One More Day

Chapter 39

"How was your meeting with Byleth?" I asked when he entered the room.

It had been sometime since he rescheduled his meeting with Byleth. After he helped me the day when I was sick, there were other meetings he had to attend to. He wanted to talk to Byleth as soon as possible, but he just couldn't since he had so many other meetings to attend to. 

"It was fine," he said and ran a hand through his hair. "Gave me some advice."

"It's Byleth. Did you expect a meeting that dealt with the matters of Adrestian?" I chuckled.

"I guess not. Claude is coming in tomorrow and wishes to speak to the both of us."

"I don't think I can go out looking like this," I said.

He looked at me. I wore a sweatshirt and sweatpants. I had mismatch socks on and my hair was a mess. 

"Might want to dress up a bit," he joked.

"Ha-ha," I said and shook my head. "I mean this," I said and gestured to my stomach. There was a bit of a noticeable bump, but it couldn't be seen with my sweatshirt on.

"I can't see anything," he said and walked over to me.

He grabbed the bottom of my sweatshirt and tugged at it. I nodded my head and he slowly lifted it above my head. He looked down at my stomach and saw the little bump I was gesturing to. He just smiled at me. He knelt down and lifted my shirt up so he could see the little bump.

"We can't wait to meet you," he said and rubbed my stomach. He planted little kisses here and there before moving my shirt back down. I put my sweatshirt back on and he stood up.

"It's not that noticeable since you're still early in your pregnancy."

"I know. I really want to see Claude, don't get me wrong, but I just don't want him to see me like this. I'm really tired and I'm a bit cranky."

"I understand. Besides, we can always visit Claude. He'll understand."

"Congrats, Dimitri!" he said and wrapped his arm around my shoulder. It was a bit hard since I was a bit taller than him. 

"Thanks, Claude."

"Tell her I said hi and congrats."

"I will," I said. We walked down the hall and towards our meeting room. "How have things been in Leicester?"

"Things have been well. Duke Reigan is passing down the torch."

"He is? To who?"

"Take a wild guess," he said.

"Is it you?" I asked.

He nodded his head with a huge grin on his face.

"Congrats, Claude!" I said and put my arm around his shoulder. "That is wonderful news! You're going to make a great Duke of Leicester!"

"I hope the people are going to accept that. I am a bit different from Reigan."

"I as well as my father. We're all different and we can't do the same thing as our predecessors. You're going to be just fine, Claude."

"I hope so," Claude said.

"Listen, Claude," I stopped. "We will have our days where we want to give up. Where we wish we were never in this position. Where we let our doubts get the better of ourselves. We will have those days, but we will have better days to outweigh them. Remember, Claude, you're ruling one of the greatest areas Fodlan has ever known. Your history in Leicester is richer than Faerghus and Adrestian. You must be proud of who you are and proud that you're going to be the next Duke of Leicester."

Claude smiled and nodded his head, "Thank you, Dimitri. That is some very inspiring advice."

"I learn from the best," I said and we continued to walk towards the meeting room. "Now, is there anything you would like to discuss while we have this meeting?"

"I would like to ask you what I should do about the Golden Deer Steel Inc. and what to expect on being a leader."

I nodded my head, "You're in for a long meeting."

"Let's get started!" Claude said and we walked into the room.

I sat on the floor, watching as Sothis was fiddling with her fingers. I was tapping my finger against my chin, just staring and waiting for her to say something. 

"Why did you call me?" Sothis asked.

"I wanted to see if I am doing the right things? Dimitri is going to see a therapist and seems to be doing better when it comes to the voices inside his head. Am I doing everything right?"

Sothis sat there for a moment, "For the most part, yes. Is the vision still coming here and there?"

"Yes."

"How about the pain? Or did it change?"

"It hasn't changed yet. And the pain is still there, but it hasn't gotten any stronger or any weaker."

Sothis sat there for a moment, "Hmm. Interesting. Seems like it's going to happen, but you're not stopping it and it's not happening in the near future."

"I'm doing everything you told me!"

"There must be another contributing factor. If you have any different visions, let me know."

"What?"

I opened my eyes to find myself asleep on the couch. I must of dozed off. I slowly got up and my head immediately started to hurt. I got up from the couch and drank some water. I stood at the counter and thought about what Sothis had said.

"Another contributing factor? What could there be? Am I doing something wrong? Is the baby doing something in the future I can't see? Is Dimitri not really progressing with his therapy. I mean, he has been only going for about a month now." 

I sighed and placed my hand on my stomach. I was only a month in now and I couldn't stress about anything now. It could hurt the baby. The door opened up and Dimitri walked through the door. He looked tired as usual.

"How was Claude?"

"He was great. He said hi and congrats."

I smiled, "Any news on his side?"

"He is going to be the Duke of Leicester."

"Really? Does he know when the ceremony is?"

"No, but he will let us know." He walked over to me and stood behind me. He wrapped his arms around my waist and rubbed his hands up and down my stomach. He kissed the side of my neck and rested his head on top of mine.

"How are you doing?" he asked.