They arrived at Alaric’s home and walked into his house; and the first sight that greeted Aiden were the disturbed faces of Nessa, Elara, and Rakan, who held one of Ingrid’s hands.
To Aiden’s most shocking surprise, Ingrid’s belly had already grown convincingly large, showing that she was pregnant.
In fact, it wasn’t just being pregnant, she looked like she was in labor, doing her best to endure the pain while Elara and Nessa helped her through it.
What Aiden was seeing made no sense, considering he had only seen them about three days ago, and Ingrid hadn’t looked nearly as pregnant then.
"This is what I meant, poshlad. See for yer self," Alaric said with a grim look on his face
Rakan walked over to them while Nessa took his spot and held Ingrid’s hand.
"Thank you for coming, Aiden. There was no other person we could think of calling," Rakan said desperately.
Aiden nodded and asked, "When did this happen?"
Rakan began explaining, "Only two days ago, she discovered she was feeling unwell, and when she had it checked, it turned out she was with child. I was ready to accept it as mine, but then a few hours after she confirmed the pregnancy, her belly started showing."
Aiden’s expression grew startled. He didn’t know much about pregnancy, but he knew for certain it took months for that sort of development.
Rakan continued, "That’s when we first suspected it could be that demon’s. She tried every herb drink to kill that abominable seed, but none worked, and her stomach only grew larger."
Alaric interjected, "Nessa reckons, judgin’ off the size of her belly, she’s near ready to drop. How any of this is even possible I’ve no clue, lad , but it’s nothin’ short of magic, and that’s why I’ve come lookin’ for you."
Without answering, Aiden walked closer, and after his next blink, his eyes took the draconian form. This startled Alaric’s wives slightly, but they knew he was a mage now, so it had to be normal.
Aiden examined her belly and could see a properly formed fetus within her. He could also sense magic surrounding it.
From the books he’d read about demons, there was no mention of how they were born, but it did describe their twisted and absurd form of aging.
Within several days to weeks, a demon would grow to adulthood, and then their aging became extremely slow, allowing them to live for hundreds or even thousands of years.
Aiden surmised that this rapid growth happening to Ingrid was based on the same principle. Their fast aging process perhaps started from conception.
Amidst the pain and labored breathing, Ingrid pleaded, "A-Aiden, can you please kill that devil spawn inside of me?"
"Not without harming you in the process," Aiden said, feeling pity for her.
Ingrid then cried out in pain, especially as her water broke. Nessa announced, "The baby is coming!"
Rakan immediately ran back to her side, and Nessa began the delivery process. Both Alaric and Aiden turned their heads away.
Soon after, the baby was delivered, followed by its cry, and Nessa carried it in her arms.
The child had two extremely tiny protrusions on its forehead and pointy ears, but its skin was warm and clear like a human’s.
It was half-human and half-demon.
Nessa couldn’t say it aloud, but she couldn’t help smiling at what might have been the cutest baby she had ever delivered.
She tried to lower the child toward Ingrid so she could see it, but Ingrid quickly turned her head away. "Get that thing away from me, Nessa."
Even Rakan closed his eyes. It wasn’t that they didn’t like the sight of a baby, but there was nothing worth celebrating if that child came from a demon who had raped and tortured the mother.
Nessa then carried the baby to a different part of the room.
Aiden stretched his hand toward Ingrid and whispered, "Goddess Embrace." He used the advanced healing spell to grant her relief from the pain of childbirth.
"Thank you," Ingrid said gratefully, then turned toward Elara. "Get me a knife."
Everyone looked at her in shock; they knew what she wanted the knife for.
"Ingrid..." Elara’s face filled with sadness.
Without waiting for anything further, Ingrid pulled the little knife always strapped to Rakan’s side and attempted to go toward the baby that Nessa carried.
"Wait, Ingrid, are you sure you can live with that?" Rakan asked, standing in her path.
"Out of my way, Rakan!" she yelled. "Are you going to let that thing live?"
Alaric walked closer and placed his hand on her shoulders. "Ingrid..." he said in a somber tone.
"What is wrong with you people?" Ingrid’s voice cracked; you could tell how deeply it hurt her, regardless of how much she tried to hold it together.
"Should we leave it to grow and perhaps come finish what its father started?" she asked again, tears now rolling down her cheeks.
"Answer me! Should we?!" she yelled, and this time she broke down completely into tears as Alaric pulled her closer.
You could see that everyone there was heartbroken about the situation.
They truly wanted to avoid having Ingrid live with the pain of taking her child’s life, demon or not. However, keeping it was still out of the question.
Aiden, who had been thinking of a better way to deal with it, then said, "Let me handle this."
They all looked at him as he walked toward Nessa to take hold of the demon child, who looked like it had already grown by a few more weeks.
Nessa let him carry the child, and Aiden held it in his arms. He took one more look at Ingrid to be sure she wanted this, and without saying a word, she simply nodded.
"What will yer do with it?" Alaric asked, somewhat concerned.
"Don’t worry, Alaric. This is why you called me here, to deal with the situation, and so I will. Just leave it to me." He sounded reassuring, so Alaric simply nodded.
Thankfully, Alaric’s daughters, Mira and Kira, had been sent to a neighbor’s house earlier before all this happened.
Aiden made a portal appear before him, then walked into it before it closed. A corresponding portal opened in the corridor leading toward the Grand Magus’s chambers.
If the Grand Magus was able to take control of a human’s life, one who was a noble at that, she would definitely be able to dispatch a demon child without batting an eye.
At least, that was how Aiden reasoned it before deciding to appear here with the demon child wrapped under a cloth.