She, who enjoyed wandering around casually, stubbornly held onto the advice and remained like a fixture in place.

Since she couldn’t leave this spot, her ongoing activities were things like this.

Relentlessly, with her small hands, she crafted rice bags and clothes for the baby about to be born. Tarhan raised her hand and kissed it. Enya smiled warmly.

Tarhan spent each day frustrated as his blood dried up, watching her, who had a swollen belly and suffered from leg cramps. Wiping away the pitiful wrinkles that had appeared around her eyes over the past few months, he recalled what had happened just a few seasons ago.

“I think she was pregnant.”

Piache asserted with a voice full of pity.

At that time, Tarhan, who had noticed the cold sweat trickling down her forehead as they clung to each other all night, suddenly got up. As soon as he discovered the vibrant blood between her legs, he carried her and rushed to Piache’s house.

“This time, there were no symptoms, I suppose.”

Turning off the lamp that had been lit, Piache shook her head sadly. She glanced at him, who was Kneeling in front of the lying Enya and couldn’t even lift his head while gasping for breath.

He pitifully murmured as if expressing sorrow.

“How many times has this happened…”

Tarhan was desperate. He couldn’t grasp how to explain this to her.

At first, when miscarriages were dismissed as a common occurrence, Piache scolded them instead. However, as these events repeated, Piache, now speaking with a gentle voice, offered words of comfort.

“Even if she has no appetite, try to feed her for her body. If she really can’t eat, grind it and boil it with barley in water and try to feed it to her.”

Old Lady Piache provided Enya with various dried herbs.

After that, such incidents occurred several more times.

Tarhan couldn’t plead with Enya that there was no need for children, so let’s not try anymore. He couldn’t even beg her to stop pushing him into this pain anymore.

He couldn’t refuse her one and only wish for a child, considering how empty the house was without him and how afraid she was of a future without a child. So, he thought she wanted a child so badly then he couldn’t possibly reject her one wish.

When the news of the last pregnancy came out, Tarhan couldn’t even smile at the news.

Seeing the man whose expression crumbled due to an unavoidable fear, she stubbornly shut her mouth.

“I think this is the last one. Enya’s body won’t be able to endure it anymore.”

Piache’s words were true. Tarhan stared awkwardly at her swollen belly, almost to the point where she couldn’t look down at her own feet.

Noticing him frowning at her belly, Enya gently lifted his chin with a cautious finger.

“Tarhan.”

She gave an innocent smile.

Lately, she seemed overly happy, so Tarhan couldn’t help but smile back at her, even if it was a much more distorted and awkward smile than hers.

He playfully touched her forehead with his own.

He knew that if he didn’t look happy, she might become anxious again. He lifted his shoulders silently and hearing her laughter, he found relief.

Letting out a soft sigh, he held her even tighter in his arms.

He wished for this overwhelming sense of happiness to last even a little longer.

* * *

Piache mentioned that Enya’s due date would be in less than two months.

“By this time, it would be difficult to sleep because of the baby moving….”

Piache was actually worried about the baby’s movements being too little.

“Maybe going outside and moving around more could help.”

Tarhan looked at Piache with sharp eyes. He had seen Enya’s face turning pale after getting examined.

Indeed, as Piache said, the baby in her belly was too quiet. Even reaching the last month, the usual movements of a baby in the womb were scarce. He heard Enya whispering something to her belly every morning.

Baby, please move a bit. It’s okay, just knock once there for me.

However, the baby only responded with a feeble movement, ignoring her request.

“Is it too small?”

On the other hand, Tarhan was going crazy in his own way.

To prepare for any unforeseen circumstances, Enya had decided to stay at Piache’s house while he was out hunting.

The room provided for childbirth was modest and simple.

Old Lady Piache raised her eyebrows in response to his comment as she placed soft grass beneath the carpet.

“Tsk! With cover on all sides, it’s already enough for a pregnant mother, an old woman, and a soon-to-be-born baby. Unnecessary worries…”

Although Tarhan made an unpleasant expression upon hearing this, Old Lady Piache criticized the idea of having a large and luxurious room for childbirth, stating that it would be inconvenient for the pregnant woman.

While spreading dry grass layers under the carpet and filling a pot with water, she continued to complain about how bothersome it was to be pregnant and how men were more stubborn than women.

As Piache prepared to light a fire with firewood, Tarhan gently laid Enya down.

She kept her arms around Tarhan’s neck, burying her nose in his neck as if she wanted to inhale his scent to the fullest until he settled her into the designated spot. It’s as if she wanted to breathe his body scent before he leaves.

Even when Tarhan finally released his arms, she did not let go, as if clinging to him unintentionally due to anxiety. Eventually, she quickly let go of his arm, with the habitual thought that she should not burden him.

