Crack—
Celia lay curled up to the side, a faint, relieved smile on her pale little face, her gaze fixed intently on the elf egg she had guarded for a full three months.
She was finally out.
But rather than hatching on her own, it was more accurate to say Liam had been carefully working on the egg.
Although elves were oviparous, their newborns were exceptionally fragile, utterly incapable of breaking the shell themselves and requiring external assistance.
Liam had long since calculated the timing.
Once both elf eggs reached maturity, he set about helping.
The process stretched interminably before them.
They had been occupied in the incubation room since the first light of dawn.
Now, a full twelve hours later, Liam had finally succeeded in helping the first baby hatch—a tiny elf.
Unlike the newborns from her memories in her previous life, the elf baby before her now emerged into the world in utter silence, not letting out a single whimper.
Celia's body had been continuously drained for two full days, leaving her weakened to the extreme.
Her eyes brimmed with tears, and she was on the verge of complete collapse.
Liam placed the little baby beside her.
The child was wet, sticky, and covered in albumen, looking quite messy.
A soft, relieved smile touched her lips, gentle and genuine.
So cute~
Though just born, the little one already had soft golden hair, small pointed ears, and even the chubby cheeks looked particularly delicate.
Her large eyes opened, shining with a liquid clarity that held all the bewilderment and uncertainty of a soul newly dawned upon the world.
Yes, an especially adorable little girl.
Her baby girl.
Celia's heart instantly melted.
Thinking this was her baby.
Thinking this baby came from her own belly.
As the mother, Celia felt such a sense of accomplishment.
She turned on her side, used her small hand to brush aside the strands of hair stuck to the baby's cheek, her gaze so gentle it seemed to overflow with tenderness.
Weakly, she called out, "Grassball, call me Mama."
The name was awful, but Liam had chosen it.
Back then, judging by his demeanor, he had even deliberated on it for a long time.
The elf girl was named Grassball, the demon boy Berryball.
Like little dogs.
Liam before her smiled wryly and affectionately nuzzled away the unshed tear at the corner of her eye.
"A newborn can't call you 'Mama'," he said softly.
"Celia gently cradled the baby in her arms, mess and all, and couldn't help but become lost in thought once more."
Three months ago, she was still a man.
Now, she had truly given birth to two little babies for another man.
And that man was Liam.
Liam, who had once invaded the elf clan, stolen their treasure, was seen as a heinous demon, a candidate for the Demon King.
He had somehow become the person she was inexplicably bound to, her deepest attachment.
"Waaah! Waaah!"
Grassball was crying!
Why!
Celia instantly panicked, trying to rock her gently.
No... this was her first time being a mother; she had no experience comforting a child...
Ten days after the two little babies hatched—
"Husband, why are the babies so good-looking?"
"Shouldn't newborns' faces be all wrinkled?"
Celia looked at Grassball and Berryball in their stroller and voiced her confusion.
"Isn't the answer obvious?"
The man's large hand stroked the head of the girl in his arms as he said in a low voice,"Because, I told you from the start, my genes are excellent. With a husband as handsome as I am, is it wrong for the children to be a bit exquisite?"
Celia, leaning on her pink knees, wasn't fully convinced and muttered, "I... I'm also... very good-looking."
"Heh, of course."
He set the girl in his arms down, took a wooden toy gun from the wall cabinet filled with toys,
gave it a casual shake—clink, clatter—
He walked over, placed it in the hands of the dazed girl, held the back of her neck, and clamped down on her full, moist lips in a possessive bite.
"Mmph~ Husband, what are you doing..."
It was Liam's habitual quirk, doing these baffling things.
After a moment of intimate entanglement, they parted.
He lowered his gaze, placed the toy in the girl's palm, and whispered softly, "Use this to play with the children. It's for you to play with too."
"After all, compared to the children, I still find you, Celia, more endearing."
Celia's cheeks burned, the residual warmth on her lips making her carefully press them together, silently savoring the feeling.
Even now, despite being the man's wife and having borne him two children,the truth was, the two of them, as a couple, had barely been together for four months.
Not to mention Celia used to be a man.
Of course, she couldn't treat him like a familiar old husband accustomed to flirtation.
She'd only gotten used to calling him 'Husband' smoothly, but every time he launched a sudden attack—like kissing, or going deeper...
She would still act like a young girl experiencing her first love, shy and embarrassed.
Besides... Liam still didn't treat her like a proper wife.
He saw her exactly as he said—just a naive, simple girl, a bit of a pushover.
Whenever the mood shifted into something more intimate and charged between them, he would inevitably say things meant to fluster her.
As if Celia were the delicate, soft, cute female lead in a shoujo manga, or the kind in a domineering CEO sweet romance—
"Little rabbit, I'll keep you imprisoned by my side forever~"
"Silly woman, it seems there are some things your husband needs to teach you personally~"
If the male Celia from before heard such cheesy lines, she would definitely have found them nauseating and uncomfortable.
But now, she couldn't tell if her brain was truly being influenced by female genes, or if the other's appearance was just too outstanding and she was mesmerized...
Every time Liam teased her with such words, her heart would "thump" nervously, like a startled deer.
—If it kept thumping like this, she'd soon faint.
They were already husband and wife, with children.
Celia found it strange—this kind of thing.
Still feeling shy around her husband...
What if, when the babies grow up, Liam still acts so domineering and leaves no room for refusal towards his "little rabbit"?
Wouldn't that be mortifying?
Would the babies laugh at her?
This matter of being shy like a young girl—when you got down to it..... was it simply because she liked Liam too much?
Celia wasn't wrong in this thought.
An elf's lifespan is inherently long.
Once they find love with another, that devotion is not like a mortal's fleeting wave, but rather an endless, surging tide.
Even spending a hundred years like this every day, hugging, kissing, and being intimate, would be nothing out of the ordinary.
Later, even if the passion faded, the attachment between them wouldn't diminish in the slightest.
They would ultimately accompany each other for their entire lives.