“My condition has been ridiculous lately. I thought something was strange.”

“Is that possible? The baby should be inside my body, right?”

“This usually only happens between wolf shifters who have imprinted on each other and imprinted severely. I imprinted on you, but you’re a tiger shifter, so I’m not sure how this happened. Hmm… there is one possibility though.”

“What is it?”

Chloe tensed up, wondering if it could be some side effect. There was always a lingering worry in her mind about the side effects of the suppressants. Thinking she was pregnant, her distrust of her own body resurfaced once again.

“That you love me as fiercely as if you had imprinted? I didn’t know you loved me this much, Chloe. You must really love me a lot.”

“Huh!”

Chloe, who had been extremely tense, felt deflated. Hugrey’s playful smile was annoying, but somehow his words made her happy. If this phenomenon really only occurred between imprinted wolf shifters, she felt that her feelings had been somewhat validated to Hugrey, who was always curious about her heart.

“I’ve told you many times that you are the most precious person to me, the one I love the most, incomparable to the Kingdom of Tigrium. I wanted to have a child because it would be a child made with you. Without you, Hugrey, it would have no meaning.”

At Chloe’s firm confession, Hugrey looked at her silently, as if at a loss for words.

“Hugrey?”

“I think I can understand a little bit now, about wanting to cry when you’re happy.”

There were actually no tears visible in Hugrey’s eyes, but she could feel how happy he was at her confession.

“Keep loving me like that, so I can be the one to struggle on your behalf.”

Although it was Hugrey who said he felt like crying, it was Chloe’s eyes that seemed about to burst into tears at his words. Why did he love her this much? Why does this man give her everything? Could there be a better being in the world than this man? No, impossible. There couldn’t be anything better than this man anywhere in the world.

“But you’ll still feel some pain when giving birth. It will come out through your body after all. Ah, I don’t like that. I wish I could feel all the pain instead.”

“You even share the labor pains?”

At those words, Chloe became worried about Hugrey. He was experiencing pregnancy symptoms on her behalf. Yet the baby would still be in her womb.

‘Oh, no. I’d rather feel the pain myself. I don’t know how much it will hurt, but if I have to give birth anyway, I’d rather be the only one in pain.’

“I’m so glad. I didn’t know it would feel this good to know that you won’t struggle and I will instead. I’m really relieved.”

Hugrey looked genuinely happy. He also seemed relieved.

‘Do I deserve to receive such overflowing love?’

“I love you.”

As she looked at him, the words ‘I love you’ flowed from Chloe’s lips without her realizing it. She felt almost pathetic that all she could give to this man who loved her so much was just the words ‘I love you’.

“I love you too, Chloe Ulpaz.”

Hugrey whispered in her ear. It felt like all the fine hairs in her ear stood on end in an instant.

“That doesn’t mean you can start this in the morning.”

Chloe shivered slightly and pushed Hugrey away as she spoke. There was a baby now, after all…

“Start what?”

As Hugrey played dumb, Chloe gave him a slight glare.

“I just want to sleep more now.”

“I said don’t do this.”

Chloe glanced at the door that the maid would soon knock on again, and pushed Hugrey away.

But the next moment, her face flushed hot. Because Hugrey had buried his head in the pillow and closed his eyes. He really meant sleep when he said he wanted to sleep. What kind of imagination had she indulged in on her own? At least Hugrey had his eyes closed, so fortunately he didn’t see her reddened face.

“Sorry to… disappoint you… but I’m really sleepy…”

Chloe bit her lip at Hugrey’s mumbling, which seemed to read her mind even with his eyes closed. However, Hugrey, who had made her endlessly embarrassed, soon fell asleep like a newborn baby.

Every time, it’s just me who gets embarrassed, just me.

Chloe calmed her indignant heart at the childlike appearance of the man who was clearly an adult.

Although she was already certain, just days after having the pregnancy confirmed by a doctor again, Hugrey started making strange requests.

“I want to eat oranges.”, “I want to eat cherries too.”, “I also want to eat strawberries.”

He kept saying he wanted to eat all kinds of fruits at all hours. He was originally someone who enjoyed vegetables more than sweet fruits.

