"So you're telling me you died?"
"Yes."
"And he brought you back to life."
"In a roundabout way, but yes."
Alessia groaned in apparent exasperation. It was one revelation after another with this new nephew of hers.
Her older sister had given birth the night before, and when she realised the birth was over and the child had settled down, she immediately rushed to the scene to find her sister alive and well with a quiet baby in her arms.
Despite the fond look in her sister's eyes, she couldn't help but feel an aura of death in the place but brushed off the idea when she noticed the steady breathing of her nephew.
'And here she is telling me that she died and was brought back by a freaking baby.'
"I don't really know what to say… I'm just glad your safe sis."
Weeks of tense nerves while awaiting the day she could lose her sister had left Alessia mentally drained, and so seeing her sister back in one piece lifted a massive weight off of her shoulders. She wrapped her arms around her lithe waist and tightly hugged the brunette, disregarding the little baby in between them.
"Auntie Lessi? Why are you hugging Mommy? Hm… why are you crying, auntie?"
Alessia couldn't hold back the tears and when Valentina queried her with a bewildered tone, it was as though a dam burst within her and she just bawled into her sister's shoulder.
"There, there, Al. I'm fine. We're fine. We're going to be alright now."
Her hands were occupied so the mother just leaned her head against Alsssia to comfort her.
'I've put you through quite a lot this past year haven't I, baby sister?'
The toddler also came over and got in between the pair of sisters so she could hug her aunt. To the little child, it was odd to see her lively aunt crying which made her feel slightly anxious.
— — —
In the midst of a group hug was a clueless baby wondering what was going on. His aunt's incredulous interrogation and ensuing weeping had woken him up from his deep slumber.
'What a pain in the neck… I don't understand what they're saying.'
In the womb, the baby had passed off his inability to understand what was being said outside as a result of the obvious obstruction of skin and fluids- sounds were distorted when travelling through fluids.
But now he was actually able to hear them clearly enough, their speech sounded foreign to him. Brought up in a diverse community in his last life, he had got the hang of learning to differentiate between several different languages. Though he was only able to speak English, he would probably be able to pick up words from other languages once in a while.
'But this is something else altogether. Is this some language I've never heard? Or was I transmigrated, no, reincarnated into some other world where people speak other languages?'
With tons of questions floating through his cute little head which he would not be able to answer anytime soon, he dismissed them to the back of his mind and gauged the mood in his immediate vicinity.
Noticing it wasn't as sombre as it was earlier, Solace cried out in hunger.
"Uwaaah!"
The shrill cry brought the attention of his concerned mother, who promptly began to remove the light fabric covering her swollen breasts.
"Oh is my little Solace hungry, hm?"
Without further encouragement from the voice that he could not comprehend, and a beautiful nipple presented before him, Solace did not hesitate to lunge, as much as his puny neck muscles would allow him, toward his meal.
'Yosh! Time for some boobies!'
— — —
After Alexandria sat in a more comfortable position where the baby could feed, a tranquil calm settled over the trio.
While Valentina went back to play with her lonely toys, Alessia decided to break the silence with an unsettling question.
"Hey Alex, what is the plan for the assassins that will arrive sooner or later?"
As a noble ducal family, the threat of assassins to the Antigonus was almost nil, as the family had lots of protective measures in place and they were each powerhouses in their own right. However, there were situations in which even the most distinguished individuals could find themselves at the end of an assassin's blade- and it was usually when they were at their weakest.
One such circumstance had plagued the fairer sex for time immemorial, and it had also been something the duchess had prepared for. It was birth.
'Now that Alex has just given birth, our rivals, enemy kingdoms and especially the demons will want to capitalise on destroying her. But the state of affairs is a little odd right now, isn't it?'
A little grin crept up her face as she thought of the surprise the other nobles would have if they knew of the present condition of Alexandria.
In fact, the mother of two had been extremely frail upon giving birth to Solace which was in line with the world's current understanding of comparatively weaker women giving birth to stronger babies. It was only by some divine miracle, that the woman who died in childbirth was brought back to life in pristine shape.
Bearing a child and giving birth to it is a phenomenon that requires the time, effort, blood, sweat, and tears of the women of this world. And at the end of such a feat, pops out a baby which many a mother will feel accomplished and gratified to have been able to deliver. Yet, there were also many women who found the idea of giving birth frightening, and many will have gone through traumatic experiences or died as a consequence.
But the most tragic thing about childbirth for women that lived in this ethereal world was that one might literally have to watch as the being in their stomach grows too strong for them to bear and eventually kill both of them.
It was a situation that mostly came down to chance. Commoners and nobles alike had similar chances of giving birth to the strongest and weakest of children.
However, centuries of selective breeding, and matchmaking with individuals of greater strength, have made it so that noblewomen were more likely to survive the consequences of giving birth to those of Herculean strength.
It has to be understood, however, that conceiving beings with as much potential as Solace was extremely unlikely.
Additionally, commoner women who were born strong would find themselves with a higher status in society eventually, which made instances of death among commoners due to birth slightly skewed.
Going back to the pair of sisters pondering over the question Alessia asked, Alexandria's facial expression dimmed, with an unnatural smile crawling its way up her face.
"What else? We will slaughter them."
Feeling a shiver running down her spine at the tone dripping with the intent to kill while a heavy pressure bore down on her, Alessia quickly reached out to grab her sister's arm.
"Sis, you're hurting Solace."
As though sublimating out of existence, the pressure instantly disappeared, replaced by the worried and regretful look of a mother trying to cajole her scared-stiff baby back into activity.
And like this, with nigh a second where mother wasn't reassuring her little baby boy, the day passed. Both the sisters had an understanding of what steps to take to ensure their peaceful life and vengeance against their enemies.
— — —
As a baby, Solace's brain waves would almost always force his body to shut down so that it could get some much-needed shut-eye and stay healthy.
However, on one particular night with thunder crackling outside, and the flashes of lightning forcing the baby to snuggle into the crook of his sleeping mother's chest, the infant felt a slight sense of danger from its surroundings.
'First, there was that crazy pressure I felt coming from the woman I was drinking from. And now… this unsettling feeling in my heart. Haa… I've reincarnated into a troublesome world, haven't I?'
While thinking such thoughts with his eyes wide open, Solace suddenly felt all of his worries dissipating, as though the problems had all been cleared. This feeling brought him immense relief because he felt his little heart could not take much more of the fear of death while being so helpless and unable to defend himself.
Unbeknownst to the reincarnator, from a small shadow created by the night sky and the back of Solace's head, appeared a smooth, milky-white hand. The hand, as though having materialised out of nothingness, slowly reached out for the back of the drowsy baby's head while it leaned into its mother's bosom.
It inched its way closer and closer until finally the dainty palm made contact with the boy's skin, slowly stroking the sparse black locks of hair, as though consoling the baby back into a peaceful sleep.
When the baby's eyes finally shut, the hand stopped moving before receding back into the shadowy tendrils of space. But as it left, if one listened in closely they might have heard the willowy voice of the person beyond the void.
"Grow up safely baby Sol. You need to become strong so you can bring Solace to sister and I in the future."