The Forgotten Field - Chapter 143

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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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Chapter 143
Long, elegant fingers deftly peeled away the crimson fruit, each segment glistening like a jewel in the firelight.
As she accepted each piece from him, I studied his face carefully, illuminated by the dancing flames.
Though Barcas tended to me with the meticulous care one might lavish upon a fledgling bird, his expression remained inscrutable—a mask that revealed nothing beneath.
Once, I had been consumed with curiosity about what lay behind that mask. Now, strangely, it no longer mattered.
I placed my hand upon my lower abdomen and pressed gently. Beneath the thin layer of skin, I felt the womb beginning to swell with unmistakable firmness.
When I first learned of my pregnancy, I could not afford a single moment of peace, terrified that something might go wrong.
After discovering my infertile constitution, the anxiety had only deepened. Every slight twinge of my belly sent waves of dread through me—what if the child was lost? Each minute change in my body seemed an ominous portent.
It was the Sierkan Healer, unexpectedly, who had eased my fears.
Perhaps because she had lost a child herself, Tiuran understood better than anyone what precautions were necessary.
Though I had initially been reluctant to accept her counsel, I gradually came to take her advice seriously. With my very life hanging in the balance should anything happen to the child, I could not afford to repeat such a mistake.
In any case, the Eastern Territories healer’s knowledge proved invaluable, and thanks to her guidance, I slowly regained my composure. As my mind found peace, I was finally able to focus entirely upon the existence growing within me.
‘At this point… it must be about the size of a fist, surely?’
As I nibbled slowly on the pomegranate seeds he offered, I carefully traced the contours of my slightly firmed lower abdomen.
The child had been conceived purely out of necessity. Once I bore an heir to the Grand Ducal House of Sierkan, even the Eastern Territories would not dare cast me aside, and should Gareth ascend to the throne in the future, the child would serve as my shield and protection.
I had never imagined that a being I had conceived solely for my own survival would become so precious to me.
I envisioned the small life growing within my womb, trying to picture its form.
Would it be small and delicate, like a fairy child?
By now, perhaps hair and eyes had already formed. If so, what color might they be?
Perhaps it would inherit my deep golden hair and dark blue eyes. Or perhaps it would have Barcas’s pale golden hair and those grayish-blue eyes scattered with silver light.
Either way, surely it would possess the most beautiful appearance in all the world.
My curiosity swelled with each passing day.
I was curious about everything—the child’s appearance, its voice, its temperament. I could think of nothing else. Even Barcas, who had always occupied the greater part of my consciousness, had been relegated to the background.
“Tell me… what will you do if a daughter is born?”
Lost in languid reverie as I accepted the pomegranate seeds from him, I suddenly posed the question.
Barcas, who had just finished feeding me an entire pomegranate and was reaching for another, glanced sharply at me.
His brow furrowed with sudden seriousness—the expression of one who had never once considered the child’s sex.
A wave of unease washed over me.
Was Barcas not as curious about this child as I was?
Now that I thought about it, though he often placed me upon his lap and caressed my belly, he had never once spoken of the child itself.
Perhaps his interest lay solely in the heir who would succeed him.
As if driving a nail through that fear, Barcas murmured quietly.
“…I would prefer not to think of it.”
I froze in shock.
Barcas, who had been gazing down at the knife used to peel the pomegranate, continued softly.
“If she resembles you, all manner of vermin would swarm around her. Merely dealing with them would be no trivial matter.”
My shoulders instinctively tensed.
Rather than anger at his troubled murmur, concern rose first within me.
If a daughter resembling me were born, she would indeed become a target for every beast, as he said. A fear of a kind I had never before experienced crashed down upon me.
I sat up abruptly and opened my mouth urgently.
“That’s why you must protect her thoroughly. Never let anyone harm her—it’s your role to always be by her side, keeping her safe.”
Barcas turned to look at her, his eyes crinkling at the corners. He seemed puzzled by such an obvious demand.
He nodded calmly.
“Of course that’s my intention. Until we find a trustworthy husband for her, it’s the head of House Sierkan’s duty to protect and care for our daughter safely.”
“Don’t say such strange things. I will never have her marry.”
Suddenly her voice turned sharp.
Talia’s eyes narrowed as she glared at him, and wrapping her arms around her belly as if to shield it from being taken by anyone, she declared fiercely.
“I’m keeping her with me for life. Never, absolutely never will I send her anywhere.”
Barcas’s eyes widened slightly.
Only then did she notice the tremor in her own voice. She couldn’t understand why her eyes suddenly burned with heat.
Talia’s lips quivered as she bit down hard, and soon she began to pour out something that had been lodged in her throat.
“I will never leave my baby alone in a strange place. I won’t let her tremble in fear among strangers, and I won’t make her suffer loneliness by herself. Always, always I will be by her side. I’ll hold her every night and keep her safe.”
The words that had flowed out like a murmur grew nearly into sobs by the end. Before she could even feel shame at this, something like a burning coal continued to surge up from within.
Talia frantically pulled at Barcas’s sleeve, pressing him urgently.
“You must do the same.”
Beyond the overflowing tears, a face frozen in rigidity appeared faintly.
Talia shook his arm, urging him for an answer.
“Promise me you’ll do that.”
The man, who had remained motionless as if startled by her sudden outburst, dropped what he held in his hand and climbed onto the bed.
Talia settled onto his lap as if it were the most natural thing. His long, strong arms immediately wrapped around her back.
“I will do so.”
His voice, heavy and subdued, fell from above her head.
Talia gripped his garment as if she might tear it, her pale blue eyes fixed intently upon his.
“Can you swear to it?”
“I swear it.”
“You’ve made a promise to me. No matter what happens, you will protect our baby.”
A calloused thumb wiped away the tears from her eyes. His voice, grown slightly rough, poured down onto her forehead.
“Yes. I’ll do everything you say, so please stop crying.”
Talia’s lips trembled.
She wanted to press him even harder.
Our child must always come first. Before Gareth, before Aila.
She swallowed the words that had risen to her throat.
If he hesitated even slightly in his answer, she felt she wouldn’t be able to bear it.
Talia, stifling her sobs, soon wrapped her arms around his neck and poured out her long-suppressed weeping onto his shoulders, solid as stone.
“Even if it’s a boy… I’m keeping him with me. I won’t send him to the Imperial Palace or the Temple.”
She felt his hands tighten around her back with sudden force.
Barcas murmured in a heavy, subdued voice.
“Yes. Whether daughter or son, let’s keep them with us for life.”
For some reason, those words only deepened her sorrow.
Talia rubbed her wet cheek against his neck, and Barcas gently patted her back.
It was a touch that seemed to promise everything would improve, that there would be no more suffering, no more sorrow.
Talia desperately wanted to believe in that promise.

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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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