Chapter 23
The next morning.
Warm sunlight streamed through the window.
“Mmm....”
Kara opened her eyes as she stretched.
Her face was so bright that yesterday’s hellish morning sickness almost felt like a lie.
It seemed the hometown food Father Gorgon had sent had greatly soothed her stomach when she ate it as a late-night snack.
Relieved, I tried to get out of bed.
“Where are you going?”
Kara clutched the hem of my clothes.
“I’m going to get some water. Want some too?”
“Mhm....”
Kara narrowed her eyes and nodded.
“But... my arms are too heavy.”
“......?”
“Our baby says... they won’t drink water unless Daddy gives it to them.”
I snorted with laughter.
‘Liar.’
She hadn’t actually been unable to move from pain like yesterday.
Her complexion was healthy, and, above all, her sapphire eyes sparkled with mischief.
This was unmistakably her being spoiled.
Normally, I would have retorted, “Don’t you have your own hands?” but strangely, I didn’t mind.
No, I thought it was unbearably cute.
“Yes, yes, as you command.”
I poured water into a cup and held it to Kara’s lips.
Kara lapped at the water like a kitten and smiled in satisfaction.
“It’s delicious.”
“My Empress, is there anything else you require? Shall I massage your shoulders?”
“Hmm... Later. For now, just stay beside me.”
Kara used my arm as a pillow and closed her eyes again.
Stroking Kara’s hair back, I thought.
So now that the morning-sickness hell is over, I’m in Queen Attendant Mode?
Not a bad morning.
Still, she was smiling.
Then my gaze suddenly lingered on Kara’s belly.
‘But... how long should we keep calling it our baby?’
Until yesterday’s ordeal, it hadn’t really felt real.
Her belly hadn’t begun to show, and there had been no visible changes.
But after watching Kara suffer through morning sickness and running around like a madman to find strawberries, I could finally feel it for real.
The fact that the fruit of our love was breathing inside that flat belly.
‘Even if Kara and I put our heads together and choose the real name later... shouldn’t we at least have something to call the baby for now?’
A prenatal nickname.
A name used while the baby was still in the womb.
‘What would be good... Something sturdy? Something pretty?’
I gazed at sleeping Kara’s face and fell into a pleasant dilemma.
* * *
After lunch.
We were taking a walk around the mansion to help our food settle.
Count Eisen’s youngest daughter, Alina, took both our hands and led us somewhere.
“Sis! Big Brother! Come quickly! I have something to show you!”
“Where are we going?”
“It’s a secret! You’ll find out if you follow me!”
Alina led us to the underground icehouse where yesterday’s strawberry commotion had taken place.
The massive iron door opened, and cold air billowed out.
“Ta-da! Look here! It hasn’t melted yet!”
Alina pointed to a corner of the storeroom.
A mound of white snow was piled there.
It was snow from Norhaim, which Gorgon had packed in tightly as both padding and coolant when he sent the provisions.
They had put away the provisions, but apparently thought the snow too precious to throw out and had piled it to one side.
“Ah... Snow.”
Kara approached the snowbank as if delighted to see it.
She scooped up a handful of the cold snow.
Her fingertips stung with cold.
That very chill was the temperature of the homeland she had missed so dearly.
“I heard it gets warmer the farther south you go in the Empire, so it’s hard to see snow... It’s nice to see it here.”
Kara smiled as she kneaded the lump of snow.
Alina, standing beside her, fiddled with the snow and looked regretful.
“I want to build a snowman....”
“A snowman?”
“Yes. I saw one in a book, and it said you roll snow to make a person. But it’s spring outside... If we take it out, it’ll melt right away, won’t it?”
Alina muttered dejectedly.
Building a snowman in the Imperial interior, in spring no less, was an impossible dream.
But.
“Why can’t we? We just have to do it.”
A sharp glint flashed in Kara’s eyes.
“Honey? Even if the spring breeze is still chilly, spring is spring. It’ll turn to water the moment we take it outside.”
I tried to stop her, but Kara already had a warrior’s look in her eyes.
“Then we have to make it quickly. Before it melts.”
She gripped Alina’s shoulders and spoke solemnly.
“Alina. Big Sis and Big Brother will make you a snowman. But we need an operation.”
“An operation?”
“Mhm. It’s a race against time.”
Operation: Spring Snowman Rescue.
First, it was too cold inside the icehouse for a pregnant woman and a child.
We would load the snow into a cart and move it to the shade at the icehouse entrance, where it would get less sunlight, then work there.
Then, we would assemble the snowman as quickly as possible using a simple, brute-force method.
We probably had about ten minutes.
Finally, before it melted, we would move the completed snowman back into the icehouse for permanent preservation.
‘Of course, if the count or Lonas saw this, they’d complain about wasting icehouse space...’
“Snowman! Snowman!”
Seeing Alina bouncing up and down with excitement, I figured we could somehow persuade the count and Lonas with her tearful puppy-dog eyes.
In the shaded area behind the mansion.
When I hauled out a cart full of snow, Kara and Alina were waiting with grim expressions.
“Ready? The time limit is ten minutes! If it takes any longer, the snow will turn into a soggy lump!”
“Got it! Start!”
“Start!”
The operation began at my signal.
I scooped up a huge clump of snow with my massive hands.
Crunch.
Perhaps because of my powerful grip, the snow packed into a solid ball in an instant.
“Body complete! Now for the head!”
When I set the huge snowball on the ground, Kara quickly placed a smaller snowball on top.
“Alina! The eyes and nose!”
“Yes! Here!”
Alina handed over the twigs and pebbles she had collected in advance.
With a serious expression, Kara began designing the snowman’s facial features.
But...
“Um... Sis?”
Alina tilted her head.
