CHAPTER 270: CHAPTER 270: I’M... PREGNANT

Liora stood frozen.

No, not frozen. Her soul was screaming, ripping at the seams, flailing for air that no longer existed. The words the robot had spoken—so cheerful, so sterile, so painfully oblivious...rattled through her like shards of glass.

"Congratulations, Miss Aeris. You are pregnant."

Her hands gripped nothing. Her breath caught. Her mind spun, spiraling into a thousand fragmented thoughts as Aeris sat silently on the examination cot, pale and trembling.

Her body trembled as the realization thundered through her.

She had been pregnant before.

Aeris. Liora. Her.

Her knees buckled in the memory space, collapsing into the black fog of Aeris’s subconscious. Her mouth hung open, breathless, wordless. Her mind reeled.

If she was pregnant before... then... where is the child now?

Where?

Why had she never seen a child? Why had no one ever mentioned the child to her?

Why had she never felt the weight of small arms around her neck or heard the laugh that should have existed?

Why... why did she never remember?

Liora’s heart clenched violently, her thoughts pounding against her ribs like fists trying to escape.

What happened to the child...? Her chest grew cold.

Did something happen? Did something... worse? Was it taken? Or something even worse happened.

Her expression grew pale, her lips parting in horror as the thoughts slammed into her one by one like bullets to the chest. Tears welled in her eyes—not from Aeris, but from deep within, from the part of her that realized that maybe she had left a child behind.

Kazren.

Her mind whispered the name like a curse.

Did he know?

Did he do something?

Did he... use that child?

Liora curled her hands into fists as raw panic began to churn inside her. Her heart was a cloud of storm and ash and wildfire. She felt sick. Her soul was trembling with unease.

This wasn’t just a pregnancy. This was something planned. Because this... this shouldn’t have been possible.

The chances of getting pregnant after one time were slim. Astronomically so—especially in a society with advanced birth control, where contraceptives were practically foolproof. Aeris had taken them. Liora had seen it.

So how?

How could this have happened?

It all happened that night. When Xu Kai was drugged, the resources were never found.

Xu Kai—his breathing had been ragged, his body covered in sweat, and his eyes glazed over in restlessness as a strange drug tore through his bloodstream. A drug that even the most advanced medical units couldn’t identify.

And even any kind of antidote did not work on him...it felt like all the medicines were useless in front of the drug. So he could only endure the hellish pain that crawled to his body.

But he never told Arise about this, but still she found it, and when she tried to help, Xu Kai resisted.

"No—don’t. Not like this. I don’t want our first time to be... like this."

Even half-drugged, his voice had shaken with conviction. He’d tried to lock himself away. To protect her. To wait for him to recover.

But Aeris...

She had already made her choice.

"We’ve been together for a year," she’d whispered. "I’ve already decided to spend my life with you... So what’s wrong with this?"

She couldn’t bear to see him suffer like that.

She couldn’t just watch him break apart under a substance that no science could purge. No antidote worked. The hospital AI had declared the case unrecognized. Whatever it was, it had no name.

And there was only one solution: to let it out.

And so... she had decided to help him.

She held him. Kissed him. Took him into her arms with quiet resolve. She had stayed by his side through the haze and passion, whispering his name like a lifeline until dawn broke.

It was a night they both remembered. A night that bound them closer.

But Aeris had taken precautions after. Liora had seen it. The contraceptive protocols. The double-checks. Everything had been in place.

So how?

How could Aeris be pregnant... now?

Nothing made sense, and just like Aeris was stunned with this outcome, Liora was also equally shocked.

Unless—

Liora’s breath caught. Her vision blurred from rage.

Unless someone—something—had tampered with her again.

Unless Kazren... no.

Her stomach turned. Her mind recoiled. She refused to believe it. But the doubt festered.

She saw Aeris now, leaning outside the hospital wall, hands clutching her coat, eyes wide and glassy with shock.

Aeris was still shocked with this news...she did not even know how to react to it. She wanted someone to comfort her. After all, she was still a young girl who had only reached 19 with countless dreams in her mind. And now suddenly someone told her she was expecting a child.

But Liora’s mind was working in another direction; Aeris does not remember what happened with her for a week, but she did...and the possibility was never less that Kazren has no hands in this.

Liora buried her face in her hands, trembling.

Gods, help me. What if this is just another experiment? What if he’s still watching? What if he’s still pulling strings?

Liora forced herself to breathe.

Her heart was still hammering, but she clenched her fists, dragging her collapsing emotions into order. This wasn’t the time to spiral. She needed to focus on the situation.

Aeris, still numb, wandered out of the hospital. Her feet moved on their own, carrying her to Xu Kai’s home. She sat on the edge of his bed, silent, eyes fixed on the wall.

Minutes passed. Then the door opened.

"Aeris?" Xu Kai stepped in, frowning. "I heard you skipped training. Your dorm mates said you went to the hospital—are you alright?"

He walked to her, kneeling in front of her and touching her forehead. "You still have a fever?"

Then he froze.

She was crying.

Silent tears slid down her cheeks, her shoulders trembling.

Xu Kai’s heart clenched. "What happened?" he whispered, pulling her into his arms. "Are you hurt? Tell me, baby. Please."

Aeris hiccupped softly. Her fingers clutched his shirt.

Then, she whispered with a sob...her voice barely audible... "I’m... pregnant."