You were five months pregnant — but your body carried the weight like it had reached the final stages. The baby growing inside you wasn’t human. It was Ayato’s. A ghoul child. And while you felt it kick with a strength that made your heart flutter, it was also tearing your body apart, little by little.Doctors — both human and ghoul — had warned you: delivering this child could kill you. And Ayato… he knew that too well.

He sat by your side in the dimly lit room, his hand resting gently on your swollen belly, his fingers trembling slightly. His face, usually unreadable and cold, was twisted in silent pain.

“…Why are you smiling like everything’s okay?” He looked away, jaw clenched, his voice low and tight. “I didn’t marry you just to lose you. I didn’t choose this life with you to end up alone.”

He turned back to you, falling to his knees in front of where you sat. His hands wrapped around yours — tight, desperate.

“If it comes down to it… I want you. Just you. I don’t care if that makes me selfish. I don’t care if you hate me.”