.sixty four.
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"He's a boy, and he's very small and frail despite all the life he took from you."
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It was the middle of the night when Minji and Eun were cuddled up together in bed. She had hardly been able to sleep, as laying down was uncomfortable for her and she couldn't find a spot in which to sleep in. It didn't help that Eun clung to her desperately while he slept, and she didn't want to disturb him, so she said nothing of it to him. From their bedroom window was the beautiful sight of the moon shining in the sky above, and the stars decorated the night sky in a marvelous blanket. She was slowly starting to drift off to sleep when she felt a pain in her belly.
Minji flinched, her hands quickly going to touch her pregnant stomach. "What is it, Jinki?" she whispered to her baby with gentle words.
There was a silence for several minutes before she felt a shooting pain, and she remembered it was the same as when the twins were going to be born. Though she was weak, she turned her in her husband's arms and shook him away with trembling hands. Of the late, her hands shook a lot and were always cold. Her doctor informed her it was due to the baby making her weak. Her hands shook because they were tired, and they were cold because her blood was weak and therefore not getting enough circulation through her body.
The tenth prince woke up after a few tries, his eyes blinking back tiredly. "What's wrong, jagi?" He asked her in a husky voice full of sleep. When he saw the pain reflected in her eyes, the desire to sleep completely left his body. He sat up in bed quickly and asked her in words full of fear and worry. "It's time?" Ever since she had informed him of their baby's love for him, he had eased up on the accusations of the baby being a horrible monster. Still, in the back of his mind he resented the baby. He just wasn't as vocal about it as he had been the previous months. It was all for Minji's sake because she didn't have much time left and he wanted to enjoy their time together without any arguments or bad blood.
When she nodded her head, his thoughts raced in a panic. Only he, Minji, the twins, and their one overnight maid were in the house at the moment. They had a few options to go fetch the doctor, but none were options that Eun wanted to do. He could stay with the twins and send their maid to find a doctor. He could go find the doctor himself. Or he could run to his younger brother Han's house and get him to summon the doctor for him. Eun didn't want to leave Minji alone in the house, while being in pain. But he thought the best option was to send the overnight maid out to Han's house, and ask him to bring the doctor to them. It would be momentary, and the tenth prince gave his wife a kiss on the lips, assuring that he would be right back.
He woke the maid and gave her specific instructions to hurry to Han's house and ask him to summon the doctor. Then he asked her to come right back and help take care of the twins while his wife was in labor. The maid nodded and left the house in a hurry, Eun picked the two one years olds in his arms and raced back to his room where Minji was now laying on her back, her frail hands rubbing her belly slowly.
When she looked up at him with confusion as to why he was holding two startled and crying one year olds in his arms, he explained to her, "I sent their over night maid out to tell Han to summon your doctor. She'll be back in a few minutes."
Minji nodded, sweat beading on her forehead as Eun tried to rock the two crying babies back to sleep. Their maid came back with Soon Deok within twenty minutes that felt like hours to them. She took Soohyun from Eun's arms and Soon Deok offered to take Eunbi too, but Eun held onto her, trying to get her to sleep. It was more comfort for himself, having something to do instead of standing there watching his wife in pain. Soon Deok was almost as far along as her younger sister, and even through her pain, she offered her sister a seat by the edge of her bed so that she wouldn't get tired.
