"Is it true... that... that I am going to give birth??"

Emmelyn grabbed the old man's collar and pulled it hard. She immediately panicked.

How... how could she give birth this early?

She thought she still had two more months. Even if her husband would need more time to locate the witch and killed her, that the back and forth journey would take three months, Emmelyn would still be eight months in by the time he came back.

They still had time to be together and prepared to welcome their first child. But apparently... her stress triggered her to go into early labor?

Gosh...

Oh.. oh, oh... the pain was so unbearable. Emmelyn bit her lip so hard, now it was bleeding.

At that moment, Emmelyn felt like she wanted to kill her husband if he was within her reach.

Why..? Why did he have to go? His chivalry looked so stupid now since he was not with her when she needed him the most.

"I hate you..!!" She screamed at the top of her lungs. "I hate you!!!"

Mr. Vitas was experienced and he had seen women do this when they were in labor. He understood the intense pain would have this effect on pregnant women, soon-to-give birth. Many would scream and throw curses at their husbands.

The old man quickly took out a small bottle from his pocket and pour the content into a small cup and gave it to Emmelyn. "Your Highness, you can take this medicine to lessen the pain."

Emmelyn immediately snatched the cup from the physician and gulped the content in one go.

She believed Mr. Vitas knew what he was doing and how to help her. So, she trusted that the potion would relieve her pain.

Gosh.. she knew that giving birth would be painful, but she had no idea it would be THIS PAINFUL.

And to think she initially wanted to give birth to triplet?

She must be out of her mind back then.

Emmelyn closed her eyes and tried to focus on happy thoughts again. She needed to distract her mind from this pain.

After concentrating so hard for five minutes, slowly, the pain was gone.

Ahh.. it worked!

Emmelyn opened her eyes again and looked around her. The pain she experienced in her stomach had lessened quite significantly.

The potion Mr. Vitas gave her worked like magic!

"Thank you...." she said between her panting. "The medicine works..."

Mr. Vitas smiled warily and replied, "It's not supposed to work that fast, Your Highness. What you are having is called contraction and it will come and go as you are getting ready to deliver the baby."

"WHAT? So the pain will return?" Emmelyn was so upset to know the medicine didn't remove all the labor pain as she had expected. "How long will I have to endure this?"

"It depends on the dilation. If we already have an opening that can fit ten fingers, it means the baby is ready to come out," the old physician explained.

"Opening?" Emmelyn furrowed her brows. Her clear mind had returned when the pain subsided. "What opening?"

The old man cleared his throat. "The opening in your womanhood, Your Highness. That's where the baby will come out from."

Emmelyn's eyes bulged. She knew that information actually. But somehow when the day finally came, she became dumb and needed to convince herself that her baby would really come out through... that.

Wasn't it too small for anything to come out? She had seen her nephews when they were newborn babies.

They were big! How could they fit?

Her face instantly paled.

"So.. how long?" she asked with a very small voice. "How much longer do I need to hold it?"

"I need to check the opening and see how big is the dilation..." said Mr. Vitas calmly. "When the dilation has reached opening ten and your contraction becomes more frequently with only minutes in between, then we know that the baby will be out soon."

Emmelyn lowered her gaze to her lower body and she gulped. This foss- this old man would check on her vagina?

She shuddered to imagine Mr. Vitas spread her legs open and check her intimate parts and then he would measure the opening with... his ten fingers?

Emmelyn swallowed hard! She didn't feel comfortable with this idea from the beginning. That's why she already asked Mrs. Adler to help her when the time came to deliver her baby.

She would prefer a simple village witch than a sophisticated royal physician like Mr. Vitas. But, could she ask for that now?

She was locked up for alleged murder and had no way to demand things.

Ahh... her situation was helpless.

Tears slowly rolled down her cheeks.

"I want Mrs. Adler to help deliver my baby...." she cried despondently. "Please get me the village witch... I want her to help me..."

Mr. Vitas was sitting still. He felt bad about this princess and knew she would prefer to give birth accompanied by the village witch with whom she had a close relationship. She had conveyed this request two months ago before the crown prince left the capital.

"Mr. Vitas..." Emmelyn whispered again between her sobs. "Can you please get Lily to come? I need to talk to her... If I don't survive this labor, I want her to take care of my baby.. Please..."

Mr. Vitas held his breath when he heard her request. This princess was too pitiful. All other royals or noblewomen that he helped were accompanied by their mothers or friends. But Emmelyn had no one. Not even her husband.

The old man was conflicting. He wanted to help her, but at the same time, he knew she was a prisoner and was accused of killing the queen.

Mr. Vitas was lucky that he and John could beg King Jared to refrain from killing Emmelyn and they didn't get punished by the king, but he didn't know if he would be lucky again.

Some people were already beheaded just because they asked the king to hold a funeral for his wife.

"Ahhhh!!!" Emmelyn screamed again.

Suddenly, the pain returned with a vengeance. The princess curled up in a ball again and cried incessantly.

Seeing the woman was in so much pain and looking pitiful, finally, the old physician's heart was touched.  He should do the right thing and make sure Emmelyn got the support she needed during labor. 

Giving birth was a struggle between life or death and the last thing he wanted to witness was the mother or baby died during labor.

With her current condition, who could say for sure that Emmelyn would survive childbirth, or if the baby in her womb would come out alive? She or the baby might die if she didn't have the strong will to survive. 

"Please take care of Her Highness here, I will talk to the head of the king's guards." Mr. Vitas patted the maid's shoulder then immediately went out. He wanted to beg the king's guards commander to call Lily Greenan to come and stay with Emmelyn during labor.

He would send a man to Bydell Village too and get the old witch that Emmelyn requested.

"Where are you going???" Emmelyn cried again, but the old man didn't even look back.

Emmelyn could only grit her teeth and hold her intense pain. Today, she realized she was not as strong as she thought she was.

She even cried like a baby when the excruciating pain returned.

Gosh.. she felt so embarrassed. Her face was covered with tears and sweat and her appearance was messed up.

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