Baby System: I'm the Beast World's Only Hope!-Chapter 230: Episode 229: Going into Labor

Three weeks later.

Roxy had passed her due time and now she was like a bloated whale.

The System’s "Gestation Acceleration" was no joke. What should have taken nine months was compressed into a singular, exhausting month.

Roxy floated in the center of the Pearl Wing, buoyed by a nest of soft, oversized sponges. She was massive. Her silk dress, once loose and flowing, was now stretched tight over a belly that looked ready to burst.

She didn’t move much anymore. She couldn’t. The sheer weight of the child directed her to the bed.

"Soup," Roxy whispered, her voice raspy.

A servant immediately swam forward, offering a bowl of clear, lukewarm broth.

Roxy took a sip. It was bland. It was boring. It was exactly what her stomach could handle. The nausea had faded, replaced by a constant, dull ache in her lower back and a pressure on her hips that felt like she was being slowly pulled apart.

She ate mechanically, staring at the bubbles rising from the thermal vent in the corner.

Three days left, the System clock in her mind read. Estimated Delivery: 72 Hours.

She was never as angry as she was before. She just wanted to birth this child and be done with it.

Patiently waiting for her time to leave.

"It really is a lovely shade of violet," Nimue chirped from the foot of the bed.

The Princess was holding up a tiny, knitted tail-warmer.

"And look at the stitching! The Weaver’s Guild outdid themselves. Do you think the baby will mind the pearls? Are they too scratchy?"

Roxy blinked slowly. "It’s fine, Nimue."

"Fine?" Nimue huffed, tossing the garment onto a pile of gifts that rivaled a dragon’s hoard. "It is exquisite! You are too calm, Roxy. When I was birthed, my mother reportedly bit three midwives."

"I am saving my energy," Roxy murmured, handing the empty bowl back to the servant.

Sitting on a coral stool near the door was Kaia. The General was sharpening her bone dagger, the dagger made sounds, sound that Roxy found oddly soothing.

"The perimeter is secure," Kaia grunted, not looking up from her blade. "I have doubled the guard at the nursery. No one enters without a DNA scan. Not even the Matriarch."

Roxy looked at Kaia. The "replacement plan" was working. Kaia had taken over the practical preparations. She knew the guard schedules. She knew the feeding protocols. She was ready to step in.

"Thank you, Kaia," Roxy said softly.

Kaia paused. She looked up, her grey eyes softening just a fraction. "It is my duty. And... it is my honor. The heir will be safe."

"I know," Roxy said. Because you’ll be there when I’m gone.

The heavy pearl doors were thrown wide with a violence that sent a shockwave through the water.

Nimue dropped the tail-warmer. Kaia was on her feet instantly, weapon raised.

A Royal Guard swam in. He was missing his helmet. His armor was dented. His face was pale, his gills fluttering wildly in panic.

"General!" the guard gasped, ignoring Nimue and looking straight at Kaia. "Something has happened!"

Roxy heart thudded in her chest like drum beats.

She has a bad feeling about that.

The kind of feeling that got her squealing, what had the fish brain done this time.

"Report!" Kaia barked, swimming forward to grab the guard by his chest plate. "What happened?"

Roxy’s heart stopped. The soup bowl she had just handed back slipped from the servant’s hand and drifted to the floor.

"Caspian?" Roxy whispered.

The guard looked at her, his eyes wide with fear and surprise that she already knew what he was going to say.

"He... he went to the Abyssal Ridge," the guard stammered. "He said he needed to hunt. He said he needed to clear his head. He took on a Leviathan alone."

Nimue let out a horrified shriek. "Alone?! That is suicide!"

"He killed it," the guard said quickly. "But... he took damage. Heavy damage. He is bleeding out in the Antechamber. The toxicity of the Leviathan’s blood is—"

That stupid fool!

"Get out of my way!"

Roxy jerked upright.

"Roxy, no!" Nimue cried, swimming to stop her. "You cannot move! The baby!"

"Move, Nimue!" Roxy snarled, her eyes flashing with a sudden, terrifying fire.

She pushed herself off the sponge bed. The sudden shift in gravity, combined with the spike of adrenaline and pure, unadulterated panic, sent a shockwave through her body.

He was hurt. Because she had broken his heart and driven him to the darkest part of the ocean to find an outlet for his pain.

If he dies, Roxy thought, a cold terror gripping her soul, if he dies thinking I hate him...

A sudden, sharp pressure exploded in her lower abdomen as she tried to move, followed immediately by a sensation of warm fluid rushing out, distinct even in the surrounding water.

Roxy froze mid-swim.

Her eyes went wide. Her hands flew to her stomach.

The pain didn’t ramp up slowly. It hit her like a freight train—a cramping, searing contraction that bent her double.

"Ah!" Roxy gasped, clutching the doorframe for support.

"Roxy?" Kaia abandoned the guard and rushed to her side, catching her arm. "What is it? Is it the King?"

Roxy looked down. A faint cloud of clear fluid was mixing with the water around her tail. The pressure in her hips was immense, as if the baby had suddenly decided that right now was the only acceptable time to exist.

She looked up at Kaia, then at the terrified Nimue, and finally at the guard who was still panting.

The irony wasn’t lost on her. She was underwater, miles beneath the surface, and yet the biology of her human side was screaming one undeniable fact.

Roxy let out a breathless, pained laugh. She thought since she had a tail it would different but guess the child was going to break something inside her before he comes out.

Hope you are ready for this, System?

[Always ready.]

"My water broke, guys."