Chapter 465: 465. Elizabeth Discovered That Both Of The Innkeepers Are Pregnant By Me

"Of course," Marceline said.

A brief silence settled over the kitchen. Mara had resumed her peeling.

The sounds of early morning continued their patient work outside.

Then Marceline set her cup down on the counter, and something in the way she set it down—with the deliberateness of someone who was preparing to say something they had been carrying for a while—made Elizabeth look at her.

"I should probably tell you something," Marceline said. "Since you’re going to be staying for a while here."

"You don’t have to tell me anything," Elizabeth said.

"No," Marceline agreed. "But I think it’s the sort of thing that’s better to hear from us directly, rather than to notice on your own and have questions about it."

"Helena isn’t back yet, right?"

"Yeah, she’s still with Leonidas, probably," Elizabeth tilts her head. "What’s wrong?"

"I was about to tell this to Helena, but I think you deserve to know too." She paused. "I’m pregnant."

Elizabeth looked at her. "R-really? Wow!"

"Congratulations," Elizabeth said after a moment, using the tone of someone giving a socially acceptable response while her mind was occupied with more complex thoughts.

"Thank you," Marceline said.

"Rex’s?" Elizabeth asked and then she immediately recognized that asking had been unnecessary, given every available piece of contextual information.

’W-wait...! Why did I see him right away?!’ Elizabeth thought. "Marceline has a husband, which is Bryan, but why did I think of him right away?"

"Correct~! It is, in fact, Rex’s," Marceline confirmed, with the calm of someone who had already made peace with the full weight of that sentence.

’I-It’s true... that man... he has sex with almost everyone that I know...’ Elizabeth thought. ’I can’t believe it... he’s really a menace at this kind of thing.’

"I-I see," Elizabeth said.

She lifted her cup, then set it back down. Again, she picked it up.

"That’s—" she started, and then she didn’t finish that sentence because she realized she didn’t know what she wanted to put at the end of it.

"It’s a lot," Marceline said, helpfully. "You don’t have to have a word for it right now."

"I have many words," Elizabeth said. "I’m having difficulty selecting among them."

Mara, at the table, set down her peeling.

Elizabeth suddenly realized, in that peculiar way information can catch someone off guard, that Mara was sitting differently than before—slightly turned away from the table, adopting a posture that suggested leaning forward had recently become less comfortable for her.

Elizabeth looked at Mara.

Mara met Elizabeth’s gaze with the direct, unsentimental warmth that was characteristic of her demeanor. She remained silent, which served as a response in itself.

"Mara," Elizabeth said.

"Yes," Mara said. "I’m pregnant too."

Elizabeth set her cup on the counter with the careful precision of someone who needed both hands free to process information.

"You as well, huh..." Elizabeth said.

"Mm-hmm," Mara said.

The kitchen was very quiet for a moment.

"Both of you," Elizabeth said.

"Both of us," Marceline confirmed.

"By Rex."

"By Rex," Mara said.

Elizabeth looked at the window. The light was behaving as it typically does in the early morning.

It did not appear to have any opinion about the information she had just received.

"He’s going to need a considerably larger room," Elizabeth said, which was not what she had intended to say but was apparently what her mind had produced in lieu of the many words she had claimed to have.

Marceline made a sound that was technically not a laugh but was occupying the same space.

"We’ve discussed that," Mara said. "We’re looking at options."

Elizabeth nodded, repeating the gesture, which was unusual for her.

"And you’re—" she started.

"We’re fine," Marceline said. "We’re good."

"We’ve had ample time to process the information. The three of us have discussed it in depth."

"He knows."

"He’s very—" Mara paused. "He was very Rex about it."

"I can imagine," Elizabeth said, and she could, which was somehow the detail that landed with most weight.

She could imagine precisely the quality of attention and straightforwardness he would have brought to that conversation, and it made the whole situation substantially more real than it had been thirty seconds ago.

She stood very still for a moment.

There was a thought she was not looking at directly. It was occupying the peripheral space of her awareness with the insistence of something that knew it was going to be examined eventually and was simply waiting.

She did not look at it.

"How far along?" Elizabeth asked instead, because that was a question with a factual answer, and she could process factual answers.

"Well, it’s still kinda new, only for a few weeks," Marceline said. "Mara is about a few weeks further there, so there are still no changes on our belly."

"Both are confirmed," Mara added. "We did some checking with the healers."

"Good," Elizabeth said. "Ehem! It’s actually good that Aethelgard’s healer has confirmed the pregnancy."

She lifted her cup, only to find it empty.

She had not been tracking her own coffee consumption, which was unusual for her. "And you’re both well."

"We’re both well," Mara said. "A little tired."

"A little less tolerant of certain smells; otherwise, we’re fine."

"G-Good to hear it," Elizabeth said again.

She glanced at the coffee pot, yet her mind was focused elsewhere. The coffee pot was not what occupied her thoughts.

The thought she had been deliberately avoiding was now taking a more prominent place in her mind. It brought with it a very precise, specific, and entirely unwelcome realization about the events of the previous evening, highlighting the complete lack of any precautionary measures taken by either participant.

"I need to—" she started.

"Sit down," Marceline said, with the gentle authority of someone who had recently become familiar with receiving unexpected biological information. "Here."

She indicated the chair nearest Elizabeth, who sat down with an unusual immediacy, as if she had just realized that standing was taking more effort than usual.

"I’m not—" Elizabeth said.

"No," Marceline agreed. "Almost certainly not."

"The timing would be extremely—" Elizabeth said.

"Yes," Mara said.

"I am engaged," Elizabeth said.

"We know," both Mara and Elizabeth said simultaneously, even though they had not arranged to do so.

"Last night was—" Elizabeth stopped.

She tried to articulate her thoughts clearly.

She rephrased it once more. "Last night marked a considerable breach of professional boundaries, as well as a failure in exercising forethought."

"It happens," Mara said.

"Not to me," Elizabeth said, expressing the particular conviction of someone who is revising a long-held view of themselves.

"And yet," Marceline said, gently.

Elizabeth put her elbows on the kitchen table, which she was aware was not her best posture, and looked at her empty cup.

"I am a professor of the Grand Academy," she said. "I have maintained composure in front of administrative review panels, mid-expedition crisis scenarios, and at least two situations that are sealed under Academy classification."

"I am not currently maintaining composure in a kitchen."

"You’re doing reasonably well," Mara said. "Considering."

"The considering is the problem," Elizabeth said.