Episode 72
The moment I gasped in surprise, the baby in my belly moved vigorously.
“Carl, wait a moment. The baby’s moving.”
Callisteon had been particularly unlucky, never having felt the baby move even once until now.
He stretched out a hand with a tense face.
The moment his large, pale palm touched my belly, a small vibration was felt.
—Poke.
Callisteon’s blue eyes hesitated for a moment, then amazement spread through them like a wave.
“…It’s not you, it really is the baby moving?”
I burst out laughing, and the large hand resting on my belly shook along with it.
“How could I move my belly like that?”
—Poke.
The grateful baby moved once more.
The corners of Callisteon’s mouth, which had been stiff and sullen, gradually stretched, and finally, a happy smile settled.
“Your greeting is quite late, little one. It’s problematic if you only recognize your father now.”
Is arrhythmia one of the pregnancy symptoms?
My heart pounded needlessly, and I found myself asking the baby in my heart.
‘Baby, is this man possibly your father?’
That same night, Callisteon’s name appeared in the diary for the first time in a while.
I feel more at ease now that it’s exam period.
It’s much more productive than calculating when I might die—I can memorize summary notebooks and past exam papers from seniors.
(Omission)
Ah, I discovered some advantages to sitting next to Callisteon senior in the library.
First, because senior watches me strictly, I don’t dare let my mind wander and can study hard.
Second, because senior always studies longer than me, I’m never left alone in the dark library.
Third, when he’s not making eye contact with me, senior’s profile is quite handsome.
I smiled, tracing the last line Louise had firmly underlined with my fingertip.
‘He’s even more handsome when making eye contact…’
It seemed that Louise, being such a scaredy-cat, hadn’t realized a lot of things.
A month had passed since arriving in Edessa.
My belly was now noticeably larger each day, and Phoebe often spent her time applying oil to my belly several times a day.
The physician said with a bright face:
“Both the baby and Your Highness are very healthy. If you continue as you are now, there should be no worries.”
My appetite had improved lately, and I easily ate enough for two people, but no specific food cravings had come to mind since the persimmons.
‘I heard if you can’t eat what you crave during pregnancy, you feel regretful for a long time.’
Although I’d heard that saying in my previous life, what could I do about being dropped into another world?
When you thought about it, the very fact that persimmons didn’t exist here was the responsibility of me, the creator.
‘As someone whose every day is miraculously happy, I should endure it properly!’
Thinking that, I got up energetically and went for my morning walk.
Since my belly was showing, it was difficult to go outside with Ernst, so I had just returned from a walk with only Phoebe when it happened.
“Your Highness!”
At first, I thought that welcome voice was an auditory hallucination.
“My god, Your Highness! Your belly has gotten quite big now!”
“…Helena?”
While Helena greeted me respectfully, Len walked out from behind her.
Ren pretended to be polite, kneeling on one knee and kissing the back of my hand, but the moment I took his hand and helped him up, he approached without hesitation and rubbed his face against both my cheeks.
“Have you been well, Lu?”
Fortunately, Callisteon had just returned to Babenberg.
“Ren…”
While Helena’s gaze wandered, lost for a place to look, I managed to peel the clinging Len off and asked.
“Did you two come together? How, without any notice…?”
Then, Helena brought out something she had hidden behind her back and proudly held it out.
“Look at this…!”
My god. It was a persimmon.
“Uh, how…”
“Is this it?”
Ren abruptly cut in and asked.
‘What I want to eat is a ripe, soft persimmon, so this isn’t exactly it.’
But until now, we hadn’t been able to find persimmons anywhere, nor anyone who knew about them, so this alone was an amazing achievement.
I nodded and asked in return.
“Where did you get it?”
Helena answered happily.
“Lord Ren secretly showed me a drawing of the fruit you needed, and it resembled something I saw in Duros on my pilgrimage. I was lucky to remember it because it was the first time I’d seen that fruit. So Lord Ren and I went together to get it.”
Duros was as far south as Flavi here, so it was plausible that fruit might still be available.
‘Right, since it’s a world I created, it’s fine for there to be persimmons.’
