“You want to have another child? Even after going through so much?”

“Well… it was painful, but I feel healthier now, and I think Edwin would be happier with a sibling.”

“…No.”

Lyrica’s eyes widened in shock. She had never considered that he might oppose the idea. She had expected him to be happy when she expressed her desire for another child!

“Why… why not?”

“I don’t have the courage to watch you suffer like that again. Edwin is enough for me. Noel and Lucas feel the same way.”

Lian’s expression darkened, seemingly recalling her pain-filled screams. Watching him, Lyrica parted her lips slightly in disbelief. Why? The person directly involved was saying it was fine!

“I’m okay with it, Lian. I want to get pregnant again. Please?”

Lyrica climbed on top of Lian and wrapped her arms around his neck. When she coaxed him with brief kisses, attempting to seduce him, she felt his hardened member against her buttocks. 

His body responded so honestly, yet he didn’t want a second child! 

She suddenly remembered how all three brothers continued wearing contraceptive rings during their relations, and felt a small sense of betrayal.

“Haa… still no, Lyrica. You know we only have one of you. If something were to go wrong while giving birth again…”

Lian let out a small groan, the mere thought seemingly painful to him. His hand stroked her back soothingly. However, Lyrica, already upset, looked at him with a pouty face.

“I told you I’m fine. My healing power helps me recover quickly, and Helena said healthy mothers like me are rare.”

“Healing power isn’t a cure-all. I want to minimize any possibility of something happening to you.”

Lian embraced her more securely and tried to soothe her by repeatedly kissing her smooth forehead and soft cheeks. However, her darkened expression showed no signs of brightening. Lyrica slipped out of his arms, turned away, and pulled the blanket over herself.

“Fine, I understand. Let’s sleep now.”

“… You’re going to sleep like this? Leaving me in this state?”

Lian caressed her back gently, trying to tempt her, but her sulking back remained unyielding. He sighed and lay down, pulling her into his arms.

He had vaguely known she wanted another child, but he hadn’t expected her to express it so directly and so soon. His resolve to spare her from the pain of childbirth again remained firm, but seeing her hardened expression, he suspected persuading her wouldn’t be easy. 

Rubbing his chin against her fluffy pink hair, Lian tried his best to fall asleep.

The next day, Lyrica’s expression grew increasingly darker. There was a reason she had initially acquiesced when Lian objected. She had thought that even if Lian opposed the idea, she could persuade Noel or Lucas.

However, contrary to Lyrica’s expectations, Noel and Lucas, who usually couldn’t maintain their composure at her slightest seduction, also opposed her plan.

“Lyri, I’ll consult with the Tower Master and research more. You don’t necessarily have to be the one to give birth, right? If you could just wait a little longer…”

“You said there hasn’t been any progress despite all the research so far. It might take years. I’m telling you I don’t mind!”

A troubled light flickered in Lucas’s red eyes. Ignoring his persuasion, Lyrica struggled to remove the contraceptive rings from Lucas and Noel’s fingers. 

However, despite gripping with both hands and straining, their tightly clenched fingers showed no signs of yielding.

“This is too much…”

Moisture gathered in Lyrica’s shocked eyes. Her sense of injustice had nowhere to go and formed into teardrops that flowed down her cheeks.

“Ly-Lyri… don’t cry, okay? I was wrong.”

“Hng… then take off this ring!”

Noel picked up Lyrica, who was sobbing and shaking Lucas’s finger. Kissing her eyes, seemingly finding even one tear too precious to waste, Noel tried to console her.

“Lyrica. You suffered for months with a heavy body, and during your painful delivery, we couldn’t do anything to help. We don’t want to go through that time again. Please understand.”

Couldn’t do anything to help? Of course, carrying Edwin hadn’t been easy. But hadn’t she been carried in their arms constantly once her belly grew, barely touching the ground? 

They had taken over all her duties as duchess, provided her with every delicacy and nourishing food, and even procured rare medicinal ingredients difficult for even the Emperor to obtain! 

Having personally experienced their devoted care throughout her pregnancy, Lyrica couldn’t hide her bewilderment.

“I’m telling you I’m fine, so why won’t you agree!”

If her healing power wasn’t enough, couldn’t they call a healing priestess? 

As long as she didn’t show herself using healing power, there was no worry about revealing her nymph heritage. Of course, she understood their concern for her. 

However, she didn’t want to give up on having another child because of an extremely low probability that something might go wrong.

“We can’t yield on this. Lyrica, please don’t be angry. Okay?”

Despite Noel’s pleading words, Lyrica’s face grew increasingly rigid. Suppressing her rising anger, she looked at the brothers with stubborn eyes. She had no intention of yielding either.

“I won’t have relations with you while you’re wearing contraceptive rings.”

Noel and Lucas exchanged dismayed glances. It was the first time they had quarreled since their wedding.

* * *

After several days passed, the brothers began to worry and grow anxious. They wanted to slap their past selves who had thought she would soon give up. Since that day, Lyrica had declared Euphines’s room off-limits and still wouldn’t let them in.

Ironically, the more nights they spent being coldly turned away at the door and sleeping alone dejectedly, the more desperate Lian, Noel, and Lucas became. 

Setting aside their worry that the aphrodisiac’s effects might manifest and cause her distress, they found it unbearable that Lyrica’s attitude had turned cold when she had always smiled brightly at them.

Even when they lingered outside her door and got a chance to see her face, she invariably closed the door when she noticed they still hadn’t removed their contraceptive rings. 

Each time this happened, they felt the urge to prostrate themselves at her feet and beg forgiveness, but recalling her groans of pain during Edwin’s birth still caused internal conflict.

Today, Lucas approached Lyrica stealthily, circling around her like a dog needing to relieve itself. Seeing her walking alone with a parasol, having dismissed all the maids, reminded him of their first meeting and made him more desperate. 

That day too, he had approached Lyrica while she was walking alone. She had used her healing power with concerned eyes, not knowing the mage she was meeting for the first time might be deceiving her, and had smiled brightly, happy to have a guest after a long time. 

Remembering this made his heart ache.

‘Perhaps I fell for her from that day.’

His lips, which had momentarily stretched into a smile while reminiscing, quickly stiffened upon seeing Lyrica before him. She was clearly aware of his presence but pretending not to notice. 

He stepped in front of her, his golden hair fluttering. Seeing him biting his lips until they turned white from their usual rosy color while gazing at her desperately, Lyrica could no longer pretend not to notice and raised her head.

“…Lucas.”

“Are you really going to keep this up, Lyri?”

Her sky-blue eyes also reflected guilt at his pleading voice. Not wanting to miss this opportunity, Lucas took her hand, rubbed it against his cheek, and spoke.

“Don’t you want my seed?”

Her cheeks turned pink at his subtle whisper. In truth, Lyrica too was struggling with her desires, but she instinctively knew that if she yielded now, her chances of having a second child would become even more remote. 

Fortunately, thanks to the gradually fading effects of the aphrodisiac, she could still endure.

“Not at all.”

Lucas dropped his shoulders and sighed at her firm answer, which contradicted her expression. She seemed determined.

“Lyrica. You know we’re doing this for your sake. Please stop being stubborn now. Okay?”

Despite Lucas’s pleading, Lyrica remained resolute. She too tried to persuade him.

“It’s not stubbornness. I want to leave more traces of my love with the people I care about.”

“Of course I would have loved having one more child resembling you. But you’re more precious to me than an unborn child.”

—

T/N: Imagine if the genders were reversed lmao this was not the take I was rooting for