Chapter 93: Weight Problems

Boing.

Prussia held her breasts in both hands, let them drop, then lifted them again and watched the mirror.

Boing, boing.

Each bounce felt stranger than the last, like an obese person lent her chest some weight this morning.

’Something strange has been happening to me.’

She’d built her whole life on discipline.

Up before the sun, training until her arms shook, eating what her body needed and not one bite more. Marsofian warriors didn’t lose control of their bodies. Father had never lost control of his body, not even after a victory feast.

’Is it possible for someone like me to be this careless?’

And if it was... she wasn’t sure she could live with herself.

Her breasts were bigger, they’re massive even.

...It happened overnight.

She had judged them with her eyes, with her palms, with the honest eye of a hunter sizing up game, and the verdict never changed.

It made no sense.

Bodies didn’t change overnight, hers certainly didn’t.

She squeezed them in frustration.

They squished like perfect water balloons.

When Prussia woke up alone, she stretched and pulled on her loose crop top, the same one Adonis had taken off last night.

It sat a little snug across the chest.

"...Hm?"

She tugged the hem down, shrugged, and moved on.

She did her morning push-ups, but her body felt a lot heavier to work with, and the pointed ends of her breasts were touching the floorboards before her elbows finished bending? In addition, it felt like she was carrying sacks of grains on her chest.

"...Hm?"

At forty, her arms were trembling.

She normally didn’t feel anything until two hundred.

’I’m tired. That’s all. It’s not like I got much sleep.’

She smiled gently with red cheeks.

The wooden tub in the hostel was barely big enough for her thighs, but she folded herself into it and scrubbed with the rough cloth.

When she reached the space between her breasts, there was sweat there.

She was a woman who sweated after a good hunt, and after everything she’d done with Adonis last night, a little leftover heat wasn’t unusual. But this was more than she expected. She wiped it away, and more seemed to take its place.

Then she lifted one breast to clean underneath and almost dropped it.

Too heavy, each one was like a wet sack of rice, and there was simply more of them to wash than usual.

In the end, she dried herself with a towel.

"...Strange."

A good hunt would clear her head. The mountain forests were full of boar this time of year, and if she was lucky, Alpis would be awake by the time she got back, hungry as always. A fresh kill never ruined anyone’s morning.

If things had ended there, Prussia could have let them go.

She was good at letting things go.

But then came the knight attire.

The swordsman set Adonis had designed for her hung neatly in the corner. Steel breastplate, pleated combat skirt, leather vambraces with silver gauntlets.

Prussia cherished it more than she’d ever admit.

She oiled it every night and told herself it was simply good maintenance.

She slid the breastplate on over her head and reached for the straps... but the sides didn’t meet.

"Haha."

’I must have put it on crooked.’

She took it off and tried again.

The side straps almost ripped apart.

The buckles sat two holes short of where they should be.

She breathed out, pulled with all the strength she used to wrestle boars, and the leather begged for mercy with how hard and desperately she forced it.

These straps couldn’t hold her chest.

The steel gaped open at the sides like a clam that had been fed too well. This was a cuirass a certain prince had shaped to her measurements down to the centimeter, with diagrams and a great deal of shouting.

She stared at it.

The signs were there... how grave.

Every woman knew them.

Clothes that suddenly pinched.

A body that felt heavier than it used to.

Sweat in places that were never sweaty before.

A reflection that wasn’t quite as kind as yesterday’s.

Maybe she was imagining it, but the signs were all there.

She turned to the mirror with a nervous chuckle.

"Ha... haha. There’s no way I got fat. Right?"

"That’s not possible. R... right?"

"It can’t be."

She fully managed to convince herself and proudly folded her arms under her spectacularly robust chest.

"...Mmm... Miss Prussia?"

A small figure sat up in the bed behind her, hair sticking out in every direction, horns poking through the mess. Alpis rubbed her eyes with a tiny fist, and her tail slowly flopped over the edge of the blanket.

She looked up at the half-naked Prussia, blinked twice, and tilted her head.

"Oh. Miss Prussia, did you gain weight?"

The breastplate slipped out of Prussia’s hand.

Clang.

She sank to her knees on the wooden floor. If she hadn’t been a warrior, she would have cried like a baby.

The dress hung on the back of the chair.

Prussia and Alpis stood in front of it, side by side, both staring at it like it was a puzzle.

"It’s very pretty..." Alpis said.

"It is."

It was a proper Falsbane noblewoman’s gown. Midnight blue silk, silver embroidery along the hem, a fitted bodice and sleeves that fell to the wrist. The Procession of Saints was a Falsbane tradition, a holy parade in the Falsbane capital, and she wanted her attire to reflect that.