“I feel like I’ll be very upset if I can’t eat it right now.”

He even threw tantrums if they weren’t brought quickly. If he was really experiencing her pregnancy symptoms instead, it was certain that the baby had an extreme obsession with fruit.

“I feel like if I don’t eat it today, it will stay on my mind for a very long time.”

He spoke so seriously that Chloe wanted to push all the fruit in front of her to him. The baby was actually in her belly… Surely he wouldn’t start having morning sickness too?

The anxiety she had been feeling soon became reality. After eating something, Hugrey would often run off somewhere saying he didn’t feel well. When he returned, he would even stagger, pale-faced.

“Are you alright?”

“I’m fine. It’s really fortunate that I’m experiencing this nauseous feeling instead of you, but I need to sleep some more.”

Hugrey even canceled his schedule and immediately crawled back into bed. Chloe looked down at her own belly as she watched her husband’s strange behavior. The baby bump was hardly visible yet, but why was it making daddy suffer so much already?

Would that man experience pregnancy symptoms like this throughout the entire pregnancy? Looking at Hugrey, who had fallen asleep with one hand on her belly, Chloe once again thought that she’d rather experience the pregnancy symptoms herself. If this phenomenon occurred between people who loved each other too much, as he said, their love seemed to be excessive.

But her wish remained just a wish. Even after several months passed, aside from her gradually swelling belly, Chloe hardly felt any symptoms of pregnancy. In contrast, although Hugrey’s morning sickness had decreased, he was still tired enough to need naps.

Feeling something like a sense of duty, Chloe would lie down next to him when Hugrey fell into his naps, as if soothing a sleeping baby. Watching Hugrey slowly drift off to sleep, she would eventually fall asleep too, and the naptime she shared with him was always as sweet as if she had fallen into a honey pot. It made her wonder if there had ever been such a happy and peaceful moment in her life.

“Hugrey, are you asleep?”

Knowing that Hugrey’s breathing wasn’t completely steady yet, Chloe whispered softly.

“Mmm… yeah, sleeping.”

Hugrey mumbled.

“I actually have something to say. It’s a secret that the baby shouldn’t hear, so I’ll speak very quietly, listen carefully.”

“Mm, mm.”

But Hugrey’s consciousness was gradually fading. That was just perfect. In fact, she wanted to say this when Hugrey was in that state of semi-consciousness.

“I don’t think I’ll be able to love the baby the most, even if it resembles you.”

It was such a small voice that even if Hugrey lying right next to her was fully conscious, he would barely hear it if he strained his senses. A very small voice that the baby in her womb absolutely couldn’t hear.

“Mmmm…”

Now Hugrey was making responses similar to sleep talking.

“I think you’ll still be the one I love most in the world. Even if it’s our baby, I think it will be hard to love it as much as the man named Hugrey.”

How could she love any being in the world as much as this man? It’s impossible.

“…”

Chloe lightly kissed Hugrey’s cheek. There was still no reaction. It seemed that this baby, who loves fruit, needs a lot of sleep, and is even picky about food, had completely put daddy to sleep again today. She caressed his face while stroking her now quite swollen belly with one hand.

Even if she loved the child second after Hugrey, this child would receive a whole love, getting half of Hugrey’s love and half of hers. No, maybe Hugrey would end up loving this child more than her. He was already experiencing everything for this child like that.

“Ah!”

Suddenly, she felt movement in her belly. It was a strong movement, as if the child was protesting her words about loving daddy more.

“Did you hear mommy’s voice too?”

Chloe whispered softly. If the child is born with shifter blood, she might be able to play the ‘self-talk game’ she used to play with Hugrey with this child. Just imagining it made her smile.

Chloe placed one hand on her belly and buried her face in Hugrey’s embrace.

“I love you.”

Muttering in a way that made it unclear whether she was speaking to Hugrey or the baby, Chloe slowly closed her eyes and soon fell into an infinitely sweet dream in Hugrey’s arms.

In the dream, a tiger, a wolf, and a small animal that was hard to distinguish whether it was a puppy or a kitten were running around in a grassy field.

– The End –