: Syras, the Sun God, and Cryas, the Moon God. Though they weren’t widely worshiped—nor were they exactly the ideal beings to worship—they were credited with bringing prosperity to Tionis.
Then, one day, a third orbital body had appeared, seemingly projected from another dimension—the colossal moon, Thanatos.
Of course, Thanatos caused quite a stir across Tionis when it first rose. Many were baffled by the sudden appearance of this third moon, which seemed to appear out of nowhere. Some saw it as a divine omen, while others feared it to be the harbinger of the apocalypse.
Davey, as the creator of Thanatos, found the speculation amusing. But of course, he saw no reason to clear up the rumors.
“Vitality is abundant here. Our little Moony will be born blessed,” he murmured.
Moony was the nickname for their baby. Aeria explained that she’d had a dream where their smiling child sat gleefully upon the end of a crescent moon, before coming down to rest in her arms—hence the name.
“Daddy! Daddy! So when is Moony coming?” asked Blue Ribbon and Red Ribbon, two spirit children who had grown from tiny sprites into young girls around six or seven years old.
Normally, spirit beings like Blue Ribbon and Red Ribbon aged very slowly mentally, taking centuries to reach maturity. However, they had grown at fast speeds after they spent too much time in the Red Void. They did stop growing midway, as they were worn out and their wills fell asleep, but they had spent a lot of time awake and developing in the void. They also evolved after consuming Arbit’s dragon heart, which was how they became the girls they were now.
“Are you excited to meet Moony?”
“Yes! Red Ribbon can’t wait! Blue Ribbon and I pray every day, don’t we?”
“Yes! Blue Ribbon’s excited too! When Moony is born, we’ll hold hands and go exploring together every day!”
They didn’t know that newborns could hardly open their eyes, let alone talk and play—they were expecting Moony to be able to play like one of them right off the bat. Still, Davey had no intention of spoiling their innocence.
“Alright, Red Ribbon and Blue Ribbon. We’ll take Moony and Myuu along, and daddy will show you the best places.”
“Yay!”
With joyful giggles, the two girls threw themselves into his arms.
"I bragged to Myuu all about it! When I said I was getting a sibling, she was so jealous!"
"Well, Myuu’s an only child, so she might feel a bit sad about that. You shouldn’t tease her, okay?"
"Mm... Okay."
Unless Yuria, half-elf Myuu’s guardian, decided to have a child, Myuu would likely remain an only child. Yuria Helishana, despite knowing her years, was still an unpredictable and mysterious existence to him.
‘Then again, the very idea of using bizarre ingredients to create strange dishes isn’t exactly normal.’
"Your Highness!"
As Davey was chatting with the children under the moonlight, Rinne having become exhausted playing with them, Amy came rushing in, her face pale with urgency.
"What’s going on, for you to rush over at this hour?" Davey inquired.
"It’s Princess Aeria!"
"Aeria?"
"S-She’s feeling pain!!"
Crash!
Davey shot up immediately.
“Daddy?”
“It’s time for Moony to be born! Let’s go!”
“I wanna go! I wanna see Moony!”
Scooping up the two children, Davey hurried toward Aeria. He heard sounds of her labored breathing from afar.
“Ahh... Ha... Ahhh...”
Aeria writhed in unimaginable pain, overwhelmed by the intensity of her contractions. The moment they’d been waiting for was finally here—Moony was on the way.
"Ahhh!"
The labor pains intensified, beads of sweat rolling down her face as she clung to the bed. Her water had already broken and everyone watched tensely as the baby was about to be born.
"Aeria!"
“Davey.”
When he burst in, Perserque giggled and pointed to the door.
"You’re not allowed in here. Out. Wait outside," she teased.
“What? No way! I’m helping deliver Moony!”
Illyna, dabbing Aeria’s forehead with a handkerchief, glanced over. "Don’t worry about that.”
Davey raised an eyebrow, confused, until something shot toward him.
Zoom!
A small wave spread outward.
‘Deceiving my senses and sneak attacking me? Who in the...’
As he turned around, he widened his eyes.
"Why are you here, grandma?"
"Don't call me that, you little bastard!"
It was Daphne, dressed in her usual unique garb.
"Davey. You look well.”
“Hypocria?
It was none other than the divine good doctor Hypocria.
“Your child’s birth is a special occasion—I briefly paused the flow of time to descend since your child is about to be born,” said the divine good doctor Hypocria.
“Wait... You managed to achieve divinity and descend?”
“Well, someone twisted the rules of divinity, making us gods with all kinds of unpredictabilities. Thanks to that, descending is surprisingly easy now, don’t you think?”
Davey knew she was lying. Even if they were manifested as gods that made interfering easier, he knew they still needed an immense amount of energy to descend. They were bound to the Saint Sanctuary, after all.
Daphne pushed him firmly out of the room, sighing. "Alright, you can wait, right?”
“Yes.”
“We could give you something to numb the pain, but that might disrupt the baby’s flow of mana.”