Tarhan quickly put his arm behind Enya’s head as if using it as a pillow. Even when lying down together in a position similar to at home, Enya seemed uncomfortable with anxious eyes.

“I’ll definitely be back before you give birth.”

He pledged to Enya, who was burying her face in his face.

She was never fussy before his hunt, but she was particularly anxious this time. He could not turn away from the woman who called out his name even in her sleep. Her anxious chest rose and fell, and her tightly closed eyes trembled in his embrace.

Tarhan held her even more tightly.

Kahanti’s men would be waiting for him on the plains. There was no time to linger like this. However, he couldn’t leave her with those moist eyes looking up at him. He wanted to tear out his heart and leave it by her side if possible.

Although she opened her lips, no sound came out, as if her throat was choked.

In response, Tarhan, who had been looking down at her with a small frown on his forehead, asked with a slightly anxious voice.

“What’s wrong? Does it hurt somewhere?”

As Enya quickly shook her head, he hardened his face again and lifted his finger to gently touch her chin.

Instinctively, she seemed to sense that he would leave soon with that movement.

In the end, tears broke through her tear ducts and flowed down. Tarhan, with his big hand trembling on her cheek, pressed his lips against her cheek and whispered, his hand gripping her two small hands.

“Don’t worry. I’ll definitely come back before you give birth, no matter what it takes. I won’t leave you alone.”

Enya couldn’t respond to his words. In the end, she nodded her head, and tears that had flowed down her cheek were caught on her chin.

Tarhan thought it would be better to split his heart into two and tear it apart.

He hugged her again, brushing away the tears with his lips and kissing her. She quickly wrapped her arms around his neck again. After a long kiss, he pulled away from Enya’s lips, letting out a groan that seemed to flow from his entire body, then slowly stood up.

Even until the moment he left, her figure remained imprinted in his eyes, lingering like an afterimage.

* * *

The chieftain’s eyes were full of murderous intent as he prepared for the hunt, and the warriors’ spirits, praying for victory, were fierce. With the signal echoing in the form of a drumbeat, Kahanti’s battalion rushed towards the scattered Geppas horde like a collapsing sandcastle.

Tarhan, narrowly avoiding the brutal kicking of that horde, shouted to immediately reorganize the ranks.

“Form three ranks! Focus on disrupting them until the end!”

Chaos ensued as they ran around the confused Geppas horde-raising dust, prepared javelins and arrows flew towards them.

Along with the resounding and heavy noise, the monstrous cries echoed from all directions, tearing through the sky.

In the familiar chaotic battlefield where his ears grew muffled, Tarhan scanned his battalion with a quick gaze. Fortunately, everyone seemed to have safely joined Kahanti’s second line. The Aquilea warriors began indiscriminately slaughtering the Geppas horde, which Tarhan’s battalion had broken through.

Breathing heavily, he began to look for Kahanti’s figure on the running horse. He felt Rigata following closely behind.

“Tarhan! We’ll take it from here! Hurry to the center of the horde…!”

Tarhan gave a brief and firm reply before vigorously urging his horse forward, starting to push through the ranks as planned.

The goal was to join the ‘God’s limbs’ unit and reach Kahanti’s main base to mobilize for the final objective: targeting the female Geppas herd.

With the ranks in disarray, it was the perfect opportunity to penetrate and strike the vulnerable offspring and females protected within from the Geppas, who were just like the water buffalo with its strong horns and armor-like skin.

Riding aggressively, Tarhan aimed his spear at a Geppas charging towards him, its horn gleaming like a blade. The iron-clad hooves propelled the horse forward, creating a formidable circle in the air as he dashed towards the creature.

Thunk!

In a moment that seemed as if the monster and his horse were about to tear each other apart, the thrown spear blade soared through the Geppas’s forehead. The massive creature fell to the ground, kicking up dust and emitting a scream.

Tarhan’s horse let out a resounding neigh as it thudded against the ground. Tarhan kicked his horse’s sides with his legs and turned in another direction. He swiftly pulled out the spear stuck in the pile of corpses and charged forward once more.

Rushing through, one by one, dealing with the charging Geppas, Tarhan arrived at the location where Kahanti’s first line was engaged in intense combat.

Observing the scene of a fierce battle with the Geppas, Tarhan quickly looked for Kahanti’s golden necklace. However, even amidst the life-and-death struggle of the battalion, there was no sign of the chieftain anywhere.

‘D*mn it, why can’t I see him?’

Tarhan changed the direction of his horse once again and dove deeper into the heart of the herd.

The situation remained the same. Despite the hunt settling down, there was still no sight of Chieftain Kahanti anywhere.

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