Married Couple’s Qualifications - Chapter 206 - END
Only Ranovel
Episode 206 Side story: Daily life and change (4)
2023.09.21.
Sitting on her chair in her favorite spot, Liviana moved her needle leisurely.
As her first birthday approached, her stomach began to grow more and more, making it difficult for her to move around, so she naturally began to spend more time sitting. That’s why she developed a hobby of leisurely knitting in the garden.
This was partly because she was worried that she might harm her child if she misused her body, but also because her situation had changed.
Her belly, which had not been very full during her pregnancy, was noticeably swollen for the first time.
Thanks to that, Livianna later realized that the reason she wasn’t full during her pregnancy was due to psychological influences, not her constitution.
Although she thought she was fine, her body seemed to know that she was not.
Maybe she finally felt like letting go.
Livi Anna finished organizing the scraps of yarn she had knitted.
“Is that a wedding?”
When she came, Maryl gasped and tugged at the hem of her dress. Livianna smiled as she lifted a blade of grass from her young daughter’s cheek.
“no.”
“And her brother’s?”
“Not even that.”
“Then whose is it?”
“secret.”
Livianna smoothed her Merial’s hair and then put her finished dress into her knitting basket. The knitting basket, which was initially empty, was now filled with knitted items.
“Can’t you just tell Merial a little bit?”
“No. It’s a gift.”
“So it’s a surprise gift?”
“That’s right. A surprise gift.”
Gifts are good, but surprise gifts are even better. Merial grinned with both her mouth as she accepted the gift herself. She said surprise and gift were both words that her child liked.
“Okay! Then Merial will keep her secret. Shhh!”
“Okay, shush.”
“Wow, so it’s a secret between her mom and Merial.”
“It’s probably not just a secret between the two of us, right?”
Livianna smiled. On the other side of her, Carl Riggs was walking.
“It’s gotten a lot colder.”
I wondered why she came down when it wasn’t time for her break yet, and I guess the blanket in her hand was the reason. Livi Anna rolled her eyes at the blanket draped over her shoulders.
“It’s still okay.”
“There’s no harm in being careful.”
It may sound like a quick remark, but the way she closes the front is extremely meticulous. It wasn’t long before Livi Anna was covered in blankets, both on her shoulders and knees.
“Aren’t you overdoing it?”
“It’s small so it floats quickly.”
“still.”
“It’s a shame that there’s only so much I can do, but it’s nice to do something like this.”
Unable to overcome Livianna’s smile, Carl Rix lowered her body without her saying a word.
From her clothes to shoes, hats, etc. The knitted items that filled the knitting basket were all things that could be knitted, but they were all small in size. Only a doll, let alone a newborn, would be able to wear it.
Carl Riggs looked at the knitting basket for a while and then cautiously opened her mouth.
“You’ll love it.”
“I hope so.”
There was no way to know what the unborn child was thinking or what she was like, but those who missed her remained.
The soon-to-be-born child was both a miracle and a medium that revived her old memories. They had a child they could not protect. It was a tragedy. It was something I would never forget for the rest of my life.
But that didn’t mean we couldn’t celebrate new life.
Livianna was knitting for Mary and her unborn child, and she was also knitting for everyone. The hat Meriel wore and the blanket for her unborn child were all her work.
“Once you feel a little lighter, let’s go tell it to you.”
I couldn’t go on the summer vacation I used to go every year this year. Even though Livianna’s condition had improved a lot, there was no harm in being careful, and above all, she was not alone. Her long journey was unreasonable.
“It would be better if I could introduce you to my new family, but is that possible?”
She regretted not being able to go on vacation because of the people there.
In the place where the dolphins were directly visible, there was not only the grave of the dead child, but also the graves of the previous Marquis of Creighton and the Duke of Pierre.
None of their bodies could be found, so it was only a monumental tomb rather than an actual tomb, but just looking at the tombs placed side by side made me feel at ease.
They say you can’t talk about a dead person, but you remember what kind of person he was. Both fathers must have smiled with satisfaction as they said they could clearly see the dolphins.
