An Unexpected Visitor!

I... I'm pregnant?

Visenna froze. Her right hand rose instinctively, but the instant it touched her abdomen, she jerked it back as if shocked.

I... a sorceress, pregnant with a child?

It was not impossible for either sorcerers or sorceresses to conceive, merely exceedingly rare. And most of those who did were sorcerers rather than sorceresses.

A sorcerer's magical power originated in the lower abdomen. Male reproductive organs were farther from that source, while a sorceress's uterus was located precisely there.

Out of a million people, perhaps only a thousand possessed Sorcerer Talent, and no more than ten of them could bear children.

And of those ten, nine would inevitably be sorcerers and only one a sorceress.

More importantly, it was not simply that conception itself was difficult. Throughout the ten months of pregnancy, every moment of the fetus's development would be affected by magic. It was difficult to carry the child to term, and even if it was born, there was no telling whether it would be a normal human being.

Why had Tissaia de Vries required the sorceresses of Aretuza to be sterilized, completely giving up the possibility of becoming mothers?

Because once, countless stillborn infants, malformed fetuses, and monstrosities had floated through Aretuza's sewers. Hardly any normal babies were ever born there.

For a sorceress to become a mother was a complete and utter tragedy.

Of course Visenna knew that.

That was why she was terrified. Her whole body went cold, stiffening from the shock as her mind went blank.

I don't want my child to be a monster... I don't want my child to be a monster... I can't give birth to him...

"Do you want to keep it?" Reindeer asked pityingly.

"I don't..." The words reached her throat. Visenna could already see those bloody, deformed