After cleaning up Marina’s grave, we had left the courtyard and made our way inside the prison. It’s still as decrepit as always, what with all the cracked walls and protruding metal tubes littered around the place. I was expecting the Gryses to be a bit more apprehensive about entering such a dusty old place, but it seems they’re more resilient than I had expected.

“This place is bustling with potential.” They praised it.

“Potential?” Nelly walked on her tippy toes, “Aren’t you guys royalty? Yuck, my clothes will get dirty within a minute of being in here at this rate…”

“Well, despite what all has transpired in this place,” I began talking, “I still hold some fond memories for it. I remember when we had just arrived here, Marina and I were talking about all sorts of ways to refurbish this island from the ground up.”

“Oh?” Adam ran his finger across the dusty walls, “And did you come up with anything?”

“Well, we didn’t have much time, since Ed showed up pretty soon after we did, but we did say something about building a little port of sorts on here.”

“Hm, that’d actually be of immense help for us.” Elaine noted, “Actually, would you be open to us funding the renovation if that’s your end goal? As you know, Cardina isn’t all that well known for the number of ports it has, and Lichtenstelle’s location allows for a good middle ground between all four continents surrounding it.”

“Whoa, that’d be epic!” I agreed, “Alright, we’ll handle the paperwork when we get back home! Oh, but, I’ve got two conditions before I can agree to the project.”

“And what’d those two conditions be?”

“First, don’t touch Marina’s grave without my permission. We’ll try to work around it as much as we can, but if it really hinders construction, tell me before we can find another safe spot to move it to.”

“Alright.” Adam agreed as if it was a matter of course, “And what else?”

“Could you maybe… build a family restaurant chain here?” I scratched my cheek as Cecily chuckled.

“You wanna build an Arthur’s chain here of all places?” She smiled, “You really have the craziest ideas sometimes…”

“Well, I don’t see how that chain could make ends meet.” Elaine warned, “Unless of course you’re planning on founding a small community that’s gonna be living here permanently, that is.”

“Well, obviously we’ll need to make some housing for the workers at the restaurant and port, but I’d like it if the whole port was kind of a pit stop if anything. I’ll even pay for the restaurant’s expenses out of my own pockets, I just want to have it there on the map.”

“But why go through all this trouble for a restaurant chain of all things?” Adam seemed baffled, “Another whacky life dream of yours?”

“Haha, not mine, but I have some friends and good people back in Trivis Numerica who I’d like to give back what they gave me.” I told them about the Grays, “I’ll introduce you to them when we start planning things out!”

“Uhm, dad…” Nelly suddenly tugged on my shirt, “Where’s the bathroom?”

“Ah, that is…”

“No, never mind, just follow me alone somewhere where I can go.” She pleaded, “It can’t be helped.”

Agreeing to her sudden request, we had made our way to somewhere a bit further outside the prison’s courtyard, somewhere near the coast. The island isn’t all that big, after all. You can practically walk the entire length of it in just a couple of minutes.

“Alright, I’ll be over there if you need me.” I turned to face away.

“Actually, um, that was a lie.” She stopped me from going away, “I just wanted to talk to you about something in private.”

“?”

“It’s… about that lady.” She muttered.

Ah, it’s about Marina after all. All those things with Adam happened that I kind of forgot, but yeah, Nelly now knows that I had a wife while I was away from her and her mother. I guess it makes sense how she wants some answers, but she probably found it to be a difficult topic if Adam and Cecily were there with us. Alright, lay it on me, sweetie.

“Did you love her?” She raised her unsure voice a bit.

“I did…”

“Oh…” She seemed a bit disappointed, “But what about mom?”

“I love her just as much.”

“But you can’t have two wives, can you?”

“Guess not, ha-ha…”

“Dad, this isn’t funny…” Tears formed around her eyes, “Why did you leave mom?”

“I didn’t-! No, I can’t be making excuses.” I kneeled down in front of her, “I don’t know what you think of me, but know that papa’s human, just as you and everybody else in the world is. I’ve flubbed up a ton of things in the past, and I don’t think I’m gonna stop making flubs any time soon.”

“Is that… so?”

“But listen well, Nelly. A human being can make mistakes, but that doesn’t mean that’s all they’re good for. Look for a formula, a way to get out of that endless cycle. Because as long as you learn from your flubs, you’re just learning to not make the same mistake twice.”

“So you’re agreeing that liking another woman was a mistake?” She seemed peeved.

“Sigh, my mistake wasn’t liking Marina.” I finally sat beside her, “It’s that I hadn’t protected her. Because if I did, you’d already have a little brother or sister in the world.”

“…You’re a real meanie, dad. To mom, and to me.”

“Yeah, but…” I tried saying something, but the words refused to come out, “Yeah…”

***

“So what now?” I finally got up, “You gonna hate your old man?”

“If mom’s okay with it, then I won’t say anything else.” She grabbed hold of my hand, “But don’t do it again!”

“Hahaha! Of course, of course! Your mother’s the only woman for me, after all!”

“Dad, you’re too easygoing. I’m worried about mom at this rate.”

Well, obviously. You just found out about your father being a stupid idiot who cheated on your mother, so no wonder you’d feel like that. Even still, I don’t plan on breaking any more hearts, so everything should be settled for now. Heh, I’m far too old to be playing around anymore, my 23rd birthday’s coming up, after all.

