Celebrity Lady - Chapter 180

Rubetria suddenly cried out, grinning wickedly, then said:

* * *
I’d stumbled slightly at the end, eager to show the babies closer to Wishit, but in the end I’d successfully fooled everyone and pulled off an unremarkable delivery performance.
Everyone clamored to see the infants, but I insisted firmly that for the newborns’ health, each visitor must come in a single group, fully sterilized.
As a result, my husband, father, and both brothers had to bathe and purify themselves before entering the Separate Palace.
What touched me slightly was…….
“Darling!”
“Ruby!!!”
“Rubetria…….”
“How is your body.”
All four of them rushed to my bedside first, not to the cradle where the babies lay—as if they’d agreed beforehand. I’d expected them to be curious about the babies first, but it seemed my delivery acting had been quite convincing.
“I’m fine. The babies are over there, darling…….”
I patted Lark’s shoulders as he suddenly wrapped his arms around me, but he didn’t budge.
According to Wishit, even though he knew I wouldn’t die, he’d trembled with worry so badly that he’d lost a decade of his lifespan…….
‘Sigh. I should have told my husband about the Spirit King’s anesthetic injection.’
I regretted it too late, but Victor, who’d been looking at the babies in the cradle, got excited and started bouncing on his feet.
“Unreal. How are they this small? Wow……. These really came out of my sister’s belly? Seriously?”
“These are His Highness the Prince and Her Highness the Princess.”
“Ah, come on! Don’t be so cold-hearted on first meeting with your adorable nephew and niece!”
Victor and Biego bickered while laughing. Father gazed silently into the cradle for a long time, then spoke to me.
“……You’ve endured much, Rubetria.”
“Yes. Truth be told, it wasn’t that hard. I just screamed a lot from being dramatic. Also, darling.”
Whether because he wanted to keep feeling that I was truly alive, Lark had remained buried against my nape for a long time before finally pulling away.
“Aren’t you curious about the babies? I’m fine, I promise.”
“Yes, I know…….”
His eyes glistened. Lark kept kissing my cheek before finally turning to look at them.
“The Father should hold them first!”
The midwife lifted one Swaddling Cloth from the cradle. I nudged Lark’s back, and he turned to me, hesitated, then slowly approached the baby.
Our son, the Prince. Honestly, when I first saw him, I could only see his nose. It was unmistakably Lark’s nose—I was shocked.
The mysteries of heredity…….
He must have felt it too. Lark’s mouth fell open as he stared at our son for a long time, then glanced at our daughter in the cradle. And then he turned to me.
“She’s beautiful, isn’t she?”
“Ah…….”
Lark was at a loss. He drew in several shaky breaths, then squeezed his eyes shut. And laughed. While crying.
What does it feel like to become a father? Probably similar to what I felt the first time I held the babies?
“They’re so, so beautiful……. Thank you, my love…….”
My handsome husband overcome with emotion and weeping—no, our babies’ father—looked like a painting. If I were to sketch that scene and hang it in a gallery with some magnificent title like , it would cause a stir.
While entertaining such trivial thoughts, Father and my brothers seemed equally moved, watching Lark with warm expressions.
“Your Majesty, please stop crying……. May I also hold my niece and nephew?”
The eager Victor spoke. Soon the babies were passed around, each cradled once by their father, grandfather, and uncles.
“But you! You knew from the beginning it was two—didn’t your lips itch? How did you hold it in?”
“To see your surprised face!”
“What, you made me surprised just to mess with me? You really are something!”
Victor laughed in disbelief.
“The joy is doubled, isn’t it?”
“Yes, doubled!”
Father, holding our daughter, approached me. Then he placed the baby in my arms and asked.
“But……what are their names?”
“Oh!”
There had been many name candidates. The name Duke Raizer’s renowned fortuneteller had provided, the name of Deccard the Fourth—whom history calls the greatest of all emperors, recommended by the in-laws—the name of someone recorded as the longest-lived in the historical records, and so on…….
What Lark and I ultimately chose was “Daniel”—it had a soft, gentle quality to it, and suited both boys and girls equally well.
So everyone knew that whether it was a girl or a boy, the name would be Daniel, but now that they were born, we had one daughter and one son!
“Now that I think about it……Your Majesty knew there would be two, but did you only prepare one name?”
“Ah, no.”
As Biego asked, Lark turned to me and spoke.
“For one of them……I promised to let the Empress choose.”
Yes, precisely—from the moment I’d considered having a child, I’d planned to ask Wishit to give one of them a name.
But it turned out there were two, so we decided on Daniel for one, and…….

I sent a telepathic message to Wishit, who stood leaning against the wall some distance away. He rose and approached, answering: