Celebrity Lady - Chapter 173

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Celebrity Lady
Side Story, Episode 15
* * *
At that same moment, at the Spring of Spirits.
Vista stood at the center of a circle of spirits seated around her.
“Well~ thank you for your patience. We’ll be accepting entry fees of fifty acorns and up.”
Vista rubbed her hands together like a merchant announcing the start of betting. At once, Randian, the spirit of earth, was the first to spill the acorns cradled in her arms onto the ground.
“I’m betting on a boy. The firstborn should definitely be a dependable eldest son.”
Then Bilkin, the spirit of order standing opposite Randian, wagged her index finger back and forth.
“You don’t know anything. I’m betting on a girl!”
Bilkin, her green hair swept back with a flourish, scattered her acorns and continued.
“Now that the Concubine System is gone from the Imperial House, there’s no reason to celebrate a male heir more! From the first daughter to the throne itself! Let’s go!”
That was right. The Spring of Spirits was currently in the throes of a heated wager over the sex of the Imperial Heir.
Only Vista, the spirit who sees the future, knew the heir’s sex at this point.
The spirits lined up threw in their entry fees and placed their bets. Acorns piled up like a mountain.
“The squirrels will starve to death…….”
“Are you betting on a girl?”
“I’m torn. Once I place a bet, I can’t take it back, so I need to be careful.”
As Vista watched the contemplating spirits and the ever-growing mountain of acorns, she grinned wickedly.
Soon, three particular spirits took their turn: the spirit of illusion, the spirit of unbreakable earth, and the spirit of telekinesis, in that order.
“Oh. This should be interesting—seeing which way these participants will bet.”
They were all spirits from the Diolus Duchy, the Empress’s natal home.
Yet the three threw in their acorns without the slightest hesitation and declared themselves.
“I’m betting on a daughter.”
That was Illusion, the spirit of Rubetria’s father.
“A girl.”
And Boulder, the spirit of her second brother.
“I’m wagering on a daughter.”
And Kinesis, the spirit of her eldest brother.
Kinesis, who had the form of a lean and beautiful boy, was a spirit who found everything tedious. Vista found it remarkable enough that he’d come all this way just to participate in a wager, and so she asked out of curiosity.
“Why are you all so certain it’s a girl? Do you have some reason to be confident?”
“Who could be confident about the heir’s sex besides you? We came here simply hoping, in a manner of speaking.”
Illusion answered with a smile.
“All three of our contractors have been singing wishes for a daughter since long ago.”
“Ah!”
The three Diolus men were apparently staunch supporters of an Imperial Princess.
No matter what they bet on, the winner would be Vista alone. She kept that thought to herself and pointed to the mountain of acorns.
“And if there’s no winner, all these acorns become mine?”
“What? How could there be no winner? It’s either a boy or a girl. Unless you’re saying a hermaphrodite will be born?”
Randian looked bemused, but Vista simply smiled. Soon, as a tense contest continued between the two sides, it came time for the Spirit King’s turn.
“What is this? Can the King even participate? You already know which it is, don’t you?”
As Bilkin asked with a suspicious gaze, Wishit pressed down on her head and said.
“I don’t know. I haven’t looked. I won’t look. It’s no fun if I know beforehand.”
Everyone waited to see which way the Spirit King would choose.
After a long silence spent in deliberation, Wishit poured out a cascade of acorns into the air and spoke.
“I’m…….”
* * *
My pregnancy.
It was not a joy for my husband and me alone.
The child to be born would soon be the Imperial Heir and the next Emperor of the realm, so that much was only natural.
First, the late Emperor and Empress—my parents-in-law who had been residing in a rural Imperial Territory since their retirement two years prior—sent word the moment Lark contacted them that they would come to the Imperial Court at once. Through the communication tree of my spirit Florinus, my mother-in-law wept for an hour and a half, begging Lark to take good care of me.
And that wasn’t all. Ever since announcing my pregnancy, I was praised for simply existing.
The nobility sent petitions for audiences to offer their congratulations, and in the window before my body became unwieldy, I met with them, heard their good wishes, and received gifts.
The handmaidens brought every sort of book to read aloud, saying I must receive proper prenatal education, and the flowers in my vase were changed every thirty minutes…….
