The mother held the baby's hand. "We truly are fortunate. I mean, we even have
Your Majesty concerned for us."
We had revealed our identities to the mother. My face and Liscia's were both
widely known, so it seemed futile to try and keep it a secret. At first, the mother had
been terrified (almost like after Master Koumon takes out his seal), but now, she had
largely gotten used to us.
"Well, I agree with you that the child is lucky," I said. "Incredibly lucky, in fact.
After all, it was born when not just one, but both of the greatest doctors in this
country were here together."
"That's true," she said. "They didn't only save my child, they saved me, too."
It was pure coincidence that Hilde had visited the village that day. Because she
had met us by chance in the former slums, because we happened to have business in
the refugee village, and because Hilde decided to tag along, the two great doctors
had both been present. If the child had been born a day sooner or a day later, she
wouldn't have been able to receive the care of these great doctors. When I thought of
it that way, this child had even saved its mother's life.
"Almost like a god of fuku..." I murmured.
"Fuku...?" she asked.
"It's a word from my world. It means good fortune, or happiness."
"Happiness... Um, Your Majesty?" The mother rushed over to me. "That name,
Fuku. Could you give it to this child?"
"Hm? You're not asking if you can give it that name, but for me to give it that
name?" I asked.
Liscia was holding the child. She explained, "In this world, when a person of high
status or a great person gives you your name, it is believed you will receive some of
their momentum. So, please, give the child that name."
Well, I guess I had no problem with that.
"It's a boy, right?"
"Yes."
"Well, his name will be Fuku, then. Raise him to be healthy."
When I said that and patted him on the head, little Fuku let out a cute little baby
sound and nodded with his eyes still closed.
He responded to me while asleep?! This kid... he might be a big deal when he
grows up. While I was thinking that, Liscia peered closely at my face.
"Wh-What?" I asked.
"Other people's babies are nice and all, but having our own baby would be so
much cuter, right?" she asked, shooting meaningful glances in my direction.
Ahh, yeah... That probably meant exactly what I thought it did. Hakuya and Marx
were telling her we needed to produce an heir already. Now that the country had
stabilized, they were probably pressuring her even more.
"Yeah... You're right," I said shyly. "We have the method for births by Cesarean
section established, and there are more and more obstetrics and gynecology
specialists. It'd be safe for you to give birth any time now."
Liscia's eyes went wide. "I thought you were going to wimp out again."
"Now, listen... Okay, yeah, that's part of it," I said. "Because I'm prepared to be
your husband, but I'm not ready to be a father yet, y'know."
"Oh! R-Right... I see..."
I wanted to get all lovey-dovey with Liscia and the others. But, in order to
increase the number of royals which had declined precipitously in the succession
struggle after the death of the king before the last one, the chamberlain, Marx, had
insisted, "I won't stand for you using birth control until you produce at least one
child!" You can see why I would be cautious.
"Well, aside from that, this high rate of death during childbirth in this world had
been concerning me, too," I said.
When I looked into the population of this country, I was surprised how high the
death rate was for newborns and pregnant women. In modern Japan, while we
might worry about whether the baby would be born safely, we hardly ever thought
about the mother potentially dying in childbirth. However, it seemed that, in this
country, pregnant women died sometimes. If there were a thousand women
pregnant, a handful of them were going to die. In this country which lacked a formal
study of obstetrics and gynecology, pregnant women were literally putting their
lives on the line to give birth.
As the king, I was being told to produce many children with multiple women. If a
child were born to Liscia, Aisha, Juna, or Roroa, and I were to lose one of them
during the birth... I couldn't stand that.
"In order to make sure that doesn't happen, to keep the risk of losing any of my
family to an absolute minimum, I've pushed forward with medical reforms," I said.
"It might be abusing my authority a bit, though."
"It's fine, isn't it? The result was that you ended up helping everyone." Liscia
wrapped her arm around mine. "H-Hey, Souma. If making babies is okay now, do you
want to try working on that tonight?"
When Liscia said that, fidgeting shyly, I couldn't help but love it. But, as I'd said
earlier, I wasn't able to convince myself I should be a father yet, so I had to turn my
head and look away.
"Oh! Um... do you think you could wait a little longer, after all?"
"Geez! You still wimp out in the end!" Liscia shouted.
When Liscia raised her voice, it startled Fuku, and he started making a fuss.
"Wah... Wahhhhhhhh!"
We handed him back to his mother and tried to amuse him with funny faces.
Owen tried to join in and do the same, but his face startled Fuku again, causing him
to cry loudly and make a big scene.
Someday, we'll make a big, noisy scene like this in the royal castle, too.
In the midst of that noisy happiness, that was what I thought.
[MISTERLP]: finally the end of this chapter what a giant chapter