Chapter 1474: An Unfamiliar Helplessness

The elevator doors opened upon the private maternity floor, where sunlight lay across cream-coloured stone and the leaves of a living wall stirred beneath the gentle breath of the ventilation. Beyond the reception desk, generous windows overlooked the city, and secluded alcoves offered expectant mothers somewhere to sit without sharing every word with their neighbours.

Haven Medical Center had made its executive maternity wing resemble an expensive retreat.

Melissa might have appreciated its tranquillity more if the husband holding her hand had possessed any of his own:

Phei had stepped out beside her and a nurse behind the desk faltered halfway through a sentence. A seated woman looked up from her phone; farther along the corridor, another turned to take a second look.

He had genuinely tried to appear ordinary. The colossal wings that had carried Melissa through the morning sky were hidden. Even he altered his beauty slightly to look ordinary somehow, save where the sunlight caught a fine thread of white-gold.

There remained the difficulty of his face; long white hair framed features refined beyond their former beauty while retaining the youthful sharpness of nineteen. Faint golden spirals moved within his amethyst-gold eyes, and the simple clothes he had chosen did little to disguise the physique beneath them.

A gentle sacredness lingered about him despite his restraint.

It had become so much a part of his being that concealing his power could no longer conceal it with him.

The seated woman’s gaze followed him before she remembered the partner beside her.

She turned her attention to Melissa, whose fingers were comfortably woven through his. Nearing three months had brought a slight softness beneath Melissa’s dress, familiar already to the two of them, while her violet eyes and warm complexion made her look wonderfully rested.

The Great Immortal God’s elixir, purified by Sienna, continued to nourish her and the baby. Beneath that familiar wellbeing lay the new ability of Phei’s seed that made his women more striking in. beauty and arresting— and Melissa had always been a he’d-turner even before that!

Melissa noticed the woman’s gaze settle upon their joined hands and squeezed his fingers.

"What?" Phei asked.

"Nothing."

"That was a suspicious nothing."

She glanced at the women rediscovering an interest in their phones, the walls and their own husbands. "I was merely appreciating how many women appear personally offended by my life choices this morning being your woman."

His understanding arrived with a grin. "They have excellent taste."

Melissa looked at him, and he widened his eyes innocently. "What? You somehow found a way to compliment yourself!"

"I complimented you too."

"By implication."

"Efficiency."

Laughing, she led him to reception before he could improve upon the argument. The receptionist rose to greet them, her professional smile steady despite the brief pause when she looked at Phei.

"Mrs. Ryujin Tiamat?"

"Yes." Melissa felt his head turn towards her and had to contain another smile while the receptionist began explaining the check-in. He missed most of it.

When she finally glanced up at him, his expression was far too pleased to be innocent. "What?"

"Nothing."

"You liked that."

"I have absolutely no idea what you’re talking about."

Melissa leaned closer. "Mrs. Ryujin Tiamat."

"Again." His delight was immediate and shameless.

She laughed and gently pushed his face away before accepting the tablet. Their appointment had been arranged beforehand, leaving her to confirm the usual details: medication, allergies, earlier pregnancies, symptoms and dates.

A nurse eventually came to collect them soon afterwards, escorting them into an assessment room spacious enough that Phei wondered whether its usual occupants held business meetings between blood-pressure checks. Melissa settled into the chair while the nurse checked her weight, temperature, pulse and blood pressure, adding the results to the record beside the urine sample collected earlier.

Phei watched the monitor. His faint frown did not escape either woman.

"Has he been like this throughout the pregnancy?" the nurse asked.

"Like what?" Melissa asked, smiling.

"Watching every medical device as though one wrong number will result in an interrogation."

"I wasn’t interrogating anything."

"You just frowned at the monitor," Melissa pointed out.

"It displayed numbers."

"That is generally what monitors are designed to do."

The nurse removed the cuff with a reassuring smile. "Her blood pressure is excellent."

"Excellent normal?"

Melissa closed her eyes, while the nurse nodded. "Yes. Excellent normal."

"Good." Phei settled back, apparently satisfied.

"This is going to be a very long appointment," Melissa murmured.

He kissed her temple. "You’ll still he heads over heels for me love."

"Unfortunately."

