Naming War
“Yes Ye~s, I’m your Grandma~♪”
“Aaauu~”
Mother was holding my newborn boy and making noises I’ve never heard her make before. It seems it’s true that grandchildren make grandparents go crazy.
“Fufu… she’s energetically drinking.”
In the opposite direction, Sasha was breastfeeding our newborn girl. Since it’s been a while since I’ve seen her bare breasts, various things came to mind, but somehow, seeing Sasha as the perfect representation of motherhood kept me calm.
“Father, are you okay?”
Hearing Laurier’s worried voice, I turned to look at her. What a blunder. Causing Laurier to worry is not okay. Putting on a smile, I patted Laurier’s head to reassure her.
“Sorry, I’m all right. Thank you, Laurier.”
“Yeah!”
“Ehehe…” Laurier laughed with a joyful smile. With that, though, I sensed a somewhat familiar, envious gaze behind me and turned to see Sasha staring at me with a slight pout. Sensing a subdued desire from her, I drew close to Sasha and whispered in her ear.
“You know, Sasha, I’m feeling a little envious of our child there. Is it okay if I act a little spoiled later, too?”
“…!? Y- Yesh…”
Sasha’s face turned red. What a cute reaction despite already being a mother of three. Yet, before I could tease her further, Mother spoke.
“By the way, what names did you decide upon for these two?”
“We’ve thought of some, but… surely, Mother and Father must have some ideas, too. Won’t you tell us them?”
“Certainly. My husband thinks the boy should be ‘Legend’ and the girl should be ‘Mary’. I, on the other hand, think the boy should be ‘Gold’ and the girl should be ‘Summer’.”
Somehow, both boy names were brilliantly grandiose… Is this what people mean when they talk about unconventional baby names?
“Sasha, what do you think?”
“M- Me? Uhm… I’ll let my Lord decide.”
“Laurier?”
“I’ll let Father decide!”
For some reason, both of them left the decision to me. I’m happy to have their trust, but I also feel a bit pressured.
“How about ‘Basil’ for our son, and ‘Mint’ for our daughter?”
“Basil and Mint… Oh, those names sound lovely.”
“As expected of Father!”
The names were well-received by Sasha and Laurier. Well, since their older sister is ‘Bay Leaf’ (spelled the same as ‘Laurier’ in Japanese), I thought naming the other two after herbs, too, would be considerably cute, but…
“The boy’s name is a bit lacking in grandeur… but I like the name ‘Mint’.”
It seems Mother supports naming my daughter ‘Mint. As for my son…
“After all, doesn’t ‘Gold’ sound better?”
“Oh? What’s wrong with ‘Basil’?”
I won’t compromise with Mother on this. Of course, neither of us were willing to argue in front of Sasha, Laurier and the two newborns, so we fought a silent battle instead. After we silently smiled at each other for a while, Mother eventually sighed and acceded.
“’Basil’ is fine.”
“Thank you, Mother.”
“It’s fine, already. Now, I’ll substitute you here for a while. I want to spend time with my cute grandchildren and daughter-in-law.”
“Yes, of course.”
Although there are maids here to help look after them, I’ll feel better with her here. I’m going to have to stay up all night to finish the work I put off, so I’m thankful that Mother is here to watch after Sasha, Laurier, and our new family members, Mint and Basil.
In that manner, two new members of our family were born… the older sister twin ‘Mint’, and the younger brother twin ‘Basil’.
Happy Mother’s Day, everyone! (^^)
Chapter 63: All-Nighter Recovery
“I’m finally done!”
I stretched my whole body in relief. I’m pretty tired since I’ve had to work through the night for almost three whole days now. Well, I had gone to check up on Sasha, Laurier, Mint and Basil several times during these days, so the work took longer, but that’s force majeure, so it can’t be helped.
“Good work, Callis-sama.”
“Oh, Zeke. I’m going to check up on Sasha and the others now, but was there anything else planned for today?”
