She looked down at the sandwich she had been eating, then at the one in his hand.

‘It’s the same sandwich, but…’

As Giselle was muttering to herself, Lucas spoke to her.

“What is it? Is something different? Want to switch with me?”

“Huh? No… Oh! No, let’s do that. Let’s just exchange one bite.”

She shook her head at his words, then suddenly made a curious expression and her eyes sparkled.

Though they were clearly identical sandwiches, somehow the one he was eating seemed different. Lucas, seeming to guess her thoughts, chuckled and held his sandwich out to her.

Not minding at all that someone else had been eating it, Giselle took a bite and chewed, then smiled.

“It tastes exactly the same.”

“Of course it’s the same. Did you think it would be different?”

“When you eat it, the sandwich suddenly feels like it transformed into gourmet food…”

Giselle trailed off in embarrassment. She realized how nonsensical her thoughts were.

Lucas stared at her for a moment, then laughed softly before grabbing her wrist and taking a large bite of the sandwich she was holding.

“…!”

At the same time, his tongue touched her finger. In truth, he had deliberately brushed against her finger.

Giselle trembled at the sensual movement of his tongue licking her finger, then turned her head away. He noticed her cheeks and nape turning bright red.

Her reaction was too innocent for someone carrying his child in her womb.

But that was precisely her charm.

Lucas smiled quietly, then reached out to brush away the bread crumbs on the corner of her mouth.

“Oh!”

Only then did Giselle realize she had crumbs on her mouth and touched around her lips in embarrassment. Then, partly to soothe her embarrassment, she continued eating the rest of her sandwich.

‘…Huh? It tastes better than before?’

It was strange. The sandwich in her hand hadn’t been switched, yet somehow it tasted better in that short time.

This time, it might truly be objectively delicious.

Perhaps it was because she had been craving it during her morning sickness, but it tasted much better now than when she first ate it alone, so it couldn’t just be that reason.

……Perhaps it was because of the man in front of her.

As she was staring at him intently, Lucas asked with a puzzled expression.

“Why aren’t you eating? Lost your appetite?”

“No, I should eat…”

Giselle shook her head in response to his question, then smiled playfully. Sensing something, Lucas narrowed his eyes and tilted his head.

“I’ll eat if you feed me.”

“…What?”

“Aaah…”

Giselle slightly closed her eyes and opened her mouth toward the man who was looking at her with an astonished gaze. A small giggling sound escaped from her.

“Haah…”

Perhaps because her eyes were closed.

She could hear him sighing more clearly. Nevertheless, Giselle had no intention of stopping her playfulness.

“Well, fine. If that’s what you want.”

Lucas, who had been sighing, seemed to be willing to go along with her joke as she heard him getting up from his seat. Then she felt him approaching, and subsequently her chin was slightly lifted by his hand.

‘…Hmm?’

He only needed to feed her the sandwich, so why was he lifting her chin…

Just as Giselle was about to open her eyes in confusion, hot breath and another person’s lips overlapped with hers.

“…!”

It was the lips of her man, Lucas. As Giselle was momentarily startled and tried to open her eyes, he supported the back of her head with his hand and slowly parted her lips.

Between her parted lips, his tongue, along with a piece of sandwich, pushed in.

“What… what are you…”

She tried to speak as soon as his lips detached from hers. But she had to swallow the sandwich in her mouth first.

“What is this? Suddenly…”

After chewing and barely swallowing the sandwich, Giselle lightly hit Lucas’s shoulder as he laughed mischievously, giving him a sidelong glance. He shrugged his shoulders and replied nonchalantly.

“You asked me to feed you the sandwich.”

“So, so why did you…”

With your mouth.

Giselle swallowed the embarrassing words and fanned herself with her hand. He held her chin again and said in an amused tone.

“You didn’t specify that I should feed you with my hands.”

“That… mmph.”

Before she could respond to his words, he pressed his lips against hers again. This time it was a deeper kiss, without any sandwich.

* * *

Huff, huff.

The cat panted heavily, its body heaving. Watching this, Giselle bit her lip anxiously.

