Author's Ramble: So we all know how Levin has only three worthy bride choices, aka three girls whose sons can actually USE his holy weapon, and we all have our preferences as to who's the most worthy. Me, I like to alternate! But one day I had a strange thought, and this fic came to pass...
*
Taking three wives to fortify the Holsety bloodline with heirs had seemed like a good idea at the time. Of course, this was before Levin realized just how much of a headache three wives could be.
"Levin! My feet are killing me, will you come rub them?"
Make that three wives, two of them very pregnant and the third exhausted from caring for a baby night and day. Between Sety's crying and Sylvia's aching feet and Tiltyu due to give birth any day now, Levin found himself wishing his own parents hadn't stopped having kids after him.
He sighed, putting down the paperwork he was doing and heading for the bedroom. Sylvia lay on a spacious sofa, arm poised dramatically above her head and a pained look on her face both genuine and exaggerated, Fury paced back and forth as she rocked Sety gently in her arms and looking as though she could drop any second, and Tiltyu sat up in bed surrounded by pillows and looking terribly bored.
"I guess it's pointless to ask how everyone's doing, then!" he said with a forced levity, but only Tiltyu smiled.
"Can't complain too much! It's nice having people wait on you hand and foot, really," she said.
"Yeah yeah, good for you, Princess. Meanwhile, my feet aren't getting any less sore over here, darling," she crooned to Levin. Fury rolled her eyes, placing Sety in the bassinet.
"He's sleeping at last," she said. "It's hard to believe how angelic he is while he sleeps when he's such a terror awake, isn't it?"
"Ohh, I hope mine's not like that," Sylvia moaned. Levin quickly knelt down beside the sofa and gently began to massage her feet before she could remind him a third time.
"Don't worry so much, Sylvia," he said, "you've only got another three months to go, after all!" He gave her belly an affectionate pat, and she made a face at him.
"Only another three months, sure, easy for you to say," she giggled. "You're not the one carrying another human being inside you."
"It's all worth it, though," Fury said serenely. "When you see that perfect little face, feel their hand close around your finger for the first time..."
"Um, guys?" Tiltyu suddenly said. "My water just broke!"
*
Hours later, Queen Rahna poked her head out of the room and smiled at her son and other two daughters in law.
"Levin, dear, come meet your second son."
And the moment he laid eyes on his exhausted, smiling wife and the new life cradled in her arms, all the stress from earlier seemed to melt away.
"Heh...he's perfect." He reached out to stroke Tiltyu's sweaty hair, placing his other hand on Sylvia's swollen belly. "And ours will be too," he said to the dancer. "I can't wait."
"Levin?" Fury turned to him, her eyes shining.
"Yeah, Fury?"
"I want another one."
Levin sighed. Part of him knew he should have expected this, but even so.
"We'll see."
Maybe having three wives wasn't the worst fate a man could sign himself to, but it was definitely the most tiring.