The pain Lorelei felt in her womb began to intensify. The pain didn't come gradually, it was sharp and undeniable.
As she sat on the bed after hearing the news the maid servant had just told her. The baby in her womb began to stir, as if he could understand that his father was abandoning him.
"Uhmm easy baby, easy…" Lorelei spoke to her baby as she rubbed her belly.
The feeling felt strange to Lorelei as she had never been pregnant before. Lorelei tried standing up, but the movement made the pain intensify.
"AHHHH" Lorelei screamed as she tried to steady herself, her breath became uneven . Then she felt something wet roll down her legs, she bent down to look, and she saw water.
The maid who was with her immediately ran to support her. "Your ladyship, the baby is coming, you need to lay back down."
"Call the handmaid now!!!" the maid instructed one of the maid servants around. She rushed out to call Ursa.
"My lady, I need you to lie down now, we have to prepare you for the birth of your baby."
Lorelei could not believe what was going on, her baby was coming, and he was coming on coronation day. The pain intensified, Lorelei felt as if she was dying all over again, except this time it came with so much pain.
"My Ladyship, how are you feeling, you have to preserve your energy" Ursa ran to Lorelei side, stroking her already wet hair.
" The midwife is already on her way, the physician is coming also, just endure the pain a little bit." Lorelei tried to focus on Ursa's Voice but the pain was getting too much for her.
There was chaos in the room. As the maids prepare boiling water, bringing clothes to be used for the delivery. They helped to adjust her position. Lorelei could sense their fear as they moved.
She felt afraid and alone also. She is having her first child and she doesn't have any family close to her. She was also birthing the first child of the emperor.
The birth of an unrecognized imperial child.
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What was happening outside was totally different, as Lorelei is struggling to give birth to her child, celebration of the empress coronation is going on outside.
The drums begin to sound slowly at first then it grows louder. Trumpets and bells all sounded together. The crowd was cheering. Lorelei was trying to concentrate, but the distant noise kept distracting her.
"What is that sound…?" Ursa answered her nervously, "The coronation ceremony has started.
Servants began to whisper among themselves, "The minister of rites is overseeing everything personally today….. They don't want anything to go wrong."
They looked at Lorelei nervously as they spoke.
The contraction grew stronger with each passing minute. They were now coming closer together. Lorelei feels like her body is being torn apart.
"AHH the pain is too much Ursa. I don't think I will survive this." Lorelei looked at Ursa with tears in her eyes.
Ursa tried to reassure her that it will soon be over. Ursa's words calmed Lorelei a little bit, but the pain was overwhelming for her.
Lorelei felt sorry for herself, the previous owner and her child. She was experiencing the pain all alone with no loved one around her.
Everyone had abandoned her. She is surrounded with servants who look like they don't know what they are doing. The only voice of comfort for her was Ursa.
As Lorelei screamed to push her baby out, cheers erupted from the crowd at the coronation ground. A new Empress has been crowned. The people are celebrating.
As Lorelei gaps, the drums boomed, as she screamed in pain the more the people cheered as if mocking her pain. As she collapsed, the bells continued to ring.
It was hard and intensive labor.
In the midst of her pain, a realization hits her. The Emperor, the father of her child, her supposed lover and best friend, is currently marrying another woman, and that to someone she considered a friend.
The realization in a way steadied Lorelei's emotions. She didn't even feel jealousy or any form of pain.
The midwife's voice brought Lorelei back to the present. " You need to push my lady" Lorelei pushed as she instructed. As she pushed she was struggling to breathe.
" Breathe my lady, take a break between each contraction." Ursa held Lorelei's hands to support her. "You need to stay awake!, you can't afford to sleep."
Ursa shouted when she felt Lorelei was closing her eyes. Lorelei was feeling like she might pass out. Her body was beyond exhausted.
But her maternal instincts and Ursa's shouts gave her the strength she needed to push the baby out. Lorelei became drenched in her own sweat. Her fingers tightly gripped the sheets as she kept pushing.
The voice breaks with each cry she lets out.
As the labor intensified some servants were still whispering about not just the birth of Lorelei' child, but also the consequences of it.
"What if His Majesty doesn't acknowledge the child?", one of the maids whispered to her friend, "Then… both mother and the child will be in danger." her friend replied to her.
Outside, the coronation has reached its climax, the bells are now louder, the drums have become synchronized. A formal announcement began to echo in the distance.
One of the servants whispered out loud, "The Empress crowning has begun…" The servant said this when Lorelei was at the peak of her pain.
"I can't do this anymore. Ursa cut it out of me" Lorelei looked at the mid wife and Ursa desperately.
"We can't do that to your ladyship, it will harm you and the Royal heir, you have to endure to the end…. Please…"
Ursa pleaded with Lorelei. Lorelei feels like her body has reached its limits. She feels like she can't continue anymore. "I'm going to die again…." she thought out loud.
"I want to live for the sake of my baby" Lorelei screamed as he gave one final push .
"The i see its head, the baby is about to be born my lady, just just one more push my ladyship"
Everything slowed down. Her breathing became more intense, her heart was beating faster, the pressure Lorelei felt at that moment was overwhelming.
Outside the bells began to ring again, as if anticipating the birth of the child. The coronation bells continued to ring loudly across the empire.
As her child is born into the world, the Empress is crowned.
At the height of her pain the shouts burst from the crowd as the empire celebrates the empress crowning.
Then everything goes white....