"Haa... Haa... No, it’s okay... I... I can handle it..." Aeria panted.
“Don’t worry; I’m a better doctor than Davey,” Hypocria said.
"Just focus on your breathing. Daphne."
“I know.”
Gleam!!
A wave of vast holy power filled the room. It seemed even more holy than the holy power Davey remembered Daphne having.
"Wait, just—"
"Get out!"
Daphne, ever so blunt, shoved Davey back out of the room, leaving him no choice but to wait outside.
"Daddy... can’t we see Moony being born?" asked Red Ribbon, her eyes wide.
"Blue Ribbon wants to see too..."
"Why don’t we wait a little bit? We can all wait here for Moony to be born,” Davey reassured them, and the two kids nodded, settling in.
“Master Davey! Rinne detects a massive energy surge! Rinne evaluates her guardian abilities hi—”
“Sit down with us, Rinne,” Davey said.
Rinne, who was dressed in an animal-themed onesie she’d brought from Earth, stared at him in confusion. She then tilted her head.
“Rinne determines Master Davey to be suspicious for not going inside.”
“I got kicked out too.”
Rinne, taking a glance at the door, just nodded.
* * *
Davey walked back and forth with his arms crossed.
“Ugh... Daddy, Red Ribbon’s getting dizzy...”
“Blue Ribbon feels sick...”
Even though Aeria was the only one giving birth, they were all feeling extremely anxious.
"Don’t worry. It’ll be over soon."
"Ahhhhh!"
As Aeria’s scream echoed through the hall, Davey nearly bolted for the door, only for Rinne and Royal Attendant Bernile to stop him.
“Master Davey, Rinne determines that would be unwise.”
“Your Highness, at a time like this, all you can do is wait.”
“Bernile.”
“Trust in them and wait,” he advised gently.
"Sigh... But this is torture!"
“If it becomes unbearable, I shall douse you with ice water to cool you down.”
“...”
Davey made a shocked face at Bertnile’s bizarre humor. Rinne looked at Bernile with an expressionless face—seeing the corners of her mouth actually twitch, it seemed like she was equally shocked.
“Hmm... Seems like that didn’t go over too well. I’ll have to workshop it more at the Comedy Store...” Bernile murmured.
“What exactly happened to you, Bernile?”
“Lady Tiara of Asgard picked up a few things on Earth, apparently.”
“...”
He couldn’t help but think how ridiculous it was that she had integrated with stand-up comedy during her visit. He simply sighed.
“Waaa!! Waaa!!”
Just then, Aeria’s screams faded, replaced by the sound of a newborn’s cry. Without thinking twice, Davey brushed past Rinne and threw open the door, rushing inside.
"Aeria!"
Inside, Hypocria was wiping away Aeria’s sweat and blood as Daphne used holy magic on her.
“Phew... You did well, Aeria. But make sure you strengthen up more—you were in rough shape for a minute there.”
Aeria gave a weak smile as she was handed a tiny, bundled baby.
“Congratulations. It’s a boy,” Daphne announced.
"Ah... A son..." Aeria whispered, her eyes filling with tears as her ears, peeking out from her teal hair, twitched slightly.
“My child...”
The boy had the ears of a beastfolk. Though it was too early to tell the hair or eye color he would end up with[1], one thing was certain.
"Congratulations, Davey. He looks just like you."
“A son...”
Honestly, Davey hadn’t cared whether it would be a boy or a girl. This child was precious either way.
"Welcome to the family... Moony," he whispered, kneeling beside Aeria.
As she helplessly weeped with joy, he gently stroked her hair.
“You did so well,” he murmured.
“He’s here...”
“...”
“Healthy this time... he’s really here...”
Her tears caught Davey off guard, making him fall silent. Aeria didn’t talk about it often, but she had once lost a child. Though it had been an immaculate conception and virgin birth, her first child had ended in tragedy—a devastating miscarriage. But now, their second child had arrived safe and healthy.
"Thank you... and I’m sorry."
“Hold Moony please,” she said, her voice breaking with emotion.
Davey’s heart felt heavy as he took the baby in his arms.
“Moony... It’s daddy...”
The little one, who’d been crying moments earlier, turned silent, snuggling into his arms. He was barely the size of Davey’s forearm, yet the sight filled him with an overwhelming sense of joy.
"Wow! Moony’s so tiny!"
“Yeah, yeah!”
Red Ribbon and Blue Ribbon looked at him with faces full of wonder.
“So, what are you going to name him?” Illyna asked.
Davey grinned. “Well, he’s our Moony, so... Lun—”
“No. Your naming sense is terrible. Let’s keep calling him Moony until we pick something decent together.”
His suggestion was swiftly and ruthlessly ignored.
1. A person can often be born with one eye/hair color and eventually grow out of it, changing color. For example, I was born with bright blonde hair and sapphire blue eyes, but I ended up with dark brown hair and hazel eyes once I grew older. ?