“Oscar-sama will be arriving later today around noon.”
“Father will? Is he coming to see his new grandchildren’s’ faces?”
It’s been a few days since their birth, so this is about when I’d expect him to arrive, but since Mother’s been visiting them so much, I expect he’ll have trouble spending time with them…
“Besides that, there is a party at Marquis Tessede’s estate this evening, but…”
“That was today? I’d rather not, but I have no choice but to go.”
I want to avoid going to parties, but Marquis Tessede is one of the more sensible nobles, so I’d like to be on good terms with him. Still, being separated from Sasha and the others right now, even for just a little while, is pretty rough for me. Mentally.
“I’ve had my fill of documents for today, so I’ll go spend some time with my family for now.”
“Understood. However, Callis-sama. It’s good to cherish your time with the Madame and the Young Miss, but please remember to take time for yourself once in a while. You haven’t properly slept in a while.”
“Well, yeah… but I’m fine. After I’ve spent some time with Sasha and the others, I’ll take some time to nap.”
“I’d be happy if you do so, but…”
I left the room, waving my hand at Zeke who was gazing at me doubtfully.
“Sasha, are you awake?”
“Ah-, my Lord. Good morning.”
After I entered Sasha’s room, she woke up and turned to check up on Mint and Basil who were sleeping in the bed next to hers.
Originally, they were going to stay in another room, but Sasha said she wanted to be with them. Most likely, she felt bad about how she didn’t spend much time with Laurier when Laurier was a baby and wants to make up for it. I think that’s a praiseworthy goal and is really cute, but even so, I don’t want Sasha to push herself too hard.
As you might expect, Sasha couldn’t take care of the babies all the time, so she’s entrusted the maids and Laurier to take care of them whenever they started to cry and she’s not awake. Even so, it seems that Sasha will interrupt her sleep to feed them and take care of them whenever they need her. I sometimes go to help as well, but whenever I see Mint and Basil acting cute, I seem to lose my mind and turn into an overly-doting parent. I’m reflecting…
“Are you doing okay?”
“Yes. Things are slowly calming down.”
“I see, that’s great to hear.”
As I smiled, I noticed that Sasha was looking at me with concern.
“My Lord… have you properly rested these past few days?”
“What’s all this, suddenly?”
“I’m sorry. It’s just, my Lord looks more tired than usual…”
I smiled at my dear, perceptive wife’s concern and gave a slight nod.
“In fact, I am a little short on sleep. I want to lie down next to Sasha, but that’s a luxury I can’t afford now.”
“Ah-, uhm… I- in that case, uhm… My Lord, i- if you close your eyes, then… uhm…”
“Like this?”
I chuckled a little and closed my eyes without hesitation. I’m excited to see what Sasha will do, and patiently waited. Just as I started to feel sleepy because I closed my eyes, I felt Sasha’s hand gently touch my head and slowly, gently guide me down towards the bed. Treating me carefully as if I were a feeble animal, Sasha guided me onto an extremely soft cushion— Wait… this feeling, and this warmth… this feels like…
“A lap pillow?”
“My Lord, you’re supposed to keep your eyes closed…”
“I can’t forget the feeling of Sasha’s body, now can I?”
She’s surely turning red, but since Sasha told me to keep my eyes closed, I’ll make do with just my sense of touch. Before long, Sasha started to gently rub my head.
“I don’t think this is enough to heal my Lord’s fatigue, but… this is all I can do.”
“Don’t say that… This is great. I feel like I could fall asleep like this.”
“I’m glad… My Lord, if you have time, won’t you take a short rest here with me?”
“All right…”
I wonder if it’s due to her motherhood? Sasha’s warm body temperature was gradually lulling me to sleep. I know that soon, Mother will guide Father to this room to celebrate the birth of their two new grandchildren and will see us like this, but even so, I couldn’t resist this feeling and soon enough fell asleep on Sasha’s lap.