Senna's words struck like thunder from a clear sky, leaving Lys with no thoughts at all.
What Germany?!
Lys sought out Lucius, making no mention of previous events, simply asking to borrow the physician who came regularly to check Narcissa's pregnancy.
Lucius unconsciously glanced at Lys's bandaged abdomen and fell silent for several seconds, then realized his impropriety and quickly apologized.
However, Lys only silently took the physician away, then silently brought him back. Lucius tried to discreetly inquire with his physician, only to discover the doctor had no memory of having just gone out.
When the physician heard that the potential father—Noah—was a werewolf, he was quite alarmed, but under the weight of Lys's thrown Galleons and raised wand, he still examined Senna.
Indeed, as Senna had said, she was pregnant. Despite yesterday's circumstances, the fetus hadn't suffered any significant harm and was already nearly three months along.
Lys sat at the dining table while Noah and Senna sat silently on the other side. In the eerie atmosphere, only Coco's cheerful housework sounds could be heard.
The three had entirely different thoughts.
Lys's mind was full of the fact that they would have a new child. She felt her head echoing with silence, and... jealousy.
Would this child be as happy as Lucius had described? Would every loudly spoken wish come true?
This child would have a mother who didn't go away for long periods, a father who wasn't always bedridden.
This child would have more freedom, wearing clothes Noah made by hand and playing everywhere.
They would have a childhood without hunger, cold, pain, and darkness.
This child could even... take their mother's surname, Lam.
Jealousy made Lys's hands twist together under the table, draining all color from her face.
Noah was shocked by everything Senna had experienced yesterday. During a witch's pregnancy, anything could happen, and Little Star'sDeath Eater faction was apparently this dangerous internally.
And Senna?
Her face was very pale, and it was clearly difficult for her to say what came next.
"This child—I don't want this child."
Noah's reaction was mild, but Lys's was intense. She shouted: "Why?!"
It was hard to say exactly what Lys was thinking now. She didn't want a new child to appear in this family, but when Senna said she wanted to abandon this child, Lys felt terrifyingly panicked.
Senna seemed very surprised by Lys's reaction.
But soon Senna seemed furious as she stood up abruptly, the force knocking her chair to the floor with a crash that struck all three hearts.
This made Senna's words even more deafening: "No reason. This family shouldn't have a second child."
Senna avoided Lys and Noah's gazes and ran upstairs.
Noah, eager to follow, looked at Lys with some concern: "Maybe we need to wait to discuss going to Germany. Do you want to go rest in your room?"
Lys just indicated Noah needn't worry about her.
After watching Noah try to take the stairs three at a time, she slumped dejectedly in her chair, not understanding why.
Why would she choose to abandon the child in her womb? Hadn't the physician said the child was relatively healthy, with seemingly normal magical fluctuations?
And what did she mean this family shouldn't have another child? Did her own presence make her mother think children were a bad thing?!
She got up and paced in the small kitchen. Lys was terrified of Senna saying "abandon," even though those words weren't directed at her...
Now twenty years old, Lys hugged herself in the kitchen corner just like when she was two, but the corner that once hid her now couldn't shield her vulnerability or bring even a little sense of security.
"Abandon"? Those words couldn't apply to any member of this family—they couldn't!
If someone abandoned appeared in this family, would there be... a second...
The family afterward seemed as if nothing had happened. The three still went to the reading room as usual, Lys took her medicine and treatments on schedule, and even used that owl feather quill in the reading room to provoke the stupid bird that loved to poop on her head.
But however you looked at it, her behavior carried a hint of deliberateness, and the potion ingredients she provided Senna were often insufficient—all three knew what other potions those missing ingredients could brew.
The first to break under this atmosphere was Noah. During the full moon when Lys was helping him through it, he carefully chose his words:
"Senna didn't mean this family shouldn't have children. She meant... Little Star, when you were born, though Senna complained you made her miss the Potioneer certification, she would compete with you for toys and snacks, stuff potion bottles and toy wands in your hands—she did have hopes for your growth. I'm just sorry the fate I brought our family was too rough. We weren't qualified parents. The hardships of your childhood and uncertain future made her afraid to face you and another child."
"'This family shouldn't have a second child' means... we aren't qualified parents. Senna just saw your growth and felt... felt..." He didn't know how to describe it, only lying on the bed and skillfully fastening his chains to avoid Lys's gaze and this topic. "Whatever Senna decides, I'll support her. I hope you can understand her too."
As moonlight spread, seeing Lys nod, Noah suddenly wondered vaguely—did Little Star know what other children's childhoods were like? Was she perhaps too indifferent about her own upbringing?
But did Lys know?
She knew.
After starting school, she'd heard her classmates mention it countless times.
A normal wizarding family.
Senna, hearing the werewolf howls echoing throughout the house, walked downstairs, stepped into the room at the end of the corridor, closed the door, and sat on the floor.
For nearly twenty years, almost every full moon—every single one!—she had clearly seen what kind of existence werewolves were. Terrifying... until death... this was an unsolvable curse... then continuing to see clearly at the next full moon.
It was better when Lys took Noah out, but whenever she and Noah went out alone, the looks and words from shops and passersby—even though she didn't care—cut her heart piece by piece.
She covered her face. Ever since learning she was pregnant, Senna's emotions had been uncontrollable. She felt suffocated and oppressed.
You could tell from the little madwoman that she hadn't done what a mother should do. This made that child sensitive, insecure, and even now when she'd grown up excellently, still like this.
She'd never had a mother. She had no idea how to be one.
Senna was learning for the first time that this room's floor was so hard and cold, so dark and cramped.
Previously, she'd always been too busy running around. Looking back, if not for that little madwoman being abnormal herself, what meaning did her outstretched hands have? Just adding torment.
Noah's werewolf identity was permanent, the little madwoman was forced into a faction full of madmen, and she herself lacked sufficient strength to protect herself—didn't even dare operate her specialty potions business.
She couldn't do it—couldn't maintain this family and then become another child's mother again. She couldn't... she hadn't even protected her first child properly...
Soft knocking sounds came from the door. The tightly closed door cracked open, and that big fat snake struggled to drag in a magical lamp around its neck.
With a flick of its tail tip, Crunch closed the door tightly again. Senna looked at this little madwoman's precious snake and those amber eyes reflecting light in the darkness, couldn't help cursing loudly with a crying voice, then covered her eyes.
............
~~~~❃❃~~~~~~~~❃❃~~~~
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