Celebrity Lady - Chapter 174

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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 16
“Why are you suddenly being like that?”
I couldn’t understand his reasoning. I got that strawberries were hard to find, but was that really cause to make such a face at me?
“Did I throw a tantrum and demand Father bring me strawberries? You’re making me feel terrible.”
“No, Rubetria. It’s not that.”
“……?”
Biego set down the soup bowl on the side table and hesitated a moment before speaking.
“He was probably thinking of Mother. She looked for strawberries the same way when she was pregnant.”
“Really……?”
“That’s right. I’ve heard it too.”
Victor nodded.
“Apparently she didn’t care much for them normally, but once you were on the way, that changed. After you were born she stopped looking for them, but when she had me and you, it was strawberries again and again.”
I hadn’t known that.
“After she passed, the household was so careful around Father’s feelings that we hardly talked about Mother anymore…… It makes sense you wouldn’t know.”
Seeing my startled expression, Biego explained.
Unintentionally, I’d touched on the painful memories of that great romantic of the age—a man who, after losing his wife, had shut himself away for years drowning in grief.
“Still, it’s strange. That you’d want the same thing Mother did.”
Biego smiled as he spoke, then sighed uncomfortably almost immediately.
“Where are we even going to find strawberries……?”
“No, really, it’s fine. I’m not desperately craving them right now anyway. We can look for them when spring comes and the strawberries are in season.”
Though I tried to reassure them, both Biego and Victor wore expressions like people handed an impossible task.
Right—this really brought home the difference between this world and twenty-first-century Earth. I was so used to advanced cultivation techniques where you could get any fruit year-round, but things were clearly different here.
Without magic, I’d have to make do with whatever was in season.
Rendian, Lark’s spirit, could make trees and flowers bloom whenever there was soil, but he only ever produced plants in their proper season…….
He wasn’t versatile enough to conjure strawberries ripe and abundant in this cold weather.

Just then, Wishit, sitting beside me with his eyes closed, nudged my shoulder and asked through a mental link.

I’d warned him countless times, but I couldn’t understand why he kept egging me on.
Asking Wishit to do magical things ordinary people couldn’t—that was exactly what I was most wary of.
Living like a god would obviously make life tedious, and if I went around granting myself wishes one by one, I might fall prey to greed no matter who I was.
I didn’t want to repeat the tragedy of my ancestor Diolus I, who had wept and beaten the earth and eventually had to seal away Wishit’s power.
‘That’s why I made it so clear to Lark.’
When I’d revealed Wishit’s existence, I made it absolutely plain: he was my friend, not someone to grant wishes on demand.
I had no intention of abusing Wishit’s power except in truly dire circumstances where my life hung in the balance, and I meant to live by the natural order—that’s what I wanted understood.
But Wishit, of all people, seemed either ignorant of or indifferent to my feelings, and whenever he got the chance—

—he’d grumble like this.
As if I’d ever wish for something as trivial as strawberries just because I couldn’t eat them immediately?
‘I shouldn’t have said anything about strawberries. My mouth has no filter.’
I regretted it, looking at the grumbling Wishit and the worried faces of my two brothers fretting over where to find strawberries.
* * *
Three weeks later.
Morning sickness began…….
“Are you managing? Is this something you can actually eat?”
Lark asked anxiously.
“Yes. It’s delicious.”
The soup—made by grating apples and onions, then thickening it with milk and heavy cream—went down smooth and easy.
“Phew, thank goodness…….”
Lark swept a hand across his chest like he’d aged ten years. To judge by his reaction, my morning sickness must seem severe, but it really wasn’t.
I wasn’t retching at random hours or unable to smell food or incapable of drinking water—nothing like that.
What had happened was simply that the variety of foods I could stomach had shrunk considerably.
First, I couldn’t eat any meat—it made me queasy just to think about it. I was firmly committed to eating only the handful of fruits and vegetables my body would tolerate.
Even so, the Imperial Palace Cooks were so skilled that they prepared everything deliciously, and I ate three solid meals a day without any stress whatsoever.
I’d heard so much about how terrifying morning sickness could be that I’d been worried, but if this was all it amounted to…… maybe I could manage pregnancy a few more times?
Of course, only I was unbothered—once word spread that I’d developed even mild morning sickness, everyone around me acted like someone had died.
And my husband most of all.
“Please, relax your face. Let’s eat properly…….”
“Oh, sorry. Hah.”
Lark buried his forehead in the bed and heaved heavy sighs, presumably trying to hide his expression. As if hiding his face made any difference.
“They said it could get worse. What if it does? If I can’t eat properly, that’s serious. I’ve lost weight already…….”
“…….”
I shut my eyes tight, mortified.
After a month of playing emperor in bed, my body was visibly soft and bloated.
And he’s talking about me being “half my size”…….
“I’m sorry. For putting you through this. There’s nothing I can do to help.”
“Come on, honey! Please!”
“Ah. Don’t get excited. You’ll collapse.”
Lark scrambled to calm me down.
“Darling, please, take it easy. I’m dying of embarrassment. And since we’re on the subject, I’m begging you—stop following me around trembling every time I walk for thirty minutes a day. It looks ridiculous. I’m not made of glass!”
“You’re more precious than glass…….”
“Aaaaahhh!”