Needless to say, there is a new baby born there. Perhaps, if the two were still alive, they would have been clamoring to hug each other’s grandchildren.
It was inevitable that I would feel regret when I thought of the two fathers rejoicing even though I knew something couldn’t happen.
“By the way, when will your little brother come out?”
Nevertheless, I was able to smile because if there were people who left, there were also people who came back.
Livianna stroked Merial’s cheek as it hung on the hem of her dress. Ever since Livianna’s belly began to noticeably swell, Merial had been asking that question every day.
Her little brother was a very important event in her child’s life.
“In a month or two?”
“When is one or two months?”
“Well, shall we count it together?”
Before Livianna could finish speaking, Merial quickly grabbed her calendar from the desk.
“Here’s a calendar! Count it out quickly!”
“We should count together. Do you remember how to count?”
“Yes! Look, this is one, two….”
Her merry voice, which she opened her mouth with excitement, gradually became quieter after she passed her twenties, and she eventually did not make it past her thirties.
“Why are you hesitating when you’ve done so well? Even if the number gets bigger, nothing will change much.”
“…….”
Her Mary’s shoulders slumped. But Calix’s words did not end there.
“It’s not difficult. Just follow me. Thirty.”
“thirty.”
“forty.”
“forty?”
Merial tilted her head.
“Eleven. Twenty-one. Thirty-one. Forty-one.”
“Eleven. Twenty-one. Thirty-one. Forty-one.”
“Only the front is different, and the back isn’t much different from what you did the first time.”
“ah.”
“Now can we count again?”
The child who found the correct answer nodded her head vigorously and picked up the numbers on the calendar with her index finger. Her voice was stronger than before, and her confidence was evident.
Livianna’s smile grew brighter as she looked at the two people studying her numbers. The two surprisingly got along well.
“Forty-nine!”
“…….”
Calix, who waits for Merial to count the numbers, is like that.
“…….”
When she gets stuck, she naturally looks up at Calix as if asking for her help, as does Merial.
“hoarse.”
“Fifty! Fifty-one! Fifty-two!”
Even though she didn’t have a typical family, everyone was doing better than she thought, and she decided to believe that it would continue to be that way.
People in the world are already talking about the position of Merial and her soon-to-be-born child, but that’s just something they can say because they don’t know anything.
Even if they talked like they knew everything, in the end they were strangers.
There was no way they would have known that Calix was a kinder person than they thought, and that Meriel was positively accepting of her stepfather’s presence.
In fact, they had never seen Meriel begging Calix to hug her, and she had never seen Calix accept it for granted.
If he had the right to talk about these two people, it was him, not them.
Livianna could swear she knew both of them better than anyone else, and she could be sure of that much.
That the new child to be born is not a seed of strife, but merely a new family.
* * *
After the child was born, there were more things to worry about.
The newborn baby was very small. To exaggerate a little, it seemed like I could cover the whole child with just two hands. I was careful just to touch the child, fearing that if I applied too much force, it could be dangerous to the child.
“I guess I can take it off now.”
“If only it were a little bigger.”
Calix answered out of habit and rubbed the child’s back.
Livianna wasn’t too happy about putting her gloves back on, but she couldn’t give up on this. It would be troublesome if her rough hands unintentionally hurt the child.
She said again, the child was very small and very small.
Of course, by the standards of a man twice as big as others.
The first child to cry in the newly rebuilt Pierre was born healthy and just average size. Contrary to her mother’s concerns about her weak body, she lived safely for several months and never suffered from any of the common illnesses.
“Because you keep doing this, Petrian just wants to be held.”
The old lady’s advice that if you hug her too much you’ll develop bad habits, it was of no use. Calix made a habit of holding the child when he saw him, and thanks to this, the child often fell asleep while being held, feeling more familiar with his father’s arms than his mother’s.
“But you don’t complain any more.
Calix couldn’t hide his disappointment and put the child down on the bed. Fortunately or unfortunately, my young son was still asleep.
