Birth

“!”

“Almeria!?”

As we were enjoying our tea time in a relaxed atmosphere, Almeria-san suddenly showed a pained expression while holding her belly.

“My, oh my, are you going into labor?”

“”Eh, it’s about to be born!?””

Rebecca-san’s words overlapped with Velio-san’s and my voices of surprise.

“A, Almeria, a, are you alright!?”

“Velio-san, calm down. There’s no point panicking. Velio-san, quickly carry Almeria-san into the room we have prepared, and help her lay in a comfortable position. I will go ask for the midwife.”

“Y, yes!”

Rebecca-san stood up nonchalantly and gave instructions to the panicked Velio-san.

Then, Velio-san took Almeria-san into his arms and carried her away carefully, yet hurriedly.

“Tak.u.mi-san, Allen-chan, Elena-chan, I’m sorry for the sudden confusion.”

“Nono, everything’s fine.”

“”Is going to be born~?””

“Yes. Considering the due date, I’m sure today is the day.”

Rebecca-san apologized once again for interrupting the tea party and left the room to make arrangements.

“When is it going to be born~?”

“Will it be born now~?”

“N~ it won’t be immediately. I heard it takes time for a baby to be born.”

“”I see~””

Allen and Elena looked excited, but were a little disappointed when they heard that it would take some time.

“I’d like to help, but… we would only get in the way by hanging around, so let’s obediently wait in our room.”

“”… Okay~””

“You don’t have to be feeling so down, they will let us know immediately when the child is born. So let’s wait and look forward to it.”

“”Yeah!””

The area around the birth room would be a flurry of activity, so we would indeed be a hindrance by going there. So I decided to take the kids and go back to our room.

“So, what are you doing here!?”

As we were quietly waiting in our room, for some reason! Velio-san came and sat down on the sofa.

“Why are you here?”

“… I was told I was only a hindrance by restlessly wandering around.”

“Go to Almeria-san to hold her hand, at least.”

“No man is allowed in the delivery room unless necessary.”

“Ah, is that so?”

Oh, so the fathers aren’t allowed in during childbirth? Or rather, do they mostly avoid it?

“Then, how about doing some work… or something?”

“I couldn’t concentrate.”

“……”

Well, his child is about to be born, so it’s not surprising~

“Allen, Elena, have Velio-san play with you~”

“”Okay~””

Playing with the kids will take his mind off things.

“”Velio Onii~sama, let’s play with puzzle~””

“Puzzle? What is that?”

“”It’s this!””

Allen and Elena spread the puzzle pieces on the table.

“You do this like that.”

“Erm, next this one~”

“… I see.”

Velio-san watched intently as the children put the pieces together.

“So you play by creating a picture with these scattered pieces. This is my first time seeing something like this, but it’s thought out well~”

“”Onii~chan made this, you know~””

“Tak.u.mi-kun did?”

“Yes, I bought a lot of paintings for cheap, so I made it from those.”

“This is very good.”

While he was working with the children on the puzzle, the restless Velio-san regained his composure.

As the day drew to end, we continued spending our time with Velio-san and even ate dinner with him, and spent some more time in the lounge closest to the delivery room.

“I’m sorry for having you accompany me.”

“Nono, I also feel concerned.”

It would probably take about half a day from the time the contractions started until the birth, so the baby would be most likely born in the middle of the night or early morning. It will still take some time, but there was no way I could sleep peacefully, so Velio-san and I were planning to stay up all night.

As expected, the kids were asleep in the middle of the sofa with their heads in my lap. I tried to put them on the bed in my room, but they protested, so things ended up like this.

“Velio-san, would you like another drink?”

“No, as expected, any more than this would be…”

“I thought so.”

Just as we were about to fill up our stomachs with tea and coffee, I heard a flurry of footsteps and a knocking on the door.

“Excuse me! Granvelio-sama, the child has been born.”

“Really!”

Velio-san stood up with a happy look on his face.

“”Born!””

The sleeping Allen and Elena jumped on their feet. They have woken up very well.

“HUh? Aren’t you going, Velio-san?”

“R, right.”

Velio-san, who I had expected to go to Almeria-san’s place immediately, was standing there dumbfounded. So I tried to call out to him, but he nodded, but for some reason he didn’t move.

“”Can we see?””

“Erm… Velio-san, can we accompany you?”

“Y, yeah, of course. R, right, let’s go together.”

“Thank you, Velio-san.——Allen, Elena, both Almeria-san and the baby are surely exhausted, so only a glimpse today. We will immediately return to our room.”

“”Got it~””

In fact, I think it would be better if we refrained from doing so, but since Velio-san was unsteady, it seemed dangerous to let him go alone, and the children were looking forward to it, so let’s take just a glimpse.

“My, oh my, Allen-chan, Elena-chan, you are still awake?”

“”Want to see the baby!””

When Allen and Elena guided Velio-san over while holding hands, Rebecca-san welcomed them with a smile.

“Fufu, come inside. Welcome.”

When we entered the room, Almeria-sand had the newborn baby right next to her on the bed.

“Dear, it’s a boy.”

“What a gallant face he has. Almeria, thank you. You have worked hard.”

“Tak.u.mi-san, Alllen-chan, and Elena-chan came over, too.”

“Congratulations.”

“”Congrats~””

Almeria-san looked towards us, so we first conveyed our words of congratulations.

“Thank you. Come on, have a look at the child’s face too.”

“Yes, thank you. Well then, excuse us.”

Almeria-san gave us her permission, so I picked up Allen and Elena and approached the bed to take a look at the baby.

“”Whoa~ so cute~””

“”Yeah, he’s so cute.”

The baby was asleep, so I couldn’t see the color of his eyes, but his hair seemed to be the same color as Velio-san’s. Well, whether he takes after his father or his mother, he will grow up to be a handsome man.

“Let’s take a good care of him, okay?”

“”Yeah! Will play lots!””

After a short time of being shown the baby’s face, we immediately went back to our room as I had declared beforehand, but… the excited Allen and Elena couldn’t quite fall asleep, so it was only when the sky got bright that I was able to sleep.