Even Wishit, watching from the side, chimed in.
“Nooooo!”
I felt like I was going to lose my mind.
Really, was everyone around me—Lark, Wishit, all these overzealous people—conspiring to sabotage my peace and quiet?
“Is there anything you want to eat? Finding something your stomach accepts is important. I’ll get you whatever you need.”
Lark asked. I was about to say it wasn’t necessary when strawberries suddenly came to mind.
‘Now that the sickness has started, I think of them even more.’
December. Looking at the snow-covered landscape outside the window, I imagined my husband setting out to find strawberries only to freeze to death, and I shook my head firmly.
“There isn’t anything.”
* * *
Imperial Palace, Grand Conference Hall.
The atmosphere during the monthly regular meeting was positively grim. The Emperor sat at the head of the table looking half-dead, heaving heavy sighs.
Every noble present fretted over his condition.
“Is it true the Empress’s morning sickness is that severe?”
“That’s what I hear. Supposedly she can’t smell food at all and vomits up everything she puts in her mouth.”
“She can’t even drink water, I’m told. What’s to be done?”
But the reality of Rubetria—who was eating three solid meals a day of healthy vegetarian fare prepared by the skilled Imperial Palace Cooks—had been thoroughly distorted…….
“Let’s wrap this up quickly and adjourn early today. Is the Duke of Diolus not here yet?”
It was already ten minutes past the scheduled start time of two o’clock, and Leonard’s seat remained empty.
At Lark’s question, Biego cleared his throat and replied.
“Your Majesty, Father actually departed three weeks ago…….”
“What?!”
Lark’s eyes went wide. The nobles beside him gasped in shock too. Biego hurried to clarify.
“No, I mean he left to…… go overseas. It’s a temporary business trip.”
“Without so much as informing me? Where to?”
“To the Rugie Kingdom. Since there aren’t many ships available, he had to depart urgently once a schedule aligned, and he asked me to convey his apologies for not receiving your permission first.”
The Rugie Kingdom? Everyone’s jaws fell open in disbelief.
That distant country required a month’s voyage by ship—why would he suddenly go there? Was he off sightseeing since it was spring over there?
But even so, he should have said something!
While travel permits weren’t strictly controlled, high-ranking officials required to attend monthly meetings were supposed to submit absence requests in advance and secure approval.
Permission would have been granted even if he’d written “tourism” or “flower viewing”—so why leave in such a rush without a word?
The Emperor, flustered, glanced at the three dukes beside his seat: Raizer, Merlin, and Ferdi.
Even if he’d wanted to take their side, this was too much—an outright abuse of his position as the Empress’s father.
“Still, he did prepare a request form, so I’d appreciate it if you’d review it…….”
Biego handed Lark a sheet of paper—Leonard’s absence request, hastily scrawled in his handwriting.
Lark examined it with a hardened expression, then—
“Approved.”
He said it immediately.
‘I knew it.’ Raizer sighed and stood up.
“Your Majesty, you can’t do this. Public and private must be kept separate—”
Lark held up the request form toward the approaching duke. The moment Raizer skimmed the single hastily written line, he said:
“He’s got to go.”
Ferdi and Merlin, who’d half-risen and were craning their necks to peer at the form, spoke in turn:
“Oh, he’s definitely got to go. Without question.”
“Duke Diolus, the man gets things done. Truly, remarkable efficiency.”
Reason: Departing to find strawberries, as my daughter has a craving.

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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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