Queen Series #1: LIVANA

👠: PROLOGUE

February 14th of 1999
Milan, Italy

Loud moans, hoarse shouting, and intense heavy breathing are the only sound that could be heard along the hallways of the massive mansion of the Vanacouvers. The whole family are patiently waiting inside the large chamber where they often held meetings; thick tension filling the four corners of the room as if the bone chilling shouts from the other room a few miles from where they were would haunt them in their sleeps. Whispers of prayers from the older women didn't even helped either.

"Un'altra spinta, signora Maileen! Vedo già il bambino!" said by the midwife, voice almost as loud as the mother's shout, before ducking herself once more inside the white cloth that covers the laboring mother's lower body.
Translation: "One more push Madam Maileen! I can already see the baby!"

"Aaarrgghhh!"

Señora Maileen's cries of agony slowly fills the chamber once again until it turned into another agonizing shout as she did what the midwife told her, and repeated it again.

Don Jovenio looks more pale than he usually looks as he listens to his wife's shouts of agony while enduring the tight hold of hers of his hand. He's also sweating so much; whether of nervousness, undefined happiness, or just the fact that it's kinda hot inside the room because of the thick tension, he doesn't know.

Don Jovenio slowly, and nervously looked at the midwife when she started to pull herself out of the white cloth, noticing the baby she's holding on her arm. He couldn't see the baby's genital, and it only makes him more nervous with the announcement the midwife is going to do a few seconds now.

The midwife, however, who knows too well about the family's history, panicky looked at the baby she's holding when she silently confirmed the gender. She's fighting herself whether to tell the father or not. She slowly raised her head and looked at Don Jovenio with glittery eyes, her breath slowly getting uneven, her heart pounding incredibly on her chest as she hugs the child more closer to her. She didn't say anything our of nervousness. And instead turned her back hastily from the man.

"N-no," Don Jovenio stuttered. The midwife didn't even uttered a single word but the way her eyes looked at him, only confirmed his biggest fear. His jaw clenched when his eyes follows the midwife who gets ready to start cleaning the baby.

And with whole body almost shaking, his head turned to his wife beside him who's catching her breath after the long hour of labor. He's not sure how to tell her about it, and most importantly how he's going to tell the whole family later who're patiently waiting in the meeting chamber. He knows how much his wife loves their baby, but he cannot guarantee if they could keep it alive forever.

Rules are rules. They must follow it no matter what. And he cannot imagine the humiliation he'll be facing afterwards.

•••

"Cosa vuoi dire che è una ragazza Jovenio!" Jovenio's great grandfather boomed through the four corners of the room after telling the whole family about the news.
Translation: "What do you mean it's a girl Jovenio!"

There was a moment of silence. The only sound that could be heard were quiet inaudible whispers coming from half of them.

He can see how his mother's hands holds his oldest and youngest sons's little hands tightly as she mumbles her prayers under her breath from the other corner of the room, just like every other female members of their family.

"Le regole sono regole." His grandfather suddenly said, as if reminding them all of their golden rule, thus totally silencing the whole room.
Translation: "Rules are Rules."