Earlier That Evening.
~BuYeo Royal Palace~
Kim Byeon In bounced his left leg nervously on the wooden floor made with hanji paper as he stood in the hallway path of his wife's room.
The heaviness of the afternoon air settled on him, an unwelcome preview of the humid summer ahead.
"Arghhh!"
The desperate cry of his wife rang out from inside the room. Kim Byeon's heart raced in his chest, his face turning pale as he bore his gaze on the closed door. He willed his hands to stop shaking and clasped them on his mouth, puffing air into his palm.
It's been six days!.
Six days of hearing his wife labour screamed but what had him nervous is the fact that he was unable to do anything to help. The reason for the delay also had him battled.
When his wife had their first son, it all happened in a blink of an eyes that he didn't even know when she went into labour. He was just told the good news after she gave birth. So the reason for this delay is suffocating him. it was just unusually taking more time than he had expected and six days at that.
All this while the young crown prince, Kim Sohyun was standing frozen behind his father.
At the age of seven, the crown prince had always been the curious type. When his parents didn't visit him in the last six days, his curious self had surface and he demanded to see his parents. But his nursemaid had given him the same excuse he had been hearing for the past Six days. "His Highness and Her Highness were busy with the kingdom pressing situation"
Those words were trap into his ears that he recite them while sleeping.
But what gave the nursemaid off today was when the young prince stubbornly insisted on going to his mother's chamber and she had instantly declined his offer, Kim So hyun had his suspicions right away that there's a problem somewhere.
'why would she not want to see me' This was the thought that made him lose his patience and decided to ask his mother for the reason why both her and his father had abandoned him.
Upon arriving at his mother quarter, he was welcomed by her piercing scream that had left him standing rigidly in the hallway. With his mother's piercing scream coming from inside the room, it was instantly clear to him that he wasn't abandoned as he had thought.
The continous painlaid scream had made his anger disappear instantly and he had stayed behind his father, praying earnestly for his mother's safe delivery. But it had been a long time already and his mother's scream just kept increasing every passing second without hearing the baby cry.
Is something bad going to happen to his mother?. He had overheard some of his maids back at his quarter gossipped about how one of them who was pregnant had died during childbirth.
Is his mother going to face the same fate as that of that maid?.
Tears streamed down his cheek at this thought and the trinkled water blurred his vision that he missed a foot and stumbled upon his father who was standing in front of him. His father black robe caught on his tiny leg alerting Kim Byeon In of the boy presence.
Kim Byeon In's eyes widened in surprise on seeing Kim Sohyun teary face. He wondered how long the little boy had been standing at his back unnoticed by him. He crouched down next to his height and took his palm in his, patting them slowly. "Sohyun, go back to your chamber,"
As Kim Byeon wiped off the tears on Kim Sohyun's cheek, the sky outside concurrently darkened and a slow patter of rain started to thrum on the roof sheet. A gust of cold wind blew right through Kim Sohyun and his dark brown orbs held a chilly gaze in them as he asked his father, "When will she give birth?"
The sudden patterning of rain had Kim Byeon In wondering for a short time about the suddenly rain before he find the right words to his son question "We don't know yet"
Kim Sohyun, seeing that his father didn't give him the answer he was looking for, probed further, "Why is mother in such pain?"
It was clear he was trying to know the reason for his mother's delayed delivery but just didn't know how to ask the question.
"Whenever babies are about to be born, all mothers in the world go through the same pain" Came the explanation from Kim Byeon In as he primed some strand of Kim Sohyun midnight dark hair which had fallen out of place and was hanging carelessly to his forehead, all the way back to his neatly pack bun.
After tidying his son's hair, Kim Byeon In rose to his feet and turned toward his wife's room that was still occupied with her scream but paused midway when he heard Kim Sohyun voice again.
"All mothers?" Kim Sohyun Instantly Probe when he noticed his father was retreating his attention away from him.
