CHAPTER 22 – PROPHESISED

I know I joked about Ingrid getting pregnant, but I did not actually mean for her to get pregnant so soon. In exactly five days after I came back, I was informed by Ingrid during dinner that she was pregnant. I did not know whether I was shocked at the time, or just happy. But I do remember being happy that I was no longer the youngest around here.

Ingrid’s sudden bomb really surprised me, but Claude had it even worse. He the father of the child only found out alongside me the aunt. If the chair he was sitting on was not solid and heavy, but one from Ikea instead, it would have tipped backwards and caused him a lot of pain.

Nonetheless, even if I did not remember my, own reaction, I still remembered Claude’s. Just watching a grown man in his twenties shocked for words and not knowing whether he should or even could hug his barely pregnant wife was hilarious.

I wanted to laugh at him but did not want to interrupt the comedy gold that was happening before me. He finally stopped when Ingrid informed him that she was barely a month pregnant, and it would take a lot more than a hug to injure the recently formed baby. Even then he asked for the royal doctor to come and have another look.

When the royal doctor that was on duty, who was a young female doctor arrived, she gave Claude a scolding for making her come in during dinner and calling her here for no reason. Especially, when she was just here this morning. It was the first time I saw someone tell him off. He even had to appease the young doctor by having her join us for dinner.

After this Claude finally, became quiet and accepted the fact that while Ingrid was pregnant, she was not as fragile as he would first believe.

Now that a baby was on the way I started to have conversations with Claude and Ingrid about it taking my place as heir to the throne. I was in a hurry to get rid of this annoying title. But Ingrid ended the talk by saying that it was far too early for such talks.

She also added that I would still need to take over some of her duties when she progressed further into her pregnancy. Up to here, I was still unaware of how this would affect me, but I realised that I would soon oversee many of the palace affairs. In addition to this, I would also oversee the new battalion that would soon be formed. It looked like in the coming year I would have a lot more responsibilities.

We came down to an agreement that I would come back from the academy during weekends, to familiarise myself with the work that Ingrid oversaw. In addition, I would also take up governing classes at the academy to gain more of an understanding of politics.

With these additional responsibilities weighing me down, I returned to the academy after the break, feeling more tired than before the break. When I told my friends of the news that laugh at me but promised to help with the supervision of the recruits and wherever else they could.

My once simple and easy schedule became packed with additional classes and homework. I found myself waking up early every day, going from my core knight classes, to my electives on politics and governing, then onto supervising the recruits in their training. I found myself swamped with all these matters that were hardly related to one another. So, I could not even multitask and do some things at the same time.

I would go to and from the palaces every week to gain experience by working with Ingrid. To save time, I even moved into the main place so I could get more sleep in and not have to travel to and from the Lily palace. Claude and Ingrid were happy about the move as they were able to see me more easily and frequently.

Back at the academy, the recruits that were originally working under me had become more and more skilled as they often went against other groups trying a variety of tactics that had been introduced to them. They would often propose different suggestions that helped a lot in training the other recruits that had joined in afterwards.

Today they were in a simulated battle where they were outnumbered five to one, on an open field, with nothing for cover. Their mission was to escape with minimal casualties. They were against five other groups from the traditional training method but going one to five was still a heavy task and burden for them. However, this was a task that I had made specifically to test and increase their survivability in unfavourable situations.

While I had high expectations for them, I was not expecting them to come out of this task without any casualties. I just wanted them to know that the world was not a fair place, and there were times when even our best would not be able to cut it.

However, this was not one of those times. As they were able to get out of the situation via a tortoise formation, with their spears and pikes sticking out as they broke through the enemy lines. There were no casualties this time but if there were more enemies, they would not have been so lucky. It looked like next time I would have to increase the numbers from five times to at least ten times.

My recruits, unaware that someone was prepared to make their training even harder than it already was, were still celebrating amongst themselves for successfully, completing this task. I walked up to them and complimented them for doing an amazing job. As usual, I had them reflect on how they went.

As time went by, they would do these reflections amongst themselves even when I was not present or had not asked to do it. This was what I had to achieve in the first place. I wanted them to realise that it was not just a post-activity task that I was making them do, but also something that could help them progress and not make the same mistake, next time around. Not only this, by talking about their experience as a large group meant that others could also benefit from their experience.

