“Eating an empire! I feel like I’ve become a big dragon. That’s going to be a little creepy.”
“Why? It sounds pretty cute. A red dragon devouring the empire.”
Sienna said disgustedly, imagining it.
“It’s not cute at all. Oh! Come to think of it, I didn’t dream at all when I conceived Sharillo.”
“Dream?”
Carl asked back with a curious look.
“I mean the conception dream. I heard that the mother herself or the people around her usually have strange dreams before conceiving children. Like seeing a blind rainbow, holding a dragon in your arms, or holding a bunch of jewel-like fruits in your arms. It can be a boy or a girl.”
Carl said with a look of wonder.
“I’ve never heard of this before”
“Oh? Is it a story that only comes down from Heidel? Chelsea, my nanny, is the only midwife in Heidel. If anyone has a child, she would ask them whether they ever had a conception dream. Chelsea guesses the gender of a child who is going to be born after hearing about a strange or memorable dream.”
“Amazing. Is the midwife a prophet?”
“Haha, nonsense. She probably just guessed the gender depending on the dream’s characteristics. But I don’t have any dreams. I guess I’m falling asleep too deeply.”
At Sienna’s words, Carl looked troubled and asked back.
“That strange dream…a conception dream. Does it include a monster… like a Kraken living in a sea that is generally treated as a kind similar to a giant octopus or squid?”
Sienna asked back, “Kraken?”
Kraken was a top-tier monster in the ocean, a creature with countless legs. The size is immense – one leg was the size of a large ship’s sail. It was nicknamed the Dragon of the Sea because it lives in the deep sea and sometimes attacks passing ships to scare sailors.
A conception dream was bound to involve beautiful and bizarre things, but he’s asking for creepy sea creatures.
“Why? Did you dream of Kraken coming out? When?”
“I think it’s been a while. But I still remember my dream clearly…”
“What kind of dream was it? Tell me!”
Although a Kraken was not quite pleasant, Sienna urged him to tell her the dream that could possibly be a conception dream. Carl broached it.
“In my dream, I was sitting on the beach with you. I felt very peaceful. I usually hate the salt-soaked beach, but it was nice because it was a dream. The sandy beach, which seemed to be full of sunlight, was also pleasant. Then suddenly, a big ship came in from beyond the sea. It was a huge warship.”
“Which country’s warship was it?”
“Well… I am not sure because there was no sign, but at least it wasn’t our warship. I was hostile to the ship. But then there was a big water storm in the sea. At first, I thought it was a tidal wave, but it wasn’t. A bridge as big as a pillar of the imperial palace stretched out from the sea.”
“That was a Kraken!”
Sienna fell into an exciting story.
“That’s right, a Kraken. It was the size I’ve never seen in my life. And then the Kraken immediately wrapped the ship with so many legs. The big sail of the warship was broken and the people in the ship jumped into the sea in fear. Eventually, the warship lost its fighting power.”
“And then what? What happened?”
“The Kraken came up to me with that ship in its hand.”
“To you? The Kraken attacked you?”
Sienna was worried that the Kraken might have hurt Carl even though it was just a dream. She had never seen a Kraken in person, but the prestige of the sea monster gave Sienna a sense of fear.
“No. He brought me that big warship. And then, strangely enough, it jumped into your arms.”
“The Kraken that was carrying that big warship? That big thing fell into my arms?”
“Yes. I don’t quite understand it either, but the Kraken was held in your arms like a child.”
“I can’t believe the Kraken is in my arms…”
Sienna got tired of imagining Carl’s dream. Carl said, amused by her reaction.
“This is the conception dream, right? It’s definitely weird, and it’s a vivid dream even after a long time.”
“…I think so.”
The Kraken, though nasty, certainly felt like a conception dream.
“Then will our child resemble the Kraken?”
Thinking of a child with a Kraken head resembling an octopus, Sienna shook her head and said.
“Dreaming about fruits doesn’t mean a child with a fruit head will be born. Wouldn’t my child grow up to be a child who controls the sea? Biting off warships from other countries!”
It was quite a grand conception in that way. A dream of Kraken known as the Dragon of the Sea.
“That’s a pretty good idea. After I have stabilized the foundation of the Empire, my child can spread out further into the sea. But you said earlier that you can guess whether it’s a boy or a girl from a conception dream. So what’s the gender of Sharillo?”
“Why? Do you want a boy?”
“I don’t care if it’s a girl or a boy.”
Sienna shook her hand at Carl’s words and said, “Well, don’t you still want the first child to be a boy? You want him to be a successor.”
Carl shook his head at Sienna’s words.
“I don’t care, even if she’s a girl. If the child wanted to, I’d hand over the Leipsden Empire.”
Carl spoke with a face full of confidence. If there was anyone who opposed Sharillo’s rise to the throne because she was a woman, he was willing not to let them get away. Sienna was deeply grateful for Carl’s response.
“I think it would be pretty cool. If the first empress of Leipsden rules the sea.”
“It’ll be wonderful.”
The two smiled happily, portraying the future of a child not yet born.
*
Sienna welcomed a delightful guest after a long time. It was Jamie, her brother. He, who followed Marquise Marie, visited the Imperial Palace to meet Sienna.
“I hereby visit Her Majesty Sienna.”
Jamie greeted Sienna with a graceful gesture. Before leaving the capital city, he had been burdened with even using honorifics to Sienna, but now greeting with courtesy was unbelievably natural.
Sienna ran to Jamie, unable to conceal her joy.
“Brother!”
“Oops! You should not run so carelessly!”
Jamie greeted Sienna with a wink and open arms. He held his sister in his arms and whispered, “Something’s definitely different from before. It feels like there’s one more person between you and me holding you like this.”
Sienna said with a punch in Jamie’s chest, teasing him.
“What?! After a long time, are you making fun of me as soon as you see me?”
“Oops! It was a joke. By the way, I feel weird. The tearful little girl has grown up like this and already has a child in her belly.”
“I know. I feel weird, too. By the way, what are you doing in the palace? Shouldn’t you be working hard as the knight in Marie’s estate?”
“I heard that Heidel was also framed for your treason. I was wondering what kind of ridiculous rumor was spreading and ran here like crazy when I heard you were taken to jail.”
Sienna asked back, thrilled to hear that Jamie was worried about her and ran here from that distance.
“Jamie, does our father know about it, too?”
“Of course. I had to spend a few more days trying to stop him because he insisted on bringing down the knights here and proving your innocence.”
“If he did, I would have been in bigger trouble because we would be mistaken for trying to create a real rebellion.”
“I know. He insisted that if the accusers looked at his honorable posture and truthful eyes, they would know he was innocent… it really drove me crazy.”
‘Believe his innocence if they see his eyes…?’
Sienna couldn’t believe her father, called the Spear of the North, made such a stupid argument. When Jamie saw Sienna smiling, he sighed and said, “You are laughing now, but I really thought I was going crazy. I even thought my father might have gotten dementia. You know how stubborn he can get. He was being stubborn and blaming me for something ridiculous. I was so worried, but my father actually calmed me down. I couldn’t make it out of Heidel until I told my father that I’d sneak into the Imperial City and rescue you if you were in danger.”
“You’re too late for that, aren’t you? The work was done at once.”
“You know how far away Heidel is. When I heard that you were falsely accused, I went through a few villages insanely, and apparently that incident was already fifteen days old. Turns out it was after everything was over when the news came to Heidel.”
Sienna nodded. Even if it reached fifteen days, the news was delivered earlier than usual because Sienna was from Heidel.