“If your child’s behavior gets bad, it’s definitely your fault.”
“I’ll pay attention when I’m old enough to understand language.”
“Really? I’ll be watching everything.”
Livianna gave her reprimand and tied a scarf around Carl Rix’s neck.
It’s a bit short because it hasn’t been completed yet, but the model is good-looking so even that is covered. It will look quite nice when you finish it and hang it around your neck.
“Hmm, okay. I’ll just have to finish it like this.”
“That hobby lasts longer than you think.”
“I’m only focusing on the kids, so I’m forgetting the really important people.”
“…….”
“I think I can complete it before winter ends, so I’ll do it all winter.”
“Okay. But just in case it’s too much-.”
“If this is too much, then I probably won’t be able to get out of bed.”
Livianna giggled.
Thanks to Carl Rix taking care of most of her childcare, not only the nanny she had saved but also her mother, Livianna, were free. That was the reason she had time to knit her scarf.
They say that because her body is weak, more care must be taken to take care of her than others, but it was not easy for her to stay in bed all the time.
He would have been bored if it weren’t for Calix, who was trying to make the most of his time, and Merial, who was filling in the time slots when he was gone.
Livi Anna lowered the blanket next to her to reveal her slit. Under the blanket was Merry, sleeping soundly.
“Are you sleeping here again?”
“I kept playing with you while you were away and fell asleep earlier.”
In fact, it wasn’t just Carl Riggs who was infatuated with her child. Merial was showing great interest in her newborn baby brother. It was so amazing and nice to see a small child after seeing only adults who were much taller than me.
That alone was a good time.
“It’s so fascinating.”
“what?”
“I was so concerned and worried at the time, but when I realized it, it didn’t seem like a big deal.”
“…….”
“Maybe that’s why I keep thinking only good thoughts. Like the hope that I will be able to overcome complex problems that arise.”
She had been through a lot and thought she was quite old, but looking back, she hadn’t really lived that much. There was still time left, and troublesome things would often happen.
But even so, she had a vague feeling that she would be okay rather than afraid.
Just as past misfortunes have been learned and only negative thoughts come to mind, the same goes for good memories.
Thinking positive thoughts first means that you are happy with who you are now. That was enough for now.
We may not know the future, but we now know that there is an end to any difficult task. I was confident that no matter what happened, I would try to get my little daily life back.
It may not be the perfect family that he worked so hard to protect, but it is more important to him than anything else.
There was no perfect family in the first place. Even in the past, when we talked about a perfect family, we just arbitrarily decided on a perfect family and tried to become a good family that fit that mold.
“I will never be able to go back to the way I was, so I may not look like the good wife or mother that people say I am.”
“It doesn’t matter. That’s not why I needed you.”
“That’s why I love you.”
You always see me.
Livianna’s lips drew an arc.
“Only you allow me to be who I am. Not as someone’s wife, daughter, or other qualifiers, but as Livianna as a person.”
“…….”
“That’s good. In life, there are things you have to hide, and there are parts you don’t want to see, but there’s no need to do that in front of you.”
“…….”
“You are a person who can look at and embrace yourself completely, without any pretense, and I want to be that kind of person for you.”
I don’t want a perfect family. Instead, I want to build a good family. I wanted to create and maintain a family where the members of the family, not just anyone else, could feel good.
I wouldn’t have even dared to do it alone, but I felt like I could do it with the man in front of me. That was the reason I was able to confidently stretch out my hand.
“This may sound like a big statement, but it’s actually a simple statement. It’s nice to be with you.”
“…….”
“It also means that we will continue to be together in the future.
” “… … You always get me into trouble.”
Calix clicked his tongue. But he didn’t reject Livianna’s hand.
“For someone in trouble, you seem calm.”
“Let’s try harder on that part.”
“Take your time. “We still have time.”
“Yes.”
Livianna smiled as she saw the man naturally holding her hand. The ring, despite its age, was still sparkling above the tightly interlocked pods.