Looking back to when these recruits first got here and comparing them to the present, it was a complete overhaul. When they first started, they were excited and proud to serve their country, but they lacked the self-confidence and pride in their ability. Now, they were confident and proud of their abilities and achievements, but they were also not overly proud as they knew that they were only humans and had limits like everyone else.

The days and weeks continued to pass by, without any regrets I made the most of my time at the academy, studying everything I could and even taking on additional workloads as I would not have the opportunity to do so after I became a commander of a battalion.

I had also taken over a quarter of Ingrid’s duties and responsibilities as she was now in her fifth month and halfway into her pregnancy. The duties that I had taken over mainly involved the palace defences and anything that involved travelling around. I completed an inspection around all the walls and armaments every time I returned to the palaces. I would also complete random spot checks on the royal guards and knight as Ingrid was pregnant with the future heir, palace defences became even more important.

However, so far nothing had gone wrong. Everything was in the best condition and the guards were responsive the few times I tested them, using mock situations without telling them. The proficiency of the royal guards and knights did not stop this constant feeling that something was not right. I always felt that the palace was not safe, and it was only getting worse.

I had once again returned to the palaces on the weekend. Still, on horseback, I circled the walls that surrounded the palaces. There was once again nothing wrong and everyone on duty was completing their task to the uttermost perfection. When I questioned the guard captains, they also informed me that nothing out of the ordinary had occurred.

Satisfied, I dismounted from my horse and headed to the main palace in search of Ingrid. When I did not see her in Claude’s office like she usually was, I questioned Claude where she was. Claude informed me that she was feeling tired more often and was resting in her room.

Having confirmed that she was sleeping in her room with my divinity it was only then that I relax. Over the months I had become accustomed to my divinity but when I was stressed or worried often, I would not remember to use it. Like in this situation today, it was entirely possible for me to have known that she was sleeping with just a thought. But I had completely forgotten that I could even do it until after I asked Claude about Ingrid’s whereabouts.

Not wanting to wake Ingrid up, I had her maid bring me all the paperwork that Ingrid oversaw and started working on it. Gradually, I had become accustomed to the workload and no longer felt that it was a burden on my shoulders. Often when Ingrid was tired, I would volunteer in completing the rest of her tasks for her. Situations such as these became more and more prevalent as she Progressed further into her pregnancy.

Having worked past lunchtime without stopping to have a proper meal save for some fruits, I was feeling extra hungry when dinner came around. At Claude and Ingrid’s private dining room, I found Ingrid had already arrived and had started to eat, with a variety of foods filling the table. Scenes like this were becoming more frequent as Ingrid was now eating for two people and often had cravings for different and exotic foods.

Noticing that I had arrived she greeted me and had me join her. I found that after she got pregnant, Ingrid had the habit of stuffing people with food. It was like because she was pregnant and often hungry, she believed that other people were like her. When Claude had arrived fifteen minutes later, he found me stuffed and unable to eat anymore, while Ingrid was still eating and looked to be really enjoying herself.

Looking carefully at Claude’s face it looked like he had also received the same treatment from Ingrid because is once slim checks were showing signs of extra meat forming there.

That night while I was laying in bed, still feeling stuffed after some stretching and light exercises, I rolled onto my side to relieve some of the heaviness from myself. Facing the window, I looked out into the night sky observing the stars and the moon.

It was here that I once again observed a moon halo. Feeling a sudden dread my full goddess form was activated subconsciously, before me I saw a scene that did not match my room making me believe that what I was seeing was a prophecy in the making.

The scene before me was familiar as while it was not my room it still reflected the main palace halls. However, unlike the normal palace, there were signs of battle and blood on the floor. I heard sounds of metal clashing against metal, and pain-stricken voices screaming for help. the body I was in moved forward, towards the clashing and towards the stairs that lead to Ingrid and Claude’s room.

At the stairways, I found Alec and Gil fighting to prevent intruders from gaining access to the top floor. However, they fought in vain as they were overpowered and push down the stairs while the intruders rushed to the top floor.

The body I was in quickly check to see if they were okay and continued up the stairs and onto the top floor. I could hear the intruders talking about, being unable to get into Claude and Ingrid’s room as the body I was in moved closer. Hearing this made me feel relieved knowing that they could not get to Claude and Ingrid.

However, it was short-lived as the door to their room finally gave out. Hearing Ingrid’s scream, I instantly panicked. Wanting to quickly rush to her side I tried to move the body, but I could not as the prophecy ended there.