I had always kept only my friend, the maidservant Rebecca, at my side except during special occasions, but now there were dozens of attendants waiting upon me.
I thought only Lark was being overprotective, but the whole world was. The daily routine where I didn’t walk on my own feet or feed myself by my own hand became normal—and this happened just one week after I announced my pregnancy…….
And.
“Come on, say ‘ah.'”
“……Brother, I have hands too.”
I couldn’t bear it any longer.
There I sat on the bed, and beside me, holding a spoon out in front of my mouth, was Biego.
My eldest brother had spent a full week acting as though he were the caretaker of some poor younger sister who, in some tragic accident, could no longer move and could only barely twitch her eyes.
To be clear, I had simply been pregnant for one week.
“You have someone else’s hands to help—why would you waste your own? Just accept it.”
My father, sitting back in his chair at a distance, spoke. I was going to lose my mind.
“Honestly, you’re all being ridiculous. At this rate, won’t you forget how to use your own hands and feet later on?”
Victor, standing with his arms crossed behind Biego, said so. Of the three, only Victor seemed normal.
I watched Biego’s arm trembling so violently I thought it might fall off, and finally I accepted one spoonful before speaking.
“Maybe you’re right.”
“That one bite you just ate? That’s gotta be worth around fifty million marks.”
As Victor said this, he smacked his lips and glanced at the box sitting on the side table.
“Ruby, couldn’t I just have one of these?”
“Sure, go ahead. Have at it.”
“Hey!”
“Victor!”
Biego and Father immediately fixed him with sharp eyes. Victor stopped his hand as it reached toward the box and pouted.
Inside the box, laid out on red silk, were five roots of rare medicinal herbs.
What was the name? Something starting with ‘P’—some difficult scientific name I couldn’t quite recall, but it looked roughly like a ginseng root.
The soup I was currently drinking was made by finely grinding one of those ginseng roots.
It was such a precious herb that only the exceedingly wealthy could see one in a lifetime, yet he’d procured six of them—each one worth the price of a house.
Who? Duke Raizer…….
He’d gifted them saying to ask my physician if they would suit my constitution first, but it was absurd. If they didn’t agree with me, it would all be for nothing—burning away the price of six houses!
‘Old-fashioned, yes, but they follow through on their promises.’
The other day, at that press conference (?) when reporters came to my business to verify the truth of Lark’s “impotence rumor.”
“Everyone, I intend to fulfill my duty! I will see to it that the Imperial Heir is born, no matter what!”
“Hear, hear! Long live Her Majesty the Empress!”
“Please, give us an heir!”
“We’ll raise them ourselves!”
The three dukes who’d made such a fuss saying they would raise the child themselves if I would only bear one were already proving their devotion.
They took turns every day, keeping busy procuring all manner of rare and precious things good for an expectant mother’s health.
Wow. Thinking back on it again, I’m only one week into my pregnancy.
“Is there anything you’d like to eat?”
Father asked. My body showed no changes yet, and this day was no different from yesterday, so there was no reason for me to suddenly crave anything special…….
“Hmm?”
I froze. Something had just come to mind.
“Strawberries?”
Was this like that famous monk who drank from a skull? It wasn’t even time for cravings yet, and I wasn’t particularly fond of strawberries to begin with, but when asked this question, it felt exactly as though the baby itself were craving them…….
“Huh?”
Everyone seemed curious, but somehow the room had gone quiet. Biego sat frozen with spoon in hand, and Victor’s eyes widened in surprise.
What was wrong? When I glanced at Father, he was watching me with an unreadable expression.
Soon after, Father, who’d been staring at me intently, let out a disapproving click of his tongue and stood up.
“……That’s not even in season. You should ask for something we can actually procure.”
“Oh, I suppose you’re right……?”
There were no year-round strawberries here. There were no greenhouses. It was early November now, and strawberries, which normally flowered in spring, were certainly difficult to find…….
‘But what is that? Why does he look so angry?’
I was puzzled. I wasn’t asking him to procure them immediately, and I’d simply answered with what came to mind when he asked if there was anything I wanted.
“Um, Father? Are you leaving?”
“…….”
“Father!”
For some reason, Father left my room without a word, just like that.
How strange…….

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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