New Life, New Task: I'll Be A Mom Then!!!

Back then, it was through the wise words of the retired Emperor Idelfonso and the timely birth of Kazimir and Antoine that somehow brought the light on Valentin's face.

Slowly, his heart, which he forcefully closed, obtained cracks that enabled his heart to warm up. It would just take a little push to help him open it again.

That final blow was delivered by her, Tehila, whom Emperor Valentin refused to confront.

Now, she is going to do it again because she knows, a person cannot heal by themselves properly. There's someone who had to step up to encourage and help him recover.

Strengthening her heart, she took a deep breath and slowly walked towards the dazed Valentin.

Seeing his back which carried burdens and sustained wounds of life, Queen Tehila stretched her arms, hugging him from behind.

She felt his body go still and relax upon realizing that it was her.

"You've done well. My love… you've done very well." She mumbled as she tried to put the warmth of her body, wishing that it would reach towards Emperor Valentin's cold and desolate heart.

Valentin's body trembled, his heartstrings were pulled, easily shattering the dam of emotions he had kept bottled for days.

Hot tears of misery rolled on his aged face, wearing a wry smile. Soul stirring cries came out of a man who had spent so many years being the strong unshakeable pillar that keeps the family and the Empire together.

Queen Tehila stayed quiet and just held his shaking body as he wailed with inaudible words. His tears flowed like a raging river, his chest heaved up and down, desperately searching for air to ease the pain in his heart.

She repositioned herself and supported Valentin's collapsing posture. Caressing his head while keeping him comforted with her warmth and presence, they spent the time until Emperor Valentin calmed down.

The old couple stayed with each other until the night came. No one knows how much they struggled to keep themselves together while trying to stay strong for the people who rely on them in the Empire.

Only the two of them knew how they depended on each other to survive on times when they were utterly breaking.

--

Meanwhile, there was a hopeful atmosphere on the investigators side.

With the sleepless nights and restless days, their time in seclusion was finally showing signs of breakthrough.

One would wonder how these investigators managed to stay inside their base of operation while there were versions of themselves outside?

Of course, the answer was they engaged stand ins for them using the Roaming Blades, who were masters of disguise.

They did this to divert the Empress and Duke Valentin's suspicion away from any of them. Only the Emperor and the necessary people in the Forgeworn and Farauld Family knew of this.

Inside their makeshift office in the dungeon, Joab straightened his stiff back while heaving a sigh of relief, "I am glad that we already have a direction on how we will interrogate the captives."

"Uhn… The researching unit did a very good job. Thank you for your hard work!" General Farauld looked towards Nathan, Keren, Eli and Kayden who were looking a little bit lethargic because they had been buried in mountains of texts and documents for the research.

"Uhnn, it's fine, our progress is for the sake of everyone to begin with. The earlier we can finish this, the better it is for us!" Keren replied with a hint of relief, she did not forget to look at her teammates with a grateful look.

She was actually amazed by how the three people in her team took everything seriously and didn't mind the awkward differences between the temple and the secular people.

They supported and treated each other fairly.

Even in the discussion, the questions raised would be something that would make the discourse more interesting and dynamic. No one speaks their mind with the intention of competing with another nor attacking anyone.

All the unnecessary tension was eliminated resulting in faster turnover of hypotheses and ideas!

"Now it's our time to consolidate this information with the results from the interrogation unit. Then we can come up with the final rosters of questions we had to ask for the three minute window once Dr. Einz's truth potion is used." Leon explained. "The High Priest also suggested that we all take a one day break before resuming our investigations. With this, we would have time to recover to ensure that we are sound enough to go to the next phase!"

The rest exclaimed in relief after hearing this announcement. They needed that time to rest and keep up with their personal lives.

That was also true with Leon and Eli who had been missing Little Han for a few days now.

The two of them had no choice but to entrust Little Han to Mami Aquila and take turns to sneak out to ensure that he sleeps well at night.

It was also a great dilemma for Eli as she still preferred breastfeeding Little Han while slowly introducing solid food to his system.

Mothers of these ages engaged wet nurses in case they were not able to breastfeed their babies themselves. However, she knew that this poses a lot of health risks to the infant.

Although the modern world already has the technology to make breastfeeding convenient, safe and hygienic, the materials for storing milk and feeding was a generation advance in this age. They were materials that even she was hesitant to introduce to the world because it may introduce more harm to nature when mismanaged.

Thus, Eli had no choice but to do everything by hand, keeping the extracted milk uncontaminated with a sterilized glass container. She will then store it in a freezer box with which she had the Forgeworns crafted according to her design. This will allow Little Han be nourished for two days until she can sneak out and supply breast milk again.

With the matters for the day getting settled, the team proceeded to enjoy their one day rest.

Eli and the bunch immediately teleported to the Farauld Estate to meet Little Han and the rest. However they didn't linger that long as they teleported back to the cottage whom they have not visited.

Seeing that everything was still the same and good in the cottage, the two carried Little Han inside and bonded with him.

"Mommy! Daddi!" Little Han seemed to be fascinated by his newfound talent. The cottage was immediately filled with his giggles and words whom he tries to perfect from time to time.

"In about two months, he would be a year old." Eli softly told Leon with a light and loving tone.

"Let's try not to miss this big day for him?" She looked at Leon as if pleading, her dark obsidian eyes became a bit watery, as they looked straight to Leon's crystal blue eyes.

"Hmm, let's do it.." Leon caressed Eli's head, there was a trace of guilt in his heart.

They have missed the new year celebration they agreed to do because of the investigation. Now they couldn't afford to miss celebrating Little Han's one year celebration!

Seeing that Leon was as determined as her, she smiled gently and gave him and Little Han a hug.

These days, they were so caught up with their own jobs and were not able to enjoy each other's company.

Leon also caught the two in his embrace, cherishing this precious moment that was given to him.

How long do they have to work and do things this way? When can they spend time like a real family?

"After the matter at hand, let's think about our marriage?" Leon asked while he planted a soft yet lingering kiss on Eli's forehead.

"Uhnn let's do that.." Eli didn't resist.

Because this was also emphasized by the High Priest, the matter of their marriage would also increase their leverage in dealing with the enemies as her protection spell for Little Han and Leon would be stronger.

The High Priest also theorized that complying with the marriage ceremony would also increase the connection she has with the spiritual realm which was the source of her priestly powers.

In conclusion, marrying sooner would help her in dealing with the curse magic more effectively.

"I also want you to brace yourself, Eli.." Leon continued, there was a hint of worry in his expression. "We have to deal with the hidden enemies inside the palace as Father Emperor had already expressed his intent to select the Crown Prince."

Eli did not show any signs of uneasiness or anxiety in front of the nervous Leon, instead she looked at him and asked, "Do you want to be the next Emperor, Leon?"

Leon did not answer this question right away. In fact he was hesitating, because his mind was now filled with worry for his family.

If it was before, he would definitely answer yes because his bitter childhood had motivated him to rise above all that belittled him for being an untalented prince and a person of no noble background.

Other than that,  he grew up with a genuine care of the empire and its subjects.

He was born to love the people - he believed that was ingrained in every fiber of his being.

But he now had a family he really wanted to protect, no matter how much the cost is.

Choosing to be the Emperor would ask him to forget being father and become a ruler.

Choosing to be the Emperor would make him choose to stay with his wife, or go out and save the people's lives.

Choosing to be the Emperor would force you to make decisions that deviates the values that you adhere to and be ruthless or merciless to survive.

This he knows very well, as he saw these things manifest in reality through his father.