“It’s been an hour already… I hope nothing goes wrong.”

“Don’t worry, my lady. It looks like the kittens will be born soon.”

Despite appearances, I’ve delivered dozens of newborns with my own hands back in my hometown village. The maid boasted, exaggerating a bit as she talked about delivering not just cats and dogs, but also rabbits and goats while growing up in the countryside.

It was obvious she was acting exaggeratedly to comfort her worried mistress. Giselle smiled faintly at the maid’s words, when the nanny, who was watching the cat’s birthing process beside her, suddenly shouted loudly.

“Oh my, my lady! I think the kitten is coming out now!”

“What? Really?”

At those words, Giselle quickly turned her head to look at the cat again. Just as the nanny had said, a kitten was about to be born.

“Grrr, grr…”

The cat scratched the innocent floor, not knowing what to do with the unfamiliar pain. It was so heartbreaking to watch and not be able to help.

Giselle kept clenching and unclenching her empty hands, then bit her lip firmly.

Just then, the cat let out a sharp cry, and a small lump emerged from its lower body.

It was a kitten wrapped in an amniotic sac.

“…!”

Giselle was so moved by witnessing the birth of a new life before her eyes that she was speechless, her eyes wide open. Meanwhile, the cat twitched its body and began licking the soaking wet body of its newborn.

“Ah!”

The maid who had been watching the scene suddenly remembered and picked up a towel she had prepared. It was to wipe the wet body of the kitten.

“If we leave it like this, its body temperature could drop rapidly, my lady. So it’s better to wipe it quickly.”

The maid explained to the curious Giselle as she reached toward the kitten.

“Hiss!”

Perhaps misunderstanding that she was trying to take away its baby, the cat bared its teeth threateningly at the maid. Faced with this aggressive attitude, the maid couldn’t move forward or backward and clicked her tongue with a frown.

“Oh dear…”

But what could she do? Deciding that wiping the kitten was the priority, the maid reached out her hand again, when Giselle stopped her with a wave of her hand.

“It’s alright. Let me try.”

“What? But my lady, the cat might scratch you.”

The maid was startled and tried to dissuade Giselle, worried that her mistress might get hurt. However, Giselle smiled and shook her head.

“I think it’s better if I do it. After all, I’m closer to Elizabeth than you are.”

She turned her gaze from the maid to look at the cat. The cat, which had been hissing with its ears slightly pulled back, seemed to soften a bit when its eyes met Giselle’s.

Not missing that opportunity, Giselle spoke in a calm tone.

“Elizabeth. I’m not trying to take your baby away. I just want to wipe its body. Your baby’s body is wet, you see.”

“Hisss…”

Despite her words, the cat hissed threateningly once more. Seeing this, Giselle tried to persuade the cat again with kindness.

“Of course, you could do well on your own without our help, but we want to help. We’re family, after all.”

Some might think that a cat couldn’t understand human language. How could an animal comprehend what humans say?

But Giselle spoke to the cat with sincerity in her heart. Perhaps that feeling was conveyed.

The cat, exhausted from labor and childbirth, panted with its mouth open, staring at her intently before gently pushing its baby toward Giselle.

It was a sign of permission.

Giselle quickly wrapped the kitten in a towel. The kitten, small enough to fit in the palm of her hand, wriggled and moved.

In that moment, her heart swelled.

She truly felt that a life had been born into the world. Giselle unconsciously sniffled and carefully wiped the kitten before placing it back in its mother’s arms.

The cat glanced at Giselle before embracing its baby and licking it.

A smile crossed Giselle’s lips as she watched. She unconsciously cradled her own swollen belly with her hand.

Just then, the maid exclaimed in surprise.

“Oh my, I think another kitten is coming out!”

Another life was about to come into the world.

* * *

“So she gave birth to two kittens?”

“Yes. One boy and one girl. They’re siblings. Oh! And the father was indeed Tuxedo.”

Giselle answered Lucas’s question with a bright smile. She looked proud after helping with the cat’s delivery.