One day Lavi was a little worried about Allen since the albino hadn't really gotten out of bed other than to get food for Mana. Even though Mana wasn't happy about staying in all bed and was throwing a fit about being stuck on the bed Allen didn't get up other than to catch Mana when he got too close to the edge of the bed. Allen was tired…he didn't feel well.
"Ali why don't we go outside… it's a nice day…" Lavi suggested wanting to get Allen out of bed. It upset Lavi to see Allen like this. Allen used to be so happy and beautiful but since coming back to the palace Allen seemed… to be a shell. And it was getting worse day by day. The longer this went on the more Allen became like a doll. But usually when Allen was with Mana he still had some happiness but even that seemed to be fading.
"Here… why don't you take Mana outside and let him play…" Allen said letting Mana go so he could crawl around on the bed. Getting up Lavi picked Mana up looking down at Allen who had his eyes closed as he laid on his side. Sighing softly Lavi carried Mana out actually coming across Tyki who seemed confused as to why Lavi had Mana.
"What is going on here?" Tyki demanded blocking Lavi's path. One, Tyki wondered where Allen was since Allen never let Mana out of his sight, two, Mana wasn't crying when Lavi carried him but he cried whenever Tyki tried to hold him.
"Allen isn't feeling well and Mana was restless. So I'm going to take him outside so he can play." Lavi explained holding on to Mana so he didn't fall and so Tyki didn't take him away. The king studied Lavi before walking past him to Allen's room to check on him.
"Please not now…" Allen said when Tyki came into the room and made Allen turn onto his back. But Tyki kept his hand on Allen's stomach which now that Tyki thought about it there was something different about Allen's stomach.
"Are you actually sick?" Tyki asked with a smirk as he gently rubbed Allen's stomach. When Allen started to cry Tyki was pretty sure he was right about why Allen was staying in bed. Allen was so conflicted about all of this. It hadn't made him sad to be pregnant with Mana. He loved mana. But… this child… he was sad about it because… it had come from being forced to have sex unlike last time. And it hurt Allen to know he wasn't exactly happy about this child. But he knew he would love it all the same because it wasn't the child's fault how it came to be. And all children deserved to be loved by at least its mother.
"Hm… despite you being male you may actually end up giving me more children than my wife… Guess if I had been a little more patient I wouldn't have had to marry that girl… Oh well." Tyki said before he actually left the room. Allen was surprised that Tyki simply left the room and didn't do anything to him.
When Lavi went back to the room he found Allen balled up under the blanket. Of course Lavi was very worried about Allen. He could see all the changes in Allen since he had to spend like every second of every day with Allen. He knew what was wrong with Allen and he had no idea how to help Allen or cheer him up.
One thing Allen was surprised to learn was that Tyki was a lot nicer when Allen was pregnant and didn't force him to have sex at night. Probably since it wasn't really necessary since Allen was pregnant and maybe he didn't want to cause any issues with the pregnancy by being aggressive with Allen. Allen right now was actually appreciating that he was pregnant since Tyki was leaving him alone. Well Tyki didn't really leave him alone in a sense. He was spending more time with Allen but wasn't having sex with him or hurting him.
Allen was sitting out in the garden with Mana picking at the small flowers in the grass as Tyki was sitting on a bench not too far away reading. At this point Allen was about eight months along. Since Tyki was spending more time with Allen, Lavi was able to go back to his normal job for the most part unless Tyki had business to do. Allen at this point was obviously pregnant which really confused a lot of people but at the same time they didn't really question it.
"Brother… may I talk to you for a moment?" Sheryl asked as he walked up to Tyki earning Tyki and Allen's attention. Tyki closed his book looking up at Sheryl wondering what his brother could possibly want right now.
"What is it?" Tyki demanded not really wanting to do anything right now and most of the time when Sheryl sought him out it was for some kind of business.
"Can I talk to you alone…?" Sheryl asked looking to Allen and Mana. Getting the hint Allen picked Mana up standing up even if it was a little bit of a struggle at the moment to get up while holding Mana who was getting bigger by the day.
"No. You can say what you want with Allen here." Tyki stated with and underlying tone that Allen was not to move. Which left Allen standing there awkwardly. Allen knew he had nothing to do with any of Tyki's business so he wasn't sure why he was supposed to stay put. Little did he know that it was actually about him.
"Okay…. Well… There's something you need to know about…. Your... friend here…" Sheryl said gesturing to Allen which made Tyki look at Allen suspiciously but Allen had no idea what Sheryl could have possibly found and that was evident on his face. He had no secrets to hide, Tyki knew everything about his past at the whore house and everything. And it wasn't like Allen was seeing anyone else.
