AMOTGD ₊˚ʚ ᗢ₊˚

XLVl

Fxxx this, perfect my a-s.

“Ahhh!”

“Julie, are you okay?! What happened!”

Damn it! When she read that line, she thought ‘Julie’ gave birth on the roadside because she was being chased by the Grand Duchess. She felt sorry for Lillian, who was abandoned by her parents, and shed tears for her tragic birth story.

But that wasn’t it! This foolish couple! They had a pointless argument, the husband left the house, and the wife chased after him, ending up giving birth on the roadside!

In the midst of this, Ernst seemed to have the intention of making up. He had decided on the name Lilian from the beginning, thinking that Julie liked lilies.

And as soon as she saw the bouquet of lilies in his hand as he now rushed back to her, tears started flowing.

“Just hang in there, I’ll get the doctor… Julie! Julie!”

Carrying her and running became impossible as real labor pains set in and blood started to flow. No matter how many times he had faced life and death on the battlefield, the mystery of childbirth was a different kind of fear altogether.

“Hold… hold my hand…”

“Hand? Hand…”

“Ahhh!”

What saved her then was Ernst’s iron grip on her hand, the heat waves rising around us, and the scent of the scattered lilies.

…And the modern Lamaze breathing technique.

“Julie, I can see the baby’s head… the head is showing!”

From that moment, she couldn’t think of anything else and just screamed, pushing with all her might. No matter what, Lillian would be born safely, and Julie would live happily ever after with the hunter.

That’s the ending of this novel, so all she had to do was push!

“Ahhh!”

In a way, the midwife was the author. She figured the author wouldn’t kill her off like this, so she pushed with all her strength. At some point, she regained consciousness to the sound of a baby’s loud cry on the roadside.

She had bitten down so hard that her mouth was filled with the taste of blood. Hearing the baby’s cries, hunters passing by must have noticed us and shouted for the doctor and the midwife.

Is it okay now? Is it over? Did I survive?

“Julie, Julie…”

With her throat choked up, she lifted her head. A tiny, hot hand touched her cheek. The warmth that couldn’t be described in a single line of narrative made the child a real person to her, turned this into reality, and breathed new life into her daily existence.

“Our baby, Julie.”

That new breath reminded her that this was her true reality, not a story in a book.

As if to prove it, Ernst looked at her with tears in his eyes, holding their baby, and she reached out to him. After the baby was placed in the clean cloth Julie had brought, she touched his cheek and whispered.

“Thank you, my hunter.”

For a moment, his eyes widened at the word ‘hunter’. Then he smiled brightly through his wet eyes, pressed his forehead to hers, and whispered.

“Yes, a hunter is good.”

Not understanding what he meant, she looked at him. He caressed her wrist meaningfully and kissed it, as if binding his prey. Suddenly, our conversation from not long ago came to mind.

Was it in a dream? Julie had once shared a fairy tale from her homeland with Ernst, claiming it was for prenatal education.

It was a story about a deer that, out of gratitude to a childless woodcutter, hid the winged robe of a goddess who had descended from the sky to repay his kindness. Come to think of it, what had Ernst said back then?

“Why bother hiding the winged robe?”

But what? If it’s not hidden, are you just going to let the deer go?

Not understanding what he meant, Julie continued sewing baby clothes while Ernst replied with a sly smile.

“I’d just hunt her.”

If she runs away, I’ll hunt her down again and again. So don’t ever think about leaving me, Julie.

Ernst claimed that he was more suited to being a hunter who would crush and seize what he wanted on the spot, rather than a woodcutter who would patiently endure until he and his wife had three children.

Yet, for someone who said he would hold her as a ruthless hunter, his touch was so gentle and warm that Julie quietly closed her eyes, recalling how she had peacefully fallen asleep in his arms.

And then, she softly confessed, barely audible.

“I love you.”

How was this possible? As a character in a mere storybook cried, his tears fell onto Julie’s cheek. She was warmed by his living presence.

She reached out to wipe his tears away and smiled. No longer a dream, or rather, it couldn’t be a dream—his trembling and the baby’s presence in his arms brought her back to reality.

This was reality. This was truly the place where she would stand and live. The one she loved was here, and the child born from that love was here.

As her consciousness finally embraced this truth, it swallowed her pointless anxieties and gently ushered in the tranquility that lay beyond.