Phoebe quickly brought a fruit knife and peeled one of the persimmons.
As everyone watched, I took a bite of one piece, but it was so astringent that I almost reflexively spat it out.
“…Does it not taste good?”
I wanted to pretend to eat it properly, considering their effort, but Ren, being perceptive, caught on immediately.
Before I could stop him, Ren put a piece of the persimmon in his mouth and promptly spat it out.
“This must not be it. It must be a similar fruit. I’ll look again. Don’t eat this, Lu.”
Len, looking worried I might eat even one more piece, quickly gestured to Phoebe. But although astringent, the fruit was indeed a persimmon.
‘It’s just unripe, but it’s still a persimmon.’
I spoke hesitantly.
“No, it’s that… it becomes delicious when it ripens more…”
“Let it ripen more? How long? About a month?”
Only upon hearing that did I remember that the person I was talking to was the Empire’s Magic Tower Master.
“About… a month?”
Len placed a hand on one of the remaining persimmons and muttered something low.
The bright, blue tendrils of light that often appeared when he used magic swirled around the fruit.
But when I reached out and pressed its surface, the persimmon was still hard.
“About a month more…?”
When I repeated it, the persimmon’s color grew even redder.
Just looking at the reddened persimmon made saliva pool under my tongue.
When I gently touched it this time, it was soft.
“It’s, it’s done!”
Before Phoebe could even pick it up, I plucked the stem, split it in half.
“No. It seems spoiled, Lu.”
Len looked at the mushy fruit and spoke pessimistically, but I urgently pressed my lips to the soft persimmon.
“This is it, this is the taste.”
My god, this is the flavor.
I sucked down the persimmon ravenously while Phoebe, horrified, snatched away the remaining half.
I devoured the soft persimmon frantically, even as I watched my maid carefully scooping out the flesh with a teaspoon.
“Make them riper, len. Quickly, more.”
I mumbled with my mouth full. Ren asked skeptically.
“More…?”
He looked reluctant.
Phoebe tasted the soft persimmon and nodded reluctantly.
“It is sweet, though.”
Ren, with a dubious expression, reached out and took the soft persimmon Phoebe offered.
He shared the remaining soft persimmon with Helena.
Soon, the two looked at each other and nodded.
“It’s a bit of an unusual taste, Lu. Is this it? The one you had at the imperial palace?”
When Ren asked, I nodded eagerly.
‘Actually, I didn’t have it at the imperial palace, but what does that matter?’
I never thought I’d live to see a day when a fruit’s taste would make my eyes pop open.
‘Did I even like soft persimmons that much normally?’
I didn’t think I particularly had.
Helena had brought six persimmons in total.
‘One was peeled while still unripe and became inedible, so four persimmons remain.’
After Ren aged all the remaining persimmons by about two months’ worth of time, I neatly polished them all off on the spot.
“…Shall I go to Duros again?”
I burst out laughing upon hearing Helena’s cautious question.
“Oh, don’t be silly. This should be enough…”
After stopping Phoebe’s words with a gesture, I spoke boldly to Ren.
“Ren, I want to eat a lot more. A whole lot more.”
He chuckled and asked.
“Shall I bring the whole tree?”
“Perfect.”
Len said that now that he knew the location, he didn’t need Helena’s help.
“Bringing the whole tree will take a bit of time. Have a meal and relax.”
“Thank you, Ren.”
It took him a few hours, unexpectedly, to return.
Afterwards, three persimmon trees were planted in the hotel garden.
Ren placed his palm on the thick trunk of one tree, laden with countless persimmons.
Then, in just a few seconds, the persimmon tree shed its leaves, leaving only vividly ripe, red persimmons hanging from its branches.
Overjoyed, I went up to him and rubbed my cheek against his.
“You’re the best, Ren.”
He blushed on both cheeks, as if embarrassed.
Then he whispered by my ear, as sweetly as a soft persimmon.
“I’ve never been this glad to be a wizard before.”
Helena diligently pretended not to see us like that.
Now she would surely think Ren was my baby’s father, but I was merely faithfully following my instincts and eating the soft persimmons.
