Baby System: I'm the Beast World's Only Hope!-Chapter 221: Episode : Does she know?
Just after that announcement, Nerissa called for a joyous celebration for the coming of the young prince.
The Spires did not do things by half measures. So, when the Matriarch decreed a celebration, the ocean itself seemed to dress for the occasion.
The Great Plaza, usually a bustling marketplace, had been transformed into a ballroom of epic proportions. Massive, bioluminescent jellyfish were tethered to the coral spires, acting as living lanterns that cast a soft, shifting kaleidoscope of colors over the thousands of merfolk gathered below.
Musicians played instruments carved from hollow shells and whale bone, the sound vibrating through the water in deep, resonant hums that you could feel in your chest more than you could hear with your ears.
It was a party for the ages. A festival of life. A celebration of the miracle growing inside the Queen.
And Roxy wanted to be anywhere else.
She was the last person who wanted to be there.
She sat on a raised dais of white coral, next to Caspian and Nerissa. She was dressed in a gown of woven sea-silk that shimmered like moonlight on water, and her hair, styled in the "soft waves" she had made famous, was adorned with the rarest black pearls in the kingdom.
She looked every inch the radiant, expecting mother.
Inside, she felt hollow.
Twenty-seven days, Roxy counted in her head, staring blankly at a school of neon fish dancing in a synchronized spiral. I have twenty-seven days left.
The joy around her felt suffocating. Every cheer, every toast, every happy bubble rising to the surface felt like a weight adding to the chain around her ankle. They were celebrating a future dynasty. She was planning a prison break.
"My Queen!" a young mermaid squealed, swimming up to the dais and presenting a basket of cakes. "For the Little Prince! Or Princess! May they swim fast!"
"Thank you," Roxy said, her voice mechanical. She forced the corners of her mouth up. "May your currents be swift."
The mermaid swam away, beaming.
Roxy’s smile dropped instantly. She looked down at her hands. They were trembling slightly.
"You are quiet, my Pearl," Caspian murmured, leaning close. His hand found hers, squeezing gently. He looked handsome tonight, his scales polished to a high sheen, but his golden eyes were filled with a frantic sort of worry. He could feel her drifting away, even as she sat right beside him.
"Just tired," Roxy lied, pulling her hand away under the pretense of adjusting her dress.
"I can clear the plaza," Caspian offered instantly, ready to be the tyrant for her sake. "I will send them all home."
"No," Roxy shook her head. "Let them have their fun. They need this."
They need to believe in the fairytale, she thought bitterly. Before the witch disappears.
The line of well-wishers was endless. Generals, artisans, farmers, they all came to pay homage to the womb that would end the drought of heirs. They brought gifts: tiny tridents, blankets made of soft sponge, toys carved from corals.
Then, the crowd parted.
Kaia swam forward.
The General of the Iron-Scale Legion was not wearing a dress. She was in full ceremonial armor, her gunmetal scales gleaming. But she was carrying a small, wrapped bundle.
Kaia stopped before the dais and bowed low, a bow of genuine respect, devoid of the stiff military protocol she usually adhered to.
"My Queen," Kaia said, her voice unusually soft. "My King."
She looked at Roxy, and her grey eyes, usually so cold and predatory, softened into something warm and fiercely protective.
"I do not have pearls," Kaia admitted, looking down at her bundle. "I do not have soft silks. I am a soldier. I only know how to fight."
She unwrapped the bundle. Inside was a tiny, perfectly crafted dagger made of white bone, with a handle inlaid with mother-of-pearl. It was sized for a child’s hand.
Caspian frowned. "Kaia, it is a baby. It cannot hold a knife."
"It will learn," Kaia insisted, ignoring him and looking only at Roxy. "The ocean is dangerous. A Royal Heir must be an apex predator."
She moved closer, her gaze dropping to Roxy’s stomach.
"I pledge to you, Roxy," Kaia vowed, her voice thick with emotion. "I will teach this child to hunt. I will teach it to hide. I will guard its flank when you are... resting. I will take care of it as if it were my own blood."
As if it were my own.
She looked at Kaia. She saw the devotion there. She saw a woman who, despite her rough edges and her questionable attempts at a threesome, truly, deeply loved the idea of this family.
Roxy realized then that she wasn’t just looking at a guard. She was looking at her replacement.
When Roxy left... when she took the Key and vanished to the surface... Caspian would be broken. The baby would be motherless.
But Kaia would be there. Kaia would step in. Kaia would teach the child to hold that bone dagger.
A wave of profound relief and heartbreaking sadness washed over Roxy. She reached out and took the tiny dagger. She pressed it to her chest.
"Thank you, Kaia," Roxy whispered, and this time, the smile was genuine. "I know you will. I know you’ll make them strong."
Kaia preened, her chest puffing out with pride. "Stronger than a Leviathan, my Queen."
Kaia bowed again and swam back to her post, looking like she had just been knighted.
Roxy watched her go. She will be a good mother, Roxy thought, the realization tasting like ash in her mouth. Better than me, anyway.
The party continued. The music swelled.
Roxy sank back into her throne. She stared into the middle distance, her eyes unfocused. She wasn’t seeing the dancing merfolk. She was seeing the Iron-Wood forest. She was seeing Zarek’s face when he realized she was gone. She was seeing the children growing up without her.
She missed Kaelen, and she missed all of them so much.
She felt detached. Like she was watching a movie of someone else’s life. Her hand rested on her stomach, not in a caress, but in a protective guard.
"You are drifting again, Little Pearl."
The voice was low, ancient, and vibrating with power.
Roxy startled, blinking rapidly as she snapped back to the present. Queen Nerissa was watching her.
The Matriarch sat on her massive throne, holding a goblet of wine. She hadn’t been looking at the dancers. She had been watching Roxy. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝓮𝒘𝙚𝙗𝒏𝙤𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝒐𝙢
Nerissa’s black eyes were unreadable pools of ink.
"I... I’m sorry, Mother," Roxy stammered, straightening up. "I was just thinking about... the nursery. The colors."
"Lies do not float in this court," Nerissa said simply. She took a sip of her wine. "You were not thinking of nurseries."
Roxy’s heart skipped a beat. She gripped the armrest of her chair.
Nerissa turned her head, looking out at the celebration.
"The burden of the vessel is heavy," Nerissa mused. "To carry life is to carry fear. You wonder if you are enough. You wonder if the world is too big, or too small."
She turned back to Roxy. Her gaze pierced through the silk, through the skin, straight to the turmoil in Roxy’s soul.
"You look at the horizon and you weep for what is lost," Nerissa observed.
"Mother, I—"
"Hush," Nerissa silenced her with a wave of a webbed hand.
The Matriarch leaned closer, her massive frame casting a shadow over Roxy. The sounds of the party seemed to fade into the background, leaving them in a bubble of intense, quiet pressure.
"Worrying about the future will get you nowhere, my child," Nerissa said softly. "The future is a current you cannot control. It pulls where it wills."
Roxy looked at her, confused.
"You have to be here," Nerissa corrected.
The Matriarch looked at Roxy’s forced smile, the sadness in her eyes, the way she held the bone dagger like a talisman.
Then, slowly, deliberately, Nerissa raised her hand.
She pointed one long, black, webbed finger directly at Roxy’s stomach.
The tip of her finger hovered inches from the silk of Roxy’s dress.
"You look at this child and you see a task," Nerissa whispered, her voice dropping to a rumble that vibrated in Roxy’s bones. "You see a means to an end. You see tomorrow."
Nerissa’s eyes locked onto Roxy’s.
"But that child is the future and the present," Nerissa said. "Your priorities will shape where your path ends."