"A male being able to get pregnant is a very rare thing… But it ran in one blood line for many generations to promote population and everything… since there was a disease that affected the fertility of the females in the family blood line. A curse if you would in a sense…or something. What also ran in their family was pure white hair…" Sheryl added looking at Allen again. Okay…so clearly Sheryl knew something that even Allen didn't.
"And this family…? What about them? Because clearly you think Allen is part of this family." Tyki said following what Sheryl was saying. Even if this was the case…how was Allen's family an issue.
"Well…. Allen is part of that family… and… he is the last one. Because of our father. This family was the rulers of a rival kingdom that was originally stronger than ours until father turned to more… unorthodox methods of weakening their kingdom until he just wiped out the ruling family and people in a purge years ago. The land is still recovering from all the fires and bloodshed even to this day. The land is uninhabitable." Sheryl stated causing Allen to almost drop poor Mana in shock but luckily he didn't.
"But… that can't be where I'm from… I was born at the whore house…" Allen finally chimed in not seeing how it was possible to be from this kingdom Sheryl was talking about especially if everyone was wiped out.
"You weren't. You were placed there and the owner was told to say that you were born there. To protect you. Because I didn't feel it was right to murder children just because our father was pissed off by rejection. I was part of the raid of the palace… you were in the nursery, I don't think anyone knew there was a newborn child there… But I found you and smuggled you out. I couldn't exactly keep you so I put you in the whore house… who would check a whore house for a royal heir…? And luckily there were plenty of women there who also had new born children to raise you." Sheryl replied just completely shocking Allen. Well…here he thought he knew about his life…. Apparently not. So… Allen was royalty… and his whole family was dead…. Because of Tyki's family. Allen was so done right now, so he turned and walked away carrying Mana close. That was why Sheryl didn't want to talk in front of Tyki. At first when he had seen Allen before he thought maybe it was a coincidence but then when Allen popped back up with a child…he knew for sure who Allen was.
"Ali… you okay…?" Lavi asked when he saw Allen walking down the hall looking like he saw a ghost or something. Of course lately Allen hadn't been looking too well but still. This was different from the usual.
"Um… I learned some very interesting stuff about myself just now…. Apparently my family was murdered by the previous king and your army… so…yeah." Allen said before he continued on down the hall. Of course since Allen was without Tyki, Lavi diverted from whatever he was doing and followed behind Allen to his room. Allen set Mana down in his own bed so he couldn't' escape since Allen just needed a second. Sitting down on the edge of his own bed Allen rubbed his stomach which was hurting a little bit. Which wasn't too surprising to Allen at this point.
"Are you okay? Does it hurt?" Lavi asked concerned when Allen started rubbing his stomach. Lavi remembered when Alma was getting close to her due date she would run her stomach a lot. So of course Lavi was concerned about Allen being ready to give birth…? Or whatever it was Allen did…
"Yeah… just aches a little. But that's pretty common at this point. Its bad but… I don't want to have this baby yet…" Allen said with a sigh. He knew once he had this baby Tyki would most likely go back to mistreating him. Plus Allen would then have two children to care for and he was struggling with just Mana right now in the palace. Outside the palace before Tyki had found him out Allen was doing really well but now… he was just tired all the time, mentally and physically exhausted, which made it hard to function let alone raise children. And he refused to let the palace nannies raise his children unlike the queen.
"I'm sorry Allen…." Lavi said softly as he watched Allen. He knew why Allen didn't want to bay to come yet since he too knew it meant Tyki would go back to how he was treating Allen before. Lavi couldn't understand what happened…why Tyki was treating Allen so differently between when he first brought Allen to the palace the first time, to when he found out Allen could get pregnant and when Allen got pregnant. None of it made sense. Lavi was about to say something but Tyki walked in so Lavi instantly shut his mouth and backed away. Tyki was wary of Lavi at this point but that was to be expected given how much time the two spent together.
Tyki walked over to Mana's bed where the child was actually asleep holding a stuffed toy closely as he did. As…cold… as Tyki came across, he did actually care for Mana, and for Allen. But for whatever reason he was struggling with showing that and treating Allen well. There was just something about Allen especially now that Tyki knew Allen could get pregnant that made Tyki so possessive over Allen and where he wanted Allen to have many children. He couldn't explain it. Lavi hesitated but he left the room when ordered to by the king. Lavi really didn't like leaving Allen and Mana alone with Tyki but he had no choice. Tyki didn't really do anything, he just laid down with Allen for a while. What was actually nice was that Tyki was rubbing Allen's stomach which felt good since Allen's stomach ached.
