No sooner had those words left Tiuran's mouth than the maids shot out into the corridor like arrows.
Marisen and the nanny, who had stood frozen as though paralyzed, also rushed frantically to the bedside.
With terrified eyes, Talia swept her gaze over their pale faces before grabbing hold of the eastern woman's skirt as she stuffed a pillow beneath Talia's hips.
"W-What's happening? What's wrong? Has something happened?"
For a fleeting instant, pity crossed the woman's sun-browned face.
Holding Talia's icy hand between both of hers, she answered calmly,
"Please don't worry too much. For now... we're simply watching the situation."
It was an answer that deliberately avoided any real explanation.
Gasping like someone being strangled, Talia clutched her skirt even harder.
"The baby... The baby's all right, isn't it?"
The woman didn't answer.
Talia yanked even more desperately at her sleeve.
"I'm asking if my baby is all right!"
"You mustn't move like that!"
The woman quickly pressed Talia back by the shoulders.
Her resolute dark brown eyes firmly held Talia's panic-stricken gaze.
"Take a deep breath. For your baby's sake, you have to stay strong."
Staring through tear-filled eyes at that determined face, Talia finally drew a deep breath.
If I do that... everything will really be all right?
She wanted to ask.
But the woman had already hurried across the room, busily gathering stacks of linen cloth.
Watching her with bloodshot eyes, Talia suddenly felt Marisen tightly grasp her trembling hand.
"I-I'll cast healing magic on you."
Even Marisen's face had gone deathly pale.
Clinging to her as though to a lifeline, Talia gripped the healer's hand tightly.
A warm current soon flowed into her body.
But no miracle occurred.
Healing magic did not solve everything.
The stabbing pain that had been pricking at her lower abdomen like countless ice picks suddenly transformed into powerful, crushing contractions.
Talia let out a sharp cry and curled up.
Seeing that, Tiuran rushed back and carefully laid her flat again.
"The amniotic fluid mustn't keep leaking! Please... no matter how painful it is, you have to endure it."
Talia desperately tried to obey.
But the pain was so overwhelming that remaining still felt impossible.
She clutched the blanket until her knuckles turned white, gasping violently for air.
At that moment, the bedroom door flew open, and a middle-aged woman dressed in a black priestess's robe rushed inside.
"Move aside."
Practically shoving Marisen aside, the priestess strode straight to the bed and immediately pulled Talia's skirts up to her thighs.
Her soaked undergarments and the loosely bandaged leg beneath them were laid completely bare.
But there wasn't even time to feel ashamed.
Biting down on her lip, Talia endured the pain that was growing sharper by the second.
Meanwhile, the priestess removed her undergarments, spread her knees apart, and inserted her fingers inside her.
Before Talia even had time to process that shocking intrusion, the priestess turned around and shouted,
"The cervix has already begun to dilate. The baby is coming."
"It's far too early!"
The nanny's scream pierced her ears like needles.
Even through the haze clouding her mind, Talia instinctively wrapped both arms protectively around her stomach.
The nanny was right.
It was much too early.
There were still three whole months left until her due date.