The Forgotten Field - Chapter 144

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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 144
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As winter deepened, my belly swelled with unmistakable prominence.
What had begun as a source of wonder and pride soon transformed into an ordeal. As the child grew, the burden upon my body intensified relentlessly.
Groaning beneath the excruciating ache that threatened to cleave my spine, I shifted my position with utmost caution. Yet no angle of repose offered respite from the torment.
“Would you consider turning this way? I can massage your lower back for you.”
Maricen, observing my distress with evident sympathy, offered the suggestion carefully.
I nodded immediately. Though I ordinarily detested the touch of others upon my body, this was hardly the moment for such pride.
“Would you lift your legs slightly? If I place a cushion beneath them, it should provide some relief.”
“Like this?”
As I raised my knees, she slid a pillow between them.
I exhaled deeply. While it did little to alleviate the stabbing pain in my lower back, the tingling sensation that had been radiating down my legs seemed to diminish somewhat.
“Tell me if it becomes too painful.”
Leaning over the bed, she began to knead my lower back with exquisite precision.
I released a long, grateful moan and stretched my aching legs fully.
She moved her hands lower, examining the taut muscles with careful attention before posing a cautious question.
“How is the pain in your legs?”
“What kind of question is that? Of course it’s unbearably painful.”
“If it becomes truly unbearable, shall I burn some sleep-inducing herbs for you?”
I narrowed my eyes and studied her face intently. Her composed expression held nothing but concern for my wellbeing.
“Won’t that harm the child?”
“You’ve entered the stable period now, so it shouldn’t pose any significant problems.”
I gazed down at my swollen belly with conflicted eyes.
I desperately longed for even a moment’s respite from this agony, yet I feared any potential harm to my child.
As I wrestled with this dilemma, Tiuran, who had been tending the logs in the fireplace, suddenly interjected.
“It’s best to avoid medicines when possible. The effects of sleep-inducing herbs on the unborn child remain poorly understood.”
Maricen shot her a displeased look.
“Surely you don’t think I would prescribe something harmful to the Princess. I’ve administered pain relievers to pregnant women before, and there have never been any complications.”
“But there’s always the possibility of exceptional circumstances…”
“Enough.”
I cut short their bickering with finality. I had no patience for their subtle rivalry.
“What’s the point of taking medicine if the pain will return the moment I wake? I’ll simply endure it.”
“But you’re unable to sleep properly because of the pain. If you become exhausted…”
“I said enough! If you’re going to nag, then leave.”
I pushed her hand away somewhat roughly and pulled the blanket over my head. I lacked the energy for pointless arguments.
My swollen womb pressed upon the twisted nerves of my pelvis, causing my already aching legs to throb unbearably, and my calves cramped with increasing frequency.
The stabbing pain in my lower back worsened with each passing day. The prospect of enduring this state until summer seemed utterly bleak.
I pressed my protruding lower belly gently with both hands.
As I felt the subtle quickening beneath the taut skin, my resentment toward the child melted away in an instant.
Still, I resolved that once this child was born, I would have plenty of complaints to voice.
Because of you, I suffered terribly. But I endured it all. So you must listen to what I say. And you must love me more than anyone else in the world. I’ll do the same for you.
Lost in such thoughts, she drifted into sleep without realizing it.
When a hand brushed against her forehead, Talia opened her eyes and discovered Barcas’s shadowed face looming above her. She stirred and pushed herself up on her elbows.
“When did you arrive?”
“I’ve just finished my duties and returned. Please, rest.”
“No. I’ve been lying down too long—my back aches.”
She pushed away his hand as he tried to lower her back down, then propped cushions against the headboard and settled herself upright, studying him in his formal attire with deliberate care.
In his reddish-brown doublet embroidered with the ornate patterns distinctive to the Eastern Territories and black leather boots, he appeared the very embodiment of refined and elegant nobility.
“Was there some event?”
Talia asked with a note of suspicion as she examined his unusually formal appearance.
Barcas unfastened the buttons of his doublet and replied calmly.
“I attended a meeting of the Nobility Alliance.”
“The meetings have been frequent lately. Has something gone wrong?”
“Nothing is amiss. Rather, why have you moved to a different chamber?”
Barcas’s displeasure flickered across his features as he redirected the conversation.
Talia wrapped her hands around her knees and looked away awkwardly.
“Because of me, you can’t sleep either. I thought it would be better to use separate chambers until the birth.”
“Dispense with such unnecessary consideration.”
Barcas spoke somewhat tersely and leaned toward the bed.
Talia recognized his intention to embrace her and shifted her body toward the corner of the bed.
“It’s more comfortable for me this way.”
His eyes narrowed.
Barcas gazed down at her face quietly, then settled on the edge of the bed and countered in a cool voice.
“When did you ever say you were uncomfortable without me attending to you at your side?”
“That was then… but things are different now.”
“What’s different?”
Talia looked at Barcas’s strong, beautiful silhouette backlit by the firelight, then let her gaze fall to her own body draped in thin nightclothes. Her breasts had swollen like a cow’s, and her belly had become as distended as a toad’s.
Her gaunt frame had been unsightly before, but this swollen, bloated form was far worse. Apart from the joy of carrying a child, she felt increasingly wretched—neither graceful like Aila nor sensual like Senevir.
She pulled the blanket up over her shoulders and spoke with some irritation.
“I didn’t hurt like this back then.”
“All the more reason I should be here to care for you.”
Barcas furrowed his brow and reached toward her again.
Talia startled and turned away, but his long arm wrapped around her back before she could escape.
In one swift motion, she was drawn onto his lap, and she hastily pulled her skirts down to her feet.
Yet Barcas’s attention seemed focused entirely on her waist.
As he gently massaged the muscles near her spine with his firm palm, he noticed her pained expression and frowned.
“Does it hurt that much?”
Talia glared at him with tears glistening in her eyes.
This man would never understand her desire not to show him her ruined body.
She knew such feelings were foolish. Yet since she was nine years old, she had wanted to appear most beautiful to him in all the world. The impossibility of it felt utterly devastating.
“Yes, it hurts enough to kill me.”
Rather than confess this truth honestly, Talia threw a petulant fit instead.
“It’s so unfair. Why must I suffer like this alone? I wish you’d experience even half of what I’m going through.”
“…Then why do you want a separate chamber if you’re going to torment me anyway?”
Barcas murmured soothingly as he rubbed her back.
Her heart was beginning to soften at his gentle voice, but the moment his hand descended onto her swollen belly, she quickly drew her knees up and curled herself into a ball.
“Don’t. Don’t touch it.”
“Why not?”
The man’s face, which had remained patient throughout, finally showed a hint of edge. His patience had clearly reached its limit.
Barcas drew a long breath and spoke in a noticeably lower voice.
“It’s my child. Why won’t you let me touch it these days?”
“It’s not your child.”
At her petulant words, his face turned cold as ice.
Her heart trembled for a moment, but Talia continued with feigned composure.
“Until it comes into this world, it belongs entirely to me. I’m the one enduring this pain while carrying it, so I should have exclusive rights—that’s only fair.”
At her unreasonable words, the furrow between Barcas’s brows deepened.

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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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