## Chapter 151
Talia focused her gaze on Varkas's eyes and then gathered strength in the lower part of her body.
A sensation similar to that of a rock crushing her pelvis invaded her. Every pore of her body opened, beginning to distil a cold sweat.
She gathered the entirety of her strength. However, she did not perceive that anything was moving forward. She felt she was about to burst into tears.
How much longer would she have to remain in this state? At the instant she wanted to abandon everything due to the unbearable pain, someone let out a cry.
Talia raised her eyelids, moistened by sweat and tears. The priestess, sitting at the foot of her knees covered by the linen, observed the space between them with utmost seriousness.
Talia opened her cracked lips with difficulty.
"What... what is happening?"
"Blood, it's blood..." murmured the maid who was next to the bed with a horrified face.
The housekeeper firmly grabbed that maid and pushed her behind her.
Before she could question that scene, the labor pains, which had barely mitigated, began again. Talia clung to Varkas's neck once more.
How long did that pain prolong, which felt as if bones were separating, and internal organs and nerve bundles were being crushed inside the body?
Suddenly, her vision was dyed white and something blocking the lower part withdrew rapidly. That sensation was so intense that her neck arched automatically and a sharp scream broke from her vocal cords.
Talia lay motionless like a corpse between Varkas's arms and began to gasp with difficulty, with a breath that barely reached her. Her ears were plunged into silence and her vision was as blurry as that of someone sinking into water.
She also felt that a part of her body had been severely torn. However, that sharp pain that felt as if the brain were catching fire was no longer there.
Had it all finished already?
While she reflected on that with paleness, a strange feeling of restlessness suddenly invaded her. The room was unusually silent.
Talia raised her heavy eyelids with difficulty. In her unfocused vision, she noticed Varkas's neck, in which the veins had swollen considerably. With a trembling hand, she tugged at the hem of the clothes of the man, whose mind seemed absorbed in something.
"Varkas... why...?"
Varkas looked at her with difficulty. Talia forced her sight to see his expression clearly, but she could not focus well.
Exactly as if he were an invisible ghost, she contemplated the man leaning over her and articulated the rest of her words with great difficulty:
"Why... doesn't the baby... cry?"
"..."
"Varkas, why does the baby...?"
He did not answer a single word.
'Have my ears gone deaf?'
She looked around with dismayed eyes. The maids were gathered in a single place, wrapping something in a linen.
Upon trying to sit up the upper part of her body to see that clearly, Varkas exerted more pressure on the arms surrounding her.
"You cannot move yet."
It was a harsh voice that she would have never expected to hear from him.
Talia blinked awkwardly. Varkas, who was holding her head with his cold and swollen-veined hand as if he wanted to prevent her from turning her face, spoke with a low voice that instilled fear:
"Has the bleeding stopped?"
"It has not stopped yet..."
"Then why don't you take measures immediately? What are you doing?"
"...Unfortunately, we can do nothing."
Talia felt that the body surrounding her firmly had transformed into stone. She could note that he was madly enraged for some reason, but the motive was not clear to her.
An implacable voice, mixed with a metallic echo, resonated over her head:
"Where is the High Priest and what is he doing?! Bring him immediately!"
"It's impossible, it's impossible for that to be a request! Male priests can never enter the delivery room. Observing the natural state of a woman is strictly forbidden to them..."
At that instant, the sound of something breaking was heard.
Talia clung with difficulty to her consciousness, which was about to fade away. A moment later, she understood that he had thrown an object.
"Go and tell him immediately. If he does not come to tend to my wife right now, I will lock him in the temple and burn him completely."
Upon hearing that, Talia understood that she was in a dangerous situation that required treatment. However, she did not experience any fear regarding it. It was as if all her senses had been numbed.
Talia remained contemplating Varkas's rigid chin awkwardly; then, driven by a strong instinct, she tugged at his sleeve.
"Varkas... I am fine... our baby..."
She moved her lips with difficulty, without clearly understanding what she was talking about.
"Help... our baby."
Varkas did not answer. She knew he was looking at her, but she still could not distinguish the expression drawn on his face. Tears continued flowing incessantly.
"You... you promised me..."
She contemplated him with a look of reproach upon seeing that he did not move, and then tried to look for the baby once more. Nonetheless, she could not move at all because Varkas was holding her head tightly.
She wanted to push him away firmly, but her arm did not move, as if it weighed as much as lead. Talia's body trembled, plunged into a feeling of helplessness.
"Nothing is wrong. Nothing will happen," whispered the man, squeezing the upper part of her body with a strength that even hurt her, while placing his cold lips on her temple.
'Lie.'
Talia murmured.
"Everything is a lie. Nothing is fine. And it never will be."
She felt her body gradually growing cold. It was a sensation similar to slowly sinking into frozen water. She was too cold and utterly exhausted.
Why was she in such a situation?
A vague doubt spread through her mind, which was going blank. She had definitely been happy earlier that day. Yes. It had been very painful and difficult; however, she was happy. She had never been so happy in all her life.
She remembered what it was that had made her so happy. Gathering the last vestige of her strength, she begged:
"Varkas... give me the baby..."
It was a voice so faint that it sounded like an extinguished candle even to her own ears. She raised her fingers, heavy as a ton, and tugged at his cold coat upon feeling that he would not hear her well.
"I want to... hold him. My baby..."
Varkas did not move, remaining clung to her. At that instant, resentment pierced her to the marrow. If she could have, she would have screamed.
'You promised me that you would do anything I wanted. Why don't you keep your promise?'
She articulated between sobs:
"I... I beg you this way. Please..."
It was then that she perceived there was a commotion around her. However, all sounds seemed confused, as if thick walls blocked the entire surroundings.
Varkas turned his head quickly. She heard his voice shouting something, but she could not understand what he was saying. Talia lost all her strength and relaxed her limbs.
Her vision progressively became darker. She no longer knew whether she had closed her eyes or if she had them open.
'Will I stay in this state and never wake up again?'
If it were so, she wanted to see him one last time. Talia forced her sight insistently. Nonetheless, she could see absolutely nothing but a deep darkness.
The tears continued spilling. She could drown and suffocate in those tears.
Talia opened her mouth to say something. However, things did not go as she wished. After holding her short breath, Talia understood that what she had been unable to pronounce was his name.
With that certainty filled with sadness, she submerged herself as if sinking into a cold and dark place.
The intensity of the rain that had been falling lightly since dawn gradually diminished upon reaching midday.
Lucas leaned with the upper part of his body on the castle balcony, refreshing his mouth with wine, when he observed three or four women placing flowers on a small grave of recent date, and let out a sigh of sadness.
The baby, who had come into the world after turning his mother into half a corpse, was buried in the damp earth without having managed to take his first breaths of air properly. And nothing more than a modest funeral was carried out for the stillborn child, only after the condition of the Duchess, who was on the verge of death, showed improvement.
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