Kim Byeon In turned back and a small smile formed on his lip on seeing his son's curious face. Knowing he won't be free from his questions unless he satisfied his curiosity, he answered "Yes all mothers. The prettier your child will be, the more pain you will feel"
Kim Sohyun smiles brightly at his father's response. He is satisfied and relief knowing that his mother painful scream will grant a very beautiful baby and he comment "Seeing how much pain she is feeling it must be a very pretty child"
Kim Sohyun In comment gratend a chuckled from Kim byeon ln and he nodded his head in agreement. Afterwards he turned to the court lady who was Kim Sohyun's nursemaid. She had been standing a mile away from them with her head lowered to the ground.
"You!" He called the nursemaid's attention.
The nursemaid raise her head slightly from the ground and said courteously "Did you call for me Your Majesty"
"Yes"
Kim Byeon, knowing that Kim Sohyun might soon start another question if he doesn't take action, instantly hands him over to his nursemaid. "Take him back to his chamber"
"Yes Your Highness" The nursemaid bowed in respect and gently gripped the young prince's hand. Thankfully for her, Kim Sohyun didn't object and merely followed her out of the hallway clinging tightly to her to have a cover under the umbrella in her hand, even though the nursemaid was using it to shade him properly.
It is raining and little Sohyun doesn't want to get drenched.
~~~
Inside the delivery room.
Queen Shin Buyong sweat had soaked through the bedsheets as she clutched the protective thin clothes that were hanging on either side of her. The clothes were tied on the rail of the ceiling before dropping down to the bed level. On both sides of the bed are one maid each, making three if the royal mid-wife is included who is kneeling in the middle of her leg.
Shin Buyong held the clothes tight; her knuckle turned white. "Argh! it hurts!" She cried while enduring the pain that tore through her abdomen.
"You are doing well Your highness, keep pushing harder" The royal midwife flashed her an encouraging smile.
Presently the situation at hand is still a puzzle to the middle aged lady. In all her years of work, she had never encountered this kind of case before. She had worked with two past lineages of the royal family but this kind of misery had never happened during their regime. It's practically been six days since she has been on the Shin Buyong's deliverance but there isn't any sign of the baby crown yet.
Unbelievable. It was just a misery to her.
The heaviness Shin Buyong is feeling on her pelvic keeps increasing every passing second. Her heart was rising heavily in her chest as she closed her eyes and groaned forcefully "Mmmmh!"
Gasping for air, she opened her eyes, and bursted into tears knowing that what she was pushing was still not out.
'Why is heaven putting her through this much pain.' With this thought brimming in her mind, hot tears rolled down her cheek. One of the maids wiped her tears and the beads of sweat that gathered on her forehead with a towel while the other removed the clothes that were put in her mouth as it is wet with saliva, replacing it with a new one.
"I'm tired" She cried out piteously protesting against the searing pain that shook her entire body, but the pain didn't show any sign of stopping because she continued to groan.
The midwife smiled slightly at her and urged "You need to go on, Your highness. It's dangerous to stop at this moment,"
Shin Buyoung gathered her strength, folded her lip and let out another push "Mmmmhhh!"
The heavy weight instantly moved to the entrance of her Vagina like it wanted to burst it open.
"keep pushing harder. I can see the baby's head...."
"Arghhhhh!'' Shin Buyong let out a frightening scream at the strange feeling. Her hold on the clothes tightened more and tears streamed past her cheeks uncontrollably. The pain itself was so extreme that for a second she was almost lucid.
"It's the head, come on" The midwife urgently encouraged her.
The midwife's voice snapped Shin Buyong out of her drain state and she used the intensity of the pain and heaviness to push the baby out. Just as if a round bulb had been fixed into her, it pooped out of her Vagina, and the next thing that followed was a loud gasp from her, holding her breath.
Silence...
"Wah___" A loud baby's cry resounded in the deadly silent delivery room, heralding the birth of a new life.