Falsbane nobility dressed the way its bloodlines liked to see themselves: refined. Layers of silk and brocade, structured bodices, long skirts, and house sigils stitched in mana thread that only shimmered under the right light. Everything was elegant and nothing was ever loud.

The Marsofian Union couldn’t be further apart. Their nobles wore what they hunted. Monster hide, mostly dragon, since dragons were native to the region and every self-respecting house had a few trophies on display. Bone ornaments, thick gold bands, bare midriffs, and nothing that couldn’t be worn in a fight.

Soron nobility was the odd one out. They kept Falsbane’s silhouette but turned every dial up. Lower necklines, sheer overlays, open backs, heavier jewels.

Falsbane dressed to look refined.

Soron dressed to be looked at, as their women are lustful and their men were notoriously perverted.

Between the three, Marsofian attire had always been the one that stuck out.

Prussia knew that better than anyone, because that was exactly what had happened a month ago.

It was Mariella who first brought her to the boutique.

At The Four Princes’ Banquet, Prussia attended wearing black and gold with her abs on display.

In a hall full of silk and brocade, it was hard not to seem like the odd one, and Mariella didn’t forget that.

Falsbane and Soron gowns were different only a little.

Prussia’s looked like it came from another continent.

People stared quite a lot, Mariella didn’t want them to stare for the wrong reasons the next time.

So she suggested Prussia wear Falsbane noble attire to future events, if only to avoid sticking out like a sore thumb.

Prussia initially refused, for nearly a week even.

To her, putting on Falsbane clothes felt like sending a message that she wasn’t proud of her own culture.

Mariella tried everything to convince her and failed.

In the end, it took only one sentence.

"I bet Adonis would like it."

Prussia didn’t think about it for another second.

So the dress was for him and now she couldn’t wear it.

"Sigh. Sleeping with Adonis was a pleasant experience, but it might ruin things for us tonight."

Alpis slapped both hands over her mouth.

"Whaaat?! You slept with Master?!"

Her face went bright red as her tail stiffened.

Prussia nodded solemnly.

Alpis lowered her hands with a weird grin on her face.

"But Miss Prussia, you’ve wanted to sleep with him for such a long time. Why is it suddenly a bad thing? Didn’t you enjoy it?"

"Mu?!"

"Master is good with his hands. I haven’t done it with him, but I’m sure he’d be very capable. He seems like the type."

"No, no, that’s not it! I enjoyed myself!"

Prussia’s cheeks turned red.

She pressed her bare thighs together and whispered.

"I really enjoyed myself..."

Then her face fell.

"...But it ruined things."

Alpis tilted her head. "Huh?"

Prussia grabbed her by the shoulders, which startled the dragon girl so badly her wings popped out.

"I forgot what Mother told me!"

"Eh?"

"When I was little, she told me that when a girl becomes a real woman, her chest gets bigger. I hear it can be ten times bigger in some cases. And last night, Adonis said he would make me a real woman. I didn’t think anything of it at the time, but now..."

Alpis raised a brow.

"In... in what cases?"

"Wh-, when they..."

Prussia yanked Alpis closer.

Her face was now redder than the dragon girl’s.

"For example, when they... g-, get pregnant."

Alpis blinked.

Then she looked down at the hard six-pack on Prussia’s stomach.

Little by little, it swelled in her imagination into a big, round belly inflated by the Fifth Prince.

Her eyes went wide.

"Whaaaat?! Master works fast!"

Prussia let go of her and rubbed her chin gravely.

"This is my fault, in a way. I should’ve known. A man like Adonis would have a dominant semen and a dominant penis. Yes, I’ve learned to say ’penis’ now. But it seems such an ability comes with consequences. I... I am now carrying his seed."

She closed her eyes.

"Our child will surely be a mighty one. But I have no interest in harboring a child at the moment."

Alpis didn’t seem to share her worry at all. Her face lit up like a festival lantern.

"But if Miss Prussia is pregnant, that means I’m going to have a cute little niece!"

Prussia looked at the dragon girl and shook her head.

Then she groaned hopelessly into her palms.

Seeing her like that, Alpis quickly thought of a solution.

"Hmmm, rather than being so down, why don’t we go and get you a new dress? Master said the festival isn’t until the evening, so we still have time!"

Prussia peeked vapidly through her fingers. It was a very simple suggestion, but that’s how Alpis worked. She only needed to do very little to make Prussia happy, and Prussia cherished her too much to pretend otherwise.

She stood up and boldly held out a fist.

"Alright then! Let’s go!"

Alpis snickered behind her dainty hands.

"But finding a size that can strap down those monsters will be a challenge, Miss Prussia."

"!"

Prussia deflated immediately.