The nurse moved through the remaining questions. Melissa had experienced very little nausea, no vomiting and less fatigue than she remembered from her earlier pregnancies. There had been no concerning dizziness, cramping, pain, bleeding or spotting. She knew how widely pregnancies could differ, even for the same woman, yet the ease of this one had become too noticeable to dismiss.

"My body doesn’t seem to be struggling," she explained.

"In what way?"

"During my other pregnancies, I could feel how much they took from me. I expected some of that again, even if the nausea wasn’t as bad. But I feel stronger. I did even before what happened this morning." Her hand settled upon her abdomen. "Whatever the baby draws from me doesn’t feel like depletion. My body seems to answer almost immediately... something keeps compensating."

It was her Essence and energy of course; things she couldn’t exactly tell a doctor.

The nurse listened carefully and made a note for the obstetrician—

Beside Melissa, Phei brushed his thumb across her hand. The purified elixir had helped establish a foundation her previous pregnancies had never possessed, and cultivation had changed how her body gathered and used nourishment. Their child had also been conceived with a father whose existence was already extraordinary even before the Primordial Lotus transformed him further.

He could hardly expect an ordinary pregnancy from all that, however badly he wanted the reassurance of ordinary results.

Not to mention, given how hungry their child was, there was endless supply of energy from them to give Melissa to sustain the little one’s endless hunger— their child was anything but ordinary.

The nurse looked through the preliminary blood results: "That may explain some of what we’re seeing here."

"What are you seeing?" Phei asked at once.

"There he goes," Melissa said fondly.

"Nothing bad," the nurse assured him, and his fingers eased around hers.

Some of the results fell outside the ranges the system usually expected during pregnancy, she explained, but the pattern did not suggest illness. Inflammation was exceptionally low, recovery was unusually strong, and her body showed remarkably little strain— if there was any at all. Her use of nutrients was efficient enough to make the usual comparisons less straightforward.

The doctor would discuss those findings with them.

"So the strange numbers are good?" he asked.

"So far, very good."

Dr. Avery arrived with a tablet tucked against her arm, a woman in her forties whose warm composure suggested considerable experience with anxious parents. Recognition crossed her face when she saw Phei. News of the Young Dragon’s in Hell’s Paradise Island had soared widely enough, but she greeted Melissa first and then offered him her hand.

"And you must be the Dad."

Phei stood to shake it. "Husband too."

"Good. Makes the paperwork considerably easier." Melissa laughed, and Dr. Avery glanced towards the nurse. "Has father mode begun? New fathers are usually fun to watch."

"Fully."

Dr. Avery smiled as she took her seat. "Congratulations, Mr. Ryujin Tiamat. You’re officially one of those fathers who decide every medical machine becomes personally accountable for their child."

"That seems reasonable."

Melissa covered her face, and the doctor laughed. "I think we’ll get along."

She began with their dates.

Melissa was approaching the end of her first trimester, and the scan would help assess growth and refine the expected delivery window. Phei listened closely while Dr. Avery explained that dates were a guide rather than a promise, then turned to Melissa’s previous pregnancies.

She had borne four daughters. Three were alive. Her second pregnancy had been twins, and one of those children had died shortly after birth— they had these records but Melissa had needed to explain in details— a little.

Melissa had answered steadily, but her hand tightened around Phei’s when she reached that loss. Cold gathered briefly behind his eyes, and the room seemed to lose some of its warmth before he drew it back under control.

Melissa had come here to see their baby, he would not give those people any more of this day.

He slipped an arm around her waist and brought her closer, lifting her hand to kiss her knuckles. When she looked at him, he gave her a gentle smile and stayed beside her while she spoke. Her shoulder rested against his.

Dr. Avery allowed her the time she needed, asking only what was relevant to her care and moving on when Melissa was ready.

They discussed nutrition, hydration, prenatal vitamins and folic acid, along with activity, medication and signs that should prompt a call or a hospital visit. Phei followed every word. Some of the concerns were things he could heal, and others would have to pass the Life Flame before harming her. When the doctor mentioned a persistent fever, he opened his mouth.

Melissa placed her hand over it.

Dr. Avery paused, looking between them.

"Please continue," Melissa said.

"Was he about to tell me something medically impossible?"

Phei lowered his wife’s hand just enough to answer. "I was going to ask a perfectly reasonable question."