Jennie locked herself in a guest room she had frequently visited alone, a bucket of water laid beside her. It had been used a couple of times that day, she had vomited in it and this was not the first time or day she had done that. This had been occurring for days, but only lasted for an hour or more. Whenever she felt nausea come she made sure to get a bucket, lock herself in that same guest room, and empty her stomach until she felt normal again. Her husband seemed oblivious to what was happening, that is what she thought anyway.
She was so sure she was pregnant, this was far more than just stress. Though it made no sense to her, she was infertile. The doctor had tested her and told her the bad news 15 years ago. She wondered if she should see the doctor again if she really was pregnant.
Lisa stood outside, she kept eye contact with each maid that passed by. She knew they knew something was out of the ordinary. Jennie had been storming off to that particular guest room every day now. They had to clean the bucket and it was clear what laid in it after it had been used by the empress. The older woman felt bad for giving that task to her maids, but it needed to be done.
After an hour and a half, the nauseousness had disappeared. She left the room and greeted Lisa outside the door. "We must discuss something." She walked off and the knight followed her. The knight grew nervous, she sensed that something was wrong.
They sat in Lisa's room. The older woman sat down on the bed and took deep breaths in an attempt to calm herself down. It was not very efficient. "I am not sure if what I am experiencing truly is just stress."
Lisa tilted her head, she was visibly confused, but her furrowed brows showed concern too. "Have you caught a disease?" The young woman boldly asked. She knew the woman had been throwing up, she was unsure of the reason.
"No, but..." The silence was deafening. She gulped once. "I fear I might be pregnant." She looked for a reaction from Lisa.
"Is that not good? You will have an heir to the throne." Lisa was visibly upset despite attempting to sound enthusiastic about the situation.
The older woman nearly rolled her eyes at her knight, god, sometimes the woman was so oblivious. "Listen Lisa, if it turns out I am pregnant it means it is yours which means I will be as good as dead."
"You might be pregnant with- with my child?" She had barely processed what the woman had told her. To find out that the woman whom she loved was bearing her child really brought a lot of happiness to her. She never saw herself with a family because of how she was born, it seemed impossible. Jennie made it possible. "Yes Lisa, but that is a big problem. I do hope you understand that."
The mood of the younger woman dropped. "What will you do?" She asked. Jennie groaned and dragged the palm of her hands over her face. After everything she had gone through, this was certainly the biggest problem. Of course she was delighted that she had the ability to be pregnant and what was growing inside of her was certainly Lisa's, but to the public and her husband, this was a death sentence waiting to come. "I do not know."
Lisa sat down on her knees in front of Jennie and hugged her thighs. "I will support your decisions."
"My options are limited, very limited." The angsty woman spoke. What options were there? Somehow terminate the pregnancy? No, she could not do that not after waiting so long or believing she was infertile. Not when it was Lisa's. There were other options.
"I know."
"I will wait a little longer and see if I truly am pregnant. If not we can continue as normal, but if I am..."
"We will come up with something, together." The young woman reassured. Her fingers made circles on Jennie's back. She nodded and ran her fingers through her dark silky hair.
