The next night.
When Bina returned to her bedroom after an evening walk with the help from her maids, she noticed that there was someone in her room.
“Luc…?”
She didn’t know when he came in and wondered why he snuck into her room. Then suddenly, she noticed something in his hand.
“T, that is…!”
Bina ran towards Lucretius, who was reading a notebook.
“G, give it back!”
Bina was desperate. Due to her condition, she was very slow, but she still went after him and tried to take the notebook away from his hand. Lucretius gave it to her easily and held her quickly, so she doesn’t fall down.
He said to her, “Hey, be careful. My empress needs to slow down a bit.”
Bina hid the notebook with both of her hands and screamed, “D, did you see it? Did you?!”
Lucretius nodded. “Yup.”
“NO!!” Bina yelled in frustration. “Why would you read someone else’s diary?!”
Bina was red as a strawberry. Lucretius couldn’t help but laugh at his adorable wife.
“Hahaha!”
“Why are you laughing!? How could you invade someone’s [privacy] like that! Even if we are husband and wife, there are boundaries we need to respect!”
Privacy was a word from earth, but I used it often enough here that Lucretius understood what it meant. Another word Bina often used was stress.
When Lucretius answered her, Bina was shocked.
“Hmm… Are you getting [stressed] because I invaded your [privacy]?”
“… Umm… yes.”
Bina’s eyes widened as she stared at Lucretius while still holding on to her diary tightly.
It felt strange for her to hear Lucretius use her language correctly and with excellent pronunciation. Cransian was very different than Korean after all.
Lucretius shrugged his shoulders and added, “I hear you use those words all the time, so I tried them out myself. How did I do?”
“Um… you did well.”
Lucretius smiled proudly. Annoyed at his confidence, Bina pinched his hand.
“Argg!”
When he groaned in pain, Bina felt better.
“So why would you read my diary?”
Lucretius shook his head. “I didn’t read it.”
“But you were looking at it.”
He nodded. “Yes, I saw it, but I couldn’t read it.”
“Huh?”
Bina opened the notebook but quickly realized why.
Everything she wrote was in Korean.
“Oh!”
Obviously, Lucretius couldn’t understand a word. Bina sighed in relief.
“Good. So you failed at attempting to read my diary.”
Lucretius grinned. “I guess.”
Bina put down the diary on her side table confidently. This must have been why spies used codes.
Still smiling, Lucretius asked, “Will you teach me your language?”
“Why?’
At an unexpected question, Bina looked up at him. Suddenly, she narrowed her eyes.
“Is it… because you want to read my diary?”
“Oh, I guess that would be a bonus… I’m kidding! I’m just joking, so don’t look at me like that!”
Bina had her nails ready to pinch him again. She was wondering if she should pinch his waist or his leg this time.
Lucretius realized he had to explain himself quickly or else, he would be attacked again.
“When our baby is born, I want you to teach our child and me your language.”
“You and the baby?”
Lucretius nodded. “Yes. It’s your homeland, which means it is important to me and our baby too. I want our child and myself to know the language too.”
“…”
“And we will have our child’s children and their children to learn it too…”
Slowly, Bina’s eyes filled with tears.
With a happy smile, Lucretius continued, “Even after we are gone, our children will continue to live and speak your language. It will be your legacy. It will be the biggest mark you leave in this world of your existence.”
“Yes…”
Bina felt overwhelmed. She knew her face must have looked ridiculous, but she couldn’t help crying and smiling at the same time. She couldn’t say anything. She could only nod.
Bina realized how lucky she was that her life was with this man. She was happy that it was him she met in this world and it was this man she fell in love with.
Lucretius continued, “So don’t worry about a thing. You will have our baby safely and you will teach us your language. You will tell the baby how you got here, where you are from, and why you stayed.”
“… Yes.”
“And that is how you and I will live forever in this world.”
She knew this was the truth. She knew everything would be alright.
***
Time went by fast.
A month later, Lucretius had to stand outside the birthing room and wait nervously.
To gain happiness, you needed to first go through pain and patience. Lucretius knew this very well, but he didn’t realize it would be this painful.
“Aaaahhhhhh!”
Sharp screams came from inside the birthing room. The emperor of the greatest kingdom flinched and trembled as if he was being whipped. His eyes wavered as they had never done before.
He grabbed Lowson.
“It has already been over ten hours! What is happening?!”
Lowson wiped his wet forehead and bowed.
“This is her highness’s first childbirth. It isn’t unusual for the first labor to last over ten hours.”
“So we do nothing?!”
It started last night when they were in bed together. Ever since then, Lucretius had been living through the most hellish time of his life.
He had to believe everything was going okay. Bina kept telling him calmly that everything was normal. She then had him leave.
Waiting outside, Lucretius remembered her words.
“If something happens to me…”
His heart fell to the ground. He acted so proudly and confidently when he first learned of Bina’s pregnancy. However, when it was finally happening, he was acting like a panicked idiot. Unlike Bina, who was behaving calmly, he was being useless.
… One was enough. Whether it was a prince or a princess, he decided that there would be no second child for them.
He couldn’t go through this again!
Many different sounds were heard from inside the room. There were maids, midwives, and a female doctor specially educated by Lowson. By law, no male could enter the birthing chamber. This was why Lucretius had Lowson train a female doctor, which was the first in this kingdom.
Lucretius did everything he could to get ready for this moment, yet he still felt unprepared.
If only he could be inside with her. He could hold her hand and do SOMETHING. However, the stupid royal rules wouldn’t allow him. In fact, he was asked to wait in his own wing or in his office, but he just couldn’t. He had to be as near her as possible.
Another agonizing scream came from the room.
“Aaaaaaaa!”
Lucretius flinched again as if in pain. He couldn’t understand the rules. Why couldn’t he go in and be with her?
His principle assistant asked cautiously, “Your highness, perhaps you can wait in your own chamber…”
“Shut up.”
Lucretius glared at him, making everyone around him cringe. This was not the time to anger the emperor.
“Aaak! Aaaaaaak!”
“Your highness, just a little bit more! Please push! We can see the baby’s head!”
“Please don’t faint!”
The voices of the midwives sounded desperate but hopeful.
Lucretius felt like he was dying. He couldn’t take it anymore.
When he was about to burst into the room, a loud cry came.
It was the baby’s first cry.
Lucretius became so shocked that he froze. The baby’s cry was followed by happy exclaims from the room.
Everyone outside stared at the door, waiting for it to open.
When Samantha finally walked out with a smile, Lucretius asked hoarsely, “How’s Bina? How is the empress?”
Samantha smiled and replied, “Don’t worry, your highness. Her highness is very tired, but she is doing well.”
His legs felt so weak that he thought he might collapse. Just then, Samantha bowed to him deeply.
“A healthy princess has arrived. Congratulations!”
Everyone around him bowed deeply as well.
“Congratulations!”
“Your highness, congratulations!”
Ignoring everyone, Lucretius ran into the room.
People looked at him in shock and tried to stop him.
“Your highness?”
“Your highness! You can’t come in!”
The midwives, who were still in the process of cleaning up, screamed in shock at the sudden and unexpected appearance of the emperor.
