𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟓𝟗
“Fresh fish! Fresh herring just caught from Lake Edessa!”
“Buy eggs! Laid by carefully raised hens!”
“Come and see the handmade earrings! Perfect gifts for family and lovers!”
As soon as we left the hotel and headed towards the market street, a surprisingly bustling and noisy street appeared.
Callisto Veil Babenberg chuckled, seeing my expression.
“I knew you’d like it.”
It wasn’t just “like.”
My only outings had been frantic trips to see the doctor in secret, so for nearly the past three months since becoming Louise, I had been confined to the palace or living a deathly quiet life in the monastery.
‘When I was lying in the hospital, I wanted to go anywhere but the ward!’
Excited, I grinned broadly and quickened my pace.
“Let’s go together, Lou.”
Callisto also quickened his pace, following behind me.
With every step, the savory smell of bread and salty sausages, along with the fragrant scent of flowers from the marketplace, followed.
But none of it felt repulsive; rather, it was pleasant.
‘Is the morning sickness really over?’
I walked briskly, moving my arms and legs energetically, and stopped in front of a stall where people were buzzing.
“Fortune bread! Freshly baked fortune bread is out!”
The merchant shouted at the top of his lungs.
“One, please. Not this one, that one.”
“Two for me!”
People paid their coins and bought the bread that looked like hard steamed buns.
Unexpectedly, Callisto asked first.
“What’s fortune bread?”
Phoebe Nillo explained.
“Ah, Your Grace, you probably haven’t seen it before. It’s a popular bread in the southern part of the Empire. It has a piece of paper with a fortune written on it in the middle, and it’s quite accurate sometimes.”
“Then I want to buy some too!”
I shouted with a giggle, and Callisto looked at me.
“You want to buy some?”
“Yes.”
As I nodded firmly, Phoebe chimed in.
“Me too! Only good fortunes come out of fortune bread anyway.”
Well, if bad fortunes came out of fortune bread, everyone would be unhappy.
“Then Cal needs to buy some too!”
So I said to the merchant.
“Give me three.”
As I held the three loaves of bread the merchant handed me in my arms, the warmth of the freshly baked bread warmed my heart as well.
We left the crowded stall and went to a slightly less crowded space.
Even so, it was still in the middle of the market.
“Here, choose.”
I let them choose their bread, and Phoebe waved her hand.
“Oh no, Your Highness should choose first.”
So I chose the leftmost bread as mine.
Callisto yielded to Phoebe and took the last remaining bread for himself.
“Then, shall we all open them together?”
We each held our bread and broke it in half simultaneously.
—Crack.
As the hard crust broke, the white, soft inside appeared.
In the center of the round bread, a small piece of paper with a fortune written on it was rolled up. It seemed like they had baked the bread and then made a hole to insert it.
“I’ll go first!”
Phoebe said cheerfully and unfolded the paper.
“It says, ‘You will go on a long journey’……?”
Then she giggled.
“I’m already on a journey, so should I consider this correct?”
Callisto also read his fortune.
“You will go on a long journey’…… It’s the same.”
“Oh come on……”
We were disappointed as we unfolded the last remaining paper on my palm.
But guess what was written there……
“You will have a son?”
“What?”
Callisto was startled and snatched the paper away.
“A son, a son……”
He looked at my stomach as he said that, making me feel embarrassed, and Phoebe started laughing, holding her stomach.
“Puahaha! I didn’t know Your Grace could make that kind of expression! It’s so funny, really……”
Callisto came to his senses belatedly and tried to recover.
“No, it’s not that I prefer a son. I was just surprised……”
I glared at him and gently stroked my belly.
“Even if it’s a son, it’s my son.”
“Don’t misunderstand, Lou. I like daughters too. How pretty she would be if she resembled you. And……”
“Even if it’s a daughter, it’s my daughter.”
Callisto scratched his forehead, looking awkward, and then gently held my hand.
“Are you angry? I was just flustered and misspoke. I’ve never even thought about whether I prefer a son or a daughter. Of course, I like them all. Okay……?”
The anxious expression of the Grand Duke of Babenberg, no less.
“It’s my baby anyway, so it doesn’t matter if Cal likes it or not.”
I teased him, enjoying his flustered face, and continued walking towards the fruit shop.
Phoebe clung to me and whispered.
“Do you think it will really be a son?”
I asked back, bewildered.
“Then is Phoebe really going on a long journey? And you’re even taking Cal with you?”
Phoebe burst into laughter.
We walked excitedly again, but Callisto somehow lagged behind and couldn’t catch up with us for a long time.
🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹
“I’m not sure about this fruit. If it’s imported, it probably doesn’t come in various kinds to Edessa…… Would it be possible to find it in the capital?”
The fruit vendor we finally met shook his head after looking at the two types of persimmons I had drawn.
Callisto’s face became serious.
He frowned and asked seriously.
“When does the importer come?”
“He comes once every three or four days. Should I tell him to visit the hotel directly?”
The merchant seemed to believe Callisto’s words when he introduced himself as the hotel manager.
Callisto said he had only brought a few guards to Edessa, so he had no one to entrust with this task.
So I nodded to the merchant.
“Please do.”
Then he asked me.
“Although they don’t have that fruit, are there any other fruits you like?”
Now that I thought about it, the other fruits looked quite fragrant and delicious.
I also chose plump grapes, long pears, jet-black plums, and rainbow-colored mangoes.
“Send them all to the hotel.”
Callisto ordered.
In the end, we came up empty-handed at the fruit shop, but my craving for persimmons had subsided while enjoying the fresh air.
Leaving the shop, Phoebe asked.
“Then, shall we take a walk by the lake since we’re out? Are you tired, Your Highness?”
“No, I don’t think I’m tired.”
The doctor said it would be good to do some light exercise after entering a stable period.
It must have been detrimental to my health to have been lying down all the time.
Callisto came closer and said.
“If you’re tired, we can call a carriage anytime. You must tell me if you’re exhausted, Lou.”
He seemed to have finally recovered after being disheartened by the fortune bread incident.
“Yes, I’ll definitely tell you.”
I decided to stop teasing him at that point and answered obediently.
Callisto pointed towards the lake with a relieved expression.
“This way leads to the lake. It wouldn’t be good to suddenly overdo it, so let’s just take a brief look around and go back today.”
I was surprised when the lake appeared before my eyes.
“Wow.”
Because it was closer than I expected.
Unlike my expectation that we would have to leave the market area to some extent, the lake spread out right behind the buildings on the alley we were walking on.
Nevertheless, it was so vast and beautiful that I had to stop in my tracks, mesmerized.
“……It’s like the sea.”
The picturesque lakeshore was filled with the pleasant white noise of people’s footsteps, the sound of a distant boat cutting through the water, and the flapping wings of birds flying around.
When I finally realized that the surroundings had become too quiet, Phoebe had disappeared somewhere, and only Callisto was looking at me.
‘We’ve been together all day.’
His face, gazing at me, was as dazed as I was when looking at the lake.
Finally, our eyes met.
His blue eyes, deeper than the lake and bluer than the sky, twinkled, holding only me in them.
Callisto finally opened his mouth.
“You are so uniquely lovely that I thought it was only natural and reasonable for my eyes to be drawn to you.”
I couldn’t immediately grasp the direction of his story, which began with a rather flowery sentence.
“Even if you have the same hair color as half the people on the street, what should I do when I only see you?”
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Translation-(COMPLETED) – Choosing the Baby’s Father From the Following𝐒𝐮𝐩𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐑𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐍𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐥《⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐》!!
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