Hold on a second – 23 years old? Doesn’t that make 10 years since I left home? Has it already been that long? Geez, I feel like I’ve accomplished so much, but also so little all at the same time. I wonder how mom and dad are doing, what would they say if they saw me right now? I made plans about visiting them with Cecily and Nelly back before I had even left for Sibirus, but all that stuff happened that inevitably delayed the trip. Sending them a letter feels a bit disingenuous, so I always just sort of waited until the moment when I could come over there and meet them in person.

“Hey, what’s going on guys-” I greeted them before seeing the situation, “Cecily?! Oh my God, is everything alright? What happened?!”

“Calm down.” Elaine spoke calmly, “She just got a bit sick is all.”

“Sick? Was it because of the boat ride?”

“Humu, ask her yourself.” Adam chuckled.

This is bad! None of us are medical professionals, and we only know some basic first aid remedies, so if anything’s going on with Cecily, we’re shit out of luck! Not to mention the captain of the ship is only coming tomorrow morning at the earliest, so if this happens again, ooh… I don’t even wanna think about it!

“You alright?” I seated myself beside her, “Adam said you felt a bit sick.”

“Ugh, I’m fine…” She sipped some water before taking back her words, “Actually, I’m kind of scared. I’ve been feeling like crap for over a week now.”

“That long? And you didn’t tell any of us about this?”

“How could I? This trip meant a lot to you, so I at least thought I could hide these nausea episodes from you, but before I knew it, the Gryses joined us, then everyone was super excited, then... urgh…”

“Hey! If you’re gonna throw up, do it to the side. You absolutely gotta stay awake the entire time!”

“Nah, I’m ugh, I’m fine. Just a bit sickly.” She then shivered, “Brr, isn’t it kind of cold?”

“Cold?” I raised an eyebrow, “Well, I suppose it might be getting a bit chilly. It’s October, after all.”

“Ugh, why did I have to get sick now of all times…?”

She wasn’t doing well at all, and I was freaking out about her health, praying to every God I knew of just to keep her healthy until we could get to a medical professional. Even still, while I was feeding her some oranges we stashed up on for the trip, what angered me the most was Elaine’s and Adam’s snickering.

“Grr…! Guys, this is serious! We have no idea what’s going on and the nearest hospital is across the damned sea! Will you please stop being annoying and help me out here?!”

“Oof, you’re awfully rude when under pressure.” Adam walked up to me, “And yet you still haven’t even thought to investigate the matter more closely.”

What the hell is this muscle-brained idiot on about now? Cecily’s feeling sick for a week now, we’re both confused and scared, and, and…! Wait, hold on…

“Cilly, for how long has this been going on?” I suddenly recalled a similar thing that happened before.

“Hm?” She seemed surprised by the question, “I dunno… about a week or two? Ugh, my head’s fuzzy again.”

“And about your appetite, tell me – Were you feeling any bouts of hunger over the course of this boat trip? I do remember you grabbing a lot of food from our rations.”

“Yeah, sorry about that…” She almost started crying, “Really, I’m sorry…”

“No, no!” I couldn’t contain my excitement, “It’s alright! Eat as much as you can! Also, about you feeling cold, here’s my coat! But before that, could you just answer this one last question for me?”

While I was tending to her with the utmost care, the Gryses couldn’t help but giggle even more at the exchange, all the while keeping Nelly calm. So as not to say something inappropriate in front of Nelly, I had cupped my hands and whispered into Cecily’s ear, “When was your last period?”

“That’s…!” She jolted a bit, before answering back with an even more worried tone, “Yeah, it’s supposed to have been a week ago, but nothing’s happening. I’m scared, is everything gonna be okay?”

Immediately jumping from my spot with the power of Auros, I had practically bounced from wall to wall out of sheer excitement, laughing with the Gryses about the entire situation. Cecily and Nelly were left confused, but I quickly reassured her that everything was fine after I had given her a strong hug.

“I see you got it as well, finally.” Adam patted me on the back, “Last time I was quite rude and abrupt with the reveal, so I wanted you to be the one to figure it out yourself this time. Congratulations.”

“Haha! Thanks so much, man!” I dapped him up, “You gonna make me marry again?”

“Only if you so wish to.”

“Lune? Adam?” Cecily sat on the ground, looking like she saw a ghost, “What’s going on? Someone explain, please!”

“Cecily!” I approached her slowly, trying my hardest to keep my composure as I spoke, “Ahem…! You’re not sick. You’re pregnant.”

The Gryses then began clapping and cheering for us, before finally letting a worried Nelly run up to us. She was quite confused and scared as well, but I patted her on the head and smiled, reassuring her as well that everything is good.

“Pregnant? Am I gonna be a big sister? Thank goodness…!” She finally smiled herself before questioning, “But how did you get that from mom being sick?”

“A-Ah.” I remembered that Nelly didn’t yet know where babies came from, “I-It’s Mister Stork, remember? Like from the picture book we read recently!”

“Yeah, don’t you remember?” Cecily joined in a frenzy, “Mister Stork sent me a letter that he’ll be delivering a little baby to our home in a couple of months! T-That’s why I was so sick, because the letter was, err… so shocking that I got sick! Yeah!”

Ever the cruddy liar, are you, Cecily? Aw geez, you’re confusing the poor girl even more than she was already! But at least with this, we know what the root cause is. And not only that, but we know that the Grimhearts are finally getting another member! Ooh, I just wanna hug Cecily and never let go!