Viviane was utterly exhausted, her body feeling as though it had been pulled apart. She vaguely heard the doctor announce, “It’s a boy.”
When Zeth entered the room to see her, his face was pale, his hair damp with sweat and clinging to his forehead. He looked as though he had endured the ordeal himself. Viviane, still trying to catch her breath, couldn’t help but feel confused.
'Why does he look worse off than I do after giving birth?'
Zeth approached her bedside, crouching down slowly to take her hand. His voice was soft, tinged with guilt. “It hurt, didn’t it?”
Viviane managed a weak smile and replied, “It doesn’t hurt anymore.”
She wasn’t lying—it didn’t hurt anymore. But that didn’t mean it hadn’t. In that moment, Zeth wished he could turn back time and endure the pain in her plac