“Why is the snowman... angry?”
At Kara’s touch, the snowman was becoming not a round, cute figure, but a warrior snowman with bulging, muscular trapezius muscles.
Its eyes were slanted sharply upward, and its mouth was clamped tightly shut.
It looked like a barbarian warrior ruling over the snowy plains.
“This isn’t just a snowman. It’s our tribe’s guardian deity, a Yeti. It has to look sturdy.”
Kara said proudly.
She really did have unusual tastes.
Was that why she married me?
But Alina loved it, exclaiming, “Wow! It looks strong!”
Just then.
“Huh? The sun’s out!”
The spring sunlight that had been hidden by clouds began streaming through the gaps in the shade canopy.
We were in trouble.
“Aah! The Yeti is sweating!”
Alina screamed.
The snowman’s surface began to glisten as droplets formed.
The carefully sculpted trapezius muscles were beginning to melt.
“No! My Yeti!”
Kara cried, stamping her feet.
“Varg! Stage Three! Transport operation!”
“Leave it to me!”
I took a deep breath.
Then, I lifted the two-tiered snowman in one piece, even though it had only just been finished and had already begun to melt.
‘Hup!’
It was heavy.
But the weight wasn’t the problem.
If I applied even a little too much force in the wrong place, the snowman might crumble.
‘If it breaks, it’s over. Like handling an egg... But quickly!’
I cradled the snowman in my arms and sprinted toward the icehouse.
“Out of the way! Out of the way! Snowman coming through!”
A giant man crossing the garden with an angry-faced snowman in his arms.
And a beautiful woman and little girl chasing after him.
“Run, Daddy Snowman!”
“Just a little farther! Hang in there, Varg!”
The passing servants stared with round eyes, but we had no time to care.
We dashed into the icehouse entrance like the wind.
Back inside the cool icehouse.
“Phew....”
I carefully set the snowman down on the floor.
Thanks to the cold air, its melting surface began hardening again.
We stood side by side, blowing warm breath onto our hands as we admired the snowman.
The rough but valiant-looking snowman stood proudly among the jars of food Gorgon had sent.
In the middle of spring, a little Norhaim had sprung up in the Empire’s underground storeroom.
“Wow... It really isn’t melting. We made this, right?”
Alina asked, poking the snowman curiously.
“Yeah. It probably won’t melt even when summer comes.”
Kara answered, resting her head on my shoulder.
“Let’s show it to our baby when they’re born. We’ll tell them Mommy, Daddy, and Big Sis made it.”
“Sounds good. Hang in there until then, Yeti.”
I lightly tapped the spot I assumed was the snowman’s shoulder.
While Alina went to tidy up around the snowman, Kara and I stood a little apart and looked at it.
Suddenly, I remembered what Kara had said earlier.
‘Yeti... Yeti, huh....’
A native of the snowy mountains and a giant of the snowfields.
Strong, sturdy, and unyielding in any cold.
“Yeti... Yeppi....”
I muttered without realizing it.
“......?”
Kara snickered and looked at me.
“What’s this, husband? Are you trying to be cute? ‘Yeppi’ doesn’t suit your size at all.”
“No, that’s not it.”
I turned to face Kara.
My large hand gently encircled Kara’s hips, and my thumb carefully rubbed her still-flat lower belly.
It was warm.
“The prenatal nickname.”
“......Huh?”
“I mean our baby’s prenatal nickname. How about Yeppi? So they’ll be sturdy like a Yeti, and pretty like you, honey.”
“......”
Kara’s eyes widened, and then her face flushed bright red.
“...What is that? How childish.”
“You don’t like it?”
“No....”
Kara shyly shook her head.
It was childish, but somehow it made her heart race.
Varg’s warmth traveled through her hips and belly.
She could feel all of his sincerity and love for their child.
“...I like it. Yeppi.”
Kara whispered, lightly bumping her forehead against my chest.
“I like it because it’s as old-fashioned as you are.”
“Haha, that’s a compliment, right?”
“Of course it’s a compliment.”
We embraced one another and laughed quietly.
Though it was a cold icehouse, it was warmer than anywhere else.
The warmth of family.
And the new name, 「Yeppi’」, filled the space.
Just then.
“Yeppi?”
It seemed Count Eisen and the household servants who had come down after seeing the snowman commotion had overheard our conversation.
Alina asked, her eyes sparkling.
“Is that the baby’s name?”
“Yeah. It’s not the real name yet, but it’s what we call the baby while they’re in the womb.”
When I answered, Alina jumped up and down with excitement.
“Wow! Yeppi! How cute! Hi, Yeppi! It’s your big sister!”
Alina was already engrossed in greeting Kara’s belly.
Lonas, on the other hand, frowned but turned his head away with a reddened face.
“Ahem. Such... literal naming. Pretty and Yeti....”
The childish name that didn’t roll naturally off his tongue seemed to embarrass him.
But the head maid and servants reacted differently.
“Oh my, it’s so cute! It rolls right off the tongue!”
“Young Master Yeppi... no, Miss Yeppi? Anyway, just grow up healthy!”
Everyone offered their blessings in unison.
Behind that heartwarming scene.
Count Eisen was stealthily hiding something behind his back.
I glanced sideways and peeked at the paper he had hidden.
【 List of Prenatal Nickname Candidates 】
‘......’
It seemed Count Eisen had also spent the night thinking and narrowed down a list of candidates.
But in the face of the childish yet formidable name 「Yeppi」, none of his candidates could even compete, so he seemed ready to quietly discard them.
‘Count... I’m sorry. I won this round.’
I savored my victory inwardly as I watched Count Eisen smile bitterly.
The first spring of our time in the Empire was drawing near.
With Yeppi by our side.
Together with Yeppi.